Re: Another Modest Proposal: Pirating vs Archiving

[rder@pro-palmtree.cts.com (Richard Der)]

nathan@parka.winternet.com (Nathan Mates) wrote:
>   The thing that would turn Asimov from a pirate to a legit
>replacement service is something like this: to get a disk image, you
>must first demonstrate proof of ownership. If that means snailmailing
>in your bad Bard's Tale disk before they let that disk image go your
>way, great. If that means a photocopy of the original receipt, pretty
>good. If that means sending in the ROM chip from your ][+ before you
>can get the a ROM image for an emulator, fine. In other words,
>something rather different from the "anyone can take anything"
>mentality of asimov.
 
That is an excellent suggestion. Some people would argue that the ROM
can't be imaged because Apple's liscense forbids it. On the other hand,
people have always run ProDOS 8 and DOS 3.3 on their Laser 128's
even though Apple's liscense states "...software can only be run on
Apple computers".
 
A good guideline would be actually owning the software, in this case
the ROM because you would have paid for it and somewhere down the line
of owners of the ][+, Apple and Microsoft would have been compensated.
 
Snail mailing the ROM chips to be verified in order to get the ROM
image would maintain this integrity.
 
For PC users who don't have Apples, there are always emulators that
use "clean" (compatible) ROMs.
 
 
>   That would allow Asimov to be a site on the good side of the law:
>it replaces bad disks, but does not allow unauthorized pirating at
>will.  [Yeah, the act of holding disk images for replacement might be
>a fairly gray area, but if they can show they're not in use while
>sitting on some storage medium, things would probably be ok.]
 
Right, the intent of the law would be followed, even if there might
be some infractions of the letter of the law.
 
 
>   Many others here have been saying recently that copyright notices
>have been sector edited out of things posted to asimov recently.  I'd
>love for some prople to post the names of these images so that the
>entire world can verify this for themselves.
 
Probably a majority have been sector edited in some way. Many have
"cracked by ______" on them and as Rubywand noted, some have had
copyright messages and credits effaced.
 
Karateka, for example, has its opening screen replaced by a
scrolling pirate message.
 
 
>> 6. As part of the "due diligance" search for ownership, a
>>    person should be identified (probably the author, or the
>>    company if still in existance) to whom money could be
>>    sent by downloaders.
>
>   Well, they're not doing the basics, so getting to that stage would
>be a real accomplishment. Maybe if we keep pushing them they might get
>a clue.
 
Yes, we need to keep talking, making people aware of the Asimov site
and what it is. If we remain silent, they are just not going to
realize that they have a problem.


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