I always liked the codewheels SSI provided with copies of their Gold Box AD&D games.
Joel Send a noteboard - 18/01/2012 10:07:40 PM
It's a simple reality that it's easy to copy things nowadays. In the end, everything can be reduced to a number. Copying music, games, and everything else is hard to stop.
For the last few decades, publishers' attempt to stop piracy has been to attempt to make things more difficult for pirates. I listed some in my post above. There have been dozens of methods: CD keys. Code words to read in a manual. Special dongles to plug in while using the product. CDs that dissolve after a few days. MP3s that are hardcoded to your computer (making backing them up, or moving to a new computer, impossible), services where your computer must always be on, invisible background programs that secretly monitor your computer (don't laugh, Sony did it).
And all were ineffective against illegal copying, but all were extremely effective at making life difficult for people who legally bought the products.
The problem is that, due to the nature of piracy, pretty much the only people that anti-piracy measures work on are people who don't know how to pirate something.
So, that said, what can you do? Obviously content creators want to make money from their product, but the nature of that product means that it's impossible to prevent someone from copying it if they really want to.
SOPA won't help- as has been said, anyone with knowledge of DNS can get to a site that's been blacklisted. And there are plenty of piracy techniques that don't rely on getting a file from a centralized web site.
As I've said, the way to mitigate piracy is by making things cheaper and easy to access. Steam did it- it's revolutionized the PC gaming industry. Netflix did it- it's become such a powerhouse success story that people are sitting up and taking a sharp interest.
SOPA is just the latest example of increasingly drastic- and relatively useless- attempts by publishers to deal with piracy (see Sony's "let's install secret software" ploy). They're using a 1950s mindset to deal with a world where everything is information that can be broken down and copied- and that's why it's not successful.
(As a side note, I don't know how informed you are, but the whole piracy debate is one that has been long running, with a lot of interesting arguments. For one thing, it's extremely debatable as to how much piracy actually takes away from profits- for example, if someone who couldn't afford to buy a game pirates something, no income has been lost. Other factors include building customer loyalty through no DRM, and building groundswell support through word of mouth.
I don't necessarily support all those arguments- with the rise of Netflix and Steam (and securing a job), I pirate maybe 5% of what I do, compared to maybe 60% 5 years ago. But it's an interesting topic, and doesn't easily boil down to "MORE DRM TO FIGHT THE HACKERS!"
For the last few decades, publishers' attempt to stop piracy has been to attempt to make things more difficult for pirates. I listed some in my post above. There have been dozens of methods: CD keys. Code words to read in a manual. Special dongles to plug in while using the product. CDs that dissolve after a few days. MP3s that are hardcoded to your computer (making backing them up, or moving to a new computer, impossible), services where your computer must always be on, invisible background programs that secretly monitor your computer (don't laugh, Sony did it).
And all were ineffective against illegal copying, but all were extremely effective at making life difficult for people who legally bought the products.
The problem is that, due to the nature of piracy, pretty much the only people that anti-piracy measures work on are people who don't know how to pirate something.
So, that said, what can you do? Obviously content creators want to make money from their product, but the nature of that product means that it's impossible to prevent someone from copying it if they really want to.
SOPA won't help- as has been said, anyone with knowledge of DNS can get to a site that's been blacklisted. And there are plenty of piracy techniques that don't rely on getting a file from a centralized web site.
As I've said, the way to mitigate piracy is by making things cheaper and easy to access. Steam did it- it's revolutionized the PC gaming industry. Netflix did it- it's become such a powerhouse success story that people are sitting up and taking a sharp interest.
SOPA is just the latest example of increasingly drastic- and relatively useless- attempts by publishers to deal with piracy (see Sony's "let's install secret software" ploy). They're using a 1950s mindset to deal with a world where everything is information that can be broken down and copied- and that's why it's not successful.
(As a side note, I don't know how informed you are, but the whole piracy debate is one that has been long running, with a lot of interesting arguments. For one thing, it's extremely debatable as to how much piracy actually takes away from profits- for example, if someone who couldn't afford to buy a game pirates something, no income has been lost. Other factors include building customer loyalty through no DRM, and building groundswell support through word of mouth.
I don't necessarily support all those arguments- with the rise of Netflix and Steam (and securing a job), I pirate maybe 5% of what I do, compared to maybe 60% 5 years ago. But it's an interesting topic, and doesn't easily boil down to "MORE DRM TO FIGHT THE HACKERS!"

