Re: It's now illegal to turn on your computer

On 12/30/07, Alan Dayley <alandd@consultpros.com> wrote:
> Joshua Zeidner wrote:
> --[clip good stuff]--
> > I haven't been appreciating Lawrence Lessig as of late, he appears
> > to have sold out to some kind of academic or corporate interest. A
> > lot of relevant issues have been propping up, and Lessig hasn't said a
> > word, instead he now concentrates on some kind of vague crusade
> > against 'corruption'. And he's supposed to be the vanguard of
> > copyright issues on the net.
> >
> > -jmz
>
> Lessig is still doing good things, he is just backing away from being
> the "Free Culture poster child." I think it is wise for him to do so.
> The movement has to learn to go on without him. Better now when they
> can still get advice from him than after he is dead, or worse.
>
> Alan

Fair enough, Alan. At this point, I think the Free Culture
advocates should have the basic issues pinned down: DRM, Cryptography
rights, etc. There is clearly a right-wing and left-wing emerging as
well.

left-wing: all information and data is free to reproduce and has no
ownership properties associated with it. There are no natural rights
to impose technological or legal restrictions on users or consumers.

right-wing: it is the responsiblity of the citizen and consumer to
protect the 'natural' rights of the publisher with respects to
copyright, patent, etc.

I think that the issues tend to really heat up when it is examined
/quantitatively/. As most in the software world have experienced any
idea you may have is probably already being worked on by someone,
somewhere. Claiming right of patent or copyright is almost an act of
selfishness these days. Because ultimately, whatever laws we put in
place are presumably for the greater good, and that groups like the
RIAA ultimately take the stance that what they are arguing for is a
more productive and efficient society. After all enforcing property
rights does have a positive effect in some milieu.

-jmz
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