protect from copying a CD

[pheck]

i have a client who we're publishing a CD with and they would like to:

"disabling copying would force users to run the program off a
CD without the ability to install critical files onto a hard drive...strong feedback from reps asking whether we could encrypt or otherwise disable copying"

does anyone know anything about this? i have used the _url string to look at where the swf is being played from, and disabled play except from certain web domains (i.e.-disabled play on the C:\ drive), but this doesn't help against mac users and people who have a D:\ HD, let alone keeping people from copying the disk and sharing. any thoughts?

[Musicman]

Hi,

probably no way if you want the cd to be cross-platform and not rely on third-party software besides the movie

Musicman

[rafiki55]

What are you trying to prevent from being copied? A application, video files, music files, etc?

[pheck]

basically .swfs

[Gooeysoft]

Because of how data is stored on a CD, what you're requesting is pretty much impossible. Anyone with enough time will always find a way.


That said, there's some tips in the tutorials section on ways of protecting your SWF's from being used/modified by unauthorized persons. Also, make sure to check the your 'Publish Settings' when you publish a movie. You don't want to allow others to import your swf's into their movies.

[OddDog]

http://www.updatestage.com/products_...tml#Protection

of course if you have not used director to create this cd of yours, the question is why not !!!!!!

i hope you used director.

if not you are buggered.

[OddDog]

in case anyone is not aware of this

http://www.macromedia.com/software/xtras/director/

the extras are the real power and potential of director.

[pheck]

hi, thanks for the links. i have looked at these and others i found on my own. there seems to be only one that will work for mac/iso hybrid's such as my own. i used flash mainly for web compatibility (it may go that route later) and vector art for zooming. you can do anything nowadays in flash that you can in director.

[Musicman]

there seems to be only one that will work for mac/iso hybrid's

and that probably will not work on linux, and it may not work in other environments where a plain cd with plain swf movies would work (such as networked computers without a cdrom drive)

Musicman

[TheOriginalFlashDavo]

Originally posted by pheck
you can do anything nowadays in flash that you can in director.

Actually, no. As a couple of the above posts have alluded to, there are many, many functions and features available to Director on CD-ROM that are just not available to Flash, which is designed specifically for the web.

And apart from these additional features, video plays significantly better in Director than Flash, without the CPU issues that are predominent in Flash
--> Trust me on this, did extensive testing of video in Flash, and while both play reletively smoothly in high-end machines, on anything less than that Diector will play fine but Flash is jumpy. This is to do with video in Director using the computer's default video player - yes, even while in Director, it plays on a level sitting "above" the Director layer so to speak - while Flash video plays in Flash, which is quite simply not as good a video player, basically 'cos it wasn't made to be.

The best way to use Flash on CD-ROM - and relevant where you're developing something that you want on the web too - is to import the Flash movie into Director and play from there. You can then have all the features of both, but the much more advanced features and better native CD-ROM capabilities of Director.

As to the CD protection issue, also did extensive research into this and found there was no way to:

1) make it 100% copy protected. Everything could be worked around in some way.

2) make it compatible with all CD players and all systems. Even the EULA's of any technology I found absolved themselves of this responsibility.

Now this research was conducted about a year ago, so there may be something new on the market, but think about it: If it was possible without any major playability issues ALL the record labels would be doing so already, and you would think Adobe and Microsoft. As it is, a couple have just started trialling something but that is having major playability issues. Trust me, if something comes along that works don't you think the major labels will be the first to use it, and that you'll hear about it all through the press?

Cheers
Dave

[pheck]

thanks for the input.

couple Qs for you:

1) what's the disadvantage of using a 3rd party (software)? how does 3rd party software work to protect from copying?

2) i'm not worried about dissallowing play on a networked machine. in fact, i'd prefer it. but the linux issue is bothersome. also, i was reading the faq of http://www.macrovision.com/solutions...fediscfaq.php3 (SafeDisc site) and it apparently would only protect for the pc part of the hybrid. so it won't work for mac. are you saying it will dissallow play from mac and linux (or just linux)? or are you saying the protection won't work for them (it will still play on linux and mac tho). i get the impression that the mac would still be able to play it, but it just wouldn't be protected.

3) looking at this site http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware..._utils_8.shtml
it appears there are lots of hacks to get around something like SafeDisc. does anyone have any experience with this? you can pm me if you want to keep it private

[Musicman]

Hi,

your swf just plays off the disk, off the hard disk, off anywhere (maybe if it plays off c: it is more than likely on a hard disk on a windows system)

now, there could be a "program" that reads encrypted data off the disk and feeds it to the player - this program could do all sorts of stuff to check it is on the original media
- check volume label ... the harddrive label would be different, if there is one
- check that no file can be written to the media
- check that "bad spots" exist on the media, on purpose ... or file system consistency errors

what does this mean to the user? if there is a windows program, it would not work on mac or linux, and same the other way round.
As for a networked drive: I occasionally get cd's that do not work on one computer but on a different one - I would not want to shut down two computers and swap the drives just to view a disk when I can use the network...
On the other side, there seem to be specialized cd copy programs (and matching cd burners) in the windows world, that will just duplicate those intentional defects as well

Musicman

[pheck]

thanks very much for the input musicman.