Re: Backup Copies

[Roy and/or Janet Miller <millers@inetnebr.com>]

Sheldon Simms wrote:

> Im Artikel <3ACD0C15.E5815614@inetnebr.com> schrieb "Roy and/or Janet
> Miller" <millers@inetnebr.com>:
>
> > Sheldon Simms wrote:
> >
> >> Morality is a much fuzzier concept than just what's written down as a
> >> law. Some people believe that morality is defined by God, or some other
> >> infallible authority. I don't expect there's anything about
> >> distributing old software on the internet in the Bible.
> >
> > most systems of ethics would agree with the Bible and the
> > Quran that you shouldn't take something that doesn't belong to you
> > without the permission of the owner.
> > How many times have you seen local papers and TV stations do the old
> > "lost wallet" sting to see if the people in their area are honest? Since
> > I have moved a lot, I've seen it a number of times. Wallet, with money,
> > and no ID. Here in the center of the country a large majority of people
> > try to  find the owner, or contact the police for same. Too bad people
> > don't do the same with software.
>
> There is quite a large difference between the two situations. Money
> is inherently valuable; old "out of print" software isn't.

Oh? Have you seen the prices on eBay? People still buy stuff from Goodwill et
al. So the stuff does have some value, and therefore, your point is invalid.

> If I take
> "lost" money, I am depriving the owner of something. If I distribute
> otherwise unavailable software, I'm not.
>
> And in any case, the situation with lost money is exactly an example
> of the concept of abandonment I was talking about in another post.
> When you find lost money, it's yours as long as it can be demonstrated
> that the owner has abandoned it. This is accomplished by taking the
> money to a place where the owner can easily reclaim it if they choose
> to do so -- usually the police. If no one claims the money within a
> certain period of time, it's yours.
>
> You may be under the impression that somehow having the police involved
> makes it ok to gain ownership of money that originally didn't belong to
> you. The fact it, the police have nothing to do with the issue per se,
> apart from the fact that they are an easily accessible central location
> where the owner can claim his lost property. If the owner shows no
> ownership interest, then the money becomes the property of the finder.

You are, again, assuming what I am thinking. And you are in error anyway. The
police, at least in some jurisdictions, are, by law, the designated place to
take such an item.

<snip>

>
> > 2. What's wrong with contacting the copyright owner and
> > asking permission? Other than some people are too lazy to try; or
> > perhaps are afraid of getting a negative reply.
>
> I have nothing against it.

But that is exactly the point of my post that you objected to.

> But as I'm sure you know there are many
> cases where the contact has not been possible, or it's not even
> clear who the copyright owner is, and furthermore, no one who has
> a property interest in the software has shown the slightest interest
> in the software for many years.

Which, as I said in point three of my post, then it's up to your conscience. A
"good faith effort" would mean sending email(s), or making phone call(s), and
if you run into a dead end, well, at least you tried. You showed some concern
about the copyright owners rights, and tried to do the right thing.

Roy