| From: | Bart King |
| Date: | 11 Aug 2000 at 11:57:33 |
| Subject: | Re: Amiga Piracy |
At 10-Aug-00 10:25:00, adambell@connectfree.co.uk wrote:
> I think I've read of Dopus, OS3.5, Wipeout and some clickboom games being
> pirated. Does anyone know where this is going on? It is really easy to
All titles published for the Amiga in the last five years (at least)
have appeared on warez web and FTP sites, regardless of the format,
cracked or not.
> So who is finding out about it or is poor software sales just being put
> down to piracy? If it is piracy, then is anything being done about it or
> are people just complaining.
It's near impossible to tell, however this is the general belief. How
products are available on warez sites _before_ official release can be
attributed to various factors, e.g. not-so loyal beta testers. It only
takes a moment to ruin commercial success...
However, cracking groups or "distributors" are becoming smart and
employ new tactics to defend what they do. Warez sites now require you
to read terms and conditions, accepting their pretend legal mumbo-jumbo
saying you are permitted to use software provided for a specific time
period and must be removed afterwards. Terms such as "for evaluation
purposes" or "educational value" are quite common.
But then on the next screen, they are quite proud of their efforts and
say you should "enjoy! :)" your new software for as long as you wish.
None of this would stand up in court if:
a) You have the money to fit the legal bills which can be very hefty,
especially if traders and groups operate in different countries spread
across the world.
b) You can actually track the individuals responsible, which can be
very difficult, especially if they reside in a country that really
couldn't care less about copyright, for example; Hungary, Russia, and a
few in the East.
c) You can prove that your software has been altered by unauthorized
individuals.
And for these reasons, most of small to medium developers do not
pursue combating software piracy. However, piracy is not as common as
it is made out, but it is on the increase.
> And to the people who download it: You are killing the Amiga.
Some would say "killed".
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