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Subject:Piracy, education and the techie garage sale From:Bill Swallow <bill_swallow -at- yahoo -dot- com> To:TECHWR-L listserv <TECHWR-L -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 23 Jun 2000 05:43:07 -0700 (PDT)
I want to start this post by stating that I totally
agree that software piracy is unethical, unfair, and
illegal.
That said, I don't understand the problem with one
person uninstalling a program to lend to another for
educational purposes - educational purposes ONLY.
There is still only one person using the license.
If this is a problem, then is it in fact illegal to
sell old software at garage sales and such? Same thing
as the scenario above, only the original owner is
getting a small chunk of cash for the favor, and who
knows what the new owner will do with the software. (I
ask in part because I plan on having a garage sale
soon and have a ton of toddler software and old games
I'd like to unload, and throwing them away seems
stupid after paying $25 - $70 for each application
new.)
Also, what about installing one license on several
machines, if only one person will be using the several
machines. Example: Someone has a CD-ROM with Mac and
PC versions of the software, and wants to install it
on home office machines - the Mac for use with
graphics products, the PC for use with other
publishing products, and a Notebook for travel. Is
this also wrong?
I would think that as long as only one person is using
the software, that all the above are "OK". Am I wrong?
Please educate me.
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