Hi all.

Can you please advise me how I can prevent data about me from being sent to a developer?

Context:

While wandering around the net, I came across an expression about Foundry being ruthless to pirates. There were no specifics, so I simply typed in the search term “foundry piracy” and found the following:

… and I even found a form to report potential piracy on their official website (https://www.thefoundry.co.uk/licence-compliance/report-piracy/).

So I was wondering, how can I protect myself from something like this? How can I prevent any data about me from being sent to the developer? I don’t plan on pirating any software developed by Foundry, because I’m just disgusted with using tools created by the likes of… people? It’s just the first time I’ve seen something like this, and I’m curious.

After trying to search for something on this topic on the net, I only came across this thread (https://www.reddit.com/r/Piracy/comments/ot6xkq/isolating_pirated_software/).

My thoughts/questions:

  • It seems to me that just blocking internet access through a firewall isn’t going to help here
  • I would ask if using such software only when the VPN is enabled would help, but it seems to me that such software may run some background processes that will be active even after closing the program, and they will just send information about me / my hardware from time to time, including when I disable the VPN, since I won’t be using such software at the moment. And maybe these processes are trickier than normal processes that you can easily close via Task Manager.
  • Can a virtual machine help in such a case? How would it help in such a case? I’ve never dealt with virtual machines and I don’t know what they are, but aren’t they connected to the same network as my main computer, and can’t the developer get information about me if I use just another device, albeit a virtual one? Or is a virtual machine and how it works somehow different from a notional regular computer, as if it were virtual instead of real?
  • Why does the last-to-last link, in the comments, mention using a separate machine? How is that supposed to help? Wouldn’t that machine be connected to the same network as the main machine? Or, if not connected to the network, how would a machine that is used for everyday needs, but notionally never goes online, be different from a new machine that is not used for any everyday needs, and also never goes online?
  • I’ve heard of operating systems like Whonix, Tails, and Qubes. And about WineHQ, which allows you to run software written for Windows on Linux. I’ve only heard of them, and my understanding of them is no more than the word “anonymity”, so I also want to ask, if I use one of these operating systems, and use software like Nuke from Foundry through the use of WineHQ, could that somehow prevent Foundry from sending information about me? I mean using only the raw operating system, one of the ones listed, without using a VPN and a virtual machine along with it. If the answer is no, would a scenario of using an operating system bundled with a VPN and virtual machine help in this situation?

I apologize if I’ve written some nonsense. I am weak in technical matters. And I also apologize for possible mistakes in the text, I’m using an online translator.

Thanks!

    • r4nd0mn1ckn4m3@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      I’m just wondering how I can protect myself from something like this.

      In the case of Nuke, “just buying” a legitimate copy is not “just” - it costs $6,000 per year. But it’s not necessary, I’ve already found alternatives.

        • r4nd0mn1ckn4m3@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          I don’t like to use stripped down versions of programs only to discover in the process that the functionality I need has been cut out. In my experience with ZBrush, the stripped-down versions lack quite important, and I would even say fundamental, functionality. I would still prefer to use the alternatives mentioned above, where if something is missing, it is not something fundamental.

          And I just don’t want to give money to developers who put up $6,000 price tags and then sue individuals if they use unlicensed versions of software that they simply can’t afford.

    • Sal@aussie.zoneEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      It’s an enterprise app unfortunately.

      I don’t know why they persist with the post-house market because it’s been dead for a long time.

      Going legit as an indie artist means just using alternatives.

      Blackmagic bought out Fusion and stuffed it into Resolve. I’m not a vfx guy but don’t they do similar things?

  • redcalcium@lemmy.instituteEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I never heard of consumer apps doing this. I’m not familiar with foundry, but it seems their target audience are companies? Cracking hard on companies that use unlicensed copy is very common in b2b world. Microsoft, Oracle, etc all doing this to companies, threatening to “audit” them when they detect unlicensed uses from the company’s ip address.

    • r4nd0mn1ckn4m3@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      I never heard of consumer apps doing this. I’m not familiar with foundry, but it seems their target audience are companies? Cracking hard on companies that use unlicensed copy is very common in b2b world. Microsoft, Oracle, etc all doing this to companies, threatening to “audit” them when they detect unlicensed uses from the company’s ip address

      In the links I sent, at least 2 private users (not companies) complained about Foundry demanding money from them, or otherwise starting to sue. I’m not really sure why they’re doing this if it’s just inhumane to demand money from people who don’t even have any. My understanding is that people are not sitting on torrents out of surplus funds. Probably, if they would give up this kind of behavior and stop paying salaries to employees dealing with this issue, they would cover the expenses they have due to the use of unlicensed versions of software by private individuals. But maybe I’m seeing the situation wrong. But whatever it is, tracking down private individuals who use unlicensed software and demanding money from them is to me a kind of madness.

