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Information Technology News Symantec wins big against counterfeiters, but what about 'hearts and minds'?
Information Technology News Symantec wins big against counterfeiters, but what about 'hearts and minds'? | Symantec wins big against counterfeiters, but what about 'hearts and minds'? |
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| Written by Stephen Withers | |
| Thursday, 20 December 2007 | |
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You can argue that the loss to the real manufacturer is the same in both cases, but there's a much smaller likelihood that the buyer of a fake would buy the genuine article, or that the buyer is being misled.While Minden is probably right to talk about "protecting our customers against the security dangers posed by pirated software," it would be very easy to overplay this card. Don't take my comments as a justification for counterfeiting, but companies need to be very careful about what they say about counterfeits and counterfeiters if they want to keep the public onside. Steps that impact negatively on bona fide users (I still haven't forgiven Microsoft for making me reactivate Windows XP after I updated a device driver) don't help their case either. Does the low regard that the typical person seems to have for the music labels feed the consumption of unauthorised downloads, or is it an after the fact justification? I suspect the former, but the music industry still seems to be working on the basis of the latter. The software industry might be wise to avoid making the same mistake.
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