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> Running a program, as a service or not, isn't redistribution. It is use. Hard disagree. You're redistributing the software in a manner for people to easily u

> Running a program, as a service or not, isn't redistribution. It is use. Hard disagree. You're redistributing the software in a manner for people to easily use it. If you rip a movie you own, there's no distinction that I'm aware of in copyright law between hosting the .ISO on an FTP server and hosting the .MKV as a stream. They're both redistributing, it's just that one is designed for ephemeral consumption.

kazinator 2y ago
That's broadcasting. The recipient of a stream can capture the film to create their own .MKV they can further stream or pass on. Equating the running of a program with broadcasting is the kind of sophistry we might expect from Apple or Adobe or Oracle or their ilk. Certain portions of a service program may be broadcast, like for instance certain string literals carrying text that appears at the remote end point. The bulk of the software is not transmitted. It transmits and receives messages, which are mostly not that program. The remote end cannot recover a copy of the program from these messages. Some bits of literal data, but none of the code. (There are obvious exceptions, like programs transmitted to web browsers for local execution.)
randomdata 2y ago
> They're both redistributing Well, yes. While perhaps some metadata is lost, the content that is worth fighting for is captured in both cases. Practically speaking, there is no difference between the original source, an ISO rip, and an MKV rip. At least to the untrained eye, they are in every way equivalent. They both are redistribution, indeed. That is not the case for SaaS in question. What you download during use can in no way be reconstructed into its original form. You can't use the software for a while and then, from what you've collected, start running the software on your local machine. The artifacts of use are very different from the software itself. To stick with your analogy, watching a movie on Netflix does not give you a copy of their server software. Distribution has not occurred.
tzs 2y ago
That analogy does not work because in all the cases you describe a copy of the movie ends up with the viewer. When you connect to a remote server over a computer and upload data and receive back results produced by the server software you do not receive a copy of the program. You receive a copy of the output that the program produced.

kazinator 2y ago

That's broadcasting. The recipient of a stream can capture the film to create their own .MKV they can further stream or pass on. Equating the running of a program with broadcasting is the kind of sophistry we might expect from Apple or Adobe or Oracle or their ilk. Certain portions of a service program may be broadcast, like for instance certain string literals carrying text that appears at the remote end point. The bulk of the software is not transmitted. It transmits and receives messages, which are mostly not that program. The remote end cannot recover a copy of the program from these messages. Some bits of literal data, but none of the code. (There are obvious exceptions, like programs transmitted to web browsers for local execution.)

randomdata 2y ago

> They're both redistributing Well, yes. While perhaps some metadata is lost, the content that is worth fighting for is captured in both cases. Practically speaking, there is no difference between the original source, an ISO rip, and an MKV rip. At least to the untrained eye, they are in every way equivalent. They both are redistribution, indeed. That is not the case for SaaS in question. What you download during use can in no way be reconstructed into its original form. You can't use the software for a while and then, from what you've collected, start running the software on your local machine. The artifacts of use are very different from the software itself. To stick with your analogy, watching a movie on Netflix does not give you a copy of their server software. Distribution has not occurred.

tzs 2y ago

That analogy does not work because in all the cases you describe a copy of the movie ends up with the viewer. When you connect to a remote server over a computer and upload data and receive back results produced by the server software you do not receive a copy of the program. You receive a copy of the output that the program produced.