Macrovisin folder on C drive. What the ....?

[kabanero]

I found this today on my C drive:



What the hell is going on? Does anybody else have this too?

[Soopafresh]

What apps do you have installed ? Most Discreet Products have this - 3D Studio Max, etc.

[kabanero]

Update.

Found some articles:

Macrovision Offers Closer Look At SafeCast/C-Dilla:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,830101,00.asp

ArcSoft Mulls Pulling SafeCast DRM From Free Trials:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_zd4167/is_200302/ai_n9515221

Detailed Threat Information:
http://research.spysweeper.com/threats/cdilla_(safecast)

Now I need to find what mofo program that installed SafeCast on my PC. Morons.

[kabanero]

Found another article:

Intuit faces class-action lawsuit over hidden SafeCast software
http://www.spywareinfo.com/newsletter/archives/march-2003/10.php#tt

[kabanero]

I think I found the guilty party:

Flash in the Plan - a DRM Disaster
Link to the article: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/flash1.html

Quote:

" This summer, Macromedia launched a trial campaign to install DRM software on their customer's computers to lock down software functionality and report back to the company how the software is used.
The trial started with Contribute 2.0 and now includes the entire MX 2004 line of Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks and Freehand. It uses the same SafeCast software from Macrovision that caused Inuit embarrassment and controversy with their locked down Turbo Tax product. The backlash from customers was so painful that Inuit dropped SafeCast entirely.

Macromedia is hoping users will play along with the new DRM initiative, following the trail blazed by Microsoft's mandatory license verification in Windows xp and Office xp. Users unhappy with Macromedia's new DRM are left to fill out a survey or qualify for the volume license agreement version that does not use SafeCast.

While the program calls product activation an "anonymous, secure, and hassle-free process," and states it "does not affect the ability of licensed users to use their software as they always have," users of MX 2004 products have found otherwise.

Macromedia's license agreement requires users to 'agree that the company may audit use of their software for compliance with company terms at any time,' and further absolves Macromedia of any liability for damages caused by any errors in their software, including the SafeCast DRM. But SafeCast's methods for DRM lock down may cause more than just a one time annoyance for many users.

Is SafeCast safe, or just a cast?

The SafeCast DRM software is designed to prevent customers from installing Macromedia's locked down software more than twice. Unfortunately, SafeCast achieves this by writing data to the customer's hard drive outside the filesystem in a reserved area. This not only creates the potential for data corruption caused by conflicts with other software utilities that also write in this reserved space, but also ties the license to the hard drive in a way that can't be backed up, and is destroyed when the hard drive is reformatted. Once that happens, users will have to stop and request from Macromedia the ability to use their software again.

On their website, Macromedia has attempted to outline for their customers how simple SafeCast is to use. Customers have 30 days after installing their software to activate it, either over the Internet or using a touch tone phone. Internet activation is quite simple. So simple, in fact, that most customers won't realize that Macromedia is installing DRM software along with the product they buy, to run in the background and monitor their use of the software, as well as writing to their hard drive in a reserved, irretrievable location.

Additionally, customers who install the new locked down software have no reason to suspect that formatting their drive, experiencing a hard drive failure, or the loss or theft of their computer will irretrievably destroy their right to install their software again, even when using their original install media and serial number.

For example, a customer who installed Flash on a system with two partitions, then decided to repartition their drive into a single partition, would unwittingly destroy the SafeCast license key on their drive in the process. In order to reinstall their software, they would have to call Macromedia to explain why they wanted to reinstall their software and ask for permission to reinstall it again.

Headaches with Flash

When this happened at a design company in San Francisco, it caused hours of downtime in determining what was required to reauthorize the software. The verification software in the installer insisted that Flash had been installed on too many computers. To perform a transfer of license, the installer recommended printing out a PDF request and faxing it to Macromedia for consideration.

When a phone authorization was attempted, the software requested the user to call an automated line and enter a series of 14 sets of five or six numbers, one section at a time, pausing for an automated voice to repeat the numbers back, entering a digit to verify the number sequence was correct, and then proceeding through the next set of numbers. After several minutes of entering all the numbers, the phone system reported that the phone verification system was experiencing technical problems and the caller would need to talk to an operator.

The call center operator explained that the original license key was tied to previous installations, and carefully reported the date and time that the software had been originally installed. After some time in explaining the situation, the call center agent agreed to grant a 'one time' additional authorization over the Internet, but said Macromedia could not delete the existing authorizations, even though they were tied to software installations that no longer exist.

Privacy, Schmivacy

While Macromedia insists that no personal information is sent as part of the 'anonymous' verification process, both the verification and the user's personal registration information are tied to the same serial number; Macromedia doesn't say they won't use information gathered in verification along with registration data for marketing purposes. In fact, their privacy policy includes the statement that the company 'may occasionally update, amend, or change their privacy policy based on user feedback and as needed.' The Macrovision SafeCast they chose for DRM lock down was expressly designed to gather personal data from users.

Software buyers are already familiar with copy protection methods that use a software key or hardware dongle to protect against software piracy. However, these simpler methods do not include spyware to monitor and report back on how the software is used, nor is the mechanism they use obfuscated or potentially dangerous to user's data. Choosing SafeCast indicates Macromedia's DRM initiative isn't solely intended to just stop software piracy.
....

If Macromedia's products become increasingly difficult to use through excessive licensing verification measures, users will simply switch to competing products. While Flash does not have an obvious direct competitor, Macromedia should recognize that much of the user base and interest in developing for Flash comes from users who got started on shared copies of the software. If Macromedia can successfully wipe out all unauthorized copies of Flash MX on the development end, they may find that continued development in Flash may be the real casualty.

Development could easily stagnate with previous versions of Flash, since most Flash developers still use older versions and don't require features new to Flash MX 2004. Additionally, advertisers want Flash animations designed to work on the widest audience possible, which is currently Flash 4/5, not MX. By forcing users to give up convenience, flexibility and familiarity in order to upgrade to the latest version of their applications, Macromedia could win a DRM battle but lose the war in developing software that matters to consumers."

[lumis]

wow, thats some pretty rotten stuff to do.. but i guess they feel like they can force people in to accepting the DRM.

[guns1inger]

Could also be from copy protected music CDs

[pfh]

Just happened upon a blurb in a magazine mentioning some crap named StarForce. It's an anti-piracy tool that creates problems more than solving them. It apparently isn't removed even after the offending app. is.

Gotta go here: http://www.onlinesecurity-on.com and choose a "security basis" search on removing the junk.

One of the issues surrounding this StarForce driver is causing BSOD's when audio cd's are inserted, however, data and other discs work ok.

[thecoalman]

It gets a little tiring to see articles like that continuously, lok out Big Brother is watching.