Re: [NTLK] FW: Fwd: Hacked WiFi driver

From: <knowtree_at_aloha.com>
Date: Mon Jan 08 2007 - 15:53:11 EST

> (In other words, I STRONGLY disagree with Sonny. But then I disagree
> with private property, so...)
> Where do you live? If you disagree with private property, I'd like to come
> to your place and take everything you "own" that I can use, sell the rest,
> and keep the money. Would this be OK?

Your question cannot be answered because the premise is flawed. In a system
of no private property "everything you own" has no meaning, therefor you
cannot steal it. Another assumption of communal systems is that there is
enough material goods -- food, clothing, shelter -- to satisfy everyone's
needs, so stealing would be a waste of time because you would have nobody
to sell to.

>
> I saw plenty of evidence of this kind of thing in Kuwait during and after
> the Iraqi occupation, and just about as much in my own neighborhood.
> Thieves are thieves, no matter what or how they steal.

Kuwait was not operating in a communal economy, therefore what you saw was
good old fashioned stealing.

> I've kept quiet on this thread as I consider myself to be uninformed on the
> issue of this particular software, but since the language levels are
> degenerating, I will sound off.

Bad reason to post; better to contribute positively.

> Proprietary software is just that, proprietary. Somebody owns it.

Close, but not quite. It means someone has exclusive rights to use it. Not
to be confused with "commercial" or "copyright." Drivers that come with
network cards are typically proprietary in that they only work with
hardware made by that company. They are usually copyrighted, and come with
an exclusive license that allows the driver to be installed but not
distributed, for free or for profit.

> "Abandonware", has, at best, a fuzzy legal definition, and the test is to
> distribute it somehow and see what the owner does. If he does nothing,
> perhaps, just perhaps, he doesn't care. He could, however, at any time,
> haul you before a judge of some kind and make you pay.

"Abandonware" has no legal definition that I am aware of. Copyright does
not need to be defended to hold; trademarks do. There is an interesting
idea in property law, very old, which allows that if someone settles on
unused land and is not challenged within a reasonal time, title goes to the
settler. Fences and "Private Property" signs are maintained by property
owners for this reason.

> Open source software is wonderful, and I make frequent use of it. Were I so
> skilled, I might be writing some just to pay back the community of
> Cyberspace.

Nice to hear that. I am a big supporter of open-source, and do contribute.

> I would never advocate that anyone be forced to release their
> work for free, though.

Impossible. A work is copyrighted automatically. Open-source software comes
with a license that describes exactly what the ricipient can and cannot do.
The power behind the license (e.g. GPL) comes from copyright law.

> I have in my files, probably the best photograph of President Ronald Regan
> ever taken, and it has never been published. Probably never will be, but I
> would deeply resent anyone's attempt to dig into my negative files and force
> me to release it to public domain while I am still alive.

This does not refelct the situation being reported about the WiFi driver.
People have made serious attempts to contact the owner, with no response.
Under the old property laws, this means that the property is abandoned. The
software has always been available as a no-cost download, so no digging
around in personal files is involved.

The issue here is a license. To make the driver fully operational you
needed a license, which came with a software key. The question to me then
is this: since a license is a legal contract, and if the licensor
disappears, does that release their claim? If so, then publishing the hack
will not be illegal, because there is no contract.

Releasing the hack might be in violation of the DMCA, but this has yet to
be determined. Anyone with knowledge in this area, please enlighten us.

Gary Dunn
Honolulu
MP110, MP2100

>
> Dale the Ornery Old Capitalist
>
>
> --
> This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
> Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
> WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
>
>
>

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
WikiWikiNewt for all kinds of articles: http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
Received on Mon Jan 8 15:58:39 2007

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Mon Jan 08 2007 - 16:30:00 EST