1Up has confirmed that Ubisoft dropped malware copyright company Starforce like a bad habit. While Ubi was willing to admit they dumped Starforce, again, like a bad habit, they weren't really willing to say why.

When questioned Ubisoft representatives told 1UP, "Right now, Ubisoft has decided to use an alternative copy protection system to Starforce for upcoming releases and we are investigating other possible steps at this time." But why the change now? ... "Ubisoft takes its customer concerns very seriously and is investigating the complaints about alleged problems with Starforce's software. Ubisoft's goal is to find solutions for its customers if there are problems with Ubisoft products."

Now if only everyone else on the planet would follow suit the world would be a happier place and, I suspect, the cure for cancer would be found.

Ubisoft Dumps Starforce [1Up]

In a fitting comeuppance for the nexus of evil known as Starforce, Ubisoft has wiped Heroes of Might and Magic V free of the malware and won't use it in future copy protection. The bad, bad, bad anti-piracy system is pimped by Russian gangsters, so unscrupulous that they offer nay-sayers free knuckle sandwiches in some Moscow warehouse. A $5 mil class action lawsuit was brought against Ubi for using loathsome Starforce DRM in their games back in 2004 and continued to be publicly berated for using it. The company took a hint. Do we hate Starforce? Yes, and now so does Ubisoft.

More Here [CorpNews] Thanks, David!

Heroes of Might and Magic V Limited Edition Plans [Shacknews]

Chris' complaint? From the class action complaint itself, filed on March 26, 2004:

Starforce DRM can compromise Windows operating systems' security. Any virtus or trojan can control a computer by and through the Stareforce DRM installeed on the computer, despite the security measures taken in newer versions of Windows.

Users receive no notice that removing Starforce DRM is necessary to prevent possible security compromises on their computer systems. Worse, removal of a Starforce Title does not always remove Starforce DRM software.

We're glad to see someone actually try to press this in the court system, although we're disappointed that this lawsuit is against Ubisoft and not Starforce themselves. However, if successful, this will demonstrate to other game companies what a legal liability employing Starforce DRM in their software can be. Let's hope this turns out for the best.

Starforce Class Action Lawsuit (Thanks, Ethan!)

Well, our jaded brethren over at The Consumerist — whom earlier today dissed and dismissed Kotaku, so maybe you guys better go on over there and give editor Ben Popken a piece of your mind. Kotakuites Assemble! — have the scoop on the latest customer service fiasco by the wonderful morons working at Starforce.

Although we're not smart enough to understand what the technical problem was that prompted this amazing reply from a Starforce rep — something to do with network droppers or something — you don't really have to be to get a chuckle out of it. After accusing the poster of being paid to post Starforce complaints on their forums, a Starforce rep wrote:

You're lying!

IF you publish an appology on our forums for being a liar, we may continue converstaiton.

Ha ha ha. Wacky Starforce!

Starforce Tells Customer: Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire [Consumerist] (Thanks, Ben!)

Do svidaniya, Starforce!

Now, Futuremark has uncovered a very dangerous anti-piracy system Starforce is now using. This copy protection system installs a driver that runs at the highest level of access on the system, which gives it low level access to the PCs hardware and any drivers and processes. This driver runs regardless of whether the game runs; keeping an eye out for any suspicious activity such as attempting to copy a protected disc. If something suspicious is detected, it forces the PC to make an immediate reboot, regardless of any other applications running and whether or not the user has any unsaved work.

Gee, why would anyone not want to purchase a product that relied upon Starforce for its DRM? According to a Starforce PR spokesman, it is because they just must be members of the Russian mafia:

StarForce Technologies, for its part, often takes extreme offense to negative comments... ...When questioned, Zhidkov [SF's PR manager] told us, "The issue on StarForce is obviously sponsored by our competitors or organized crime groups that run CD/DVD piracy [operations]. We are now in close coopreration with [US and Russian officials] investigating the matter and trying to find out who stands behind the boycott campaign.

That quote was obtained from the latest issue of Computer Gaming World.

Starforce DRM Exposed And It's Not Pretty [Gadget Life]

Starforce is sleazy, no doubt. Their first transgression was programming and marketing a highly-invasive form of copy protection to begin with. Then they began threatening their critics with frivolous lawsuits. And as icing on the cake, they decided to post torrent links to Galactic Civilization 2 on their website in response to Stardock's criticism of copy-protection in general. It's enough to make a gamer want to break a Starforce-infected cd in half and jab the shards through the vitreous humor of Starforce CEO's eyeballs.

