By Daniel Quick
October 10th, 1998

note: This is The Column, a part of Apolyton where Markos and Dan write whatever we want . Well, not just Dan and me. The Column is open to everyone. If you feel like writing submit your article to us.

How's that old saying go... "The road of life is paved with doctors and lawyers". Do you agree? What about "The less the world has of lawyers, 'that' much happier we will all be?"

I admit I've cracked a few lawyer jokes in my time but I don't mean anything by them. After all, human nature is to, in one form or another, beat on those who we feel and believe have it made it better in life then us. But take a moment to look at how they got to where they are in the first place! What I'm trying to say is that they spend a lot of years in school (likely raking up huge student loan debts) and write numerous exams to become licensed! But that's only the half of it. True this is a good thing, but after that a lawyer's success depends largely on their knowledge, maturity and people skills.

On the Internet one could say we have a shortage of lawyers (no, I did not just fall off of a turnip truck). Everything is free domain and perhaps SOME regulation could do us some good.

Now don't go labeling me as a communist or anything over such statements; I've for free speech as much as the next guy. But when you take something from someone else you find on the Net that is not intended to be "freely distributed" (I'm excluding free graphics websites, freeware and the like in other words) you should be punished. Even if you are not successful in that effort you should have to deal with a repercussion appropriate to the crime.

You cannot (at least according to law) get away with these acts in the non-cybernated-oriented world --- yes, it's still around! I'll bet most of you don't have the gaul to, for instance, repackage Windows 98 (or 95, or NT, or CE, or whatever) and market it as your own. Too extreme an example? I understand so how about this... would you dare to scan in a photograph or painting clearly marked as belonging to someone other then yourself and go about mass producing and selling it? I think not.

I believe in hearing both sides of the story and I'm sure you do too. What arguments are there "for" these actions? Quite frankly they are numerous but the most convincing of them (for me anyways) is that swiping material that would otherwise be copyrighted, had it not been reproduced in electronic form, is simply giving free promotion for these products? As long as you're not looking to and/or making money from these actions, hmmmmmm.... the jury is still out on that one. All I know for sure is that you should at least ask and if you then get approval from the apparent owner that doing so is OK then don't let me or anyone else stop you. But don't automatically assume what the response will be; avoid complications later and work to stay on the good side of people.

My closing point has to deal with plagiarism. You can infringe on copyrights not only by claiming someone else's product as your own but as well as others' ideas. There's not calling the patent office on this one. Almost no one has ever had an entirely independent idea of their own; we're all influenced by everyone else whether we are aware and accept it or not. So to save yourself from a potentially nasty lawsuit, take the idea(s) in questions and rewrite them into your own words, thoughts and possibly through in an original citation here and there. Don't understand what the writer is trying to say or part of? Maybe it's just as well.

The Information Superhighway is like what the Old West was not so long ago: wild, free and unregulated. I hope I have at least opened your mind to the possibility that some regulation on the Internet is a plausible idea, even if it just has to do with who has the rights to what. We all have to grow up sometime.

The opinions expressed on this page doesnt necessarily express Apolyton CS or GameStats.
It is just the personal opinions of the writer.