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Thread: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

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    Administrator rkmcswain's Avatar
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    Exclamation Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    https://www.cgarchitect.com/features...s-in-penalties

    This is a fairly long read, but in summary:

    • Employees of a company installed Autodesk software on their personal PCs and logged into their Autodesk account.
    • This provided Autodesk with the ability to scan the PC, at which point pirated copies of other Autodesk software were found.
    • Autodesk went after the company for this piracy, not the individuals.
    R.K. McSwain | CAD Panacea |

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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    That's a little scary. While I'm back in the office after working from home for 6 months I've often installed my single user work software at home as I've always had a better PC for AutoCAD there. Logged onto our account as administrator the license display has changed over the years and shows little more than # of installs.

    They really need to update Account to provide more information and automatically notify administrators of piracy detected by one of their users and allow them to take action. I see ads for 100% free AutoCAD downloads all the time. They should be going after those people not paying customers.

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    Administrator Ed Jobe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    I can understand that Autodesk was looking to be successful at recovering lost revenue, but that doesn't seem fair. I suppose the company could go after the employees to recover their loss. I send a link to our IT dept manager to let him know about the "dangers". I'm not sure what the company could do to protect itself. What about your company?
    C:> ED WORKING....

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    Administrator rkmcswain's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    Ditto Ed.

    Companies have zero control over devices that are not in their control - which is every other device on the planet.

    There are so many ways this could happen.
    What if employee "john doe" has to go work at his brother's house and downloads and uses AutoCAD there (and brother has pirated software)
    Or what if someone gains possession of employee "john doe"'s Autodesk account and uses it on a device with pirated software

    This smells like a money grab. Autodesk injects some language into the EULA and sits back and waits for an opportunity, because it's cheaper to pay Autodesk, than lawyers to fight it.

    Just my 2 cents. I have no inside information.
    R.K. McSwain | CAD Panacea |

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    Administrator BlackBox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    Guess I don't understand why Autodesk doesn't instead simply (quietly) modify the pirated software to no longer work on detection?
    "How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."

    Sincpac C3D ~ Autodesk Exchange Apps

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    Administrator Ed Jobe's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    I think at least our IT dept should issue a warning to employees about installing Autodesk software on their personal pc's. That should encourage them to keep their pc's clean.
    C:> ED WORKING....

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    Administrator Opie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    Quote Originally Posted by BlackBox View Post
    Guess I don't understand why Autodesk doesn't instead simply (quietly) modify the pirated software to no longer work on detection?
    I wonder if doing that would be considered unauthorized access, which may be a criminal offense.
    If you have a technical question, please find the appropriate forum and ask it there.
    You will get a quicker response from your fellow AUGI members than if you sent it to me via a PM or email.
    jUSt

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    Administrator BlackBox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    Quote Originally Posted by Opie View Post
    I wonder if doing that would be considered unauthorized access, which may be a criminal offense.
    Methinks that would make for an interesting legal challenge to see unfold.

    Given the premise RK aptly notes, that 'it's cheaper to pay Autodesk, than lawyers to fight it', if Autodesk has sufficient basis/claim to penalize an employer once pirated software has been identified, then they presumably have the right to modify 'their software' in kind.
    "How we think determines what we do, and what we do determines what we get."

    Sincpac C3D ~ Autodesk Exchange Apps

    Computer Specs:
    Dell Precision 3660, Core i9-12900K 5.2GHz, 64GB DDR5 RAM, PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD (RAID 0), 16GB NVIDIA RTX A4000

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    Administrator Opie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    Quote Originally Posted by BlackBox View Post
    Methinks that would make for an interesting legal challenge to see unfold.

    Given the premise RK aptly notes, that 'it's cheaper to pay Autodesk, than lawyers to fight it', if Autodesk has sufficient basis/claim to penalize an employer once pirated software has been identified, then they presumably have the right to modify 'their software' in kind.
    Guess that is why I am not a lawyer.
    If you have a technical question, please find the appropriate forum and ask it there.
    You will get a quicker response from your fellow AUGI members than if you sent it to me via a PM or email.
    jUSt

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    Default Re: Autodesk piracy where you might not expect it

    In the late 1980's while working for Palm Beach County Florida our office had networked software to store and retrieve survey notes by field book & page or section township and range.
    We also had software that stored field measurements and adjusted traverse networks with each other as measurements were added.
    The survey note software only needed one license for everyone that used it, the field measurements software needed one license for each DOS 3.21 PC, while both kept their data on the network.
    When MIS installed an update for the survey note software the field measurements software interpreted it as a hack and retaliated by wiping out all the survey note records we had.

    While a survey crew chief at the time I spent an entire summer 4 months re-entering all that data. Didn't mind to much as I spent all that time working in AC.

    Software companies have always fought piracy viscously and have never erred on the side of caution dealing out what they feel is justice. Even forgetting what it would cost to fight them how many could afford to go without their software if they simply decided not to continue doing business with us?

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