Well, Starforce is still sleazy, but we have to give them props: they have apologized to Stardock for the entire "Everyone warez this game!" fiasco. But it's too little, too late — what else can you say when an anti-warez company squanders its credibility by openly endorsing warez?

Starforce apologizes to Stardock for torrent link [GalCiv2 Forums]

That said, it's an intriguing look at the problems facing both customers and game makers. While customers grow increasingly frustrated with their systems being compromised by draconian copy protection schemes, game makers have a definite need to protect their software from piracy. What's becoming more and more apparent to game makers, though, is how Starforce-style copy protection is not the answer to their question, and that they can garner more goodwill by less intrusive copy protection systems... or no copy protection at all. ArsTechnica quotes Greg Vederman, the editor of PC Gamer, who believes the way forward is a greater reliance on online delivery models like Steam.

Kotakuites, what do you think the way forward for copy protection is? Let us know in the comments.

Do copy protection firms encourage piracy? [Ars Technica]

Look, we don't need to tell you why we hate Starforce — we're all members of the pasty, slightly-irradiated gaming elite here. If you really need to know why Starforce is a perennial force of evil (gobbling babies while striding through Russia on a Baba-Yaga-like house balanced upon gigantic chicken legs) our Gawker brethren over at The Consumerist have a decent summary. And David S. himself recaps a lot of Starforce's most egregious sins in his email as well, including their latest good-will gesture of pirating Galactic Civilization 2 and then posting a lit of torrent sites where their site visitors could download it for themselves. Proving... what exactly? That a game without DRM can be pirated? Amazingly, so can games with DRM. What idiots.

But just in case you aren't convinced not to avoid games that use Starforce as DRM, we're going to post David's email in full, including his exchange with some truly obnoxious Starforce CSRs. As The Consumerist says, "it s like reading an infinite recursion of idiocy." You don't want to give companies like this your money.

David's email after the jump:

Dear Kotaku and the Consumerist,

I'm a regular reader of both your blogs (websites? purveyors of fine news?), and though I'm not usually the type to weight in, I feel strongly about the good and the bad (oh so bad) headlines recently circulating about copy protection.

You've probably heard the news about StarDock's excellent sales for GalCiv 2, despite- or because of- its lax copy-protection scheme, and about StarForce's rather unprofessional (illegal?) response to their success (http://forums.galciv2.com/?ForumID=161&AID=106741). I won't rant about how every pirated copy is not equivalent to a lost sale, or rave about how pirated copies actually introduce people to game and induce some to buy it. There's argument enough for both points but not enough conclusive evidence for either.

The new and interesting point here is that a serial number is not required to activate the game, though it is necessary for updates and patches. Normally a serial key provides both activation and updates, but in this case Stardock has seperated the pirate monkeys who quickly grow bored of the game from the pirate monkeys who may actually want to pay for the added value to the basic game.

Pirates crack games for fun (sticking it to the Man) or profit. Stardock's garnered a lot of goodwill for what they've done so the former is unlikely (although the fine folk at StarForce have stopped one step short of that). Second- where's the profit in cracking a game that doesn't need to be cracked? A lot of warez is dodgy in the first place; who's gonna risk sending their credit card info to the Russian Mafia just for some patches?

Speaking of the Russian Mafia, StarForce is a prefect example of how to a) prevent legitimate paying customers from running the game, b) imply they're pirates, and c) have them swear off buying any game with StarForce (such as the upcoming HoMM V). By "legitimate paying customers," I mean "me." (I added a copy of the whole sordid exchange below, if you're morbidly curious, but would appreciate if you removed any identifying info before using it.) I bought an import copy of Space Rangers 2 from gogamer, registered the game, and StarForce kept me from running it on my computer. It worked fine on my dad's laptop, and I don't appreciate being called a pirate when StarForce can't figure out what the problem was. Maybe that's how they can claim legitimate users have no problems- imply everyone else is a piriate (http://www.firingsquad.com/features/starforce_interview/page4.asp). The really Kafkaesque thing is, I could've just downloaded a pirated version to begin with, or downloaded a crack to run my copy of it...

Anyway, it seems Stardock has struck the right balance in their bold new experiment (treating the end-users decently! gasp!), and I wish them success. Instead of clinging to their IP and living in the past like music companies, they've accepted reality and found a working solution for it.

