Thursday, September 09, 2004

IP

From Links to Tens of Thousands of Legal Music Downloads (http://www.goingware.com/tips/legal-downloads.html):

...consider Slashdot user Quizo69's comment Illegal becomes legal if YOU change it, in which he points out that that although it was once illegal to be homosexual throughout the United States, the gay community worked together to fight sodomy laws. Through their efforts, state after state repealed their laws until the Supreme Court of the United States recently ruled the last sodomy laws unconstitutional.

If the gay community can fight millenia of hatred until they can live without fear of criminal prosecution, you can overturn the copyright laws. If you don't think you have the political power, consider that there aren't as many homosexual people in the U.S. as there are file traders.


Dunno that it's exactly "millenia of hatred", considering that the concept of a homosexual has only been around for a couple hundred years... and that I would judge the right to "be" (however you choose to interpret that) with someone regardless of gender far more basic than any IP right, whether protection from sharing or freedom to share... but point well taken.

The questions become: are filesharers dedicated enough to do so? Is the payoff worth the effort? What would the consequences be, besides allowing filesharing, and are they desirable?

I think that the current situation of IP is not only ridiculous but deplorable. (Of course, I find even the concept of IP ridiculous, but that's another topic.) Consequently, I support the EFF, and I back it up with the green (another thorny issue; we'll deal with it later). Current IP laws are used to crush or cripple innovation, rather than promote it, as was originally intended when such power was granted to the U.S. Congress in the Constitution.

Hmm, and it's now past midnight. 'Night!

No comments:

The City Born Great - How Long 'Til Black Future Month?

The second story in N. K. Jemisin's anthology How Long 'Til Black Future Month? , "The City Born Great," is an exciting ta...