On Apr 12, 2005 12:19 AM, Tracy R Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Todd Walton wrote: > > So, the movie industry is like a caged dog. Throw it a meaty bone > > once in a while so it stays alive and makes a nice pet, but don't let > > it get too full. > > Not flamebait at all. That is precisely what I mean. Copyrights exist > (supposedly) for your benefit and mine. They exist for the sole purpose > that one day the creations will go into the public domain and we can all > enjoy them.
That doesn't make them right. > Copyrights are all about practical effect. It is > practical to have new technologies invented that make > our lives better. It is practical to have entertainment. Practical at whose expense? > Arbitrary? If it makes our lives better and would not be > invented/created otherwise it should be protected by copyright. If it > does not make our lives better or it would have been invented/created > anyway then it should not be protected by copyright. I don't see that as > arbitrary at all. Copyright is very costly to the taxpayers. My tax > money is supposed to fund infrastructure and services which benefit me. > Not make someone else rich. In other words, everyone around you is here to serve you. Since you're not qualified to judge what makes my life better, what you mean is, "If it makes *my* life better it should be protected." Or maybe, "If it makes the copyright officer's life better", or maybe even, "If the copyright officer or legislator has been visited by The Divine Ominpotent Overlord of Material Gratification, and The Divine Ominpotent Overlord of Material Gratification grants divine insight that a particular work, or all works in a particular form in a particular medium, makes our lives better, then it should be protected by copyright". This is the opinion, being held by the many, that grabs society like a paralyzing cancer that kills in the name of practicality. There is no "better" but what a person can choose of his or her own free will, and that fact is *certainly* not worth ignoring for mere entertainment or gadgets. I'd rather live poor, free of that straitjacket, than comfortably entertained to death. What is *right*? Before you force me, ask if it's *right* to do so. -todd -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
