

An Open Letter To Jona Bechtolt - astrec
http://www.analogindustries.com/blog/entry.jsp?msgid=1232779669878

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windsurfer
I've created this post, and my price tag is 20 dollars. If you wish to read
the rest of it, you must pay me this sum, or you are committing a crime.
There's really no grey area.

On a more serious note... Pirating software is nothing like stealing a candy
bar. When you steal a material good, you are depriving someone of something.
When you copy software, you're not taking anything away. People may argue that
you are depriving them of potential sales, but that's not the same as stealing
at all. I'm depriving a company of potential sales when I rant about their
poor quality. That's certainly not a crime.

Now, just to clarify, that doesn't mean you shouldn't respect copyright. It's
still a civil offense to use software if the copyright does not permit it. I
use free and open source software because I cannot afford the crazy prices of
software (among other things). I think putting a price on software is silly,
yes, but that doesn't mean I pirate it like this person.

~~~
astrec
_It's still a civil offense to use software if the copyright_

This depends on jurisdiction. For example, some bilateral free trade
agreements have made the use of unlicensed software in businesses a criminal
offence.

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bingaman_
This guy is definitely overstating his own importance, at least with regards
to his "Google footprint" and I have to wonder how many club owners he
actually knows. <http://www.google.com/search?q=jona+bechtolt>, Analog
Industries is a few results down.

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holdenk
interesting. From reading it, it sounds like the author is going to make it
difficult for the pirate to move in the circles which the author has influence
in? Personally I think I'd prefer to give the pirate the chance to pay for the
software first, but I may have miss-read the blog post.

