RE: A Question of Ethics

["John Locke" <mail -at- freelock -dot- com>]

>From a technical communicator's perspective, this whole discussion has an
amusingly familiar refrain. It's remarkable how the two sides have continued
to argue different points, and completely miss the other side. Much like
arguments between marketing and development groups...

Andrew has repeatedly voiced the refrain "it's against the law, and it's in
my best interest, so lock all them criminals up!" [paraphrase made up by me,
not Andrew] I wonder if he feels the same way about the drug laws.

Kevin repeatedly attempts to point out that the laws don't necessarily
reflect reality, and wishing doesn't make it so... So maybe we all better
find a new way to make our profits.

I have to say that as big a fan of Andrew as I usually am, I find myself
siding with Kevin on this one...

Copyright was originally designed to provide the incentive for individual
authors/artists/creators of many stripes to create works for the public
domain. See the various links others have posted for a better history. It
seems we've carried that incentive to an extreme--now it can take a century,
or more, for something to reach the public domain. Where's the good in that?

I've had a long interest in copyright, and used to agree with Andrew about
protecting my work. But I've come to realize that ideas are a dime a
dozen--it's the execution of the ideas that's valuable. Creating a work is
work, but locking it up only limits the distribution. I have yet to see any
claim that Napster resulted in reduced sales by the recording
companies--they themselves keep reporting record sales... (sorry!) Napster,
as much as the recording companies hated it, had mainly acted as a free
advertising source until it was shut down. Yes it was illegal, yes a lot of
people got free music from it, but are you telling us, Andrew, that the 45
million people who used it are now all criminals? Show us the loss of
revenue from the record companies... Are you also going to tell us you never
photocopied any copyrighted work without paying for it? It's technically
illegal to make a copy of a book in the library, but the courts haven't shut
down libraries because of that fact...

Most people aren't out to screw their neighbors. We all have to live here
together, and we all have to make a living. Most people, given the choice,
won't steal the work of others, physical or intellectual (yes I know there
are plenty of exceptions). But when the system is so broken that people
become criminals for doing things they'd like to do with their own stuff,
that they bought and paid for--like watching a DVD on a Linux system, or
instantly downloading new music to listen to, or not buying the same e-book
three times--it's the laws that need changing. Our prisons are full enough.

Cheers,

--John Locke
http://www.freelock.com


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