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Date:      Sat, 5 May 2001 04:04:02 -0500
From:      Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>
To:        Chris Moline <ugly-daemon@home.com>
Cc:        chat@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: Publishers attacks on public rights.
Message-ID:  <15091.49666.472409.96677@guru.mired.org>
In-Reply-To: <20010504224056.A48556@h24-67-61-12.lb.shawcable.net>
References:  <15090.43795.549818.410213@guru.mired.org> <20010504224056.A48556@h24-67-61-12.lb.shawcable.net>

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Chris Moline <ugly-daemon@home.com> types:
> On Fri, May 04, 2001 at 08:13:55AM -0500, Mike Meyer wrote:
> > Anyone following the ongoing attacks from rapacious publishers on the
> > publics rights might be interested in the article by Ann Bartow at
> > <URL: http://www.osu.edu/units/law/LawJournal/bartow.htm >. She's a
> > professor in the University of South Carolina's School of Law, and
> > examines the effects of those attacks on libraries, along with
> > recommendations for responses to those attacks.
> I mostly just skimmed through the article but I was wondering does
> anyone here think that not buying books from publishers who do such
> things, and not using libraries, or going to universities that also
> do such things be an effective approach? I for one absolutely refuse
> to buy from any bookstore or any publisher that restricts my rights
> in this way. After all what do you think was one of the reasons I
> abandoned Microsoft??

[format recovered - please set your mailer to use real newlines.]

Unless it's part of a nationally publicized boycott, you're probably
doing more damage to yourself than to them, as all the publisher sees
is a nominal drop in sales across all product lines. It would be
better to refuse to buy any product that restricts your rights in some
way, as then the publisher will see a drop only in the product lines
that restrict the public's rights. If enough people refuse to buy such
products, the product line will die, viz DIVX.

This does require being aware of what products enforce such
restrictions, but in some cases the publishers do the job for you. For
instance, if you buy a DVD player that's not region locked, then DVD's
that are locked against such players won't play. So you take them
back, and get a refund.

	<mike
--
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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