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Subject: Re: Piracy and Moral solemnity

Author: Enrique Irazoqui

Date: 06:08:47 07/20/98

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On July 19, 1998 at 20:30:43, Bruce Moreland wrote:

>
>On July 19, 1998 at 13:50:20, Fernando Villegas wrote:
>
>>To say of insinuate that a guy
>>that receives an old software given to him as a gift is Always a kind of burgler
>>is something that goes beyond common sense. When you are a guy -as I am- that
>>expend hundreds of dollars each year supporting this industry , then to become a
>>thief because I have got -yes, I did, prepare your fire platoon, sir- one
>>program for free, from a dear friends of mine that, as me, expend a lot of
>>money, seems  to me to be sheer nonsense.
>
>This is an interesting argument.  Do you really expect that you could go down to
>the grocery store and tell them that because you had actually paid for your
>groceries for the past week or month or year or whatever, that you have the
>right to walk out of the store without paying this time?
>
>You will have the cops following you for sure if you do this.
>
>The only way someone will make this argument in any normal circumstance is under
>their breath as they walk out of the store with the thing under their coat.

All this is a lousy analogy. What you steal from a grocery shop can not be sold
to a customer and the owner is hurt. Copying a program you don’t find
interesting enough to buy or you want to check before buying damages no one.
That’s what shareware is all about.

>I don't see why you are upset at me for telling you that you are rationalizing.
>This is very obviously what you are doing.

I don’t think Fernando is rationalizing. The issue of being honest/dishonest is
complex and to a great extent personal, in computer chess and anywhere else.

About honesty in CC: it is true that pirating may damage producers, and to this
extent I am against it. On the other hand, why talking only about the dishonesty
of pirates and not about the marketing impositions of releasing a new version
every year, no matter if it’s an improvement or not, buggy or not. Buying a new
program is often like buying a sealed book.

And do you really believe manufacturers never get or pass pirated copies of
someone else's programs, operating systems, whole collections of games?

I am certainly not advocating piracy, but these issues are personal and complex
enough to avoid rigid morals holier than Thou.

Enrique

>bruce



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