Witcher 2 Studio Drops Legal Threats Against Pirates

[RikuoAmero]

Why people have concerns about "going after pirates" so much? If you are a legit customer, why are you stand against "going after pirates"?

Because the tactics used, as I explained above, aren't 100% foolproof. The exact same tactic has been tried in the past. You can't identify who was using the computer or the IP address, which is kinda important if you want to sue somebody for damages. It has been used before and settlement letters (Which read like legalised extortion) have been sent to networked printers, dead people and people who have never owned a computer.
At best, getting the IP address is the START of an investigation, if you're looking to sue somebody. It is not the end point. Sending a settlement letter with your only evidence being the IP address is the digital equivalent of receiving a letter saying you're being sued for damages because your red Ford car with licence plate registered in 2007 was involved in a malicious damage on property: that example doesn't 100% identify that the car in question was your car, or that you were the one driving it. It's a vague description and should be a starting point in investigation, where the guy suing should be trying to narrow down the possible suspects from all those who have red Ford cards registered in 2007.

And besides, legit customers can infringe copyright too. I've bought and paid for, with money, dozens of games...yet I've also gone on to download them through torrents or cyberlockers. For example, I torrented Dragon Age Origins when it first came out; then I bought it when the expansion Awakening was released and later on torrented it AGAIN, simply to remove the DRM. Which is one of the reasons CD Projekt RED drew all kinds of bad press when they originally announced their plans of suing the infringers: they have no way of knowing beforehand if they were going to target someone who had actually BOUGHT the game.
Think about it. How would you feel if, after buying the game and supporting the company, they were to turn around and slap you with a lawsuit based on very shaky evidence? It would piss you off, that's how it would make you feel, and want to stop buying this company's products.

if you had bought that copy instead of stealing it, no one else could buy it [/quoute]
Do you seriously believe that if I download a copy of a game, it means that no-one else can physically pay for it? It's conflating digital with the real world all over again - I've explained dozens of times that downloading a game DOES NOT remove a copy from store shelves or from the website. It COPIES it.

 

[kasperbbs]

People say if you remove DRM there will be less pirating. Witcher 2 has no DRM, it gets 4.5 million illegal downloads. They go after the pirates, "customers" don't like it.

As if DRM matters to pirates, it gets cracked at the release date or a few days later, it only annoys people who actually buy the games and have to deal with it.