RE: Acting against anti-file-swapping Lawsuits in Israel

From: Imri Zvik (imriz_at_nonexisting.hamakor.org.il)
Date: Wed 25 May 2005 - 19:11:31 IDT


You cannot say that free-software is bad because "people
download software and use it free-of-charge, instead of paying for more costy proprietary alternatives." As they are doing so with permission of the copyrights holder, and that is 100% legal. As someone already mentioned, you are avoiding the REAL problems with the copyrights law, such as "eternal rights" etc. while the basic idea of copyrights *IS* ok. You created something, *YOU* can decide what to do with it, when and how. You can decide to license it with GPL, or you could decide not to. It is up to you, it is yours, at least for a defined period of time.

Also, the "law of the land" is not the "law of god", but there are ways to protest against it, else than breaking it. As long as this is the law, you should follow it. Following your line of thinking, I could and should do whatever I want with GPL'ed programs, including changing them and redistributing them without the source, as it's not in the author's rights to tell me what to do with it.

Also, I do not think that "open source" is the same as "free software", please, do not mix them. The fact a program is an open-source program does not mean it is a "free software" in the way FSF sees it.

While you keep bringing up the government bureaucrats, you forget that you have no option but pay taxes - it is not the same here. Music for example is a luxury - you cannot afford it? Too bad - but getting it illegally is neither the solution nor the right way to protest against it, morally and ethically.
Again, you *ARE* breaking the law, you are *NOT* using the tools given to you by the law to protest, you are taking the law into your own hands, and *THAT* is the biggest problem here.

You *ARE* a criminal, and I would suggest you will go and lookup the definition of the word in the dictionary.

I cannot emphasize more how wrong you are, and how bad it is to take the law into your own hands (and no, it is not a question of life and death, so it's not like the examples you keep bringing), and how dangerous your ideas are for democracy.

This is the last mail I intend to post, as you are obviously a FSF, linux-hype infected, overexcited troll, with a double moral. (how can you expect people to follow one license while you dismiss your (the author's/creator) right to decide with what license something will be distributed with?) and nothing I will say will disinfect you. All I can say is that I wish people like you would be the first to be stripped out of everything they own in court for breaking copyrights laws.

Have a great day,

 

