-Why I Pirate- Is piracy justifiable?

[mike_intellivision]

Nothing is new. Why do you think many DJs talked over music -- so you could not record it and had to buy it.

When I was in graduate school two decades ago, the professor expected us to have certain software packages ... but really did not want to know how we "acquired" it. There were students who could get anything and students who came from places where copyright was not as strongly enforced/meaningful. The result was that there were many copies of Word Perfect 5.1 (on six 5-1/4 inch, 360K floppies) floating around.

Of course, a lot has changed since the days when you had to bring your own DOS disks to boot the computer (and chances were they were copied too). Places that used to turn a blind eye to software being copied had to start watching it because it is a form of stealing. (For example, I once saw someone who I used to work with running a database program in their business that appeared to have been "acquired" from where we had worked together.) Also, copy protection became more pronounced, from hard-to-copy code sheets (e.g., Sim City) to installation counters (e.g., Gauntlet -- which allowed only one installation and prevented me from reinstalling my legal copy when I had a hard drive crash).

That all being said, the only ROMs I have today are for not-released games, games I own, or a out-of-print, several generation old games that I have yet to find the actual games. In other words, generally abandonware.

I would never think of trying to DL current games. Unfortunately though too many people seem to think that they are free for the taking. And while agree that the business model is broken with not enough money going to the creative people (especially in music) and that copyright laws have grown far beyond their original intent (What ever happened to Jefferson's 19-year patent recommendation?) -- stealing is still stealing!

Mike from Morgantown