Ed's take on this...
Just a bit of a thread that may help you, specifically here is my response;
"It's illegal from the aspect that it wasn't obtained through proper channels, IE a release by the owners in this case ID, you want to argue semantics; Lets. If you were to obtain a prototype vehicle illegally, would it still make it ok for you to drive it? What would your excuse be? "They left the garage door open?" So what, it's within their rights to sue based on the simple fact an Alpha makes them look bad as it doesn't truly represent what the final product will look like or function like. Optimizations and final code are where a game begins to shine and show it's true colors. It's illegal, discussing what you think of the Alpha as far as gameplay, function, etc is NOT OK, discussing what you think the impact of the Alpha getting out will be IS OK.
Talking about playing/downloading/sharing it IS NOT OK
Offering up screenshots IS NOT OK
Let's stick to the issue legally, all talk of playing it will stop, when the demo hit's feel free to talk about all of it until you are blue in the face until then let's stick to speculation. Why it has been defined under the broad generalization of Warez is because like warez it is illegal to own/obtain/use the software that has not been released for public consumption, simple as that.
Would you rather we define it as illegal and simply report each and every person to ID that states they are currently running it? Let it drop, talk about what you think it will be like. I am tired of finding thread after thread about a ILLEGAL PIECE OF LEAKED Software.
J
Just my two cents..."
