The On Going Fight Against Piracy

It’s a Piracy Vs Anti-Piracy War

The Jolly Roger raised in an illustration for Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance.

Few years ago Microsoft silently released a Tool via ‘Automatic Updates’ to check and notify the Windows user about the genuineness of the Operating System, an attempt to fight against piracy. It indeed created a chaos for Windows Users and as a result, numerous patches were available to get rid of the nagging notification within no time. The surprising thing is that the Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation Tool is so poorly constructed or should i call it “lame” that any user can block and remove it with the help of tiny patching applications  and even by manual efforts. I don’t know how many Windows users Microsoft has been able to scare enough and make them actually buy a original copy of Windows OS, it is indeed interesting to know the number.

I live in India and few weeks ago I was standing in a que to renew my railway pass. We have a TV screen installed on the top of the railway ticket counter. It wasn’t for entertainment purposes but was actually an ad slot. What caught my attention was unusual and shocking! The commercials were setup to play from a computer using Windows XP and which was pirated too! During one of the commercials, a WGA window popped in and stated that ‘the installed copy of Windows is illegal and the user should buy an legitimate one.’ (These are not the actual words but something that i perceived). This proved to me that Microsoft or any other company in it’s pursuit to fight against piracy is way too far from killing the root of it.

Lars Ulrich form Metallica

Piracy has become like a uncontrollable pandemic disease. Remember the shutting down of Napster? Lars Ulrich, a drummer from Metallica filed a suit and brought down Napster, because one of their studio recordings they were working on was already available for free download on Napster P2P.  Yeah, I am a hardcore Metallica fan and am proud of what Metallica did. But, what was the end result? Metallica received a serious backlash from their fans and users of Napster. Soon, numerous other P2P sharing portals were established soon after Napster was killed.

Famous P2P sharing ports like Demonoid and PirateBay have also “suffered and survived” form major law suits. Recently, thirteen Hollywood production companies have filed a new lawsuit to try to get PirateBay.org shut down. And many more law suits in pipe line.

It’s interesting how the Piracy Vs Anti-Piracy War will continue.

Related posts:

1. ‘World’s biggest’ software pirates jailed
2. Guitar Hero: Metallica Dated, Track List Revealed
3. Making Sense Of Windows’ Irrational Pricing And Licensing