Symantec Adds DRM To Norton Antivirus

Symantec
has begun adding digital-rights-management software to downloadable
versions of Norton Antivirus 2003 in an attempt to foil software
pirates.

For now, the DRM-equipped
antivirus products have not been sold at retail, although a pilot
retail program will be going into place “soon”, according to William
Plante, director of worldwide security and brand protection at
Symantec.

However, Symantec
executives declined to reveal the DRM software being used by the Norton
Antivirus products, although a spokesman said that he was told internal
tests had indicated that the software did not write information to the
boot sector, as Macrovision’s SafeCast products do. Symantec executives
also confirmed that their software does not use Macrovision technology.

Digital-rights-management
software has become one of the most controversial linchpins of the new
millenium. On one hand, corporations argue that they have a right to
attempt to prevent illegal piracy, which can rob them of millions in
otherwise potential sales. On the other, consumers have pointed out
that the act of purchasing software, and owning it, should allow the
customer great freedom in how he uses the technology. Intuit’s
inclusion of DRM inside its TurboTax software provoked almost two months’ worth of controversy.

Microsoft operating systems used to
be the most frequent targets of pirates, Plante said. However, after
Microsoft began adding “activation” features to Microsoft Windows XP,
the pirates’ focus changed.

“Right now the Symantec
Norton brand is the most heavily counterfeited product that there is in
general, based upon conversations from the antipiracy folks that we’re
dealing with,” Plante said.

Symantec has begun taking a
more active role in antipiracy efforts as the company’s software
becomes more frequently pirated, Plante said.

Spam emails advertising
pirated versions of Norton SystemWorks software products have become
increasingly frequent, and Plante said federal law enforcement agents
have reported over the last year that the company’s products are
frequently targeted. Lisa Chen, a noted pirate, was sentenced last
November to nine years in prison, for importing pirated software from
Taiwan. Over 600,000 copies of pirated, silkscreened Norton Antivirus
CD-ROMs were found, Symantec said then.

“I had a meeting with our president soon after that,” Plante said. “He said, ‘I want to have a DRM solution’”.

A spokeswoman for the
Business Software Alliance in Washington said that while the industry
group monitors software piracy, it does not maintain lists of which
programs are the most frequently targeted.

Turn the page for more details on Symantec’s DRM plans.

DRM In Place Since January

Symantec began offering DRM-enabled,
downloadable versions of the English-language Symantec Norton Antivirus
software to consumers in January, although customers were not able to
choose between the DRM-enabled software and non-DRM versions, according
to Del Smith, senior product manager for Norton Antivirus. Smith called
the pilot a “test”.

Symantec will begin
including the DRM software inside boxed versions of English-language
Norton Antivirus 2003 “soon”, Harris added.

“It is (shipping) or at
least it will be soon,” Harris said of the DRM-enabled Norton Antivirus
2003 boxes, which have begun to roll out to stores. “We’ll implement
boxed versions, but we’re only doing so in limited quantities of units.
It’s purely a pilot to see how effective it is. A select number of
customers will purchase a box in the next couple of months with the
(DRM) technology inside.”

The boxed copies will be
labeled with a sticker that informs consumers that the product must be
activated, Harris said, as well as an insert inside the box that
explains the activation process more thoroughly.

Turn the page for details on Symantec’s secretive activation scheme.

Symantec’s Secretive Activation Scheme

However, Symantec’s activation scheme remains shrouded in mystery.

While other companies, such
as Intuit, have disclosed the DRM software residing on their software,
Symantec executives said they didn’t want to give a free ride to
software crackers.

“At this time we don’t want
to reveal the software we’re using,” Harris said. “We basically don’t
want to reveal the software or vendor, because we don’t want to tip our
hand to pirates.”

When asked if consumers
should have a right to know what software they’re installing on their
PC, a Symantec spokesman reiterated that the company’s actions
benefited the consumer. “I don’t know how to answer that question,” the
spokesman said. “The reason we’re doing that is to protect the
consumer. We’ve heard from consumers about the illegitimacy of pirated
software. They put a high value on using an authentic product.”

What little is known about Syamntec’s activation process is contained within an activation FAQ Symantec has placed on its website.

Currently, when a user
downloads the Norton Antivirus software, an activation key is
downloaded with it. Users have 14 days to activate their software;
trialware versions are activated automatically. After the activation
period has passed, the product will not function. As in other products,
activation is separate from registration, and activation information is
transmitted anonymously, and automatically, Symantec executives said.
Currently, the only way to activate the downloadable software is
through the Internet, which automatically uploads the registration key.

Users who purchase the
DRM-enabled retail copy of Norton Antivirus 2003 will be asked to input
a code from the box itself, which is uploaded to the server. Users also
may phone the code in to Symantec to activate the product. The
company’s servers will then determine whether the code is valid, Smith
said.

The software can be
installed, uninstalled, and then loaded onto as many machines as the
user would like. However, each software copy must be activated, and
activation will only work in accordance with the software’s End User
License Agreement (EULA), according to the FAQ.

“This allows for fair use
of the product,” Smith said. “The customer has a great deal of
flexibility without the need to contact Symantec for help.”

Symantec’s mystery DRM
software appears to check off the components within a PC, similar to
the scheme used by Microsoft’s Windows XP and future versions of Office,
to determine if the PC is in fact the same as the one on which it was
originally installed. The DRM software does not write to the boot
sector of the disk, Symantec executives said.

“You are also required to
reactivate Norton AntiVirus 2003 if you make substantial hardware
changes (e.g. installation of a new hard disk) to the PC on which the
product was originally activated,” the FAQ states. However, Symantec
executives did not characterize what “substantial” hardware changes
entailed.

Source: ExtremeTech