[Gllug] Piracy.

[Bernard Peek]

In message <5.2.0.9.0.20030304193313.015fa098 at 10.119.48.254>, Martin A. 
Brooks <martin at clues.ltd.uk> writes
>At 18:35 04/03/2003 +0100, you wrote:
>>The key difference here is that software is based on an artificial
>>scarcity.  You, theoretically, don't have access to the product unless
>>you buy it, but the duplication costs are negligable.  So essentially
>>the "crime" being committed only because our society has decided to
>>allow a business model to be built on an artificial scarcity.
>
>This is a poor argument.
>
>There is no discussion here: using unlicensed software is theft.

Software suppliers often avoid using the word 'theft', perhaps because 
it allows some people to rationalise doing it because they haven't 
actually removed anything. Embezzlement is a more accurate description.

Although it's a lot like theft there are enough differences to allow 
people to weasel their way out of thinking of themselves as thieves. 
It's not like stealing a stereo out of a car. It's closer to joyriding 
or perhaps squatting. It's not depriving the owner of property, just 
depriving them of the use of some of their property.

On a tangent, software suppliers ought to have thought twice about 
measures like activation. There are people who move between jobs and 
take their software choices with them. If they can't run MS Office XP on 
their home systems they won't choose it when they move elsewhere.


-- 
Bernard Peek
bap at shrdlu.com
www.diversebooks.com: SF & Computing book reviews and more.....

In search of cognoscenti


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