On 11/21/06, Rachel Garrett <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 11/21/06, Stewart Stremler <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Think of copyright law -- if we can avoid the Sonny Bono corruption case
> -- as providing a system where authors can deposit their works into the
> public domain directly, but with a countdown clock.
>
> Abolishing copyright (law) sets the countdown clock to 0.
>
> Disney wants to set the clock to forever.
>
> I bet that most folks (here) think a *reasonable* solution is to set the
> clock between those two extremes.
The clock should be set negative.
Hurrah!!!! Finally an original thought. Just when I thought
it was impossible.
Now my own thought was that more than time is involved.
Space too is a variable. At the moment nation states tend
to feel that they can carve up geo space ... but then there
is also cyber space.
Secondlife has an alternative space, replete with an
economy and cyber real estate agents. One of them
made over $100,000 last year selling space in SecondLife.
http://secondlife.com/
(SL has a currency market that allows one to convert
between their currency, Linden Dollars and US dollars) So
why not issues of copyright in that space ... i.e. decided
by the jurisprudence of the cyber community. And why
should some arbitrary geographic community, e.g. the
USA have any particular jurisdiction in this issue?
And let us suppose the "USA" decided they have jurisdiction
over SecondLife, how do they propose to enforce that
jurisdiction? What or who will they jail? What or which
bank account will the seize?
Ultimately these things all come down to economics and
enforcement (i.e. power in various forms and quite pragmatic
and practical issues), neither of which has been even
broached in this turgid, lengthy, and remarkably sterile
exchange.
Sigh,
BobLQ
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