With StarForce Must Die, the latest edition of The Escapist revisits the copy protection scheme that was originally planned for Heroes of Might and Magic V. They remind us that game publishers have a responsibility with the issues surrounding Digital Rights Management:

"Several major game companies are the real culprits. They allowed, very effectively, the StarForce brand to be the focus of consumer ire about anti-piracy. That we are talking about a small Russian programming firm, and not the huge companies that use the product, is a testament to the effectiveness of this tactic - the StarForce Trojan Horse."

A quote from Fabrice's final report about Starforce is used to illustrate the point of view of publishers regarding whether the EULA covers, or not, DRM in a game (the link to the complete post in the article appears to be broken by the time I write this). The Escapist also points out that, several months after the StarForce controversy, StarForce claims to have improved its public image. We might still see the infamous beast again in the future, perhaps under another form.