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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bu-cs!bucsb!brianb
From: brianb@bucsb.UUCP (Brian Bresnahan)
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: <1529@bucsb.UUCP>
Date: 21 Mar 88 20:12:32 GMT
References: <354@ga.ecn.purdue.edu> <521@nunki.usc.edu>
Reply-To: brianb@bucsb.bu.edu (Brian Bresnahan)
Followup-To: alt.flame
Distribution: na
Organization: Boston Univ Comp. Sci.
Lines: 50

In article <521@nunki.usc.edu> rjung@castor.usc.edu (Robert Jung) writes:
>
>
>  Seeing as how there is a lot of traffic on the topic (again) of pirating,
>I might as well jump into the fray...
>
>* PIRATING BY MODEM/BBS: I always thought a simple idea would be to have
>	sysops regester their boards with a federal agency. That way, if
>	anything sneaky does go on, it'd be easier to prosecute. Of course,
>	if you don't regester your BBS, that's punishable too... (Get rid
>	of those "underground" BBS's).
>
That would have the effect of killing most BBS's, if you start 
registering systems, then you have to have a board to regulate them and
then there would be fees, waiting periods, lots of silly rules(like how
many lines your message screen can be etc.)  With the pressure of 
regulation, that would drive most of the part-time boards and many
others out of operation.  I am a sysop, I don't allow anything to do
with piracy on my system, but If i had to go trough a pile of red tape
to keep it running I would probably shut it down.

>
>
>* DISK-COPY SOFTWARE: Why don't we just make programs like DiskCopy II,
>	the DiskCloners, etc., etc., etc., **ILLEGAL**? Admittedly, there's
>	a need for the user to make backups of his stuff, but if the company
>	sends you a backup disk when you send in your warranty card...
>
This may be possible, but there would probably be a big fight to get the
law passed, since making copies of software for yourself would also have
to be made illegal by this process.(ie give these products no legitimate
purpose, then you could work to outlaw them).  Also this would not stop
things, because underground copying programs would start to circulate.

>
>						--R.J.
>						B-)
>
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>Bitnet: rjung@castor.usc.edu              "Who needs an Amiga?"    = == =    
>                                                                   = == =    
>                  Power WithOUT the Price                          = == =    
>                                                               ===== == =====
>   Just because it's 8-bits doesn't make it obsolete.          ====  ==  ==== 

_________________________-
Brian Bresnahan
brianb@bucsb.bu.edu
engf0ic@BOSTONU.BITNET