From: "Stainless Steel Rat" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> * "PrinceGaz" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on Sat, 25 Dec 1999
> | Seems a bit of a hot cookie today, this copyright stuff. Perhaps satan
> | delivered a CD or two to some peeps for xmas and they are already
> | thinking of all the CDs their friends must have received and are counting
> | their supply of blank MDs.
>
> I got to talking with Robert Woodhead (aka Trebor) a few years ago. I
> asked him why he stopped making Wizardry games. His answer: he was sick of
> people stealing his game, and did not want to deal with it anymore.
yep it sucks, but if you charge a ridiculous price for something that costs next to
nothing to manufacture and can be reproduced yourself for an equally low cost
then bootlegging is gonna happen. I know what you're gonna say, all the design
and effort that went into the product blah, blah, blah. Some games cost ukp40
(us$ 60) or more-- thats madness, then theres microsoft NT etc which costs nigh
on 10 quadrillion dollars (slight exaggeration :-) Personally I'd rather spend a
single dollar or two for a blank cdr and exchange it.
Bill Gates (aka Mr. Money) is disgustingly rich and I feel no guilt whatsoever
copying MS stuff [in theory, I do not condone copyright theft etc and do not wish
to encourage illegal activities etc]
> I have gone through similar, though in my case it was plagiarism of essays
> rather than software piracy. Nothing makes an artist want to quit his art
> like someone stealing it from him.
>
> | And why not? Copyright law sucks. Big time. My view is so long as you
> | don't sell unauthorised recordings of music, films, games, or anything
> | for a profit, then it's sorta alright and I dunno why anyone gets so
> | excited.
>
> For every unauthorized recording you make and give to someone else, the
> artist who made the recording loses ~$1.50 on the CD that was not sold.
> You are quite literally stealing his lunch money. And you have the
> unmitigated gall to say that nobody is being hurt.
Nobody is hurt if you weren't gonna buy the material anyway. Indeed you're
helping all the peeps who work for blank media manufacturers [Gaz thinks
this is a intenable position to maintain but does so anyway!]
> | The one minor exception to this would be a program I released as
> | shareware and which I received a fair amount of cash for and would hope
> | anyone who hacked the registration is doomed to eternal damnation!
>
> So, it is okay for you to steal another artist's lunch money, but eternal
> damnation to anyone who does the same thing to you. Hypocrite.
C'mon Rat that was a joke, i know my stuff will have been used unfairly, just
as I use others stuff similarly. In the end nobody loses or gains.
> | We're not talking about bootlegging CDs by the tens or hundreds of
> | thousands, just you and a mate helping each other out.
>
> Maybe I will help myself out to your car if I ever find myself in your neck
> of the woods.
I don't have a car :-P But anyway I decided to make my stuff that was shareware
available as freeware some time ago as I believe in a socialist economy where
everyone is equal and the products of everyones endeavours are made freely
available to all. That or theres b*gger all chance of any more peeps registering
it now heheh :-)
> [...]
> | I would like to point out that the above are my views and do not
> | necessarily represent the law of this or any other country, and that I am
> | not indicating that I have actually performed any of the above activities
> | whether stated explicitly or implied. Does that satisfy you legal types
> | out there? Rat?
>
> No. We were discussing a point of law, not your opinions.
So taking the hypothetical possibility I am a pirate, what could be done. Life?
Electric chair [in the US]? Confiscate all my gear? The legal system has better
things to do than punish a guy who "steals" Win98 and MS Office. Note the
quotes to indicate "virtual stealing", *not* taking a box from a shop shelf. Like
catch *real* thieves and buglars, murders rapists car ram-raiders and the like.
Thats what I think anyway!
Cheers,
PrinceGaz -> this isn't the ideal email for this postscript, but 150+ arcade roms
will be added to my website within two days
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Website: http://website.lineone.net/~princegaz/
ICQ: 36892193
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