[NTLK] h*cks, kr*ks, SN

[Ken Whitcomb]

Good points by several people, especially Tony. Copyright law in the  
U.S. (and I suspect in some other locations as well) does provide for  
exceptional situations. Fair use as an example, provides for use by  
people including (but not exclusively) historians, academicians, and  
researchers for some copyrighted material for some purposes. Other  
exceptions include preservation by Libraries, in some situations (and  
for those wondering, this doesn't include personal libraries) or for  
situations where the storage media may be obsolete -- makes me wonder  
if anyone has a working punch card reader that I can load a stack of  
Fortran code cards from my college days? If any of that code had any  
value or use at all, for anyone, it might be worth discussing, but  
alas, it does not.

I still need to see an exception that provides for someone to use  
copyrighted material without proper licensing or permission from the  
copyright holder because of any of the following:

I don't like laws
I think the law is egregious
I don't have the financial means to purchase a license
I can't get a response from the copyright holder and I really want the  
copyrighted material

I also saw a comment about school dress code rules prohibiting  
students from wearing hats being unconstitutional. For the record,  
court challenges in the U.S. to such dress code rules have not been  
successful to date, which would make them...ah...constitutional.  http://tinyurl.com/ychqt45

Elsewhere of course, YMMV.

Ken