Vintage Software Copyright

[Ian Finder]

I think in response to sharing bits, a "better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission" policy is as best as can be done, otherwise the hobby is completely doomed.

I like how archive.org deals with it. If someone wants something taken down, do it by all means!

Many current rights holders for this stuff may not even KNOW they are rights holders, and for others, they may *want* to release something but cross licensing issues with other companies (e.g. Licensed libraries) may prevent them.

By the time we get permission to share this stuff,  much of it will be permanently lost.

So for now, I'll totally do illegal things. Because the law is shortsighted. And if a rights holder asks me to stop, I'm happy to. And sometime when society sees the value in all this, maybe we will get copyright reform.

Yar, mateys, I'll see you all on the high seas!

- Ian

Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 21, 2015, at 11:13, Evan Koblentz <evan at snarc.net> wrote:
> 
> Wanted to add that my opinion of "freeing" manuals, etc. does not mean I am against Bitsavers or Internet Archive -- work that's done the right way by professionals. My main gripe is when an individual takes something that is still actively * for sale * (by the original developer, no less) and the takes it upon themselves to give it away. Whether people or the courts decide it's a "violation" or a crime, either way, it's wrong.