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[cetiah]

Is there any way we can logically restrict players from just copying all their software and giving it to their hacker friends or getting copies of software from their hacker friends? If we say "copy protection is nearly perfect in 2070", is that unreasonable? What about custom-designed software? If a hacker makes an agent, is there any logical argument for why he can't make 10,000 of them either to store on his comlink, keep as backups, or give away as Christmas presents?

What about spells formulas? What's to stop a mage from just logging onto www.freespells.com or the equivilent and downloading all their favorite open-source spells?

If anyone would know the data havens that supply these, it's the shadowrunners.

But I like the idea that spells and programs are "inventory", but I'm not sure if that really makes sense in 2070. I would also like to see rating-6 programs and spells as something fairly rare, rather than something that can just be downloaded off the Matrix or copied from a friend.

Is there anyone who would have serious problems with just handwaiving these issues away with "future tech"?


edit for clarification: I'm not necessarily looking for rules to solve these issues, just the fluff/reasoning behind it.