Re: Class, Internet, and the Industrial System

[Michael Hoover <hoov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> >     While the hardware is easily assimilated into the rules
> > of bourgeois property, the software is much less so. However, the social
>
> >>1) software is covered by bourgeois property rules -- its just that some
> >>consumers and *many* businesses choose to break those laws (more power
>
>       1) Software is covered by property rules, however they are
> much more difficult to enforce because the enforcement mechanisms were
> not designed for this type of commodity. Also there is much less

A friend of mine who is the outgoing faculty senate president at the
community college I teach at in Central Florida told me about a recent
dean's council meeting he sat in on...seems that administrators
received a letter from a software company reminding them about
copyrights and licensing fees for software...included was a videotape
"reenactment" of an employee in some office being led away from his
desk by the "authorities" while his co-workers expressed astonishment
at what he had been doing - using pirated software...the letter claimed
that a number of companies and institutions in the US have already been
caught (have no idea if this is true)...in any event, a proposal to
establish "computer police" on campus was submitted...if approved,
all personal computers will be checked for unlicensed software (without
prior notice, obviously)... culprits will have their personnel files
flagged resulting in a follow-up check and an official reprimand ("this
will go on your permanent record") if caught again...a third offense
and the college will initiate proceedings to fire the employee...the
proposal appears to be in response to a suggestion in the letter
about self-policing of such matters as a way to avoid future
litigation...the company may be bluffing to some extent and is hoping
it can intimidate smaller companies and institutions into compliance...
on the other hand...Michael


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