[quote]In Blizzard's latest attempt to close down Battle Net bot projects entirely; today March 16th @ 11:20pm Stealth received an email from his web host informing him that the StealthBot installer was to be immediately removed. Although a 48 hour grace period was extended before this action needed to be complied with it does look as though StealthBot 2.6 will need to be removed from the local server.

Stealth will be contacting Blizzard tomorrow to determine on what grounds Blizzard is demanding this action. The entire StealthBot staff will be working furriously to correct any problems with the project and bring to you a new StealthBot which does not infringe on there product rights in any way.

At this time we request that you the users help us persuade Blizzard from this action. If you could take a few momments of your time to send an email to Blizzard (legal@blizzard.com) and express how this action will effect your Battle Net experience we would greatly appreciate it.

-StealthBot Staff[/quote]

[Kp edit: changed title.  Left post text alone.  Old title of "WHYY" (more Ys) sucked.]

Omfg, Blizzard. Why now? They've let bots go on for ages, until now?! :-\

I have yet to receive an actual copy of the e-mail request. I assume it's similar to those received by BNet.cc and MadzBots in the past.

I am very disappointed in Blizzard. They went over my head, over my webhost's head, and send their request directly to the datacenter that my webhost uses, The Planet in Dallas. Therefore I have yet to see this e-mail and cannot verify its authenticity.

As soon as I have contact information for a legal affairs specialist at Blizzard I will be calling them to inquire as to what grounds they have for demanding my takedown of StealthBot. I will also attempt to work with them to bring StealthBot into compliance with any kind of copyright infringement claims they make.

As far as I know, StealthBot's imitation of the client-side Battle.net protocol is legal reverse-engineering pending the outcome of Blizzard vs. BNetD. This appears to be simply a bully tactic by Blizzard.

Does anyone have suggestions as to how I should go about handling this? My course of action right now is as follows:

1. Wait for the e-mail to arrive from The Planet. It names a specific file (my installer) as being a DMCA violation.

2. Take down the file. (I can simply disable my mirror, as several others exist and were not specified in the complaint to my knowledge.)

3. Call Blizzard and speak to their legal department regarding the request. Find out if they have any grounds at all for making a case against my software. Emphasize that I'm a minor (17).

4. Talk to Blizzard's legal department or some other segment of their organization and see what I can do to bring StealthBot into compliance with their wishes.

5. Contact the EFF and inform them of the situation, see what their suggestions are.

6. Post the e-mail in its entirety on chillingeffects.org.

I don't have the resources to fight this in court, nor the money to settle it outside of court. If it comes to it, I will simply end the project. I hope Blizzard won't make me do that.

Sorry to hear this Stealth.

@Mangix, change the title of this post.

Yeah, it's a dumb title :P

Stealth -- until you actually get into contact with Blizzard, there's no way of knowing that it's actually them.  It would be extremely easy for somebody who doesn't like you to send an email to your host (or datacenter) posing as Blizzard.

My solution: host all your files outside of the United States! :)

Are you sure that is a correct E-mail address? I sent a e-mail wanting to talk to them. And it came back as a mailer deamon.
I'd also like to get some stats, How many connections per day does BNLS get for the BotID Stealth?
Is there a way I can get that information? (Nothing to do with cdkeys or anything -.-  jsut connection on the ID.)

This could mean that some dammen script kiddie used a pathetic SMTP server to send a false e-mail. Check the e-mail headers and tell me what they are. (Those can also be forges cuz Battle.net servers allow for SMTP connetions sadly)
~-~(HDX)~-~

[quote author=HdxBmx27 link=topic=10945.msg104255#msg104255 date=1111085488]
Are you sure that is a correct E-mail address? I sent a e-mail wanting to talk to them. And it came back as a mailer deamon.
~-~(HDX)~-~
[/quote]


Yeah same. Ive got a message saying a failure sending it? Stealth are you sure you got the email from "legal@blizzard.com" ?

He didn't get the email, his host's datacenter got it.

[quote author=Falcon[anti-yL] link=topic=10945.msg104283#msg104283 date=1111093840]
He didn't get the email, his host's datacenter got it.
[/quote]

Oh, sorry i didnt know. I thought Stealth got it. My wrong, sorry. :P

Does the installer contain any "hash files"?

Yes. Good question. Or any other Blizzard game files, graphics - anything like that. Chat icons, perhaps?

[quote author=Soul Taker link=topic=10945.msg104288#msg104288 date=1111097034]
Does the installer contain any "hash files"?
[/quote]

No.  StealthBot.net does not host these files either, however links to sites that do are all over the place.

