Class Action Suit Against Ubi Soft for StarForce

Post by trog @ 12:48pm 01/04/06 | 23 Comments

Saw on Blue's that a class action suit has been filed in California against Ubi Soft. The main thrust of the suit appears to be about StarForce installing itself without users' knowledge, the security risks of the software, and the fact that it is not removed when the game software is. Interesting to see where this one goes.

For those who came in late, StarForce is an invasive and correspondingly controversial copy protection system that is being used by some publishers to try and crack down on software piracy. This site has some more information.

starforce drm

Latest Comments

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Tanaka Khan
Posted 04:28pm 01/4/06

This can't be a post against StarForce unless Hermi posts here!

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Boxhead
Posted 05:03pm 01/4/06

As i've said in every starforce thread ever.. I've never had a problem with any piece of software that includes starforce in it.. you guys all must have crappy computers or don't know how to use them properly...

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HERMITech
Posted 05:34pm 01/4/06

This can't be a post against StarForce unless Hermi posts here!

He came, he saw and he quoted!

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parabol
Posted 05:40pm 01/4/06

I've never had a problem with any piece of software that includes starforce in it.. you guys all must have crappy computers or don't know how to use them properly...

Do a google search for Starforce DMA PIO and you'll see some of the problems people have been having.

Even if only 5-10% of users (I pulled that figure out of my arse) have problems, that's still too high. Personally I avoid it on principle. I have a Starforced game that came with my graphics card and I'm staying well clear of it.

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mambodog=
Posted 09:02pm 01/4/06

ive beaten starforce on splinter cell: chaos theory (and YES i own the game, just cbf putting the disc in every time, and dont want it to wear out), its not that hard, just a bit annoying... they should just face up to the fact that without a system like steam, every time they up the security, crackers will rise to the challenge. btw steam is great, it is the most effective kind of 'DRM' for games, and it doesnt require you to put your disc in (for steam-bought games anyway) or compromise your system's security, which is all i wish for from a publisher.

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ctd
Posted 09:07pm 01/4/06

Yeah Im with you, f*****g hate putting CD's in and out all the time. Steam is the way to go now that it is running smoothly.

The only games I will buy with starforce will be the splinter cell games, just because they are great games. Besides SC, I dont plan to go out of my way to buy Ubisoft products.

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eXemplar
Posted 09:58pm 01/4/06

Steam is the way to go now that it is running smoothly.

Until every man and his dog makes their own propietary distribution system for each single game.

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ctd
Posted 11:24pm 01/4/06

his dog makes their own propietary distribution system

dude, its gonna be a long time before dogs are making computer games.

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DrFrag
Posted 12:34am 02/4/06

Steam is the way to go now that it is running smoothly.

Until every man and his dog makes their own propietary distribution system for each single game.

That's not going to happen. Perhaps a bunch of distribution systems by the big distributors, but look at all the non-Valve titles that have been released on Steam. There's going to be sublicensing.

As for Steam itself, I ... tolerate it. It was incredibly frustrating to try to run a Steam game and get the message "Steam is not currently available", locking me out of the games I paid for. On top of which, all the games are available cracked anyway. This only deters piracy where people want to play online, but I don't anymore because of atrocious behaviour by individuals in the online community (so I play at LANs).

StarForce is worse, of course. System damage aside, subversive installations are not on.

last edited by DrFrag at 00:34:29 02/Apr/06

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myWhiteWolf
Posted 01:16am 02/4/06

i personally think there is no point to any anty piracy implimentations. i think the general consensus is that, playing online requires legit key /version, playing on lan / single player doesn't.

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SCOGGEX
Posted 06:51pm 02/4/06

ok

I remember trog posting about starforce making his fresh xp install lock up etc

and I'm thinking 'heh u suck' etc anyway so I decided not long ago to install Rainbow Six: Lockdown on my PC and it has COMPLETELY F***ED IT IN THE ARSE.

