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From: lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.misc
Subject: Re: Software Development And Piracy (Spurred By FTL replies)
Message-ID: <2854@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 88 18:06:22 GMT
References: <3121@sugar.uu.net>
Organization: University of Hawaii
Lines: 49

From article <3121@sugar.uu.net>, by peter@sugar.uu.net (Peter da Silva):
"In article <2850@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Greg Lee)
"writes another pseudo-libertarian defence of piracy.
" 
" Let me put this into libertarian terms.
" 
" Look, Lee, when you "buy" software you are entering into a contract with the
" seller. The terms of this contract are more or less: you get the right to use
"...

A very nice well reasoned argument.  And for those cases where a
contract actually is executed between buyer and seller, and the buyer
breaks the contract by selling or giving the software to a third party,
I agree, he has done something wrong, as well as illegal.

But is this how piracy happens?  I have bought some software in my time
-- I have never signed a contract, however.  I have noticed that some of
the stuff came with notices saying "...  if you break this seal ...  you
are agreeing to ...  terms inside".  I think you would have to be pretty
gullible to believe those notices.  I never have, nor considered that I
entered into any contract.

A software pirate doesn't break any contract by making copies and using
them, does he?  What contract?  Where?

It sounds like Da Silva wants us to believe that *every* buyer of software
enters into some sort of implicit contract not to distribute the
stuff to others.  Is anyone going to buy that?

" ... It doesn't take laws or a distortion of
" the market to allow this sort of transaction to take place or this market to
" exist.

That's right.  The trouble is, this is not the market that was under
discussion.  Or, at least, the part of the market governed by signed
contracts is peripheral to the discussion.

" ...
" It is the authors right to put any terms he wants to on a contract. It is your
" right to accept or reject the contract as a whole. It is not your right to
" turn around and force a third party, who has agreed to that contract, to
" break it.

What's this about third parties?  Are we trying to sneak the pirates
into being partiies to broken "contracts" by claiming they coerce the
people whose software they copy into distributing it?  Whew!  Awesome
reasoning.

		Greg, lee@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu