RE: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Warez 'Ringleader' Pleads Guilty In Software Piracy Case

[Michael <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

> I always hear the latter comment, and I never quite believe it.  
> People steal too many copies of things like M$ Office which you 
> *know* get used.  Back in the day when MS and others used to provide
> really extenisve paper documentation, it seemed pretty clear that a 
> lot of the "Master MS Office" type books were geared primarily 
> towards people using bootleg copies.

People who copy Microsoft products typically aren't really warez doods.
They are more business folks to lazy or cheap to properly license all
their software. IMO if your a business and you choose to use proprietary
software then you should pay for it. If not you deserve to get busted.

People who are warez doods typically put more value in having a program
than actually using it. For the ego value. Hacked copies are even better
than originals. Again the average warez dood uses a very small percentage
of what they have and often will buy a real copy if they are going to keep
using it (if they can afford to do so.. $3000 programs are out of most
teenagers price) so really it doesn't hurt sales. They buy the real copies
because of the manuals, the original cd's, etc. There is ego value
attached to having those items too. Of course when companies go to
download-only or even cd-only copies of programs there is no reason left
for the warez doods to buy a copy so they don't. Also things like games
have more ego value to own an original than something like M$ Office.

> Another more hidden problem with the WaReZ d00dz is that by getting
> off on stealing stuff, they effectively shrink the market for new,
> better, or cheaper proprietary software (which is more affected in
> relative terms by the lossage).  And then they even shrink the 
> market for free software equivalents.  

Not really. The majority of them couldn't or wouldn't have bought the
program anyway. Again most warez sits on a harddrive taking space and not
being used. It's like a trading card. If anything it helps boost the
market for larger harddrives and cd-r's.

> Seriously, if everybody who ever used a bootleg copy of MS Word had
> had to "make do" with Lyx or Emacs+Latex, I seriously believe the
> world would be a much better and better-informed place.

I won't argue that. Opensource is better than warez. A lot of people as
they become more educated make the leap especially if then are
programmers. A lot of the same ego value is attached to writing or helping
on an opensource project.

> My last grave objection to software stealing is that stealing is an
> ineffective way to change the system relative to what amounts to
> civil disobedience (refusing to steal or use the software in
> question).  If you were trying to convince Congress to repeal the 
> obnoxious parts of the DMCA, you would have much better luck making
> an argument like "sadly, since I won't violate license terms, I 
> can't play FOO on BAR" rather than "everybody steals this kind of 
> stuff but I don't think it really hurts the owner".

I'm not so much a supporter of stealing software as I am in keeping copies
of the software for historical reasons. Old game ROM's, original versions
of Windows, etc are interesting to save. As I don't think the government
makes an effort to save these resources yet the warez doods are accidently
providing a useful resource for the future. It won't change today but it
might let us have some record of today's history.

> Sorry, I really don't see a huge distinction.  Especially since WaReZ
> servers are a probable source for some of the counterfeiting you're
> talking about.  (I do sort of agree with you and Dante that
> counterfeiting is a more heinous sin than merely stealing.)

You seriously think it hurts somebody to have an unused copy of their
program on your harddrive? Most warez doods have a 56K modem so they
certainly aren't doing a lot of swapping with evil pirate lords. Most
pirating/counterfeiting is done through corporate espionage and so forth.
Someone on the inside sends a pre-release copy to a paying contact in Asia
who starts selling copies which make it online which warez doods trade
between each other along with cracks and so forth.

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