Going to jail for crimes in other countries

[Griffin 2]

Originally Posted by MathGuy

Well, I'll say that the difference is intent. VCRs/Tape Recorders are commercial products with real purposes that can also be used for illicit purposes.

Not that I give the "intent" argument much merit, but the intent cited in the quote from glenn seemed legitimate enough.

[MountainHawk]

Glenn,

I'm certainly not trying to make you look like an 'everything is free' hacker. I just don't understand your point of view. It seems pretty clear to me that designing and distributing a decryption program to subvert copyright protections without the prior authorization of the company in question should be illegal. If it was a hobby for personal use only, that's one thing (Assuming you legally purchase the copy of the software first.) Distributing it is something else entirely.

Well, I disagree.

I have a CD burner. I use it to backup my accounting data.
You have a CD burner. You make copies of Windows and give them out.
I am fully within my rights. You are wrong. In neither case is the CD burner manufacturer at fault for either of our actions including the programmer who wrote the code burned into the eprom that decodes the data on the CD.
I write a program to move the ebook over to my linux machine. Same thing - now I'm a criminal? I don't believe that breaking a private manufacturers personal protection scheme in order to perform perfectly legal actions is wrong.

That's one issue. The second issue is why wasn't this left to the Russian authorities? Wouldn't that make sense - particularly if it was illegal where he actually wrote the program? Oh, Oh. I know! Pick me! Pick Me! Because Adobe (a corporation) decided they didn't like it and effectively drove the arrest. That's part of the reason why some people are concerned about this.

(personally, I do agree that the company and the programmer probably had every intention on using the software illegally. I also think given the circumstances, the programmer wasn't the brightest person in entering a foreign country given his background. Would you go to Russia if your business was cracking information from a large Russion corporation? The difference is that the U.S. isn't supposed to operate that way.)

[quote="MountainHawk"]I'm certainly not trying to make you look like an 'everything is free' hacker. [ /quote]
S'okay. It's balanced by the opinion of geeks I know who think I'm some sort of corporate-commercial suit who doesn't understand that information and programs should be free.

[TwistedMentat]

Should we arrest all the employees of companies that manufacture copy machines? They certainly make it possible to steal intellectual property in paper books?

[MountainHawk]

Copy machines and CD burners have legitimate purposes when they are distributed. This person did not.

[Mulan]

Originally Posted by MountainHawk

Copy machines and CD burners have legitimate purposes when they are distributed. This person did not.

Backing up e-books could be a legitimate purpose.

[Griffin 2]

Originally Posted by MountainHawk

Copy machines and CD burners have legitimate purposes when they are distributed. This person did not.

glenn has already given several legitimate reasons that seem reasonable.

[Mulan]

oh my Gosh!! Do Griffin and I agree again???.... :o :o :o Quick TDA, pass me that drink!

[Griffin 2]

But none for me, thanks.