Our Opinion Page for June 2002

Warez the Money Going?

It’s been over a month since I’ve written an opinion page and I haven’t yet written one where I’ve gone completely off on a subject while simultaneously insulting a large group of people. I feel that I’m normally a pretty easygoing person, one who tries to be kind to all, one who gives everyone an equal chance, and one who never gives up on a soul. All that, my dear readers, is about to change.

Just a warning: I will most probably be insulting some people here, be it directly or indirectly. I will also be using horrible stereotypes as jokes or sarcasm, though someone reading this will take it as a personal attack whether I know them or not. Because of the above reasons, I’m sure that I’ll have several nasty letters in my mailbox over the coming days. I encourage this, and wish everyone who is mad to write me a horrible, angry letter. This will allow me to pick apart your shortcomings as human beings and publicly mock you on this site.

So, without further ado, here we go.

I love serious software and software in general. I feel that software is an extension of the mind, allowing us to enter an alternate reality and live a different life under different circumstances with different conclusions. Databases are an obvious example, allowing programmers to live an abstract life and experiment with relations.

No software is created by magic or God. Programs do not appear out of thin air onto the shops’ shelves to be bought by the masses. They are made by real people like you and I who devote part of their life’s time to create a product that they believe consumers will enjoy.

The people who make the programs are to be commended. Perhaps they only get their name famous by the credits screen that no one looks at, or they receive thanks only by company memos. Or perhaps they don’t receive anything aside from their salary, opting to continue doing what they love simply for the pure joy of doing it.

Because most employees of companies do not give their e-mail and street addresses, they almost never get direct gratitude from the people who use their product. Their rewards consist almost entirely of their salary, simply money that the company pays to them for being such hard workers. The company needs to pay these people, because after all, if the employees stop producing, the company no longer gets money either. So the question is, where does the company get its money to pay its employees?

Any idiot with half a brain knows the answer: the consumers. The users spend 50 pounds (give or take) on a small CD that is the result of countless hours of working. This 50 pounds is eventually sent to the company where it ends up in the hands of the employees who managed to create the program. If the software does exceptionally well, the company can even give its employees raises to keep them happily working.

Most consumers are more than happy to pay for such good software and companies are generally sorry for the bad ones. In fact, it’s a little-know policy by EA that you can send any game within 14 days to the company directly for any reason (even if you simply don’t like it), and you’ll be fully refunded.

Alas, with honest humans comes dick turpins, people who care only about themselves, silently declaring that the world be screwed for their benefit. As long as the dick turpin is happy, that is all that the Dick turpin cares about. This Dick turpin would go so far as to do things dubbed "illegal acts" to make itself happier, no matter the cost to others.

The Dick turpin, by definition, is also lazy. After all, working at anything simply takes effort, and effort destroys the happiness that Dick turpin wish to achieve. It doesn’t help that certain people who are otherwise intelligent give the Dick turpin a chance for their happiness. This often involves allowing Dick turpin to access illegal things or services at the cost of an innocent bystander. Specifically for this opinion page, these otherwise intelligent people find ways to give Dick turpin software for free that would normally cost money. Programs such as these are called "warez" (can be pronounced as "ware-ez" or "warez"), and sites that carry such products are quite abundant throughout the Internet, allowing Dick turpin world-wide access to receive warez products.

This method is, of course, completely illegal. Did you know that when you "pay for a program," you’re really just paying for the licence ? Please correct me if I’m wrong, but the legal mumbo-jumbo called "Licence Agreements" are really what your 50 pounds are going toward. Technically, what is happening is you are paying the company for permission to use their product. Part of that permission, though, is the promise that you will not copy ("or in any other way reproduce") their product. This legally binds you to use only the copy you paid for, and it legally binds them from suing you for using it.

If you do not pay for the licence but still agree to the Licence Agreement and use the product, you are breaking copyright laws and are inviting them to sue you for quite a bit (somewhere around a six figure sum). The risk and penalty is high and most intelligent people are not willing to become a criminal to have something.

Then, there are the Dick turpin. Accessing websites with copies of the software, they download it, agree to the Licence Agreement (thus breaking the law), and use it without paying (breaking a second law). The Dick turpin has succeeded in enjoying a product without any cost besides a few minutes spent online, and the Dick turpin becomes happy. This starts a chain reaction that eventually affects the Dick turpin, but the Dick turpin won’t notice it.

