Ewing@YALE.ARPA (04/08/84)
From: Ricky Ewing <Ewing@YALE.ARPA>
This may sound surprising coming from a die-hard software pirate as myself,
but Brad Templeton's comments about software piracy couldn't have been
more true. I don't deal in a lot of the business software in my library
but I keep it around just in case anyone might want it. Most of my library
is games, tons of games. Most people that I know and especially kids think
nothing of any moral or legal implications when one is offered a copy of
"Choplifter!" I and two other friends eventually got tired of 30-minute
copying sessions to try to copy one protected program (using a pirated
disk nibble copier) and decided that it was time to start cracking programs
ourselves so that we and others could copy more freely. The passion for cracking
programs (which stands at more thean 50 different programs) turned into a
battle of wits betwwen us and the software companies with them always being
the enemy while our merry band of outlaws would play Robin Hood with our
software. We have slacked off our antics in the past year but we still sometimes
find the time to crack a program or two. Our group will probably never be
cured of the piracy bug anytime soon, but we really need to teach our kids
who have just gotten their new Apple //e, C64 or Atari about the ethics they
should know about how to use computer software. I can just imagine what kinds
off activities that kids' software piracy can lead to in adulthood if certain
our our principles aren't turned around (this also goes for adults, anyway).
At least one good thing has come out of my cracking programs; I've learned
an awful lot about computers and complicated programming techniques.
Ricky Ewing
Yale University
EWING@YALE.ARPA
-------hbb@houxt.UUCP (04/27/84)
I was really rather surprised when I found a copy of a magazine in a
library I frequent, that is dedicated almost entirely to the circumvention
of copy-protection schemes of software for the Apple computers (the magazine
is so dedicated, not the library.)
The magazine is called the Hardcore Computist and their address is given as
P.O Box 44549 Tacoma, WA 98444.
Some of the theory presented in the articles there would most probably apply to
protection schemes of software made for other hardware vendors as well.
--
Harlan B. Braude
{houxm,allegra,harpo,hogpc,ihnp4,zehntel,ucbvax,sdcsvax,eagle,burl}!houxt!hbb