Reporting Illegal copying/distribution.

[Guest]

they lost the CDR battle only in some countries...In others there's a tax on CDRs and there are now plans in Europe to introduce taxes on CD/DVD writers and similar devices as well.

[Guest]

not only that, but isn't GC an online-only game?Without a connection to their servers (which requires a valid serial number and paid account) your game installation for such games is useless.For such games, copying by customers actually helps the manufacturer as it reduces the cost of distributing the software to potential customers (the media are often distributed at or below cost for them as a marketing effort to draw in customers).

[boshar 6]

>As far as the FlightXPress forum, it is a very poorly>moderated forum and an outlet for a lot of people who>routinely use peer-to-peer and software cracks hang out and>exhange ideas. I would not consider anything I read there>that is negative toward developers or piracy protection in>general to be valid. Here we go again. Repeating this 50 times will not make it the truth. You never give any evidence for this claim. You obviously don not like some of the posts on that forum and try to deal with it by discrediting the source. Either proof your accusations or stop spreading lies. I will forward your comments here to FlightXpress maybe they want to take measures against you for slandering them.>like Avsim and the other responsible forums do it would likely>be different. As far as the people who have posted such>stories there, on a couple of occasions I have seen those same>people turn right around on go to one of the more popular>Warez newsgroups and brag about how they created so much>trouble for a software vendor on FlightXPress and how easy it>was to actually crack thgeir software. So much for>credibility. Where is your proof for this? And might I ask what you are doing in a warez newsgroup?You have a dislike for anyone that thinks that some of the problems with FSD might be real. You hate it and tell us that they spread lies and half truths then you turn around and spread lies (you say things without giving us the facts and I don't believe you have those facts so I call it a lie) and accusations against a respected German FS forum. I have a hard time understanding you.

[boshar 6]

CalCiv is not an online game and its not by a big publisher eitherhttp://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/galact...l?mode=gsreviewIts just a refreshing way to look at customers + copy protection.I personaly think that hey are going to far. I mean lets at least protect the CD's so they can not be copied by standard burn programs so you stop the most casual of all pirates.On the other hand they might have an evaluation along the lines of: No cost for 'Safedisk' protection and no support calls for copy protection problems.AGAINSTLost sales due to no copy protection.Maybe they know something that we don't

[Guest Paul Heaney]

Don't forget what STARFORCE did to the Market. I'll NEVER Buy a Starforce product ever again, and OH LOOK! They cracked that as well. It's a losing battle. I'm ok with with companies protecting their investments, I'm not ok with them doing nasty things to my system, when I'm a Legit Customer.Ummm, Sony?

[Guest Moonraker]

>No I am not saying that at all. I am saying neither you nor I>know which may have a basis in fact, which are vendettas, and>which are just completely made up. So the wise person takes>what he reads in flame threads with a grain of salt. They come>from a variety of agendas. But you, on the other hand, seem>to feel that all of the complaints are valid. I dont think>that is reasonable.If we both don

[Guest SageWisdom]

>Here we go again. Repeating this 50 times will not make it the>truth. You never give any evidence for this claim. You>obviously don not like some of the posts on that forum and try>to deal with it by discrediting the source. Either proof your>accusations or stop spreading lies. I will forward your>comments here to FlightXpress maybe they want to take measures>against you for slandering them.First of all slander is spoken word. The applicable term would be libel. And I have not said anything libelous. While most of the posts there are ordinary flightsim posts there occasionally comes up a thread about where key generators are, do they work, where is this or that peer-to-peer site, and that is allowed...fact. And when someone has a beef with someone else, whether its about piracy, software companies or not, there are often quotations from people's private mail published there, which is a highly unethical practice...fact. It is simply my opinion that it is a poorly moderated forum, and therefore, I am not willing to take much of what I read there seriously. If you are willing to take the time to go through all their threads you can have your proof, but I am certainly not going to do it. I do not keep a log when I find repugnant forum threads as I got better things to do and I dont feel any particular need to prove anything to you anyway.>Where is your proof for this? And might I ask what you are>doing in a warez newsgroup?I have taken a keen interest in the problem of software piracy, particularly how it relates to this hobby, because I feel it will eventually ruin it. You seem not to care about that, and that is your right. Sometimes I notify the companies whose files are being compromised, as there is often away to prevent the hacking. But if I read you correctly this would not mean much to you as you seem to feel that only you have a right to protect your income. For others its just tough luck. If I am wrong in that observation please feel free to say so, and in the process, perhaps you could illustrate just how these companies are expected to protect themselves without using some kind of license protection. Or are you on of the "all software should be free" group and don't feel that all the hard work people put into this software should be given away as freeware?>You have a dislike for anyone that thinks that some of the>problems with FSD might be real. You hate it and tell us that>they spread lies and half truths then you turn around and>spread lies (you say things without giving us the facts and I>don't believe you have those facts so I call it a lie) and>accusations against a respected German FS forum. I have a hard>time understanding you.I have a dislike for flame threads in general, and those against software developers in particular. Not just FSD. I am pointing out the obvious fact that nobody knows what is true and what is not. Anyone with any life experience knows there is always more than one side to a story. And based on the nasty nature of many of these accusations I do indeed put their credibility into question.

[Guest SageWisdom]

What nasty things did they do to your system?

