That way you would know exactly every bit of information they are receiving from you. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Not so, Jkeller. The system generates a code based (supposedly) on the configuration of various aspects of your computer. You, the owner of your computer, are not allowed to know what that information consists of. Whether Curious Labs receive the code via auto registration over the internet, or some other means, they still get info about you. Because you aren't allowed to know how that code is generated, or what it means, it could just as well be (in principle) anything from your computer. In addition to this, secret code is placed on your hard drive. You, the owner of your computer, aren't allowed to know what this code is. You, the owner of your computer, are not able to delete the code. Despite having paid money for a license to use the software, due to this system you are eventually certain to have to return to Curious Labs for additional authorisation to use it. At the moment, Curious Labs seem like a nice bunch. But businesses don't stay the same. Poser has been owned by a ruthless corporation before, and it may well be again. Who knows what hoops you might have to jump through to get authorisation? Give personal info? Call a toll number? No matter what guarantee Curious Labs may like to offer now about what happens should they go belly-up, two years down the road it might be meaningless. The current crew might have been fired, and escorted off the premises - with court injunctions preventing them from interfering with the program. Potential creditors of the company might choose to withhold the 'release' code. All of these things may seem absurd and far-fetched now, and I'm sure some of them are. But they are all possible. Companies can, and do, change. All this we know right now, without waiting for Curious Labs to make some kind of announcement. The inconvenience factor of the protection system is largely irrelevant to me. It's the principle that counts. This is the thin end of an insidious and dangerous wedge. The internet, once the shiny new standard bearer of freedom, is rapidly becoming a tool for the big brothers of commerce and government. The infuriating thing about this is that it is just pointless. I do not believe that Curious Labs revenues are being badly hit by piracy. They are having a knee jerk reaction - they might believe it, but it just isn't so (and note at the beginning of this Steve Cooper said that Curious Labs was doing very well). All they can come up with to fight the non-existent menace is a system like this - they're software engineers, they can't think of anything else. The protection system will become the plaything of crackers for the short time it takes them to destroy it, then Poser and PPP will become available again to those who wouldn't pay for it anyway. So this invasive and restrictive system will completely fail to fight an enemy that doesn't do any significant harm. If anyone wants to use new versions of Poser, they have to take their trousers down to Curious Labs. And most folk will, because most folk don't know (or want to know) any better. What will come next? After all we know for 99.999999% of sure that this system won't work. So will Poser5 require a log-on to Curious Labs every month? With more private info? Obviously, Curious Labs must fight the dragonz of warez, so whatever they do will only be reasonable. Right?