Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mailrus!ames!ads.com!potomac!jtn
From: jtn@potomac.ads.com (John T. Nelson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: software piracy
Message-ID: <8879@potomac.ads.com>
Date: 2 Jul 90 14:11:33 GMT
References: <26145@netnews.upenn.edu> <37151@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <602@dbase.A-T.COM> <26853@bcsaic.UUCP>
Reply-To: jtn@potomac.UUCP (John T. Nelson)
Organization: Advanced Decision Systems -- Arlington, Va
Lines: 54

>Basing your argument on property ownership is weak; first you
>have to convince me that when I spend $250 for Word, or
>Persuasion, etc., that it does not then become my property,
>license agreements notwithstanding.  I understand that the
>companies claim that it is not my property; but in every other
>sense the stuff belongs to me:

The singal instantiation of that software is your property to do with
as you wish, however since you own only that particular instantiation
you are not allowed to transfer copies of it to anyone else.

And since it is a licence you have purchased, I guess one could argue
that you only possess the right to use the software but still do not
own it.  If I go out and buy a collection of Beatles tunes on sheet
music, I own only the paper that the music is printed on and the use
of the music however I clearly cannot sell or claim ownership over the
music itself.

>if you steal it, I am the victim of theft, not the company

If someone steals your copy of Microsoft Word then you could
legitimetly claim that someone stole *your* single copy of Word and
thus are deprived of the use of it.  You are not entitled to
reimbursment for the entire development and marketing costs for
Microsoft Word in total.

>if it is destroyed, my insurance considers it my property

>if I die, it is part of my estate

Only that one copy.

>Having bought the software, why (from the propertarian
>viewpoint) should I not be free to do whatever i want with it,
>including making copies?

Easy question.  Since the pattern of bits is what you have purchased
and the creation of that particular pattern is a process which is
patented by Microsoft (for example) you cannot "make a copy" without
infringing on *their* property.  Property in music and software is
different from tangible property like hammers and nails.

The abstraction itself (not the physical medium) is the property.



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