Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!uxc!garcon!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!jb10320
From: jb10320@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jawaid Bazyar)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: Copyright Laws
Message-ID: <927@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 7 May 89 19:54:34 GMT
References: <8905052120.aa10002@SMOKE.BRL.MIL>
Sender: news@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu
Reply-To: jb10320@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jawaid Bazyar)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Lines: 59

In article <8905052120.aa10002@SMOKE.BRL.MIL> AXTBF%ALASKA.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu writes:
>Bear with me for all the quotes...
>
[ long quotes deleted ]
>When you purchase a program, some of the money goes to the programmer, some
>to the company which markets the program, some to the business selling you
>the program and some for materials suchs as disks and boxes...  Suppose I
>was planning on buying a program and you gave me a copy instead.  Well, I
>have basically stolen from the programmer, the marketting company, the box
>manufacturer etc.  You are an accessory in this crime.
>
>You might say stolen is a bit harsh.  Well, suppose I walk into a store and
>put an item in my pocket and walk out.  I've obviously stolen that item.
>Well, isn't pirating the same thing.  You get a program for which you didn't
>pay.
>
>Is it wrong to deprive a programmer of his livelyhood?
>Is it wrong to deprive a company of its profits?

  I'm sure we've all heard of the programmers in poverty argument before. I'm
going to play devil's advocate for the sake of argument.  One could
point out that the only one a pirate is stealing from is the author, since
the dealer, wholesaler, and manufacturer bore ZERO cost for the production
of the pirated copy, and therefore have had nothing taken from them (besides
a potential market, which happens anyway).  
  As a budding programmer, I am now on both sides of the fence.  The problem
of piracy I think will go away when prices come down enough. And for that to
happen there must be several tens of millions of apple ][ software buyers.
Who pirates paperbacks when you can get an original for $4?

>p.s. I know of a major company which recently discontinued all developement
>     on their products for a certain computer brand due to lack of sales of
>     an earlier release.  Do you think "providing More Computer Power to the
>     People!" through piracy had anything to do with this decision???
>
>AXTBF@ALASKA.BITNET = Tim Friest
[ disclaimer deleted ]

  I know of several software companies that shut down because of poor
marketing and overpriced pruducts (VisiCalc and related packages sold for
around $700 EACH).
  People WANT original products, but when you can get 5 CD's for the price
of a game whose novelty will wear thin in a few days, what do you expect
the consumer to do?
  The "typical" pirate is a greasy 15 yr. old nerd who also breaks
telecommunication laws and "hacks" plane tickets to Paris (movies & TV 
constantly & terribly misrepresent the computer industry).  There are
just as many pirates in schools (teachers, administrators) as there
are stereotypical teens in the game.  
  The problem isn't people breaking the law, it's a monopolistic industry
trying to maintain its grasp on the market.


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jawaid bazyar			   "The history of the world is the history of	
jb10320@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu	    the warfare between secret societies."
Junior/Computer Engineering @          - Ishmael Reed, Mumbo-Jumbo
 Univ. of Illinois
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