That annoying Copyright topic (Again!)

[Penny & Bryce Linsenmayer]

No: HPFGUIDX 9645

Hi everyone --

Dai Evans wrote:

> On a question of copyright morals, I wonder how many people on the list
> can honestly say that 100% (or even 25%) of the software on their
> computers is 100% legal. Particularly with students in halls of
> residence, etc. it has been my experience that software gets swapped
> and shared on a huge scale (i will give no details as they may tend to
> incriminate me). Perhaps people should think about that before they
> condemn fiction copyright infringers.

Well, the copyright laws get broken each & everyday.  Lots of people
never even realize they've been technically violating copyright laws.
It's easy to do.  I myself will confess that I have probably copied large
enough portions of books to fall way outside the bounds of "fair use"
from time to time (for scholarship purposes, of course!).  I was also
frankly infuriated beyond measure when I recently took in some 1930s
fairy tales books to a Kinko's and the employees refused to reproduce
them for me (I wanted to frame copies & rebind the books for my child to
have later).  They did direct me to a self-service color copier & told me
very smugly that I should be aware that I was "infringing the copyright
laws" (to which I retorted that I was an attorney & hardly needed a
lecture on copyright laws from a Kinko's employee).

Like Aberforth's Goat so aptly said, it's a moral issue that each person
must make in individual cases.  IMO, there's a moral difference between
copying 75% of a non-fiction publication for your use in scholarship in
the comfort of your own home and downloading an entire novel from the
internet without paying for it (even though the *law* recognizes no
distinction between these infringement examples).

BUT, even if the moral decisions are in each individual's hands, the
*legal* distinctions are clear.  My main purpose with my posts of late is
to be sure that people understand that these pirated versions are
*illegal* and why.  Some of the people who have commented have appeared
to not understand *why* these versions are a problem, and I think it's
important for people to fully undertand the issues.  Then, if they choose
to download them & use them anyway, that's their choice.

It's also frankly a hot button issue for those of us on the list who are
published authors (like Peg) or who just hope to be (many of us I'm
sure).

Most importantly, it's simply not prudent for the list moderators to
allow a message with an URL to illegal pirated versions to be housed in
our Message Archives.  It's possible that the co-moderators could face
some liability for that sort of thing.  I hope all of you will take a
second & at least consider that part of my strong stance is a protective
defensive stance from that standpoint.  If you wish to incur a risk of
liability individually, that's fine.  But, *I'm* not willing to risk it.
I'm reasonably sure the other moderators share that sentiment.

Penny