From: Fred Benenson
>But suppose we don't want to take it in that direction -- How can we be
effective,
>or even taken seriously if we're suggesting nothing less than abolishment
of copyright?
I take it you're looking for an audience who would more highly regard an
organisation who adopted 'being taken seriously' as a principle to supercede
all others?
>As Eben Moglen put it to me once, "intellectual property is pretty much a
joke", but
>what are our practical options of making people understand this without
sounding
>shrill? Or like spoiled students? To me, suggesting options like CC and the
GPL,
>though essentially based in copyright, appear to be the most strategic and
effective.
'Shrill' or 'spoiled students'? Those are hangups, not principled arguments.
>I'm not sure we can avoid it, but we can certainly try to find common
ground...so
>what does the rest of FC think, should we start advocating for complete
abolishment
>of copyright? How can we find consensus and develop a real position, again?
You mean FC had a real position once before? What happened to it?
Surely, FC has a position that advocates cultural freedom?
I presume there's also a society for the promotion of progress of science
and the useful arts - who are happy to propose suspending the liberty of the
public and/or violating their privacy in order to achieve such an end? No
doubt they have the public's best interests at heart, and feel the sacrifice
worth the reward.
The notion of copyright's abolition only arises within the proponents of FC
because:
1) Copyright cannot actually be enjoyed in the digital diffusion system
known as the Internet
2) Many artists who would like to enjoy the zero cost duplication and
distribution services of the Internet don't actually want copyright's
default prohibition of unauthorised duplication and distribution.
3) There is no 'cut-down' version of copyright that is effective either.
4) If you're going to make any money, it's going to be by selling your
services as an artist and your art wholesale, not individual copies thereof.
5) The freedoms desired restored by FC are precisely those freedoms
suspended by copyright.
Abolition of copyright isn't actually much of an issue in the big scheme of
things. This is because it has already been rendered moot. Abolishing
copyright only serves to prevent the
recording industries punishing wholly innocent families. Every other aspect
of copyright is impotent (aside from its vestigial use as a gentlemen's
agreement between traditional publishers).
So, yes, FC should not concern itelf with copyright or its abolition, it
should look to determine an independent set of principles that should
constrain society in its production and enjoyment of art/culture.
Life, privacy, truth, liberty.
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