Copying Matrix program from a node?, Good point, but may be game breaking Options Track this topic Email this topic Print this topic Download this topic Subscribe to this forum Display Modes Outline Switch to: Standard Switch to: Linear+

[Jérémie]

Could a Matrix user (a hacker hacking it, or someone with the right security login or even admin login) copy a program a node is running?

I can't find any reasons that wouldn't be possible, but it may be a game breaker... a PC hacker could obtain most ICE for free, and so on. So ok, most of the time without the source code, but you don't always need it.

Any thoughts on that? I missed something in the book?

Edit: by the way, I'm looking for the most canonical answers, thoughts, tips. If you have a strong personal view on this, ok, but please state it as your own, and not the SR4 dev's one.

[sunnyside]

Yeah hacking needs a lot of elaboration and a lot of solid examples of how it shoud work.

As for copying a program you have to be where the code is resident. That need not always be the case. It probably is for basic IC. But if a corp has a hot new model they may very well run it on a seperate system and have it travel to the main server like an agent.

Another thing, and I forget if SR4 stresses this, but corp programs/hardware tend to bleed an electronic trail. This wouldn't be removed when breaking copy protection as it's a feature of the program as opposed to a copy protection issue (for example you can have perfectly emulated the host system, but as always the program leaves a trail or at the least occasionlly sends a little message off to the home corp.). And who knows what other kind of shenanigans may be present in corp code.