Serious copy-protection launched for Linux and MacOS-X

Link Data Security has launched their well-known CD-ROM protection, CD-Cops, in a Linux version. And a similar solution for MacOS-X.

Link Data Security has launched their well-known CD-ROM protection, CD-Cops, in a Linux version. And a similar solution for MacOS-X.

F.A. Brockhaus, Germanys largest publisher of dictionaries and encyclopedia, have just released their first protected Linux title, BTB2004. All of their Linux products will appear in protected versions next year.

In the Linux world software producers deliver source code for most programs in the hope that a more robust and compatible software environment can be built up - with fewer problems due to unpublished specifications. For this reason copy-protection might seem to be a red flag waved in the face of the Linux environment.

"Up to now, the lack of protection against copying has prevented many companies from publishing on the Linux platform. It is in the interest of the Linux world that the platform expands through serious publication", says Hans K. Pedersen, president of Link Data Security.

"Some larger publishers have begun to use tools such as the Norwegian QT, which allows them to use the same source for Windows, Linux and MacOS-X. So they need security on all platforms. We expect this market to grow", he continues.

The arrival of copy protection for Linux symbolizes the growing complexity that comes with Linuxs wide market acceptance, and Linux may eventually end up with many of the same problems that Windows has. For example, there are already many viruses for Linux. Here open source is a drawback, since virus designers can look in the source code to find weaknesses they can exploit. They neednt waste time on difficult machine code.

Only time will tell if the openness of the open source environment is going to result in better software. Hans Pedersen says: "Open source will make it more difficult to pay for the development of special software, since competitors can easily learn the tricks of the trade. Here, protection of program code can contribute to the supply of higher quality programs."

Background:

Link Data Security have produced data security for more than 20 years and are sub-contractor to many of the worlds largest companies.
Homepage: www.linkdata.dk or www.linkdata.com.

CD-Cops is known worldwide as a high end copy protection system. It is used all over the globe providing protected CD-ROMs for such companies as, as Oxford University Press, Macmillan Publishers and Springer Verlag.

Contact
CEO Hans K. Pedersen.
Tel: +45 3323 2350; Evenings +45 3644 5060
email: hp@linkdata.dk