################ ##### ### # ## ## ## # ## # ### # ## # # ## # ##### ## # ## # # ### ## # ## # # ### ## # ## # ########### ## # ## # # ### #### # ### # ### ###### ### ## ### ##### ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | Technical News Association | | | | #5 | | | | The $100,000 Diskette | | | | Typed By Skyewalker | | Written By Mike Geraghty | ----------------------------------------------------------------- You're driving down the Garden State Parkway in the left lane at 70mph when out of the blue a State Police cruiser appears in your rear view mirror, lights activated and siren wailing. Your flat out caught but decide you can outrun the Troop car and speed away in an attempt to flee. While fleeing in your car you purposely ram another vehicle but loose control of your own car and crash into the guard rail. You run into the woods in a desperate attempt to get away. The Trooper follows close behind and eventually tackles you and places you under arrest. The Trooper brings you back to his Troop car, and incidental to the arrest conducts a search of your vehicle. As a result of the search the Trooper finds one-half ounce of marijuana, one unregistered pistol loaded with hollow point bullets, stolen credit cards, and 10 unauthorized copies of MS-DOS 5.0 and the proceeds of the sale of 10 other copies of DOS. Given the above set of circumstances, taking into account all the laws that were broken, which violation do you think is the most serious? Would you believe the sale and possession of unauthorized copies of DOS? That's right. Just recently, Congress passed, and President Bush signed into law a new set of penalties regarding software piracy and copyright infringement. Software piracy is now a felony. The penalties include liability for damages suffered by the copyright owner plus any profits of the infringer that are attributable to the copying, or statutory damages of up to $100,000 for each work infringed. The unauthorized duplication of software is also a federal crime if done willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage of private financial gain. Criminal penalties include fines of as much as $250,000 and jail terms of up to 5 years. Unfortunately many of us don't realize the seriousness of the penalties involved in software piracy. Hack, it seems so harmless to copy a game and pass it onto a friend so that he/she may enjoy the game just like you. What are friends for? The lax attitude of the general public to what is now a serious crime is sobering. To many copying software is done brazenly and without guilt, more so than the average driver who disregards the speed limit while keeping up with the flow of traffic. It seems harmless. but none the less, it's illegal. But a speeding ticket doesn't involve a $100,000 fine. Software is protected by federal copyright laws at the time of its creation. These rights are explicitly stated in the Copyright Act, in Title 17 of the U.S.Code. In essence the Copyright Act gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive rights to reproduce the copyrighted work, and to distribute copies of the copyrighted work (Section 106). With all copyrighted software that you buy, you are in essence purchasing a license to use the software. You are not an owner of the software and therefore your rights are set forth according to the license agreement contained within the package. These licenses vary and many are very confusing. A rule of thumb to follow with these licenses in to understand that you now own the right to copy the software onto a single computer and to make another copy for archival purposes only. We may not all agree on the restrictions of these licenses however, rather than just disregarding the license agreement and breaking the law, writing a letter to the owner of the copyright stating your problem with the license is a more feasible course of action. Recently, I received an Atlas program that listed just about every street in the U.S. I travel around the state frequently and figured it would be a great tool in helping me navigate through various cities and neighborhoods. I also thought that I could now print out a great map to my house so that it would be simple to find. After creating the map and while waiting for the printer to print the 25 copies, I read through the license agreement. In it was a statement that "prohibited the use of this product for navigation by land, sea, or air". There went my plans for that product. This is one example of unreasonable license agreements. For what else would you use an atlas? I don't agree with the license, but then again my disagreement doesn't give me the right to disregard it. I returned the program. In response to many dissatisfied users, software companies are beginning to change the restrictions on its licensing policies. Rather than one copy per computer, some manufacturers allow a user to copy the program to multiple computers as long as it is not used simultaneously. Borland has a "No Nonsense" policy that follows along those lines. I strongly urge you to read through the license agreements included with your software. They can be very educational and some might surprise you. Other actions taken by software manufacturers in response to licensing confusion is the introduction of site licenses for businesses. This is where a business purchases a software program which includes one set of diskettes and manuals but licenses for the software for more than one computer. In some instances more than one set of manuals and/or diskettes are included. Network utility companies offer a variety of utilities to ensure that license agreements are adhered to across Local Area Networks (LANs). One such product is Site Lock whereby the network administrator can set the number of licenses which the company owns so that only that many users may access the licensed software at any one time. Not only does an arrangement like this ensure that the company stays within the law, but it also allows the company to save money by purchasing a set number of licenses rather than a license for each user with a login account. This follows the premise that not every user will need to access a given program at all times. In addition to the copyright infringement laws dealing with duplication of software these is also a Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-650). This law prohibits the rental, leasing, or lending of original copies of any software without the express permission of the copyright owner. At one time the CJPCUG considered setting up a CD-ROM rental committee that would purchase software on CD-ROM and charge members a monthly rental fee for the use of this software. The intentions behind the idea were above reproach, unfortunately as we researched the matter we came across the Software Rental Amendments Act. Our plans were brought to a screeching halt. So who loses when software is pirated? I'm sure it doesn't affect the multimillionaire CEO's. Bill Gates is not going to feel the pinch of lost profits by one person copying DOS 5.0. Phillippe Kahn is not filing chapter 11 over an unauthorized copy of Quattro Pro and Jim Manzi won't be homeless if you share a copy of Ami Pro with a friend. In the end its folks like you and I who will be hurt. Just like the dregs who commit insurance fraud which thereby raises the premiums for honest folks like you and I, those that pirate software will also affect your pocketbook. And when the software is pirated who is there to enforce the law? Do you call the local P.D.? The State Police? How about the FBI or Secret Service? Unfortunately, all of these law enforcement agencies are too understaffed and underfunded to deal with all the problems that abound in society. So the chances that they have a unit to deal with computer crimes or if they even understand computer crime is remote. For now the reporting agency is the Software Publishers Association (SPA) an organization similar to MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), only they look out for the rights of piracy victims. With this article I hope that I've made you aware of the circumstances involving software piracy. I'm sure there are many questions that I've provoked with this article. If you would like more information on the above topics of have specific questions be sure to contact the SPA at: Software Publishers Association 1730 M. St., NW, Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 202-452-1600 Fax: 202-223-8756 Piracy Hotline: 1-800-388-7478 And remember, as I pirate their slogan, DON'T COPY THAT FLOPPY! I would like to personally thank the CJPCUG (Central Jersey PC Users Group) for their permision to rewrite this artical for distribution. They can be reached at Central Jersey PC Users Group 366 Hudson Drive Brick, New Jersey 08723 ------------------------------------------------------------- Technical News Association Distribution Sites The Wall BBS (908)294-8830 Skyline BBS (908)363-3832 -------------------------------------------------------------