...Not the real world example that I was looking for but, admittedly, the hypo works. In fact, the USA Patriot Act might mean the hypo need not reference a "dictatorship." Today, even in a democracy, lawful entry into a "tech-savvy dissident's" home by the government is possible under the circumstances and in the manner as the hypothetical.
-----Original Message----- From: Mahesh T. Pai [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mahesh T. Pai Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2004 2:36 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: the provide, license verbs Sorry for the late reply. Rod Dixon, J.D., LL.M. said on Wed, Jun 09, 2004 at 06:09:00PM -0400,: > private and personal use. Who would bring such a lawsuit, and how > would the suit get past a motion to dismiss? How about a dictatorship? Consider a tech-savvy dissident, who modified his legally acquired copy of software. The typical, contractual, acceptance-required _license_ does not allow him to do that though. The dictatorship raids the dissident's den, finds nothing incriminating; his hard disk is clean ... except for this modification prevented by the EULA. The Dictator can hand over the dissident to the BSA (or its equivalent), who will initiate proceedings for infringement of copyright. > Rod > >> Do you say the law prevents me from taking a legal copy of a copyrighted > >> work, which is a program, and privately modifying that program for my > own use? > > > >John Cowan says yes: > > http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/modifications > >Dan Bernstein says no: > > http://cr.yp.to/softwarelaw.html -- Mahesh T. Pai <<>> http://paivakil.port5.com Distribute Free Software -- Help stamp out Software Hoarding! -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3 -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3