Is asking nicely the key to stopping piracy?

Filed under: News, P2P

Is asking nicely the key to stopping piracy?

by Grant Robertson Jun 18th 2007

Trey Harrison, a young independent software developer, was faced with a problem. The application he developed -- an advanced video mixer used in live performance -- showed up on warez sites, complete with a crack, before he'd secured his second customer. Many developers in his situation would have gotten mad, but Trey took a different stance.

He wrote the warez group who'd released his application into the wild and asked nicely that they stop. At the same time he also wrote the company from whom he'd purchased his copy-protection library used in his application. Who wrote back first? The warez group. Apparently appreciative of Trey's direct approach, they replied within hours, complimented Trey and promised not to leak future versions of the software.

Granted, this might not be a solution that works for everyone but, we can't help but wonder if the RIAA could have saved millions in legal fees by simply opening a dialog rather than filing thousands of lawsuits.

Tags: p2p, piracy, piracy problems, piracy solutions, PiracyProblems, PiracySolutions, warez

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Monoto said 7:30PM on 6-18-2007

It's doubtful that "pretty please" would have curtailed piracy altogether, but it definitely would have done a lot the general feeling of hatred and loathing from the public toward the RIAA. Civility is always a better PR move than suing children, non-computer users, the elderly, and the deceased.

Liam said 7:48PM on 6-18-2007

Please's and Thank You's? It seems some people forget their manners when they grow up.

keeves said 7:51PM on 6-18-2007

This may work in limited cases with a few sites, however piratebay for one defiantly has a strict policy not to remove any items (unless the material is extremely offensive / iligal)

Calvin said 9:23PM on 6-18-2007

Bajabuh wha?! I sure hope Adobe, and Microsoft don't ask for their stuff to be anti-pirated...

MistahB said 2:14PM on 6-19-2007

Well, if it was pirated before he secured his second customer.. is'nt it pretty obvious who pirated? Sue the hell out of that first customer!

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