Laws and Knowledge

[Mike]

Originally Posted by mocat1530

Ok, Chris, start with a primer. I did a Google search and checked a wiki page or two and I still don't have a clue. What is a torrent? Are these starting points of online databases? What is its value to you or me? What laws impede their use?

A torrent is a pointer file of sorts that you use to download larger files, such as ebooks, music or movies. They are largely used in the distribution of copyrighted music and other things, which breaks recent laws such as the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998.

As far as I'm concerned the goal of civilization is to... well, help civilization advance. The restriction of information and helpful knowledge impedes this goal, which is a moral crime in and of itself. However, its an endless cycle. A scientist has to pay to get a starting point (whether it be ridiculously overpriced tuition, or reference books, whatever) so he believes it to be correct to charge other people for his findings.

Check this page out, its aimed towards computers but can be applied to other things: http://gradha.sdf-eu.org/textos/hacker_ethic.en.html