LICENCE

As stated in the book header, the content of the book itself is
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"Literary Freeware:  Not for Commercial Use".


As stated in the preface :
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Out in the traditional world of print, *The
> Hacker Crackdown* is ISBN 0-553-08058-X, and is
> formally catalogued by the Library of Congress as "1.
> Computer crimes -- United States.  2. Telephone --
> United States -- Corrupt practices.  3.  Programming
> (Electronic computers) -- United States -- Corrupt
> practices."  'Corrupt practices,' I always get a kick out
> of that description.  Librarians are very ingenious
> people.
>
>      The paperback is ISBN 0-553-56370-X.  If you go
> and buy a print version of *The Hacker Crackdown,*
> an action I encourage heartily, you may notice that
> in the front of the book,  beneath the copyright
> notice  -- "Copyright (C) 1992 by Bruce Sterling" -- it
> has this little block of printed legal boilerplate from
> the publisher.  It says, and I quote:
>
>      "No part of this book may be reproduced or
> transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
> or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
> or by any information storage and retrieval system,
> without permission in writing from the publisher.
> For information address:  Bantam Books."
>
>      This is a pretty good disclaimer, as such
> disclaimers go.  I collect intellectual-property
> disclaimers, and I've seen dozens of them, and this
> one is at least pretty straightforward.  In this narrow
> and particular case, however, it isn't quite accurate.
> Bantam Books puts that disclaimer on every book
> they publish, but Bantam Books does not, in fact,
> own the electronic rights to this book.  I do, because
> of certain extensive contract maneuverings my
> agent and I went through before this book was
> written.  I want to give those electronic publishing
> rights away through certain not-for-profit channels,
> and I've convinced Bantam that this is a good idea.
>
>      Since Bantam has seen fit to peacably agree to
> this scheme of mine, Bantam Books is not going to
> fuss about this.  Provided you don't try to sell the
> book, they are not going to bother you for what you
> do with the electronic copy of this book. If you want
> to check this out personally, you can ask them;
> they're at 1540 Broadway NY NY 10036.  However, if
> you were so foolish as to print this book and start
> retailing it for money in violation of my copyright
> and the commercial interests of Bantam Books,
> then Bantam, a part of the gigantic Bertelsmann
> multinational publishing combine, would roust
> some of their heavy-duty attorneys out of
> hibernation and crush you like a bug.  This is only to
> be expected.  I didn't write this book so that you
> could make money out of it.  If anybody is gonna
> make money out of this book, it's gonna be me and
> my publisher.
>
>      My publisher deserves to make money out of
> this book.  Not only did the folks at Bantam Books
> commission me to write the book, and pay me a
> hefty sum to do so, but they bravely printed, in text,
> an electronic document the reproduction of which
> was once alleged to be a federal felony.  Bantam
> Books and their numerous attorneys were very
> brave and forthright about this book.  Furthermore,
> my former editor at Bantam Books, Betsy Mitchell,
> genuinely cared about this project, and worked hard
> on it, and had a lot of wise things to say about the
> manuscript.  Betsy deserves genuine credit for this
> book, credit that editors too rarely get.
>
>      The critics were very kind to *The Hacker
> Crackdown,* and commercially the book has done
> well.  On the other hand, I didn't write this book in
> order to squeeze every last nickel and dime out of
> the mitts of impoverished sixteen-year-old
> cyberpunk high-school-students.  Teenagers don't
> have any money -- (no, not even enough for the  six-
> dollar *Hacker Crackdown* paperback, with its
> attractive bright-red cover and useful index).   That's
> a major reason why teenagers sometimes succumb
> to the temptation to do things they shouldn't, such
> as swiping my books out of libraries.   Kids:  this one
> is all yours, all right?  Go give the print version back.
> *8-)

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