[HANASHIR:9003] Re: stealing, copyright, lashon harah, etc

[Andy Curry <acurry...>]

Eric,  I admire your concern for doing the right thing!

The thing which you would rather not do is the only thing to be done.  On
this past Shabbos, we read
"hocheach tochiach et amitecha, v'lo tisa alav chet" - rebuke, yes, rebuke
your fellow, and not bear sin because of him" (Lev. 19:17).

The rebuke must be gentle and private, and in this case, almost not a
rebuke.  Just state that YOU don't feel right about enabling this process
without knowing that the composers have given their go-ahead.  Stating it
in this way lets him (or her) know of your ethical concern without accusing
him of doing anything wrong - and it should prompt some reflection on his
part.

Even the respect which is due to our mothers and fathers has a limit, as we
also read (Lev. 19:3).

And, yes, associating to another person the rabbi's name with his/her
request would be lashon hara.

Good luck, and kol tuv.

Andy

At 12:44 PM 5/7/01 -0700, you wrote:
>Can someone help me out of an ethical dilemma here?
>
>A rabbi passed on to a friend who then passed on to me the a note, from
>which I quote a small part:
>
>>> I am putting together a Jewish ....  guitar /songbook as a fundraiser
>>> for 
>>> [deleted]. I have all the lyrics on the computer and only need the
>>> chords 
>>> to several of the songs. (I will be asking composers to permit
>>> publication.) 
>>> 
>>> Please forward this list to any renewal  guitarists and ask them to let me
>>> 
>>> know which songs they would be willing to add chords to and I will e-mail 
>>> them the lyrics. They would then e-mail me back the lyrics with tthe
>>> chords 
>>> inserted. Thanks, be well, [name deleted]
>
>Then followed a list of songs he wants the guitar chords for.
>
>===========
>
>What do I do with this email?
>
>I'd rather not confront the rabbi, in fact, I'd rather not email him at
>all.  I know of him well, and, well, would just not rather contact him.
>
>On the other hand, if I let anyone else know, would I be violating any laws
>of shmiras halashon?  Would I be violating anyone's privacy?
>
>On the other other hand, it certainly seems to be a case of copyright
>violation and stealing.  Unless, of course, he got permission.  But if he
>got permission, he wouldn't need the chords, would he?
>
>Any thoughts?
>
>-- Eric
>
>
>+-------------------------------------------------------+
>| Eric Simon     | erics (at) radix(dot)net                      |
>+-------------------------------------------------------+
>| proud daddy to Joshua Ari  4/18/93 - 27 Nissan 5753   |
>|        and Eliana Rebekah  3/12/95 - 11 Adar-2 5755   |
>+-------------------------------------------------------+
>
>
>
>
Andy Curry, Kansas City
acurry (at) san-carlos(dot)rms(dot)slb(dot)com

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