Let us limit our discussion to copyrights only. Patents, trademarks and so forth are a whole other can of worms, and something we might reserve for something else.
On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 10:57:53AM +0800, Dean Michael C. Berris wrote: > If it's not a question about fairness, then I don't know what piracy and > copyright is all about then. > It's a question of the government's balancing the public's sacrificing its right to free speech to give incentives to the people who create music, novels, computer software, and other similar things. An author does not have a natural right to her creations as you seem to think. The copyright is created only by law. > Copyright is more just like your deed to property -- what is yours is > yours, and shall be the owner UNTIL you 'consciously yield' your rights > to that property. It isn't. Have you got a text of some copyright law that states this? I've never seen one that puts it quite that way. > I don't see how copyright in itself is a restriction on the freedom of > speech. Think more carefully. It is a restriction on freedom of speech. For instance, without a license from the author of a poem, I do not have the right to recite the poem in public (fair use may apply though, but that's yet another complication). I do not have the right to republish a copyrighted book without a license from the author, making it also a restriction on freedom of the press. The government creates copyright, creating limitations on these freedoms, because it will help stimulate the creation of more content. > So you mean saying that piracy is wrong is an effect of swallowing the > IP propaganda pill? No. I'm saying that thinking of ideas as property is an effect of swallowing the IP propaganda pill, and the wrong perspective it creates is a muddle we can better do without. > If that's so, then I might just have swallowed the > pill. But I stand by my statement and belief that piracy is wrong. > Illegal or otherwise, it shouldn't be done UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE. > Agreed. Unauthorized copying shouldn't be done, because the laws that prevent it generally serve their purpose, and violating them causes more problems than they solve in most cases. -- The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself. http://stormwyrm.blogspot.com/ -- Philippine Linux Users' Group (PLUG) Mailing List [email protected] (#PLUG @ irc.free.net.ph) Official Website: http://plug.linux.org.ph Searchable Archives: http://marc.free.net.ph . To leave, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/plug . Are you a Linux newbie? To join the newbie list, go to http://lists.q-linux.com/mailman/listinfo/ph-linux-newbie
