How to keep my info safe

[French_gal]

I resently finished a couple games for children, including abattle ship like game, and a snakes and ladders game, i want to make sure that my name and copyright info is not deleted or altered or if it was that i could still prove it was my own, so i wanted to add a hidder form, or code that would enable me to do so?
Anyone have any creative ideas?

[Hack]

I assume you have an About Box with your game(s). Thats a good place to put things.

Also, you can put your name and such anywhere you want. As long as no one has access to your source code, then you are Ok.

[Sastraxi]

You can also add a secret easter egg that is password-activated to show you your name, by usually an About Box and having the source is fine.

[French_gal]

The other problem is that my teachers at school do post the code on our network ,as examples to other students and i have had some work reproduced, (i mean in full, not just code which it is intended to be used for) and claimed as someone elses at a different school, so..
I would like to try to hide some code within the code (it is kinda hard to express what i mean) ...
but thanks for your suggestions

[Hack]

You can't hide source code within source code. Invisible code isn't possible.

You could, however, submit your source code with a routine or two missing. Without these routines, your program won't work.

You could tell the teachers that you figure it would be a learning experience for the students. If they want to use your program, only using the source code, then they can use their skills to recreate the routines you left out.

Beyond that, you really have no options if your source is available.

[French_gal]

arh..
i
it's worth a try, thanks

[Hack]

I would be interested to see if you can pull this off French_gal. Let us know, and GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!

[SapphireGreen]

Of couse you could just create your own End User Licsene Agreement and tell your teachers that they can only look at the source code if they don't distribute your code. You still have some rights of privacy even in school, believe it or not.

[plenderj]

Originally posted by SapphireGreen
Of couse you could just create your own End User Licsene Agreement and tell your teachers that they can only look at the source code if they don't distribute your code. You still have some rights of privacy even in school, believe it or not.

No that wouldn't work.
Anything that a staff member or student of an academic institution produces is immediately copyright of the school or college itself.

Thats why so many lecturers and teachers leave schools/colleges to setup their own companies etc.
So if you produce an application, or documentation, or do a thesis, or write an article, its owned by the college or school.

Nothing you can do about im afraid, except what hack said, leave out a few routines.
I myself don't mind my code being stolen.
When I see it in use, it makes be kind of happy knowing people are using my code

[Arbiter]

Anything you produce at work, or in school is copyrighted by the institution, but you still have the right to be identified as the intellectual author of the work.

It's a legal minefield, you need the advice of a lawyer really.

If you produced these in your own time away from work or school then they have no claim over the work at all. You don't have to give them the code.

[Hack]

Originially posted by Arbiter
If you produced these in your own time away from work or school then they have no claim over the work at all. You don't have to give them the code.

Legally thats true, however, she depends on them for promotions, raises, the job itself. Depending on how back door vindictive they might be, it could get very dicey.

[French_gal]

I wouldn`t be bothered if it was just the code it is the graphics...the flash, everything...
See the teach put's the whole htink on the network we shair here at school, when i hand in a project, i put it on the network, so it makes it a prim target for theif,
If i do remove some of the routines, i will be forced to actualy track down my teach and hand it in a person, and pray he doesn`t lose it and even then he may place it on the network.
I just wanted to perhaps add in a hidden message within the code so if it was copied, and then attempted to be distributed by another i could still prove it was mine

see... i feel like i`m between a stone and a hard place... the joys of being a student i guess..

[Hack]

Make sure you have a working copy of your source code on your computer at home before you hand it in. You should always have backups of your code, regardless.

Then, hand in the code with a couple of juicy sub routines missing.

[plenderj]

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[Arbiter]

Well, if you're only a student, then anything you create at school/uni should be coursework anyway and hardly likely to be worth pinching. If you have written something thats so ground breaking and awe inspiring that you don't want the code stolen, then you shouldn't be handing it in to uni.

If you're only worried about someone stealing it and claiming it's their coursework then don't fret. You coded it yourself, you'll have all your old test versions as backups (they won't) and you'll be able to explain any part of it if asked.

[French_gal]

i always have my backups at home and i am not afraid of
being stolen for no reason, but because it has been, sure it wasn`t from a huge franchise, or a buissness at all, but only from another student, and i was able ( after finding all my old files and back up ) to show that it was mine,
just wantèd to add something extra to it. to make it a lil easier next time, cuz, frankly, i think there will be a next time.
When you give a few thousand ppl acess to a game with the code intact, where it can be copied with all it`s components, without any effort, there will be a few ppl whom try to pass it off as their own... at least sometimes... maybe it was just a fluke that it happened once,(and just a fluke i found out about it)) but.. i would like to be more so prepared the next time ( iwas quite distraught, i thought i would be the one accused of being a theif )

thanks for all your helpful ideas I might just email my teach and ask him to remove a few of the essential code out of my projects, and he may come up with an idea or two of his own to solve my prob

Thanks again
Frenchy

[plenderj]

Originally posted by French_gal
i always have my backups at home and i am not afraid of
being stolen for no reason, but because it has been, sure it wasn`t from a huge franchise, or a buissness at all, but only from another student, and i was able ( after finding all my old files and back up ) to show that it was mine,
just wantèd to add something extra to it. to make it a lil easier next time, cuz, frankly, i think there will be a next time.
When you give a few thousand ppl acess to a game with the code intact, where it can be copied with all it`s components, without any effort, there will be a few ppl whom try to pass it off as their own... at least sometimes... maybe it was just a fluke that it happened once,(and just a fluke i found out about it)) but.. i would like to be more so prepared the next time ( iwas quite distraught, i thought i would be the one accused of being a theif )

thanks for all your helpful ideas I might just email my teach and ask him to remove a few of the essential code out of my projects, and he may come up with an idea or two of his own to solve my prob

Thanks again
Frenchy

Bonjour frenchy.
Ca va ?

