To be honest, I don't think you have anything to worry about if you don't own it either. I'd be willing to bet that a high percentage of people here (yes, including myself) used ill gotten keys for a while with this product before deciding that, quite frankly, it's a wonderful piece of software, and (IMO) the most powerful and flexible FTP client available, and a steal at $25. I work for a well know shareware development house, and so am very familiar with how this sort of thing works (with our software, groups generally buy the software on stolen or fake cards, then release). The fact of the matter is that it's simply impractical to chase after every single user using an illegal copy of the program, especially given the number of them with a program such as this, and it's all but impossible to catch the groups that release and popup laden web pages that distribute to the undeserving. I think that BigStar's policy is brilliant - make it as inconvenient as possible for people to use illegal keys (through a method which is not disreputable, no matter how you look at it). Eventually, all but the cheapest losers will see how good the program is and buy it - and let's face it, those that refuse to pay for it even after seeing how good it is aren't likely to pay for it even if you made it impossible to use any kind of hacked or cracked version.
Just my $0.02.
AJC
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