| How do you think the US
government's actions concerning piracy will change over
the next year? |
| Well, seeing
that piracy has become a very prominent and much more
blatant crime in the 90's, I don't see how anyone can be
surprised at the response the government has had. The
software entertainment industry is reaping in 8+ billion
dollars a year now. According to an estimate by the SPA,
flagrant piracy is costing some prominent software
publishers around 1.6 billion dollars a year. Yep, you
heard me... billion. Now if that's not a lot of copies of
Quake 2, I don't know what is. The government has become
very active in trying to enforce this, cyberstrike is
nothing new. Back in 1994 a large series of busts
occurred in which BBB's like The Assassins Guild, Agents
of Fortune, The Network, Elm Street, Suburbia (big shock
to us locals), and many others were shut down. I can only
foresee that things will be getting worse. The
"scene" is becoming flooding with people that
have no real interests here, and just want to either
mooch off of others, or stir up some trouble. I
personally can't possibly see anything getting better. |
| |
| Who will be the first to be
convicted under the new laws and how will this group of
people react? |
| Well, the
traditional approach has been to bust the BBS' or FTP
SITE owners. However, the new law targets anyone with 10
or more copies of illegal software in their possession,
which means just about anyone in the "scene."
Couriers, suppliers, crackers, leechers everyone...
personally I think they will remain as dull as usual and
go after BBS owners/FTP sites. |
| |
| What effect will these
convictions have on the rest of the scene? |
| It's a
snowball effect, people get popped and they don't want to
make friends with an ape in prison shoving in large
objects from behind. So, they decide to give up some of
their cyberfriends. (Think hard about it, how many people
in the scene do you actually know?) I would suspect very
few, I am fortunate or unfortunate enough (depending on
how you look at it), to have met several of the people I
talk to or deal with on a daily basis. Not many people
can say the same... |
| |
| How is the warez scene
going to be different a year from now because of the NET
act? |
| Nice little
saying that goes well with this... "The more things
change, the more they stay the same..." The only
thing I see happening is games getting bigger, quality
getting poorer, and competition getting more and more
ruthless. It's turning into big business instead of a
hobby... bad bad sign. |
| |
| Will there be any positive
effects on the scene? |
| Doubtful, if
anything it will just bring those that make it through
closer together and teach people who they can really
trust. |
| |
| How will the NET act effect
you personally? |
| I don't know,
no-one does... that's the fun part. You get to keep
spinning the roulette wheel until your lucky number hits.
I don't personally foresee myself actively involved in
the scene in the future, so I can't really begin to think
about how it would effect me exactly. |
| |
| What advice would you give
to people in the warez scene about the NET act? |
| Learn it,
start stirring up some positive thought, and trying to
exchange ideas with one another. The more minds that are
involved the more thorough the conclusion will be. Of
course, who am I to tell anyone what to do... these are
just ramblings at 7am. :) God speed, good luck! |