--
Imri Zvik
PGP (2.6.3ia) Public Key: http://mariska.inter.net.il/~imriz/imriz.pgp
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Shlomi Fish [mailto:shlomif_at_iglu.org.il] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 6:06 PM
To: Imri Zvik
Cc: discussions_at_hamakor.org.il
Subject: Re: Acting against anti-file-swapping Lawsuits in Israel
I'm CCing to the list so they'll be more interested.
On Wednesday 25 May 2005 16:00, you wrote:
> Comparing attempts to prevent a genocide with breaking the copyrights
> law is an insult to whomever been in the holocaust. 
No it's not. I wasn't comparing anything. I was just mentioning the fact that 
if laws are unethical and irrational, a person cannot be held liable for 
breaking them, if he does. 
> You cannot dismiss 
> any laws you do not agree with, it just doesn't work this way 
I can dismiss them if I can show how irrational and harmful they are. I'm not 
saying I will break them at that point. I'm not using or selling drugs, for 
example, because although ethical these are immoral activities.
> - YOU 
> should get a reality check (and a shrink or a probation officer, ASAP.).
No, you should. You seem like a goody-two-shoes who think the Law of the Land 
is the Law of God, and don't question it or criticize it. Here's a newsflash 
for you: often the Law of the Land deviates a great deal from anything we can 
call ethical. (see Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, Communist China, etc. 
etc.). In this case, people should voice their opinion against it and work to 
remove it.
The bylaws of Israel are pretty good, but not perfect. Not only do I think 
they are bad in some respects, but I voice my opinion about it. If I violate 
any laws, it's because these laws are not immoral.
> It's not that disobeying this specific law will cause chaos, but the
> idea that an individual is obeying only the laws he agrees with will.
I am not a relativist, and I don't think people should initiate force, 
coercion or fraud. But most laws in Israel and most other Liberal countries, 
are harmful, and thus are constantly violated, and rightfully so. I say that 
we should change the bylaws instead of trying to enforce anyone not to 
violate any law, however irrational it is. 
>
> The music industry supplies work to the software engineering industry,
> hardware, catering, electricity, real estate, and many, many, MANY more,
> not to mention that 
Possibly. However, you evaded my point: I said that making the public more 
prosperous on behalf of the music industry will as a general rule concentrate 
less money in less hands, and cause these people to invest and spend them on 
better venues, than just buying music. (which is now simply bit-buckets). 
Another thing, is that even if no-one sells CDs (very unlikely) there will 
still be music hobbyists and professionals (who will supply work for all 
these industries) and public performances, and other music ventures like 
that.
Let's return to the analogy of Government Beurcracy. Do you know how many 
industries supply services to government beaurucrats? Quite a lot. However, 
do you think that taxes should not be lowered because it will mean less 
beauracrats?
On the same note, I could say that open source is not good because people 
download software and use it free-of-charge, instead of paying for more costy 
proprietary alternatives. 
> a couple of other large industries, else than the 
> music industry, rely on the copyrights laws.
>
Have you read what I said? I never supported completely abolishing copyright 
laws. However, I think that media (excluding software) should be 
non-commercially shareable. This will not hurt media sales much, and it's not 
a crime ethically, and the alternative is a complete witch-hunt of fully open 
source people.
> You are trying to justify your criminal actions with ethics, which is
> just wrong.
>
First of all my actions are not criminal. Maybe they violate the letter of the 
law, but a criminal action is an unethical one. And why is _reasoning_ (not 
justifying mind you) my actions using ethics and logic, wrong? How else do 
you expect me to reason my actions?
There is a saying in Hebrew: "גזרה שהציבור אינו יכול לעמוד בה". It translates 
to English as "an Order that the public cannot withstand". The prohibition of 
file sharing is exactly such a case.
> But go ahead, share music and other copyrighted material if you want... 
That I will do. And so will most Israelis who have a fast Internet connection.
> I won't be sorry if and when they will rip you off everything you own in
> court.
>
If that will happen, I will fight them first.
Regards,
	Shlomi Fish
> --
> Imri Zvik
> PGP (2.6.3ia) Public Key: http://mariska.inter.net.il/~imriz/imriz.pgp
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Shlomi Fish [mailto:shlomif_at_iglu.org.il]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 25, 2005 3:22 PM
> To: Imri Zvik
> Cc: linux-il_at_linux.org.il
> Subject: Re: Acting against anti-file-swapping Lawsuits in Israel
>
> On Wednesday 25 May 2005 14:45, Imri Zvik wrote:
> > When people start choosing what laws to obey and what not, it is the
> > fastest way to chaos.
>
> The only valid laws are the prevention of initiatory force, threat of
> force,
> or fraud against one's self or property (not the so-called "intellectual
>
> property"). All other laws: against drug abuse, against prostitution,
> against
> gambling, against insider's information, against monopolies etc. etc.
> are
> irrelevant and unethical.
>
> Violating a law that says that one should not share his music over the
> Internet, will not cause any chaos. People do it all the time, and still
> food
> is in supply, stores are open, water is flowing in the pipes, there's
> supply
> of electricity, and the Internet is available for commerce and
> recreation.
>
> You should get a reality check.
>
> > The fact is that you still break the laws of the
> > sovereign, democratic entity you're part of, and that would make you
>
> an
>
> > outlaw, a criminal.
>
> If I lived in Nazi Germany and hidden a Jew in my house, (which was
> against
> the law) would that make me a criminal? (please don't invoke Godwin's
> law
> here)
>
> Laws that are unethical, need not be followed.
>
> > And about the economic system - didn't you ever hear about the term
>
> "The
>
> > Domino Effect"? Music for example pays salaries of numerous of people,
> > allowing them to be able to buy other products and services, and by
>
> that
>
> > help other people receive a paycheck. Producing and trading
>
> copyrighted
>
> > materiel is still producing and trading, which is, as you stated, are
> > the foundation stones of our economic system. Saying that the fact you
> > can't smell/touch it makes it ok, is so... uhmm, idiotic? As far as I
> > know, you're not an ostrich, so don't burry your head in the sand.
>
> Domino effect.. hmmm... according to this logic, if we lower the income
> tax,
> then firing a great deal of government bureaucrats will also cause the
> economy to collapse. ;-)
>
> If people download music instead of buying it, then the public as a
> whole will
> be more prosperous, and will spend this money or invest on better
> things.
> While we may kill the music industry (highly unlikely, but still) the
> other
> industries will be much better off. During the course of human history
> entire
> industries were superceded by other ones, and yet we still live to tell
> the
> tale, and we are better and more prosperous and more advanced than ever.
>
> Again, you're misapplying concepts.
>
> Regards,
>
> 	Shlomi Fish
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> Shlomi Fish      shlomif_at_iglu.org.il
> Homepage:        http://www.shlomifish.org/
>
> Tcl is LISP on drugs. Using strings instead of S-expressions for
> closures
> is Evil with one of those gigantic E's you can find at the beginning of
> paragraphs.
-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Shlomi Fish      shlomif_at_iglu.org.il
Homepage:        http://www.shlomifish.org/
Tcl is LISP on drugs. Using strings instead of S-expressions for closures
is Evil with one of those gigantic E's you can find at the beginning of 
paragraphs.


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