news 28 Posted May 13, 2008 Hi all, We have just published an editorial titled *A Picture-Perfect Quandary*,* *which discusses the battle between consumers' and games publishers' rights when it comes to copy protection in the latest crop of PC games. If you could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated. *Description:* Copy protection and piracy seem like two inescapable forces in modern digital media. But is either side right? Brett Thomas sounds off about pretty pictures, perils of intellectual property, and the dollars and cents behind everyone's favourite "freedom fighters." *Link:* http://www.bit-tech.net/columns/2008/05/13/picture-perfect-quandary/1 ** *Quote: */"Adding to the already very muddy waters are those stuck in the fringes of each camp. No matter who says otherwise, there are many people who turn away from legal software as their legal copies don't work (while the cracked ones all do). There are also people who let the light bulb turn on that someone is profiting from all of the piracy -- all of the major sites are packed with ads, which makes one lose quite a bit of faith in the whole "robin-hood" ideals that the groups attempt to foster. Let's strip the wilful naivety away -- copy protection and piracy are both / /businesses that have sprung up to play on our fears as producers and consumers. Neither side is doing it out of the goodness of their own heart. By rallying behind one, the other gets a new reason to go a step farther. And the producers bite into the apple fed by the DRM makers the same way we bite into the one fed by the pirates. I mean, let's be serious for a minute -- do you / /really think EA came up with that monstrosity //all by itself? EA owns a lot of development houses, but none of them are copy-protection studios. Someone actually //sold this to the //people that work there (yes, there really are people and not just heartless robots). Someone actually told them, "Hey, now //this -- this is a good idea. You should use it." I hope he hid his horns under a hat. Devilish as it may be, it's also a fear tactic that's been proven to work...partially because with as much as we look at our piracy as justified---however easy it may be (and oh, it is / /so easy at times)---we become part of what the industry really does have to fear. We know piracy doesn't translate to dollar to dollar sales loss -- we're all smarter than that. It leaves us questioning even the fair and real figures, feeling lied to at every turn." /* *Cheers guys! Tim Smalley www.bit-tech.net Share this post Link to post
