"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
...
Richard J Kinch wrote:

Jeff Wisnia writes:



If it is a question of "ought", then my *personal opinion* hinges simply
on the making of money from others' works, vs casual use. If you're
going to sing a copyrighted work in the shower, then that's OK (despite
what the copyright fundamentalists say). If you're going to sell
recordings of your performance, or tickets to a live event, then no.
The author should have rights to any money, but casual use does not
involve money.


I guess that puts me among the fundamentalists, though I don't think
even I would have a problem with singing in the shower, depending of
course on who was in there with me doing the singing.

It's the part about the author having rights to money that bothers me. I
look at it from a credit/debit perspective, and when a person
photocopies copyrighted material because they want to read it, whether
for casual or for business use, they are potentially depriving the
author of a sale.

The copyright thief's oft expressed argument is, "Well I never would
have bought a copy, it isn't worth what they're asking, so the author
didn't lose a sale." That really yanks my chain, and I've gotten SWMBO
ticked at me more than once for telling people who are stupid enough to
say that in public what I think of them, the same way I usually put down
people who brag about their cheating the IRS at cocktail parties with,
"So I'm supposed to feel good about your being a crook, which means that
I'll have to pay more than my fair share in taxes?"

Jeff (Who didn't come here to be liked...)

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"As long as there are final exams, there will be prayer in public
schools"

I was trying to stay out of this BUT... If you own a "legal" copy of a
copyrighted item, in Canada you are allowed to make a backup copy. Under
"fair use" you can either make use of the original, or the copy but not both
at the same time. So if I owned the book, paid copyrightand put it on the
shelf and downloaded the ebook and used that isn't the end effect the same?
I would have a working copy and the original.

I asked the intellectual property guy here at work ( we have a guy who does
only IP stuff) if I'm allowed to have mp3s, he said if you have the
cd/vinyl/tape a back copy is legal, I don't have to make it, as long as only
1 copy is ever used at the same time.
Pat