From: mikeh@starnine.com (Mike Haas)
Subject: Re: I found a pirate - what shall I do?
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1992 03:56:44 GMT
Organization: StarNine Technologies, Inc.

In article <Bx9n9K.943@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> shulick@yankton.ucs.indiana.edu (Sam Hulick) writes:
>In article <1992Nov5.201345.5803@bnr.ca> hello@bnr.ca (Ken Orford) writes:
>>This is one of the most asinine responses I've seen since M.B. posted
>>last!  Either you're incredibly stupid Sam or you're simply a jerk!
>>Piracy is wrong no matter how you cut it - and if ya ain't one of the
>>good guys then you must be a bad guy.  Get a life and stop jerking
>>around people who are on the right side of the fence.
>
>Oh, come on, now.  What a weak argument, Ken, really.  Either I'm stupid
>or a jerk?

Sounds like it.

>No, try I'm realistic.  And "piracy is wrong" is about as
>weak and diluted as "say no to drugs."

Both good ideas.  Or do you do drugs too?

>And no, I'm not a good guy, and
>no, I'm not a bad guy.  I try to be un-biased.

If you condone software piracy... ypu're a bad guy!

>
>Let's talk about realism.

OK,  Theft is immoral.  Copying commercial software is
theft.  Therefore, Copying commercial software is immoral.

Any other spin you want to put on it is fantasy,

>Do you realize how many pirates exist in the
>world?  Yes, QUITE a few.  Astonishing amounts.

That has nothing to do with theft being immoral.  It's immoral
if 1 or 100 do it.  No difference.

>Look, I hate to say it,
>but turning one in won't do a lot of good.  

NOT turning him in won't do ANY good, in fact, it will do harm.

>You could turn one in, but
>maybe somewhere in the world, someone will say "I want a copy of that
>game" and become a pirate.  -1, +1.  They sorta cancel out.  

Not likely.  More likely it will set an example and dissuade
others from being scum.  Or maybe that one pirate is a mastermind
of an entire ring... and you'll nab a huge number of scum...

You see, your "maybe" is simply a rationalization... the kid
of thing children do.  Grow up.

>Now maybe
>the answer to anti-piracy is stricter punishment.  Heavy copy protection
>is out of the question, since the majority of the computer users despise
>heavy copy protection.  I don't have the answers.  I just know that
>turning in these people isn't going to solve anything.

It sure will.  Put these scum behind bars.  Do it enough, and
folks will actually start to believe they'll be punished, then the
practice will begin to whither.

Now, NOT turning them in... THAT won't solve anything (exacerbates
the problem, actually).


>Thus my earlier
>statement: It will only hurt the pirate, and it won't help anyone.

Good.  See, even YOU agree... it WILL solve something!

After all... who gives a rats ass about scum software crooks?

By the way, Sam, on a personal note, I don't think you have the smarts
OR the morals that God gave a rock.  I have commercial software on the
market... have had Amiga products released since 1986... and I will
FULLY prosecute anyone who steals it.

I would recommend that you re-evaluate your position on these matters
before you make a total fool of you... well, before you do it AGAIN
anyway.
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc