🚀 go-pugleaf

Date: Tue 3 Jul 84 18:08:26-PDT
From: Tony Siegman  <uw-beaver!SIEGMAN@SU-SIERRA.ARPA>
Subject: Copy Protection (Minor Flame)
To: info-mac@SUMEX-AIM.ARPA

 [I'll rush this into print before Ed Patterman gets back and filters 
all this minor-league flaming out of info-mac].

AES -- I'm appalled and rather surprised to read (per J. Pournelle) that
BIG companies frequently rip off software, including even relatively
low-priced stuff.

It's not that I think big companies are more moral than the rest of us; it's
just that they usually seem to at least follow a formal appearance of
playing by the rules, and then accomplishing any dirty deeds either by
bending the rules, slipping through loopholes, or perverting the rulemakers
themselves (i.e., making lots of big contributions to legislators and
politicians).  Also, it would seem almost easier for them to use their
buying power and negotiate a bulk price with the vendor for whatever
software they need.  Maybe some of this piracy is done by the troops at
lower levels, more or less without official knowledge, and really isn't
company policy.

Anyway, one counterweapon against the big guys might be just simply
publicity, and the resulting embarrassment.  There must be lots of ways the
names and unsocial acts of such companies could be put out on bboards and
nets, without running too much danger of getting a lawsuit in return.

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