Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!ukma!rutgers!att!skep2!wcs
From: wcs@skep2.ATT.COM (Bill.Stewart.[ho95c])
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Ethics of crippler circuitry
Message-ID: <491@skep2.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 Mar 89 22:23:55 GMT
References: <176@ucl-cs.UUCP> <1989Mar2.193443.17196@sq.com>
Reply-To: wcs@skep2.UUCP (Bill.Stewart)
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs Center 4632, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 30

In article <1989Mar2.193443.17196@sq.com> msb@sq.com (Mark Brader) writes:
[ Discussion of slow-down circuits to create price differentials ]
> > Do ethics really enter into this?  Nobody actually gets stung,
> Now, is price-fixing ethical?  Is this price-fixing?
> There's your ethical question.

As long as there's no coercion involved, charging any price you want is
ethical.  In poor taste, maybe.  A bad marketing move, maybe. A clear
sign to your customers that they might get better service from another
company, maybe.  But as long as the wimped-down version of the machine
delivers the performance you told them it would, it's ethical.

Unethical is when you ask the US Government to keep the competition
from selling their products without crippler circuits for the same
prices as your selling your crippled versions.  That's using force to
extract money from your customers, merely a friendly version of theft.
After all, if the Government says they're here to help you, might as
well help yourselves...  

But if you can get your customers to buy the artificially-slow machine
for an artifically high price, and your competitors do the same,
maybe the customers will believe they're getting better services from
the people with the impressive brand names than from Clonesville Computers.
And if not, Clonesville will kick your butts.  Which will also be
perfectly ethical.
-- 
# Bill Stewart, AT&T Bell Labs 2G218 Holmdel NJ 201-949-0705 ho95c.att.com!wcs
# Synchronicity is when the paper has an article about Moonie ties to
# Right Wing Politicians, and they're dropping the charges against Ollie North,
# and you finally find that copy of "Illuminatus!"