Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ncar!ames!pacbell!att-ih!ihnp4!inuxc!iuvax!bsu-cs!dhesi
From: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Firmware Piracy
Message-ID: <2443@bsu-cs.UUCP>
Date: 22 Mar 88 21:38:29 GMT
References: <1167@percival.UUCP> <18600045@clio>
Reply-To: dhesi@bsu-cs.UUCP (Rahul Dhesi)
Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana
Lines: 22

In article <18600045@clio> berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu writes:
>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?

Actually, "fair use" cannot be claimed simply because you copied
something for private non-commercial use.  There are some activities
explicitly listed as being fair use, such as classroom use under
certain conditions.  But "fair use" is really a catch-all phrase with a
broad meaning.  The exact interpretation is, and will be decided, as
case law develops.  As an example, because of a Supreme Court decision,
copying broadcast television programs for home use is now considered
"fair use", even though copyright law doesn't mention this.

Ethics are a different matter.  As Heinlein says in one of his science
fiction novels, "Man is not a rational animal.  Man is a rationalizing
animal."
-- 
Rahul Dhesi         UUCP:  <backbones>!{iuvax,pur-ee,uunet}!bsu-cs!dhesi