Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:13385 comp.sys.apple:4708 comp.sys.amiga:16298 comp.sys.atari.8bit:1331 comp.sys.atari.st:8414 Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!lll-tis!ames!nrl-cmf!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!iuvax!bsu-cs!cfchiesa From: cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP (Christopher Chiesa) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.apple,comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.8bit,comp.sys.atari.st Subject: Re: pirating, etc. Message-ID: <2399@bsu-cs.UUCP> Date: 18 Mar 88 23:41:07 GMT References: <800@nuchat.UUCP> <1513@bucsb.UUCP> Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana Lines: 114 Keywords: FLAME Summary: My two cents In article <1513@bucsb.UUCP>, brianb@bucsb.UUCP (Brian Bresnahan) writes: > ******* FLAME ALERT ******* . . . > > > I also think they should have signs on their doors > >or something saying "We will take up your disks that you bring in here unless > >you've got a receipt from us with you." Therefore, people would hopefully > >not bring in their disks. > > First, why are people bringing the disks into the store in the first > place, I don't think any store owner is stupid enough to not realize that > someone is sitting there copying the software. They may not be STUPID, per se (although the general level of knowledge dis- played in most computer stores {and there are a lot of them} that I've visited over, oh, the last ten-fifteen years, doesn't really deny the possibility), but most computer-store employees that I've ever seen are either ABSENT or OVERWORKED when customers are in the store. I have RARELY if EVER seen a store employee stand by a person who brings in their own disks, inserts them into a computer on display, and does whatever he damn well pleases. In short, copy- ing CAN and DOES go on in stores -- I've seen it. > If a person is bringing > disks to the store, they probably are bringing them so they can test out > the compatability of their data on the new software, and where those disk Maybe SOME of them, even MOST of them, are, but there is a definite non-zero percentage of users who just walk in and copy stuff, and can get away with it because the clerk or attendant or whatever is too uninformed (I still refuse to say STUPID) to know what's going on. The original comment about "...unless it is someone the store owners know very very well..." is RIDICULOUS -- half the time, THOSE "very very well"-known people are the very ones doing the copying, under the auspices (or at least the deliberately blind eye) of the store owners, with whom they are in cahoots. If you don't want a 60-plus-line lecture on my theory behind all this type of thing, hit 'n' now. If you haven't hit 'n' now, sit back for some theorizin'. I think this is what it all boils down to. Comments/flames about content (to heck with SIZE, yeah, I noticed it's big) welcome. In the lifetime of any system, service, utility, etc., an "evolutionary pro- cess" occurs. A system (BBS, information service, Welfare, Social Security) starts out providing a good service, at an affordable price, to a small group of clients/customers/users, who enjoy a good bit of elbow room because the system has a LOT of RESOURCES, and FEW USERS. This lasts a while, but sooner or later the balance shifts. Users tell their friends how great the system is, the friends become new users, and soon there are MANY USERS and FEW RE- SOURCES. By simple mathematics, each individual user must now get a smaller piece of the pie. Resources themselves deteriorate, partly due to natural "wear and tear," and partly due to abuse from those users who, seeing a system with lots of extra capacity in the early days, don't worry about drawing con- servatively on those resources for the sake of their lasting longer in the future. (Example: how long does a new city bus last before graffiti appears on seat backs, seat cushions are torn/slashed, etc., in addition to just plain loosening of bolts from road vibration? Or, how long can MCI or SPRINT keep up a particular LD access number and set of codes, before the "SmartModem" hackers break 'em and start using them for "free" phone service?) Managers gradually (or not so gradually) implement more and more measures (registra- tion, licensing, proof-of-identity, security codes, secret passwords, etc. etc.) in an effort to counteract the abuses, but then the abusers just try harder, or work up new methods of abuse, and the process simply escalates. Of course, as a side effect, the service provided to legitimate users declines in quality, prices rise, and NOBODY's happy. The old-timers who were "there at the beginning" complain bitterly that "things were better in the old days," but nobody can really DO anything. And so it is with pirating, whether by disk copy, modem transfer, or secret meeting in back alley. 'Way back when next to nobody had computers, there was probably (I wasn't there :-) ) next to no piracy because there wasn't much TO pirate. Who'd take home a card deck of JCL statements, huh? But out in the wide world, human nature was what it's always been; as soon as there were computers and software, that segment of the population who tape LPs from their friends, rather than buying them, print fake IDs to get into bars a few years early, sneak onto buses, etc., extended their activities to copying/pirating software, and presto! - here we are today, with the Federal government feeling the need to intervene. I personally am of the opinion that this is all "human nature," and therefore unavoidable. There doesn't seem to be any solution, even for the individual; does one wash one's hands of it, or try to fight it, or ignore it and fend for oneself in the cold cruel world? Whatever you do, you'll spend a lot of time angry, and there'll be a lot of people against you. On the other hand, there'll also be a lot of people who AGREE with you, and you can derive some comfort from sitting around b*tching to each other. Personally, I plan to do a little of all of these! This should generate some interesting feedback; flame away! Chris Chiesa Senior, CS Dept. Ball State University Muncie, IN -- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Chris Chiesa <><><><><> <> {ihpn4|seismo}!{iuvax|pur-ee}!bsu-cs!cfchiesa <> <> cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> -- <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Chris Chiesa <><><><><> <> {ihpn4|seismo}!{iuvax|pur-ee}!bsu-cs!cfchiesa <> <> cfchiesa@bsu-cs.UUCP <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>