Re: Asimov is a _PIRATE_ site. Face the Facts

[jefbla@bconnex.net (Jeff Blakeney)]

rder@pro-palmtree.cts.com (Richard Der) wrote:

[snip]

>Well, here is a possible plan:
> 
>It would make what they are doing more legit if they would email
>to the publishers informing them what they are going to do. This
>would notify the copyright holders so that they can respond if they
>wish.
>        1) If they request that it be taken off, it should be.

The asimov site does this already but without them initiating the
contact with the copyright holder.  In other words, if a copyright
holder contacts the administrator of asimov and asks that a
copyrighted work of theirs be removed from asimov, then it gets
removed.

So if anyone sees a copyrighted work on asimov, and knows the current
copyright holder, they should let the copyright holder know that it
has been made available on asimov and to contact the adminstrator
there if they want it removed.

>        2) If they don't reply, then Asimov should attach a note to
>           the archive saying that they tried to contact the
>           copyright holder but have not yet recieved a reply.
>        3) If the publisher/author grants formal rights, that should
>           be made known too.

[snip]

>This software in which the copyright holders can't be determined can
>be placed into category "2" of the above plan. The very attempt to
>make contact with the copyright holders, however, would make them
>more legit. Think about it, how many times have users stumbled into
>this newsgroup and said, "I found a public domain program, BattleZone,
>at Asimov..."? The reformed Asimov's notices world make it clear
>that such software is NOT PD.

I certainly agree with you on this.  Making it known exactly what the
status of each program is would be a big bonus.  Especially if more of
this software does get released as PD or freeware.

[snip]

>The reformed Asimov would carry no current software titles and
>cease all pirating activities such as effacing copyright notices
>and credits.

There are very few to no "current" software titles available that I
know of.  Mind you, I have only given the files there a few quick
scans.

There is one point that I didn't make real clear in my post in the
other thread on this subject.  Most of the cracked versions of
programs that are on asimov are versions that were cracked by
"pirates" many years ago.  This is why the title screens and such have
been modified.  The people who have made this software available on
asimov usually are not the ones who did the cracking.  They are just
uploading a cracked version that they have had on disk for years and
have no control over whether the copyright notices or credits still
exist on that particular copy.

Mind you, all that would need to be done is to get some hackers with
copies of the originals to restore the original title screens,
copyright notices and credits.

So, yes, things at asimov could be improved upon.  It is just a matter
of finding people with the time and expertise to expend on this
effort.