In response to Cory's post Anti-copying malware installs itself with dozens of games (http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/30/anticopying_malware_.html), he is now being threatened by the same dudes StarForce, who are responsible for the buggy software.

Someone identifying himself as "Dennis Zhidkov, PR-manager, StarForce Inc." contacted me this morning and threatened to sue me, and told me that he had contacted the FBI to complain about my "harassment."

More: http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/31/starforce_threatens_.html

I especially love Cory's response. Well done!

Yes, I agree... very well done!

And check back again. Did you notice the update to his response? Also a very nice addition to the story, and comes courtesy of none other than MR's very own Alexander!

Which is how fast the Internet works ;) I followed MrSaint's link to the story.

I find this is a common theme running through all content industries - they're reacting to piracy in the wrong way entirely. Just like the Sony rootkit, Starforce harms innocent consumers while the crackers break the protection early and enjoy free games.

In college, when I had no money, I used to copy games all the time. Now I work in the game industry, and I buy my games... but I still get a crack, because playing a cracked game is, all in all, a better experience than playing a game with copy protection from retail. I don't have to have malicious drivers deciding what software I'm allowed to run, and I don't have to swap CDs all the time. It's just more enjoyable.

The same is true of movies - I chuckle when I see the ads at the beginning of movies in the theatre that tell the audience not to download movies. The only people who see that are the people who didn't download the film - the legitimate paying customers suffer through the lecture while the pirates are enjoying the movie. Likewise, watching a movie on a retail DVD you have to sit through the unskippable ads and warnings, while with a pirated disc you can just watch the actual film.

Hopefully the ebook industry will take note of the trend and offer either no-annoyance DRM or no DRM at all, like Baen. Ebooks, like games and movies, are going to end up available on the Internet for free (in fact, many already are. One of the first content piracy cases on the Internet was Harlan Ellison going after people posting his stories on Usenet.) Unfortunately, with companies like Sony leading the charge I don't have much faith.

According to one of the Slashdot posts (by "Sundroid"), this is his picture...
http://icoc.freehomepage.com/contact.html

But I guess nobody is likely to have checked the identity of this homepage person, so I hope it's not some other poor Dennis Zhidkov who's a completely innocent bystander!