Finding a CD key

Not sure what you mean by CD key. Are you refering to the registration number? If this is the case, most companies are very willing to resend the number to you.

You should have multiple versions of proof.

1) The sales receipt.

2) Registration of the product. Which means the software company in question already has your name, address and proof of ownership on file.

3) A shipping invoice if you originally purchased it online.

You may indeed be a legal owner of the software and therefore have a legitimate reason to look for such a number, but you could also be looking for the number because you "borrowed" a disk from someone else to install the program. You post is akin to someone asking for someone else to give them a serial number so they can use software they didn't purchase.

As I said, you may be telling the truth. That's why I didn't out and out call you a pirate. But there's simply no way for anyone here to know exactly what your real intentions are. For all we know, you could be at work trying to extract a serial number on a machine there so you can activate the software at home.

There are ways to search around for such information in OS X, but I'm not disclosing anything. Again, talk to the company you bought the software from. They must have some sort of record of your ownership. You mentioned in your second post that you've already contacted the company. I don't understand why they're making you search for the software key. They should already have that information.

Stuff like that may be in one of the Library folders, but it really depends on the app and how it works. If the company has designed the software in such a way that they don't want people to find the CD key (maybe it's encrypted) and it's not displayed by the app when you're running it, then there may be little chance of you figuring out where or what it is without having the discs.

Without knowing what software you're talking about, can't give any better advice than to look through your Library folder.

Besides, if you're in contact with the company and they want you to tell them your CD key, then they should be able to tell you how to find it.

You're not getting it. It has nothing to do with being noble or self-righteous. It's not knowing you well enough to know if you're being truthful.

I work for NASA, by the way.

Hmm, or do I? That statement sure sounds like a plain and simple truth. Can you tell solely from that line whether or not I'm telling the truth?

People lose their life's savings every day to people they think are telling the truth. "Gee, officer. That email from the bank sure looked like the real thing. And they sounded so concerned that my account was locked. So I gave them my account number and PIN so they could fix it".

Think what you're asking for here. Your request may be legitimate. But then anyone can see the answer if it were posted. Next thing you know, thousands of crooks are using that information to extract hundreds of illegally obtained serial numbers.

Once again. Work with the company to gain a new disk. There's no reason why, if you faxed them a copy of your sales receipt, that they wouldn't be more than willing to get you a new disk and email you a copy of your key. They have that information. No one here can legally assist you.

I can put the kibosh on this entire argument very quickly; most Mac OS X software just doesn't make the registration/serial number easily available. Either it's buried in an invisible file or it's encrypted (or both). So whether or not anyone is willing to take you at your word, there's no blanket answer that anyone can give you that would apply to all software. You really need to contact the publisher of the software you're trying to unlock and ask them for help.

If you feel this knowledge is that illegal, why do you know?

It is, and always has been illegal to post serial numbers, or the method to obtain them publicly in any way.