Now that has to be the best idea I have seen yet, make a program that will write NOP's over all that spyware and packet crap!
It's not illegal to modify your own copy of bearshare. No one has the right to stop you from doing that.
With this idea developers will have to spend time watching over and censoring their forums all day while also coding some anti change the code routines, then someone will make new software for that version and the developers will have to write anti, anti code and so on and so forth till they have no hair. The client will lack features of other clients that are progressing forward and it will be lost to the hall of old source code.
I see some developers making a CRC 'check in' routine that will generate a current CRC and send it to the offical main web (spy) site and if it doesn't match, the offical registration ID is used to send you a nasty notice via e-mail and a secret proprietary encrypted SHUT OFF packet is sent out over the whole network with a list of registration ID's that don't comply with the master controller super site.
Then some smart cookie out there will NOP over that and no problem. Lots of time wasted and the developer finally realizes he doesn't have a life and goes to the beach.
I like it!
Good job! What's the link? Im waiting. Need help? post the source code!
It also wouldn't be illegal to post partial de-compiled code from the original since they are needed to perform the program's function and reverse engineering is ok and has held up in the courts.