🚀 go-pugleaf

> Of course the person that advocates illegal activity is not normally
> the one that gets arrested and prosecuted. There have been cases
> where that has been the case though. Have you ever heard the term
> inciting?

Promoting, and inciting, are two different things. I can freely sit
around and discuss overthrowing the government, hanging Congress from
all the available lampposts, etc. in general rhetorical terms. But
when I say "Ok, on Jan. 12, at 1:30 pm, we break into the armory, and
then we march on the capitol..." I am inciting. Even if I don't do
it, but one of the guys I talk to does take it seriously. Of course,
if we get enough people to back us up, and actually overthrow the
government, it's a whole new ballgame.

The government has no moral right to prevent us from discussing
breaking the law. This simply because said law may in fact not be law.
The courts have always ruled that simply because an act is treated as
law, does not make it law. Unconstitutionality dates from enactment,
not court ruling. And, "no one is bound to obey an unconstitutional
act." In a limited government, where sovereignty is vested in the
people, not the government, we cannot be gagged from opposing what we
feel is unjust. If we actually do break the law, then we are not
guilty until a jury says so, as the jury is the final arbiter of what
is and is not legal. Or so the theory goes. Some are killed for moral
opposition today, sans judge or jury.

> Is it moral to distribute copyrighted material without permission?

No. But is it legal?

> I don't care who owns the material, my opinion (which just happens to
> be backed by the laws of the country)

Not so strictly as you may think. Certainly, I can't go out and buy
Microsoft Word, make a hundred copies, and pass them out. That is
immoral, and illegal, and rightly so. But should I copy the ROMs of a
decade old machine, which is no longer sold or supported, and give a
couple copies to users/former users, that is much less clear. It may
easily be fair use.

Larry
--
Lawrence Weeks     | "And what country can preserve its liberties, if
weeksl@cray.com    |  its rulers are not warned from time to time that
-------------------+  this people preserve the spirit of resistance?
 Let them take arms... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from
 time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants." -- Jefferson