[quote author=Arta[vL] link=topic=10945.msg104289#msg104289 date=1111098600]
Yes. Good question. Or any other Blizzard game files, graphics - anything like that. Chat icons, perhaps?
[/quote]

It does contain the chat icons, as they are built into the client.

If you're distributing their icons, that's infringement (no question). You can probably get away with downloading icons.bni and parsing it.

[quote author=Arta[vL] link=topic=10945.msg104293#msg104293 date=1111101257]
If you're distributing their icons, that's infringement (no question). You can probably get away with downloading icons.bni and parsing it.
[/quote]

Beyond those icons, however, there really isn't much that's infringing. I was speaking with Doug (Imhotep[Nu]) and came to the following conclusions:

- We can modify the images to break that infringement if necessary
- The most likely reason for their action was this change between 2.5 and 2.6:

[quote]- Added PGTour rank icons for compatibility with their private server (thanks Pat)[/quote]

They clearly don't like privately-operated Battle.net servers, so I suppose that change can be construed as a move in support of these servers.


Again, 100% speculation as I still have yet to see the e-mails themselves.

Hmm maybe blizzard have decided to put money into there older games, now they are making money from world of warcraft.
If this is for reall, then maybe it could be related to somthing that was added to stealth bot with in the last few months, also keep in mind that stealthbot is most likely the most used public bot for battle.net (im guessing).
Having many war3 featchers, enables a user to gain access to war3 featchers such as clan Recruiting, and clan creating with out having to go out and buy the game. This is just a idea.
Anyway i found a little more infomation on the related subject:
http://chillingeffects.org/copyright/
i hope this comes of some use.
all the best in this uncertain time.
Ringo.

I daresay the email will reference violations of the EULA, which prohibits you from writing a client (not just reverse engineering). It's clearly unreasonable, but ho hum.

Be aware that just modifiying the icons will not be sufficient. You need new ones, or such significant modification that they appear to be new. This is why I asked Spht to create me some new icons for TestBNCS - I'm sure he won't mind you using them if you want to. 

[quote author=Arta[vL] link=topic=10945.msg104309#msg104309 date=1111108869]
I daresay the email will reference violations of the EULA, which prohibits you from writing a client (not just reverse engineering). It's clearly unreasonable, but ho hum.
[/quote]

The EULA is a state-level contract in conflict with federal law (DCMA, no less) -- where the federal law is what is protecting our fair use of the software in terms of reverse engineering.  Because US constitutional law mandates that federal law supercedes or "preempts" state law, an EULA should have no standing in court when it conflicts with the DMCA.

Interesting, and all you guys said that the DMCA would screw us over :P

I am no longer into battle.net but i would hate to see bots disappear. Stealth contact me via aim...

XtremeComps or NuclearSupport

I have recently started my own webhosting company for much cheaper then most others. Site is currently down due to propegating a new server.  Site is www.nuclearweb.net . Let me know i am willing to hook you up with free hosting just because i would hate to see blizzard once again ruin everything.

Thanks
NuclearWeb.Net Owner
Eric Reed

Is it me, or has B.net gone 100% to try and stop bots, and all things like that.


Why are battle.net doing it now, whats so special about stopping bots now? Why couldnt they of tried before, or later. Is it me, or do you think Battle.net want to stop bots for a very good reason... :-\

Ok, first of all, I've been in a legal mix with Blizzard for almost a year now, and they've yet to do anything serious about stopping bots.

If Blizzard didn't want bots on Battle.net, they could alter the connection sequence so far, as to have it so that ALL current bots wouldn't work.

As far as your mention of 'legal@blizzard.com', all reports of any legal entanglement to my website ( BNET.cc ) were directed from hacks@blizzard.com, or later from the actual VUGames lawyer ( Rod.Rigole@vugames.com ).

So any emails directely from legal@blizzard.com, are 99% garaunteed fake, as Blizzard does infact, not have their own legal department (unless they've changed something since I've been in touch with them).

As far as I know, they have to contact you, not your host, and give you 48 hours to remove the file(s). Whats more, if you remove them, you can put them back up within 48 hours, under a different name. ( lol )

The lawyer I spoke with from VUGames is very nice and accomodating, and I think we talked on the phone for almost 2 hours, discussing possibly legal consultation, as well as inquiries about how to protect my site from this happening again. Here is his information:


Rod Rigole
Senior Counsel
Vivendi Universal Games, Inc.
(310) 431-4099  (direct)
Rod.Rigole@vugames.com

I also have the original emails, as I used to have them on an html page on my website, but if anyone really needs a copy of them, I'd be happy to send ya one.

