doug@homxc.UUCP (D.SULPY) (12/13/88)
5% of the $10,000 possible per violation ought to wake some people up -- sure, you won't get paid every time you snitch on your employer/pirate/etc, but the few times you do......I mean, that's $500 per violation! And we know how many violations the average teen pirate commits, right? Catch that kid (or the law office) with 300 pirated disks and you can say goodbye to Mom & Dad's (or Mr. Lawyers) home (office) building..... ----- God, Karl - I hope I'm reading this right, and you unintentionally left off :-), right? Otherwise, perhaps the readers of comp.sys.amiga can band together and buy you a membership in Greed Anonymous.
karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM (Karl Denninger) (12/15/88)
(The quoting is screwed up... I'll try) In article <4566@homxc.UUCP> doug@homxc.UUCP (D.SULPY) writes: >I had previously written: >> 5% of the $10,000 possible per violation ought to wake some people up -- >> sure, you won't get paid every time you snitch on your employer/pirate/etc, >> but the few times you do......I mean, that's $500 per violation! And we >> know how many violations the average teen pirate commits, right? Catch that >> kid (or the law office) with 300 pirated disks and you can say goodbye to >> Mom & Dad's (or Mr. Lawyers) home (office) building..... > >----- > God, Karl - I hope I'm reading this right, and you unintentionally left >off :-), right? Otherwise, perhaps the readers of comp.sys.amiga can band >together and buy you a membership in Greed Anonymous. Actually, no smiley was intended. The bottom line is that the law today defines software piracy as wrong. If you don't like that fact, then change the LAW. Once you've changed the law, deal with the fact that no company will now produce the software you want, so you have to write it yourself (or get it from someone who will give it away). This situation ALREADY exists in some countries where piracy is especially bad; no publisher will bother making their titles available. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WHEN THERE IS NO SOFTWARE EXCEPT THAT WHICH YOU WRITE YOURSELF? I'm involved in a company that produces software. We have good products, at a reasonable price. Our price includes support, updates, and the ability to call us up and scream when the material doesn't work {right|as you'd like}. If we found out that somoene had pirated one of our products you can bet we'd go after them. In one hot New York minute. You can also bet that our current products wouldn't exist if there weren't protections available to help prevent piracy and punish those who break the law. That's right -- they wouldn't EXIST. You can't run software that was never created. The fact of the matter is that today most of the really popular stuff is commercially produced, and it wouldn't be on the market if the law was changed in this manner! If you're going to leave the law as currently defined, then either (1) don't pirate software, or (2) live with the possible CONSEQUENCES of your actions. The home occasional pirate isn't going to get caught; it's simply not worth it (someone who will rat on you has to find out). But the guy with 300 rogue disks IS. The "computer club" that could be better called the "disk duplication club" IS. The law office with one copy of Wordperfect on 5 machines (yep, I've seen this one with my own eyes!) IS. They will PAY. And once a few of them _DO_ pay, this kind of piracy will STOP. Software piracy, as defined by law today, is considered wrong. There are penalties for breaking this law, penalties that you and I know about. The problem is that this law is one that is largely unenforced because no one will "tattle". It's like being in a band of thieves; people don't want to "rat" because they have some pirate software too... and could ALSO get caught. Thieves are without honor; given a substantial reward I'd bet many of them WOULD "rat" on their "friends". If we want to stop piracy, we need to enforce the law. Of course we ALSO need to stay within the rules of evidence and the Constitution while performing this task; you'll not find me advocating kicking down doors looking for software pirates. -- Karl Denninger (karl@ddsw1.MCS.COM, ddsw1!karl) Data: [+1 312 566-8912], Voice: [+1 312 566-8910] Macro Computer Solutions, Inc. "Quality solutions at a fair price"
limonce@pilot.njin.net (Tom Limoncelli) (12/15/88)
In article <4566@homxc.UUCP> doug@homxc.UUCP (D.SULPY) writes: > 5% of the $10,000 possible per violation ought to wake some people up -- [some deleted] Catch that > kid (or the law office) with 300 pirated disks and you can say goodbye to > Mom & Dad's (or Mr. Lawyers) home (office) building..... [more deleted] Yeah! That's about half a year's college tuition! :-) (the smilie is for the amount of money, not the fact that college costs some people $7,000-$8,000 a year) -Tom -- Tom Limoncelli Drew University Madison NJ 201-408-5389 tlimonce@drunivac.Bitnet limonce@pilot.njin.net "Fences make good neighbors" -Frost "I want an MMU" -Me Standard disclaimer? No, we're still on the dpANS disclaimer.