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Date:      Wed, 14 Mar 2001 08:22:30 -0600
From:      Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
To:        Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc:        Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>, Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in>, "Victor R. Cardona" <vcardona@home.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Stallman stalls again
Message-ID:  <15023.32422.797683.174502@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20010313205518.00e2da30@localhost>
References:  <4.3.2.7.2.20010312215702.0445f5f0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20010311235053.00e26140@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20010311230800.00e19bd0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20010311193801.0441d3c0@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20010306122244.04477f00@localhost> <20010305200017.D80474@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010305123951.04604b20@localhost> <20010305205030.G80474@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010305125259.00cfdae0@localhost> <20010305142108.A17269@marx.marvic.chum> <4.3.2.7.2.20010306011342.045fb360@localhost> <20010306081025.A22143@marx.marvic.chum> <4.3.2.7.2.20010306092612.00b79f00@localhost> <20010306174618.N32515@lpt.ens.fr> <4.3.2.7.2.20010313205518.00e2da30@localhost>

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Ok, at this point Brett has stated what he thinks reality is, I've
pointed out the sections of the US code that say otherwise, and he's
responded by picking nits about how I refer to the code, and repeating
his claims, seemingly without checking the references I provided, and
definitely without providing references of his own. That means this is
a shouting match, not a discussion. This does nothing to help arrive
at the peace I am looking for and Brett claims he's looking for, and
is a waste of time.

	<mike

Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> types:
> At 01:38 AM 3/13/2001, Mike Meyer wrote:
> 
> >So? One of the first things the US did with the constitution was
> >change it.
> 
> By adding the Bill of Rights, which conferred explicit rights upon
> the people. You're proposing to take rights away.
> 
> >Not only are you once again assuming the solution is what you want it
> >to be rather than discussing the issue, you're also making a false
> >claim.  You have the right to create copies of your works and give
> >them away without any copyright laws at all.
> 
> If there are no copyright laws, I have no right to ask that they not 
> be copied further. I make nothing from my work and have less incentive
> to create more. That's not good.
> 
> > You also have the right
> >to requires those receiving them to adhere to whatever restrictions
> >you require of them. That's the basis of trade secret protection.
> 
> Trade secret laws protect information, not specific expressions of
> ideas. 
> 
> There are other problems with relying on trade secret protection as
> well. It's very weak, legally. In fact, to obtain such protection,
> one must generally require recipients to sign ironclad non-disclosure
> agreements. What's more, if the information "gets out" due to theft, 
> or any action on the part of a party other than the person who signed
> the NDA, I have little or no recourse. 
> 
> >I already said the creators had the right to control recording a
> >performance.  performance, but that right is *not* granted by title
> >17. 
> 
> Actually, it is. Creating a fixation of the performance without 
> permission is a violation of copyright. As is doing a performance
> for profit without compensating the author.
> 
> >Yup. And when roads became ubiquitous, buggy whip manufacturers
> >folded. That's what happens when there are major technological
> >changes.
> 
> This is a poor analogy. Music, art, prose, etc. are the products, 
> and they are same as they ever were.
> 
> >> I doubt that libraries will cease to be.
> >
> >The librarians don't agree with you.
> 
> Yes, they do, actually. The director of our local library is 
> heavily involved in the NLA, and we've spoken about this subject. 
> She, like me, is concerned that libraries will be most hurt by the 
> fallout of war between content distributors and content consumers, 
> not by the existence of copyright or copyright laws.
> 
> >The fundamentals aren't sound - they economic balances which are no
> >longer true.
> 
> There is nothing in the fundamental principles that specifies any 
> particular economic balance. 
> 
> >So simply make high bandwidth data connections illegal. That makes
> >more sense and is violates fewer rights than the existing
> >practices. Of course, the reality is that high bandwidth data pipes
> >don't make it impossible to protect those rights. The existence of
> >publicly available copying equipment makes it impossible to protect
> >those rights. Publishers gave up trying to enforce it for audio
> >cassettes, and got a similar compromise with royalties on audio cd's
> >(which you pay even if your recordings are all fair use or original
> >material). That's why the publishers aren't trying to simply ban high
> >bandwidth connections, they are placing technological limits on
> >peoples ability to make copies, such that I can't, for instance, put
> >anything better than VCR quality videos of family on DVD-RAMs to share
> >with my family. 
> 
> This is part of the fallout of the Content War. A large number of people
> are -- like you -- claiming that there should be no copyright, and many
> (e.g. the users of Napster, Gnutella, Freenet, etc.) are distributing 
> copies of copyrighted works far and wide without paying for them. The
> content distributors' response is to act as if there already IS no 
> copyright and restrict content via other means. Had people like Stallman
> and Barlow not instigated and escalated the war, the publishers would not 
> have felt as if they had no choice but to deploy these "weapons."
> 
> >This isn't a new thing - it's been going on since the
> >publishers managed to delay the introduction of DAT tapes to the US
> >market 
> 
> SCMS is pretty much ineffectual. Any "professional" deck can be set to
> ignore it, and most consumer decks can be easily hacked to do the
> same.
> 
> >while they discussed audio watermarking and other violations of
> >the public and artists rights.
> 
> Watermarking isn't a violation of anyone's rights. 
> 
> --Brett
> 
> 
--
Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

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