Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["K. Jo Garner" <kelly AT metalab.unc.edu>]

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Joe Komenda wrote:
->other related parties conveniently overlook, is human nature. If you provide
->an anonymous person (internet user) the opportunity to get something (an
->e-book) for nothing (by using a cracking program), people will. This is kind
->of bad if you want to make a living selling e-books. It also hurts authors,
->because they don't get royalties.

So libraries should be outlawed? They usually get discounts on books that
they purchase effectively cutting into author royalties. And I swear I
won't loan out another copy of _Juggs_ to Dallas or Matusiak or anyone
again, unless they pay for it first. There are lots of things
(intellectual property wise) that you can "get" for "nothing".

How about blank tapes, CDs, DVDs, and so on?

I thought the point was educational - here's a product that purports to do
this and really doesn't, and here's what we did in order to subvert that
and hey, maybe the powers-that-be would be interested in FIXING their
product rather than claiming it does things it doesn't.

-> If you want to discuss and dissect other people's intellectual
->property, you should get permission first, and take appropriate measures
->to ensure that such discussions don't result in people using your
->research for illegal purposes.

Isn't "intellectual property" not just limited to electronic media? So the
point you make - about not using other people's intellectual property for
intentions they did not mean - would basically defeat, oh, any kind of
exchange of learning or ideas (I want to take apart a phone and figure out
how it works, I have to call AT&T first? - but then maybe I want to
phreak, in which case it's a step beyond that - and beyond their intent
for the use of the phone).

->This isn't the first time I've heard this either - the specious idea that
->the Internet community is somehow not obligated to pay for anything. The
->DMCA is here to stay if people can't act like adults and pay for the
->services and products they use.

No no, the Internet "community" isn't who you're talking about here. It's
everyone who *can* get away with doing things your human nature isn't
comfortable with that you resent. No defensive argument from me here, I
confess to having used pirated software in the past. But I think as the
thrill of it "warez" away, people become more responsible in their
rightful ownership of software. And, granted, nowadays, software is
getting cheaper (and more bloated, but don't get me started) - but that is
maybe my shifting perception after years of being a po' student.

Cheers
Kelly Jo

----
         "You're the best friend I ever filtered." - D. Matusiak
        http://www.ibiblio.org/kelly/  -=*=-  kelly \@/ unc.edu