From: Dan Fabulich (daniel.fabulich@yale.edu)
Date: Sat Aug 12 2000 - 16:45:17 MDT
Lorrey wrote:
> Just because it is easy for you to violate a person's right does not
> mean that right never existed. I can disarm, rape, and kill people all
> day long. That doesn't mean I didn't violate their rights or that they
> had no rights to life, self defense, or control of their bodies.
I'm not arguing that the right never existed, just that the right to
prevent others from copying information doesn't exist now.
Anyway, my main point is this: Even if it is an existant right to
prevent others from copying certain pieces of information, there's
nothing that you can do to stop it, and the situation will become even
more hopeless for you as encryption and "ripping" technologies of
various sorts improve. You might regard these developments as bad; I
don't. But they are unstoppable.
> > It is irrational to try to enforce intellectual property rights on a
> > world containing encryption.
>
> Sorry, that is a morally vacant statement. Its like saying its
> irrational to enforce one's right to life in a world where killing
> people is easy.
It's not irrational to enforce one's alleged right. It's irrational
to TRY to do so if enforcement is impossible. (Lucky for us, it's a
lot easier to enforce one's right to live than it is to enforce
copyright.)
-Dan
-unless you love someone-
-nothing else makes any sense-
e.e. cummings
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