[comp.sys.amiga] The two things I don't understand about software piracy

FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois) (07/03/90)

I agree with Dave's article.  That's pretty easy since it was pretty
general in nature.  And Marco and I also agree on several points.
Where I diverge from some of you (but not from all of you) is when 
you label me a pirate for violating a license that has stupid limits.

In the legal sense I will agree that black and white, if you violate the
license then you are pirating.  But to perform theft you must steal 
something and pirating by itself does not *automatically* mean something
was stolen.

When the license says I can only run one copy on one cpu and I execute 
the binary twice so I have two copies running then (black and white)
I am a pirate but I sure don't feel very guilty.  I don't feel I've stolen
anything.  I don't feel I've hurt anybody.  In fact, I feel very angry
at the people who put the restriction on their product which I in the
normal course of using their product after paying my hard-earned money
violated!(you knew this sentence had an object in it, didn't you?)

Marco and I have been on opposite sides of the question philosphically
but he doesn't copy protect and load the license with restrictions that
get in my way.  There is no need for anyone to violate his license.
He's one of the good guys.  

So I think that producers of games need to take steps so that there is
no need to pirate their games.  And educate the kids who don't know
any better.  And shoot the S*Bs who distribute cracked software!

Dana Bourgeois @ cup.portal.com
And I think cracking or copying is harmless but distribution should be
punishable by removal of all body parts extending beyond the smallest 
cirmscribed cylinder touching the head.

papa@pollux.usc.edu (Marco Papa) (07/03/90)

In article <31362@cup.portal.com> FelineGrace@cup.portal.com (Dana B Bourgeois) writes:
>Marco and I have been on opposite sides of the question philosphically
>but he doesn't copy protect and load the license with restrictions that
>get in my way.  There is no need for anyone to violate his license.
>He's one of the good guys.  

Thank you. One problem that will come up for me soon is what to do when
a "networkable" version of A-Talk III comes out (I already have a working
prototype running on SANA's ipc.device).  How should I license that?
Of course one could get a copy and run it on all sorts of networked machines.
And note that one can "legally" run today A-Talk III on 8 serial ports
on the same machine with a single-user license.

- Marco
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"Xerox sues somebody for copying?" -- David Letterman
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