And by "liked" I mean "a neat role playing sensitive idea that totally screwed you if you ever lost the codewheel."


Not that I would know anything about any of that first hand, of course....

It has always been fairly easy to copy things; even before movable type printing presses Medieval monks did it (in fact, I have heard that was the REAL reason Latin became so ubiquitous during the Dark Ages: Because much of what those monks did in their cloisters for centuries was copying ancient Greek texts as Latin ones.) The real issue is the penalty for illegally doing so, both in terms of recouping lost revenue and deterrence.
To date, the most baffling--but popular--argument I have seen in this debate is "existing laws are adequate; the media industry is only pushing this because they know they will never receive the fines assessed for illegal copying." Existing laws are unnecessary and the industry is only demanding new ones because existing laws are so ineffectual.

Remember the horror a few years ago at grammas being hit with $500 fines for EACH of the 300 songs her grandsons (or one of his friends) downloaded on her computer? Remember the widespread laughter when people refused to pay those fines and the RIAA had no way to MAKE them? Well, the RIAA responded by pushing laws to send people to PRISON over it; now who is laughing? I have ZERO sympathy for people who force someones hand then get slapped down for it, particularly when they take food out of peoples mouths for the sake of free entertainment.
Are liabilities for and definitions of "piracy" far too broad now, as they were then? Sure, and that is something sorely needing correction in these bills. However, that people WILL continue to thumb their nose at legitimate copyright protections on the grounds of "freedom of access to OTHER peoples speech" demonstrates (one of) the needs for new laws. From all I have read and heard, SOPA and PIPA are miserable examples of such laws, but there is a real problem here that requires addressing, and it is not going away, nor will Congress ignore it forever due to mass netizen outcry. That is before we even get into things like Wikileaks getting the names of Al Qaeda informants in Pakistan out of the Pentagon, posting them on their site and responding to DoD requests to take them down with "screw off, imperialists!"
Give them a reasonable viable Plan B, and, no, "the media industry should make it easier to legally obtain their content" is not it. SOME piracy will always occur, and thus some effective legal remedy will always be needed; there are not enough people with the moral fiber to spend their limited income on things they can easily obtain for free. When genuine piracy occurs, content producers have the right to enforce their copyrights, and doing so does not infringe on anyones right to free speech. Your right to swing your arm for fun ends where it takes food out of other peoples mouths.
Honorbound and honored to be Bonded to Mahtaliel Sedai
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!
LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
Last First in wotmania Chat
Slightly better than chocolate.
Love still can't be coerced.
Please Don't Eat the Newbies!

LoL. Be well, RAFOlk.
English Wikipedia Anti-SOPA Blackout
17/01/2012 08:31:46 AM
- 2206 Views
Yeah, man, because currently copyright holders have no recourse, am I right?
17/01/2012 11:47:35 AM
- 1030 Views
"altering the infrastructure of the Internet so as to render RAFO virtually inaccessible"?
17/01/2012 08:12:27 PM
- 1145 Views

I'll go ahead and ask before I get my panties in a bunch: do you understand these bills?
17/01/2012 09:09:22 PM
- 1246 Views
I admit I have not looked into it much
17/01/2012 11:42:30 PM
- 1095 Views
And yet you're still arguing the matter.
18/01/2012 02:34:04 AM
- 1200 Views

I love you. *NM*
18/01/2012 03:41:03 AM
- 675 Views
heh, thanks. I usually find myself pushing minority opinions. Nice to be "appreciated" for once.
*NM*
18/01/2012 04:01:10 AM
- 658 Views

