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From: nelson_p@apollo.HP.COM (Peter Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.society.futures
Subject: RE Feedback on Computer Crime
Message-ID: <4c5548de.20b6d@apollo.HP.COM>
Date: 21 Aug 90 14:39:00 GMT
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Organization: Hewlett-Packard Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
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Barry Shein posts...

:Copying a $500 software package by buying $5 worth of floppies seems
:to be a situation akin to storing diamonds in open containers in front
:of your house and then demanding the police stand guard lest some
:crook steal them. Certainly the person who stole them committed a
:crime, but if the society responds that perhaps you should store your
:diamonds in some better way is also valid, being as you are obviously
:fully aware of the problem you are creating. And if you cannot come up
:with the solution or find it too expensive (but safes cost money!),
:well, perhaps you are in the wrong business.

  True.  but in that example there is a recognized and available 
  means to protect your property. 

  Consider cattle-stealing in western states.  Cattle stealing 
  has historically been a fairly easy crime to commit.  It is
  hard to guard thousands of acres of range land.   So as a result
  historically the response has been to have vigorous enforcement
  and very tough sentencing of people who steal cattle.  "Frontier
  justice" for cattle or horse thieves was no joke.  

:
:>  There may not BE a solution, or at least one which consumers 
:>  would accept.  It's easy to say they should do "something"
:>  but on the other hand, anyone who DOES come up with a good 
:>  anti-piracy scheme will get disgustingly rich overnight if
:>  it cannot be defeated and is also acceptable to the market.
:
:Perhaps there is no solution. So, therefore, we should subsidize the
:profitability of this industry with billions of tax dollars?

  
  I don't think it comes to billions.  But obviously we have to
  decide how important it is to us to have a viable, commercial
  software industry.   You might be aware of lots of software
  companies which are raking it in and making obscene profits
  based on huge margins.  But I'm aware of very few such 
  companies, and even in those the huge profits are usually
  *very* transitory.   I know lots of software companies which
  are only making a few percent and also quite a few who are
  in the red.    And considering the number of people I know
  who have stolen copies of software in their possession, I
  don't think the problem is all that minor.   From what I've
  seen with my own eyes I can certainly believe it when the
  software industry claims that it is a significant dent in
  their business.   

                                                   ---Peter