This reminds me of some software which would refuse to run if it detected you had a debugger like SoftICE installed, the irony being that those who do would also be the most likely to know how to defeat those checks. (See also: https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html )
Similarly, there were a few PlayStation games that would refuse to run if the console had a modchip, which was a pretty big footbullet when you consider that only licensed discs were likely to retain this check, meaning that it mostly stopped people who obtained the game legally.
