From: jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu (Jake Rose)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Re: PIRACY
Date: 13 Nov 92 03:37:37 GMT
Organization: Virginia Tech Computer Science Dept, Blacksburg, VA

saj31052@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Scotty A Johnson) writes:

>For one, most people steal copywritten material, be it music,
>software, text, etc.  Therefore, most anti-pirate beings are 
>hypocritical.

Ad hominem will get you nowhere.  There's a valid philosophical
point that goes like this; "So I'm a hypocrite."  It means that
the original statement can be valid regardless of its source.

>Also, the pirate people do not, in general, respect any system
>based upon capitalism, and will take it upon themselves to 
>determine that they either superior to the non-pirate people in


Homicide is murder whether it's in self-defense or not.  A crime
is still a crime whether there are good reasons for it or not.

>For myself, I see most of the champions of the pirating and
>non-pirating as self righteous pigs.  What is legal does not
>have anything to do with what is moral, and indeed is often
>opposed to what is moral.  Society dictates what is moral as

>it establishes certain norms.  In the music industry, it is 
>quickly becoming the case that cd's are outselling other media
>becuase they are not totally reproducable.  This coupled with
>the fact tham most everyone has an illegal copy of copy written
>music indicates that it is moral to steal music, so long as
>you are not *phyically* depriving anyone of their goods.

>The same is becoming true in software.  I don't know the statistics,
>but in my little sampling, 95% (19/20) "own" pirated software
>material.  Is it wrong?  Perhaps to your unique values it is, 
>but do not spout off about what is moral, when there is no
>obligation under my state or any other that I must worship your
>god, or share in your beliefs.

Just because most people in the 15th century thought the world was
flat didn't mean they were right.

>I don't *need* software, yet I have have pirated software in my
>collection.  I even use it.  Is it worth buying?  Of course!  I
>use it, so it is worth buying.  Can I afford to buy it right now?
>Sadly no.  Will I buy it when I have more funds?  I often wonder
>what the answer to this question is.  I wonder if, no matter, *what*
>my disposable income is, I will ever think that I can *afford* 
>such things.  I suppose only time will tell.

>In the mean time, I hurt nobody, nor do I deprive anyone of
>their possessions, nor do I act against any apparant societal
>morality.

Buzz.  Wrong answer.  Even by posting this, asserting that piracy is
"okay," you are affecting others' decisions about purchasing software
licenses for the illegal copies they may already be using.  You have
made the claim that piracy is fine, and that those who pirate software
are just as much in the right as those who don't, because it's a moral
decision that might as well fall under freedom of religion.  But it's
not, and the reason is not a legal one or a moral one.  Even from the
standpoint of the completely egocentric pirate, it's obvious that pirating
is the wrong decision, because supporting the use of nonlicensed software
deprives the source (the software publisher and the programmer(s)) of their
income, which means that they must raise wholesale charges to compensate for
lost monies, which means that more software becomes less affordable, and
eventually it becomes profitless for them to produce software for the
platform and they leave it, creating another void in the already wanting
software market for the Amiga, which means one fewer source of software to
freeload.

So, among other people, you as a pirate hurt yourself.

>I am your normal, average, every day pirate.

>Scotty AJ

>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Scotty A. Johnson     "The beast with the four foot tail."     Iguana@uiuc.edu
>------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- 

Wulf                    |"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do!"
jaker@csugrad.cs.vt.edu |                                              --Karel
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc