Software Rights

"Mr Fury is here, Mr wiseman."

"Send him in."

David Wiseman's office was on the 77th floor of the Shell building in Singapour. The view wasn't what it should be, but the air conditioning was good. Wiseman had only been in the office for a couple of weeks, and it was still quite bare.

"Ah, Mr Fury, welcome. Would you like a beer?" Had Wiseman misjudged his client? "A coffee?"

"Water would be good."

Wiseman tapped a few keys on his computer.

"I'm sorry we couldn't meet somewhere a bit more comfortable, Mr Fury..." he paused, waiting to be offered a first name, "... But the FBI had some objections."

Wiseman glanced awkwardly at the handcuff - a bulky black bracelet with the word "Seimens" branded on it.

Fury's eyes focussed for the first time. He was slim man, in his mid-30s, looking haggard and worn by his recent ordeal. "This is serious isn't it?"

Wiseman nodded.

"I'm glad you've recognised it. I found the interview you gave The Times amusing but it looked like you had no understanding of the fuss you've caused."

"Understand it? No, I still can't. How can software have rights?" Fury gestured expansively.

"I know what you mean, Mr Fury. If you had suggested such a thing just ten years ago - if you had suggested that, for example, Office 2000 was entitled to rights - people would have laughed in your face. The idea that a program, on a single CD perhaps, should be treated as an equal by its user, well, it would have been thought absurd. But the fact remains, Mr Fury," Wiseman paused dramatically, "next week you will be in court on various charges covering mistreatment, harrasment, abuse and attempted murder of a piece of software."

Fury took a sip from a glass of water that he hadn't noticed arrive.

"It had it coming." he said with a steady gaze. Wiseman looked down and nodded his head slightly.

"They all have it coming," Fury reaffirmed. "For my whole life I have been being driven insane..." Fury's voice took a desperate edge, "I have been running in ever decreasing circles, chasing shadows, pulling my hair out!" he waved his cuffed wrist at his bald scalp, "because of these damn machines! For these fucking programs!" he slapped his hand on his lawyer's desk.

They both sat silently. Wiseman; a little embarrased, but caught up somehow in the passion of his client. Fury; staring at the man, brows furrowed, gaze smouldering. Wiseman waited.

"I found the patch on a newsgroup. Apparently it was Brazillian, the docs all in spanish, but the principle was simple. Attach these hooks to the expert system's source," he pointed vaguely, "replace this library with this one, recompile, download a new database, start it up, and there you have it - a piece of software that can feel pain."

Wiseman only understood a little of what Fury was explaining, but he knew that Fury was no expert either. Modifying an program in the way Fury had described was commonplace. People often did it when upgrades were released. The original source was available from a variety of advertised sites, and modifications could be written by the user or swapped with a friend.

"At first, I only used the mods to keep the system in line - it gave a bad response, I gave it a virtual poke in the eye. It crashed, I kicked it in the virtual nuts. Then I started blaming it when other programs failed - it became a scapegoat - something to blame everything on. A punching bag that I could release my frustration on."

"A punching bad that screamed." Interrupted Wiseman.

Fury's eyes narrowed, then he explained, "The sound came from a seperate program. A modded speech program that I ran across the expert systems database while it was running. It wasn't a scream at all - more of a gurgle - 'scream' was just what I called the mod file."

Fury fell silent. He rubbed his brow and took another drink.

"My brother tells me you think the charges are serious, that I may actually get convicted."

"Yes, the case against you is a strong one."

"But who wouldn't understand why I did it? Which jury wouldn't sympathise? Everyone has felt frustrated with a computer in their lives - people have been throwing them out of windows and shooting machine guns at them for years. I can see that you understand! What kind of chip-hugging hippy lawyer would even prosecute this case?"

"I do understand your anger, Mr Fury, I even admire your actions; to a degree. However you clearly made one major mistake - you picked a legal expert system for the subject of your torture. Your own software, Mr Fury, the prosecution is the victim."