Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)

Chris Sonnack wrote
(in article <o3h1j1dmi3ep4i3vd4otis0a5d4li1q5jb@xxxxxxx>):

> Joe Wright writes:

>> Think of it Bill Gates' way. He makes Beer ans sells it for $100. He
>> declares the evils of Piracy,
>> ...promises retribution but provides Beer on a CD which anyone can
>> copy,...
>
> What has that to do with anything? If I leave my car unlocked with
> the keys in it, is it morally okay to steal it?

I was surprised to hear that leaving keys in an unlocked car is
actually ILLEGAL in some jurisdictions. Apparently, it is
immoral to "tempt" people that way. Furrfu.

> I went shopping the other day and was disgusted by how much effort
> and resource goes into anti-theft prevention. Electonic gates in
> every store, complicated packaging, cameras.....
>
> All because people in this society have so lost their moral compass
> they actually have come to believe that, "If I *CAN* steal it, why
> that's practically a license to do so."

Yes, and it sucks. It's one of the reasons that I, quite
literally, almost never set foot in a retail sales
establishment, other than a gas station, and that's normally pay
at the pump, or a restaurant. I despise being treated like a
convict, even when purchasing something at a cash register less
than 10 yards away, when they do everything besides strip search
on the way to the parking lot. I understand that they have a
lot of felons walking around disguised as normal humans these
days, but it is still offensive for them to assume you are one
of them. I much prefer ordering everything electronically, and
if it can't be done that way, then I probably don't need it
anyway.

>> He sells 1000 copies of Beer and gets $100,000. 500 people obtain copies
>> of Beer through whatever means. Are they stealing from Bill?
>
> Absolutely. No question about it. It's theft, pure and simple.
>
>> I think not.
>
> You're wrong.

What's shocking to me is this conversation can even be happening
outside of a prison yard. It's stunning how far society has
collapsed in recent years. I'll refrain from offering my
opinion on why it happened as it did, but offer an anecdote.

I recently ordered something from a major computer manufacturer.
There was a problem in shipping, in which it got crossed up
with some other person's order, in an almost identical package,
and wound up going a few different, incorrect places, until
showing up back on the loading dock for the company I bought it
from. The salesman apologized, and sent me out a replacement on
an expedited shipping. The next day, two separate trucks showed
up a half hour apart to deliver me two identical boxes, one the
original which had been found in the shipping department with my
address on it, so somebody shipped it again, and the
replacement. Pure coincidence that they showed up almost at the
same time. When the second delivery driver showed up, I told
him what had happened, but that I wanted the serial number for
the unit I kept to match their system in case of a warranty
problem, so he said to call them, find out which of the two
boxes I wasn't supposed to have now, and then they would contact
him by pager to let him know to come back for it later in the
day. So, I call them up, and they were SHOCKED to learn that I
ordered one, received two, and was calling to return the extra
one. It seems that their computer system doesn't even have a
provision for handling it, because nobody EVER does that. The
customer service rap actually made it sound like I was crazy for
not just STEALING the extra one. She could not take it back,
said I would have to contact the salesperson and they would have
to make some special provision to return it through some manual
exception process. I'm stilling waiting to find out what the
result will be, but the salesman told me that "you should have
just kept it, but now that I know I guess I have to try and
figure out how to fix this". They worked hard at making me feel
bad for not behaving like a common thief. Like I was making
their job harder by trying to behave honestly.

>> Bill has simply gained another 500 users of Beer. It's all about
>> market share. Taking business away from the competition.
>
> The fact that being stolen from turns out to have a small silver lining
> does NOT CHANGE THE FACT THAT THOSE 500 assholes are thieves.
>
> If you take what is not yours, you are a thief. Period. You can apply
> all the wishy washy bull*** rationalization you want, and it won't
> change the simple fact that You Are A Thief.

Indeed. It seems that for most today, if you can come up with a
good lie to back up your other crimes, then it's perfectly ok.
I wonder what famous world leader might have the copyright
(ahem) on that trend? Hmmm.


--
Randy Howard (2reply remove FOOBAR)

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