Subject:
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Re: Laws and Copying 2x4 Bricks, was Re: Solid Aluminum 2x4 Bricks!
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.buy-sell-trade
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Date:
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Tue, 4 Jun 2002 17:00:37 GMT
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Viewed:
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896 times
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Well, gee Erik -- that was a lot more than I was willing to go into, but
still nicely done.
But I still think these things are sort of decided in advance even if they
make some screwy turns along the way. There's a lot at stake right now for
several large corporations as to the whole "ours" v. public domain thing --
and it does keep getting extended in favor of the large corporations. But
at some point I think there will be backlash and we will see tighter
controls on the private ownership of an idea.
I think the progression to broaden private ownership of an idea (in the
U.S.) has been from 14 years, to 28 years, to life + 50 years, to life + 75
years (and this is where we see the fight today over Steamboat Willy and
such). The stakes are high, but public interest must have it's day finally
too. After all, only the most obnoxiously big-headed persons would assert
that their ideas were born in a vacuum rather than proceeding from the flow
of ideas that are a part of culture as a whole (more of a continuum in my view).
And this is where Gibson's "The street finds its own use for things" is
correct. The people of the world are tired of the idea strangle-hold that
corporations insist upon -- the tighter they grip, the more people are
tempted to violate that level of control. Perhaps the right to exert that
level of control doesn't really exist in the first place. What's more, that
level of concern for what has already gone stifles further innovation. I
think its quite funny that yesterday's phone-phreaks are today's copyright
and patent crazy corporate moguls.
Q: "How did you get where you are today, Mr. *****?"
A: "Corporate theft."
We shall see which side wins in the end. Maybe what the courts decide
doesn't really matter. If you can get away with it long enough to make so
much money that no one can touch you -- who cares what the laws say?
-- Hop-Frog
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