Normally I would reply privately, but I’m going to do this publicly because there is so much discussion about it.

While I can appreciate your concerns about privacy, whether Quark retains the IP addresses of those who activate QuarkXPress is not, in my humble opinion, a genuine cause for concern. I have not asked Quark whether they do or do not retain customers’ IP addresses, but, assuming they do, what could be done with that information?

I have your IP address; it’s recorded with your comments on this site (as noted in the QuarkVSInDesign.com privacy policy). While it is possible that Quark could find some other use for it, an IP address is, to the best of my knowledge, only useful in identifying when and from where a user visits or uses something—in this case, who activates QuarkXPress, and from where in the world. To a software company like Quark, that information is valuable but relatively innocuous. Again, assuming Quark does obtain and retain activating customers’ IP addresses, it is probably used to give Quark a clear understanding of its reach into different countries and localities. Knowing how many people activate the software from, say, France, is a more accurate counting of the number of installed seats than sales figures to French distributors and stores.

On a related note, Quark.com, like any other site, logs your IP address. Undoubtedly the staff that manages various parts of Quark.com accesses your IP address and uses it to track where on the site you visit, for how long, and where in the world you are located.

Honestly, I don’t see the cause for alarm regarding the relationship between XPress activation and whether Quark obtains and stores IP addresses. Perhaps I’m being naive, but I frankly don’t think it’s a big deal.

Thank you for sending the tip, but I don’t believe the matter is newsworthy—it has already been given too much coverage in comments here.

Adobe’s activation also tracks IP - what they do with though, is entirely another story, as it is with Quark and XPress…

When Quark started activiation you fools complained that this was the reason you switched - and then adobe did the same thing… and now its somethign else…

fiirst, learn how to design, then take a business class and learn about ROI.

There is no coorporate spy program, nothing hidden in their game plan - stop by the booth and ask them yourselve… - i did - and realized and ID people are simply put - barking up the wriong tree…

oh, and as you bleed your profits through your nose because ID is not suited for real production workflow (not reffering to one page greeting card shiite) - ID has a horrible ROI (you probably do not know wht this means anyhow); ask Quark about the competitive pricing for when you come back…

v7 blows away ID, and challenges the entire CS suite . Bridge is a joke, version Que is a Joke, K4 is a waste of time - literally,

I hope Quark culls all of the ID stuff from the market…

Quark may not have a better look at the code for InDesign than any other developer that uses the easily obtainable SDK for InDesign. ALAP was not looking at the source for InDesign: they simply used the SDK like any other third party developer.

Likewise, if Adobe does not include native imposition features in InDesign 5, someone can still use the SDK and pick up where ALAP may be leaving off.

That might not be a pretty picture. But, on the other hand, I bet Adobe has a trick or two up its sleeve.

I think the biggest potential negative effect for InD, though, is what may (or may not) happen to ALAP’s popular InD plugins such as Imposer, ProTools, and such as that. Now that Quark owns them, they could be hived off to other interests…or they might quit publishing them entirely. That, to me, is the biggest concern right now.

Not that a corporation as sneaky as Quark hasn’t already tried to get that code through more covert industrial espionage—but this would give it access to the real deal.

ALAP would have needed that code, and would have been given access to that code by Adobe along with a confidentiality agreement, so it could develop ID plug-ins.

Ralph Sharma - 01:16am Dec 31, 2005 Pacific

BREAKING NEWS FOR QUARK USERS :::::: Quark traps IP addresses for all users of XPRess . Thinly disguised as activation , Quark has been secretly trapping and storing IP addresses of all users worldwide. Their website fradulently claims that “Activation is anonymous ” and no where in their documentation or licence agreement does it state users are submitting IP addresses to Quark for storage and use for tracking user activities.

This has been confirmed by Quark who sheepishly admit that this has been going on since 2003 and it was harmless . Talk about Big Brother !!!!!!!

I am glad that I switched to ID who is atleast honest about it does.
I wonder if there is a legal recourse to the XPRess users who walked into this trap laid by Quark …

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Guy Smiley - 6:24am Jan 1, 06 PST (#3 of 4)

> Is IP address privacy really an issue if even your IP address was
> recorded on this forum or whenever you send an email?

No. I really don’t know where people get the idea that an IP address is
“personal information”. It is no more “personal information” than a
phone number.

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Ralph Sharma - 3:16pm Jan 1, 06 PST (#4 of 4)

Why did Quark not tell me ?

I don’t really care what Quark does with my IP address , as long as
a) They told me first and asked my consent.
b) They did not lie about it.
c) They understand the legal repurcussions of doing it with me and all the users still left.

The issue at hand is about business ethics and Quark is anyways notorious for passing off shabby software as paid updates and to top it all ,

they have completely violated my trust as a customer.

Quark did NOT ask me via their licence agreement (I checked).
Quark did NOT disclose this in their documentation or website ( They will change it now , after years of doing it secretly)
What gives ?