BTW, I have seen the burn method of copy protection on the Atari ST too... Really, it is the only type of disk that gave me difficulty in backing up.
These were used in a series of music instruction programs for piano and music theory (can't recall the name right now, Note Magic maybe?), and each disk had a burn in the surface in a very specific place that presumably was checked by the software.
The notion that the surface of a disk would be deliberately damaged by the manufacturer in order to protect their software was (and is) extremely offensive to me.
Sure, it may make it nearly impossible to copy, but what about the rights of the person (me) who paid for the disks and would prefer that they don't fail sooner rather than later.
Hearing that this was around as early as the 8-bit, and knowing that things like Rootkit are still around now, lets me know that the industry is so greedy they will risk harming consumers rather than give up a doller.
Copy protection never has, and never will prevent or dissuade piracy. Pirates know how to circumvent copy protection. The only people that are really detrimentally affected by copy protection are the honest consumers that buy the products that the industry is so concerned about protecting.
I just want to be able to use the products that I've paid for, including the games that I bought 20 years ago :p
