I don't mean to sound glib, but the best retort for Howie is to kindly answer him(perhaps give a nodd of, "Oh, o.k. Howie, now put your helmet on and go collect some soda cans") by putting out as much real info to the counter as possible. Some white papers distributed to appropriate politicals would be a start.
The fact is, this guy is so ignorant in his statements that it is hard to believe he was the head of anything that had to do with technology. Of course, perhaps his predictions would be true if the entire world ran on micros*ft, but that is a different story all together.
The scary part is that there may be people in power who are actually listening to this guy. If that is the case then we are all doomed.
Without getting into an argument on whether warez is right or not I found a few questions arising in me head while reading the article.
First, do any of these people crying about warez realize that the following activities are also illegal: Copying audio tapes (tape to tape, cd to tape, radio to tape etc.), recording movies off of T.V., photo copying lyrics from your favorite song (any form of copying of your favorite song, even in pencil), playing music over an intercom/phone system, etc. Even when it is for personal use it is illegal. Read the copyright laws, they are very interesting.
Second, what are the estimates of money lost from warez? And how are these estimates arrived at?
Third, directly relating to the article and Mr. Vold who was interviewed, how many people who use or distrib warez actually use his software? Here is his site in case you wanted to see what the software is: http://www.vold.com In other words, how can Mr. Vold be complaining about loosing money if it cannot be determined that he has lost money in the first place? Appealing to peoples sensibilities in order to win an argument is considered poor, if not false, logic.
Finally, if you are into logic at any level, anyone catch Mr. Vold's false analogy? He equated warez with an arsonist. He said, "If you like torching houses for fun, you don't gain anything from torching somebody's house," he said. "But that homeowner will certainly suffer a material loss." Once again we are being asked to believe that these poor, innocent people are loosing money in this whole thing, something that has yet to be proven. However, in Vold's case it would seem that it would be safer to bet that he has lost no money then to bet the opposite.
I don't have a problem so much with developers and companies wanting to sue for perceived damages due to software cracking and distributing, that is their right, but to put the offenders in jail for it? That is going a bit to far, especially since it is vary difficult if not impossible to prove what, if any, damages have been incurred.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't mean to sound glib, but the best retort for Howie is to kindly answer him(perhaps give a nodd of, "Oh, o.k. Howie, now put your helmet on and go collect some soda cans") by putting out as much real info to the counter as possible. Some white papers distributed to appropriate politicals would be a start. The fact is, this guy is so ignorant in his statements that it is hard to believe he was the head of anything that had to do with technology. Of course, perhaps his predictions would be true if the entire world ran on micros*ft, but that is a different story all together. The scary part is that there may be people in power who are actually listening to this guy. If that is the case then we are all doomed.
Without getting into an argument on whether warez is right or not I found a few questions arising in me head while reading the article.
First, do any of these people crying about warez realize that the following activities are also illegal: Copying audio tapes (tape to tape, cd to tape, radio to tape etc.), recording movies off of T.V., photo copying lyrics from your favorite song (any form of copying of your favorite song, even in pencil), playing music over an intercom/phone system, etc. Even when it is for personal use it is illegal. Read the copyright laws, they are very interesting.
Second, what are the estimates of money lost from warez? And how are these estimates arrived at?
Third, directly relating to the article and Mr. Vold who was interviewed, how many people who use or distrib warez actually use his software? Here is his site in case you wanted to see what the software is: http://www.vold.com
In other words, how can Mr. Vold be complaining about loosing money if it cannot be determined that he has lost money in the first place? Appealing to peoples sensibilities in order to win an argument is considered poor, if not false, logic.
Finally, if you are into logic at any level, anyone catch Mr. Vold's false analogy? He equated warez with an arsonist. He said, "If you like torching houses for fun, you don't gain anything from torching somebody's house," he said. "But that homeowner will certainly suffer a material loss." Once again we are being asked to believe that these poor, innocent people are loosing money in this whole thing, something that has yet to be proven. However, in Vold's case it would seem that it would be safer to bet that he has lost no money then to bet the opposite.
I don't have a problem so much with developers and companies wanting to sue for perceived damages due to software cracking and distributing, that is their right, but to put the offenders in jail for it? That is going a bit to far, especially since it is vary difficult if not impossible to prove what, if any, damages have been incurred.