21 Feb
2006
21 Feb
'06
6:07 p.m.
On Tue, Feb 21, 2006 at 04:14:54PM -0500, Rob wrote:
On Tue February 21 2006 15:08, Peter Bessman wrote:
The license is not a contract, but accepting its terms constitutes
a contract. If you download an illegal copy, you do indeed not
break a contract. The person who made it available did, and since
you are smart enough to know this, you are in the same situation
as anyone knowingly accepting stolen goods. There is no excuse
for that.
The fact that it's illegal to sell your vote
does not prove
that contracts can be morally wrong.
Not that the 'shrink-wrap licenses' to which Fons was referring
are even accepted as contracts in many venues. I certainly
never had a contract with, say, Syntrillian in the bad old days
when I would download a pirated copy of Cool Edit Pro; the text
of whatever EULA they used was never even included with the
illicit version. The respect argument is specious as well; I certainly
don't
respect Wal-Mart when I'm buying a new toothbrush or whatever.
(And since I've paid for it, I'm perfectly within my rights to
share that toothbrush with anyone, though I'd probably rather
not.)
Completely irrelevant.
--
FA