I noticed in a thread earlier that someone would not help install software the user may have not had the legal key for. Why do we not support that but we support for example "unrestricted-extras" which is equally as "illegal"?

Without knowing what you are referring to, it's hard to give much of an answer.

First, if someone has a pirated copy of proprietary, paid SW, then--yes--LQ will not help with the illegal use of that.

With respect to "unrestricted extras", the only thing I can find on Google does not sound illegal.


So.....give us some clues as to what the issue is.

We only aid in stealing the work of people who's work deserves to be stolen.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in LQ Suggestions and Feedback and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

We don't want to be the 'go to guys' for people to ask about cracking Windows or other proprietary software. WRT codecs, as an example, they are a part of Linux distros and have been for some time, so we are advising people on making software work as designed. A fine line indeed, but we don't cross it.

I don't think I've ever seen illegal activities promoted or supported on these forums, and I don't think they are permitted either. It's hard to speak concrete facts when the thread owner didn't even bother to post a link so we can know what he's speaking about.

Mind that the nature of the work or its creator has nothing to do with the legality of an act against it, and that statement is completely out of place. You are not the one to decide when the law has to be applied and when you are free to break it to your own convenience. Murdering a killer might seem just to your eyes (or not, I am just putting an example, and that "you" is generic and not aimed at anyone), but that doesn't make it legal, and we are talking about legality/law, not justice.

I don't help stealing anything and I am sure that most users on this forum behave the same way, and believe it or not, most Linux users I know are not interested in illegal activities, and that includes piracy and breaking contracts/licenses.

You already have a lot of forums on the net for w4r3z and piracy, their life is usually short. We want a long living Linux forum, and we don't want it to be tainted or compromised by attitudes like this that you describe, we certainly don't want to attract the lawyers of the big enterprises here.

When people around the net read comments like yours is when the worst stereotypes about Linux users grow, giving the Open Source detractors yet another base and reason to fight against us.

It's correct that we in no way will support illegal piracy. Can you clarify what you mean by "equally illegal unrestricted-extras"? If you're referring to the codecs and proprietary drivers in the unrestricted Ubuntu repo's, those are not illegal.

That's unequivocally untrue - we don't support any theft of work.

--jeremy

There is one example from the dx9.0c package. I have seen many references to taking one dll or more from that package and putting it in wine.

I have also seen many references to taking system32 files and using them. Again against the EULA of the software.

DVD's are illegal to play in almost every linux distro, I found one that supports legal dvd... http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog..._complian.html

I do not pirate anything and do not assist in it.
Ok, i have done this a boatload of times but i dont bring it to the forum.
@the OP
could you clarify on illegal unrestricted-extras?

DVDs though are legal in Europe - the case was taken to court and libdvdcss was found to be fine because it allows people to play the DVDs that they have purchased. Unfortunately, the US courts like to believe that Sony, Microsoft, et al should have a say in how you use your legal products.

That is not equally as illegal as pirating M$ windows, if you already own windows then its fine to do.
It is absolutly impossable to follow the M$ eula : http://www.arachnoid.com/boycott/index.html
prove it...

Using your logic it is legal for me to pirate WoW in China according to their laws, so it should be open game here also.

Its against the EULA and they aren't open source files, so it is still illegal. Marijuana is less illegal than crack, try telling a cop who just busted you for pot "It's less illegal than crack."

Prove that it is illegal for me to download world of warcraft and connect to a non blizzard server.

We should always follow the laws of the countries we are in. Therefore, in the UK it is legal for me to watch DVDs under Linux. In the US it appears not to be. If there was a legal precedent for a person in China to use WoW on a non-Blizzard server, then that would be fine in that country.

may i make a sugjestion that this thread should be locked?

How is that illegal? They are being used 'as-is', not reverse-engineered, decompiled, etc. And yet, even the EULA entry you posted provides for that: