| SteveC, Mourn...
<OT>No society can prevent murder. In fact, if you haven't noticed, no society tries. We teach people that murder is bad, and we try to catch and punish those who commit murder, but we do not try to prevent murder... because it's not possible. Some governments take away guns, so the murders kill with knives, or bats(see the UK). Take away all sharp or heavy objects, and people will beat each other to death with fists. The only way to prevent murder among humans is to completely separate them; at which point you have a bunch of individuals, and no society.
</OT>
Similarly to the above, piracy can't be prevented; and I'd argue that the amount of money spent on lawyers and investigators to try to prevent it often outweighs the cost of the piracy. The vast majority of people who illegally download materials either never would have paid for it in the first place (Adobe Photoshop, anyone?), people who can't pay for it because it's no longer for sale(abandonware) or are using the download as a preview and end up buying a legit copy in the end. Neither can be counted as a 'lost sale'.
The money would be better spent keeping employees and contractors happy so they don't leak your products ahead of time. Also, keeping an eye on business 'partners' who'd do the same.
And Mourn, nothing anyone says on ENWorld is going to solve society's problems. Respect for life, people and their property needs to be learned as a child; and many in our society aren't learning, because few are teaching it. | 
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