On Jan 22, 3:00=A0pm, David Schmenk  wrote:

> How this could one day cover abandon-ware or as Bill B. brings up the
> fair use argument, I dunno. =A0Emulators muddy up the idea of "necessary
> device". =A0As you point out, there seems to be some grey area in the
> interpretation of copyright law. =A0IANAL, but this is an interesting
> topic for us retro-computer "researchers and archivists" :-)

Indeed. Unfortunately "information age" technology raises so many
questions and challenges for the existing legal frameworks that we've
tended to wing-clip newer technologies in order to make them fit with
"old world" models, where information was more or less tied to it's
medium. It raises a lot of ethical dilemmas for both the public and
private spheres that will be extremely difficult to solve.

The problems aren't just tied to electronics and computers either; GMO
for instance brings serious IP issues to the food chain!

Matt
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