[takes of moderator jacket]
Gossywhite, why don't you just shut up ! you know damn well that the word piracy is used today in the context of theft of intellectual property. In this particular case of reselling free datasheets maybe it's not the usualy used word (although in my mind amounts to the same) but the word pirate has more than one meaning and it taken in context.
[puts moderator jacket back on]
How is is that any thread you take active part in ends up in an argument ? Everyone is entitled to a point of view !
LOL!
I hadn't realised that correcting the misuse of phrases was "causing an argument"? You can get as hot and bothered as you like (not my intention) but that doesn't negate the fact that a "pirate" is as far from software or computing as earth is from Pluto.
Everyone is entitled to a point of view? Well you're contradicting yourself, in that case. I am providing an intelligent and informed opinion - one from someone who is massively respected in the GNU/Linux community, and who has been using GNU/Linux of every shape/variety and distro you could hope to imagine, for more than six years FULL TIME. I have watched more lectures from Richard Stallman than I think there are episodes of "Friends", and I am sorry but "piracy" is just THE most ridiculously placed and inaccurate phrase possible!
People who work with free software are often the ones who live with and hear this kind of conversation
daily, and take part in worldwide discussions of such nature. No offence, but I feel I am a
little more clued up than a few electronics engineers discussing the selling of data sheets. THINK about the word - it is just laughable, and bears no relevance to the practice to which it attempts to refer:
Please read this - all of it:
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#PiracyNo offence, but EEVblog is a
tiny little forum, amidst the ocean of the internet, and I have many years of Linux community experience on my side. I have been a member of many free software & GNU/Linux forums for many, many years - forums comprising many millions of people who collectively express a passionate and active interest in free software and all related topics. I have watched more content on the subject of "piracy" and copyright/copyleft, the GNU GPL and the suchlike, than I can even start to try and remember.
My point is just this - please do not dismiss my comments - it IS a stupid word - do some research
Thank you.