16 Jan
2003
16 Jan
'03
5:53 p.m.
On Fri, 17 Jan 2003, Neil Carpenter wrote:
Apparently you don't truly own and value any
intellectual property of your
own. What you suggest is theft, as surely as if I were to break into your
house and begin moving out computers on handtrucks while you were away. It
doesn't matter if the property is owned by Disney or by me...it is property.
Appropriating it because you feel you have some _right_ to it (even though
you neither created it yourself nor paid for its creation) would put
somebody firmly into the Bolshevik camp.
You misunderstand me. I totally support intellectual property rights. I
also totally support the copyright system. However, what I don't support
is the abuse the system has suffered through major corporations over the
last several decades.
A lot of what the Founding Fathers committed this country to in our
Constitution is either being perverted or ignored. One of those things is
copyright law. The intent is to allow creative control to pass to the
public domain after the original creator has enjoyed a monopoly and has
been rewarded for it.
The best argument for this is the fact that many products of the largest
corporations today were derived from previous works that entered into the
public domain. They took those works, built upon them and created yet
more value and innovation (not unlike the patent system). The point is
that if this free flow of creativity is stopped by holding up copyrights
nearly indefinitely, creativity may suffer. Sure, people can always go
out and produce their own characters or works of fiction or whatever. But
the more corporations maintain control, the more power they will have to
claim that other works are infringing on their copyrights.
For example, I can never create a character called Dickey Mouse because
Disney would have a shit fit and sue my ass off. A company can't call
it's operating system "Lindows" without getting its ass sued off. This is
a real problem. The intent is not to rip-off other people's work, but to
use it as a basis for new creative invention. This is how we advance as a
civilization. If you don't believe me, sit back and let the corproations
maintain ownership of everything, and then let's see how far we progress
in a generation.
If language were copyrighted, we would still be talking like cavemen.
If you want to make a statement, stop buying Disney
products. Convince
your friends to stop buying Disney products. That is how honest, decent
men censor a company...not by hollow threats, even if they are weakly
labeled as fiction.
Ok, the day you read in the paper that I blew up Disney's headquarters,
I'll also be sending you a check for One Million Dollars!!
Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival
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