AGUTOWS@WAYNEST1.BITNET (Arthur Gutowski) (02/23/90)
I've been monitoring this conversation for quite some time now, and I thought that it was time to indulge myself with my 2 (cents) worth. In his second posting, Mr. Faquhar attempts to address some the writers' concerns: >1) FREE MARKET True enough, anyone can charge anything they want for any product they put on the market, no matter how obscene the price may be. BUT, I must stress that it is inappropriate and unethical to threaten my intellectual property as a means to secure payment. THIS IS EXTORTION, plain and simple. >2) THE ABSENCE OF REGISTRATION DISKS BUNK. The Panama invasion had nothing to do with this in my mind. Dr. Popp was not living there at the time, he was merely operating out of a PO box. If he promised a cure with the registration fee, and I send in my registration fee, I damn well better get my antidote, or I'll sue and prosecute to the fullest extent of the law, regardless of what his reasons were for not sending the cure--I have not only just been extorted, but I've been lied to as well. At this point, I am *not* a happy camper. >3) THE DEFINITION OF A COPY PROTECTION SYSTEM This is a pretty liberal definition of a copy protection system. A friend of mine works for the IRS, and was recently doing some side work for Criminal Investigation--he gave me an example of a legal copy protection system. The package was a commercial accounting program. There was no attempt made to actually prevent the copying of the program (any decent hacker can get around pure copy-protection in a matter of a few minutes anyway), but instead it would wait. After a fixed number of executions, it would ask you to insert the master distribution diskette into A: (presumably if it had detected itself as not being properly INSTALLed, but instead copied from a diskette). If you did not have the master, and you had not INSTALLed it, then you have pirated it (a reasonable conclusion), and the program would hang. Any subsequent attempts to use the program would result in the same failure. No other damage was done to the hard drive. The only kicker is, all the data you created using the program is now unreadable because of the unique format that the data was saved in. No intellectual property was damaged except that which shouldn't have been created in the first place. This is the farthest "extension" of any copy protection system that should *ever* be granted by law, in *any* country. As for any analogy to the superuser, this is irrelevant. It applies to any multiuser system (VM, MVS, UNIX, etc.)--somebody in the system has to have the power to maintain things and make sure people don't inadvertantly step on each other or themselves. And, as David Conrad pointed out, it is assumed (and checked on a regular basis through audits-at least in the case of VM and MVS) that the superuser has not abused his power. >4) INAPPLICABILITY OF US LAWS Yes, but did that prevent them from trying to import into the US anyway? Correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding, a couple of copies did make it over here? Besides, isn't it entirely possible that other countries (into which the Trojan came) have similar laws in this regard? Could someone versed in international and/or foreign laws clarify this? >5) PRESUMPTION OF INNOCENCE Yes, we have this one in the US too. Someone is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The burden of proof lies with the prosecution. But, I am certain that there is enough incriminating evidence not only to warrant extradition of Dr. Popp, but to convict him as well, in *any* country. >6) CONCLUSION Concerned, we are, panic-ridden, paranoid, fanactical, and zealots, we are far from. Is it unwarranted to pick apart viruses (which also happen to be copyrighted in a strict sense), and trojans (which are also destructive, illegitamate software) and provide remedies to people? I hardly think so. I myself am left wondering about your motives, that you would protect the "authors" of such code. Do you publish any software? Please warn me so I know enough not to take the risk of not living up to your licensing agreement for fear of having your "copy-protection" system invoked on me. I can't speak for others, but I think this list has provided a wonderful service by warning people in advance of such atrosities as the AIDS Trojan, not to mention the information about viruses, operating systems, hardware, etc. that comes from technical people who know how to pick things apart and look at them. (BTW, I don't think disassembling the trojan was unjustified; if my computer were held hostage, I'd look to every source I could to find a way to recover it. It's a term called Self-Defense, I'm sure you're familiar with it). Our motives here are nothing more than to protect people from losing their valuable time and data as a result of someone else's destructive efforts. Finally, I'd like to conclude with my own analogy, hopefully devoid of dependence on any country's particular laws. Let me submit to your evaluation the following situation: I write a novel, but do not yet have the funds to publish it (i.e., it is a Copyrighted Unpublished work). I send the novel to you, unsolicited. I send along with it a licensing agreement that demands you pay me $534 for the novel. Now consider the following two methods of enforcing my license agreement: 1) I coat the pages with an ink-dissolving reagent such that the book would be unreadable after say, three readings. I think I'm within my right to do this as a method of protecting my intellectual rights, don't you? 2) I use a plastique for the binding material for the pages. It is sensitive to persperation, so that after a number of readings (naturally, random), when you place the book back on your bookshelves, it explodes, thus destroying your entire collection of classics. Would you still think that I was within my rights to protect my work? I don't think so. Granted the example is a bit outlandish, but no less trouble than Dr. Popp's extortion scheme. I can't help but wonder if your views on this matter would be the same if you had been on the receiving end of this monstrosity. It's a lot harder to be aloof when it happens to you. 'Nuff said. Disclaimer: My employers don't pay me enough to express their views. Comments, rebuttals, money, etc. - welcomed Flames, threats, etc. - ===>/dev/null - -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- /=====\ Arthur J. Gutowski, : o o : Antiviral and MVS Groups / Tech Support / WSU Univ. Comp. Center : : 5925 Woodward; Detroit, MI 48202; PH#: (313) 577-0718 : ----- : Bitnet: AGUTOWS@WAYNEST1 Internet: AGUTOWS@WAYNEST1.BITNET \=====/ Have a day.