flash (macromedia): Dear fellow flash animators, Has anyone here found a way to beat the SWF
Decompiler? For those who aren't familiar with that irritating program, its
function is to completly rip your .SWF file. Mainly your library, your sounds,
objects bla bla bla. I have conducted a few experiments and i have found that
both the code protection in flash MX and the swift optimizer were powerless
against this program. Which means, if the animation you worked 6 months on is
online and very popular, it might get ripped in 5 seconds which is sometimes
fustrating since it is your hard work being stolen by some random talentless
kid. I would like to know if anyone of you have found a way to block or
completly protect your flash files from being ripped. Thank you for your
attention, Shin2k27

Well there could be a path to have an swf load another swf within itself. Maybe
that second swf wont be imported into the temp folder of the user viewing it.
Or isnt there simply an actionscript code to stop an user from importing the
..swf?

You can stop someone from importing the swf. Look in the File > Publish
Settings under the Flash Tab. But, your swf can still be decompiled. And that
second swf would be added into the temp folder. And even if there is a way to
stop the second one from being cached, there is always a way around to find the
second file. So, no hope...:(

[quoted text, click to view]

There is no 'the' SWF decompiler .. there are lots of them.

[quoted text, click to view]

There is not way to stop it ... SWF is an open format, and you are putting
your SWF files on the internet for all and sundry to see .. just like if you
put up images on a web site .. you cannot prevent people from looking at
them, even if it might be illegal to do so (if they are copyrighted). Its
like trying to stop people from recording TV shows onto videos. And just
like video records, the program itself is not illegal .. its just that the
use of it can be (depending on what you do with the information you see in
the SWF file).

--
All the best,
Jeckyl

[quoted text, click to view]

Nope

[quoted text, click to view]

Nope
--
All the best,
Jeckyl
[quoted text, click to view]

Originally posted by: NSurveyor You can stop someone from importing the swf.
Look in the File > Publish Settings under the Flash Tab. But, your swf can
still be decompiled. And that second swf would be added into the temp folder.
And even if there is a way to stop the second one from being cached, there is
always a way around to find the second file. So, no hope...:( Actually, if its
only the first file that will be loaded within the HD, you could still try and
use and obfuscator that might crash the decompiler as the thief tries to steal
the codes which might pevent reaching the other file. its a crazy idea but it
might just be one way.

We both knew that from the start, but have you touched the option ive mentioned
a while ago. Using actionscript to load a movies important content into another
swf. Kinda like this : Main swf menu -> click to load movie -> movie being
loaded from another URL within the main swf menu file. All this while
obfuscating the codes to then hide the url from which the main movie is loaded.
Might that work ?

The protect from import only stops it from being imported into flash .. it
has no effect on other authoring tools into which you can import SWF files.

Further, the SWF import in Flash is woeful and strips out clip content,
button content, sounds, script, shape tweens, and has problems with some
masks and text .. so anything vaguely worth protecting from import is
already protected by the fact the Flash won't import it. So the protect
from import option is effectively useless.
--
All the best,
Jeckyl

But the movie loaded in will still end up on the viewer's pc. And you can
deobfuscate the code to see what its doing. It really, I suppose, just a
matter of making it too much bother for someone to want to get at. But if
its something that someone really wants to decompile. . you can't stop them
... just make it more work (which some may see as a challenge instead or a
deterrent).

--
All the best,
Jeckyl
[quoted text, click to view]

Originally posted by: NSurveyor But, if somewere to decompile the first swf.
Then they looked at the actionscript, which would include the path to the
second file. Then they can open that file, and decompile it. Thats where you
would use the obfuscator to blur or crash the decompiler as it tries to read
the actionscripting to figure out where the first flash is...which i still need
to test out tough...but it could as Jeckyl said, make it much more of a bother
for the thief to get the files. Hm maybe you could play with the names too,
giving some name of a flash file that seems common like, button.swf or
something.

On Mon, 29 Nov 2004 23:18:41 +0000 (UTC), "Shin2k27"
[quoted text, click to view]

It is possible to hide the Flash content only in the executables.
Unfortunately online SWF is loaded into Flash OCX which works only
with standard SWF format which in turn is open and well-documented
format. At least you need a special OCX which would work with somehow
modified/ciphered SWF content. Don't beleave that Macromedia will