[NTLK] Passwords out of use programs

[Dan]

This has been discussed a lot on the list before.  It is somewhat of a grey area.  While yes illegal (but also depends on the laws in your country too, some expire sooner than others), do the developers care?  Generally they don't, in fact many that were contacted in the past have given us passwords which were either posted on the list or elsewhere.  Not that I am saying go ahead and pirate if they didn't, but it is a grey area.  If you purchase the software, and your Newton dies, and it was locked to that Newton.  Is it wrong to hack or otherwise get it to work on your new Newton if the developer is no longer around?  Illegal yes, morally wrong?  Again grey area.

In some countries the limitation of copyright for software is different than print.  For the most part in a few years it is out of date and does not have much value especially if the platform it was written for is discontinued.  Most developers wouldn't care as I said.  It is written for a old piece of tech no one uses any more except for a few of us die hards.  It isn't worth them trying to sell it either as they would have to pay for server storage space, taxes, keep track of everything, provide support, etc.  Not worth their time.  If you can't get in contact with the developer, well that is up to you.  As I said, it is a grey area and opinions differ.  Just like removing DRM from say ebooks you have purchased.  While illegal in many countries, is it morally wrong to make a backup of what you have purchased?  Most would say no.  Are you going to get into trouble?  Not unless you post them online sharing them with the world.

If you do a search in the list archives, you will find many of such passwords that were released by the developers (and a few that weren't but the companies are no longer around either).

-Dan


On 2/14/2019 7:27 PM, Rufus Kohn wrote:
> Thank you for clarifying this. 
> 
> Rufus Kohn
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>> Op 14 feb. 2019 om 20:07 heeft L.W. Brown <lwb at mac.com> het volgende geschreven:
>>
>> Andrei is succinctly correct.
>>
>> The only semi-practical solution is a community of developers writing new open software.
>>
>> -L.W. Brown
>> via 6s+