Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License
Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License
- Subject: Re: Protecting Software w/ Software License
- From: Chilton Webb <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 17 Jun 2002 15:15:43 -0500
Since it appears many people know far more about the answers to the
piracy questions than I ever hope to, I offer a few questions of my own.
I'm torn on some of them, but I thought I'd answer anyway. Feel free to
answer any you care to, on or off list, as this may be not-so-on-topic
for Cocoa development.
If my software is pirated heavily, is that a bad thing?
If my software is pirated only by 4 people, is that a bad thing?
If no one pirates my software, is that a good thing?
If no one wants to pirate my software, is that a good thing?
If I lose five users for every ten I get, because my anti-piracy scheme
makes using my app horribly difficult to use under certain
circumstances, is that a bad thing?
If I demand that my users be connected to the Internet once a month, is
that a bad thing? How should I implement the user interface to tell them
that it's time to refresh their key? Is this approach too much like
parole?
If I let my user only use the software for 30 days, and their laptop
battery disconnects briefly when they drop their powerbook, messing with
the clock, is it okay to accuse them of piracy when they call to get a
new key? What about after they've purchased the software, but before
their copy of the CD arrives? Macromedia did it to me, I thought I'd ask.
If I buy some software and it's stolen from me, is it my fault? How do I
get a new copy? Is there anything that as a developer I should do to
prevent people from using stolen serial numbers?
If I require that the user inserts the Install CD, how do I handle
online purchases?
If the user sells their copy of software I wrote to another user, who
then calls in with a problem, using user a's serial number, do I honor
the request for help? If they bought it off of eBay, do I honor the
request?
If I bump the price of my software unbelievably high, then secretly hand
out the serial numbers on Warez sites, so as to drive my competition's
fairly priced (but not as oft pirated) software out of the market, then
implement an anti-piracy scheme for v.2 of my software, is that Evil, or
just Malicious?
If I make a backup copy of my software and someone comes by and steals
my backup and puts it on a warez site, is it my fault?
If I give them the disk but tell them not to put it on the warez site,
and they do it anyway, is it my fault?
If I give them the disk, and don't tell them not to put it on the warez
site, and they do it, is it my fault?
If I accidentally leave my backup disk at a friend's house who runs a
warez site, am I to blame if he puts it on his site?
If I use pirated software, but later buy the company that wrote the
software, am I still in trouble?
If I use pirated software, but later buy the software that I pirated, is
that bad?
If I buy some software, but the key I'm given doesn't work, and I have
to use a pirated serial number, is that bad?
If I implement a system that uses the end user's personal information to
gen the password, and that password/serial number gets out, and people
get ahold of that user's personal info, am I liable for any damages that
come about as a result of that?
Who came up with this 'you may have a backup copy' clause, and do I have
to use it?
Is piracy bad?
-Chilton
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