Message-ID: <145@looking.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 12-Apr-84 00:00:00 EST
Article-I.D.: looking.145
Posted: Thu Apr 12 00:00:00 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 13-Apr-84 20:48:37 EST
References: <252@unisoft.UUCP>
Organization: Looking Glass Software, Waterloo, Ont
Lines: 34

I think everybody is missing the point of my statement.
Of course they are pumping things into your house, by cable or
from satellites.  That is not the point.  If two people are
having a conversation in the next room, and the sound reaches you, you
CAN hear it.  But is it right to listen in?  Sure you can pick up mobile
phone calls or party line calls, but SHOULD you?  Sure you can make
a copy of your friend's disk for $3 instead of $100, but SHOULD you.

If you had made a movie, and wanted to sell it to people, but you were forced
to use millions of dollars worth of scrambling equipment that degrades
picture quality just because people can't be trusted not to watch it, how
would you feel about it.

Can anybody seriously argue that it is right to take something just because
you CAN?  Nothing physical stops you from stealing my assembler - it isn't
copy protected.  Nothing stops you from walking in my house and lifting
my TV if I forget to lock the door.

Now of course, no law should forbid you from building any kind of electronic
equipment you like, and you shouldn't be stopped from receiving non-private
and non-copyright transmissions.  No law stops you from making a baseball
bat either, but another law says you can't club me over the head with it.
No laws stops you from buying a Xerox machine, but another law says you
can't copy a book with it.

It boils down to this.  People can spend fortunes protecting their information
with security, increasing the cost to all their legitimate customers and
thus reducing the available choice to the consumer, or we can all agree that
if a person produces some information, it is theirs and you shouldn't
try to take it without permission.  Sure, if they mail you an unsolicited
book, that's one thing, but if you have to go out of your way, buying
a descrambler or erecting a dish, that's surely another...
-- 
	Brad Templeton - Waterloo, Ontario (519) 886-7304