I can't really see how this is useful as if you can read it you can copy it and then forward it.
I was going to respond with the following,
"Yes, you certainly can, but as soon as you do, you are cannon fodder. Copyright legislation in many countries will see this as circumventing copy protection devices which can land you in gaol. Sometimes the weakest attempts at security can be just as effective if backed up by law.",
but I then had a thought. Needless to say, IANAL but copyright laws (at least in Australia) only protect "documents" against the circumvention of copy protection devices, if they are computer programs. The breach of copyright is then awarded to the owner of the program.
The email, however, is a document that is clearly not a computer program and what's more, the owner of that copyright is not the owner of the program that does the jiggery pokery (i.e. Microsoft).
Hence, by copying the mail item and forwarding it, you have still breached copyright, but your accountability will have nothing to do with taking on M$. I am sure that if there were a case of such copyright infringment, particularly if the hype was big enough, M$ would bring cash to fund the success of the copyright owner.
Having said that, copyright is still (mostly) a good thing. It's just that Bill has found a way to turn it around to retain market share - damn our thoughtcrime!
For those that don't want to follow the link, given that subsections 1 and 2 outline the legal reasons for making back-ups, subsection 4 reads,
(4) Subsections (1) and (2) do not apply to the making of a reproduction of a
computer program:
{snip!}
(b) if the owner of the copyright in the computer program has so designed the program that copies of it cannot be made without modifying the program; or
I can imagine then, that any type of hidden data on a CD could be deemed as part of the program, thereby making a copy without it is illegal - even if it were for back-up purposes! This is because making back-up copies is explicity excluded [see subsection 3(a)(v)] from the fair-use of circumvention devices.
In general, I am all for copyright - but certainly not when it is illegal to make a backup copy!
Newsflash: Microsoft have started litigation against the owner of the popular 'Slashdot' website for breaching copyright by publishing an illegal copy of one of their error messages.
Stop Press: Litigation against Slashdot has been suspended amid claims from SCO president, Darl McBride, that the aforementioned error message was illegally derived from the Unix source code.
I'm not a lawyer but maybe this kind of tack would work...
Population of Michigan ~ 10,000,000 (Estimate from here)
Population of the World ~ 6,250,000,000 (Estimate from here)
Now provided that spam has a regular distribution, that means that one in every 625 spam emails will be sent to a Michigan resident. Given that spam is sent to thousands of addresses each day, there is a reasonable expectation that at least one of the recipients is from Michigan.
Due to the very nature of spam, it would be easier for the spammers to comply overall rather than to make efforts to determine the real destination of each message.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't really see how this is useful as if you can read it you can copy it and then forward it.
I was going to respond with the following,
but I then had a thought. Needless to say, IANAL but copyright laws (at least in Australia) only protect "documents" against the circumvention of copy protection devices, if they are computer programs. The breach of copyright is then awarded to the owner of the program.
The email, however, is a document that is clearly not a computer program and what's more, the owner of that copyright is not the owner of the program that does the jiggery pokery (i.e. Microsoft).
Hence, by copying the mail item and forwarding it, you have still breached copyright, but your accountability will have nothing to do with taking on M$. I am sure that if there were a case of such copyright infringment, particularly if the hype was big enough, M$ would bring cash to fund the success of the copyright owner.
Having said that, copyright is still (mostly) a good thing. It's just that Bill has found a way to turn it around to retain market share - damn our thoughtcrime!
If it were joystick envy they would all be stuck back in time playing The Games: Summer Edition.
I know for sure that game prepared me for my current sex life!
the copyright holder makes an attempt to protect it.
IANAL but the current ruling, in conjunction with this little beauty from Section 47C of the Copyright Act.
For those that don't want to follow the link, given that subsections 1 and 2 outline the legal reasons for making back-ups, subsection 4 reads,
I can imagine then, that any type of hidden data on a CD could be deemed as part of the program, thereby making a copy without it is illegal - even if it were for back-up purposes! This is because making back-up copies is explicity excluded [see subsection 3(a)(v)] from the fair-use of circumvention devices.
In general, I am all for copyright - but certainly not when it is illegal to make a backup copy!
Newsflash: Microsoft have started litigation against the owner of the popular 'Slashdot' website for breaching copyright by publishing an illegal copy of one of their error messages.
Stop Press: Litigation against Slashdot has been suspended amid claims from SCO president, Darl McBride, that the aforementioned error message was illegally derived from the Unix source code.
I'm not a lawyer but maybe this kind of tack would work...
Population of Michigan ~ 10,000,000 (Estimate from here)
Population of the World ~ 6,250,000,000 (Estimate from here)
Now provided that spam has a regular distribution, that means that one in every 625 spam emails will be sent to a Michigan resident. Given that spam is sent to thousands of addresses each day, there is a reasonable expectation that at least one of the recipients is from Michigan.
Due to the very nature of spam, it would be easier for the spammers to comply overall rather than to make efforts to determine the real destination of each message.