Torrents: Can I protect my software by sending wrong bytes?

It's a topic that interests everyone. How can I protect my software against stealing, hacking, reverse engineering?

I was thinking: Do my best to protect the program for reverse engineering. Then people will crack it and seed it with torrents. Then I download my own cracked software with a torrent with my own torrent-software. My own torrent-software has then to seed incorrect data (bytes). Of course it has to seed critical bytes.

So people who want to steal my software download my wrong bytes. Just those bytes that are important to startup, saving and loading data, etc... So if the stealer download from me (and seed it later) the stealer can't do anything with it, because it is broken.

Is this idea relevant? Maybe, good torrent-clients check hashes from more peers to check if the packages (containing my broken bytes) I want to seed are correct or not?

Solution 1:

Their torrent app (the pirates) will simply discard the bytes you are seeding as bad due to CRC checks. Then you will get banned by that IP for being a repeat offender.

Solution 2:

Q. Can I protect my software by sending wrong bytes?
A. No, it can be hacked around anyway, especially if someone gets their hands on a legit copy.

Q. How can I protect my software against stealing, hacking, reverse engineering?
A. Sell it for a fair price, this will undermine attempts to hack.

Solution 3:

I'd suggest to approach the problem from the other end. Embed a unique identification code into each copy of your software that you give to your clients. In case somebody is seeding, you can at least identify who did it and take legal actions.