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<TITLE>Re: Possibilities for commercial software?</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>On 1/26/07 10:33 AM, "Dave Crossland" <dave@lab6.com> wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> The original point was: It doesn't make sense to equate copying<BR>
> digital information with stealing physical objects.<BR>
<BR>
No...? If you were to come into possession tomorrow of a copy of the<BR>
yet-to-be-published seventh Harry Potter book, and you reposted it on the<BR>
web, would _that_ be equivalent to stealing a physical object? Or would it<BR>
be _worse_?<BR>
<BR>
> Of course, if you have an agreement not to copy, it is wrong to break<BR>
> that agreement. But it is more wrong to not share with your friends.<BR>
> Most people have an intuitive understanding of this, and share<BR>
> unauthorised copies.<BR>
<BR>
So, if I've paid $500 for a media asset management package, it's "more<BR>
wrong" for me to tell a friend, "I'm sorry, you have to buy your own copy"<BR>
than it is for me to steal $500 from the author of the package, is that what<BR>
you're saying?<BR>
<BR>
> The agreement not to copy is based on copyright law, and this was<BR>
> originally created to benefit the public when they could not make<BR>
> their own copies. Now that we can make our own copies, a law<BR>
> prohibiting copying does not benefit us, so we break it. Most people<BR>
> have an intuitive understanding of this.<BR>
<BR>
What? How did copyright law _ever_ "benefit the public when they could not<BR>
make their own copies"? Uncontrolled copying would have "benefited the<BR>
public" by making more copies available, and more cheaply, but at a cost of<BR>
bankruptng authors who would never get paid for illegitimate copies.<BR>
Copyright law has _always_ been about protecting authors, i.e. creators,<BR>
from the undesirable economics effects of uncontrolled copying of their<BR>
work. Period.<BR>
<BR>
Your statements on copyright law are completely contrary to actual fact.<BR>
<BR>
> How can we escape this moral dilemma, where we are being unethical<BR>
> with either choice?<BR>
<BR>
How is respecting an author's wishes regarding his own work "unethical"?<BR>
<BR>
To quote Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride", "You keep using that word,<BR>
but I do not think it means what you think it does."<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
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