[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: M$ IL latest craze
On Sun, 30 May 1999, Ariel Biener wrote:
> I beg your pardon. If you cannot afford buying software, make your own.
> Would you go and steal from a shop using the "I am not as wealthy as some
> rich Arab, so I am allowed to steal" excuse ?
There are cases when the "I am not wealthy enough so I am allowed
to steal" make sense.
> Pirating software is downright stealing. The fact Israelies don't see it
There is no such thing as pirating software (unless you raid the ship that
ships all those boxes), and using software without proper license is not
stealing, it is copyright violation.
> that way, and they pirate software, don't pay for shareware, and in
> general act like a bunch of worthless scums when it comes to software is
> downright disgusting to me, and if some software pirates would have been
> put behind bars, because they can't pay a XX million dollars lawsuit of
> Microsoft against them, then maybe the message would pass through.
I think sending people to prison because they can't pay a debt is not
something that a civilized country should do. Luckily, most judges and MKs
in israel agree about this.
> Of course that if all this could have been passed through education from
> the early age, i.e., respecting other's property, and being honest and not
> trying to look for shortcuts everywhere, the reality in which we live
> (regarding software piracy of course) would have been totally different.
How is a CD I paid for "other's property"?
You seem to be mixing up a legal issue with a moral one. It is indeed
against the law to copy something without permission, but why is it
immoral? Why let a law (that says that whenever you run a program, you
actually copy it - from disk to ram) decide on your morals? Are vehemently
opposed to speeding, parking on blue-white without parking ticket, and
encrypting without security ministry authorization as well?
--
Matan Ziv-Av matan@svgalib.org