Avez-vous regarde cette site web ?
http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.p...hreadid=143394

J'ai ecrit la plupart des pages, mais, si on veut les prendre, on peut.

[joey o.]

Use a private DLL to put a translucent (blitblt without buffer) signiture on bottom right screen as well as 1 piece of important functionality. Also include it's neccesity in the app (if it's nothing do not open app). Stand tall and don't let them talk you into removing it. If they play hard ball your school should have some folks in need of a cause - this is a good one for them to stay out of trouble with.

[Sastraxi]

<< Woot Woot >>, je dit. Un autre qui doit parler francais! Mais, je suis tres stupide en francais.

The only thing that I can think of is running another program in the background, that you don't release the source for. Instead, you just reference it (such as a DLL) and include only the compiled version. When you show the source of this DLL, it is easy to prove it is yours.

[French_gal]

la francais est ma permière lang. mais... j'utilise l'anglais le plus au cause la majoriter des personne le parle

merci pour vos idées je les utiliserais dans la prochaine project

thanks again, will fool around with my projects see what i can do

[Arbiter]

The thing is, as it's being submitted to college/uni she'd need to submit ALL the code which is the problem she's facing.

The only thing I could think of is if you do something really sneaky - like cunning coding the app so that the first letter of every second line spells out the name of the authour or some other identifying phrase.

But that's going to be incredibly difficult...

[French_gal]

I actually already thought of that and was going to start doing that

[plenderj]

Well what you could do is just make it a nightmare for someone to remove your name from the app.
Put in variables here and there, for example :

Public Const strAuthor As String = "FrenchGal"
 
' elsewhere in code :
 
If not strAuthor = "FrenchGal" Then
    MsgBox "This program has been modified", vbCritical: End
End If

something like that perhaps, but all over the place.
Also, in each comment describing functions and sections of code, put your name in too

[Janus]

Three letters... GPL. Works fine for VB code.

[Matt_T_hat]

Originally posted by Janus
Three letters... GPL. Works fine for VB code.

Pardon me?

[/\/\isanThr0p]

yeah what about naming all the variables with you name as pre or suffix .. could be a pain taking all of them out.. oh of course you need to have double vars like "FrenchyNString" and "NString" in one function so it gets more confusing when someone modifies them...

[French_gal]

Whats GPL?? and thanks for all the tips

[/\/\isanThr0p]

it's the General Pulblic License developed for open source GNU projects I believe, but having read all you wrote and the other posts that your code belongs to the school anyways I think it won't help you a lot.

[French_gal]

I know but it is kinda depressing to think it would be distributated without my concent..and my teach does understand that i will try to add in my name and stuff into the actual code...

[BShadow]

Originally posted by /\/\isanThr0p
yeah what about naming all the variables with you name as pre or suffix .. could be a pain taking all of them out.. oh of course you need to have double vars like "FrenchyNString" and "NString" in one function so it gets more confusing when someone modifies them...

I don't think this will be a good solution. Long live the search and replace function in Visual Basic.
I think, the best you can do is put some really important function of your code, one that can not be missed, of the code doesn't work, into a dll or exe and hand it with the code. It was said before, and I think that is the best way.

Your game, or program must access this external source which is compilled and gets a value back to work with.

Just make sure your program really needs this source...

OR what you can do, and it's also stated before I think, is something like encrypting your name and make is very nescesary to have that function into your program.
The students are probably looking for main.caption = "by French_Gal" or something, then maybe you should set this value but not the way it can be found.
I have no idea it this works, but maybe you can use
set cmValAuth as main
set cmValAuthC as cmValAuthC.caption
cmValAuthC = chr(asc("F")) & ect.

Ofcourse not with the asc("F"), but search for the ascii code for your letters....

[BShadow]

Originally posted by French_gal
I wouldn`t be bothered if it was just the code it is the graphics...the flash, everything...

You you have to give them the source code of the flash too?? Else you can set your name in here, right??

And, I forgot, some ppl forget to set their name into the properties of the project...

[French_gal]

arh.. i always forget to put my name in flash oups, i will watch out for it from now on. yet i always put myself in the propeties.

[French_gal]

k, thanks

[cafeenman]

I don't know if the laws are the same in Canada, but in the US, your work is automatically legally copyrighted as soon as you begin. I read the laws thoroughly and they apply to any copyrightable material including novels, stories, music and software. Check out the Library of Congress for more information.

Also, if you put your source code and a printout in an envelope and mail it to yourself or someone you trust, the postmark is a legal date that verifies when your software was created. So if someone tried to steal your source code they would have to prove they had it prior to that date.

You can also register your copyright for $25 I think. At least that's what it cost 4 years ago when I looked this up. It may be more now, but it's probably not much and it gives you a little more protection.

[French_gal]

arh i will go check it out, but i know poor man copywritting isn`t valid in canada (sending it to youreself in the mail) i found that out when i was getting some other work published ahr.. but i will go check out