2008/1/5, Paul Greidanus :

quoted text
> Richard Stallman wrote:

> >       If something is harder to copy, it is ethically ok to have a different

> >       standard for this piece of technology.

> >

> >     Seriously, that's what you're saying above.  Because hardware may have

> >     to be copied by hand, you consider them ethically not the same.

> >

> > Yes, that's my position, for 20 years or more.  I think that's the

> > right place to make the distinction: between "you can copy it

> > yourself" and "somebody can build more of them".

> >

> I'm reading this right, the decision as to if something is right and wrong,

> ethical and non-ethical, is a function of how easy it is?

>

From the looks of it, it is how cheap and easy something can be done.
Remember that copying software is not free, even if you don't pay for

the software itself. You still need some medium such a CD or hard disk

which you have to pay for, and the electricity for doing the actual

copying of the bits of data, it is just really cheap to do so.
From the look of Stallman's message, it seems as if he thinks copying

software is totally free, which in reality it costs a bit more than

just plain free.
In the case of hardware, it would mean it is too expensive to copy...

which it could be... so does that mean freedom to copy something

became irrelevant as the cost of copying becomes relatively expensive?
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