Piracy is not inevitable. There are products - like google search - that can be successfully managed as a trade secret. Search is a server side functionality

Piracy is not inevitable. There are products - like google search - that can be successfully managed as a trade secret. Search is a server side functionality and it can be closely held so in that case and others like it, it works. Your solution for 'beating piracy' for those cases where copying is inevitable makes perfect sense - IF a) you restrict innovation to 'services that can't be pirated' - but is that in society's interest? and b) your innovation can't be improved upon by someone who has the benefit of studying your product, has no technical debt and has incurred no R&D cost in getting to the point you took the product. That is a pretty demanding standard. (btw - like your handle - inspired by W Gibson unless I am much mistaken)