Re: Another Modest Proposal: Pirating vs Archiving

[jeffr@bnr.ca (Jeffrey Robertson)]

In article <4t5ruq$2md@blackice.winternet.com>,
Nathan Mates <nathan@parka.winternet.com> wrote:
>In article <4t33ih$hdd@bmerhc5e.bnr.ca>,
>Jeffrey Robertson <jeffr@bnr.ca> wrote:
>>In article <4t1eok$ftb@blackice.winternet.com>,
>>Nathan Mates <nathan@parka.winternet.com> wrote:
>>>In article <4t0fgk$s5i@bmerhc5e.bnr.ca>,
>>>Jeffrey Robertson <jeffr@bnr.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>>>Nathan, what's your opinion of the "don't ask; don't tell" argument
>>>>presented for this kind of pirating?  (Or for gays in the US military,
>>>>for that matter...)
>
>   First off, I don't think your proposal is of the "don't ask, don't
>tell" variety. 

Quite right.  Someone else started using that term; I shouldn't've
referred to it.

>   Here's something that a lot of people have been missing in this
>whole argument: you _CAN_ legally buy the software used. Garage sales,
>comp.sys.apple2.marketplace, and the like will get you _legal_ masters
>of pieces of software not currently in print. Unfortunately, that
>involves spending money, something which is an anathema to pirates.

Oh, come on, Nathan!  Am I supposed to scour North America to find
garage sales which might be offering a copy of "Evolution"?
I don't mind spending money, but I don't have that kind of time!

Besides, don't most of the shrink-wrap agreements of software say
that you can't sell, rent, or lend the software to anyone?  So isn't
buying something at a garage sale just as (technically) illegal
as downloading it?

>>Anyway, liberal or not, do you support my proposal, Nathan?
>>Anyone?
>
>   It's certainly a giant leap forward over what's currently being
>done at asimov, and except for the hardcore pirates, it's acceptable
>to most people. How about trying to implement it for starters, and
>when the current lot of disk images conforms to those guidelines,
>we can talk again.

Uh, I don't have time to implement it.  I'm not affiliated with
Asimov in any way -- I've never even visited it.  But I believe
there *are* "Lost Classics" projects of various sorts underway.
-- 
-------------------------------------+----------------+-----------------
Jeffrey Robertson                    |  jeffr@bnr.ca  |      BNR, Ottawa
"I speak for myself, not BNR" - Me   +----------------+       (Meriline)
"Verbing weirds language" - Calvin                      OC-48 FiberWorld