]Krimel] Current copyright laws are obscene and should be repealed. [Craig] This is ignorance of the value of copyright laws; they do not restrict freedom of ideas. (When did you ever hear someone say: "I wish I knew what Pirsig says, but damn those copyright laws.") Copyright laws serve (1) the moral purpose of assuring an author receives deserved payment for his work & (2) the practical purpose of promoting the creation of ideas.
[Arlo] For a fair treatment of copyright issues, I recommend The Future of Ideas by Lawrence Lessig. Copryright laws, which are in actually an attempt by social level patterns to dominate intellectual level patterns, are a force that must be balanced between protecting the labor of the crafters and ensuring a vibrant, rich commons from which future innovation can evolve. We, as a culture, accept this otherwise immoral usurption of social level "property" over the free and unowned nature of ideas simply because of our culturally placed importance on wealth and money. Our love of money overshadows are desire to spread and grow information and knowledge, and we come up with trite little excuses like "without money, no one would innovate"... that is a cancer in our modern dialogue, but one I suspect will be around for quite a while. Ideas are born free, they are shackled by social level valuations of property and wealth, which sees ideas not as patterns for improving the human condition, but as patterns for the generation of wealth (and subsequently, power). Socially, we value the idea of financial compensation, and so moderate copyright laws are a forgivable immorality of our wealth-based society. But ultimately the MOQ goal should be the freeing, the unbridling, of knowledge and information, where ideas are not seen as some form of social property, but as patterns unowned and accessible by all. In the meantime, balance. And that is what I think Krimel was suggesting. In their zeal to secure wealth, copyright law has become a stifling and oppressive force, rather than a force for just compensation. This is just what Lessig argues, and his ideas about strengthening and valuing the "commons" (as he calls it) are something we should all consider. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
