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Registration |
Registration should not normally be an issue with iPartition. Most of the time if you see the registration dialog you will just need to agree to the license agreement and you will then be given the opportunity to customize what's displayed in the About box.
However, if you try and install and run iPartition on another computer or volume, iPartition might ask to check your license with our servers via the Internet.
If your machine is connected to the Internet, the simplest thing to do is to let iPartition check your license automatically. Once you've done this, you will not need to check your license again for that installation.
After you have checked your license via the Internet once, a license key file will be installed in ~/Library/Application Support/iPartition and, if you prefer, rather than having iPartition check via the Internet, you can use this license key file for any future license checks that iPartition asks for.
If your machine does not connect directly to the Internet, check the box and follow the instructions.
NOTE:The automatic check that iPartition performs does not check compliance with the license agreement i.e. if iPartition succesfully checks your license it does not necessarily mean that you are complying with the license agreement; you are responsible for making sure you are keeping within the terms of the license agreement.
The information sent to our server includes your customer number (meaningless to anyone but us) along with the MAC address and serial number of your machine.
We use this information primarily to generate a key file that gets installed in ~/Library/Application Support/iPartition. We record when a request has been made but we don't store the MAC address and serial number on our servers; they simply get copied into the key file that is returned.
If we detect a large number of requests using the same details and we suspect piracy, we will reject the request and record all the information contained in the request to be used as evidence when we prosecute.
First off, Coriolis Systems Limited is a European company. That means we have to comply with the strict Europe-wide laws on safeguarding and use of personal information.
Unlike companies operating in other areas of the world, it would be illegal for us to use or sell your information without asking you first. We are also restricted from holding information for which we have no need.
In addition, we are obliged to show, on request, all the information we hold on you, although we can (and will) charge a small fee for this service. Finally, you have the right to ask us to update any incorrect information.
All data transmitted between the application and our server in this regard is encrypted. On top of that, the key request itself is actually encrypted using practically unbreakable public-key cryptography; it is perfectly safe to send it to us by unencrypted e-mail if you so wish, as no-one other than us could ever decrypt it to read its contents.
We take our commitment to safeguarding your personal data very seriously.
Neither do we. It's a waste of our time and resources developing this sort of thing. We'd much rather improve our products or spend more time supporting our customers.
Unfortunately, the high level of software piracy we're seeing makes it necessary; it takes a lot of time and effort to develop software like ours, and, moreover, it takes a fair bit of money—equipment and staff do have to be paid for, after all.
If you don't want to see more and more software using techniques like these, you need to lobby your government to do something about the behaviour of their citizens, many of whom are openly flouting copyright laws.
Most people who say this don't know what they're talking about. A small number (people like Richard Stallman) have a more reasoned objection to problems that they attribute to the existence of copyright but which are really more about restrictive licensing terms. An even smaller number object to copyright because they don't think it works (evidence for this viewpoint is questionable, however).
The U.K. Patent Office explains why we have copyright protection and also goes into its history. There is also a lot of material about copyright on Wikipedia, for those that are really interested (but be careful not to read just the parts you agree with!)
The chairman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Brad Templeton, also published a brief introduction to copyright as well as debunking some popular myths and summarising some of the more interesting responses that could be adopted to solve the growing crisis triggered by the growth of the Internet and P2P filesharing.