Companies tossing aside consumers' freedoms

The San Jose Mercury News ^ | Sunday, January 18, 2004 | Dan Gillmor

[steve-b]

The copyright holder is not obliged to make it easy, or even accessible.

The Founders established the copyright and patent system upon a bargain: in exchange for a temporary government-granted monopoly, publishers and inventors would create works that would eventually mature into the public domain.

The installation of an restrictive technology that fails to distinguish between infringement and legitimate copying, and obstructs the latter as well as the former, is a breach of the copyright holder's end of the bargain.

[BlueNgold]

Your argument sounds like a lot of the same BS I hear from the college students who are upset that Napster got shut down. Your arguments don't hold water. The technology 'locks' will only affect materials obtained through limited online means. They have yet to develop or implement a CD or DVD I cannot copy with an old fashioned casette deck or VHS. Books and Newsapers are still subject to scanning and photocopying. You want to use the material .. buy a copy or check it out from your local library, and put it a little work on your own end. All this whining is honestly making me a little ill.

Should every Book come with a Word formatted copy on CD? Should your morning newspaper come with a pre-formatted diskette? Is the NYT inhibitting your rights by requiring a subscription to its online product? Sheesh. The technology cyphers are designed to protect online media from unauthorized copying. If your purposes are legitimate write a letter, request a copy, and if needed, pay the appropriate fees to which the copyright holder is entitled. You want everything easy and free, and that is NOT what the founders intended.

And finally ... anyone who claims to know what Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington et. al. would have thought about inernet and electronic media (or even CDs, Tapes, DVDs etc. - things they never perceived, conceived, and certainly never prepared for) is likely smoking from some of ole George's left over stash...

[steve-b]

anyone who claims to know what Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Washington et. al. would have thought about AK-47s inernet and electronic media....

[BlueNgold]

So, does the 2nd Ammd give you a right to own an ICBM? Some say yes, I think not. We obviously disagree on some issues. However, equating fair use provisions of copyright law with the explicit language of the 2nd Ammd is a stretch to say the least. How's Kazaa these days anyway? LMAO