(11-18-2009, 04:16 AM)king12 Wrote: [ -> ]Dear niki102,
I dont have any knowledge about this cracked or hacked or any such technical word. But my basic question is if we are using these softwares while connected to the internet say for instance stad or any other for that instance is it safe to use such softwares while you are online?
I have wrote in some other post in this forum that I have some (few or much if you want) friends in the software industry, so I know some of the basics and logics they follow.
In few words: they know who you are based on your IP address. And that´s for sure. And if you bought and started your pc from zero, and by any chance you are using at least windows Vista, and registered your PC login name as "John Vauhgn", "Jorge Ortiz", or "Haruto Tokoro" (and that is your actual name), then they also have your actual name too. :mad2:
In either case, if they want they can go after you. Every time you either upload or download something from a file storage server like Rapidshare, Megaupload and the like, your IP is registered. In fact, when you upload something to those sites there is a warning message (always, but in small, very small letters) that tells you that your IP will be recorded, and it will be subject to the privacy politics of that site, unless... they are required by law to submitt your address and information.
For those seasoned guys like me that had been running through the internet since its (comercial) beginning, maybe you remember the old p2p music service NAPSTER. And maybe you also like hard rock band Metallica (wich I don´t :tt2:). Then you have to go back to 1999 and remember when in an american court Napster´s attorneys asked Metallica´s counterpart proof that their music was downloaded millions of time. Surprisingly, in images that travelled around the world, Metallica´s lawyers came with a truck full of boxes of, guess what?, yep the IP address and actual name of millions of music fans that had downloaded their music through p2p.
It is the same today, and even more sophisticated.
I wrote before, the difference is in the guys that manage companies. I have been told first hand by "an insider" from Delft NL from a software house that developes a geotechnical software called Plax--- :hand: that they do not think that if they chase you and u get a fine or go to jail u will change your mind and will buy their software. They don´t care about you, and they preffer to spend their efforts on their customers.
I talked once with Ashraf Habibullah (CEO of CSI), and he told everyone there really amused that he found his software sap2000 in a street market in New Delhi for less than 100usd. Believe it or not, he was instead happy that at least an increasing number of structures were being designed with his software, legal or not !
On the other hand, you have the Autodesk guys. If you live in Central, Southamerica, China or Russia, most probably you can sleep well. But not because of them, but because your (ours?) legal systems are so poor that is almost impossible to get someone into jail for piracy. But, if you live in USA, Europe and the like... don´t tell me I didn´t warn u :ihih:
From the point of view of functionality, most companies follow a discret policy. If someone has sometime told you that your software does not output "good" calculations because it is "cracked", most probably he has no idea what is behind a software and its developer. But beware: I wrote "most probably", because there are companies that don´t accept any piracy at all. There is a software called DGraph Plot (I bet some of you have it), that at least in the older versions intalled a file on your pc without ur conscent. As long as their site detected your cracked files, a message appeared in your pc saying something like you are a robber and so on... (the sad part is that if u do that u actually are what u are being said). In non-engineering related software, I recall the case of a software called spy-sweeer for antispyware. As long as their server detects your cracked version, a small window pops up in ur screen saying that u are using illegal software and have to buy a legal one.
In summary: everytime you download something illegal, the storer has your IP address, every time you install your brand-new software you send your information to the software developer, and everytime (for a lot of software) you start the application, you send info that u wouldn´t want them to have....
Ask our Civilea´s Admin. At least he now have your IP address and also at least can tell you the country and city in which you are connecting.
Buy and use legal software, and have a nice sleep.