Software Sharing

[Nathan H]

Can anyone confirm or correct me.

Am I correct in thinking that, it would be legal to have an unoffical copy of an O/S say windows Xp for example; as long as I use it for reinsatlling on pc's that have a valid licence key and I use an origanal key? :confused:

The idea behind it all is this.

If the above is correct then wouldn't it be great if we could upload some of our software collection and allow others to access it. As i'm sure many members will agree it takes some time to aquire a good collection and we have all been in the start up role before we can all appreciate who tight cash flow is in the initial set up phase. thought it would be helpful to others if this were possible.:rolleyes:

please post your thoughts.

Nathan

[Simmy]

I was under the impression it was illegal to have an unofficial backup copy of any software without owning an original copy.

Having a software collection would be great, but where would it be hosted and who would pay for the bandwidth? IMO, you're best off using torrents if you want to build up a nice collection.

[seedubya]

When I was in Computer Troubleshooters, the forums were private and we uploaded ISO's for one another all the time on the understanding that they were only to be used in cases where the legal key was available but the media was missing or damaged. Also were not to be shared outside the franchise. MS told us (OTR) at one of our conferences was that it was strictly speaking breach of copyright but they ignored professionals doing stuff like this as it greased the gears so-to-speak and kept the end users sweet not having to buy a new licence just to get media. From a space/bandwidth point of view we had about a terabyte!! of ISO's stored. Almost every variation on windows since 95a, even floppy images for DOS and Windows 3.1 and WFWG... and for most OEM's. Don't think that's really realistic for a forum like this

[hawks5999]

seedubya makes the point well... no it is not legal and no Microsoft and the BSA are not going to come after you for using your own ISO in that way. You take on more risk when you "make available" your "unofficial" copy of windows, but the risk is low. It would look like this: Somebody gets pissed off at the forum and sends a tip to Microsoft or the BSA. It's investigated and found to be accurate. A friendly email is sent saying, "no, no. you can't do that". forum owner takes down offending material. OR forum owners ignores friendly email and gets an official cease and desist from Perkins Coie or any number of Microsoft's law firms. forum owner takes down offending material. OR forum owner ignores offending material and the host/ISP gets the cease and desist and the forum goes away.
Nobody's doing jail time for this if that's your thought, but it's probably not going to be encouraged here.

[Nathan H]

Guys I think this topic has slightly missed the mark on what i was saying.

I have a large collection of software, which on paper is worth quite a bit, they are mostly origanal either retail or oem and a few that i have slipstreamed.

what i was thinking is if we hosted them on a site like http://rapidshare.com or http://www.megaupload.com prefering the latter.

This way we could have a requests section and just either post the links of send them via a P.M.

Having taken on board what has been posted do far

IMO. This would limit any exposure or suspected illegal activity from the site, do you agree?

Nathan H

[seedubya]

Seems like a good idea. However there'd have to be criteria for allowing access to the RS account, something like 20 highly relevant posts or a certain reputation count. Some method of weeding out the opportunistic downloading of the iso's. I'd be quite willing to post a list of stuff I have and if someone were to collate the lists from each member willing to contribute we could build up quite a collection.
@ Bryce - perhaps this would be something you could handle as part of a premium membership or something like that?

[Crgky127]

If Bryce doesn't want it linked to the site just do it by email. Anyone that is interested can PM for an email addy. They send an email there, you add them to a list of contacts, and then send everyone on the list a new list. People can then send a bulk email with which ISOs they have, and interested parties can contact them. Transfers can be done by FTP as to not bog down a single server. This kind of arrangement isn't ideal for large groups of people, but this isn't a large group of people.

[Nathan H]

Crgky127 hit it on the head

this way the site would have total deniability.

But I like the idea's keep them coming and we will see if we can turn them into reality.

[geekhelp4u]

you can count me in on this idea! Is there anyway to set up the new Vuze client where you can add your friends and only allow them access to these files... maybe some way of setting up a private torrent site?

