-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Karen Rustad wrote: > Crosbie Fitch wrote: >> FC would return to the pre-copyright era where an author only retains >> AUTHORSHIP to their published works - otherwise only enjoying control over >> their unpublished work. > Um, what? Most people involved in the free culture movement aren't > advocating a return to the pre-copyright era. > > The problem isn't the existence of copyright--in a lot of ways, it *can* > "promote the progress of science and the useful arts". The problem is > that nowadays copyright seems to impede progress as much as it promotes > it because it's become unbalanced in favor of rightsholders. If you make > terms shorter, make the scope clearer, make penalties more reasonable, > etc., copyright would return to benefiting society as a whole. > > If an author can only ever control stuff that they *haven't* published > (and presumably made money off), that's not much of an incentive to > write, is it? > > -- Karen > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > >
Some people believe this > If an author can only ever control stuff that they *haven't* published > (and presumably made money off), that's not much of an incentive to > write, is it? to be FUD. Evidence that supports the assertion that an intellectual monopoly is necessary or even helpful promoting the progress of science and useful arts is scarce. As you yourself agree, evidence that the current system is doing the opposite is abundant. Certainly we both agree that the current system is too much. Certainly we both agree that weaker copyright would be an improvement. It is unclear, however, if weaker copyright would be an improvement over no copyright. In all of history, nobody has succeeded in making a convincing argument for this. Of course I cannot speak for everyone in the Free Culture movement, but the name "Free Culture" suggests that the movement advocates freedom of culture, not freedom of authors. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFF5IgD6THm0ATXcbwRAsWcAJ0ZzofnHS5OnBkm1kaRg59d4VxWRACdEWte Etwr/yVzouzTGFJvdmA5fzk= =Kp7C -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
