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Abstract
Software piracy and licensing are becoming increasingly important in the Software industry. With the advent of computer networks and the explosion in the number of computer users, new concepts in licensing have come forth. In this report, we study the various licensing solutions possible in a networked environment under different requirements and constraints. We then take a look at some existing solutions. Finally, we present the design and implementation of two solutions – a peer-to-peer based mechanism , and a hybrid central server based mechanism. Index Terms—Software Piracy, Software Licensing, Copy Protection
I. INTRODUCTION
WORLDWIDE, the unauthorized copying, use and distribution of software is a continuing source of concern. Despite increased attention worldwide from government, industry and legal agencies alike, software piracy still has a severe impact on states and local communities. Reports published by the BSA (Business Software Alliance) indicate that annual losses to the industry are $10.9 billion [2] (see Figure 1) . Another study conducted by International Planning and Research (IPR) and Microsoft [7] revealed the following in US alone: • The increased software piracy rates experienced by 21 states caused a loss in excess of $2 million in wages and salaries, over 56,000 jobs and over $500,000 in tax revenue • Total losses for the 10 most impacted states equaled approximately $3.5 billion, or 57 percent of the nation’s losses • In 1998, tax losses due to software piracy increased by approximately $40 million over 1997. • Communities nationwide lost over a billion dollars in 1998 tax revenues. From another perspective, most corporate users these days buy licenses for a certain number of copies. The software vendors need some mechanisms to ensure that the licenses are honored, and at the same time, the user is not too inconvenienced – that is, it might be okay for the license to be invalidated over a few applications, if the user is willing to buy more licenses keeping in mind the increased need. These, and many other such considerations demands flexible and robust licensing mechanisms. In this report, we take a (a) World Piracy Rates (b) Dollar Losses by Region Fig. 1. BSA Piracy Study [2] look at the different kind of solutions possible in a networked environment, under varying requirements and constraints. The report is organized as follows: section II presents the licensing problem in a networked environment in detail, section III discusses the various problems posed in such an environment which make licensing difficult to implement, section IV talks about the various approaches of implementing a solution. We take a brief look at some existing solutions in section V and then present a peer-to-peer protocol