Maybe through an online storage like aDrive that offers 50GB of free space? Rar our files and name them something like file 1, file 2... and post a list of what the files are actually.. like file 1 = Dell XP Pro OEM w/ SP3...

[NYJimbo]

This is brilliant, but it would have to be well planned. No kiddies, no warez, trusted user uploads only, some kind of strict control on who can use it and no paper trail.

I know this is not for really "stealing" software but someone is bound to see it that way and try to shut it down.

If a startup fee is involved I would be happy to fork over some dough.

[seedubya]

If a startup fee is involved I would be happy to fork over some dough.

Same here.

[JohnG]

I think geekhelp4u has got it right...only thing I would add is using the encryption option.

[Crgky127]

Any site or service used would have to be carefully chosen. I would assume that most (if not all) have some clause in their agreement about this. Or something close enough to this that some idiot would think that it's under that category and shut it down.

[i2omani]

I am up for it :D

Just a thought , we can setup linux boxes or those who already have linux. Then using Putty or similar product to access those boxes. " I prefer to use SSH, more safer than FTP".
then each of use can submit a list of the files they have hosted and if someone is interested can pm and request an account!!

[acs]

I suspect bandwidth might be an issue.

[hawks5999]

What you guys are talking about doing pretty much already exists - google Hiren's boot cd

Also, what you are talking about is moving more and more towards what would more readily be considered illegal - i.e. paying. Even if it's to cover "startup costs" if any money changes hands at all, you are conducting a commercial transaction. If you are conducting a commercial transaction on the basis of granting access to software that someone else isn't licensed to use, you are open in the US of being indicted under the Induce Act. The fact that you have talked about doing so or encouraged others to do so in a public arena (this message board) could make you liable already - no joke, ask your lawyer or your company's lawyer (you do have a lawyer since you are conducting business right?).
If you are willing to risk your company and personal assets by continuing this conversation in a forum that is indexed by Google and fully searchable, then by all means, ignore or ridicule me. If, however, you are serious about conducting a business and therefore limiting needless risk exposure then you should really consider ceasing this conversation.

Fun reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inducing_Infringement_of_Copyrights_Act

[seedubya]

Fair points for all the US users Hawks. For those of us in IE there would need to be two criteria to be prosecuteable 1.) intention to defraud the copyright holder 2.)profiteering
Under Irish law, thankfully, backup copies of software are not illegal, nor as far as I can tell (since it has not been tested in court) is sharing such a copy with an existing licence holder.

However, most of the users on the forum are US and under those conditons it probably makes more sense to close this discussion and delete the thread.

[Nathan H]

Thanks for the Insite Hawks

Not being from the US, this thought had not crossed my mind.

Inlite of this further development.

I think may be better if we close this thread on this open forum.

Anymore suggestions please PM me though....

[darren1270]

This is a very interesting concept. I would definatley be up for it. I have a few OEM's I could donate to the project.

[Don]

If you're going through all that trouble, why not call the manufacturers and get the OEM software legally. I asked Dell to send me XP and Vista OEMs and they did for free, no shipping charges. HP is more difficult but if you're a business owner, do it right, why risk it over file sharing?
Not trying to say I think Microsoft/Manufacturers are right but if you're in the business why not do it professionally? Sounds like a lot of risk for a small return and all it would take is 1 loose end to screw you.

Maybe we could all sign a class action suit against the Manufacturers for not providing the software with the computers to begin with?

[K007]

This is brilliant, but it would have to be well planned. No kiddies, no warez, trusted user uploads only, some kind of strict control on who can use it and no paper trail.

I know this is not for really "stealing" software but someone is bound to see it that way and try to shut it down.

If a startup fee is involved I would be happy to fork over some dough.

Just an Idea...
Trusted members should be the ones who can be verified by phone.
Count me out of this one, I preffer to remain "incognito".

[l337]

id be up for this but i dont know how far is needed to get trusted but we could surely build a decent network. but legality is gunna be one thing i guess lol