Thinking Outside the DRM: Denuvo Sues Founder of Piracy Group "REVOLT"

[Raevenlord]

What do you do when your main product keeps being bypassed in the eternal cat and mouse game of DRM versus piracy groups? If you're with Denuvo, you think "outside the box" and look for slightly different ways to eliminate the competition, such as actual legal action.

Following this legal action and a collaboration with Bulgaria's police, the justice system has managed to identify Aka Voksi as the founder of scene group "Revolt", seizing his personal computer - events that resulted in Voksi stating he would be dropping all piracy-related activities immediately and for the future (a wise move considering the circumstances). Reddit and piracy-focused websites have already begun fundraising efforts to prepare for Voksi's defense.





A statement from Denuvo's parent company Irdeto follows:

"A 21-year-old Bulgarian man. Aka Voksi, from Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. Allegedly responsible for the hacking of a number of games carrying Denuvo's Anti-Tamper software. Has been arrested following a collaboration between Irdeto and the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit. Following an initial investigation by Irdeto into the hacking of Denuvo Anti-Tamper software. The findings were passed to the Bulgarian Cybercrime Unit. And resulted in the raid on a premises in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria on Tuesday. During the raid, computers and other items suspected to have been used in the piracy of a range of titles were seized by police."

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[RejZoR]

Or just admit that Denuvo is useless garbage like every single other protection and game developers should start treating gamers as customers and not as thieves by default. I don't support piracy, but garbage DRM is getting on my nerves for 2 decades and it gave me absolutely nothing but trouble. Especially when new OS versions come out and their drivers crap out. It's why none of SafeDisc/SecuROM protected games work on new OS (Win9x -> WinXP or WinXP -> Vista etc). It's not because games are incompatible, it's because DRM attached to it is incompatible and no one ever updates a damn thing later. So, Denuvo, buzz off. We don't want you around.

 

[Ferrum Master]

They should have hired him. Waste...

 

[Vya Domus]

That's rich , I mean if they have the legal ground whatever go ahead but it's pathetic regardless. They pretty much admitted that their software will never be up to scratch and are searching for other ways to remain relevant.

That's like a company manufacturing anti bullet vests would sue a firearms manufacturer for making powerful enough guns that render their products useless.

 

[R0H1T]

It's rather interesting that hackers, & crackers, get jail time for things which could be considered hobby or educational at their age. On the other hand, lifetime criminals legislate laws for the vast majority of us

A 21-year-old Bulgarian man. Aka Voksi, from Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. Allegedly responsible for the hacking of a number of games carrying Denuvo's Anti-Tamper software.

 

[RejZoR]

Or police prosecuting car manufacturers for making cars that all go over speed limits...

 

[Parn]

That's rich , I mean if they have the legal ground whatever go ahead but it's pathetic regardless. They pretty much admitted that their software will never be up to scratch and are searching for other ways to remain relevant.

That's like a company manufacturing anti bullet vests would sue a firearms manufacturer for making powerful enough guns that render their products useless.

Well said.

Denuvo and its partners aren't going to get a single penny from me. No matter how good the actual game is if it is bundled with Denuvo, I'll gladly skip it.

 

[the54thvoid]

If someone creates code to give access to a product without paying for it, it's kind of obvious what could happen. Whether you support Denuvo or not, it's theft.
As for games being expensive, yes, they are. But a lot cost a huge amount to make, therefore, driving up costs.
Just look at cinema/theatre costs. It's all the same.

No easy answers, but we have a saviour. They're called CDPR.

 

[Vya Domus]

If someone creates code to give access to a product without paying for it, it's kind of obvious what could happen. Whether you support Denuvo or not, it's theft.

What you are describing is distribution of copyrighted material. This though isn't that , I mean here's the quote from the article :

"Allegedly responsible for the hacking of a number of games carrying Denuvo's Anti-Tamper software."

Nothing in that infers distribution of copyrighted material , whatever they did and it was illegal fine but that doesn't sound like it. I am really curious what the actual charges are.

 

[Nuke Dukem]

"Aka Voksi" is not a name, guys. The oridnal Irdeto post reads: "A 21-year-old Bulgarian man, aka Voksi, from Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria", which the Eteknix team misquoted as "Aka Voksi" and one could misinterpret if simply glancing over their article. Without dots to seaparate the "also known as" abbreviation or quotation marks to emphasize that Voksi is a pseudonym, rather than a personal name, the Irdeto post is also potentially misleading.

