Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!gatech!uflorida!novavax!proxftl!bill
From: bill@proxftl.UUCP (T. William Wells)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: lotus chairman makes 26 million
Summary: too bad, but I must agree
Keywords: copy protection piracy
Message-ID: <203@proxftl.UUCP>
Date: 21 May 88 20:34:04 GMT
References: <9160@cisunx.UUCP> <1801@uhccux.UUCP> <807@netxcom.UUCP> <160@execu.EXECU>
Organization: Proximity Technology, Ft. Lauderdale
Lines: 34

In article <160@execu.EXECU>, dewey@execu.EXECU (dewey henize) writes:
>
> Do you really think you are going to convince each other on this?
>
> There are those that are going to steal every piece of software they think
> they might want.  It's their 'right', can't you see that?  Just because someone
> else made it and debugged it and packaged it doesn't matter.
>
> So save yourself some problems.  You CAN NOT convince someone who steals
> copyrighted programs that they shouldn't - the only thing you can occasionally
> convince him/her of is that they might get caught.  And you know how likely
> that will be....

Agreed.  A software pirate is a thief, no matter what
justifications he may give, and in spite of our calling him a
`software pirate'.  Arguing with him will not change his
feelings.

Unfortunately, today, received morality has degenerated to a kind
of subjectivism (for the uninitiated, this means approximately
that "if I feel it is good then it is") that makes the arguments
that "software pirates" use seem plausible.

Arguments like this let others know that there ARE people out
there who reject (at least some) of today's junk morality and
that there are alternates to "doing it because I feel like it".

On the other hand, the arguments against "software pirates" are
also tainted by this same subjectivism so maybe these discussions
do not help.  Sigh!

At this point, anything further I might say would be an actual
discussion of morality (or a flame against subjectivism); that
does not belong in this newsgroup.