Cheers,
David

The Whole Sordid Exchange (from the bottom up)


Hi Yvonne,

Can you generate a new rescue key since the old one didn't work? I'm not sure what he means by "licensed CD is not inserted into customer's drive"- the DVD is in my external drive when I run the program, and I purchased the game from gogamer.com, which I assume sells licensed copies of your game. The order number is 058-0220973-0406151; their number is 888-948-9661 or 949-609-1680. You can confirm my purchase with them, and check your records to see that I have registered my product. I appreciate all your efforts so far, but this is becoming frustrating- all I want to do is use the product I purchased weeks ago!

Thank you,
David

Yvonne Williams wrote:



Yvonne Williams
Contact Sales Ltd
Customer Services Manager
01869 338428

For product information: www.contact-simulations.com

From: StarForce Support - Abramov Anton [mailto:support@star-force.com]
Sent: 16 February 2006 11:46
To: yvonnew
Subject: RE: [TRACK-0000007640] RE: Space Rangers Customer

Hello Edward,
This error takes a place when registered profile for entered rescue key was not found.
You can solve this problem by generate a new rescue key.
By the way, licensed CD is not inserted into customers drive.

Best regards,
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
Anton Abramov
Customer Support Group
StarForce Technologies
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—
+7 495 967 14 53
ICQ# 303596863
MSN: anton.abramov@star-force.com
—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-
The information of this letter is confidential and must not be disclosed to third persons

—-— Original Message —-—
From: Excalibur
To:
Sent: 16 February 2006
Subject: [TRACK-0000007640] RE: Space Rangers Customer

Hi Kirill

Thanks for helping us. Unfortunately the customer is still having a problem, as the old rescue key I generated seems not to work if I generate a new rescue key would this solve the problem or do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Best regards

Edward

From: David S [mailto:blah@blah.com]
Sent: 15 February 2006 23:46
To: Yvonne Williams
Subject: Re: FW: [TRACK-0000007640] RE: Space Rangers Customer

Thank you for your reply. Holding down the shift key does allow me to enter the key. However, reentering the original key changes nothing, while entering the rescue key generates this message:

ERROR: Failed locating the product authorization information in the system registry. Verify the Disc Key or press the "Information" button to obtain a new Activation Key.

The information should be in the registry as I've reinstalled it several times... I'm really not sure what else I can do. I've run "Information" again and have attached the data. Any further guidance would be appreciated.

Yvonne Williams wrote:

From:< /B> StarForce Support - Kirill Lazarev [mailto:support@star-force.com]
Sent: 15 February 2006 11:15
To: yvonnew
Subject: [TRACK-0000007640] RE: Space Rangers Customer

Hello ,
For some reasons we didn't receive this email from you. In order to enter the rescue key, the user should run the game holding down the key Shift pressed.
—
Best regards,
Kirill Lazarev
Customer Support Group
StarForce Technologies

ICQ#135762596
MSN: shumba@inbox.ru
Tel: +7 495 967 14 53

The information of this letter is confidential and must not be disclosed to third persons!

—-— Original Message —-—
From: Excalibur To:
Sent: 15 February 2006
Subject: Space Rangers Customer

Hi

I sent this email las t week, I've been away on business and wonder if I missed your reply...

Best regards


>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I wonder if you can help us. We are using StarForce Professional to protect Space Rangers 2. A customer is having problems with his key. Basically we generated a recovery key but he is not getting the opportunity to enter it.

The Story...

===============================================
However, after installing it and entering the registry key correctly, Star Force w ould not let me launch the game! StarForce tells me to "insert the Space Rangers disk into another drive and retry"- but this is impossible, as the DVD drive on my laptop is broken. The external drive I used to install SpaceRangers is apparently forbidden to launch Space Rangers. I tried reinstalling the game but I am still locked out of playing it.

Any help would be appreciated. Below is the information Star Force generated.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—- Information —-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

[Error Information]
Code: Z7KBX-E6QP8-PC4AJ-NNE7Y-56QN6
Key: N8MF6-86QVE-ENMNH-E542E-YHXJ2
3.4.76.0; 3120; ES: 10003, F, C, 1002E, 183, 1002D, 10028, 1000A, 10006, 10005, 10004, 10002, 1, 10003, F, C, 1002E, 183, 1002D, 10028, 1000A, 10006, 10005, 10004, 10002, 1, 10003, 0

[Protected Product Information]
CompanyName = Contact Sales
ProductName = Space Rangers
BuildSignature = 3.04.076.000, 16.05.05
ProductGuid = {CE8622B9ABE0DFA54B2600197D0723C8}
BuildGuid = {586cb0ec-c7d0-412d-a242-de513518f5dd}

[Report Information]
ReportDateTime = Wednesday, Februa ry 01, 2006 16:55 PM
ClientTimeZone = Pacific Standard Time
ClientTimeBias = 480

[System Information]
System Information was not obtained because of "msinfo32" execution error.
===============================================

From this I generated a recovery key...

