Date: Mon, 12 Mar 2001 00:06:38 -0600 From: Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>, "Victor R. Cardona" <vcardona@home.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Stallman stalls again Message-ID: <15020.26478.596410.161510@guru.mired.org> In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010311193801.0441d3c0@localhost> References: <4.3.2.7.2.20010306122244.04477f00@localhost> <20010305200017.D80474@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010305123951.04604b20@localhost> <20010305205030.G80474@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010305125259.00cfdae0@localhost> <20010305142108.A17269@marx.marvic.chum> <4.3.2.7.2.20010306011342.045fb360@localhost> <20010306081025.A22143@marx.marvic.chum> <4.3.2.7.2.20010306092612.00b79f00@localhost> <20010306174618.N32515@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010311193801.0441d3c0@localhost>
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Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> types: > At 06:42 AM 3/7/2001, Rahul Siddharthan wrote: > > >Let's say it's (a) and (b). Well, I'd say it differently: (a) I > >dislike the unethical monopolisation of intellectual property by major > >corporations and content publishers, > > Intellectual property, by its very nature, consists of a > government-granted monopoly. Yes, it is sometimes used > unethically. But this does not mean that one should throw > the baby out with the bath water. Not throwing out the baby with the bath water is only useful if you know what the baby is. The reason the monopoly exists is to encourage creators to publish, yet still allow them to be compensated for their work. The "baby" isn't copyright per se - it's compensating creators to encourage them to publish. Note that *publishing* is the critical issue here. It's clearly possible to make money creating things without copyright laws, as performers and programmers do so on a regular basis. Some even make a living doing that way. However, those people either don't publish, or don't expect to make money publishing. Recent innovations - cheap PCs and publishers moving to digital media - make granting copyrights cost the public far more than it did when copyright was initially created. That - along with the unethical behavior of publishers - provides a very good reason to reconsider the use of copyright to encourage publication. I have no idea what might replace copyright, and I'm sure that any such change will cause economic dislocation - probably of a serious nature. The existence of computers has been doing that since they became commercially available, including the shameful way publishers are attempting to destroy fair use. <mike -- Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/ Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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