Author: Roger D Davis
Date: 00:41:18 09/22/02
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On September 21, 2002 at 23:46:16, Russell Reagan wrote: >The ONLY people your company is hurting are the ones who legitimately purchase >the software and who lack the knowledge needed to bypass the copy protection. This would be most of the market, and it's an interesting issue, because Fair Use allows one backup copy, as I understand it (this is true with music CDs, at least). Copy protection represents an infringement upon the right of Fair Use. In fact, encryption technologies being put on new music CDs may be challenged by the Electronic Frontier Foundation as infringing Fair Use. No >matter how advanced, complex, and intricate the copy protection is, there's >always some person out there who is talented enough to break it in a relatively >short period of time, and it only takes one person to do that and share it on >some file sharing program, and it's loose. Yes, but this doesn't make protection useless. I don't know that I'd run even a virus-checked .exe on my system if it came from a file sharing network. I'd be suspicious that it could include custom trojans or spyware (not detectable by Adaware) that would open back doors into my system. Certainly, you can imagine that someone smart enough to crack the protection is also smart enough to invent such stuff, and obviously, their motives and ethics are suspect in cracking a legitimate product and making it available for mass distribution anyway. I'd think I'd rather pay for the software and sleep well at night, with a clear conscience. You might also check out www.SiliconRealms.com...they market a product called Armadillo, and Chad (the programmer/owner) usually stays one step ahead of ArmKiller, his cracker nemesis. I really don't think the protection hurts that much. In the big scheme of things, it allows companies to make a profit, which allows them to make better software. Particularly for small companies on the edge of profitability/bankrupty, it could well make the difference. Roger
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