Blizzard, Bnetd Respond on Bnetd Shutdown

EvilDonut writes: "Following the roar of protests following the shut down of the BnetD-project, Blizzard has posted a Battle.net emulation FAQ, citing their reasons to to search out and close any project that allows people to play Blizzard games online without using Battle.net. Their main arguments are software piracy and the ability to control and expire the WarCraft III beta." There's also a brief note from the Bnetd people, included below.

From: "Tim Jung"
Subject: bnetd.org shutdown

If you would like more information on this please feel free to contact me. I am one of the developers and the hosting ISP for www.bnetd.org. I have talked at lenght with both the Blizzard/Vivendi lawyers and with EFF lawyers about our options both as an ISP and as a developer.

As an ISP I did not force the group to do anything, but rather presented them with all the legal information I have recieved and asked them what they wanted to do. As you can imagine neither my company nor any of the developers have the money to fight the Blizzard/Vivendi lawyers at this time. So until we are able to get some legal help to fight this we felt we had no choice but to close down the site for now until the time at which we could fight this legal battle.

If you have any questions or suggestions let me know.

Tim Jung
System Admin
Internet Gateway Inc.

Play something different then...

[bovinewasteproduct]

Well you could always play one of the developer friendly games OR you could being doing what your supposed to be doing, WORK...:)

Atleast thats what my wife tells me all of the time.

BWP

Translation

[Stiletto]

Why is Blizzard trying to shut down servers that emulate Battle.net?

Servers that emulate Battle.net facilitate software piracy of Blizzard products by circumventing Blizzard's authentication code. Blizzard products are intellectual property, and we are well within our legal rights to protect our products from software piracy.

We, at Blizzard couldn't figure out how to keep people from copying our software, so we decided to do authentication in the server, and hope no one figures out how to write their own server.

How do CD keys help reduce piracy?

Blizzard uses two main methods to combat piracy: disc-based copy protection and CD keys. As part of the login process, Battle.net authenticates the user's CD key and prevents people from logging in with the same key or an invalid key.

We realize that all attempts to combat piracy are futile. We put these schemes in place more to frustrate legitimate users than to stop determined people from copying our software.

Why doesn't Blizzard provide facilities that enable these emulators to authenticate CD keys through Battle.net?

In order for us to keep our proprietary CD-key algorithms secure, we cannot allow outside servers to query for the validity of CD keys.

We believe that keeping our CD-key algorithms secret makes our software look more secure.

What about software that hasn't been released yet? Wouldn't it be better to have as many people testing the beta version of Warcraft III as possible, even if they are playing on non-Battle.net servers?

The primary purposes of the Warcraft III Beta are to get play-balance feedback and to test our Battle.net servers. Our servers aren't tested if people are playing the Beta on rogue servers. Additionally, the Warcraft III Beta is not intended to be a product demo; when testing ends, we need the ability to terminate the Beta's functionality. Rogue servers eliminate our ability to expire beta versions of our products.

This is just the beginning. We need to be able to, on a whim, terminate your access to a game you rightfully bought. We are testing this scheme under the guise of a "time limited beta test". If we let others run servers, they could play the game they paid for whenever they want!

What about the hobbyists who are not pirating your software but just want to use these servers as an alternative to Battle.net?

Unfortunately, software pirates have spoiled this situation for hobbyists. We are constantly working to improve Battle.net, and we sincerely hope that one day, no one will see any reason to seek alternatives to Battle.net for playing Blizzard games.

We don't understand why someone else would want to use an alternative to Battle.net. Our software is close to perfect, and who cares about those strange Linux-using customers?

Your games sell millions of copies. Why do you care if a few people pirate your software?

The sales success of a product should not exclude it from laws intended to protect intellectual property. Software piracy needs to be combated at all levels, and at Blizzard we intend to do our part to fight illegal distribution of copyrighted media.

Business as usual... "War on Piracy..." News at eleven...

Looks like they left off an FAQ item...

[JohnMunsch]

Why should I not boycott all products from your company as you appear to be just another pathetic DMCA loser?

Re:Full Text

[lynx_user_abroad]

The Court has already ruled that a technological measure that effectively controls access means anything that the publisher claims provides him that capability.

If I (digitally) stamp copyrighted material onto the "chewy nougut center", I can claim the crunchy chocolate coating is an "Access Control Mechanism".

Re:Well....

[weave]

I wonder what would happen if I wrote a server to emulate the Microsoft product activation server....

Oh, piss...

[FauxPasIII]

I put down my copy of Applied Cryptography [counterpane.com] long enough to check slashdot, and I read this:

Why doesn't Blizzard provide facilities that enable these emulators to authenticate CD keys through Battle.net?

In order for us to keep our proprietary CD-key algorithms secure, we cannot allow outside servers to query for the validity of CD keys.

In the name of Bruce Schneier, I smite thee with the Great Sword, ClueBringer !