by Alan R. Bechtold

"BBS Piracy... one solution"

As you read this, thousands of people are calling pirate bulletin
boards and illegally trading copyrighted commercial software.  The
trend has become a popular one, with hundreds of new pirate bulletin
boards popping up every month.  It is a trend that has to stop.

The software industry has been screaming for a long time that piracy
is taking millions of dollars out of the pockets of hungry publishers
and pulling an entire industry to it knees.  I have always doubted the
scope of their claims, especially as those claims relate to personal
copying of commercial programs for private individual use.

Intricate, expensive copy-protection schemes have been devised and
used to protect commercial software from this kind of piracy.  The
result was copy-protection schemes that were soon broken and rendered
useless by those who knew how, and disgruntled paying customers who
resented the extra hassle and inconvenience most copy-protection
schemes added to a software product.

I have always believed that copy-protection doesn't work.  It only
presents a challenge to those who enjoy breaking software protection
schemes.  Private individuals who want to trade software will continue
to do so, because by doing it quietly, they are nearly impossible to
catch, and they know it.

The answer to the problem has always been low prices, quality customer
support, and superb documentation.  Put these three things into a
useful quality commercial software package, and most people will pay
for the software, just to get good customer support and
documentation.  I think the success of some freeware and shareware
packages has proven this to be true.

Unfortunately, we are now faced with a new kind of software piracy,
one that threatens TWO industries: the commercial software publishing
industry, and the BBS industry.  A growing number of bulletin boards
across the country are now offering free copies of commercial software
programs in their download sections.

I'm not talking about an occasional commercial package, buried in a
section of a BBS, and offered by the sysop to a few select friends.  I
am talking about bulletin boards that proudly proclaim their pirate
status when you first log on, and allow any caller access to long
lists of commercial programs for virtually any computer you can name. 
They're available everywhere you look, and more are popping up every
day.

I know that copying commercial software is illegal and shouldn't be
done.  But I am also realistic enough to know that it will go on, for
the reasons stated above.  I think most software publishers realize
this too, but chasing down everyone who violates the copyright laws in
this manner would be a monumental task at best.

However, flagrantly offering commercial software packages on bulletin
boards, for any caller to download, is outright theft of copyrighted
materials for personal gain.  This makes the activity an entirely
different class of crime, one where the laws are ENFORCEABLE.

Here is how personal gain enters the picture.  With so many bulletin
board systems popping up all over the place, it's getting harder and
harder to offer something really different to pull in callers. 
Bulletin boards, even if operated just for the fun of it, need
callers.

Frustrated sysops, in an attempt to stand out and offer something
different and daring, have merely started carrying copyrighted
software as an additional draw to make things interesting.  It also
has the added benefit of increasing the sysop's own personal library
of free software.

A LOT of sysops of pirate boards think they can't be caught.  They say
that the software publishers, whose products they are giving away, are
already making lots of money, so passing a few of their products
around won't hurt them.  They say they are just one small BBS that
will escape the notice of publishers.

The problem is that what these sysops are doing IS a crime.  I have
been told by sysops that there are no specific laws on the books that
outlaw passing out commercial software on a BBS, so they are in the
clear.  Wrong.
 
First their is the matter of CIVIL law.  Software publishers have
every right to sue a sysop who is passing out free copies of their
software on his or her system.  These publishers also have every right
to reclaim a reasonable judgement in such lawsuits, to cover the cost
of every lost potential sale of all programs that are being given
away. 
 
Also, publishers have every right to sue for punitive damages.  This
could amount to thousands, or hundreds of thousands of dollars,
depending on the number of programs available on a system, the number
of people who downloaded those programs, and the suggested retail
price of EVERY commercial program given away on a bulletin board. 
Once a pirate bulletin board is discovered, such lawsuits can be filed
by every publisher whose software was illegally available on the
bulletin board.

Finally, there is the matter of FEDERAL copyright law, which protects
copyrighted software.   This IS on the books and DOES cover software
specifically.   Since it is a federal law, and phone lines are being
used to violate it, this means the FBI has every reason to investigate
such violations and bring offenders to justice.  This is in ADDITION
to the civil penalties that can be pressed on the sysop by every
publisher of software offered on the board.

Personally, I think bulletin boards have suffered enough as a result
of bad press lately.  Right now, many people consider ALL BBSs as
nothing more than a way for people to exchange stolen credit card
numbers, and find minors for sexual purposes.  Add the blatant
exchange of copyrighted materials to that list, and you will soon see
BBSs legislated and controlled out of existence.

BBS PRESS SERVICE is dedicated to elevating bulletin boarding from its
early hobby status to that of a commercially viable industry for
electronic publishing and mail.  This will never happen if pirate
boards continue to flourish.  They will bring ALL the boards to a dead
end.

I have had several calls from individual BBS users asking me what they
can do to help eliminate pirate boards.  There is a way.

Right now the Software Publisher's Association (SPA) is offering a
$100 bounty to anyone who helps it locate and verify bulletin boards
offering pirated commercial software for downloading.  The SPA COULD
be pushing for legislative control of bulletin boards.  Instead, SPA
members have decided to make it a civil matter, offering a reward to
people who help them locate systems that offer pirated commercial
software.

This only punishes those systems that are openly violating the law,
and is the only logical way to tackle the problem.  I applaud the SPA
members' efforts.  I also hope they are successful.  If they aren't,
their only recourse will be one that hurts ALL bulletin boards.

 Copyright (C) 1986, by BBS PRESS SERVICE, INC.


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