On 23/01/2009, at 12:31 PM, Dean Landolt wrote:
The issue with gipirate starts with the name. The name says
'theft'. If it
was called gitorrents or gitorrensearch, then maybe your argument
could be
taken seriously. You wouldn't quibble over a site called giporn
being about
porn, even if you could conceivable find artistic nude stills on
such a
site.
Given your comments heretofore, I can't help but remind you
s\theft\infringement ;)
I'm actually happy linking to such a site - the site itself is legal,
and as long as it's both accurately described, uses couch in some way
that matters, and the page has an endorsement disclaimer.
I was only pointing out that the argument about 'but you can find
other stuff on gipirate' is trumped by the explicit intention
manifested in the name. My response to gipirate was independent of
whether it should appear on the couch page. There are many things that
I'm passionately opposed to, such as gambling, misogynistic porn,
religion, IP theft, patent abuse etc etc, ad infinitum it sometimes
seems. The extent of my passion partially motivates my concern to
eliminate the opportunity for such issues to arise in the context of
the couch wiki. It's separation of concerns. I am however personally
more Kantian than moral relativist. Furthermore, see my sig.
I recognize that copyright and patents were initially an economic
tool, and that in the US in particular, the elevation of property to
the status of a moral good has swallowed the original intention of
copyright and patents and twisted it into something else. And whilst I
disagree vehemently with the (especially geek) culture of 'everything
for free', there is a need for an opposing force in the face of public
apathy about the deeper underlying issue.
One need only consider first-world governments pressuring third-world
governments to restrict the availability of life-saving
pharmaceuticals because of IP theory to realise that property, and the
'theft' thereof, is a philosophically nuanced concept with strongly
opposed humanist arguments (to which I subscribe).
Finally, I know this isn't the place for such discussion :)
Antony Blakey
-------------
CTO, Linkuistics Pty Ltd
Ph: 0438 840 787
A Man may make a Remark –
In itself – a quiet thing
That may furnish the Fuse unto a Spark
In dormant nature – lain –
Let us divide – with skill –
Let us discourse – with care –
Powder exists in Charcoal –
Before it exists in Fire –
-– Emily Dickinson 913 (1865)
