Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!uvaarpa!mcnc!decvax!decwrl!hplabs!hplabsz!taylor
From: Newman.pasa@Xerox.COM
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: More on copy protection
Message-ID: <1793@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM>
Date: 30 Mar 88 02:18:22 GMT
Sender: taylor@hplabsz.HPL.HP.COM
Lines: 16
Approved: taylor@hplabs

David E. DeMers asserts that 

> Some people will NEVER buy anything if they can steal it.  Others will 
> steal software if it doesn't take much work.  And others are honest, and 
> won't use pirated software even if it is offered to them by a friend.  
> .. for those in the first and third groups, copy protection is meaningless; 
> while for those in the second, it is a deterrent to theft.

I beg to differ about the meaninglessness of copy protection for *anyone*.  
I am basically in your third category.  However, copy protection on software 
that I have bought is absolutely inexcusable;  I avoid buying software that 
I know to be copy-protected to avoid the attendant problems.  Any study on 
this subject should also try to quantify the amount of money lost due to 
people like me.

Newman