Being an educator myself (though not a college professor and in potential position of authorship) I can understand your dilemma. What he did was legally a no-no. If you're a professional, you simply don't do things like this, it's not an option. But you mention ethics. As strictly defined, your professor did wrong. However, if I were a student in his class, I would welcome the gift as one from a professor who understands the cost of such materials and the budget of a student. And unfortunately, there is the impossibility of mentioning ethics without considering some philosophical elements. Given much of the attitude behind capitalist thought and "free" enterprise stems directly from Machiavelli, I fail to see any contradiction in taking pirated software and turning around and demanding copyright protection on your own work...I hope this isn't Microsoft software. Gosh, I'd hate to steal from them. For goodness sakes, AG Bell got the patent simply because he lived closer to the office. Laws and code of conduct are only as valid as the level to which they protect. The logic of this is one sided and fails to address any externalities of potential behavior the protection could allow. In conclusion, "Screw the man and protect yer own!" But keep a good eye out. Damn, I'm becoming a libertarian...time to join a militia. ===== "The optimist believes this is the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears it's true" - J Robert Oppenheimer http://www.geocities.com/tr_cunningham __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/
