No copy protection is 100%. There are many different schemes that can be used to prevent copying, and every single one can be circumvented by some means.
Android by design, provides only a very simple copy protection mechanism -- installation to a non-user-readable path. Having super- user privileges bypasses this restriction. And yes, apps that have been copied can be installed anywhere. The most major deficiency of this copy protection is the inequity of app distribution imposed as a result of root privileges, for example, developer devices (ADP1) are blocked from installing protected apps from the market since they have root. Rooted devices are not identifies as ADP1 and therefore CAN install protected apps. Bringing up apple protection as a comparison against android is really not fair. Non-rooted apple phones can only have apps installed from apple's market. This is a very restrictive process that is quite incompatible with the philosophy behind android, and quite frankly, couldn't be implemented in any reliable manner due to the availability of the applicable source code. Nor would most people want it to be. Now the thing is this; these days, people are being trained to buy apps and media. For some inexplicable reason, online media stores are actually successful, despite the availability of pirated music (for example) for people who aren't either morally opposed to piracy or simply too lazy to look for it. (I'm not going to get into moral or legal discussions here). Fact is that having the market sitting right there in front of the customers make it easiest FOR THEM to simply drop the $2 and buy the app -- that is greatest anti-piracy measure available to date BY FAR. Yes, there are a few people who will still go out to pirate apps, but this will usually be restricted to expensive apps (i.e. copilot costs $35 on the android market for N.A.), or for getting around things that are retarded (like ADP1 being blocked from protected apps and paid apps being unavailable in regions like Canada). Now if you really want to implement some copy protection, there have been some suggestions made above. I can also describe the copy protection on copilot, which I have observed; The way copilot protects their apps is this; You buy the app on the market -- this sends some data back to ALK regarding the purchase including market invoice number and some device identification details. You then have access to the 10 day trial (which quits working after 10 days). Within that 10 days, they receive the data, your phone then "calls home", provides its information, and if they confirm that you have paid for the app, it sends the registration code (which is an encryption of some bunch of data that can be linked directly to your phone) confirming (with their software) that it can keep working indefinitely. *** of course, copilot has been hacked anyways. As it will happen for anything worth having (and some things NOT worth having). On Aug 29, 7:55 am, david <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > Anyone of you have experience with paid apps in the Android market? > Recent examples have been shown that paid apps can easily be copied > and distributed even with copy protection enabled in the market. Is > there anything Google has built into the Android OS to prevent this? > Is there any SDK call to check wheter for an app has been paid for > (check against the market application?) or anything else, so a > developer can have the same secure environment like on the iPhone? > Otherwise this is a big problem for the whole Android ecosphere as we > won't see many high quality apps popping up. > > /David --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Android Discuss" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-discuss?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