G55C5-J5SVH-D587T-ST6D4-R7H8U

Unfortunately he is not able to enter it...

===============================================
Hi

Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately, I can't get to your step 4.. Here is a rundown of what happens:

1. I insert the disk into the external drive
2. The autorun menu appears (install SR 2 or 1 or exit); I select SR 2
3. I select "Run" from the SR 2 menu
4. StarForce protection appears, and it checks the disc
5. I get a message saying "Insert the Space Rangers disc into another drive then press 'Retry' "; menu options are Retry, Information, and Exit
6. I hit Retry, which leads to a loop of 4. and 5. Information just gathers my system information, and Exit exits.

So I can't get the window with the old key to appear to enter the rescue key, your step 4. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall the game a few times, in addition to using the program sfdrvrem to remove the StarForce system and hopefully create a fresh install. The really strange thing is, after each install there is no chance to enter any key, just the situation above.

Any further help would be appreciated.

===============================================

Any suggestions?

Best regards

What are the most popular cars? Find out at Yahoo! Autos

We apologise for the delay. We are chasing Starforce for a reply


Yvonne Williams
Contact Sales Ltd
Customer Services Manager
01869 338428

For product information: www.contact-simulations.com

From: David S [mailto:blah@blah.com]
Sent: 14 February 2006 23:31
To: Yvonne Williams
Subject: Re: FW: FW: Follow up

Hello Yvonne,

Sorry to seem impatient, but have you any word from your contact? I hope your company will reconsider using StarForce in the future. If I had known all of this would have happened, I certainly wouldn't haven't purchased this product. Who ever heard of a copy protection system locking out legitimate users?

Yvonne Williams wrote:



Hi

We've sent your info over to our contact at StarForce to see if they have a solution. Will write to you once we hear from them.

Sorry for the hassle.

From: David S [mailto:blah@blah.com]
Sent: 03 February 2006 20:31
To: Yvonne Williams
Subject: Re: FW: Follow up

Hi Yvonne,

Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately, I can't get to your step 4. Here is a rundown of what happens:

1. I insert the disk into the external drive
2. The autorun menu appears (install SR 2 or 1 or exit); I select SR 2
3. I select "Run" from the SR 2 menu
4. StarForce protection appears, and it checks the disc
5. I get a message saying "Insert the Space Rangers disc into another drive then press 'Retry' "; menu options are Retry, Information, and Exit
6. I hit Retry, which leads to a loop of 4. and 5. Information just gathers my system information, and Exit exits.

So I can't get the window with the old key to appear to enter the rescue key, your step 4. I have tried to uninstall and reinstall the game a few times, in addition to using the program sfdrvrem to remove the StarForce system and hopefully create a fresh install. The really strange thing is, after each install there is no chance to enter any key, just the situation above.

Any further help would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
David Siao

Yvonne Williams wrote:
Hi

Sorry you are having problems with the StarForce protection system that is used on Space Rangers 2. Thanks for sending us the error report, for some reason StarForce is having problems reading the DVD in your external drive, however by sending us your error report we have generated a Rescue Key for StarForce.

G55C5-J5SVH-D587T-ST6D4-R7H8U

So...

1. Place the Space Rangers DVD into your DVD drive and try and run the game again.
2. If the DVD disc check doesn t pass and the error message appears.
3. Hit the "Retry" button.
4. The window with the old key appears.
5. Input the Rescue Key instead of the normal disc key and hit "Check".

Note: The Rescue Key is unique for each computer. If the Rescue Key generated for one computer is used to run the application on another computer, an error message about the wrong key will appear.
Hopefully this will resolve the problem.

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—--

From: David S [mailto:blah@blah.com]
Sent: 02 February 2006 02:00
To: yvonnew
Subject: Follow up

More specifically, StarForce tells me to "insert the Space Rangers disk into another drive and retry"- but this is impossible, as the DVD drive on my laptop is broken. The external drive I used to install SpaceRangers is apparently forbidden to launch Space Rangers. I tried reinstalling the game but I am still locked out of playing it. Right now it appears I have paid $40 for nothing except frustration.

