The thing I wonder about, is whether such teaming up will work on an international front. Imagine this:
Warez kiddies from Japan, England, and Iraq team up together to rip off some bigwigs from the US, lets just say... Microsoft.
How do you defeat them? Especially if one of the nations involved doesn't particularly like the US. I guess my point is, as the world becomes more and more wired, I think it will eventually become impossible to stop warez trade.
The good point for coorporations is, however, that your average John Q. User doesn't know how to get warez, or even if they neccesarily exist.
There will always be software pirates, even if programs drop to $5 a piece (anyone ever seen sharware passwords posted on BB's? It's because people don't want to pay $5). Especially since a lot of your warez kiddies, are just that, kids. They don't have much money, but want the games, so they get them. One way or another.
Actually we have a similar problem already, with TiVo, ever notice those FBI warnings before the broadcasts of movies on the television? Yup NO copying, but TiVo does it.
The key (in my country at least) to determining the legality of this comes from a court ruling passed down from the Gauteng Court system it reads:
The rights of a coorporation shall not be allowed to infringe upon the rights of an individual who wishes to use properties or leases purchased from the said coorporation, providing that the use of said properties or leases falls within fair use. Such fair use shall be defined as any private use, provided that such use does not cause a proven loss of funds to the said coorporation. Fair use shall not include the propagation of the product, or replication in any form other than for backups, or temporary storage by the owner of the property or lease, should such replication or propagation cause the duplication of the product or lease which is then transmitted to another individual who is not prohibited in some fashion (excluding legal decrees) from obtaining a similar property or lease from the issuing coorporation.
What does this mean? I'm no lawyer, but the news services have been saying that things like TiVo are ok, provided you don't give away copies made by it. Perhaps the same applies here?
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The thing I wonder about, is whether such teaming up will work on an international front. Imagine this: Warez kiddies from Japan, England, and Iraq team up together to rip off some bigwigs from the US, lets just say... Microsoft. How do you defeat them? Especially if one of the nations involved doesn't particularly like the US. I guess my point is, as the world becomes more and more wired, I think it will eventually become impossible to stop warez trade. The good point for coorporations is, however, that your average John Q. User doesn't know how to get warez, or even if they neccesarily exist. There will always be software pirates, even if programs drop to $5 a piece (anyone ever seen sharware passwords posted on BB's? It's because people don't want to pay $5). Especially since a lot of your warez kiddies, are just that, kids. They don't have much money, but want the games, so they get them. One way or another.
Actually we have a similar problem already, with TiVo, ever notice those FBI warnings before the broadcasts of movies on the television? Yup NO copying, but TiVo does it.
The key (in my country at least) to determining the legality of this comes from a court ruling passed down from the Gauteng Court system it reads:
The rights of a coorporation shall not be allowed to infringe upon the rights of an individual who wishes to use properties or leases purchased from the said coorporation, providing that the use of said properties or leases falls within fair use. Such fair use shall be defined as any private use, provided that such use does not cause a proven loss of funds to the said coorporation. Fair use shall not include the propagation of the product, or replication in any form other than for backups, or temporary storage by the owner of the property or lease, should such replication or propagation cause the duplication of the product or lease which is then transmitted to another individual who is not prohibited in some fashion (excluding legal decrees) from obtaining a similar property or lease from the issuing coorporation.
What does this mean? I'm no lawyer, but the news services have been saying that things like TiVo are ok, provided you don't give away copies made by it. Perhaps the same applies here?