Beware of Starforce

StarForce is a copy protection system used in some computer games that is known to cause undesired side-effects and dangers to one's computer. Boing Boing reported that someone from StarForce has threatened to sue them for criticizing the product in a posting. From Boing Boing:

Yesterday, I posted about StarForce, a harmful technology used by game companies to restrict their customers' freedom. StarForce attempts to stop game customers from copying their property, but it has the side-effects of destabilizing and crashing the computers on which it is installed.

Someone identifying himself as "Dennis Zhidkov, PR-manager, StarForce Inc." contacted me this morning and threatened to sue me, and told me that he had contacted the FBI to complain about my "harassment."

Similarities.org has a list of known games that contain StarForce. It is wise to becareful when playing these games.