begin quoting Bob La Quey as of Wed, Nov 22, 2006 at 12:14:20AM -0800: > 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/
Looks like P.T. Barnum would be SOO jealous... > (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? All that wonderful cyber stuff *still* relies on physical cables. Bits reside on a machine, connected to that cable, connected to the power grid, all residing at some geolocation. > 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? Whomever they wish. The real guns of the "USA" trump virtual guns, every time. So far. Until somebody decides that having a gun with built-in wirelss network capability would be a Good Idea, I suppose. > 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. Economics have been part of the thread, here and there, but generally it's best to leave the economic analysis to those of you who rejoice in such things. -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
