sevion |
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The other factor is that if Paizo even once lets out unwatermarked PDFs, it changes the attitude of the community a lot. Right now, if you have a PDF that lacks a watermark, everyone KNOWS that it's pirated. If they distribute, even for a day, an unwatermarked PDF, there's suddenly a legitimate way to explain having such a PDF, and suddenly the watermarks are worth a lot less as a way to discourage piracy. And discouraging piracy is all any company can do. If someone is determined enough, they will find a way to pirate anything. As many of us have noticed, the harder companies work to make piracy impossible, the more normal users suffer. Before this huge bottleneck, the watermarks were a way to discourage piracy with basically no inconvenience to legitimate users.
Anyway, all this was a longwinded way to say that the watermarks are for a reason, and I at least appreciate that Paizo found such a good way to try to protect their IP rights.
I understand what they are trying to do. But in less time it takes a legit person to download their product they purchased I could take a watermarked version remove the watermark and share it around the world millions of times.
It should never be easier for a pirate to alter and distribute a product then it is for a legit buyer to obtain the product. This is when DRM over steps its bounds and why so many dislike it.