Re: DDJ Article on "Secure" Dongle
From: Dave Howe (DaveHowe_at_hawkswing.d-mon.co.uk)
Date: 10/06/05
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Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 12:50:42 +0100
Joseph Ashwood wrote:
> "Vernon Schryver" <vjs@calcite.rhyolite.com> wrote in message
> news:di1ft4$1mjq$1@calcite.rhyolite.com...
>
>>In article <di18bi$sje$1@nntp.itservices.ubc.ca>,
>>Unruh <unruh-spam@physics.ubc.ca> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>> TBH it doesn't really matter. The odds of the software relying on the
>>>>dongle
>>>>to do anything more than say "yeah, you can run" are low.
>>
>>Unless you are trying to squeeze every last penny from your customers
>>and so alienate and drive them away, it is best to use only token
>>protection that does no more than require explicit and conscious actions
>>to bypass. Unless you are also a cheat, you can't profit by dealing
>>with those who want to cheat, and you'll not for long profit by treating
>>honest people like crooks.
> I will disagree with a huge amount of what has been said. It depends on what
> purpose the dongle serves.
Pretty much the definition of Dongle - a useless device used only for
permission-to-fly by some program. Admittedly it can mean any small device that
dangles from a computer port (I have used pcmcia modems and ethernet adaptors
that had a dongle before now, and I have a bluetooth usb dongle, but that usage
is unusual)
> The original article is rather an extreme (but
> very common) case on only one side, where the dongle does nothing but
> attempt to verify that you are a rightful user, I will agree this is bad. At
> the other extreme are things like the ATI and NVidia device drivers, here
> the "dongle" is the point,
I am certainly willing to believe in a ATI or NVidea *device* that hangs
externally - seen them use breakout boxes (where a dense multiline connector is
broken out into several individual port connectors, or separate port wires as a
"spider") but not one where the dongle gave additional functionality onboard.
> it provides a great deal of value, and in truth
> they give away the software that goes with the dongle for free.
If you are selling a device, then the software is largely the minimum required
to use that device (and make it look good compared to competing devices in the
same field)
> In between
> is a wide range of possibilities for the dongle's purpose. Building from the
> view that the dongle is a part of the value of the system, as opposed to the
> dongle protecting the value of the system, leads to useful dongles and
> increased value for the users.
Indeed, but we aren't talking about those sorts of dongles :)
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