Re:Computer Scientists Are Astir After Baidu Team Is Barred ...
by teacup50 on Thursday June 04, 2015 @10:52AM
(#9659654)
It's disingenuous to equate fraud -- cheating in a zero sum game -- with violating a purely manufactured right like copyright.
Unlike fraud, the ethics of violating copyright are highly situational and quite complex. A recent example of mine:
I purchased a very expensive publication; my purchase included a PDF copy that was (unbeknownst to me) DRM-locked with very onerous DRM.
- I fired up IDA Pro and broke the DRM so that I could read the PDF without their invasive DRM; I have no intention of distributing the results. This is actually illegal, and in violation of the license under which I was granted any rights to the PDF. Was this unethical?
- If I couldn't break DRM on my own, would it be wrong to download a copy from the internet?
- Given that I own the physical book, if my purchase hadn't included the PDF, would it be wrong to download a PDF of it?
- If I wanted to know what was in the publication before I paid a great deal of money for it, would it be wrong to download it?
- If I didn't have the money to pay for the PDF (as was often the case when I was a teenager and where I learned to crack software), would it be wrong to download for free -- but not distribute -- the PDF? How wrong?
Unlike fraud, the ethics of violating copyright are highly situational and quite complex. A recent example of mine:
I purchased a very expensive publication; my purchase included a PDF copy that was (unbeknownst to me) DRM-locked with very onerous DRM.
- I fired up IDA Pro and broke the DRM so that I could read the PDF without their invasive DRM; I have no intention of distributing the results. This is actually illegal, and in violation of the license under which I was granted any rights to the PDF. Was this unethical?
- If I couldn't break DRM on my own, would it be wrong to download a copy from the internet?
- Given that I own the physical book, if my purchase hadn't included the PDF, would it be wrong to download a PDF of it?
- If I wanted to know what was in the publication before I paid a great deal of money for it, would it be wrong to download it?
- If I didn't have the money to pay for the PDF (as was often the case when I was a teenager and where I learned to crack software), would it be wrong to download for free -- but not distribute -- the PDF? How wrong?
... and so on ...