Python obfuscation

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 08:23:07 -0800, petantik wrote:

> Perhaps a comprehensive protection for interpreted languages can never
> be built because of their high level nature?

Dude, a comprehension protection for *any* software can never be built
because of the fundamental nature of computers. Trying to stop bytes from
being copyable is like trying to stop water from being wet, and once
copied, all copies are identical and therefore indistinguishable.

It isn't a matter of protecting software or data. It is a question of how
hard do you want to make it for people to copy/crack? That itself has
costs, costs of time, space, complexity, bugs, lost opportunities,
customer dissatisfaction, and even legality.

Sony has just found that out: having been caught installing root-kits on
peoples computers, they are now being sued.



-- 
Steven.