Marvin, it is common for people to use the end result (I.e., saving lives and/or helping them see TTATT) to justify how that result is achieved ( I.e., illegal copying and distributing practices).
Which ever way you spin it, you ARE using the end to justify the means. Some people will agree with your justifications, others won't, and still others will be ambivalent.
I personally am ambivalent. I see the need for people to have access to perhaps the single most powerful work of nonfiction on jw organization (what a unique vantage point Ray Franz had!) Yet, at the same time, I am so aware of Ray's own expressed concerns about the need to maintain authorial control over how his books were published and distributed.
Steve2,
My comments you respond to have nothing whatsoever to do with Ray's COC publication and you know that perfectly well. My comments you respond to are about my willingness to disregard copyright of an organization who, as we speak, is responsible for premature deaths of innocent children and unsuspecting adults. Apparently you take issue with this or you'd not ply the pejorative "ends justifies the means" as you have in my case. It is not the END (hopefully a lessening of deaths due to Watchtower doctrine) that justifies (compels!) my action it is the the CAUSE (deaths due to Watchtower doctrine) that justifies (compels) my action. There is no similar CAUSE in relation to Ray's COC work.
My position is not based on legality. My position is based on morality. Nonetheless, assuming statutory and common law is based on community best interests there is both moral and legal (common law) justification for breaching copyright based on an entity acting contrary to a community's best interest by way of the very material at issue under copyright. But, again, in this case I neither act nor count on the legality. I'm compelled morally. Perhaps our moral compasses are different. Mine says if the choice is save a life by breaching a copyright that is leading to those deaths or let someone die and honor that copyright then I'm going to breach a copyright every time it can save a life. Every single time, and no matter who the copyright holder is.
In the future if you opt to address my position on this point please do so in proper context!
Do you need more?
