Re: Re: Pirate PHP books online?

On Monday 30 July 2007, David Powers wrote: > Larry Garfield wrote: > > copyright infringement is NOT "taking something > > without paying for it". Copyright infringement is duplicating "an > > expression of an idea that is fixed in a medium" without the permission > > of the copyright holder. Money doesn't enter into it. > > If the licence under which the work was released stipulates payment, > money does become an integral aspect of any infringement. > > > If copyright infringement were "taking something without paying for it", > > then anyone who's ever installed PHP is guilty of copyright infringement > > unless they sent Rasmus a check. That is, of course, nonsense. > > This is a nonsensical comparison, because installing PHP is not an > infringement of copyright. The PHP licence specifically grants the right > to use and distribute PHP, as long as certain conditions are met: > > http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt It's supposed to be a nonsensical comparison. :-) I was pointing out that the "copyright infringement == taking without giving money" statement was false because of examples like PHP itself. > > And the rank-and-file artists and authors of the world do not benefit > > from perpetuating that lie. The current direction the law is moving, > > toward more restrictions on the exchange of information, is bad for > > anyone who isn't Robert Iger or Britney Spears. That's why it is > > important to confront and correct that lie. It must be corrected before > > copyright can be sanely reformed to benefit the public (its supposed > > goal) and original > > artists/authors, not a select few mega-corps. > > Unfortunately, the tactics used by pirates are disproportionately > harmful to rank-and-file artists and authors. I don't see the pirates > simply going away if and when copyright law is amended. Nor do I. Some degree of copyright infringement will always exist, and changes in technology increase the ease with which copying (legal or illegal) can occur. The solution, in my opinion, is to revise copyright law such that more typical behavior has a better chance of benefiting the original author/artist without creating a hostile environment for the the end user. That is, make "casual pirates" into customers. As long as we hold onto the "OMG he copied a CD it's stealing send him to prison for a decade!" mentality, though, that cannot happen. And no, that won't do anything about "professional pirates", the groups who duplicate illicitly for profit. I am perfectly happy with them behind bars. -- Larry Garfield AIM: LOLG42 larry@garfieldtech.com ICQ: 6817012 "If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it." -- Thomas Jefferson