On Tuesday, October 24th, 1995 - Howard. Carson wrote:
 
HC> give when a pirate BBS is reported these days. They logged on,
HC> ascertained the existence of illegal files, obtained a search and
HC> seizure warrant, and busted the little creep. The authorities were
 
That's great!
 
HC> less concerned about my original beef, than they were about the
HC> presence of illegal software from other platforms. I could care
 
That is as I expected.  :-(
 
HC> less, as long as the bust takes place. The police up here have
HC> busted quite a few pirate boards and have become familiar with the
HC> proper procedures. Understand this: the pirate didn't loose
HC> thousands of dollars worth of hardware in the bust because he had
HC> sold/given away a few hundred dollars worth of Atari software. the
HC> pirate wasn't fined thousands of dollars and put on probation for 3
HC> years because of a few Atari programs. No sir . . . he was nailed
HC> because he had sold/given away tens of thousands of dollars worth of
HC> commercial software from other, more commercially/popularly viable
HC> platforms. That is fine. He's out of business, which is all I care
HC> about.
 
Yes, I see.  The authorities didn't care about the Atari wares.  So if
the creeps had only been trafficking in Atari wares, the police would
have slapped 'em on the wrist no doubt.  You got lucky that they were
infringing against the PC stuff too.  This is part of why I was saying
not to devote too much time or resources into hunting them down.  The
chances are either that they are too well hidden, or that the autorities 
wouldn't take the crime seriously.
 
You have fallen upon a notable exception to what I think, sadly, is the
rule.
 
--- RiBBS v2.10        

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