~Tagban

Thanks, TaGBaN. I will get in touch with him.

Anytime Stealthy boy. :-P

I hope this works out for you stealth.

Yay! 400th post!

Battle.net cant possibly stop Stealthbot. Its a very popular bot, im sure hes got alot of people on his side.

[quote author=QwertyMonster link=topic=10945.msg104408#msg104408 date=1111172385]
Battle.net cant possibly stop Stealthbot. Its a very popular bot, im sure hes got alot of people on his side.
[/quote]
That's a stupid stance.

I wonder why Battle.net would started going after bots now?  They've been around long enough and  they haven't taken any strong action to stop them. 

What's even more strange is why they would be going after stealthbot.  As far as I can remember, stealthbot has been a benign presence in Battle.net.

I'm beginning to doubt that this has anything to do with the DMCA takedown and Blizzard.

Perhaps the popularity of stealthbot has attracted some unwanted users...

Battle.net isn't directly against Bot's as I have asked Blizzard Representatives and they say they really don't care. Hosting Binaries or something  they said they will take actions.

I think this is someone playing a cruel trick. :-\

For the icons, you have to make 10 changes to it for it to be legal.

I very much doubt that that is true.

Even if it truely was Battle.net that contacted Stealth, and the issue was with the icons, it would just be easier to download them instead of including them in the bot. Also, I doubt that Battle.net would try to do anything to stop the creation of bot's of any kind. No matter what they are capable of. They've never tried anything before, out of the hundreds of bots that are out there, why would they attack Stealthbot? They have no reason to. There are plenty of other bot's that have many of the same features as Stealthbot. If Battle.net really is going to do something about stopping people from creating Battle.net bot's, you would think that they would aim for the spamming bots (floodbots, massload bot's), these kinds of bot's obviously create more of a problem that a bot that simply logs onto battle.net, doesn't ruin anything on Battle.net's side, all you can do is chat on it, moderate channels, and use many of the same features that the game clients themselves have. Therefore, it is more likely that the notice from Battle.net to Stealth is fake. Although it is possible that it could be real, even though that would be weird that they attacked Stealth instead of others.

I am highly doubting the credibility of this email, Stealth.

[quote author=Warrior link=topic=10945.msg104421#msg104421 date=1111180051]
Battle.net isn't directly against Bot's as I have asked Blizzard Representatives and they say they really don't care. Hosting Binaries or something  they said they will take actions.
[/quote]

This has to do with the use of bots rather than the programming of them, but...

[quote]"... While Blizzard does not expressly forbid the use of bots, we strongly recommend against their use. Bots allow users levels of automation that make it very easy to commit, even inadvertently, acts like harassment that are violations of the Terms of Use agreement. Thus, a bot user is much more likely to face punitive measures than a normal user. If you choose to use bots, please exercise caution." - ChadJ (Blizzard Representative)[/quote]

[quote author=Soul Taker link=topic=10945.msg104416#msg104416 date=1111177560]
[quote author=QwertyMonster link=topic=10945.msg104408#msg104408 date=1111172385]
Battle.net cant possibly stop Stealthbot. Its a very popular bot, im sure hes got alot of people on his side.
[/quote]
That's a stupid stance.
[/quote]

He can't help it, that's all he can do.

Well isn't the problem distributing the software not actually programming it? If you don't distribute your software then no one has it except you which I doubt they care much about (since you're not hosting them)

Look, the reason Blizzard contacts websites regarding bot files, is because some lamebrain idiot reports the file to Blizzard hacks department as a hack. They never even checked my site when asking me to remove the bot files, it was just some asshole, that reported it.

They do not support 3rd party programs, but there is absolutely no way to control them. The only thing blizzard can do, is change all their login sequences, packets, etc. And even if they did that, bots would still emerge rather instantly. If not bots, people would write 'addon's' for Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo, to handle moderation, or even flooding, that just bypass all the security measures Blizzard had just put in place.

I'd recommend removing the files for a few days, and putting em back up, and see if they contact you again. lol

Blizzard has yet to re-contact me about the content I removed, and actually put back up. (They are sly however, and have circumvented my server's security, to get a list of the files locations (( IE: I moved the files into a different directory, but didn't link to them)).).

