Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!att!ucbvax!janus!mitchell
From: mitchell@janus.uucp (Evan Mitchell)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Piracy
Keywords: morality/society
Message-ID: <30452@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: 7 Aug 89 21:56:42 GMT
References: <bunches> <119399@sun.Eng.Sun.COM> <4030@cps3xx.UUCP> <2921@osiris.UUCP>
Sender: usenet@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mitchell@janus.UUCP (Evan Mitchell)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 35

In article <2921@osiris.UUCP> mjr@welch.jhu.edu (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
>
>	This is a bit of a digression....
>
[deleted various points on morality..]
>	--mjr();
>	mjr@welch.jhu.edu

This piracy discussion is interesting, but let's bring it back to the Amiga! :-)

Personally, I think the piracy problem stems from various reasons.  I don't 
believe people who pirate software (at least not for profit) are inherently
bad people.  In fact, the only people I've ever heard complain about it are
(rightly so, I might add) USENET-type people.  These are the people who have
the most to loose in terms of returns on investments.  However, for the 
consumer at large, piracy isn't that much of a big deal.  In fact, piracy
often makes sense in a world based on economic models.  Why pay for something
that you can have for free.  In a way, piracy is kind of like selling drugs.
Both are illegal, and (to many) considered "morally reprehsible."  However,
both make perfect sense based on economic models.

I think THE problem with piracy comes from the use of magnetic media.  Disks
are copiable, PERIOD.  The analogy about the diamond ring should be expanded,
piracy isn't the same as stealing a diamond ring, it's more like taking the 
diamond ring, and using it to create another diamond ring.

I personally would like to see more and better software for the Amiga, and
one need only look at the Atari ST & 8-bits to see what piracy can do to
a machine with a low installed user base.
_______________________________________________________________________________
|    Evan Jay Mitchell                 EECS/ERL Industrial Liaison Program    |
|    mitchell@janus.berkeley.edu       University of California at Berkeley   |
|    Phone: (415) 643-6687                                                    |
|              "Think, it ain't illegal...yet!" - George Clinton              |
|_____________________________________________________________________________|