whdload collections legal?

[Tripitaka]

Well it is a bit fuzzy in some respects. Copyright only works IF YOU DEFEND IT. It's not illegal UNTIL you are challenged. So as long as you put the cash aside from each sale to pay the copyright when (and if) you get challenged your OK. Oh allright, I admit that is a totally immoral approach, sadly it's an approached that has been used many times in the past to great effect, often by big companies.
The trick when you get challenged of course is to say "I never intended to rob anyone, have your copyright fee." ....and then pay up.
It's not the same everywhere of course, America has far stricter laws than in the UK. I will give you an example. Bung, a Chinese manufacturer made the V64 Doctor back up unit for the N64 ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIcsqA8Dco0 ). This device was illegal to sell in the US. The ruling was that video game carts could not be backed-up as they counted as hardware, the data on them was proprietary code (protected) that made the hardware do what it did. In the UK, the courts considered the carts to be software and backing up your software to protect your investment was (and is still) completely legal. These days of course you don't get to own anything as you only have the software under license, but that's another story again.
At the end of the day of course I'm with fitzsteve on this, it is a pricy way to buy a CF card.

[Tripitaka]

AND - You probably left an electronic paper trial. Now you will always have to be looking over your shoulder for Bill and Fleecy...

Dude, that's the stuff nightmares are made of.

[Tripitaka]

So you're saying that kidnapping and having sex with an 8 year old isn't illegal unless you're caught?  Tell that to the judge.

Well the fact is even that isn't illegal until you are challenged. Outraged? don't be. It's UNLAWFUL not illegal. The difference is that things that are unlawful are enacted upon the natural person (eg. John Doe), things that are illegal are enacted upon the legal identity (eg. Mr. John Doe). The legal identity does not exist until you are informed upon to the authorities and this is registered, this is the process that is recorded on your birth certificate. Your parents are the informants in most cases. The legal identity can be dissolved (in the UK this is a process known as "Lawful Rebellion" and is covered under section 61 of the Magna Carta). The natural person cannot be dissolved except by death.

[Tripitaka]

Nothing in this world is illegal until you are challenged.

True, but it may still be unlawful if it causes harm or loss.

[Tripitaka]

That may be true for patent disputes, but copyright infringement in the USA is clearly illegal.  We have seen bootleggers of DVDs, etc. get heavy fines, or even imprisonment.  It does not require a complaint/challenge from the movie studio.  It's simply a crime to make unauthorized copies and sell them on the street, internet, or anywhere else.

Not quite as true as you may think. Most people submit to the authorities without even realising that they have done so. If a policeman describes the illegality of an act you have done to you (an illegal but NOT unlawful one that is) and then asks you if you "understand" by replying "yes" you have given your consent to be prosecuted. This comes from the terminology "to understand". In legalize it means "to stand under" or "to be bound by". By saying you understand, you (the legal identity that is, not the natural person), agrees to be bound.
Most prisoners are in prison as the legal identity attached to them has been prosecuted with their consent because they have done something illegal and then agreed to stand under the statute that makes it illegal. Of course, if they have caused harm or loss they may have been prosecuted for something unlawful. In this case the natural person is in prison instead.

[Tripitaka]

I believe that the backup thing is only allowed where the copyright owner explicitly allows for you to have make a backup in their copyright declaration as part of the whole delegation of rights aspect of copyright law in the UK.

Where it isn't explicitly stated, you have to assume that backups aren't allowed.

Paul

Sadly this is when it gets all complicated. If you own the software (as you will if you have an original disk in most cases) you can backup with no problem. If the software is under licence then what you have said is correct. Notice how much more software now states that the company who made it still owns it? In truth, you should read the licence for every piece of software you have to see if it is yours or if it is just data on loan from company xzy.

[Tripitaka]

I refer to UK. Sadly for the US, you've been ripped off from your civil rights to the point of the ridiculous. You have many things that are illegal but the laws making them so are often unconstitutional.

I'm going to stop now before this becomes a conspiracy theory thread.

I will say this however, I'll never buy one of those whdload cf cards. An amigan has made a lot of effort writing whdload in the first place and deserves support for his effort, not being ripped off by someone repeatedly selling copies with the same key. All else is academic, no matter where you live.