Re: Asimov Mirror Sites Access Information

[CUTblakeney@home.com (Jeff Blakeney)]

On 21 May 2000 10:47:44 +0200, pausch@saafNOSPAM.se (Paul Schlyter)
wrote:

>This is blantantly false!  Copyrights won't last forever -- there is a time
>limit to copyright protection.  Didn't you know that?

Yes, I'm completely aware that copyrights do expire but they last for
a minimum of somewhere in the range of 50 to 100 years.  If you'll
take note, we are talking about Apple II software here.  Absolutely no
copyright on any piece of Apple II software has expired yet.

>The fact also remains that none of the copyright holders really care,
>or else Asimov would have been sued long long ago.

I'm still not convinced that most, if any, of the copyright holders
even know their stuff is being illegally distributed.  I have seen
several copyright holders that immediately asked those sites to remove
their titles after being informed that there stuff was on them.

>Why did you add the "..and decent" to the end of that sentence?  The
>remainder of your post deals only with legality issues but not at all
>with decency issues.

Because it is common decency not to steal other people's property.

>If you want to try to argue "legal is always decent, illegal is
>always indecent", I have two counterexamples:

I'm not.  Legallity and decency are two entirely different things.

>Why not instead aim at the more modest goal of avoid acting
>indecently?  Which in this case translates to: don't use pirate
>copies of those products which still are of value, or where the
>copyright owners still care about their copyright.

There are a number of reasons I won't do that.  Here are a few:

- It can be very difficult to tell whether a product still has value
or whether the copyright owner still cares about it.
- As it is still illegal for me to use copies of software against the
express written wishes of the copyright owner, regardless of whether
the product has any value or the copyright owner cares about it, I'd
rather avoid any legal problems that might arise from doing so.
- I'd rather not take money away from people who might have an
original for sale.
- It is just common decency not to take something that doesn't belong
to you.
- There is a ton of stuff that I can get legally including public
domain, freeware, shareware, reclassified titles, stuff I already own,
buying used copies or buying new, still commercially available titles.
Why should I bother pirating stuff when I don't need to.

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