Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!yale!cmcl2!kramden.acf.nyu.edu!brnstnd
From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
Subject: Re: How much is information really worth?
Message-ID: <29892:Sep1300:33:5290@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 13 Sep 90 00:33:52 GMT
References: <1990Sep10.095011@bert.llnl.gov>
Organization: IR
Lines: 14

In article <1990Sep10.095011@bert.llnl.gov> howell@bert.llnl.gov (Louis Howell) writes:
> For an item that is on the market, even valuing the information at
> market value may not be appropriate.  To be specific, suppose some
> software company spends about $100,000 to write a great C compiler.
> They put it on the market for $1000, and it sells.  Now suppose some
> high school hacker manages to snarf a copy of this compiler for his
> own personal use.  He gets caught, and is charged with stealing it.

No. He hasn't stolen anything; he's only broken copyright law. Assuming
the company has registered the copyright, that's $50,000.

Our society values information quite highly.

---Dan