Phil Dadson wrote: > Yes, I reckon ADA should make a statement. > On the one hand we want availability, accessability and all that goes > with internet immediacy, and on the other, protection against the > piracythat cheats artists of a livelihood. I propose we initiate the > "rites of copy" a manifesto of a kind that advances the principle of > shared resources of all mankind, along with which we instigate a set of > rites, the 'ethics of respect' for all downloaders – willynilly or not – > to invoke before they embark on their hunt, much as our early ancestors > might have incanted to pacify the hunted. > Rite#1 Open my ears and open my eyes to the efforts of others from which > I take pleasure (rpt x 3) > Rite#3 Homage to the creative pool from which all things flow: I O U > (rpt x 3) > Rite#2 I will repay, I will repay, I will repay with a gift to another > (rpt x 3)
Yes. Rites are an excellent idea, and while I am not sure about the idea of a creative pool, the theme of humility and gratitude is exactly right. The hunter-gatherer metaphor fits well but not perfectly. Perhaps we need to also look at agrarian ethics of respect (all that stuff about commending the goat to god and not cooking it in its mother's milk) because downloading can be performed as much like harvest as hunt. Of course, the ecological and economic damage of greed falls differently than either, but you have to start somewhere and the rite is more about averting psychic harm to the individual. Or is it just to put them in the right frame of mind? Thinking back to the law: it ought to be a defence against copyright claims if you can prove you actually watched or heard the file in question. Perhaps you would need to keep a pirate's dairy, noting your reactions to each piece. Those guilty of being collectors would pay. Douglas _______________________________________________ Ada_list mailing list [email protected] http://aotearoadigitalarts.org.nz/
