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On Thu, Jun 05, 2003 at 05:27:46PM -0600, Matt W. wrote: > From: "Grant Robinson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > an audiophile. If I don't think one sounds good, I buy it anyway, and > > then download a 192 Kbps MP3 from Limewire to actually use on my CD's >=20 > Great idea, my Archos doesn't support ACC and I'm not yet in the market f= or > buying another player. At least not untill they come out with more that > support OGG. >=20 > At the risk of starting a drawn out discussion that may end up in some > uug.byu.edu poll: I wonder if there technically are legal implications w= ith > this method. I've never been quite sure if given that I own the cassett > tape version of an album, if I then have the right to own MP3s ripped fro= m a > CD version of the album. Oooo... a copyright debate. My favorite pass-time! What does this have to do with UNIX/Linux/Free Software? Quite a bit, actually, given recent legal issues creeping up with the GPL and various lawsuits and what not regarding UNIX and copyright. And if you don't think any of this applies to you, a Linux/BSD/*NIX user, just wait a few years. You'll get an e-mail from a potential employer that you won't be able to read, short of violating the DMCA. Or you will visit your bank's web site, only to discover that you cannot transact business online without buying and installing a Trusted (read: Treacherous) Computing Platform-compliant operating system... which takes the policy-setting for your own machine out of your hands and gives it to a third party. First, some background reading: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/reevaluating-copyright.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/freedom-or-copyright.html http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/copyright-versus-community.html Okay, now it's *my* turn to rant! This is a long rant, and so feel free to stop reading at any time and get back you whatever else you have to do with your life. First and foremost, I wish to emphasize that copying is your fundamental God-given right. You are born with the natural freedom to copy anything you want to copy. We as a society choose to ``spend'' that freedom for the promise of bettering our society. We enact a social contract with content producers. We promise them that, if they make and distribute an intellectual work, then we, as a society, will see to it that they have the exclusive right to copy and to distribute that work for a limited period of time. We collectively give up our fundamental freedom to copy in exchange for the potential of having more copy-able content produced. The notion of ``copyright'' is an artificial construct that our elected government has created. It does not by any means reinforce any kind of natural law that exists in the absence of government. By providing the content producers and/or distributors the exclusive monopoly over the copying and the distribution intellectual works, the government is hoping to provide profit motive for content production. In fact, the term ``copyright'' itself is a misnomer. It would be more accurately termed, ``copyprivilege.'' We grant to content producers the privilege of exclusivity over the reproduction and distribution of their works for a limited time. This is an agreement we enter into; it is a barter, or a trade that is made. We give up our freedom, and they give us their content. To the extent that we value this bargain, we should be willing to uphold copyright and to support it. To the extent that the scales become tipped too far to one side, we should be willing to fight it in the legislature, in the courts, and in what we say to others. That said, let us turn to Bryan's statement, ``Does that like ease your conscience or something?'' I fear that we have digressed into a society where ``copy'' has become nothing more than a dirty word, no matter what the context. If you copy, you're a pirate. You're a thief. You're a BAD PERSON. You should feel bad, because you are SINNING if you copy! Such consistent and pervasive negative reinforcement is doing wonders to skew the moral perspective of our culture. When it comes to copyright law, there is a lot more gray area than many people are willing to recognize. Any particular act of copying may or may not be an act of copyright infringement; that needs to be determined in a court of law. Many forms of copying are permitted under the Fair Use clause, which has a list of highly subjective conditions whereby an act of copying may or may not be judged to be=20 infringing. Making 1,000 copies of the latest Madonna CD and selling them on the sidewalk would probably be considered copyright infringement (although the perpetrator of such an atrocity would arguably be guilty of a far more egregious crime against our society :-). On the other hand, someone who tapes an entire movie that is broadcast on the television would be perfectly within his legal rights (see the Sony Corporation of America vs. Universal Studios Supreme Court decision of 1984 regarding VCR's). Downloading an MP3 of a song for which you have already purchased the cassette tape might fall somewhere in between. In my book, it would be squarely on the side of non-infringing. However, it is ultimately up to the courts to make that decision. If the producer of the content felt like you were in violation of the copyright social contract, he could press the infringement charges against you in court. And the court would most likely find you innocent of any violation of the copyright social contract. In fact, if anyone is in violation of copyright, it is the RIAA. It is Disney. They are in violation of the letter of the law as it was presented in the Constitution (``limited'' is rendered a useless condition through the copy protection trickery of the DMCA), and they are very much in violation of the spirit of the law. Media mega-corporations like these are in violation of the mutual agreement that we as a society have entered into with them. They are taking more control at the direct expense of our fundamental freedom. They press to take away from us more and more of our natural liberty to copy in order to extend their control over intellectual works and to secure more profit. Music, movies, and other works will continue to be made without their business that exploits such works and their creators. When all is said and done, they do no good for our society. In the end, it is clear why we have people like Jack Valenti coming out and stating bold-faced, ``There is no such thing as Fair Use.'' I fear that some of us are starting to actually believe statements like these that are being pounded into our minds day in and day out by the media. It's about power. It's about control. Content producers have a vested self-interest in content control. They want to wrest control and freedom to copy away from us, the people, because frankly, it is profitable for them to do that. If they can make us believe that we are not entitled to those freedoms in the first place, it is all the more easier to get laws passed under our noses which actually take those freedoms away from us. When freedoms are stolen from us by their efforts, we become many times poorer as a society. It turns out that things are quite a bit different than we would be led to believe. They are the thieves. They are the pirates. Thanks for listening, Mike --=20 ------------------------------------------- | --------------------- Michael Halcrow | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | Don't buy what you can't pay for. But when | it comes to software, don't pay for what | you can't buy. | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------- GnuPG Keyprint: 05B5 08A8 713A 64C1 D35D 2371 2D3C FDDA 3EB6 601D --OXfL5xGRrasGEqWY Content-Type: application/pgp-signature Content-Disposition: inline -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.1 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQE+3/ybLTz92j62YB0RAumVAJ4lGnQReaaWXFesic6XVu6VugraegCgtTDQ XnszqDI0DxwpHAiLvoQ0Fxc= =0xgs -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --OXfL5xGRrasGEqWY--
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