OK, I'll bite > Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 10:28:58 -0600 > From: Sam MacDonald <smac at visi.com> > If the copy write says they should not reverse engineer the > game or change it in any way, explain to me why the company > in question should not stand up for their rights? Copyright law says no one can distribute something without the permission of the copyright owner, basically. Licensing terms restrict what one can do with software. For example, if I buy a book, I can make a photocopy of small sections for review, or large sections for my own use, or sell or lend the book to someone else. It's called fair use. If I buy software, most of the time I have to agree to an onerous license agreement that says I can't even look under the hood to see what the software is doing on *MY* computer. Some licenses even restrict my from selling the software when I get tired of it. Or if I get tired of the software publisher from calling its customers thieves. Don't get me wrong. I think it's just fine for any entity to sell their product as they see fit. I'm just really glad there's an alternative to most of the hand-tying linceses out there. > Doom, Quake, Call of Duty, and others have many mods for the > original games, but the people who make the games said making > the mods is cool. Some say copyright law says it's cool to mod the games you buy. I suppose we should not be allowed to record TV shows and edit out the commercials too. I'd bet most studios don't like that I can legally do that... for now. > Yes contribute to EFF, yes stand up for what we believe in, > but we must let others do the same no mater what we think. I agree with you 100% Sam, on both counts. I hope you'll agree that it's important to have sane laws too. Like ones that say that I can make a backup of the SpongeBob DVD I bought (not really) so I don't have to take the original into the minivan (that I don't own) so the kids (that I don't have) can scratch it up and I have to buy another one. Chris (wearing my EFF member t-shirt right now)