Guy Chapman aka JzG wrote:
Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:
If they're not protected by patents or copyrights, how could it be "piracy?" I'd have thought that if there were no patents or copyrights, there'd be no "intellectual property" and hence nothing to "steal."
WP:RS is your friend. If the method is described in a reliable and reasonably authoritative source, they will probably get sued before we do. Of course, that might make it copyright....
I think that words like "piracy" and "steal" in this context are buzzwords promoted by the entertainment industry to demonize any kind of free access to information.
Reliable sources may be hard to come by when an atmosphere of secrecy prevails. These "secrets" are largely "how to" instructions. Anyone with a pet elephant around the hous can try the trick of levitating an elephant at home just to prove that it can be done.
In the great recipe debate the argument that recipes were a set of such instructions was the reason used for transferring them to Wikibooks. This did not detract from their having a place in our wikiworld.
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