Can i second the adulation?
18/01/2012 04:07:17 AM
- 915 Views
I too (three?) appreciate the common sense and reasonable explanations. *NM*
18/01/2012 04:12:59 AM
- 658 Views
Right, because the argument is not just over THIS bill but, apparently, over ANY bill.
18/01/2012 11:09:13 AM
- 1097 Views
Alternatives to SOPA/PIPA have been proposed for months now. Please stop arguing this.
18/01/2012 05:42:10 PM
- 1012 Views
Also, in the case of the OPEN Act, it has not "been proposed for months."
18/01/2012 07:28:15 PM
- 1514 Views
"sensitive federal content"? Provide a source justifying this claim and it's relevance, please.
18/01/2012 05:59:47 PM
- 1109 Views
I would not have thought a source necessary.
18/01/2012 06:24:44 PM
- 1102 Views
Okay, I'm with Aemon now.
18/01/2012 07:36:21 PM
- 1112 Views
OK.
18/01/2012 10:16:16 PM
- 1144 Views
should be interesting
17/01/2012 12:41:47 PM
- 972 Views
Could be; depends on a lot of factors.
17/01/2012 07:38:55 PM
- 1039 Views
See, that's one of the biggest problems that people aren't understanding.
17/01/2012 09:31:38 PM
- 1044 Views
So tell them that.
17/01/2012 11:54:19 PM
- 1202 Views
Joel, I think I'm done with this unless you want to do some research.
18/01/2012 02:53:19 AM
- 1004 Views
Research would tell me what is wrong with these bills and how a good bill should look.
18/01/2012 11:22:46 AM
- 1116 Views
Could've done without the snide rejoinder, but, good.
17/01/2012 02:20:08 PM
- 962 Views
I love the black banner, like some kind of internet Holocaust.
17/01/2012 08:03:27 PM
- 1109 Views
Are you aware that SOPA/PIPA has nothing to do with hackers and everything to do with copyright?
18/01/2012 02:08:56 AM
- 960 Views
There seems to be some overlap.
18/01/2012 01:08:22 PM
- 1066 Views
Re: There seems to be some overlap.
18/01/2012 08:13:15 PM
- 961 Views
Re: There still seems to be some overlap.
18/01/2012 10:27:32 PM
- 1224 Views
Re: There still seems to be some overlap.
18/01/2012 11:30:39 PM
- 1061 Views
Just because the news does not mention something does not automatically make it non-applicable.
19/01/2012 04:08:58 PM
- 1089 Views
Re: Just because the news does not mention something does not automatically make it non-applicable.
19/01/2012 10:39:40 PM
- 1076 Views
If you re-read your last sentence it should be clear why this law is being pushed.
20/01/2012 09:12:29 PM
- 1350 Views
Re: If you re-read your last sentence it should be clear why this law is being pushed.
21/01/2012 03:19:49 AM
- 962 Views
Er, what Ghav said.
18/01/2012 02:30:37 AM
- 977 Views
Sorry, protecting Pirate Bay and offshore gambling are not compelling counterarguments.
18/01/2012 11:38:08 AM
- 1029 Views
Okay, another analogy:
18/01/2012 02:04:12 PM
- 975 Views
The devil is always in the details, and it seems clear the details need great revision.
18/01/2012 03:31:20 PM
- 1027 Views
what they SHOULD do is stop taking money from proponents of sopa/pipa
18/01/2012 03:51:09 PM
- 1094 Views
Yes, they should, but, once again, that approach will not prevent a new law.
18/01/2012 04:05:02 PM
- 1092 Views
Re: The devil is always in the details, and it seems clear the details need great revision.
18/01/2012 04:27:30 PM
- 1053 Views
If the US government wants to summarily block sites within the US, it already can and will.
18/01/2012 06:15:53 PM
- 998 Views
You know all this anti-SOPA bullshit is making me hope the bill passes.
18/01/2012 04:00:17 AM
- 1057 Views
I would not go THAT far; it seems clear these bills have many objectionable provisions.
18/01/2012 11:41:23 AM
- 1079 Views
Re: I would not go THAT far; it seems clear these bills have many objectionable provisions.
19/01/2012 01:57:46 AM
- 910 Views
Yeah, the extreme bias on both sides is why the bills will likely pass more or less as written.
19/01/2012 03:31:52 PM
- 1097 Views
joel, you need to consider three things
