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The only thing that matters when it comes to copyrights is what benefits society. It is not a matter of being rude or not being rude, it is not a matter of mor
by betterunix 14y ago
The only thing that matters when it comes to copyrights is what benefits society. It is not a matter of being rude or not being rude, it is not a matter of morality, it is not a matter of the creator's wishes, it is a matter of ensuring that the general public has access to "science and useful arts." Copyrights were created to promote businesses that make copies of creative works, because in the 18th century that was the best way to spread knowledge and art.
Of course, today we have a much better system for spreading knowledge: the Internet. We should be promoting that, and developing new systems for paying for creative work that are based on using the Internet (and especially peer to peer networks) to spread that work.
- Xcelerate 14y agoYou're saying an author's own wishes do not matter in the manner his work is treated?
- mhuffman 14y agoThat is correct. The intent of copyright is not to support the wishes of the author, but to stimulate the progress of arts and sciences. http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/events/courses/1996/cmwh/Copyright/origin.html http://www.geom.uiuc.edu/events/courses/1996/cmwh/Copyright/...
- gathly 14y agoI like this. Living in America, I get bombarded with the Libertarian idea that one should focus on the self so much that I forget that there was a time when focusing on the progress of society was not heresy.