Re: [NTLK] FW: Fwd: Hacked WiFi driver

I think the analogy is more along the lines of coming upon a cabin in
the woods while you are in need of shelter (as pointed out by someone
earlier).

Or, I own the food in my cupboard and am free _under_law_ to throw it
away. But do I have the moral right to do so when there are hungry
people who need it, and even would be willing to compensate me for it?

Thus, there are no absolutes (yes, I am a moral relativist):
private property is fine as long as it furthers the benefit of the
greatest number (which it mostly does, despite obvious abuses);
and yet still sometimes "theft" is justified as the last or least bad
alternative...

In fact, even under the US Constitution, the government has the right
to take your private property for public use, as long as they pair
full/fair value (which is very often NOT the same as "market" value)
- that is like using the cabin in the woods and compensating the
owners (or offering to). The point is, "public use and benefit"
sometimes takes priority over private ownership...

That is why the abandonware category even makes sense to talk about -
whether you agree with it or not, everyone _understands_ the concept
because it resonates with human minds. (To paraphrase Wittgenstien,
we cannot speak sensibly about that for which we have no faculty for
understanding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractatus_Logico-
Philosophicus)

In this case, I think abandonware applies, since so many have tried
so hard to contact Hiroshi with no result. Just to be safe, I would
vote for the "$-held-in-escrow" mechanism...

On 7. Jan, 2007, at 14:24, Milan Votava wrote:

> At 19:43 7.1.2007, you wrote:
>> ~~~ On 2007/01/07 16:12, Dale Raby at daleraby@gmail.com wrote ~~~
>>
>> Even the word "abandonware" could be seen as a handy bit of
>> casuistry rather
>> than as a name for anything real. Someone has suggested that the
>> "real
>> question" should become ""Is Hiroshi's WaveLAN driver
>> abandonware...?" I'm
>> still inclined to think the real question remains "Is Hiroshi's
>> WaveLAN
>> driver *his*?"
>
> *his*
>
> Good point. As you can read at
> http://www.kallisys.com/newton/morewifi/en, the Hiroshi's driver is
> probably based on an opensource code so his rights to sell the driver
> (without a source) can be questionable...

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