Re: Mecc titles

[Bryan Villados <news001@macgeek.org>]

Give this URL a try:

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/20/internet.theft/

The "index.htm" didn't work on my end!

In article <19990924004512.22454.00001586@ng-fr1.aol.com>, Supertimer
<supertimer@aol.com> wrote:

> Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net> wrote:
> 
> >Penman writes ...
> >> 
> >> Most MECC titles for the Apple II are still being sold, and are
> >> copyrighted material (I happen to have a MECC catalog at work)
> >> 
> >> That being the case, any that would be on an ftp site would be pirated and
> >> illegal.
> > ....
> >
> >     Not necessarily. For example, suppose the site manager had contacted
> >     MECC
> >and been told "Off the record, we do not mind if you make the software
> available
> >and will not interfer."
> >
> >     In such a case, offering the titles might look like copyright
> infringement
> >to you or I or most other users; but, it would not be anything of the kind.
> 
> I'm just going to add one thing:
> 
> Prior to 1997, an MIT student got away with putting commercial
> software on his school ftp server because he claimed he did not
> make a profit off it and it was not stealing.
> 
> In 1997, President Clinton signed into law a measure that
> plugged the loophole.  Now it is a federal crime to make available
> copyrighted software whatever its commercial value and even
> if the offender does not make a profit off doing so.  Also, it
> is not merely a case of the copyright holder suing the infringer
> anymore.  The Justice Department has the power to push a
> federal case against the offender.
> 
> And that's just what happened.  For the first time, someone
> has been convicted of just making available commercial
> software on his site:
> 
> http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9908/20/internet.theft/index.htm
> 
> Remember, what this law does is give the US government
> the power to enforce the law regardless of what the
> copyright holder says or what the infringer profits from
> making software available.  It allows the government to
> enforce the letter of the law regardless.  It also tightens
> the definition of piracy.