Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!think!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!alberta!sask!zaphod!dkatz
From: dkatz@zaphod.UUCP (Dave Katz)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Copy protection etc
Message-ID: <2239@zaphod.UUCP>
Date: 18 Feb 88 23:22:21 GMT
References: <10332@mimsy.UUCP>
Reply-To: dkatz@zaphod.UUCP (Dave Katz)
Organization: Develcon Electronics, Saskatoon SK Canada
Lines: 59

In article <10332@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>Indeed.  But as it happens, I have constructed a matter duplicator.
>If you will provide the raw materials---an equivalent mass of copper
>will do---and a borrowed Mercedes or Jag (or whatever you prefer),
>I will fire it up, and in a few minutes you will have two.

         ###
	  #
And now   #   have a disintegrator, and I'm going to disintegrate Chris
         ###
and take his matter duplicator and duplicate ME and my DISINTEGRATOR and
then WE are going to enslave everyone else on the net and make them dig
up "equivalent masses of copper" so that WE can have ALL of the Merc's
WE want (and you can't have any).

Chris seems to think that just because he has the ability, he has the right.

Before anyone flames because I omitted the part where the
original owner gets back his Merc (Jag, Rollerskates), that was never
the point.   The point is the people whose livelihood comes from
designing/building/selling (...) the Merc (etc) in the first place.  The
point is also that if you could duplicate things, then the incentive to
create and improve products and to prosper from doing so would
disappear.  Can you imagine a world where no one was motivated to
produce a better tool than MicroSoft Word?

So far in this discussion, the primary reasons that have been aired
to discredit software protection schemes are that they are
inconvenient, that they prevent people from creating legitimate
back-ups, that they inhibit use of the software in a network server
environment, and a blessed few who will honestly say that they don't
want to or can't pay to get an honest copy.

The question I put to all of the net is:

    +----------------------------------------------------------------+
    |                                                                |
    |   If a software protection scheme existed that produced        |
    |   no hardships to the honest user and only acted to prevent    |
    |   people from obtaining the software by means other than       |
    |   purchasing it, would you support that form of software       |
    |   protection?                                                  |
    |                                                                |
    +----------------------------------------------------------------+

[I have two kids and am used to long-winded answers to questions other
than the one(s) I ask.  If your answer is anything other than 'YES' or
'NO' re-read the question.  It is very clearly stated and only asks one
thing.  After you have decided how to answer THE QUESTION THAT WAS
ASKED,  feel free to explain yourself.]

If you wish to answer via e-mail, I will tabulate the results until the
end of February and post a follow-up.

-- 
Dave Katz, Data Processing Manager
Develcon Electronics Ltd  +-------------------------------------------------+
856 51st Street East      |Innovative High Performance Data Delivery Systems|
Saskatoon, Sask., CANADA  +-------------------------------------------------+