On Wed, Oct 05, 2005 at 02:45:44PM -0700, m ike wrote: > > I've never heard the basis for anti-copyright. This is an honest > question: what is the harm? That is, outside of the > socialism/individualism debate, what is the harm?
Copyright, and its sister patent, were well discussed in the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers. The subject was in the constitution in the first place because of the abuses of copyright and patent by the English king. The Kings of the day would assign copyrights and patents to their cronies as a method of rewarding them with a stream of unearned income. These extended to such things as copyrights on playing cards (to a noble who had not invented or designed playing cards) and a patent on salt. Some like Jefferson (you gonna call Jefferson a socialist?) thought there simply should be no copyrights and patents because it would inevitably be abused. Others saw the need for *limited* periods of exclusive rights *to the creators* for the purpose of profiting from their work. I don't think anyone anticipated that copyrights would be extorted or purchased from the creators by big corporations and then milked generation after generation. It is an undeniable fact that every time Mickey Mouse's copyright is about to run out, the big players (MPAA, RIAA, Disney, Turner) kick up the campaign contributions, and copyright gets pushed out another twenty years. This does not foster creativity ... in fact, it isn't much different from what the king of England used to do. Were the heroes of the American Revolution socialists? I have to ask. I am not anti-copyright. I have written four books, and while none of them hit big, I understand the need for financial protection for the creators and the people who bring the creations to market. But 17 (the original term IIRC) to 20 years is plenty. After that it's all about picking the consumer's pocket ... and killing competition. -- Lan Barnes [EMAIL PROTECTED] Linux Guy, SCM Specialist 858-354-0616 -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
