Hyman Rosen <[email protected]> writes: > David Kastrup wrote: >> I can't put instructions for dynamic linking into a program and >> blame the dynamic linker or the person running the program according >> to instructions for the created in-memory copy. > > There is no blame or illegal act involved. Those dynamic libraries > are already legally present on that person's computer. Their license, > if they are under the GPL, permits them to be executed without any > restrictions or requirements. US copyright law also allows copies of > them to be made on the machine if the making of those copies is > essential to running them. > > So most certainly, you can put instructions for dynamic linking > into a program and incur no penalty or requirements for such an > act. The actions of a computer program do not in any way affect > the copyrights on that program. The program does not carry out > any illegal or unauthorized actions when executed.
Sigh. A program is not a legally responsible entity. The responsible party is the _writer_ of the program. I can't push away the responsibility about what a program of mine does to somebody else. Computer viruses are _exclusively_ executed by people different from the virus author, on thousands of computers. Does it make _them_ reponsible for what their computers do? Does it make the infected _programs_ responsible? Does it make the _computers_ responsible? Does it make the _virus_ responsible? No, the responsible party is the virus _author_. What happens is a consequence of what _he_ did and intended. -- David Kastrup _______________________________________________ gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
