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Benjamin M. A'Lee wrote: > No, it doesn't. The law might make it legally questionable, Call me picky but isn't that what laws are *for*? To define what is legal and what isn't? That's why they're called laws - otherwise they'd be called guidelines.. > but the > Federation Against Software Theft, Microsoft, SCO, et al. do not > make the laws. > MS and SCO are irrelevant to the argument. FAST are not as they are the body charged with monitoring activities in this area. No they're not a law enforcement agency, but then nor are Customs and Excise who monitor various activities. Their job is to monitor and report on infractions. > "Necessarily" being the operative word. Corporations generally take > a rather conservatative view of copyright law (for "conservative" > read "draconian") which does not necessarily line up with legal > rights in a given territory (for example, parts of Europe - > Scandinavia, I think - give anybody the right to reverse-engineer > any software for limited purposes, and no matter how much Microsoft > want to whinge about it they can't take away that right with their > EULAs). > Individual states of course have a perfect right to set their own laws. However we are not in any of *them*, we are in the UK, and until/unless we adopt a European law similar to Scandinavia, we abide by our laws. > They're misused by software companies to shaft customers for > as much cash as they can cram into Bill Gates' gold-plated sock > drawer OK so I am a private individual. Say I spend a long time writing a piece of software, maybe a year or more developing it. I want to earn an income for my efforts - a reasonable wish I would think. I get it distributed and sold with a license clearly stating the user may install it on their PC for private use. The cover price is £29.99 (ie the price for the license to use it). Instead they get a pirated copy and deprive me of my *earned* income. That's OK with you is it? That's what you're saying so far. > Income they so desperately need to send the board of directors on > holiday to the Caribbean for six months of the year? Why do people resort to sarcasm when they run out of ways to refute an argument? Julian -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html