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From: "Ben A L Jemmett" <bal.jemmett@ukonline.co.uk>
Subject: Re: the ultimate IF archive
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Date: Tue, 29 Jan 2002 11:45:52 GMT
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"Kodrik" <kodrik@zc8.net> wrote in message
news:u5cf9m8n2772b9@corp.supernews.com...
> Well, I don't have to accept, read or acknowlegde any agreement prior to
> dowloading this file. I never entered a contract with the author to
acquire
> his product.

No, but you have to accept the license prior to running it.  That vast
majority of licenses state that to use the software constitutes and
indicates acceptance of the terms of the license.

> I would only be in illegl possession if the files were illegally on the
> archive. The license is irrelevent as you don't have a contract with me.

You would be in illegal possession of the author's property if you had
rejected the license and not deleted the file.  Once you reject the
agreement, the file becomes the author's property again, and he has
instructed you to destroy any and all copies you hold.

> But in the same way compilations of sharewares and freewares are being
sold
> without any notifications to authors, regardless of license, it is a
> possibility that that cam happen work publicly available, regardless of
> license. And it would all be legal.

You are a fuckwit.  Go find some shareware.  Go find some freeware.  Examine
the licenses and copyright notices displayed with the software.

To pick a shareware control from a Delphi CD I had lying on my desk:

: SOFTWARE LICENSE

: [Control] is not and has never been public domain software,
: nor is it free software.

: Non-licensed users are granted a limited license to use [Control]
: on a 30-day trial basis for the purpose of determining whether
: [Control] is suitable for their needs.  The use of [Control], except
: for the initial 30-day trial, requires registration.  The use of
unlicensed
: copies of [Control] by any person, business, corporation, government
: agency or any other entity is strictly prohibited.
:
: [...]
:
: A limited license is granted to copy and distribute [Control] only for the
: trial use of others, subject to the above limitations, and also the
following:

: 1) [Control] must be copied in unmodified form, complete with the file
: containing this license information and only the above listed files.  You
may
: NOT distribute the [Control] registration ID, control numbers or that
portion
: of the WIN.INI file created by [Control].
:
: [...]
:
:  3) No fee, charge, or other compensation may be requested or accepted,
: except as authorized below:
:
: A) Operators of electronic bulletin board systems (sysops) may make
[Control]
: available for downloading only as long as the above conditions are met.
An
: overall or time-dependent charge for the use of the bulletin board system
is
: permitted as long as there is not a specific charge for the download of
[Control].

: B) Vendors of user-supported or shareware software may distribute
[Control],
: subject to the above conditions, without specific permission. Vendors may
: charge a disk duplication and handling fee, which, when pro-rated to the
[Control]
: product, may not exceed five dollars.

: C) Non-profit user groups may distribute [Control], subject to the above
conditions,
: without specific permission. Non-profit user groups may charge a disk
duplication
: fee, which, when pro-rated to the [Control] product, may not exceed five
dollars.

By contrast, another randomly chosen freeware example has this as the
closest thing to a license:

: Freeware, enjoy them!
: (and if you're very happy with them, send me a postcard of your city)

IF THE LICENSE STATES THAT YOU ARE NOT TO REDISTRIBUTE A WORK, IT IS ILLEGAL
TO REDISTRIBUTE IT.  I'm not sure how this can be made any clearer.  At last
school I worked at, I had to explain this to a group of pupils who wanted to
take copies of our copies of MS Office for use at home.  They had learning
disabilities and still managed to grasp this concept in five minutes.
What's your fucking problem?

--
Regards,
Ben A L Jemmett.
(http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ben.jemmett/, http://www.deltasoft.com/)


