From: mark@unicorn.com
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1998 06:12:44 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: Re: copyright at the point of a gun (fwd)
Message-ID: <907326747.18477.193.133.230.33@unicorn.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



Jim Choate <ravage@EINSTEIN.ssz.com> wrote:

>> Judging by the state of software-piracy with PC software with 80-90%+
>> piracy rates, the market is already pretty much ok with ignoring
>> copyright, and would be happy to have no copyrights.

>So long as it isn't money your taking out of their pocket. There is an
>obvious double standard at play in the piracy issue.

Personally I get paid pretty well for writing software that's given away
for free. Why? Because it sells our hardware, and hardware is much, much
harder to copy than software (not to mention that the vast majority of
sales are made in the first two or three months after releasing a new
chip when a cloner would still be trying to get their silicon up and
running).

OTOH I just paid good money for a Linux CD. Why, when it's all free on
the Web? Because it contains a full consistent set of software, ready
compiled, and the time I'd spend hunting down all those packages by
myself is far more valuable than the cost of the CD. The same could be
said to apply to many of the other software packages I've bought in the
past; yes, in theory I could copy them, but I don't know anyone who has
a copy, so it would take longer to hunt it down for free than to pay for
it up front.

Software copyright really only benefits big companies like Microsoft. There
are good reasons for buying software from other companies even if there
was no copyright enforcement at gunpoint.

    Mark