Guilt: a new way to stop piracy?

Techdirt wonders whether you can guilt someone into not pirating software:

A bunch of folks have been submitting this story about USB Overdrive X's response to anyone who uses a pirated key to use their software. Basically, the company allows you to go ahead, but tells you (in a very human voice) that it knows it's a pirated code, and you should be ashamed of yourself:

It's definitely a much better strategy than annoying plenty of users (even legit ones) or threatening to sue or anything. And, I have no doubt that it's probably even effective on the margins among a few folks who appreciate being treated at least somewhat as a human, rather than a criminal. But, the company is still going to face this issue long term, and it seems like a better solution is to figure out business models that don't view such sharing as piracy, but a way to further extend a business.

Read it here.

Comments

[Zac Martin]

Yes, it's a better strategy and yes, it would make me feel guilty. But only for a moment and most likely not enough that would stop me from continuing.

Creative though.