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Copyright are government granted monopolies. That it has resulted in a huge industry that lives out of rent seeking and produces nothing of value is hardly surp
by uriel 17y ago
Copyright are government granted monopolies. That it has resulted in a huge industry that lives out of rent seeking and produces nothing of value is hardly surprising, and as technology threatens their rotten business models expect their grip on government to tighten and to capture the whole legal system.
- silentOpen 17y agoGet a grip, the internet will win in the end. Technology is society's master, not the other way around.
- InclinedPlane 17y agoI'd like to think so. But honestly I think it could go either way. Not because of technology but because of society's seeming apathy about the value of liberty.
- silentOpen 17y agoThe relevant liberty here is the liberty of data. It is probably the most widely exercised form of political protest/lawlessness/criminality today (drug use being a close runner-up: liberty of body). So, no, I don't think our apathy will allow the government to be overrun by copyright thugs -- we already have the cure and it's already prevalent. Now, these are fairly base liberties being totally about the individual: "Copying data doesn't deprive. I want this data. Yay!" "Doing drugs doesn't hurt others. I want to feel different. Yay!" The trick will be to maintain our loftier ideals like freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the right to privacy which I can very, very easily see being taken away.