Battle.net wouldn't change anything related to the Logon sequence, they arn't going to release updates to all thier old clients especially since most of the teams from thier old products are gone, so they would be lost in the source code

[quote author=Warrior link=topic=10945.msg104478#msg104478 date=1111201222]
Battle.net wouldn't change anything related to the Logon sequence, they arn't going to release updates to all thier old clients especially since most of the teams from thier old products are gone, so they would be lost in the source code
[/quote]

Well, they can actually develop a new logon sequence, trust me, to earn more money they would.

[quote author=Archangel link=topic=10945.msg104900#msg104900 date=1111467971]
[quote author=Warrior link=topic=10945.msg104478#msg104478 date=1111201222]
Battle.net wouldn't change anything related to the Logon sequence, they arn't going to release updates to all thier old clients especially since most of the teams from thier old products are gone, so they would be lost in the source code
[/quote]

Well, they can actually develop a new logon sequence, trust me, to earn more money they would.
[/quote]

But guess what -- they are losing money on Battle.net.  You think that advertising that nobody clicks actually generates enough money to sustain the servers and bandwidth costs?

Do you think people would play the games as much or want to play them if battle.net wasn't there? I personally wouldn't.

[quote author=MyndFyre link=topic=10945.msg104908#msg104908 date=1111470844]
[quote author=Archangel link=topic=10945.msg104900#msg104900 date=1111467971]
[quote author=Warrior link=topic=10945.msg104478#msg104478 date=1111201222]
Battle.net wouldn't change anything related to the Logon sequence, they arn't going to release updates to all thier old clients especially since most of the teams from thier old products are gone, so they would be lost in the source code
[/quote]

Well, they can actually develop a new logon sequence, trust me, to earn more money they would.
[/quote]

But guess what -- they are losing money on Battle.net.  You think that advertising that nobody clicks actually generates enough money to sustain the servers and bandwidth costs?
[/quote]

Plus I doubt battle.net generates much money from the "Battle.net Bot Development Community" and those that use bots excessively. We just soak up more bandwidth without having to actually pay for the game thus costing them more money.

IMO, If I were battle.net I wouldn't me either on the server.

Networks, as good as a point as that makes, the bots do require CD Keys, which must be gotten somehow. If you manage to steal ones, or generate ones, thats good for you, but as the legal jist of it stands, you cannot get into private channels, without having a CD Key, therefore, can very easily claim that you purchased the key legally and are using the one that came with your game.

If anything, at least logically, Blizzard should make more money because of Bot Developers. Thanks to us, people's CD Keys get stolen, and in an aggitated state, they go buy another one. Thus selling one more copy of Starcraft.

~Tagban

[quote author=Networks link=topic=10945.msg104946#msg104946 date=1111510813]
Plus I doubt battle.net generates much money from the "Battle.net Bot Development Community" and those that use bots excessively. We just soak up more bandwidth without having to actually pay for the game thus costing them more money.

IMO, If I were battle.net I wouldn't me either on the server.
[/quote]

Let's see...in my lifetime, Blizzard products I've purchased (roughly in order of acquisition):
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
Starcraft
Diablo
Starcraft: Brood War
Diablo II
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

I'd say they've definitely made a tidy profit off of ME.

None of that changes your undesirability as a denizen of their servers of course. :P

[quote author=Zakath link=topic=10945.msg104959#msg104959 date=1111517403]
Let's see...in my lifetime, Blizzard products I've purchased (roughly in order of acquisition):
Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal
Starcraft
Diablo
Starcraft: Brood War
Diablo II
Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
Diablo II: Lord of Destruction
Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

I'd say they've definitely made a tidy profit off of ME.

None of that changes your undesirability as a denizen of their servers of course. :P
[/quote]

I think I've bought the same games in I think the same order.  Except that I bought Starcraft twice (due to wanting to play with my brother) and my brother bought TFT.

Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
Warcraft 2: Tides of Darkness
Diablo (best game EVER)
Starcraft
----------
After I bought Starcraft, I finally noticed that all these awesome games were by the same company, and my loyalty began
----------
Starcraft: Brood War
Diablo II / or Warcraft II Battle.net Edition, which came first?
Diablo II Lord of Destruction
Warcraft III
Warcraft III The Frozen Throne
WoW is evil so no thanks
I probably would have bought that Warcraft adventure game too.

I was looking forward to Warcraft Adventures! I was disappointed when they canceled it.

Oh well, at least Thrall showed up in Warcraft III...

Speaking of canceling games. does anyone know if Sc Ghost is still comming out? last I head they kept pushing back the due date.

It's still on the blizzard website..

