Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!pacbell!att-ih!ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uxc.cso.uiuc.edu!clio!berger
From: berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Firmware Piracy
Message-ID: <18600045@clio>
Date: 21 Mar 88 20:30:00 GMT
References: <1167@percival.UUCP>
Lines: 20
Nf-ID: #R:percival.UUCP:1167:clio:18600045:000:860
Nf-From: clio.las.uiuc.edu!berger    Mar 21 14:30:00 1988


The "if it's copyrighted, you're out of luck" attitude is entirely
unrealistic.  IBM no longer sells a BIOS rom for the early model
PC.  So if my BIOS rom goes bad, are you suggesting I willingly
throw away the computer?  If IBM no longer sells or supports the
BIOS rom, copyright or not, it doesn't hurt them if I copy it.

I also think you may be mislead as to what the law states.  The
fair use provision of the copyright law gives us the right to
copy copyrighted material for private, non-commercial use.  In
that case, then, is it correct to assume that it doesn't
violate your ethics to copy a ROM for upgrading a modem,
provided the modem is for personal use only?

			Mike Berger
			Department of Statistics 
			Science, Technology, and Society
			University of Illinois 

			berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu
			{ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!berger