-1

is there a way that I can "Stamp" my .zip files with some type of hidden Data (like the email address of the buyer/downloader) every time that .zip is being downloaded?

Basically trying to inject some type of Unique variable into the .zip, for tracking/security reasons.

I'm not even sure if I can modify a .zip like that, but I figured that I should ask, because I've been searching around and could not find an answer.

Artjom B.
  • 61,146
  • 24
  • 125
  • 222
Andrew Davis
  • 58
  • 8

1 Answers1

0

How would you go about "tracking" this zip file?

Are you going to ask the user to send you the zip file so you can see if it's legitimate? Not sure what you're going for here.

Having said that. Some ideas:

Take the contents of the zip file concatenated with the email address of the buyer/downloader + some key that only you know. Take the MD5 of that and name the zip file {THATMD5}.zip. Or, you could put something like Key.txt into the zip file and key.txt could contain {THATMD5}. Again, not sure how you plan to "track" this though.

aquinas
  • 23,318
  • 5
  • 58
  • 81
  • Hi aquinas. Basically my idea is to protect myself from people who Buy your virtual products, then Upload them to the Public, so 1000 people can download your Product for free. Basically to protect the Product from Thieves. When they upload the .Zip to such a Public site, I can download the file myself, and see who is the culprit. I may use some Unique ID instead of their Email. Thanks very much for your suggestions. I'll try to research those a bit. – Andrew Davis Apr 24 '12 at 02:34
  • Yeah, the problem though is what is to stop me from simply unzipping and rezipping the file contents? – aquinas Apr 24 '12 at 02:34
  • It won't stop you from doing that. I am aware of that. That's why I want to put this information very hidden. I will inject it at the end of the .zip code. That way, chances are I will catch them without them noticing. This idea has flaws of course, but it is better to me, than doing nothing. – Andrew Davis Apr 24 '12 at 02:38
  • I suppose you could add a comment to one of the files in the zip. The zip format does let you do that. Probably the casual user would never notice this, since they would have to actually open the archive to find that comment and most people just say: unzip here. – aquinas Apr 24 '12 at 02:50
  • Thanks allot for the suggestion! I wasn't aware of the Comment feature. You're correct that most people never actually open the .zip archive. I'll keep your suggestion in mind. I'll try writing the Data to the source code of the .zip first. I was able to do so manually, without corrupting thee .zip. It's really unlikely that someone would suddenly check out the source code to be safe. – Andrew Davis Apr 24 '12 at 03:07