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From: mwm@ucbopal.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer)
Newsgroups: net.news,net.micro.mac
Subject: Re: Cleaning up net.sources.mac
Message-ID: <95@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Fri, 18-Oct-85 06:15:49 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucbjade.95
Posted: Fri Oct 18 06:15:49 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 20-Oct-85 04:29:05 EDT
References: <1134@sdcsvax.UUCP>
Sender: network@ucbjade.BERKELEY.EDU
Reply-To: mwm@ucbopal.UUCP (Mike (I'll be mellow when I'm dead) Meyer)
Organization: Missionaria Phonibalonica
Lines: 35
Keywords: net.shareware.mac
Xref: watmath net.news:4092 net.micro.mac:3041

In article <1134@sdcsvax.UUCP> jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West) writes:
>Shareware is useful, but I don't think various sites should pay
>their TelCo for someone else's marketting.

Similar comments from Erik Fair (fair@ucbvax) about people using ARPANET to
make a profit.

I ran something similar to Joel's script and indeed found quite a few
"shareware" programs in net.sources.mac, roughly 10% of the articles. On the
other hand, all but two of those were *not* posted by the author of the
program. The poster had gotten them from some other sources, and then posted
them.

What had apparently happened was that people had found what they considered
a good thing, and were passing it on to the net. I thought that that was
what net.sources was for: sharing useful programs with others on the net. In
other words, I don't see what Joel's complaint is.

Erik, on the other hand, notes that distributing such things on the ARPANET
could violate the agreement between DARPA and the various sites on the
ARPANET. This could well be true, and needs serious consideration. Not being
familiar those agreements, I can't comment on how shareware should be viewed
(I suspect that it's probably a matter of interpretation). Not being familiar
with the mechanism that gates net.sources to ARPANET, I can't propose any
kind of a solution.

In summary, I claim that distributing shareware is a valid use of USENET.
Interaction with ARPANET is unknown, needs to be discussed, and may call for
some restriction on that use.

Could someone please describe the agreements in question, and the
net.sources -> ARPANET gateway?

	Thanx,
	<mike