Re: A Question of Ethics (was: Overriding Acrobat User Settings)

Subject: Re: A Question of Ethics (was: Overriding Acrobat User Settings)
From: Andrew Plato <intrepid_es -at- yahoo -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2001 22:00:57 -0700 (PDT)

> If anyone knows the answer to how to work around Adobe software
settings,
> whether user-configured or otherwise, be extremely careful not to
broadcast
> it (e.g.: by posting to this list) or even write/talk about it.

I can tell you a big hacker secret right now and I won't go to jail...

Everything is hackable. The key is, does anybody care to hack it.

> It is ethically righteous to defend your copyrights and expect just
returns
> for your efforts and passion. However, when factoring "greed" into this
> precept, we ALL suffer: customers, employees, the companies themselves,
fair
> use, freedom of speech, society in general.

Copyright protection and greed are the same thing.

Company's need money to survive, so they find ways to create goods and
services that are in demand. Then they must defend those hard-earned
developments from competitors, thieves, and loser employees who think its
okay to rip them off. Hence they build security systems (encryptions) to
defend themselves from nasty people.

People (artists, writers, welders, etc.) need money to survive. So they
work hard at producing something of value and selling that to companies.
Then they must defend those hard-earned products from losers and slimy
companies that want to get their work free or for very little money.
Hence they get attorneys and writers' unions to defend them from big nasty
companies.

The point is - you are no different than a company. You're protecting
yourself, they are protecting themselves. Just because they're bigger and
have more resources than you does not mean it is okay to steal their work
or technologies.

This is why I laugh at those that will willfully "borrow" Windows 2000
from a pal, but then rise it anger when some artist has their work stolen.
Its hypocritical. Stealing is stealing is stealing. Just because Microsoft
has 57 billion in the bank does not mean it is some how "more acceptable"
to steal from them versus a starving artist with $57.00 in the bank. It
may FEEL worse - but there is no ethical difference.

Now, most people will acknowledge that a few pirated Windows 2000 disks
are not a big deal. Okay. But, Adobe spent a lot of money to develop their
PDF technologies so they could make money. They didn't make it so you
could raise your children better and the whales would all live longer.
They have a right to defend their technologies.

Now, should a guy who points out a security flaw go to jail - no. That was
a little extreme. But, should Adobe have the right to protect their
investments - YES. And if that means shutting this guy up - then right on.
Free speech does not mean you can steal somebody's or some corporation's
hard work and blab it to the world.

> Professionally, I am "soul searching" and re-evaluating my ethics. This
is
> leading me to seriously consider moving away from the self-proclaimed
> "industry standard" authoring tools developed by these companies, and
using
> HTML and similar technologies (which are truly industry standard) as the
> main document development platform instead. I will start by converting
all
> my MS-Word and PDF files to HTML-based documents.
>
> I can accomplish this using authoring software and shareware (even
freeware)
> from smaller, yet friendlier and more ethical, developers. Inclusively,
> several of these lesser-known tools can allow me to even produce HTML
help,
> multimedia apps, and compiled e-books as executables (.exe). Using my
> ingenuity, I can simplify layouts to even allow documents for print.

Just try to get support on any of those tools when they won't do what you
want. I once needed to troubleshoot and installation of Linux. It took me
6 weeks to track down the information.

Last night we got an error on our Win2k box. It took me 20 minutes to
search Microsoft's web site and find the solution.

This is why "industry" standard tools ARE the industry standard. They
offer more than just functionality. They offer service, support, and
something substantial behind them to continue development. I would not
want to entrust mission critical company issues to some freeware tool a 19
year old nerd from Fork Jabber, MT developed in between games of
Counter-Strike. I think most company execs would agree with that.

> If members of a profession (such as technical communications) decide to
> simply avoid or reject certain tools or practices, by power of the
masses,
> righteousness may prevail.

This is a job not a religion. We're writing docs, not inscribing
commandments. The fact is - these tools are popular because they offer
more.

The open source movement has the same problem that communism has - its a
nice idea that JUST DOES NOT WORK. Both forget one fundamental law of
economics: there is no such thing as a free lunch.

You cannot have a thriving economy when there is no incentive. What is the
incentive behind me developing Linux drivers? So I get my name on a dialog
box somewhere. Whoop de doo. That may be fine when your 16 and live with
mom and dad. But, let's just say I can't pay my mortgage in dialog boxes.

Open source - is great idea, but it needs buy in from the companies that
produce the tools to use it - and those companies need a unique angle to
make their products more in demand than others. There is no money in
giving things away for free. The dot.com bust should be proof enough of
this. "Free" does not equal "good."

I'm sorry folks, but somebody has to make a buck if something is to become
a standard. Nobody and no organization is going to invest a gajillion
dollars into something if there isn't money coming out the other side.
That's capitalism.

So - be righteous. You either play the game, or the game plays you.

Andrew Plato

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