I saw they mentioned Warcraft Adventures on my Warcraft Book it looked pretty neat. RPGish?

lol Blizzard Games wise, first game from them I ever owned was:
Lost Vikings

Then I went to get:
Lost Vikings 2
Warcraft Orcs and Humans
Warcraft 2
Warcraft 2:EXP
Diablo
Warcraft 2 BNet Edition
Starcraft (at least 4 copies)
Starcraft Brood War
Diablo 2
Diablo 2: EXP
Warcraft 3
Warcraft 3: TFT
World of Warcraft (Cancelled after the first month)


Either way, I've put my share of $$ into their games, they shouldn't complain too much. :)

Ok, so this mean, almost all bot developers bought almost all blizzard games?

Most of us support blizzard.

Why do most developers waste thier time (not really) writing bots? They enjoy the game.

Better question: Why not?

Because Blizzard has left us unfinished business -- things we think we could do better, or things the clients can't do. They could easily integrate into their client (or produce of their own accord) a system that allows for the same basic functionality that bots provide and most people wouldn't think twice.

I personally own Diablo, Diablo II, Starcraft and its expansion (2 copies of Starcraft original), Warcraft III and two copies of Frozen Throne. Plus, I'm an active WoW subscriber.

I'm not sure how the second copy of Frozen Throne came about. I don't think I actually bought it, I think it was left at my house by a friend sometime ages ago and never sought.

i own 3 copys of starcraft, 2 of brood war, 2 Diablo II, 2 Diablo II LOD, 1 Warcraft II

Why would you buy mulitple copys of broodwar, its not like they give you a cdkey with it..

I bought 4 copies of Starcraft, 1 copy of broodwar, 6 warcraft II BNE, 1 D2, 1 LOD, 1WC3, and 1TFT.

erm my list was currently what I have in my CD Case, in actuality, I've bought over 10 copies of Warcraft 2, and at least 15 Starcraft, plus 2 War3, 1 TFT, and I think 2 Diablo 2.

Myself I only bought one copy of sc but, I got over 15 working cd keys. I just told kids I would kill them if they didnt give me there cd key.... Its amazing what  somone will do to avoid a loss.

[quote author=hierholzer link=topic=10945.msg105173#msg105173 date=1111614035]
Myself I only bought one copy of sc but, I got over 15 working cd keys. I just told kids I would kill them if they didnt give me there cd key.... Its amazing what  somone will do to avoid a loss.
[/quote]
Thats pathetically childish. I usually go to a differtent server and ask for a key to use on a different server to what they are. Works sometimes.
Though I bought:-
-1 SC/BW
-1 D2
-1 W2
-1 W3
-1 W3: TFT

[quote author=TaGBaN link=topic=10945.msg105148#msg105148 date=1111611917]
I've bought over 10 copies of Warcraft 2, and at least 15 Starcraft
[/quote]

Why?

I'm guessing cdkeys.

Next time you have extra money sitting around, give it to me!

It was for CD Keys, because I don't feel the need to steal from people. At least then if a key gets lost, I can claim it got stolen, send them the case, and have them send me a new key. I've done it TONS of times. Thats why I still have working keys for all of those.

I also hate people that use CD Key generators, because chances are, the key you're generating, could be owned by someone, thus hurting loyal Battle.net gamers.

..or chances are it doesn't work.

(more of one than the other)

[quote author=Blaze link=topic=10945.msg105142#msg105142 date=1111611084]
Why would you buy mulitple copys of broodwar, its not like they give you a cdkey with it..
[/quote]

i play in a network, and like i dont like non original games

You should learn not to loose so many keys then :P

Nowadays if you lend your key out to one person, the whole world has it in a week. Plus I found out that like 5 cdkeys out of 500 keys generated by a cdkey generator work. Of course all of these 5 are banned each time I try it.

[Off-topic] Why is 1234567890123 recognized as a valid starcraft key?

..because it doesn't use Battle.net to verify its authenticity. You cannot connect to Battle.net with it though. I think it does basic sanity checks, no?

There is a 1/10 chance of having a valid install key (https://davnit.net/bnet/vL/phpbbs/index.php?topic=5778.0).  It just happens that 1234567890123 falls into that 10% (I use it as a test key all the time).

That also means that, statistically, one of 0000000000000, 11111111111, 2222222222222, ....., 9999999999999 will be a valid install key.  Has anybody tried those?