Just sayin', guys, don't expect to run into anyone named "Aka Voksi" around this part of Europe - this is not the kind of name one would usually have around here. I would know, for I too hail from the glorious absurdity that is Bulgaria

Edit: Local news have got no coverage on this. Either someone's keeping a lid on it or nobody cares.

 

[HimymCZe]

How about we incarcerate ALL THE Voksi(s) and Snowden(s) in the world and let ALL THE facebook(s) and ubisoft(s) FUCK us all night long...

 

[softreaper]

The thing that makes me laugth, here in france, is that we have "right for private copy" (so we could copy anything for backup purpose or personnal use, and it's in the law) and due to this, every anti copy system is outlaw, BUT cracking a software to bring back this right is recognized as intellectual property infringment, so it's still punished by law.

So legaly we can copy, denuvo is outlaw, but we become too if we crack a thing that blocks our private copy right Oo

 

[birdie]

I hope someone nukes Denuvo.

Yes, I have a grudge even against their employees, like programmers and other staff because DRM is the worst thing in the programming industry you could be part of.

You could as well work for the mafia.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Voski should walk because he reverse engineered their software which, in most countries, is not illegal (it's actually encouraged to spur competition). The only statute he broke is circumventing DRM but any fair court would consider the first trumps the last. Denuvo holds all of the cards though: they'll make sure the case is heard in a court that is pro-DRM so Voski doesn't stand a chance.

I wish Voski was in the USA because that's where the DRM streak started (even TPP practically had DMCA apply to all of the signatories). SCOTUS really needs a strong case against DRM to come before it: specifically, law should not burden the government with policing software in the name of corporate interests.


Denuvo will probably hire Voski as part of a plea deal.

 

[librin.so.1]

I'm puzzled though: Denuvo is a piece of software, so how exactly it is related to theft on the high seas?

 

[Prince Valiant]

Voski should walk because he reverse engineered their software which, in most countries, is not illegal (it's actually encouraged to spur competition). The only statute he broke is circumventing DRM but any fair court would consider the first trumps the last. Denuvo holds all of the cards though: they'll make sure the case is heard in a court that is pro-DRM so Voski doesn't stand a chance.

I wish Voski was in the USA because that's where the DRM streak started (even TPP practically had DMCA apply to all of the signatories). SCOTUS really needs a strong case against DRM to come before it: specifically, law should not burden the government with policing software in the name of corporate interests.

Denuvo will probably hire Voski as part of a plea deal.

I couldn't agree more. It'd be nice to see companies have to accept when their products fail instead of pushing the blame onto something else and wasting court time to do it.

 

[the54thvoid]

What you are describing is distribution of copyrighted material. This though isn't that , I mean here's the quote from the article :

"Allegedly responsible for the hacking of a number of games carrying Denuvo's Anti-Tamper software."

Nothing in that infers distribution of copyrighted material , whatever they did and it was illegal fine but that doesn't sound like it. I am really curious what the actual charges are.

I hear you. In many countries though, there are laws that can be used ambiguously, covered by 'consipracy to commit...'

I know some people hack 'for fun', unfortunately, that fun often can cost somebody, something. Therefore, the law gets involved.

 

[OneMoar]

rule one of software cracking, you don't talk about software cracking
shame volski broke that rule now denublow wins and everybody is up shi!~creek

If someone creates code to give access to a product without paying for it, it's kind of obvious what could happen. Whether you support Denuvo or not, it's theft.

wooooaaah there buddy full stop

Nope and Nope again that is not theft that is not even close to the definition of theft. its not even the legal definition of theft

that very line of reasoning is what gets people heated over this subject its wholly wrong both legally and from a practical perspective

I am not up on bulgarian law but at best they have a breach of EULA here I don't know if bulgaria has a CFAB equivalent but I doubt it

they might be-able to charge him with contrib copyright infringement for distring cracked execs but that has no relation to to denuvos case, the reversing of there software

 

[AltCapwn]

They'll never learn. I mean, the only companies that use DRM are those who release bad games and want to maximize the profit on the first 2 weeks of the release to be sure they have full cash before a crack goes out.

Every game I've downloaded in the past, I've bought them if I loved them. Hellblade for example, I wouldn't have paid full price for a game from an unknown company. After my walkthrough, I bought it full price just to give my love to this masterpiece.

I'm now buying my games mostly from GOG to encourage DRM-Free and Indie studio.


