Roaming Hi-Tech Pirates

While big-league computer crooks are a problem for banks and major corporations, another small-time level of thievery is also growing. VisiCalc, a computer program that is widely used by small-and medium-size firms for making budgets and other company planning, is the best-selling program for personal computers. In addition to the sales, however, thousands of people are copying the program, which retails for $250, onto blank diskettes that cost only about $4. For every authentic version of VisiCalc, there are an estimated 1 1/2 illegal, copied ones. Said Daniel Fylstra, chairman of VisiCorp, which developed VisiCalc: "We're not sure how much we are losing in sales, but it is probably millions."

Similar complaints are voiced by others in the booming new software business. Says Jerry Jewell, president of Sacramento's Sirius Software, which makes computer games: "We have to introduce three or four new products per month just to stay ahead of the pirates."

Copying an unprotected computer program is only slightly more difficult than making a tape recording. Instruction books for personal computers always give instructions on how to make a duplicate of an important program. This is essential because an accident like spilling coffee on a disk can wipe out all the information on it.

Companies are now trying a number of tactics to stop the pirates. Atari, the leading video-game maker and a subsidiary of Warner Communications, retains 15 lawyers to file copyright protection lawsuits to combat pirates. Last month a three-judge panel in New York upheld a ruling that videogame companies can copyright their products, including the visual and sound effects down to the last zap. Many companies have introduced special coding schemes that are designed to stop copying. The trouble is that computer specialists, who may be only in their teens, can often easily break the protective codes. Says Steven P. Jobs, 26, chairman of Apple Computer: "I've never seen a software protection scheme that someone around here couldn't break in 24 hours."

These modern-day pirates can be as industrious as those who roamed the Spanish Main. Some are calling phone numbers, where computers will tell them how to copy programs. One on New York's Long Island calls itself Pirate's Cove, while another in Boston is Pirate's Newbor. Other computer users are buying code-cracking programs like Locksmith, which sells for $99.95 from Chicago's Omega MicroWare. Locksmith cracks the coding schemes for most Apple Computer programs and permits them to be copied. Hardcore Computing, a small magazine in Tacoma, Wash., warns pirates about the latest technology that companies are using against them.

Some software companies are just increasing the price of their programs to make up for sales they are losing to pirates, but VisiCorp and others are considering legal action to stop the pirates. They want to stop video games and other computer programs from becoming electronic-age chain letters.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.