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- Newsgroups: comp.org.eff.talk
- Path: sparky!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!news.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!tai50080
- From: tinsel@uiuc.edu (Thomas Aaron Insel)
- Subject: Re: Licencing of computer professionals
- References: <10.2b2df9a6@ivgate>
- Message-ID: <BzC00v.GEv@news.cso.uiuc.edu>
- Originator: tai50080@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
- Sender: usenet@news.cso.uiuc.edu (Net Noise owner)
- Reply-To: tinsel@uiuc.edu
- Organization: Masticating Illini
- Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 02:53:18 GMT
- Lines: 34
-
- Jim.Riddle@inns.omahug.org (Jim Riddle) writes:
-
- >[I write:]
- > >Dare I ask, how would any of this be enforced. Also, especially since
- > >copyright for computer programs currently falls under the same category
- > >as copyright for novels, does anyone see any free-speech problem with
- > >licensing programmers?
-
- > How any of this is enforced would be that if you _do_ work for someone
- > else and it fails, then your failure to be registered would be
- > prima-facie evidence of incompetence and, of itself in most instances, a
- > crime, so your customer would not only have an open-and-shut lawsuit but
- > the opportunity to have criminal charges against you.
-
- #include <stdio.h>
- main() {
- printf("Hello, ma.\n");
- }
-
- Since I'm not a licensed practical engineer, you're saying it would
- (hypothetically, of course) be illegal for me to sell this computer
- program to anyone. Since the law doesn't make much of a distinction
- between forms of software, it would be equally illegal for me to sell
- the object code on a disk for the purchaser to compile and run. Of
- course, it would be equally illegal for me to sell a printout of the
- program. And, there's certainly no legal difference between a printed
- and a handwritten copy of something. In summary, it would be illegal
- for me to write the above words and symbols on a notecard and exchange
- it for money.
-
- Now, tell me this isn't different than plumbing.
- --
- Thomas Insel (tinsel@uiuc.edu)
- "Familiarity breeds contempt--and children." -- Mark Twain
-