Re: Information & Power /Alexandria library

From: Lee Daniel Crocker (lcrocker@mercury.colossus.net)
Date: Tue May 04 1999 - 16:10:32 MDT


> I don't "cling" to it or anything like a security blanket, I USE it.
> It protect's my work in what ever terms you want to put it. I have no idea
> what your problem with what I said is I merely stated why I use it, for
> poetry (that I too have had published). As long as I'm writing, and the laws
> are set up as such I will continue to use them.

I have no problem with you personally using whatever means are at
your disposal--I am arguing against the existence of those means in
the first place. When 95% of the population believes something,
it's hard to fault one individual for following the crowd, so I
apologize if that sounded like a personal slur. In today's world,
individual artists may indeed need copyrights--because the market
and common practices are set up under the assumption of their use.
But that view is short-sighted. Extropians should be more forward-
looking and willing to see beyond the next meal, next quarter, or
even next century.

I believe that copyrights and patents are shackles holding back
human progress, and I have spent a long time fighting them and
fighting the common misconceptions about them. Rest assured, I
know the precise details of copyright and patent law to the letter,
can quote the Feist and Markman decisions from memory, and keep up
with all the treaties that are making things even worse. It is not
from ignorance that I protest. Sometimes you have to jump out of
the system for a while and imagine a very different world. Some
of that world I've detailed before many times here (you can find
much discussion in the archives--just look for a thread with lots
of posts by me and Michael Lorrey :)

--
Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html>
"All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past,
are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified
for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC


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