DiscKeeper: a solution to SW piracy

BANGALORE: One of the greatest menaces threatening the software community is the illegal copying and distribution of software by unauthorized persons, or what is popularly called software piracy. Software piracy is on the rise, not just by the kid who burns a copy of the Popular Computer game or borrows his friend's CD key, but this has become professional and is run by organized groups of pirates, crackers and hackers. To curb the menace of the software piracy, Techno Linguistic Solutions, a Calicut based software development company, launched today, its new product named DiscKeeper Video.

The unique features of DiscKeeper will help in protecting Software, video CDs, audio CDs and documents from illegal copying. DiscKeeper is a multi-level CD-ROM copy protection system designed for developers and publishers who wish to protect their applications against piracy. This is a unique copy-protection technique based on exhaustive research in optical storage device architecture. It prevents the copying of data from CD to hard disk as well as CD to CD. The software breaks up an executable file into smaller blocks and protects each with a unique digital signature, providing multilevel protection.

Unlike the popular protection schemes, Disckeeper does not rely on verifications, but prevents the physical copying from the CD itself. The video protection provided by DiscKeeper is extremely relevant in the present scenario where illegal copying of film CDs is cutting the revenue of film distributors.

According to Bijo Thomas, the CEO of the company, "this technology is unique and the usage of digital signature along with the process wherein the executable file cannot be disassembled and signature reproduced by the popular writing software or any dissassembler, renders Diskeeper the edge over others. This provides a cost-effective solution to eliminate piracy."

DiscKeeper has been tested in wide range of CD readers, writers and in various operating systems thereby proving its compatibility.

Speaking on competition Sangeet Menon, vice president marketing said that globally three players operate in this segment namely Macrovision, Sony DADC and StarForce. He added that their product has a price advantage and will be priced at about 40-50 percent less.

The company plans to provide this as a service and not as a product to prevent the hackers from cracking the technology. Bijo added that they do not claim that product cannot be cracked but because of continuous innovation and research they will always have a three to four months lead over the hackers. The company plans to provide this service by appointing local agents across the country.