Xref: utzoo comp.sys.amiga:26729 comp.misc:4426
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!looking!brad
From: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Software Development And Piracy (Spurred By FTL replies)
Message-ID: <2515@looking.UUCP>
Date: 18 Dec 88 04:56:31 GMT
References: <555@icus.islp.ny.us> <2363@ddsw1.MCS.COM> <1334@leah.Albany.Edu> <6268@fluke.COM> <12447@cup.portal.com> <687@jurgen.loglule.se>
Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton)
Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd.
Lines: 33

To answer many points:

Q) If they just charged less, people would stop pirating.

A) Hah.  Just like nobody makes illegal copies of record albums, which
cost far less than software could ever cost!

Q) I'm not actually taking anything.  Nobody's property is removed.

A) Wrong.  The only thing you *can* do with intellectual property
is control it and say how it is to be used.  By copying, you are
appropriating the owner's only true right.  It's theft, plain and
simple, equal to (or worse than) any other theft.

Q) Worse than other theft?

A) Yes.  Intellectual property is the truest form of property.  There
is nothing that is more "yours" than the creations of your own mind.
In fact, what's valuable about physical property are the non-tangible
things like thought, effort and labour that have gone into turning
random matter into valuable property.  That's why smashing something to
bits (and leaving the owner with the pieces) is just as bad as stealing.
The human creation is destroyed.

Q) Sometimes pirated copies turn out to be advertising that sells real
copies.

A) Could be.  That's up to the owners to decide.  If they think that
some free copies might drum up sales, it's entirely up to them to
do it.  Free samples are nothing new in the conventional industries.
But it's up to them.  Not up to you.
-- 
Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd.  --  Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473