It angers me that I cannot use the product that I've paid for. Attached is the full "system information" scan that StarForce collected. I hope you can help me solve the problem, or at least refund my purchase. Thanks.



Dear Support,

I was very excited about Space Rangers after reading reviews about it and immediately ordered an UK Import copy from gogamer.com. However, after installing it and entering the registry key correctly, Star Force would not let me launch the game! Any help would be appreciated. Below is the information Star Force generated.



Dear User!

This file contains detailed information on the problem occurred.
Save the file and forward it to your product Customer Support.
E-mail: support@excalibur-publishing.com
Web page: http://www.excalibur-publishing.com
Phone: 01869 345928

Now, Stardock do have their own scheme for thwarting pirate scum, but lets users install the game on multiple machines as long as only one of those installs is being played at one time.

They also call out copy protection service provider StarForce, who posted links to active GCII torrents as evidence that DRM schemes are working.

Galactic Civilizations II, Copy Protection, and Piracy

As usual, there's a discussion of the most nefarious copy protection scheme of all — Starforce. One interesting thing is that Vederman mentions Starforce's recent 'contest' to prove that there are uninstall issues with the software. Winner netted $10,000. Sounds great, right? Surely a copy protection protocol so awful that thousands upon thousands of gaming forum posts have been written complaining about it would be easy to reproduce. Vederman claims that Starforce says no one could ever prove it.

Gee, that couldn't be because the contest required you to prove it in their corporate office, could it? A corporate office located in the cold winter heart of Moscow? You'd have to be a pretty staunch opponent of Starforce to lay down 2 grand on a flight to some Muscovite office complex just to lose a 10k bet on some dreamed up technicality.

Opinion: The Problem With Protection [Next-Gen]

The contest, which I just noticed on the site today, ends today. According to the site, anyone who can reproduce and demonstrate that his software causes instability IN THEIR OFFICE gets $10,000 U.S.

If you read the terms of the contest you ll see the very suspicious number 2.

At your own expense you arrive to StarForce headquarter which is placed in Russia, Moscow, Altufievskoe shosse, 5/2. Please arrange your visit with us beforehand and during working hours 10 AM to 6PM Monday through Friday Moscow time.

If you manage to win, then StarForce will compensate you for your travel expenses, pay for two days lodging in a three-star hotel in Moscow and give you $1,000 cash. Wait, I think a zero dropped off their prize money in the official rules.

If you lose, they won t pay you anything, will publish your name on the site as a loser (I shit you not) and ..eeeeeeeh.. .shoot you in the back of the head.

Ironically, at the bottom of the contest page is a deal to get $10 off on some anti-spyware. Irony is delicious. Eat it everyday.

"Prove it!" and receive $10 000 from StarForce! [StarForce]

StarForce Threatens to Sue Me [Boing Boing]
Anti-Copying Malware Leaves PCs Susceptible
Do NOT Download this Game
Authors of StarForce Threaten Lawsuit Upon Criticism [Consumerist] Including link to StarForce removal tool.

We're not here to point fingers or lay blame, because we all make mistakes. However, over the weekend, a few gaming sites posted on Trackmania Nations and even told their readers to download it. Prize money was even dangled for the online "free" competition. Thing is, the game is infested with malware.

The anti-PC copy protection site Boycott Starforce has listed Trackmania Nations as a game that carries Starforce (see Luke's post below). Starforce is hidden and installs without the user's consent or knowledge. These unwanted drivers are even linked to system instability and computer crashes. Yuck.

Luke's Post [Kotaku]
Excellent Article on Game Pirates [TG Daily] Thanks Michael!

Boing Boing points to a piece of software that self-installs when you install certain PC games, and although it's designed to prevent pirating it actually damages your system. From Boing Boing: "The software causes system instability and crashes." Ouch. There's a list of games that currently employ the Starforce security measures here. Check out your game library, and more importantly, check out the literature over at the official "Boycott Starforce" website. It's like rootkits all over again.

If a company effing with your machine isn't enough to piss you off, how about Starforce themselves failing to recognize the issues their malware causes? And they even go one step further suggesting that user error is what causes the problems, not their janky-ass code. Nevermind that users didn't sign up for this self-installing garbage. Shame on you, publishers who use this crap. Shame on you.

Anti-copying malware installs itself with dozens of games [Boing Boing]
Boycott Starforce [Official Boycott Starforce Site]