>>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 11/07/03 1:21 PM >>> >. . . resists the urge to post unecessary inflammatory material . . .
lol. Despite our collectively demonstrated inability to resist impassioned debates -- and despite the fact that many of us have agreed, voluntarily, to cool our heels a bit today, I'd like to post a question to the group. I'm not trying to prove a point; I'm not trying to bait anyone. I was discussing this topic with a friend of mine today and he posed the question to me -- it caused me to reconsider my position that copyright should end with a creator's life, largely because I couldn't think of an answer to it. His question was: what difference is there between a creator's right to chis own work, and other property rights? The implied question, of course, is what difference is there between a book I write and sell, and a doll house I make for my daughter? If someone has the right to take control of my creative work from me, should they then be able to take my daughter's doll house? If there is no difference in my property rights, regardless of the type of property, then I'm forced to reconsider my position that copyrights shouldn't be inheritable. If I can pass my hard-earned money, home, etc. on to my decendants at death, why not control of my creative works? I honestly couldn't see a difference -- but that doesn't mean one doesn't exist. I'm genuinely interested in the group's thoughts on the issue. The implied question here is, can the group engage in a discussion with differing ideas without decending into pettiness? :) Additionally, I think this might actually be a good argument for forums -- while most of us do not prefer them, and they're not suited to many discussions, they might well be suited to long-running and oft-debated topics that some of the group wish to pursue, but of which others of the group have grown weary. Your thoughts? Dave ____________________ BYU Unix Users Group http://uug.byu.edu/ ___________________________________________________________________ List Info: http://uug.byu.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/uug-list
