Ethical Question...
 

Lets say a program owes you money but has gone AWOL and the sites have been on autopilot literally for years - No communication about money owed - They have nice unique content and although its a bit dated it would be easy to find a market...

I'm thinking about using their content to recoup my missing dollars - What are your general thoughts?....

In my opinion, after you've made a solid and good faith effort to collect on money due to you, especially if that effort has been ongoing for a long time, you are ethically entitled to recoup the amount you are owed by using the content; however,

(I am not a lawyer but it is my understanding that) From a legal standpoint, you would not be permitted to offset your losses by using the content as that would constitute copyright infringement. It is likely that you would end up owing a huge judgement if the owner of the works (even though you believe they owe you money) chose to enforce their copyrights.

Again, I'm not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice and it could be entirely incorrect. I wouldn't take the risk personally.

I wouldn't. But I'm paranoid about shit like that. I'd out them tho.

Just want to be sure I understand; are you asking if it is ethical to break the law to recover payments you feel are due?

I thought the question was pretty clear...

The real answer is - you're going to do what you want either way.

The right answer is to move on.

I don't hold a judgement as my sponsors have done me right.

May be one of those cases that's ethically right yet legally wrong.

whats the law in peckham

It'd be aggravating, but I'd cut your losses and move on...rather than risk being embroiled in a potential copyright infringement litigation.

Although it's tempting, the old cliche goes - two wrongs don't make a right.

Definitely consider outing them.

Sounds like a bad idea. Besides the obvious...what if there are sub-licensees who are innocent in the mess?

Best advice here is to move on :2 cents:

If they are still billing with someone, and owe you more than beer money, get a lawyer and go after them, if it's a dot com, get a default judgment and take over the domains :thumbsup

That's probably a quick way to bankrupt yourself :2 cents:

Just out them and see how it goes . . .

The ethical thing to do is out them here publicly and request your money publicly.

Years ago I worked for Pink Star cash. The owner was an older man in Pennsylvania who I had never met. He was a Vietnam vet, and went in for an operation to have some shrapnel removed.... And was never heard from again. He either died or was unable to work again. Everything was on autopilot. The money from CCBill went directly into an account, and the hosting was automatically paid for of that account. The sites and the program continued on until the domains eventually expired one by one.

With that said.... Always take the high road.

I thought my TIC response was pretty clear too; let me summarize. It is never ethical to commit a crime.

That is flatly wrong.

There are many instances where the law and the morality are radically diverged. The classic example (Les Miserables) is that it is not wrong to steal food to prevent one's family from death by starvation.

One may always want to be on the right side of the law, but that often puts one on the wrong side of ethical behaviour (I was just following orders....)

^^^aint nobody starving here bro. He will clearly cut his nose off to spite his face by trying some fuckshit.

^^^Don't know how to read forums bro???

Notice I was replying only to Baddog with the quote that, "IT IS NEVER WRONG to commit a crime."

You can see my reply to the OP at the top.

Try to stay on-topic; we are talking ethics, not morals. Ethics refer to rules provided by an external source, e.g., codes of conduct in workplaces or principles in religions. Morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.

What the fuck? I did not say it is never wrong to commit a crime. I said, "It is never ethical to commit a crime."

What language do they speak in your part of Canada?

eddyinWhangarei, New Zealand new talent to civilize

https://gfy.com/members/babeterminal...duckgo-com.jpg

Sorry, that was my typo. You said it is never "ETHICAL" to commit a crime. I was pointing out that this is not so.

eth·i·calDictionary result for ethical
/ˈeTHək(ə)l/Submit
adjective
1.
relating to moral principles

I am sorry that you cannot figure out the difference between ethics and morals. Wait, no I'm not.

What did you decide to do EddyTheDog?

I thought the dictionary did a pretty good job. Do you need me to talk in shorter words so you can understand?

Are you trying to redefine ethics, or are you trying to redefine morals? Can you point me to a source that makes your case? Or are you just unwilling to acknowledge when you are wrong?

Stop arguing like hoes.

Bottom line is, don't commit the crime.

Fuck all the semantics, don't do it. It's against the law and morally fucked. The gfy community has pretty much voted don't do it. Take heed.

What needs to happen is, the company needs to be exposed. That's been the norm around here, I'm not quite understanding why it's being debated whether a retaliation crime should be committed vs legally outting a shady company.

So, quoting from your source (and then I'm dropping this idiotic semantic debate)...
"
Generally, the terms ethics and morality are used interchangeably, although a few different communities (academic, legal, or religious, for example) will occasionally make a distinction. In fact, Britannica’s article on ethics considers the terms to be the same as moral philosophy. While understanding that most ethicists (that is, philosophers who study ethics) consider the terms interchangeable, let’s go ahead and dive into these distinctions.

Both morality and ethics loosely have to do with distinguishing the difference between “good and bad” or “right and wrong.” Many people think of morality as something that’s personal and normative, whereas ethics is the standards of “good and bad” distinguished by a certain community or social setting.
"

Not sure if you are "academic, legal or religious" to try to split hairs on whether it is ever ethical to break an unethical law - like killing innocent people because you were ordered to do so and thus legally "obligated" to do so - but "Generally" the terms are interchangeable.

That's the language that we speak up here in Canada. It's English, and your incorrect implication was insulting.

the best thing you can do is.

name them here
pull all the links
if possible sue them.
move on.

find replacement sponsor
put the links
make money.

revenge is never good and with stealing content is very bad. sooner or later it will come and bite you.

unless you talking about millions of dollars., them i am all in, fuck the sponsor.
take all content, buy offshore hosting, domain and start paysite.,
but who will process payments ? one complaint and you will loose the ipsp.

so move on now. than regretting later.

Dont. That’s a dumb way to go about it.

You sound like ocasio-cortez

copyright infringement
criminal copyright infringement
statutory damages

those are just a few phrases among the many which came to mind

↑↑ This dude is a certified sub beta cuck he'll suck a guys cum out of any pussy on command