scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> > You don't seem to understand the concept that if a work does not state
> > anything about who can use it, then the default is that nobody (except
> > the author) can use it.

> Surely the author loses that right the moment they make it available for 
> free to the general public? Otherwise you'd end up with the absurd 
> situation where I could upload a program or book I wrote to my website, 
> wait a few months, then prosecute all the people who read/installed it 
> for not having my permission. It would probably never even get to court 
> in the first place, the judge would laugh at you.

So according to your logic, if someone distributes a program on their
website, they relinquish all rights to it.

And that's why, for example, the Free Software Foundation successfully
sues people for breaking their usage license. Wait... Didn't they just
relinquish all rights by publishing the program on their website? They
shouldn't be able to impose their rights, because they lost it.

That's not how it works.

Again: It doesn't matter how you get the program. You still need a legal
license to use it (even if it's a license that grants you the permission
to use it completely free of charge.)

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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