RomanDA

 and SVIZ are needed then.

I definitely agree but I would hate to lose the ability to tweak master skins that I purchase.......for some reason or another, I've had to actually fix some issues I had with master skins, not to mention I like tweaking them to my liking. This protection plan limits users like me, who actually pay for skins.

Maybe we should try thinking of another way to protect them. Things get kind of complicated because master skins are sold on other sites besides wincustomize. Argh I don't know what the answer is. Maybe we could flood the pirating site with fake master skins which are just empty .wba files?   

yeah if we could protect them and still be able to tweak them, that would be awsome.

Nice to see Stardock (Neil) is suggesting a way to protect these from being ripped.

Perhaps a registration system like the one used on the Dreams that Stardock Designs sold as Master skins could be used. That along with encrypted graphics would help a great deal.

I'm not a programmer so I'm not sure if it could be done, but it's definitely in Stardock's best interest to protect the Master skins from being ripped.

Solve this problem - new wincustomize community contest??

Don't copyright laws protect this stuff....if not what's the point of the law then? Maybe we need to do it the old fashioned way and show up at their doorstep with bats.

Not all countries respect copyright laws, such as this one.  This is why so many of them are based in these countries.  

so then, can something be done to protect our master skins, like a registration code or something that can only be used on one ip address?

I don't know what the technical aspects are of what can be done to protect them.  Neil would know far more about what would be feasible and cost effective, if any.

Right now, I would suggest getting the download links (rapidshare, mediafire, etc.) and sending them DMCA removals.

Neil....

The solution "might" be to provide the system as an option [to the uploader].... so there would be two 'classes' of Master skin....one that was protected and thus 'safe' from abuse and another option [for the Master] of leaving it as is....maybe more popular to tweakers...but also exposed to potential piracy.

Here's a thought....

Pain in the bum but.....

ALL Master WB skins are sold "protected"....and cannot be altered/tweaked.

Buyers who wish to tweak it can contact the Master and obtain a second 'unprotected' copy directly from him/her via email.

The Master 'marks' each version emailed out differently...in a way only he/she can determine  [digital signing in the hidden bits of a Jpeg, etc].

Then...

The tweaker can tweak....

But if the tweaker also attempts to Pirate/distribute ... the version distributed can be traced to that person.

Then....that person gets a visit.

DCMA removals are not respected in Turkey Island Dog, where this website originates. They do not even know what that is.  This is an international ring of thieves so to speak, Turkey, the Netherlands, fake addresses in the U.S., fake names, protected WHOIS information so you cannot contact anyone, etc.  If you type in the .com domain name of this site, it goes to a Turkish language site.  If you type in the .info domain it goes to an English site.  If you type in the .net domain it forwards to the same English site also.  This is probably a useless battle unfortunately, but I am giving them hell anyway!  I have sent multiple emails to different addresses, but of course no one answers.

Oh, and another problem that I think may occur is that the people that own the website, also own the file distribution services.  They give two download links for each illegal download, and both of their "Contact Us" pages are identical and provide you with the exact same auto-reply.

I dunno, but why not Post these skins in a password protected archive (Like PGP Encrypted) and you cant use it without the password for the archive....then maybe it'd slow them down a bit if they had to BUY the password or key......just an idea

Because it would be useless effort in that it is the people or persons buying these skins who are the ones giving them out to the illegal sites in the first place.

that sounds like a great step forward and a good solution to help us protect what we make here. I hope Neil can help us.