  • affa@startrek.websiteEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    Honestly, I’d wait to see how that plays out in court before freaking out over it.

    I can see any average lawyer convincing a jury that there’s no way to prove the client knew the software was pirated.

  • Joe@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I run a particular online windows game in a modded offline mode under Linux in network isolation and with a restricted apparmor profile. So far so good. Logs show no attempts to break out, except for the smoke test I run to ensure the sandbox is working. This is as much because of the random mods I install as the original devs (who could ban my online account).

    On Windows, a VM would indeed be safer. GPU passthrough is possible … I guess easier with Windows using an onboard GPU, then passing a discrete GPU to the VM. You’ll lose some performance with a VM regardless, but it’s easy to disable networking, back up and restore from a known good state, and burn it to the ground when needed.

    • WalnutLum@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      How do you end up doing this? I’ve been wanting to do the same thing and I’m curious how proton and apparmor interact

    • lemmyvore@feddit.nlEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      You can just not give it any internet access. Put it in a VM without any, would be simplest. On Linux you can also start a program without access to certain network interfaces, I’m assuming there must be on Windows too. Buy yeah a VM would be the easiest to set up.

  • Moonrise2473@feddit.itEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    Given the “Oracle style” pricing that’s unaffordable to anyone they are targeting businesses, so they’re going to sue the businesses in order to score a big payout.

    Like Oracle is seeing a download for the “free” virtualbox in a Company, they immediately send the lawyer team knocking at the doors

    Suing a student or indie creator would be more expensive from a PR point of view

    • Transporter Room 3@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      Commenting solely on the PR aspect, i always immediately side with the individual over the company… Even if the person in question is literally trying to destroy the company entirely, and did blatantly illegal things like breaking in to steal a formula or something.

      I might change my mind at some point afterward, but I will always immediately side with the individual simply because a company can crush an individual’s life with ease, but an individual cannot so easily crush a company. So as far as I’m concerned, it’s just solidarity to side against the company.

  • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    I’m not familiar with the software in question but generally your options are (in order of my personal preference):

    1. Purchase the license and use it legally.
    2. Find a suitable open source or at least free (as in beer) alternative.
    3. Run the warez in a dedicated VM that doesn’t have network access. Or rather doesn’t have network access after downloading the software in question. This can break some modern software that requires an internet connection though.

    If you’re intent on option 3, Virtual Box is a decent (though not great) free software for hosting VMs. Windows can be obtained from microsoft.com and doesn’t actually require registration or a license key (At least Win 10 didn’t, not sure about 11). Once the OS has been installed and the software has been downloaded you can easily disable the network interface from Virtual Box’s interface. From the VMs perspective it will be as if it suddenly doesn’t have a network interface anymore. You can then safely install and run whatever. Things cannot phone home if there isn’t a “phone” available.

    • thanksforallthefish@literature.cafeEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      You don’t need to give the VM network access to download the software if you have a linux host. You can directly mount a virtual box drive from the host, copy the file(s) onto the drive and then unmount it and start the VM as per normal.

      Search for qemu-nbd iirc (network block device) - I have the how to details saved on my host (ie not on me) so ping me if you want them. Note it’s a qemu app that works for vbox

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      7 months ago

      God, virtualbox is awful. Terrible performance, and the UI is clumsy, disjointed, unclear. I really can’t reccomend it to someone unfamiliar with virtualization, it’s really that bad. And anyone familiar with virtualization will hate it for its terrible UI and poor performance.

      QEMU is available via winget (or is it Chocolatey, I forget)

      • StrawberryPigtails@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        0·
        7 months ago

        I agree, it could definitely be better, but it is cross platform, and the UI is “good enough” if your needs are as simple as needing a containment environment for software you don’t trust.

        Is there a GUI interface for qemu now? I haven’t looked recently as I use Proxmox for my VMs. But that seems a bit overkill for this use case.

        • antimidas@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          0·
          7 months ago

          For local usage on linux there’s virt-manager, has been good enough for my use at least, and the integrated spice client has relatively good graphics performance for normal desktop use.

          Edit: don’t know about a good gui for running qemu on windows, though

  • Hadriscus@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    A guy I know used to keep all machines off the internet. He got visited by Foundry lawyers before he took that resolution though. They let him slide as long as he bought as many licenses as he had instances of Nuke running at the time of their visit.

  • dsemy@lemm.eeEnglish
    0·
    7 months ago

    A VM is basically a program which emulates a computer. This emulated computer can be setup to not have internet access.

    Wine is a reimplementation of large parts of Windows, for Linux, with the aim of allowing Windows programs to run on Linux. Wine DOES NOT protect you in any way, it has access to the same stuff any other running program does.

    With Linux, there are a lot of ways to prevent a program from connecting to the internet. IMO for this kinda use-case, I’ll probably run the program sandboxed with Bubblewrap and just unshare the network namespace.