Re: Asimov Mirror Sites Access Information

["**** ****" <***@***.com>]

I believe I'm showing a complete lapse of judment in posting to an obvious
flame war, but I can no longer resist. That being said, I'll say my piece.

Laws have NOTHING to do with ethics, morals, or right/wrong. If at some time
in the distant past, they happened to coincide with laws, it was due to the
efforts of extraordinarily wise and righteous people. Those people are dead.
The laws they enacted have long since been ammended, altered, and/or
repealed into nothing that resembles their former glory. Copyright law
itself has been altered too many times to count. Why? Copyright laws were
created to encourage authors to write original works, with the understanding
that after they had earned their fair and justified profits from that work,
then that work would belong to the public domain. In the USA, that time was
set at 14 years, which was deemed appropriate over 200 years ago!! Correct
me If I'm wrong, but much of the a2 software you are bitching and moaning
about being 'stolen' falls well within that time frame. And that's in
meatspace years, guys... it isn't unfair to say that to correct it for
internet years, that's more like a couple of centuries. Add to the fact,
that you cannot possibly argue that they are losing any kind of sales, and
what have you? Another of these victimless crimes that intellectual property
fascists are always rallying about. Some of the true hobbyists, the people
who really love these machines would GLADLY buy this software retail, were
it offered. Not only the software, but all of the registration perks that
were offered, all of the documentation that is hard to come by, and even
harder to live without... that would be a godsend. If there is a
moral/ethical crime being committed, if there is SIN here, it's the
companies that refuse to release these 'copyrighted' works even after they
can no longer profit by them, just out of spitefulness. Sure, maybe some
don't realize they are still in demand, and out of forgetfulness, don't give
it away. That can be forgiven. But those who do it out of some reptilian
urge to protect their 'territory' simply because they failed to evolve like
DECENT human beings, they can go fuck themselves. There is 'some' reason for
copyright law, and those reasons should be appreciated, even if there were
no 'laws' to 'protect' them. But how far will you people take it? It is only
data now, only sequences of bits, only ideas, only knowledge. The day is
coming when 'pirates' will be able to copy anything and everything... little
molecule sized robots, creating exact replicas of yachts, ferraris and the
crown jewels. That will be illegal copyright infringement too. And you'll
justify that too. The poor were meant to be poor, right? Haha, flame me all
you want. And eat shit and die, while you're at it.