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Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

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Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#211

Post by braveo »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #190
braveo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, so let me get this straight. Your reasoning for that is "it degrades property rights", but you're for publicly releasing Blizzards property for "the good of the many"? You want the source to be available and you're trying to back into it with some sort of moralistic argument instead of just admitting that you want the work to be available but have no real basis for it outside of personal preference. Because tha…

If you look at the other posts I made, it should be more clear. There are different kinds of property rights. The property rights for the money you have in your bank account are important. (But if we wanted to add a rule-based tax across everyone that would be okay.) The intellectual property rights for recently-made things are important. The intellectual property rights for 20 year old code are not at all important.…

and the property rights to my house are unimportant because the house is 20+ years old.

oh wait.... something is wrong with that thought process, but I'll let you split another hair in your attempt at a meaningful dichotomy.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#212

Post by corobo »

jpgvm wrote: post #57
jakebasile wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But in this case, that's Blizzard's right. They own it whether you like it or not. Just because something is important doesn't mean they should lose property rights to it. Abandonware is a thing and I remember there being some legal headway made recently in that respect, but Starcraft isn't abandoned. They just released a compatibility patch and made it free to download.

I'm not talking about distribution, merely archiving. I don't think it's reasonable to argue against archiving when it clearly has cultural significance.

There's absolutely no chance in hell the dude saying he sent a copy to archive.org would have stopped those reddit threads from foaming at the mouth. People want the code, not the archive.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#213

Post by crimsoneer »

seanp2k2 wrote: post #146
test1235 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd still get in trouble for making that copy and distributing it.

you're not distributing it and I'd trust the people at the Internet Archive to keep it anonymous and Do the Right Thing.

Yes, and when Blizzard notice that exact same source code you have conveniently appeared on the internet a few months later from an anonymous source, I'm confident they won't inform the police and sue me to fuck.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#214

Post by crimsoneer »

croon wrote: post #192
eridius wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually probably completely wrong. Just because the guy got it off of eBay doesn't mean it's not actually property of Blizzard. That's like saying that just because you bought a stolen phone from some guy in an alley, the rightful owner can't demand it back.

That's a bad comparison. A stolen phone is 1) Likely reported stolen. 2) A finite resource. This is a printed CD-R that Blizzard likely didn't know existed.

It really doesn't matter. If they go to the police and say "we believe that to be stolen property, he's refusing to give it back", they're going to come and this whole argument will be rather specious.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#215

Post by jhasse »

emn13 wrote: post #84
huehehue wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not too sure about "no commercial value" considering the impending release of StarCraft: Remastered

Correct: the right to distribute a game with that branding and those mechanics is valuable if you have the means (such as any copy of the source) to do so. The source by itself is hardly (monetarily) valuable, pretty much to anybody. Blizzard clearly still has other copies, and anybody else wouldn't be able to do much of anything commercially with the code. It's quite possible somebody has even already reverse engine…

> It's quite possible somebody has even already reverse engineered much of it, rendering it even less valuable by itself, even to copy-cats.

Starcraft reverse engineered to run on ARM: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7372414

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#216

Post by jhasse »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #114
scrollaway wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I apply the golden rule: if someone found the code I wrote for a groundbreaking piece of software, and I didn't want to open source it, I'd really like for them to respect my wishes and return it. Is that really the golden rule? What about "the good of the many"? Returning it to Blizzard directly is good for Blizzard . Returning your code is good for you . Realistically, it has little monetary value (all the "value…

> What about "the good of the many"? That's like saying that robbing Bill Gates and distributing the money to millions of poor people is morally good because it's good for many people.

Well taxes and social welfare are distributing the money of the rich to millions of poor people.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#217

Post by princekolt »

gottam wrote: post #61
jakebasile wrote: post #44

It looks like someone found a copy of Blizzard's copyrighted source code, returned it to Blizzard, and got a reward. Why are people upset about this? It seems like the right thing to do to my mind. If someone found a copy of my own source laying in the street I'd be very happy if they returned it instead of releasing it on the net.

We could of had enthusiastic fans see the inner workings of such a beloved game and tons of articles around the technical details, but instead we protected the intellectual property rights of a billion dollar corporation. Strictly by law, it was "the right thing to do", but it was a real missed historic opportunity.

I like your point. Were I the guy I'd have tried to push an agreement that they'd publish the source of their games once they had been discontinued for over 20 years or something like that.

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#218

Post by jhasse »

braveo wrote: post #211
Dylan16807 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you look at the other posts I made, it should be more clear. There are different kinds of property rights. The property rights for the money you have in your bank account are important. (But if we wanted to add a rule-based tax across everyone that would be okay.) The intellectual property rights for recently-made things are important. The intellectual property rights for 20 year old code are not at all important.…

and the property rights to my house are unimportant because the house is 20+ years old. oh wait.... something is wrong with that thought process, but I'll let you split another hair in your attempt at a meaningful dichotomy.

If I steal your house, that means that you lost it. The same isn't true for the code, as Blizzard would still also have it (along with the right to distribute binary copies of it, which is a million times more valuable).

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#219

Post by jhasse »

sneak wrote: post #187
jakebasile wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it's still owned by Blizzard. It doesn't matter how important it was, they still own it. I am 100% sure the guy did the right thing in returning it, not only legally but morally as well. If Blizzard were to MIT license it that'd be amazing but they're the only ones with the power to do so, no matter who finds a copy in a box.

Easy solution. Torrent the iso, return the lost property (the disc) to its owner. No moral or ethical issue whatsoever. Nobody's rights violated. Everybody wins.

The iso and the disc contain a finger print -> they know it must be you -> you lose

Re: Guy Finds StarCraft Source Code and Returns It to Blizzard

#220

Post by echlebek »

jakebasile wrote: post #71
gottam wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We could of had enthusiastic fans see the inner workings of such a beloved game and tons of articles around the technical details, but instead we protected the intellectual property rights of a billion dollar corporation. Strictly by law, it was "the right thing to do", but it was a real missed historic opportunity.

I'll agree it's an unfortunate thing that Blizzard hasn't released the code. Personally I'd love to get at Diablo 1's code too. Maybe they will one day, but that right is theirs even though they are a huge corporation. Copyright law doesn't care about that detail. This thread has a lot of people wanting the guy to go vigilante, which I just can't get behind.

It seems that you think that following the law is the right thing to do. That's an understandable point of view. But there's also something called civil disobedience. Sometimes the will of the commons should trump law. Is this one of those cases? Frankly, I don't know or care. But I think if you don't try to understand what you call the "vigilante" point of view, you're doing yourself a disservice.
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