"Leythos" wrote in message
...

In article ,
says...

I guess I look at it like this - you said "will prevent someone from
"sharing"... won't prevent the real thieves.....

I don't see the difference between someone "sharing" a file against
licensing rules and and pirates that copy entire CD's and sell them to
kids.

I'm sorry that you don't see the difference, but it is perfectly
obvious
to the rest of us. The first could easily be a legal example of fair use.
The second is clearly illegal.

Actually, I see the difference, but I disagree that there is a "real"
difference. I don't see any "real" difference between two kids making
copies of CD's and giving the copy to the other and a pirate making a
copy and selling it to anyone. In both cases there was an unpaid for
copy entering the market.

The two kids making copies of CD's and giving the copy to the other
could be an example of legally permissible fair use. For example, the second
copy could be for a legitimate research purpose or for nonprofit educational
purposes.

It's exactly because it is hard to tell the real difference between
these two cases that it's impossible for an automated mechanism to prevent
only illegal copying.

If you don't see the difference between legal conduct and illegal
conduct, your opinion that the software will only prevent conduct that is
illegal is quite meaningless, no?

But I do understand your position, I just don't see it in "degrees" of
being legal or not - making a copy for a friend is just as much illegal
as is selling a copy.

If you are making a copy for a friend to use for a nonprofit research
purpose, it's not illegal. There are no degrees of legal or not, fair use is
legal, period.

If the software blocks it, more power to it, as
long as the software doesn't keep me from playing while doing so
according to the sellers rules. Software won't prevent it, as others
have mentioned, it will just make it harder for the "casual" thief to do
it, which means that less people will become thieves.

So it is now your position that it the software will block some legal
activity and that this is perfectly fine with you? That is not the position
you took previously.

DS