Lee wrote:

>This time, it's intellectual property they're stealing, a little like
>unauthorized use of articles by Asian publishers.  I used to think this was
>wrong, but I have been educated by those that know more about the culture
>then I do.  I wonder how something the rest of the world thinks is illegal
>and even wrong, got so deeply rooted.  Probably starving children and poor
>people again.  Couldn't be because the laws weren't enforced.

I see you are keeping up your fine tradition of mouthing off without
researching first. I've done some for you:

- According to the Business Software Alliance, the software piracy rate in
the US as a whole currently stands at 22.8%, resulting in what the BSA
estimates is a loss of $ 6,188,999,000 per year to the industry. Florida,
incidentally, which I understand to be home to some of the finest law
enforcers in the land, beats the national average handily, with a whole
30.1%. The full study, including state-by-state figures, can be downloaded
from http://global.bsa.org/statestudy/

- FindLaw.com, when searched for the keywords "intellectual property"
returns 99,900 sites in the US. I wonder if all these lawyers are working on
China, or whether IP violations might also be a small issue in the US ?

- According to USA Today, 61 million Americans regularly engage in P2P
downloading, with only 9% thinking they are doing anything wrong. Read the
full article at
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2003-03-28-downloads_x.htm

- Staying with that topic a little while longer, on April 28th this year,
one Lee Bell wrote to this list (in response to an e-mail from me), "Don't I
just know it.  I'll try the KAZAa Lite for that reason.  Gator, now known as
Gain, isn't quite as bad as it seemed at first.  I've found that if I let it
load a few screens and leave them open in background, it stops.. so far.
Once it stops, it's a non issue until I exit Grokster."

- One hopes that Mr. Bell was only trying out these P2P services in the line
of duty, and not in any way to circumvent the copyright laws of his country.

- But one doesn't think so, because in other posts in the thread (all of
which can be seen at
[log in to unmask]&a=&b=" target="_blank">http://raven.utc.edu/cgi-bin/WA.EXE?S2=scuba-se&q=&s=outlook&[log in to unmask]&a=&b= )
, Mr. Bell confessed that the problem was on "one of the machines used to
access my private e-mail" (which one hopes he doesn't do on government
property), and also confessed to violating his employer's rules on loading
outside software.

- By an amazing coincidence, someone using the same name and the same e-mail
address as the Mr. Bell above has lately been observed spending considerable
time hectoring others over the difference between right and wrong, the
importance of enforcement, and of being a role model.

- Hence the last link: www.kohlsaat.com/swill/footmouth.htm

And just to make sure this doesn't deteriorate into another slugfest:

1) I, too, live in a glass house, but I am not dumb enough to throw stones
2) There are two words that accurately summarize the behavior exhibited by
you here, Lee: "Hypocrite" and "Bigot".
3) The above is so conclusive that I have nothing more to say in this
thread, to you or anyone else.

Bjorn