>>I do not suggest that what I occasionally do is legal, but could be compared with speeding on the highway (everyone knows they're breaking the law, but everyone does it) or by taping a song from the radio (the rights about songrights are just the same as for software over here).
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>I am interested in Ed's view (behaviour too) about this...
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>Ed, have you ever driven above the speed limit? Have you ever taped a song from the radio (songs are copyrighted here too Walter)? Have you ever photocopied a page out of a book?

Yes, and I've paid speeding tickets. No, I don't make tapes of things off the radio except as explicitly permitted, or tape baseball games outside of the restrictions placed on them by the owners of Major League baseball, because it's their right to place limits on what you can and can't do. I've made photocopies within the restrictions imposed by the publisher of the material, and if I want to make use of materials from a published work for republication, I request written permission to reproduce the material, and if the author requests payment for reproduction, I either pay for the privilege or don't use the material.

If I use code that I've gotten from other people, I acknowledge their contribution (look at the comments in my CLSHEAP class to see this) and I pay for what I use. I'd be willing to bet dollars to doughnuts I've got more fully registered shareware than most people, and I audit my software registration just as closely at home as we do at work.

It may be that working for a publishing company, where I deal with intellectual property rights day in and day out makes me much more aware of the rights of authors, and just how poorly most people treat other people's intellectual property, whether from ignorance, laziness or greed. I also hold several patents and copyrights, and realize what the holder has to do in order to defend their claim to ownership of intellectual property.

Ignorance and greed don't excuse bad manners or illegal behavior.

I'm curious if you asked out of greed or fear.

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>I am just curious if you are so sensitive to software piracy because you are an extremely moral person, or if it is just because it might affect your livelyhood.
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>Joe