Legit Reviews

We had a discussion in class the other day about consumer right vs publisher rights -and pirating media in general. Something I didn't think about until later was why isn't creating backups of your hard drive and data essentially pirating software? I know most people say you can have one back-up copy of something - but in an enterprise environment some companies have hundreds of copies of different backups depending on the day they want to restore to.

I understand that most companies are only doing back-ups to restore if needed, but it seems odd they go to such extremes to prevent home users from doing the same thing.

any thoughts?

Here's my view, it's very cut and dry... It's my **** let me do with it what I want. If I buy a new car I have the right to put certain aftermarket items on it without voiding the warranty. The copyright laws are a good idea and I'm glad they are in place. The thing I do not like are the DRM measures in place to keep honest customers submissive.

The difference is an enterprise environment is not intending to distribute the software illegally, more rather setting up a company life line that they can revert back to if there systems crashed. I think you are allowed to back up anything that your life depends on (work tools, business software, ect.) as long as you are not duplicating the software for illegal distribution. im not a lawyer so i wouldn't fully trust this, just an assumption.

yeah I get that but then there are people like me who only want a digital copy of something I already own. I dont plan on uploading it, burning copies to give to friends ect.. and they make it a pain in the ass to make a simple copy. People are going to get pirate software and music/movies if they really want. Its not that hard to figure out.

I also wouldnt be so sure companies are not using software wrong either.

What about the lawsuit with Viacom and YouTube. Turns out Viacom had other people uploading to YouTube then cry foul. This whole gorilla marketing campaigns that companies are running aren't helping them either, basically they are crying wolf.

I keep backups of all the kid movies. They tend to put lots of scratches in the dvds. When they start complaining about skipping I just burn them another one.

Copyright laws are definitely too strict. People can make money by sitting on ideas and waiting for people to "violate their rights" or license. I'm fine with copyright laws to an extent, but the amount of time that someone holds a copyright is often a ridiculously long time. Copyrights should run out ten years after creation, maximum.

I guess it really depends for me. Yes software I think after 10 years would be good. But if I invent some awsome thingamajig that people will use fo rthe next 30 years I dont think its fair to let someone lose out on that considering it can take 5-10 years to get a product off the ground.

smack323 wrote:I guess it really depends for me. Yes software I think after 10 years would be good. But if I invent some awsome thingamajig that people will use fo rthe next 30 years I dont think its fair to let someone lose out on that considering it can take 5-10 years to get a product off the ground.

You wouldn't be able to have a monopoly on that product for thirty years anyway. Knock-offs are created all the time.

hark wrote:

smack323 wrote:I guess it really depends for me. Yes software I think after 10 years would be good. But if I invent some awsome thingamajig that people will use fo rthe next 30 years I dont think its fair to let someone lose out on that considering it can take 5-10 years to get a product off the ground.

You wouldn't be able to have a monopoly on that product for thirty years anyway. Knock-offs are created all the time.

And there is the reason for all the laws. The reason the laws are so strict and such is exactly that, the moment you invent something cool, every scumbag in the world knocks it off.

As for backups, yes, those are copies that are not meant for use, so very little infringement going on there. Now, in the old days, and still today, you do have companies that run multiple copies of somethings. I remember when I was doing networking for companies I walked into one company with 25 machines, all running the same copy of windows, the same copy of office, the same copy of just about everything. When I brought it to the attention of the owners, they said much as folks here have said "well, I own it, I can do what I like with it. What do you mean I have to buy 25 copies of hundred+ dollar software?? I dont' think so".

Now, i'm sure if his customers were buying one thing and then using it over and over and over again, he'd be a bit pissy, but when it's him stealing he's all for it.

Same with piracy, all this "well they will do it anyway, why all the protections??" Well, think of it like this, folks will counterfeit money no matter what you do so why bother trying to make it hard? Or hell, people are just going to break into your house and steal all your stuff, so why bother with locks and such?

It's always different when it's your stuff being stolen.

There's always one thing I'm sure of when I read discussions like this: The folks saying "hey, no biggie, copyright and IP laws are way to strict" are not people who create things for a living. To them I say this: Imagine if you worked all day and only got paid for 1 hour because the people you work for can just copy you? Or imagine working for months or years to create something and then being told "thanks, but you won't be getting paid for that". That's what you do to the creators every time you copy software, music, videos, whatever.

If people would just learn to respect what others create, we wouldn't have need of any of these laws. Since they don't, expect more and more and don't blame those protecting their property, place the blame where it lies.... with the thieves.

You shouldn't go to such extremes. Innovation is important and as such should be protected; however, at a certain point, overprotection actually stifles further innovation. We are where we are now because people built off the ideas of others.