software ethics

[lauren at rand-unix.ARPA]

I guess I'm just one of those old-fashioned sorts that likes to try
abide by both the letter and the spirit of the law.  If other people
want to go out and play illicit games with other people's code, or decide
that if they don't like the way an agreement is written they'll
just ignore it, I guess that's their business.  But I treat other
people's software and trade secrets the same way I expect them
to treat mine, which is to say I respect them.  Your comment
implies that it is OK to violate trade secret agreements if you
personally think that they are unnecessarily strict or if you
think that "nobody will know."  I've seen these same arguments
applied to other aspects of Unix and to other company's software
as well.  I think they're pretty lousy arguments.

Excuse me for being ethical.  It's attitudes like yours that 
have forced vendors into ever more restrictive agreements,
copy protection schemes, and other similar sorts of things
to try protect themselves.  

In any case, I suspect that this list can live without
a rehash of this whole subject, again.

--Lauren--