Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcvax!ukc!acorn!moncam!emmo
From: emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Software Piracy
Keywords: piracy
Message-ID: <228@marvin.moncam.co.uk>
Date: 5 Jul 89 13:29:31 GMT
Organization: Monotype ADG, Cambridge, UK
Lines: 41


rosenkra@boston.cray.com states :

> look: you are missing the point entirely. software by its very nature
> cannot be protected. 
[more stuff, deleted]

That was exactly the point I was making. 
It only requires one whizz-kid to write his/her own floppy driver and 
pass it around, and you can make *perfect* copies of *any* disk whatever
the format, including those sneaky bits some people hide between the
sectors. There are probably several subscribers to this group who are
entirely capable of such mischief, should they feel motivated.
There are probably even more who could work out how to 'gang' two
drives together.
There are far fewer who dare to tamper with their hardware. The system
ROMs can't simply be replaced with EPROMS, and nobody wants the hassle
of replacing them each time they need to change their machine ID.

To change tack slightly, has anyone ever seen a survey of how pirate
software is distributed? Does most of it get "copied from a friend",
do high street retailers knowingly/unknowingly sell it - if knowingly,
do they offer it 'under the counter'?

It seems reasonable to offer genuine software packs to anyone who finds
they have bought a pirate copy and supplies the authors with sufficient 
info to enable them to prosecute - or is prosecution still expensive/futile?

Registration can certainly help, and the registration card should certainly
be on the outside of the pack, but what happens when auntie Flo buys it
for your birthday and the retailer is too busy/lazy to fill it in? 
It seems absurd to complain that a software house doesn't have the facilities
to store registration records - if they don't know how to use a computer
then who does?

-----
Dave E.

-Disclaimer-
Well that's MY opinion and I'm sticking to it!
(But my employer might not agree..)