<edit> just for fun, I tried:
0000000000000 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
1111111111111 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
2222222222222 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
3333333333333 is valid!
4444444444444 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
5555555555555 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
6666666666666 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
7777777777777 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
8888888888888 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)
9999999999999 is invalid (exceptions.InvalidCDKey: CDKey is invalid.)

Good game! :)

So if you ever need a valid test key, just hold down 3

On many Microsoft products that use all-numeric CDKeys (Visual Studio, Office 97) you can put in all 1's and it will be valid.

That's generally if they're cracked. I used to use all 1's when I would download the cracked visual c++, or vb. I went out and got my own copy at best buy a while back, finally, and tried all 1's and it did not work.

They most likely bypassed some sort of internal checksum in the installer.

[quote author=warz link=topic=10945.msg105383#msg105383 date=1111706759]
That's generally if they're cracked. I used to use all 1's when I would download the cracked visual c++, or vb. I went out and got my own copy at best buy a while back, finally, and tried all 1's and it did not work.
[/quote]
No; it has nothing to do with whether or not they're cracked.  If you have an MSDN subscription, for example, it says right on your CD key list that non-activated products, if it's 11 digits and all numbers, that it's just 111-11111111.

On topic, Blizzard has sent me an e-mail thanking me for my cooperation and stating that no further action is required on my part. I've asked permission to make the correspondence between the Anti-Piracy Department and myself available to read so I'll let you know if that becomes available.

E-Mails avaible at: http://www.stealthbot.net/legal/

I don't get those e-mails at all.  They say that you are hosting a hack, which I too thought was a copy and pasted response.  But then they are satisfied because you removed only one mirror?  Seems really weird to me.

[quote author=Soul Taker link=topic=10945.msg106299#msg106299 date=1112172007]
I don't get those e-mails at all.  They say that you are hosting a hack, which I too thought was a copy and pasted response.  But then they are satisfied because you removed only one mirror?  Seems really weird to me.
[/quote]

I gave them an easy way out -- by complying with their e-mail and being very calm and reasonable with them they analyzed things further and decided they had no legal recourse. Since I was compliant with their original request they simply thanked me for cooperating and backed down.

Are they going after any of the other links to stealthbot?

Also a post i made on your forums.

Blizz may have thought that you reverse enginered their SC/BW client.

Whats wrong with reverse engineering the game? Its allowed legally isn't it?

[quote author=Blaze link=topic=10945.msg108093#msg108093 date=1113177843]
Whats wrong with reverse engineering the game? Its allowed legally isn't it?
[/quote]

They don't permit it in their EULA, which is supposedly a "contract"

Except that in some countries, reverse engineering is specifically allowed by law.

What countries are these?

It's allowed here (UK), with some restrictions. You're allowed to reverse engineer for interoperability, but only if the information you need isn't publicly available.

[quote author=Ban link=topic=10945.msg108174#msg108174 date=1113232059]
What countries are these?
[/quote]

It is specifically allowed by law in the United States, as well.  Although, you're missing the point, Kane: the theory behind the EULA is that by using the software, you are agreeing to waive that right.  bnetd is basing their argument on the Supremacy Clause from the US Constitution -- that no state contract (which is what the EULA is) can supercede the federal statute (which is what the DMCA is, which permits reverse engineering for the purposes of creating interoperable products, among other reasons).

That is the legal battle that this case will come down to, and should it go to the Supreme Court (I believe it may), I believe the Supreme Court will rule in favor of bnetd in an effort to preserve federal power.

[edit]And on that note, perhaps we should move part of this thread to the Politics forum? :P[/edit]

I don't believe the EULAs of Warcraft III and prior games forbid reverse-engineering or packetsniffing -- only WoW expressly forbids them both. The Battle.net EULA's third-party client clause is the one they could enforce, but on a user-by-user basis -- I can develop my software theoretically without ever connecting to Battle.net.

I asked my law prof if an EULA was an enforceable contract and he laughed :)

[quote author=Stealth link=topic=10945.msg108268#msg108268 date=1113267588]
I don't believe the EULAs of Warcraft III and prior games forbid reverse-engineering or packetsniffing -- only WoW expressly forbids them both. The Battle.net EULA's third-party client clause is the one they could enforce, but on a user-by-user basis -- I can develop my software theoretically without ever connecting to Battle.net.
[/quote]Partially true, Blizzard states that you cannot reverse engineer "downloaded content", so does that mean that you can't reverse a patched version of the game, since new data was downloaded?

"downloaded content" seems as though it would refer to the patches themselves. Reverse-engineering the actions of the patches is probably much easier from a game cracker's standpoint than re-cracking the game.