Software Piracy in L.A. Schools

So, the Los Angeles Unified School District has been trapped by Microsoft and other software vendors (“L.A. Schools in Software Piracy Bind,” July 22). The vendors have it rigged so everyone who buys their products is liable to pay and pay if the user thinks it’s a teeny sin to copy the products.

If the software vendors were sincere about protecting their property, they would design it so it could not be copied without appropriate licensing. A few lines of code would inform the user the product was protected and terminate the copying. This may not deter experienced thievery, but it would discourage the casual classroom or home poacher.

But no, they’d rather trap the big users, like LAUSD, into breaking the law and then collect big money for every copy made. Slick marketing!

LOUIS ST. MARTIN

Pomona

* * As a former children’s librarian and currently a substitute teacher for LAUSD, I found Microsoft’s suit to recover fees for “pirated” software unfortunate and ludicrous. If they answered truthfully, the overwhelming majority of teachers (me included) would admit that they regularly use material without the copyright holder’s permission. Of course Microsoft et al. in their eagerness to exercise their right have no alternative for us who are forced, because of budget restraints, to use “illegal” means to bring current and pertinent material to children in our classrooms. These can range from copies of maps of the world that accurately represent contemporary political boundaries to programs and movies taped off the TV and videos we rent at our own expense.

This is yet another occasion of the imaginative responses needed to compensate for the lack of commitment by the total community and a “just do it” attitude by administrators that prevents us from providing the necessary components needed to educate our children adequately.

F. DANIEL GRAY

Los Angeles

* * Why should the school district (the taxpayers) pay one penny for the piracy of copyrighted computer software by teachers? The teachers responsible for these crimes are adults. They should be made to pay full restitution to the computer companies--and to the school district. They should also be fired, and they should be prosecuted.

CHARLES W. BELSER

La Crescenta