Asimov is a _PIRATE_ site. Face the Facts

[nathan@parka.winternet.com (Nathan Mates)]

In article <4srf5k$jhc@news.wco.com>,
Charles T. Turley <turley@optera.com> wrote:
>I don't consider Asimov to be a pirate site. Thus, I intend to keep my 
>links to the many useful things it has to offer to many computer 
>platforms and their users, that they could never obtain - with respect 
>to such useful and needed rarities - if Asimov were not available and 
>known to them.

   It doesn't matter beans what you think. It's the eys of the courts
that count for anything, and their decision making process is simple
enough that we can follow it:

1) Asimov has _some_ legitimate software, especially in the code for
emulators on other systems. The authors gave permission to pass the
software around at will. [We're taking the emulator programs, not ROM
images.]

2) Asimov has _lots_ of software posted for which it has _NO_ license.
Specifically, I have seen no license from Apple (and Microsoft, which
helped in Applesoft Basic) saying that the ROM images posted there are
in any way allowed. Further, for most to all of the software, there is
no similar notice from the publisher stating that the software has
moved to the public domain or a license has been granted to asimov to
distribute it.

3) As a signatory to the Berne Convention, copyrights on software, etc
last for the author's lifetime _plus_ 50 years. As no titles are
available from 1946 or before for the Apple II, _no_ copyrights have
expired.

4) Therefore, as the games, ROM images, and the like are still
copyrighted, thery are _NOT_ to be distributed. Asimov is distributing
them. Asimov is a pirate site.

   Usefulness and rarity is _NOT_ an excuse for the general public to
be able to download pirated stuff. At best, it is a pathetic excuse to
salve up a conscience that knows that what it's doing is wrong, but
they have no self-control to do the right thing.

   I wish the legitimate stuff at asimov could be split off to another
site so that people could be referred to those programs, then the rest
could be nuked.

Nathan Mates
--
<*> Nathan Mates http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~nathan/      <*>
# What are the facts? Again and again and again-- what are the _facts_?
# Shun wishful thinking, avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors
# think-- what are the facts, and to how many decimal places?  -R.A. Heinlein