I get the most f***ed up errors like when I reboot sometimes I cannot get any video output, IDEs to auto-detect and F*****G THE ODD BLUE SCREEN. RANDOM C***ING

so whilst I am no hardware guru I am completely perplexed that a previously sweet running rig turns into a USELESS PIECE OF S*** at precisely the same time I install an ubisoft game bundled with F*****G STARFORCE.

after hours of f***arsing around I have decided the only way to get to the bottom of it is to REINSTALL F*****G XP.

thanks starforce c****

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Jim
Posted 07:07pm 02/4/06

ahaha, comedic use of caps+cuss combo

last edited by Jim at 19:07:12 02/Apr/06

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infi
Posted 08:25pm 02/4/06

yes i laughed, which is a rarity on qgl.

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StreX
Posted 09:07pm 02/4/06

heh scoggex's post reminded me of Picture magazine's writing style.

and yeah, starforce is gay. i have never personally had a problem with it, but i like bandwagons.

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Thundercracker
Posted 10:55am 03/4/06

Also check out this article:

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1559

In its latest battles with end users, StarForce, famous for creating copy protection schemes that violated user privacy rights as well as causing notable system problems, has created a website called OnlineSecurity ON. A StarForce employee implies that OnlineSecurity ON is an independent security website (his quote has since been modified) which reviews and writes about software security. Interestingly, he points to an article called "The Truth about StarForce Drivers," which claims:

It is obvious that all the rumors around StarForce hazards are spread by international piracy groups. Our recent contest has just proven that StarForce does not damage optical drives.

Of course, one only needs to do a reverse host look up to show that is StarForce and OnlineSecurity-On.com is one and the same:

[kristopher@arthur]$ nslookup star-force.com
Name: star-force.com
Address: 195.90.131.214

[kristopher@arthur]$ nslookup onlinesecurity-on.com
Name: onlinesecurity-on.com
Address: 195.90.131.214

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parabol
Posted 11:06am 03/4/06

Our recent contest has just proven that StarForce does not damage optical drives

Hi guys, I'm going to be hosting a contest in Antarctica to prove that WoW sucks.

If you want to prove me wrong, pay for your own ticket to Antarctica and bring your own PC and copy of WoW. Oh and it has to be a 100% fresh install of XP with nothing installed whatsoever. That could mean you aren't allowed to install any graphics/motherboard drivers to actually be able to run WoW, but instead I'll be vague and just make up the rules as we go along.

If you don't show, my argument that WoW sucks will be proven correct by default.

last edited by parabol at 11:06:22 03/Apr/06

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Xy
Posted 11:27am 03/4/06

Eggfugginxactly

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Jim
Posted 11:31am 03/4/06

err, parabol what are you on about? that doesn't prove that wow sucks and what does wow have to do with this thread anyway, d*******?

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parabol
Posted 11:40am 03/4/06

You're probably baiting, Jim (with your 'lol' alert and all), but for anyone who is confused about my post:

http://www.star-force.com/protection.phtml?c=261&id=707

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Jim
Posted 11:48am 03/4/06

not so much baiting as reproducing the stupidity of starforce

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Tepid
Posted 12:30pm 03/4/06

lol

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jeracoo
Posted 12:55pm 04/4/06

well i enjoy burning alot of data as i was cheap and bought a small harddrive with my new comp, so i've burnt roughly 400 dvds worth of data in the last 3 months but two months ago i bought i think it was the two thrones prince of persia latest title and it was fun but for some reason the speed on my burner fell from 12x to 4 now this game has starforce and well i quickly took it back and then removed star force. Now i uninstalled the drivers etc but my speed still stayed at 4x. I think i killed my dvd burner.

But i haven't been able to prove that starforce did it as i haven't been able to get my burner working properly again . oh well
DEATH TO STARFORCE, SO SAYETH ME

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jeracoo
Posted 12:55pm 04/4/06

WEEE

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