Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!ucbcad!pasteur!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!whyvax.dec.com!kruger
From: kruger@whyvax.dec.com (Desperate Drive Mounted to keep Larouche off Ballot)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: piracy
Message-ID: <8801181913.AA15773@decwrl.dec.com>
Date: 18 Jan 88 22:04:00 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 22

Piracy is an issue to Amiga users because we want to see increasing amounts of
software on our machines. Having been told many times "yes, the Amiga is a nice
piece of hardware, but it doesn't have enough software" I am somewhat
sensitive to this as well. The fact that this attitude is largely ignorance-
based is also upsetting.

However, let's not lose perspective. On a cheap machine (and the Amiga is a homecomputer that is quite cheap now (A500) no manufacturer is going to go to the
expense of managing some wild software distribution scheme. It is impractical,
and obnoxious. Occam's razor applies here -- we should use the simplest method
of protecting the user -- ALLOWING THE USER TO COPY THEIR OWN PROGRAM FOR THEIR
OWN USE. Anything else is a poor second, and is not justifiable (although I can
certainly understand the motive of software producers).

While Richard Stallman (of the Free Software Foundation) is a radical going
far beyond my limit, I would say he has the right idea in that piracy should be
stopped by providing a service the pirate needs, such as support. This does not
work for games though. *sigh* there is no answer, it seems.

About video protection: No one has the right to control the airwaves. If those
guys see fit to beam their signal to my backyard, I believe it is my fundamentalright to receive it (I do not own a dish, and probably never will, but I am
deeply offended by the government's intrusion in this area.)

dov