Piracy is even better to keep relics of the past alive and available for everyone to enjoy (ROMS for example). The type of relics that you can't even buy anymore because of whatever reason. Just like Goldeneye; they were supposed to release a full remaster of the game on xbox 360 and they couldn't because James Bond is licensed by Ubisoft (and I'm not talking about that remake made by ubisoft that was *meh*. It's a part of our culture and history and they want to remove that from us simply because they can't get a grip on the little cash it can give to them when they did millions already on those games. It's not like they're selling those ROMS (except on ebay lol) or those pirated games. Those SHOULD get punished by the law.

I can understand, it's their creation, they have the last word.

DRM is like sand...
"I don't like the sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating... not like you *DRM-Free games*. You're soft and smooth"

 

[Tsukiyomi91]

how to destroy game companies that uses a useless anti-tampering software that thinks it's still relevant in the digital world?? Support CDPR for their DRM-free releases.

 

[Readlight]

And why publisher won't go to jail for making this anti-consumer practices. they making a product who sometimes won't work. every product needs to be tested before you buy. we live in an open free world where governments, banks, and people are brainwashed.

 

[the54thvoid]

rule one of software cracking, you don't talk about software cracking
shame volski broke that rule now denublow wins and everybody is up shi!~creek


wooooaaah there buddy full stop

Nope and Nope again that is not theft that is not even close to the definition of theft. its not even the legal definition of theft

that very line of reasoning is what gets people heated over this subject its wholly wrong both legally and from a practical perspective

I am not up on bulgarian law but at best they have a breach of EULA here I don't know if bulgaria has a CFAB equivalent but I doubt it

they might be-able to charge him with contrib copyright infringement for distring cracked execs but that has no relation to to denuvos case, the reversing of there software

I stated in my post there are laws that use 'conspiracy to...'
We have a law in Scotland called 'Breach of the Peace' which can be interpreted to arrest people for various reasons. Similarly, the 'conspiracy to...' notion could be construed from providing access.
Yes, it's not theft, yes, it's not the legal definition but if the process allows others to 'steal' the product by using the 'crack' then, it's possibly perceivable as 'conspiracy to commit theft'.

People like to pretend 'noy buying a game' but gaining access to it isn't theft. Different countries have different rules but ultimately, most courts would interpret not paying for software, as a form of theft.
But, it's very hard to prove.

 

[Upgrayedd]

I hope someone was around to learn everything Voksi knew for the cracking community.

I highly doubt he would take a job there and if he did would prob get fired for intentionally making them easier to crack.

 

[JcRabbit]

So software piracy isn't theft?

Some claim software piracy isn't theft because no physical object was subtracted - by that reasoning, it's perfectly ok for person A to hire person B to mow their law and then refuse to pay them after the job is done - because, after all, no physical object is being taken from person B.

But it's not ok, of course. Call it whatever you want, but by not paying person B, person A is effectively forcefully taking from person B what is legitimately his: money that he will then use to feed himself and his family.

Behind any manufactured physical or digital object, and labor, is the very same thing: the energy someone spent manufacturing that object or performing said labor. THAT is what you are REALLY paying for, not the physical object itself.

To illustrate this, take a stone sculpture for instance: the stone that sculpture is made of is the same stone you can find everywhere in nature for free - but that is not what you are paying for. What you are paying for is the unique human creative energy that brought THAT particular sculpture into existence. And because every human being is unique, so is that sculpture. Likewise with software and any other intellectual property such as books, paintings, etc...

So, if a cracker enables other people to steal your goods, or the result of your labor, he is no different than someone who lock picks your front door and goes around announcing what he did so everyone else can get into your home and steal your stuff. As such, he deserves to be criminally prosecuted. In fact, I believe that starting to put crackers in jail would be a hundred times more effective (and more productive) than any DRM ever will.

As for DRM, I am as much against it as the next person, but some seem to forget that DRM came after the pirates, not the other way around. Stop pirating, DRM stops making sense and therefore being used by developers to protect their software.

And don't believe that 'ah if the games were cheaper, blah blah' BS. People will pirate ANYTHING (even if it costs only $1) if they think they can get away with it, and will then simply rationalize their actions with some kind of BS excuse so they can look at themselves in the mirror and not feel bad. This is an attitude that can only be changed by social pressure (i.e.; the whole society looking down on software pirates as being no different than thieves) - and even then you will never be able to put a stop to it completely. Until then, people will just rationalize software piracy instead of facing the truth about what they are really doing.

 

[Mistral]

Alright Denuvo... if you can't beat them, sue them!