On Sat, Nov 18, 2006 at 07:54:59PM -0800, Lan Barnes wrote: > It shouldn't be forgotten that copyright was introduced to protect > authors. In the 18th century, printers bought first editions of popular > authors' works, reset them, and started publishing them at a discount. It > was seen as outright theft, copyright laws were passed, and I mostly agree > with them. The need for that protection is still there.
You're a smart guy. I'll have to disagree with you on this one. "Copy rights" were introduced in 16th century not to protect authors but to protect those in power. The Church and Crown were afraid uncontrolled printing would lead to heresy (Protestantism!) and sedition (Parliamentarianism, democracy!). They *allowed* printers' guild (Stationers' Company) to have a monopoly on printing in exchange for them helping with censorship desires of royalty and Church. Copyright was introduced to enable *censorship* and a *monopoly*. Chris -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
