Source: slashdot. Laurent
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/441306be-2eb6-11da-9aed-00000e2511c8.html << James Boyle: More rights are wrong for webcasters By James Boyle Published: September 26 2005 18:58 | Last updated: September 26 2005 18:58 James BoyleI teach intellectual property law, a subject that is attracting attention from economists, political scientists and people who simply want to make money. These, after all, are the rules that define the highÂtechnology marketplace. Are we doing a good job of writing those rules? The answer is no. Three tendencies stand out. First and most lamentably, intellectual property laws are created without any empirical evidence that they are necessary or that they will help rather than hurt. Second, the policymaking process has failed to keep track of the increasing importance of intellectual property rights to everything from freedom of expression and communications policy to economic development or access to educational materials. We still make law as though it were just a deal brokered between industry groups -- balancing the interests of content companies with those of broadcasters, for example. The public interest in competition, access, free speech and vigorous technological markets takes a back seat. What matters is making the big boys happy. Finally, communications networks are increasingly built around intellectual property rules, as law regulates technology more and more directly; not always to good effect. The World Intellectual Property Organisation has now managed to combine all three lamentable tendencies at once. The Broadcasting and Webcasting Treaty, currently being debated in Geneva, is an IP hat trick. [...] Has WIPO commissioned empirical studies to see if the right was necessary, comparing those nations that adopted it with those that did not? Of course not. This is intellectual property policy: we do not need facts. We can create monopolies on faith. [...] >> (J'aime bien la derniere formule) http://news.ft.com/cms/s/dcaa9ca4-28d8-11da-8a5e-00000e2511c8.html << How open source gave power to the people By Richard Waters Published: September 19 2005 12:46 | Last updated: September 20 2005 16:42 Open sourceThe sedentary art of software development and the extreme sports of kitesurfing, sailplaning and canyoning would appear to have little in common. However, both are examples of a new force that could eventually affect a far broader range of companies and industries: the power of users to shape how products are developed. In the internet age, it seems, the next big idea to change your industry may come from an unexpected direction. As related* by Eric von Hippell, professor of management and innovation at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, followers of extreme sports have become expert at adapting and refining the equipment they use. Sometimes, the way these informal communities work can look very similar to the way open source software developers create their elaborate products.[...] >> _______________________________________________ Liste de discussion FSF France. http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsfe-france
