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Pirating abandoned content?

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mouser:
Here's another ethical thought experiment.. I must say i haven't given much thought to this one:

It's not uncommon for software purchases to include a "non-transferable" license.  Is this ethical? I've always found this deeply unfair (though i'm not sure i would say it's unethical -- it may just be a matter of consumers shouldnt support products with such licenses).

If you say that it's fine for a company to make such a restriction, then would it be ethical if a computer or car salesman told you that the computer you just bought could not be given to a friend or family member when it outlived it's usefulness for you?

app103:
Here is another one...

There is a program you really want. You are willing to pay for it. The company (or its successor) is still in business. You can go to the website and purchase a license for it. but...

That license is for their latest & greatest version and will not work in any previous version. But their latest & greatest will not run on your not-so-great computer and you need an older version. They are unwilling to sell you a license to an older one. Is it ok to buy the latest & greatest and then pirate the older version so you have one you can actually use?

For example, is it ok to purchase the latest version of Dreamweaver and then pirate a copy of Dreamweaver 4 because that is all your pc can handle?

Now about books...

If you really want to read an out of print book and can't find a copy to buy, you can probably borrow it from the library, even if you have to ask them to borrow it from another library for you. I have done this many times.

In the case of out of print books in which a physical copy is difficult or impossible to come by, but the text is not yet in the public domain, sometimes if you contact the original publisher they can put you in touch with the author.

Often times, the contract an author has with a publisher is for a set term, in which the author grants the publisher an exclusive right to publish the book. Once that term expires, the copyright is returned to the author and they are free to seek another publisher to print the book, if they wish.

Many authors do seek another publisher, and many do not. For those books in which the author has not obtained another company to publish their work and has no plans on doing so, if asked, they may allow you the right to create and distribute a copy of their book in ebook form, for free.

I give this site as an example of a bunch of authors that agreed to allow their out of print books to be distributed as free ebooks.Of course, the terms of distribution may not make the books legal for just anyone to distribute. Sometimes the only one that has the right is the one that asked the author.

Sometimes the only thing that stops an author from making a free ebook from their out of print work available, is they don't have a website to distribute it from, or they don't have a copy in electronic form because it was written back in the days when people still banged away on typewriters, or maybe the author hasn't joined the computer age and doesn't even know what an ebook is and perhaps has never even used a computer.

Perhaps if you contact the author and ask and/or get permission to distribute an ebook of their old out of print work, they will see that people still want to read it and might just find another publisher and re-release it in print form. Your asking might just be the push that makes it happen.

mouser:
For example, is it ok to purchase the latest version of Dreamweaver and then pirate a copy of Dreamweaver 4 because that is all your pc can handle?
--- End quote ---

i cannot for the life of me think of a case where i would consider this unethical.. in this case you are really doing the company a favor -- you are paying more, and you are removing yourself from the pool of people they will need to provide tech support to.  this one is too easy, everyone benefits here.

Grorgy:
I think the author is ethically entitled to do with their creation what they will.  If this means removing it from  publication, that should be their choice until the time comes when it is in the public domain, somewhere between 30 and 50 yrs after the authors death in most western countries. The author may choose of course to release it to the public domain earlier as the guy who runs the Zen Habits blog did recently -  Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content

http://zenhabits.net/2008/01/open-source-blogging-feel-free-to-steal-my-content/
 

That however is one persons choice and it seems to me that i do not have a right to force my choice on the author.

I agree that if you have bought something and wish to use it in another medium for personal use only then that is OK, since in that instance you have seen and/or read what it is the author may particularly have wanted you to see in a printed version, though the lawyers I'm sure would have a field day.

Just my thoughts on it.

cranioscopical:
If you say that it's fine for a company to make such a restriction, then would it be ethical if a computer or car salesman told you that the computer you just bought could not be given to a friend or family member when it outlived it's usefulness for you?
-mouser (May 15, 2008, 11:35 AM)
--- End quote ---

It would if you knowingly signed a contract stipulating that condition.

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