Thieves or...

[Donald D. Markstein]

> It's not easy to detect whether anything is public domain, if it isn't
> explicitly written anywhere. Hence, I assume everything to be so unless
> otherwise told.

Law-abiding people assume the opposite. You've made it clear where you stand
on obeying laws, but have yet to explain why the Internet is an exception to
every copyright law in the world.

> And again: What law exactly are we talking about here? If you wish to
> control your work, stay out of the Internet. Another possibility is if
> you wish to earn money from whatever you do via the net, but that's a
> completely different ball game.

Who the HELL do you think you are? Nobody has the right to order me to "stay
out of the Internet", whether or not I choose to make you a free gift of my
work -- and whether or not I meet your arbitrary, vaguely stated, and
fuzzily defined criteria of "earning money".

And when did a desire to earn money from one's work become a necessary
factor in whether or not one is permitted to own it? Most of you "property
rights don't exist" types are scandalized by a desire to make money.

Furthermore, the fact that you have decided unilaterally, for unstated
reasons, that copyright law does not apply to the Internet, does not make it
so. If you truly don't know what laws we're talking about, I suggest you
consult an attorney.

> The Internet should be IMHO a
> huge free public library from which you can search for things and get
> the info you need for low-cost or for free.

If you wish to read the work I make available on the Internet, you may do so
at my site, on my terms, whether my terms involve making money or not. If
you wish to share my work with your friends, you may do so by hyperlink, and
they may read it under the same conditions.

THIS is the freedom you are given by my placing material on the Internet --
NOT the freedom to pick it up and move it to a site of your own, and
circumvent whatever terms I choose to impose.

I do not understand why you have this difficulty in seeing the difference
between reading and stealing.

> The term "violate a/some philosophy" is inappropriate, one cannot
> "violate a philosophy", it doesn't make sense.

"Philosophy behind the Internet" was YOUR expression. Apparently, you've
decided your rather non-mainstream thoughts about ownership form some sort
of code to which we must all adhere, and if we disagree, then as you so
quaintly put it, "If you don't wanna share, bail out."

Again -- who the HELL do you think you are? If I were the one ordering YOU
to "bail out", at least I'd be addressing a professed enemy of the
long-established and well-understood copyright laws that protect me and
every other content provider on the Internet.

> I suppose, Don, that you
> are too focused on law and order and regulations.

And I suppose, Soren, that you are too focused on your apparent delusion
that you own the Internet, and are entitled to define the "philosophy"
behind it, and order people to "stay out of the Internet" or "bail out" if
they don't agree.

> (The Internet is an anarchy that works only because the good guys
> eventually kick out the bad guys)

Not true, apparently. You and others who defend theft are still here.

Quack, Don

Today in Toons: Every day's an anniversary
http://www.toonopedia.com/today.htm