Someone Said:
> Let's say as part of graduation requirements you have to write a thesis.
> On the day you finish it, someone else copies it and turns it in for a
> grade. That person gets a passing grade and you get kicked out of
> school for plagiarizing "his" thesis
>
> Is this fair? Of course. It was not stolen. You still have your copy,
> you can still read it and let others read it too
I would have to disagree with this analogy, as this represents one person using another's work for personal profit. Now if someone was selling their MP3 collection, I'd buy into the correlation. Interesting enough, however, someone's thesis, or more importantly, the entire education system is made up of the SHARED knowledge and discoveries of others throughout history.
Greed has seriously screwed up an already flawed intellectual property system. It is one thing to have the rights to sell something, but the way in which authors/companies/inventors/microsoft try to CONTROL how people USE their IP is not only ridiculous, but represents a poorly designed business model.
For instance, DirecTV charges sports-bars more for the exact same service that they provide to an individual, because they are sharing the service. Do sports bars sell beer or DirecTV? It's a darn good thing the electric company doesn't do the same.
Should the cost of a new car be determined by how many people will be riding in it?
The Titanic filed a law suit against a company in Utah who was editing the nudity scene out of people's personal copy of the "Titanic" on VHS. That is plain silly. IMO, once I buy something, it is mine. For example, I hate logos. Anything I buy that has some advertisement on it, I remove it. Now should I be sued? What if I paid another to remove the logo for me, should they be sued?
You need the written consent of the NFL to recount or discuss their broadcasts? That is B.S. Intellectual property too easily becomes resource control.
It doesn't help much that the IP system is inconsistent and inconsistently enforced. Can I record songs legally from the radio? Can I record TV shows? Can I make copies of the songs I recorded from the radio to share with my friends? All those mixed tapes exchanged throughout 80s and 90s - damn criminals!!
The fact is, people don't like being told what they can(t) do with their own stuff, especially when they spent their own hard-earned cash on it. Laws represent the people, not control them. Greedy companies with lame models are getting what they deserve.
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