Thomas Bushnell, BSG <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > (1) The idea that compiling and linking a program is not restricted by > > copyright; you don't need special permission to compile and link a > > program once you have obtained a copy of it. > > But this is a confusion. In one sense it's true, but in another sense > it's false. > > One might also say that compiling and linking a program is not > restricted by the murder statute. But it might well be that those are > steps in causing some machine to kill a person, and in that case, > compiling and linking would be a murderous act.
It would be part of a murderous act. > In the instant case, compiling and linking is not specifically > prohibited by the copyright statute, but that doesn't mean that you > can ignore the fact that they are going on. They might well be part > of a larger more complicated activity, which *is* an act of illegal > copying. Yes. I might be compiling and linking the "cp" program, which I then use to copy a different program onto a floppy, which I then give to a friend. However, I don't think this is very relevant to the point I was making. Edmund