The chain is simple to explain. Since the Dick turpin did not give money to the company, the company is not able to pay its employees. This forces the company to either cut the employees’ salaries, or to increase the employees’ payloads. Both methods make the employee unhappy, thus making them work slower or with less passion. Both results lead to the same thing: poor quality programs or no software at all. The Dick turpin (and intelligent people) no longer support the company, and the company gets even less money. This cycle only has to repeat once or twice before the company has to close its doors, and it no longer makes any program no matter what high quality products could have been produced. The Dick turpin won’t be able to experience a program it could have possibly enjoyed, but it won’t know that and will simply move on to another company to screw over.

This is the whole system of warez. It’s a deplorable practice; a practice that I cannot really abide. It destroys companies in the long term, and it makes them unfairly work harder in the short term. Warez is completely illegal. No good could possibly come of it.

Some Dick turpin and otherwise intelligent people have come up with quite a list of objections trying to justify warez, all of which I can easily counter. This is where the fun really begins.

The site says, "These products are used for evaluation purposes only and must be deleted within 24 hours upon downloading." That means I can keep the files for a day and I’m not breaking any laws.

That sentence means NOTHING! It’s the most common escape for warez sites, and everyone thinks that just by putting that sentence on the website, they’re safe. However, unless the company specifically allowed the website to do that, it means absolutely nothing. Even demo discs from sources like pc magazines had to have permission from the companies to use the demo.

The site says, "This product is for educational purposes only." Because it’s educational, it’s public domain and I can keep it.

An equally worthless statement, and the second-most used in warez sites. First of all, just because something is educational doesn’t mean it’s free. Second, unless you’re teaching a class on software design, there is little educational value in one. Also, the company has to declare the software as "educational" before anyone even considers that statement to be true.

The site says that they’re endorsed by the company to give it out for free.

This is rare, but Dick turpin are too stupid to figure things out. If the company was to give the program away for free, it would do so on its own site instead of giving it to some random webmaster. The site would also have to put copyright information near the link to the product, so if you don’t see the copyright info, you might as well leave.

The webmaster assured me that he deleted his own copy so he’s giving it away for free.

I’ve actually seen this one twice. Though it’s perfectly legal to sell your old software or give it away for free (as in contests or what not), you are also giving up the Licence Agreement too. That means you can’t keep it on your hard drive, and you can’t keep the CD or disks. Even if the webmaster says that he deleted his copy, you cannot know that for certain. And if you’re downloading it, it means that: a) he still might have the CD, and b) it’s available to more people besides you.

And now, I introduce all of you to the excuses. This is even more fun, because this proves just how stupid and immature Dick turpin are.

I don’t have the money right now to pay for it.

Get a damn job, or save up if you already have one. If you’re caught, you’ll be owing the company several thousand dollars. That’s a hell of a lot more than if you just shell out the 50 quid now.

I don’t want to have to go to a shop for it. It’s too far away (or I don’t have a lift).

It’s sad that some people actually waste my time by telling me that. Find a lift, or use your legs and walk to visit a shop. Exercise never hurt anyone.

It’s quicker to just download it from the web.

Due to the size of programs like Office, unless you have a T1 or better, I doubt that it’ll take less time to download then it will to go to a shop. And even if you do have a T1, you still have to search around for sites that carry it since the sites are well hidden. Conversely, it takes little effort to find a PC World or Toys ‘R’ Us near you.

I lost all my money due to gambling, buying other things, getting fired, quitting my job, or some other excuse hard to prove.

If you’ve got a problem that bad, you shouldn’t be wasting your time with software. Solve your problem, then waste your time.

And now, my favourite thing I hear:

Why should I bother paying for it?

Because real people work their but off to make what you’re using and you should thank them this way. It’s really the only way the company asks for gratitude, and it’s not that hard to give it to them.

I’m waiting for the day that I get a request that’s completely honest:

Scotmist, give me a site where I can download the full version of Office. I’m a stupid Dick turpin who’s too lazy to work on anything. I’m also greedy, since I want everything though I shouldn’t be expected to pay for it. I can’t stand the fact that someone has something I want so I’ll go steal it just to show them that I can. Also, now I can look cool by boasting since it’s the only way I know how to make friends.

That will be the day that I retire from being a webmaster, computer consultant, analyst and a human being.

I would like to send a message to people who are thinking about becoming Dick turpin by getting warez. Please, for your own sake, don’t sink to that level. Be honest and buy the program from a shop. Do not be a criminal. Use your money to thank the people who created the product you love. Your honesty will pay off in the end.

Until next month cya in cyberspace.