[Coco] [From:Jon Garber]Can anyone please send me the latest copy of Ira ...

[Roger Merchberger]

Rumor has it that Dan Olson may have mentioned these words:
>>>I wasn't even aware that Ira was selling DVDs of his site and I've visited
>>>his site _plenty_ of times in the past. Perhaps _that_ is the reason why
>>>someone else was _able_ to command such a price on eBay from Ira's work -
>>>the fact that Ira didn't advertise prominently enough???
>>
>>I sincerely doubt that true theft is ever really the fault of the person 
>>being stolen from.

Hear, hear.

>>  There are times when it is questionable, like in a case where someone 
>> is really showing something valuable off.

Why should that be "questionable?" That's just like saying the little 
hottie dressing in a miniskirt, high heels & skimpy v-cut blouse "was 
asking for it." I just don't see it.

>>  But, I doubt that any blame can lie (lay?) in Ira's court here. Just 
>> because someone didn't advertise 'enough' (What is advertising enough 
>> around these parts, anyway?) doesn't mean that he / she is just asking 
>> to be stolen from in the way that Ira was.
>
>If this is truely material that Ira has available on his web site, then 
>it's not theft... it is profiting from Ira's hard work which is very 
>unfortunatly, but I wouldn't call selling something that's freely 
>available elsewhere "theft".

It can, and it was. Altho IANAL, here's why: What was stolen was not the 
content - it was the compilation thereof. CompuServe proved that *many 
years ago* WRT their forums & SIGs.

Yes, if you take the time to download the documents & whatnot yourself, 
make your own compilation, and distribute it, then it isn't illegal. It's 
unfortunate if they don't help support the site they got it from, but it's 
not illegal... but wholesale copying of someone else's compilation in a 
form _that they do not offer for free_ is definitely theft.

Sorry, I'm with Ira on this one.

Laterz,
Roger "Merch" Merchberger

P.S. A heads-up: If you'd like to see some of the other antics that "Hex 
Star" is capable of, head over to the classiccmp archives at 
http://www.classiccmp.org/pipermail/cctalk/  .

--
Roger "Merch" Merchberger   | Anarchy doesn't scale well. -- Me
zmerch at 30below.com.         |
SysAdmin, Iceberg Computers