"This is my logic: did he hurt anyone by doing so? If no, then who cares?"
I understand your statement, but I think that the applicability in practice will be tricky.
Let me give you a real-life example from personal knowledge. About a decade ago (yes, I AM old) I wrote a software system to create computer programs faster and more easily. It sold for $399 per copy. It was very popular (in a small, specialized marketplace) and very well received. I sent copies out at no charge to anyone who asked -- but if they kept it, they would pay the fee. There was an approximately 30 day lock on the programs. A number of people attempted to defeat my security (my marketplace WAS programmers), none succeeded.
Almost all kept the software and paid for it, even if they ordered it on a whim or expected to be able to break the security.
These people were, for the most part, individual programmers working from their homes -- they didn't have much money.
Should I have accepted, in lieu of payment, a declaration that said that they couldn't afford it, so please send the unlock codes? Since they said they couldn't afford it, it would not hurt me to have them use it for free, right?
I expect that the response rate of such declarations would have been 80% or thereabouts -- some would be too stinkin' proud to make such a statement.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2002-07-06 04:26 pm (UTC)I understand your statement, but I think that the applicability in practice will be tricky.
Let me give you a real-life example from personal knowledge. About a decade ago (yes, I AM old) I wrote a software system to create computer programs faster and more easily. It sold for $399 per copy. It was very popular (in a small, specialized marketplace) and very well received. I sent copies out at no charge to anyone who asked -- but if they kept it, they would pay the fee. There was an approximately 30 day lock on the programs. A number of people attempted to defeat my security (my marketplace WAS programmers), none succeeded.
Almost all kept the software and paid for it, even if they ordered it on a whim or expected to be able to break the security.
These people were, for the most part, individual programmers working from their homes -- they didn't have much money.
Should I have accepted, in lieu of payment, a declaration that said that they couldn't afford it, so please send the unlock codes? Since they said they couldn't afford it, it would not hurt me to have them use it for free, right?
I expect that the response rate of such declarations would have been 80% or thereabouts -- some would be too stinkin' proud to make such a statement.
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