[JASJAR, XDA Exec, MDA Pro Software Upgrading] vijay555:
Raj, you're asking the wrong guy. You can see that I don't say this is MY policy of warez. You can see specifically that I'm realistic in that we all know how to get warez... read my other posts on the subject. I'm not in a position to condone warez, but I've expressly stated (see the TomTom thread) that I will personally guide those that want warez, but will not allow it on the board.

I am a coder in my spare time, and make no money from it, but there are many enthusiastic coders who's software you are no doubt using, who would lose out if we pirate their warez. Have a heart or spare a thought. I'm not going to preach - each man controls his own destiny.

But this is a public forum, and a useful resource to us all. If you start talking about killing all Jews or how incest is best kept in the family, then I'd have the same attitude: do what you like in your house, but this is a public resource, and a helpful one, that deserves being protected by all those that benefit from it.

Regarding Roms:

This is still an entirely open question. The way I look at this is that HTC/our operator provides us with a rom on our device. They grant us a license to use the Rom, like most EULAs. And theoretically their intellectual property is vested and static within the rom itself.

However, the rom update files are distributed freely on the web. Our work in dissecting roms and make a “best of compilation” is hopefully fair use, we are generally only re-using intellectual property that is effectively licensed to us by our operator. So our best of roms merely maximise use of those materials and from there our use of the phones. I know I wouldn’t be using my phones if they weren’t maxed out with my own mods, and likewise, I can be sure that my next phone will be Windows Mobile, and almost certainly HTC, as a result of this community. I hope that HTC and Microsoft acknowledge that themselves – communities build device support and vice versa. Look at Modaco.

The problems arise with intellectual property not by those copyright holders. Palm asked us to remove Palm Messaging, and rightly so, they had every right to do so. As did Picsel with the Picsel Browser. We will comply with EVERY request to remove copyrighted material. If you can’t find anyone to do so, write to me. For legal reasons precise compliance with such a request will depend on the jurisdiction in which the copyright holder resides and the location of the XDA Devs server/host.

But I hope I speak for all the mods in saying that we are over zealous in our efforts to keep this board running, and we’d do that without warez and even questionable roms if required. But it has to be said, the board has been up for a while, and we hope that we have helped other users, not screwed the copyright holders.

Regarding Crossbow – anyone distributing it should be aware of the risk they put themselves and their source in. The mods have discussed this, and as with all intellectual challenge, will embrace its support and extend its execution. But we don’t want to get involved in hosting it right now. Rapidshare links are questionable enough, but down to the user himself.

Raj, we don't profess to be perfect. But we hope the forum provides a useful resource. I advise all users to keep it alive, and be sensible.

V