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From: tmyers@orion.cf.uci.edu (Tracy Myers)
Newsgroups: news.misc,news.sysadmin,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Official Legal Announcement regarding Apple's Source Code
Keywords: legal stuff
Message-ID: <2097@orion.cf.uci.edu>
Date: 19 Jun 89 20:53:54 GMT
References: <2073@astroatc.UUCP> <2928@csd4.milw.wisc.edu> <841@hydra.gatech.EDU> <394@v7fs1.UUCP> <736@rwing.UUCP> <6198@pdn.paradyne.com> <3809@phri.UUCP>
Reply-To: tmyers@orion.cf.uci.edu (Tracy Myers)
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 31

In article <3809@phri.UUCP> roy@phri.UUCP (Roy Smith) writes:
>In <6198@pdn.paradyne.com> dixon@gumby.paradyne.com (0000-Tom Dixon) writes:
[stuff deleted]
>other very valuable and secret information that your company owns.  Would
>you think it inappropriate to use the net to tell people that the posting
>was done without your permission and if they try to use the stuff they got
>to make a competing product you will come after them hammer and tongs, with
>a whole army of lawyers just itching to get you into court?
>-- 
>Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute
>455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016
>{allegra,philabs,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy -or- roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu
>"The connector is the network"

What is inappropriate is the obnoxious threatening tone in the Apple
announcement.  It IS likely to get people to take the action to remove any
stolen Apple property which was received through the net.  However, it will
get people to do only the minimum required to protect themselves from the
hounds of hell (i.e., those wild and crazy Apple lawyers).  It will not
create a constructive atmosphere which would encourage people to take
additional steps to protect Apple property which are not strictly required
by law such as providing Apple with any information about who is the thief
and how the stuff was stolen, etc. Not only was the tone of the letter
insulting, it was also quite vague about precisely which net postings they
were talking about.  Apple could have accomplished much more with a notice
which stated their gripe without pissing on everyone.  

I like every reasonable person am stongly opposed to the theft of
proprietory information, but I won't under any circumstances go out of my
way to help a bully.  There is a difference between protecting yourself,
and strong arming the community.