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Subject: Re: Sometimes it is hard to walk the line as a journalist

Author: Komputer Korner

Date: 22:15:09 12/21/97

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You keep bringing up the analogy of "the back door being unlocked". The
analogy does not hold for a couple of reasons.  This was a program that
Ed gave out for free before XMAS to celebrate the history of AEGON and
to help Rebel sales by giving users more of a taste of things to come if
they bought Rebel 9 which by the way is a very very good program. Noone
is sure what those extra engines are to this day except Ed. For all we
knew at the time they were extra engines that were disabled somehow to
play weaker. It seems that is the case after much testing by some users.
Rebel Decade has 40 fewer features than Rebel 9.  Even so I did attempt
to contact Ed, believing that maybe He had  made a mistake. As it turns
out he had already removed the program from his site. I didn't discover
the workaround. It had been discovered by at least 2 others. I was
simply the first and only one to publish the exact procedure. If I
wouldn't have done it, others would surely have done so very quickly. I
knew this and decided since the cat was out of the bag anyway, I went
ahead and published. At the same time I sent emails to Ed and Rob to
warn them and even attempted to telephone ED at home. I fulfilled my
responsibilities both as a journalist and as a friend. Unfortunately the
journalist in me came first.  I rationalized that since it was public
knowledge,  publishing was fair game. Okay I lost a friend . I accept
that. But I do not accept that you accuse me of dishonesty or of lacking
integrity.

On December 22, 1997 at 00:35:03, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>
>On December 21, 1997 at 23:52:14, Komputer Korner wrote:
>
>>Are you suggesting that I should not act like a journalist when I
>>receive a tip that had already been published?  What am I supposed to
>>do, pretend that the workaround didn't exist when I knew that others had
>> discovered it?
>
>I am not a journalist, I have not taken journalism classes.  If anyone
>out there knows more and wants to respond to this and set either or both
>of us straight, please do.
>
>The impression I have is that a journalist reports news.  And the fact
>that someone has left their back door unlocked does not seem to me to be
>news.  Reporting this information simply provides an invitation to
>steal, it is very likely that no good use will be made of the
>information.
>
>Regardless of the legality of reporting such information, the ethics of
>reporting it seem clear, don't they?
>
>bruce



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