From: Paul Hughes (paul@planetp.cc)
Date: Tue Aug 29 2000 - 23:50:41 MDT
I don't know about you guys, but the recent trends among Corporate
America to strengthen Intellectual Property Laws beyond the DMCA has got
me very concerned and agitated. I'm all for seeing creators of
intellectual property be compensated fairly for their work, but recent
moves within our legal system are really starting to disturb me. I
think the story "The Right to Read" by Stallman at:
http://www.gnu.ai.mit.edu/philosophy/right-to-read.html
paints a very compelling reason to limit the protections of current
intellectual property. The intent of copyright in the first place was
to grant the creator, for a *limited* time, a monopoly on that idea for
personal or financial gain as an incentive to spur further creativity in
society. But now corporations have managed to co-opt this principle by
extending such protections indefinitely. Its been the principles of
'Fair Use' that have allowed our knowledge pool to grow and evolve. It
has been compellingly argued that if Shakespeare were alive today, he
would not have been able to publish the majority of his plays under
current IP restrictions. Regardless of any other free-market principles
that's a pretty sobering thought. Limiting and locking up knowledge to
the extent that corporations are now trying to do can only mean a deeper
poverty of knowledge and capital down the road. As a person who
believes in a diverse competitive free-market the current trends in
Corporate America have really gotten me down. Is it time for a
reassessment? Is capitalism the problem, or is what we have so
perturbed by regulation that it can't truly be called capitalism?
Either way, their is definitely a growing unrest as to what many people
see as Corporate Power gone out of control. The recent scuffle in
Seattle is only the beginning of more civil unrest over the issue of
Corporate Profits vs. Individual Liberties.
Jusr in the last year or so Microsoft's has campaigned successfully to
change existing ownership laws and rights in 5 states to favor their
leasing paradigm. Is this a sign of much worse things to come? Already
Microsoft has taken a strong position that when you buy their software
by saying you do not own your copy, you are only licensing the right to
*use* it. And along with that granted right to license this software
you will be subject to all the stipulations of said license.
Beyond the fact that I wholehearted disagree with the ludicrous idea
that I can't own software I buy, ultimately Microsoft has every right
to do with their product (I mean service) as they please. This is all
encompassed in their their new .NET strategy by the way. Luckily for
now, LINUX is defying this leasing model. But what really bothers me
about this is the trend of many software companies moving away from
private ownership of software into the 'leasing a service' paradigm.
--> Already Microsoft has put into some of their licensing agreements
stipulations forbidding any user of their service from disparaging the
company in any way. In other words, as long as your using a Microsoft
product (damn, I mean service) you have no freedom of speech, as you
signed that right away when you signed up for their service. If you
violate this part of the license they'll yank your privileges. It is my
understanding that a new feature implemented in Office Suite 2000, has a
mandatory connection to Big Brother (damn, I mean Microsoft). If a
connection is severed for a certain period of time your license will be
revoked.
Hopefully big business around the world will not catch on to this nifty
loophole in our legal system as a way of stripping everyone of their
freedoms as a condition to use their service. Of course you don't have
to use their service, but if they are the only game in town (through
sufficient merging and consolidation), your only alternative would be to
live in the proverbial tent.
I have always tried to maintain freemarket principles, but when I see
corporations gaining this much power over individual lives, I begin to
doubt those beliefs and my appreciation of capitalism as usual. Now,
here is a scary question - is capitalism now at odds with the spirit of
a free market, and more importantly individual liberty? For those with
strong reactions to this question, I am urging you to respond as
intelligently and rationally as you can.
Paul Hughes
P.S. Lets not forget the DeCSS case as a clear cut example of how big
business can get laws changed to successfully infringe on freedom of
speech.
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