Text 7249, 76 rader
Skriven 2005-03-17 09:41:07 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
   Kommentar till text 7174 av mark lewis (1:3634/12)
Ärende: Copyrights
==================
Hello mark,

16 Mar 2005 09:14, mark lewis wrote to Michiel van der Vlist:

 ml>>> why should i or you pay the music recording industry some fee when 
 ml>>> we use CD media to store database bachups on??

 MvdV>> Because if that is the law, one has to comply with it?

 ml> you've never heard of "civil disobediance"? you've never heard of it 
 ml> being used to get bad laws changed or removed??

Yes I have heard about it and I have engaged in it myself  when I was still
young and irresponsible. Some forty years ago. Since then a lot has happened
and I came to the conclusion that "civil disobedience" is just another word for
anarchy and anarchy is not the proper way to change things. 

If in a democratic country, the majority decides on a law, who am I to say it
is a "bad" law?

No, civil disobiedence is not the right way to get laws changed. The proper way
is to seek a mojority to support one's point of view. And if that is not
possible one simply has to accept that one is outvoted. That's deomcracy.

 MvdV>> There are many countries in the world - The Netherlands
 MvdV>> included - where the shareware concept has no legal basis.
 MvdV>> "Pirating" is a legal term. In those countries it does not
 MvdV>> apply to shareware. Shareware is basically freeware in those
 MvdV>> countries. Users may choose to make a donation to the maker,
 MvdV>> or they may choose not to.

 ml> they do not have the right to unlock or enable more than what is 
 ml> operational without registration, though...

Wrong again. In some countries - The Netherlands included - it is specifically
allowed to modify software - by reverse engineering or otherwise - to make it
fit one's own needs or make it work in combination with other software.
 
So if I feel I need some feature that is only available in the registered
version, I have the right to enable that feature. Either by paying the author
or by other means. The choice is mine and there is nothing you can do about it
except not having your product freely distributed in my country.
 
 MvdV>> You may not like that, but that is the way it is. If you don't
 MvdV>> want your payware to be treated as freeware, see to it that it
 MvdV>> is not distributed as shareware in those countries.

 ml> better yet, we'll just hide the features of the software behind a 
 ml> locked "door"... hacking and cracking are illegal, are they not?? 
 ml> does it matter how well protected and hidden the "door" is??

Wrong again. The legality of hacking and cracking depends on what one is
hacking. It is illegal to hack into someone else's system without permission
from the owner. But hacking into one's own sysem is not illegal. 

"Cracking" legally obtained software to modify it for personal use is not
illegal. And an evaluation copy of shareware is always legally obtained as it
has the legal status of freeware.
 
In the haydays of FidoNet we had some 1200 sysops and 5500 points in The
Netherlands. Several dozens of lawyers were among them. And they delved into
the matter of shereware. Their consencus was that there is no legal way the
maker of shareware can enforce payment for continued use beyond the evaluation
period or for enabling features only available in the registred version.

Nonetheless some shareware authors have made substantial amounts of money.
Gerard van der Land (Gecho) comes to mind. Most users will voluntarily pay for
the registratrion if the product is good. And if they do not find it to their
satisfaction they will stop using it, so they would not have to pay anyway.

    

Cheers, Michiel

--- Msged 6.0.1
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