Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!fluke!kurt
From: kurt@tc.fluke.COM (Kurt Guntheroth)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: About Software Piracy!
Message-ID: <2615@fluke.COM>
Date: 8 Jan 88 18:43:28 GMT
References: <1962@houxa.UUCP>
Sender: news@tc.fluke.COM
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Lines: 33


> Large scale software piracy in the IBM or C64 world has not hurt the sales
> of the respective vendors and so why should they worry about it.

What you mean is that in spite of the major level of piracy, enough people
buy software that software companies can continue to make a profit.  If
there were no illegal copying, the market would be maybe five times larger,
and there would be more competitive products and a higher general quality
level, since a given level of effort would pay off five times as much.

> The solution to software piracy should be a partnership of the software
> vendors and end users based on mutual needs, trust, and general goodwill.

But users do not show honesty or goodwill.

> Shah Jahan
> AT&T Bell Labs

A serial-number based software protection scheme does not need to be user
unfriendly.  Disks containing serialized software are freely copyable and do
not need to be damaged, since it is the software that is encoded or
protected, not the disk.  A user can make infinite backups, can keep the
software on any media s/he chooses, and can even move it to another machine
if s/he can move the serial number.  This is no more user unfriendly than
the license plate on every automobile.  Perhaps computers should be licensed
by the state, the way cars are, and serial encodings made standard.  This
would not eliminate theft, but it would make theft more heinous, more
obvious to parents of teen hackers and the computer illiterate masses, and
generally put things in the perspective of familiar day-to-day things.

AACCKK!  What am I saying?  State regulation of computation?  Big Brother
watching my private use of data?  Herasy!  But it might happen, and it would
be effective.  Consider this a prediction of the future, say 20 years from now.