Ethical Question regarding copies of PE test prep material from Ebay

[MechGuy]

OK all, I have an ethcial question for you. I purchased some PE Prep material from Ebay, and I think they are copies. I bought the ASME PE Prep videos, and I was expecting to get a bunch of VHS tapes in the mail because I got them so cheap. What I actually got in the mail were DVDs, but the quality is so poor (grainy, blurry, looks like the tracking on the video needed adjusting) I think they are actually copies of the VHS tapes burned onto DVDs.

The material on the videos is good, but I am thinking that I need to turn the seller into Ebay or ASME for hawking copies of their videos.

What do you all think I should do??

 

[IlPadrino]

OK all, I have an ethcial question for you. I purchased some PE Prep material from Ebay, and I think they are copies. I bought the ASME PE Prep videos, and I was expecting to get a bunch of VHS tapes in the mail because I got them so cheap. What I actually got in the mail were DVDs, but the quality is so poor (grainy, blurry, looks like the tracking on the video needed adjusting) I think they are actually copies of the VHS tapes burned onto DVDs.
The material on the videos is good, but I am thinking that I need to turn the seller into Ebay or ASME for hawking copies of their videos.

What do you all think I should do??

I think you already know the answer...

Morals are a personal decision and if you're asking the question, you've probably already made a value judgment. Edmund Burke said "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

 

[ODB_PE]

make a copy of the dvds for yourself, of course. For "evidence" purposes. Then contact the seller and request a full refund, explaining that he has sold copies of unauthorized materials. You may need to check and see how many times the seller has sold the videos before reporting them to eBay. If they have done this multiple times then they are worth reporting.

I think the only problem with immediately contacting eBay is that they are not motivated to punish the seller unless the author is demanding the action. You would think that ASME is policing eBay themselves, but evidently not.

I guess my point is, before you report the guy - try to secure a refund for yourself first.

Once I tried to sell an unused copy (office surplus) of Office 97 on eBay - I checked the microsoft website, eBay rules, and felt that I was well within my rights to sell the software - but within 6 hours of submitting the auction I received an email stating that microsoft had reported my auction as illegal auction an it was removed, criminal activity if I ever tried again, etc - yet the same day there were over 200 auctions for Office 97 that weren't removed and by my observations no different from mine. Anyhow, I haven't tried again.

 

[maryannette]

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

I agree with this quote.

There are some "ethics check" questions I use:

Is it fair for all involved?

If your family, friends, employer found out about your behavior, would you be proud?

Is it legal and by the "rules"?

 

[Ralph]

It is easy to jump to conclusions when you see something like this. I am confident that the VHS version of the ASME test prep videos I have seen were originals and the quality was very poor. It is possible that the original recordings were not of a high quality. May I suggest a little investigation before you make accusations. There has to be someone on this board who has or has seen the DVDs directly from ASME.

 

[BluSkyy]

make a copy of the dvds for yourself, of course. For "evidence" purposes. Then contact the seller and request a full refund, explaining that he has sold copies of unauthorized materials. You may need to check and see how many times the seller has sold the videos before reporting them to eBay. If they have done this multiple times then they are worth reporting.
I think the only problem with immediately contacting eBay is that they are not motivated to punish the seller unless the author is demanding the action. You would think that ASME is policing eBay themselves, but evidently not.

I guess my point is, before you report the guy - try to secure a refund for yourself first.

Once I tried to sell an unused copy (office surplus) of Office 97 on eBay - I checked the microsoft website, eBay rules, and felt that I was well within my rights to sell the software - but within 6 hours of submitting the auction I received an email stating that microsoft had reported my auction as illegal auction an it was removed, criminal activity if I ever tried again, etc - yet the same day there were over 200 auctions for Office 97 that weren't removed and by my observations no different from mine. Anyhow, I haven't tried again.

FWIW autoCAD (ithink) lost a case just such as yours that went to trial. I'm not sure how different the EULA's are. The legal arrangement "licensing" for commonly used SW is kinda BS IMO.

 

[KnowledgeAcquirer]

OK all, I have an ethcial question for you. I purchased some PE Prep material from Ebay, and I think they are copies. I bought the ASME PE Prep videos, and I was expecting to get a bunch of VHS tapes in the mail because I got them so cheap. What I actually got in the mail were DVDs, but the quality is so poor (grainy, blurry, looks like the tracking on the video needed adjusting) I think they are actually copies of the VHS tapes burned onto DVDs.
The material on the videos is good, but I am thinking that I need to turn the seller into Ebay or ASME for hawking copies of their videos.

What do you all think I should do??

As an engineer who has worked in the software industry, here is the link to the Software & Information Industry Association's Anti-Piracy:

http://www.siia.net/piracy/

I honestly hope that it wasn't an engineer who burned copies of this; seems to me that would be an ethical violation in addition to a legal one.

 

[ODB_PE]

As an engineer who has worked in the software industry, here is the link to the Software & Information Industry Association's Anti-Piracy:
http://www.siia.net/piracy/

I honestly hope that it wasn't an engineer who burned copies of this; seems to me that would be an ethical violation in addition to a legal one.

You reminded me of an ironic copyright violation incident.

A few years ago we went to a wedding for my wife's second cousin. As long as I have known my wife I have heard over and over what geniuses this couple are (is?). They both work in software development, both MIT educated, both very well paid, the husband evidently has several patents on code he has written - yada yada yada. If anybody should understand piracy laws it should be these two, you would think.

So what did they give to their wedding guests as favors? A homemade mix CD-R with 20 or so of their favorite songs. To probably 250 guests. No licensing information on the cover but I have a feeling they didn't do it

 

[maryannette]

Honesty goes both ways.