Comment Re:DMCA and piracy (Score 1) 675
You're right, if Blizzard makes a good product, they have every right to do what they want with it. That's their freedom. It's within their rights to protect their product.
Your right to swing your fist ends at my face.
As soon as they start dictating what a third party can not develop because it isn't in their interest, we have a big fucking problem. I should have the right to compile and use whatever legally obtained source code I want. And I should also have the right to distribute software which I have engineered legally.
If Blizzard can't deal with the fruits of the rights that I have, they should try harder at exercising their rights to protect their product. That gives them a world of flexibility, and if they're too lazy to make good use of that flexibility, then it should be their ass that gets hurt.
On the topic of piracy... bnetd does not "circumvent" Blizzard's authentication, it undermines Blizzard's authentication by omitting it, because Blizzard has made sure that it can't be included. There's a bit of a difference there. That difference is crucial. There are lots of really good reasons to use bnetd other than to pirate Blizzard products. If Blizzard is worried about bnetd's lack of authentication, then they can give the necessary code to provide authentication to the bnetd project. And even then, it should be bnetd's decision to implement it. If they don't want to, they shouldn't have to. And if Blizzard can't do that because their system is too weak, then that's Blizzard's fault for making it weak.
If you want to charge for software, go on ahead. But it is up to you to bear the burden of piracy. You've an arsenal of rights with which to minimize that problem so don't start hacking away at my rights instead of doing the job you are responsible for.
Your right to swing your fist ends at my face.
As soon as they start dictating what a third party can not develop because it isn't in their interest, we have a big fucking problem. I should have the right to compile and use whatever legally obtained source code I want. And I should also have the right to distribute software which I have engineered legally.
If Blizzard can't deal with the fruits of the rights that I have, they should try harder at exercising their rights to protect their product. That gives them a world of flexibility, and if they're too lazy to make good use of that flexibility, then it should be their ass that gets hurt.
On the topic of piracy... bnetd does not "circumvent" Blizzard's authentication, it undermines Blizzard's authentication by omitting it, because Blizzard has made sure that it can't be included. There's a bit of a difference there. That difference is crucial. There are lots of really good reasons to use bnetd other than to pirate Blizzard products. If Blizzard is worried about bnetd's lack of authentication, then they can give the necessary code to provide authentication to the bnetd project. And even then, it should be bnetd's decision to implement it. If they don't want to, they shouldn't have to. And if Blizzard can't do that because their system is too weak, then that's Blizzard's fault for making it weak.
If you want to charge for software, go on ahead. But it is up to you to bear the burden of piracy. You've an arsenal of rights with which to minimize that problem so don't start hacking away at my rights instead of doing the job you are responsible for.
