🚀 go-pugleaf

In comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic Magnulus <magn...@bellsouth.net> wrote:

>   Moral approaches to piracy have failed when they are in isolation
> without any other efforts to combat piracy.  It's hard to believe that
> something is bad when nobody does anything to stop you.

>   The MPAA and RIAA may put out cheesy ads about piracy=theft, but
> they also back up their campaigns with lawsuits and prosecution.
> Simply wagging your finger at software pirates will do nothing.

Oh yes, those lawsuits against the Grandmother who never owned a PC are 
very effective...

The problem is one of education.  People don't understand copyright or 
intellectual property laws or feel "entitled" to do things like make 
illegal copies.  However, this is only casual piracy.

The lawsuits and such are misdirected - especially when consider the near 
extortionist terms that are being used where the RIAA threatens to sue 
someone unless they pay thousands of dollars (the RIAA of course!) in 
so-called "damages".  None of this money ever makes it to the artists.

It's also questionable if fining someone $500k for making a single copy of 
an album, movie or game is excessive.  After all, the US supposedly 
adheres to an ideal system where the punishment should fit the crime.

Of course, the RIAA/MPAA are ignoring the LARGER sources of piracy - the 
professional pirates, like those that literally have turned piracy into a 
legitimate industry over in places like China, the Phillipines, etc.  
Street markets in China had full working, retail versions of Windows Vista 
Premium for mere dollars a copy about a WEEKS before the offical product 
hit shelves in the US for instance.  Attempts by the local governments to 
crackdown on these pirates has so far been a farce.  The police - who are 
also customers - tell the shack's owner that they're going to perform a 
raid next week.  So the owner packs up and leaves - only to open in a new 
location sometimes as close as across the street.  It's a joke and 
everyone knows it.

Worse still, this is not a problem you can solve with technology.  
Attempts at creating copy-protected media will ONLY impact the legitimate 
consumer and, at best, casual piracy.  But even then, it only makes casual 
piracy more difficult - not impossible.  Meanwhile, the professional 
pirates overseas and their customers aren't affected one bit.  They either 
have sources inside the industry feeding them un-protected masters, or 
they hack the original and then duplicate it 1000s and 1000s of times.

I have no problem with making casual piracy more difficult, but when it 
starts impacting MY LEGITIMATE USE, that's another problem.

> > Ways to protect and support Freedom in the PC Game market:
> > * Boycott any PC Games that have Product Activation or other
> >   types of agressive copy-protection systems

>    That means you aren't going to play alot of good games.  Depending
> on the meaning of "product activation".

I won't buy any game that has Starforce on it.  Yeah, I might miss out on 
a title or two, but there's so many games on the market that it's not 
going to make a bit of difference to me in the long run.  It's not like 
the days of the Apple where I can remember seeing the same display of the 
SAME games at the SAME prices month after month, year after year.


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