Most people consider frequent software updates a nuisance. However, we show how this common phenomenon can be turned into a feature that protects against software piracy. We define a protocol for drop-in upgrades of software that renders a large class of software piracy more traceable. A novel feature of our approach is a software aging technique by which we force the updates to occur, or else the software becomes decreasingly useful over time.
['Markus Jakobsson', 'Michael K. Reiter']
Discouraging software piracy using software aging