31 Aug
2006
31 Aug
'06
7:33 p.m.
On 8/31/2006 at 9:55 PM Patrick Finnegan wrote:
I generally like to follow the "it's better to
ask for forgiveness than to
ask for permission" rule, unless I'm friends with the person involved, or
am
fairly sure they'll say "yes".
Of course, if it's obvious they'll say "no", I try to avoid putting
myself
in a bad place... (eg, distributing copies of things that you can still
buy
copies of)
Because this gets a lot of heated grumbling on the music lists and I'm not
about to start another goes-nowehere thread, I'll submit the following and
not carry the matter any further.
1) Unlike patent infringement, which is a civil matter, copyright
violation is a criminal subject. That means that someone with a desire to
make an "example" out of you can have the federal marshalls break down your
front door (warrant in hand) and carry off all your goodies as evidence.
And penalties, should the matter go to trial, carry the risk of prison
time.
2) The matter of musical copying has cost many universities so much money
to settle, that several have the policy that illegal copying of music (and
for all I know, other materials) is grounds for dismissal (faculty) or
expulsion (students).
I figure that all you have to do is be noticed byf a manager who's had a
very bad day. It would be a trivial matter for McGraw-Hill to demonstrate
that they've been deprived of reprint income and so have been damaged by
your activities.
There's got to be a reason that you don't see old copies of the major
computer magazines online. I've got a fairly complete collection of PC
Tech Journal that I'm sure others would love to see--but I daren't.
I used to know a gal who made a comfortable living on her ranch near
Ashland (OR) by tracking down and reporting illegal copies of Autodesk
software.
So, I'd ask first.
Cheers,
Chuck