by fzammetti » Jun 3, 2002 @ 5:09pm
I'd like to get in on this discussion because I think I may have a unique point of view here... a little history first...
I've been "into computers" for just over 20 years. I've done a great many things, many of which I'm extremely proud of, just as many I'm not.
Years ago, back in the C64 days, I was a pirate. Mostly I coded intros for a number of famous groups (EagleSoft, FBR, NewAge and PE to name a few), but I also did some cracking and I also contributed to distribution at times (i.e., connecting with crackers in Norway via 300 baud modem and receiving their latest releases for distribution in the US).
I was young and I didn't see the other side of the fence, the people I was taking money away from. Sure, I understood hard work on a piece of code, I'd done that plenty by that time, but I didn't understand making money from my work yet, and I certainly didn't understand that some people actually make a living at it.
Aside from the monetary aspect though, I had no sense whatsoever of why what I was doing may or may not be illegal or even immoral. It just didn't occur to me that it might be more than just a little wrong, which is probably all I thought at the time. I new I shouldn't be doing it, but I certainly didn't realize any "big-picture" aspects of it.
Now, jump forward about 15 years. Now I'm a "professional" developer. I make excellent money doing my day job, and I make a nice supplemental income from my PocketPC development work.
So, I had a very odd feeling when I saw my own PocketPC software available on Spam's site (well, a post in a forum directing me on where to get it to be precise, it wasn't strictly speaking "available" on Spam's site). At first I actually thought it was kind of cool... I figured "gee, if someone thought my software was good enough to pirate, I must have done a good job!". And to some degree I think that's true, even now.
But then I thought about the money I was probably losing because of this, and it pissed me off. Look, I've used pirated software before, I'm certainly not going to try and deny it. I haven't over the past few years because the only factor that in the past that would cause me to use warez, not being able to afford it legally, is no longer a concern. But now I most certainly see why what I have done in the past was so wrong.
Look, anyone that tries to rationalize warez and tries to justify what is undeniably an illegal activity (or support of an illegal activity, which by legal definition is itself illegal), either (a) doesn't understand what they are doing, (b) isn't being honest with themselves or (c) has no moral compass and hence just doesn't care.
That being said, as has been said before during this thread... it's not going to stop, ever. Trying to fight piracy is a losing battle, much like trying to live a 100% healthy life is probably impossible. There is just too much out of your control to ever but a significant dent into it.
This idea of Spam's of a developer asking the warez community to hold off a while though strikes me as patently ridiculous. Even if I assume that his motives are 100% altruistic, which I do not because I understand the warez community and I understand what drives it (ego, plain and simple), this amounts to a protection scheme. Just because no money changes hands doesn't change what it is. Just because I as a developer might in fact gain some benefit from agreeing to do this, doesn't make it right. It's EXACTLY the same as the school bully telling a kid in the lunch line to give him his milk money and he'll protect him from the school bully when HE'S THE DAMNED BULLY!
Put it this way... if a protector is paid by a protectee to protect the protectee from some harm that the protector would cause if not employed by the protectee, that's a protection racket and 100% illegal. Spam, this is exactly what you are doing with your offer. You say you don't get paid and you gain no benefit from the developer for doing this. Well, in fact you do because your status in the warez community increases. You are empowered because you are seen as having control or something. This is how the warez community works, even if it is not something you realize. And as I said before, even if you are the one exception and your motives are really good, the effect is the same, which doesn't make it any less wrong.
I don't want to make it sound like I'm picking on Spam, that's not my intent. Your not doing anything that so many others are not doing.
So what do us developers do about it? Well, we have to understand some basic truths...
(1) You are NOT going to stop pirates. No matter how clever your protection scheme, no matter how solid your algorithms or how tricky your registration schemes, no matter how many sites you get taken down, crackers and distributors will still pirate your software. They are THAT good at what they do.
(2) Contrary to what some people like to say, most people that use warez will NOT go out and purchase the software if they like it. Sure, some will, but most won't.
(3) Most of the time (I'd be willing to bet 80-90%), people that use warez are doing so because they cannot afford your software to begin with, and for no other reason. Therefore, there probably is not all that big of a loss to you (believe me, I'm not justifying ANY loss, just stating what I believe are facts). As Dan said with the example of WalMart, you should be figuring some level of theft loss into your numbers, as unfortunate and sad as that fact is.
So, what are we to do? Well, the first thing to do, as other have said here, is to make it as tough as possible to crack your stuff, without going nuts yourself to do it. The harder the make it, the longer you can delay the inevitable. You might even make it so hard that many of the lesser crackers will give up (you will of course get a few who will now put in a bigger effort because it's more of a challenge!).
Also, do what I do: keep an eye on the warez community and see how widespread your software really is. As Sun Tzu said, know your enemy (I'm of course paraphrasing!) And by all means, request ISP's to close down sites when you see them. I say to do this but I also say this: don't spend a great deal of time on it! The sites will pop up again quickly (if they in fact get taken down at all) and your stuff will still be distributed, but I don't see anything wrong with trying to slow it down a bit.
It's kind of weird, but the warez community pretty much EXPECTS this from you! They expect that you will shut down their sites and protect your software better (but NEVER to the detriment of your paying customers, it is ALWAYS better to surrender to pirates than inconvenience your customers!). And we on the other side have to expect that they will crack your protection and distribute your hard work for free, so we have to figure that into our sales figures. But as I said, make it as tough on them as possible!
This is from someone who has been squarely on the other side of the fence mind you. I can't stop piracy, and neither can any other developer. But what annoys me the most is any pirate trying to justify what they are doing. You cannot justify theft as far as I'm concerned, and I think that's what bugged me the most when I saw my own stuff there. The poster was saying "sure, here's where you can get a completely limit-free version of this product. Oh, you should probably buy it if you like it.". Damn it, there should be an emoticon for WINK-WINK on message like that because that's what it's saying.
The bottom line, for the developers, is this: piracy is here to stay, and you can't stop it, but you should do whatever you can to slow it down, as long as that effort itself doesn't have ill effects on your work or most importantly your paying customers. Understand that you WILL lose money to piracy, count on it. How much is hard to determine. I personally figure on 10% and go from there. Beyond that, vent your frustrations on boards like this and understand that you are not alone!
The bottom line, for the pirates, is this: what you are doing is wrong, illegal and immoral. Some day you will likely understand that. Many of you (but certainly not all) are young, and so I can forgive you to some extent (much like I forgive myself, but not even entirely). Trying to find ways to work with the developer community is the height of insult. Your asking us to somehow condone your actions because you profess they are born of some higher goal. Bull. You are taking money out of our pockets for a boost in ego and online karma, plain and simple. I can't stop you, but I'm certainly not going to HELP you. We can't just all get along! You are an enemy, and even though I'm not going to try and start some all-out war because I know I can't win, I'm not going to give you any help in your endeavors.
