Legal & Ethical Questions in the PC Audio Age

In my last post, the story about George Lefcoe is a public story published in various ethics textbooks. In my post that paragraph ended as follows:

"I know this type of act looks benign but this is how we[sic] go further and further down that slippery slope. Each step, taken in isolation, looks innocent but by the time you get years out - you have ripped off the company for millions!"

PLEASE DON'T THINK AT THE END OF MY PARAGRAPH THAT I WAS SAYING OR INSINUATING THAT MR. LEFCOE RIPPED OFF ANY COMPANY. HE NEVER DID SUCH A THING. I WAS USING HIS OWN PUBLISHED, NON-CRIMINAL, PUBLIC STORY TO SHOW THAT IF WE ARE NOT CAREFUL, THIS TYPE OF SLIPPERY SLOPE [WHERE WE CROSS OUR OWN ETHICAL LINES] CAN HAPPEN TO ANY OF US AND POSSIBLY LEAD US TO JUSTIFY LATER CRIMINAL ACTS.

Mr. Lefcoe is a well respected professor and I am glad he is kind enough to have shared his story for all of us to learn from.

Frank - I love the story and will send you a ham for it unless you're jewish. I had jewish lawyer once and he was very honest - could this be somehow related to lack of ham temptation?

Jmcgrogan2 According to J Paul Getty, the meek will indeed inherit the earth but not the mineral rights.

Ethics are not only for the poor, who can usually least afford them but for those who seek to be ethical. It is an open invitation to any and all. None are excluded except by thier own self exception.

If one want the world to be a certain way it is often best if one acts as if that is the way it is and accept all that goes with the attempting of making the world an ethical place to live. Good, bad, and indifferent.

Hey John,

Don't even get me started on government ethics (now talk about an oxymoron) or the lack thereof! John, all I can say is that when we lose hope and look at our leaders and and point to their lack of ethics as a reason for us to justify acting unethically (in a self-preservation sort of way), we are all in trouble as, IMHO, chaos and anarchy ensues. This is a sort of moral or ethical relativism where the end justifies the means and we all know what manner of evil has been prepretated using such a theory.

While I am an imperfect person and a realist, at the risk of sounding like I am oversimplfying the answer to your question, I actually DO think that if I just do the next right thing, the rest will take care of itself.

Frank

Frank - maybe you, being a layewr, could help me with this: How is it moral and legal to rent and read book from library without paying anything to author or publisher (cutting on their profit). If book wouldn't be available in library more people would buy it in store. Do libraries pay to publishers or authors? Should I feel guilty reading book from the library? The fact that everybody is doing it and for the long time is not important - I am interested how is it legal or moral?