Mark,

Your analogy is a bit ridiculous.  How do you equate counterfeiting with
sharing a piece of software that is not sold?

VW does not sell ETKA, so they do not lose any revenues or sales due to it
being available free to the public.  But selling something that does not
belong to you, or that you do not have the right to sell, could be construed
as unethical by many.

Is it theft?  I, personally, don't think so, simply because the item we're
talking about is not for sale, nor is there a financial loss involved.

Is it right?  Once again, I, personally, don't think so.

JMHO...

Cheers to all,

Jeff

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of mark drillock
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2003 11:10 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: ETKA & ELSA ? burning and shipping for free??? (F)

So, is it ok to steal as long as you share the goods with your friends
for free? That seems to be what some here are saying. I don't know if
they feel a hate for profits or if they are not thinking very deeply.

If you knew someone who could print money would you think it was ok as
long as they shared for free? Or at least only charged their cost for
paper and ink?

Mark

Jeffrey Schwaia wrote:
>
> IMHO: Selling ETKA is an ethical issue.  On one hand, I agree that Frank
is
> probably not making too much money selling a few copies at $10 each, on
the
> other hand, does he really have the right to sell it at all (regardless of
> the price)?
>
> Perhaps we could start a free ETKA society.  I haven't looked into it, but
I
> doubt if it would be very difficult to create a downloadable copy of ETKA.
> That way anyone with enough bandwidth (or patience) could get a copy.  The
> bandwidth impaired could borrow a copy and reimburse the sender for
shipping
> (if necessary).
>
> ETKA 4 ALL...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Jeff