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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

#221

Post by Dylan16807 »

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.

You don't see any difference between physical property and source code?

I can't wait until you find out that sufficiently old intellectual property goes public, while sufficiently old houses don't go public! Have fun blaming that on me splitting hairs when it wasn't my idea.

More seriously, intellectual property is a number of different things lumped together, and they serve different purposes. Copyright exists to encourage new works, and while you can make arguments that there are some benefits from copyright being long-lasting on the creation of works like books and pictures, it's basically impossible to make a similar argument for code.

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

#222

Post by wcummings »

jakebasile wrote: post #52
jpgvm wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not normal source code. It's not like you found the source to the latest Halo game or something. This is like finding the source to the original Halo game, of little to no commercial value but of immense cultural value. Where possible these artefacts are archived so they will be around long after the companies have folded. Unfortunately it's just not possible most of the time as companies end up taking their sof…

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.

Blizzard probably doesn't own all the source to SC1, they could have licensed code from other companies that they can't release even if they wanted to.

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

#223

Post by hd4 »

jhasse wrote: post #219
sneak wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They would still have to prove you a) leaked it, b) didn't prevent someone taking the CD and creating a backup without your permission

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

#224

Post by jhasse »

hd4 wrote: post #223
jhasse wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They would still have to prove you a) leaked it, b) didn't prevent someone taking the CD and creating a backup without your permission

While that is true, I still count "getting into legal trouble" as a lose, as Blizzard already has well-payed lawyers. Even if you win in the end, you won't get the time and a compensation for the stress back.

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

#225

Post by braveo »

jhasse wrote: post #218
braveo wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

this distinction does not matter, if you steal my code and release it I can sue for damages exactly the way I would if you were to somehow steal my house.

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

#226

Post by braveo »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #221
braveo wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You don't see any difference between physical property and source code? I can't wait until you find out that sufficiently old intellectual property goes public, while sufficiently old houses don't go public! Have fun blaming that on me splitting hairs when it wasn't my idea. More seriously, intellectual property is a number of different things lumped together, and they serve different purposes. Copyright exists to en…

So the splitting of the hairs you're attempting is to point out that IP typically expires at some point, and therefore we should all consider anything "old" as effectively having expired IP, regardless of whether that's true or not.

Blizzard's IP hasn't expired, your argument here holds no water.

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

#228

Post by wtetzner »

scrollaway wrote: post #74
jakebasile wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It probably isn't strictly a legal obligation to return the physical disc barring stolen property stuff, but it would definitely be illegal to redistribute copyrighted code without a license to do so. Maybe you could claim some type of fair use but it wouldn't be transformative so I can't see how. As for morality, I apply the golden rule: if someone found the code I wrote for a groundbreaking piece of software, and I…

> 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…

> Returning it to Blizzard directly is good for Blizzard. I'm not even sure if that's true. It's not like Blizzard didn't already have the source code.

If some distributed the source code, what would happen? It's not like people could start releasing new StarCraft games to compete with Blizzard. And it seems unlikely that the source code is going to give someone some kind of an advantage it creating other competing games against Blizzard.

Obviously legally it's Blizzard's right to keep the code private, and there are times where it's advantageous to do so, but this doesn't really seem like one of those times.

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

#229

Post by Tactic »

scrollaway wrote: post #50
eridius wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know. A lot of people in this thread apparently never learned to tell right from wrong.

Did you? :) Starcraft influenced the culture and politics of an entire nation and became a national sport. It pioneered "e-sports". It's a piece of history, and this disc is standalone a piece of history as well. I think I know right from wrong, but I would still have absolutely no idea what to do if that disc landed on my doorstep. Edit: I cannot believe this is such a controversial thing to say. Shame on the people…

It's an absolutely simple decision for me to make. It is not mine, therefore I give it back.

It's like I taught my children... even if you don't know whose it is, you know it isn't yours.

And in this case it is even known.

The amount of moral flexibility in these comments astounds me, although it probably shouldn't.

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

#230

Post by Tactic »

Svekax wrote: post #81
huehehue wrote: post #46

Damn people are tearing this guy apart, the reddit threads are particularly brutal. It's a video game. The finder has no obligation to risk legal trouble so that a game can be modified, played, or even preserved. I'm all for archiving these sorts of things, and agree there's probably no great reason to keep the source private. But if I have the (likely) stolen property of a large company and they ask for its return,…

You buy a box of old documents on Ebay. It contains an original manuscript of The Fellowship of the Ring with J. R. R. Tolkien's edits and notes in the margins. Tolkien's estate demands the copy back so they can burn it. You should mail it to them because they own it, right? It's just a book, right? No, you shouldn't. They owners shouldn't be able to destroy it for the same reason we have laws protecting monuments an…

Do they own it? If so, yes. Give it back. What they do with it is on them. Crucify them, not the person doing the right thing.

If you don't like Blizzard's stance, deal with them, not criticize someone for not achieving the end you prefer.

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