Preventing copying

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

I am making 3 projects.

1st project is in PDF/DOC format
2nd project is in EXE format
3rd project is in video format

I will be selling those projects when I finish them.
I want to make such a things that they cannot be copied or pirated.
Suppose, I made EXE. I will give it to my customer. I want to make sure that, that EXE will run only on his computer. If he/she copies to some other computer, it should not work. (The same things that stealer/crypter coders do for their projects. Mine is not that. Mine is educational project.)
Same thing is for PDF/DOC project.

How this can be done?
I have these two ideas in my mind.
1) Put HWID lock (for EXE)
2) Prepare digital certificates and set appropriate validity. When you send that certificate to your customer, it should get installed, and it should be self-destroyable. Without that certificate, PDF/DOC file should not open.

How can I achieve these two things? Any method or application will be useful.

[DrVirus]

Why not watermark each project with the Customers name and other details. Make sure they are visible everytime the project is opened. Then make them sign a threatening looking agreement which says prosecution in case of piracy. He wont copy unless he wants to be sued

DrV

[z3r0aCc3Ss]

LOL, that wudn't make any difference, neither it'll solve my purpose.
Also, watermark can be removed. Can't even password-protect my file as password can also be removed.
I just want to make it, ONE COPY USE.

[floodhound2]

Well Ill tell you that anything can be hacked or modified, literally anything so, keep this in mind.

A "one copy use" can be done a multitude of ways and the good ones are a closely guarded secret but, you should look into computer serial numbers. If my memory serves me well I think that the processor on a computer has an embedded serial number as will other hardware. You could use this as a type of check.

[computathug]

Well Ill tell you that anything can be hacked or modified, literally anything so, keep this in mind.

A "one copy use" can be done a multitude of ways and the good ones are a closely guarded secret but, you should look into computer serial numbers. If my memory serves me well I think that the processor on a computer has an embedded serial number as will other hardware. You could use this as a type of check.

I was going to mention on the lines of this but how many times does a machine go down, there would have to be some type of system in place for when a users system breaks and they purchase a new one, how would they transfer the licence?

[lilrofl]

young RIAA in training
Give a look a number of methods already implemented, it might give you an idea

Code: Select all

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copy-protection#Copy_protection_for_audio_CDs

[DrVirus]

A friend of mine was working on a similar project a while back. He said every single device like the CD or DVD contains their own unique serial number. And the way to insure that the contains of these devices are not copied, a software can be added which will check for the particular serial number every time the device is run. And unless they match the project wont be accessible.

Hint : Look into SCSI and ATAPI

DrV

[ph0bYx]

Theoretically, if there is a way to prevent copying wouldn't all the copyrighted material use that method already?

[lilrofl]

wasn't suggesting that you could prevent the act of copying a file, just the act of using that copy without decrypting or breaking the copy protection... it is a battle older then napster.

Office 2003 and above implements IRM management for copy protection, it is certificate based. PDF files also have implementation to embed restrictions to copying and opening them. Zapper software offers many certificate based copy protection solutions for a number of extensions including pdf, exe and movie formats.

Aside from M$ offering personal certification authority for IRM, the others have a very inclusive FAQ detailing the exact steps their products use to be functional while remaining secure, I'd look into those and begin a reverse engineering project so as not to reinvent too many wheels.

[bad_brain]

well, to protect the doc- and video-files is almost impossible, at least with a half way reasonable expense...and even if you go hardcore and spend 10 times more for the protection than for creating the files itself there would still be no REAL protection.
I mean, just have a look at macromedia...millions and millions for development but nothing more than a joke.

for the exe file it's pretty much the same, but there is one mechanism that is working imo pretty good: fetching registry values in context with the hardware and using these to identify a system....not very likely that 2 systems have 100% the same hardware, even in the same series. Punkbuster is using something similar if I remember it right.
the user would have to runs something like a pre-install script then which fetches the values and (depending on the amount of distributed programs) the ID is either transferred automatically into the app, or transmitted to you (as part of an ordering system) and set manually.

[joebox]

sorry not possible