18/01/2012 06:06:16 AM
- 1057 Views
You need to consider that they WILL pass some legislation, and what you want it to contain.
18/01/2012 12:15:38 PM
- 1108 Views
again, it's not about piracy, it's about protecting the mpaa/riaa business model at our expense
18/01/2012 03:34:32 PM
- 1184 Views
Yeah, see, that is the problem: "it's not about piracy."
18/01/2012 03:57:55 PM
- 1013 Views
if piracy is such a problem then the mpaa/riaa need to PROVE their losses
19/01/2012 02:43:31 AM
- 1009 Views
How do you expect anyone to prove what people WOULD HAVE bought if they could not just take it?
19/01/2012 03:57:24 PM
- 1320 Views
A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
18/01/2012 08:32:44 AM
- 992 Views
"As a disclaimer, I am not a lawyer, I'm a sysadmin."
18/01/2012 12:47:16 PM
- 1241 Views
Wikipedia has already convinced me
18/01/2012 03:26:01 PM
- 860 Views
Trying to stop this legislation without proposing an alternative is trying to stop ANY legislation.
18/01/2012 03:44:18 PM
- 1086 Views
It isn't their job to propose legislation
18/01/2012 04:12:53 PM
- 999 Views
No, but they have as much RIGHT to do so as anyone else.
18/01/2012 05:31:55 PM
- 988 Views
Strike three.
18/01/2012 05:37:55 PM
- 1054 Views
That is fine; that is what people SHOULD be doing.
18/01/2012 06:03:59 PM
- 860 Views
Things being better now than they would be under SOPA seems like a legitimate argument to me
18/01/2012 09:04:18 PM
- 1125 Views
Against SOPA, sure; against ANY new law, no.
18/01/2012 10:46:48 PM
- 967 Views
About "proposing new legislation"
18/01/2012 04:45:08 PM
- 1116 Views
So true
18/01/2012 05:08:45 PM
- 1061 Views
Re: About "proposing new legislation"
18/01/2012 05:59:55 PM
- 1197 Views
Hm, you should read my post one above about combatting online piracy.
18/01/2012 06:20:16 PM
- 1142 Views
I would not recommend photocopying a book and handing it out on street corners.
18/01/2012 06:45:52 PM
- 1076 Views
Not to blame, neccessarily. But you have to live in the real world.
18/01/2012 07:31:18 PM
- 991 Views
Re: Not to blame, neccessarily. But you have to live in the real world.
18/01/2012 08:55:59 PM
- 1077 Views
I always liked the codewheels SSI provided with copies of their Gold Box AD&D games.
18/01/2012 10:07:40 PM
- 1210 Views
These are really different arguments
19/01/2012 12:05:10 AM
- 978 Views
TV is slightly different, because regional availability becomes a factor.
19/01/2012 04:18:58 PM
- 976 Views
Yeah, so I use Russian wikipedia for a day. Or German wikipedia, or French, or Italian... *NM*
18/01/2012 06:23:36 PM
- 703 Views
Or just hit stop right before the script runs. *NM*
18/01/2012 06:52:40 PM
- 696 Views
Or just disable Java. *NM*
19/01/2012 01:58:03 AM
- 563 Views
That's not as much fun though. *NM*
19/01/2012 02:13:44 AM
- 691 Views
Exactly, this way its kind of a game. *NM*
19/01/2012 02:20:37 AM
- 501 Views
I really don't see the fun in that. Wikipedia is just a tool, not a game. *NM*
19/01/2012 04:59:14 AM
- 605 Views
I don't know about those (except French), but none of the ones I ever used are remotely as good. *NM*
18/01/2012 08:13:47 PM
- 686 Views
Russian wikipedia is very good if you're not checking some obscure Western cultural phenomena.
19/01/2012 01:57:43 AM
- 1156 Views
Or Answers.com, or even the actual sources that are often copy/pasted into Wikipedia...
19/01/2012 01:07:38 AM
- 1080 Views
Re: Or Answers.com, or even the actual sources that are often copy/pasted into Wikipedia... *NM*
19/01/2012 01:34:46 AM
- 730 Views
Oh, no; now Congress will be inundated with complaints from lazy college students!
19/01/2012 04:40:12 PM
- 1130 Views

13 previously unopposed senators now do not support SOPA.
19/01/2012 11:36:15 PM
- 1094 Views
How does that "rebutt" what was a facetious post in the first place?
20/01/2012 09:24:27 PM
- 1188 Views