[Gllug] Piracy.

[Andy Farnsworth]

-----Original Message-----
From: Rev Simon Rumble
Sent: March 04 2003 14:51
Subject: Re: [Gllug] Piracy.

On Tue 04 Mar, Pankaj Mathur bloviated thus:

> Well it is not exactly stealing as you've amply proved with your example
but it
> is still unethical behaviour. Demonstrating mere misfit with definition of
> "stealing" does not really justify such actions which can hurt OSS
developers as
> well.

The Coke analogy is actually different in other ways too.  Coke are in
the business of selling overpriced sugary drinks, which have input
costs.  These input costs are not impacted if I were to "copy" the
Coke with my own raw materials.

The key difference here is that software is based on an artificial
scarcity.  You, theoretically, don't have access to the product unless
you buy it, but the duplication costs are negligable.  So essentially
the "crime" being committed only because our society has decided to
allow a business model to be built on an artificial scarcity.

--
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting...

That seems to indicate that if I came up with a "StarTrek(tm) Replicator" it
would be illegal to use it to reproduce anything that was not public domain,
something I owned the rights to, or something that I could obtain permission
to reproduce from the original creator.

Andy Farnsworth
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