Alan Horowitz sez: : > From: Anonymous <nobody@REPLAY.COM> : > Some economists have made a good case that slack : > enforcement of such rules may sometimes do little harm. : > Local firms benefit by acquiring pirated technology more : > cheaply than the real thing; consumers acquire affordable : > high-tech products and close copies of branded goods. : Yes, when Mr Anon travels to a beach in Jamaica or in Mombasa, he : shouldn't complain when the taxi driver takes him, not to his requested : destination, buit some dark alley where Mr Anon gets clunked over the : head and his wallet removed. The locals need the money more than Mr : rich-tourist-on-vacation Anon. They're only doing socialist justice, : after all. : Property is property. Theft is theft. Then the question arises is software property .. If I steal your money, you don't have it any more; if I copy your software, you still have it so one can't simply conclude that copying is theft. Besides copyright law, patent law et al. are all rip offs designed to suck money out of Citizen-Units. I you create a new and improved methode to do accounting your idea will not be protected, also concepts and principles are unprotected. Intelectual Property Law is only designed to protect the investor, publishers/authors wanted copyright laws, the industrial age brought us patent laws, bio-genetics are patenting 'dna strings', the computer age brought us patenting of mathematic principles, and soon databases will be protected. Copying software isn't theft, copying software is a vote against rip offs, copying software is the first step in liberating the Citizen-Unit ! !noitulover -- " The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehoods is with truth. " -- Justice William O. Douglas, 1958