Earlier this week Neowin covered news on how Google"s new licensing service, recently announced to combat Android piracy, had already been hacked and was also relatively easy to do so. Google has now responded to the hack and points out that no piracy method will ever be completely effective.
In a blog post on the Android developers website by Tim Bray, an Android developer, explains that while Google is trying it"s best to help combat piracy, the platform is still young, and even admits there is work to be done. The post says that the license service "while very young, is a significant step forward in terms of protection over the plain copy-protection facility that used to be the norm."
Tim Bray has a point. Android"s previous copy protection was nonexistent, and it was as easy as copying the APK file between devices to have the full version of an application. Some companies, such as CoPilot actually developed their own copy protection systems that use license keys instead.
The post goes on to point out that a license services setup is supposed to provide the infrastructure for developers to "write custom authentication checks for each of their application" and not use the service "as-is" which obviously would make piracy much easier. Tim also says that "100% piracy protection is never possible in any system that runs third-party code" and that "the best attack on pirates is to make their work more difficult and expensive."
Android Police, the website that originally published the hack actually said that "Google’s Licensing Service is still, in [our] opinion, the best option for copy protection."