[Guest Moonraker]

>First of all slander is spoken word. The applicable term>would be libel. And I have not said anything libelous. While>most of the posts there are ordinary flightsim posts there>occasionally comes up a thread about where key generators are,>do they work, where is this or that peer-to-peer site, and>that is allowed...fact. And when someone has a beef with>someone else, whether its about piracy, software companies or>not, there are often quotations from people's private mail>published there, which is a highly unethical practice...fact. Why is this "fact"??? Because YOU say so??? You are quite a funny comedian! >It is simply my opinion that it is a poorly moderated forum,>and therefore, I am not willing to take much of what I read>there seriously. If you are willing to take the time to go>through all their threads you can have your proof, but I am>certainly not going to do it. Ah! Then don

[boshar 6]

Again you fail to deliver any proof. Just accusations and relying on the possibility that 90% of the bystanders here can't read german or wil never check.By the way the reason that one of the mails is published on that forum is because the original recipients English wasn't good enough to comprehend wat the E-mail realy meant. The thread follows on with helpfull translations of the message. The guy with the problem then wonders what product he has to buy because he only bought the one product that was deactivated and he had no other product by that company. A later thread had the original posted E-mail removed (by a moderator) because of legal grounds.Probably just a cunning ruse by someone that has a grudge against that company don't you think?.By the way the threads on FlightXpress try to get the editors of the magazine involved to sort out the problem. FlightXpress is partly owned by FSQuality one of the larger fs add-on distributors in Europe. So we have FlightXpress a German language print magazinehttp://www.flightxpress.dePartly owned by FSQuality a European distributor of FS add-onshttp://www.fsquality.comThat has an online forumhttp://www.wcm.at/forum/forumdisplay.php?forumid=45Do you realy think that FSQuality and FlightXpress can afford themself to sponsor a forum with illegal activities?In the FlightXpress forum there is one message stating that FSD regards that forum as illegal and that the forum hosts links to Bittorrent trackers. Coincedently there now is one person on this forum that makes the same (unproven) claims. It appears to me that there is some link between you and FSD.You could prove me wrong by providing some links to prove the things that you claim. If you don't do that I will quit the discussion with you and only return posting a small rectification whenever you post this false information again. Bye Steve?

[Guest acebrando1]

I think I have briefly read through this entire topic.It does not seem that anyone has come up with any solid solutions to this problem of piracy. I do not think you will ever see the government get involved too much. Think about it, how high up on Uncle Sam's agenda is this problem? In today's physical world of real threats. For instance, how often do you hear about the RIAA's lawsuit's on the evening news anymore.In this electronic world you are obviously dealing with the piracy or stealing (whatever vocabulary you wish to use) of electrons and not physical property. The payware developers need to sharpen their argument as well as their defensives. Why sharpen verbal (in this case written) argument? To eventually form better law that will one day make it very difficult to pirate software. Then anyone who pirates it has signifigant consequences brought upon them. Laws that have consequences do not just spring up overnight. Signifigant dialogue takes place before anything becomes law. Public dialogue on forums like this one and private dialogue as well. That is where ideas are born and nurtured.From what I have read here it seems like those P2P systems are where pirates get the software. So, how do you stop it?Also, did this e-commerce society we are now in make piracy easier? Of course it did. Did developers not see this coming? Back when I used payware (FS 95 and FS 98 days) it was only available in the retail stores to my knowledge. So what was the online piracy level like back then in regard to flight sim add ons? I would really like an answer to that.At the current rate at which things are going I do not ever see the day where payware developers will stop making their products just because of online piracy. My gosh, I have never seen more add-on products available for any one original product (MSFS). Just look at the flashing banners at the top of this screen for instance. Someone is definitely making some nice "pocket change".I can see why parware developers like e-commerce. It is easier, cheaper, and it is quick money. When compared to putting it in a box and into the hands of a retailer. However, with current piracy at an all time high how much money have payware developers really saved with e-commerce? Personally I much rather own something I can put my physical hands on but that's just me. I still buy music in the store on a CD for example.I suggest you read my original post titled "Ethics Question". I think it was posted 3 or 4 weeks ago. You read that and you will see where I am coming from.

[Guest Paul Heaney]

Google is your friend, search for STARFORCE

[Guest SageWisdom]

Your intemperate and ill-mannered response here simply illustrates my point about flame threads, and those who start or perpetuate them in the public forums anonymously to launch personal attacks for their own gratification. Often there are other agendas involved which have nothing to do with the truth.

[Guest SageWisdom]

Thing is most of what you buy on the shelves on CD now have the same product activation/piracy protection. Just buy anything from Microsoft, Adobe or Symantec for example.You are right, it is a problem that will be hard to defeat without government help, and it does not look like that will happen. It only happened in the music industry because that wealthy industry was able to mount a legal and lobby offensive.

[Guest]

there are solutions but they're not practical for off the shelf mass market software.The online piracy level a decade ago was lower, at least when you count the download sites and P2P networks (the latter hardly even existed back then), but this was mainly because most people were on dialup at the time and downloading a CD worth of stuff was more expensive than buying the CD.In contrast the market in counterfeit CDs and CD-ROMs was far larger than it is now.E-commerce to a large extent is less about saving money than it is about making things easier for the customer (and making your product available to a wider audience, which might mean more income).