Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!jarthur!polyslo!vlsi3b15!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!sei.cmu.edu!krvw
From: zmudzinskit@imo-uvax.dca.mil (zmudzinski, thomas)
Newsgroups: comp.virus
Subject: The AIDS "Trojan" is a Copy Protection System
Message-ID: <0007.9002132006.AA19225@ge.sei.cmu.edu>
Date: 13 Feb 90 18:08:00 GMT
Sender: Virus Discussion List <VIRUS-L@IBM1.CC.Lehigh.EDU>
Lines: 33
Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu

In Virus-L V3 #38 Ian Farquhar writes:
..
> If the author of this program is convicted, it will be the first
> conviction ever for the hidious crime of writing a copy protection
> system, and will be one of the biggest farces of justice ever
> witnessed.

Zapping a hard disk and calling it copy protection is overkill.

One is generally not allowed to use lethal force to protect mere
property.  (You may kill in self-defense, and you may defend your
property, thereby making "self-defense" more likely, if that's
your karma.)  Rigging lethal deadfalls is a no-no (it's called
"reckless endangerment" and similar verbage).

Justice Holmes wrote that your right to swing your fist ends at
the tip of my nose.  The right to protect a person's intellectual
property must end when it damages another's physical property.

I consider most copy protection to be just that, a hidious crime.
If I can't make my own back-up copy of a program, I feel that the
vendor is responsible for providing me with a replacement when
the original disk fails.  Ideally this should be at no charge,
including the prepaid return-mailer that would hold the failed
disk -- and if we're talking about an applications package that
I've become dependent upon (choose any software you'd hate to be
without for 36 hours), I want damages!
                              ^^^^^^^
................................................................
: Tom Zmudzinski   :    "In just causes, there are no failures, :
: DCS Data Systems : only delayed successes." - Robert Sheckley :
: McLean, VA       :    "Why do I feel overly successful?" - me :
:..................:............................................: