rms, information flow, copyright, and randomness...

[katster]

We got the wrong metaphor. Information is not like a superhighway, and yet it is. Information is about flow. Flow implies liquid. Like a river running to the sea. infodeluge, anyone? We ain't putting it back, not that easily.

Went to see Richard Stallman talk tonight. It really was an interesting talk, he's got some interesting views on copyright that I need to think about for a while. They're close to my own views, but not quite. One of the interesting things he mentioned was that copyright was an industrial technique. Before there was printing presses, there was no copyright. And I found it interesting.

I also found his solution to the problem interesting too. That is, divide works up into three forms, functional (software, recipies, dictionaries, reference books, textbooks), "works that stand for something else" (essays, memiors, the like), and entertainment (novels, movies, etc.) It's not perfect, but it's a different way of thinking about the problem, and I have to admire the guy for stepping back and thinking outside the lines.

Yes. This will require more thinking and some reading. I bought his new book of essays, and it's next on my reading list after Cluetrain Manifesto and school reading.

Speaking of Cluetrain Manifesto, I found this point rather cool:

88. We have better things to do than worry about whether you'll change in time to get our business. Business is only a part of our lives. It seems to be all of yours. Think about it: who needs whom?


That amused me.

Anyway, bed, I have database homework to do tomorrow.

Comments

[zorbathut.livejournal.com]

I think RMS is interesting, but a bit psychotic for my tastes :P I'd like to be able to come up with a good software project and get funding to keep it going, and honestly, the only way I can do that is by selling it. And RMS doesn't want that to be possible.

I don't have a problem with people saying "I'm making all my software free". That's their choice. Geez, I've made a lot of free stuff too. I just have a problem with people saying "I'm making all *your* software free too". :P

[katster.livejournal.com]

yeah. I see your point.

As I said, I don't agree with everything he said, but there are things I want to think about and fiddle with in my head. Stallman is the other end from the extreme we happen to be at in the moment with such wonderful things as the DMCA and the CBTPA and the whole Digital Rights Management fscking mess...

I do believe corporations have entirely too much power in this country, and I wish a written letter would be as convincing as lobbyist money, but the fact of the matter is that it isn't. And it sucks.

I wish more folks read Spider Robinson, he's got a wonderful short story on the matter of copyrights and the direction we're heading, called "Melancholy Elephants." And what do you do when everything is copyrighted or patented or otherwise proprietary, and there's no new works, because, well, everything in the end is derivative?

I mean, I want to find a common ground here, where I have the ability to sample music I like and pay the artists directly if I find a good song, but on the other hand, protecting your right, if you so choose, to make money off your software. I know there's got to be a middle ground here, but I'm not sure where that line is.

And increasingly, it seems to me that this will be one of the big problems our generation has to solve.

-kat

[zorbathut.livejournal.com]

I think I actually found a copy of Melancholy Elephants online and posted a link to it in my LJ a while back . . . :P

But yeah. Agreed. Corporations are way way WAY too powerful right now, it's not law to protect the people, it's law to protect the corporations. Which is wrong.

The ironic part is, I think the ideal "common ground" would be far closer to the corporation's point of view than the open-copying point of view . . . the key would be to not advertise as much, get rid of the gigantic bureaucracies and monopolies of the RIAA, and start selling CDs for not-too-much-over-their-cost-of-production.

Honestly, if I could buy CDs for $2 each - and yes, I realize how much over their cost of production this is - I'd have *tons*. I'd spend a dozen times, or more, what I do now on CDs. But it ain't gonna happen.

Of course, if I could make a living off it, I'd also like to distribute everything I do for free. But that isn't going to happen either. :P

[katster.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Or micropayments, which would just be cool if we could find a nice way to implement it.

And yeah, I see your point. My biggest beefs with copyright law at the moment are the disturbing trend against fair use (you mean, I bought your DVD, and you're telling me I can't play it with my operating system of choice? Err...something's fucked up royally here...) and the constant extension of the term of copyright. The first worries me because I'm a bit of an academian, and I'd like to go for a Ph.D, but if I can't access and cite...that's really fscked up. And that's happening with ebooks and stuff, not just DeCSS.

The second is fairly obvious. What intrest does it serve the public to not have works go public domain? But this is the corporations again. Disney doesn't want Mickey Mouse in the public domain. And the Scientologists are going to fight to keep copyright forever. So what do we do?

Speaking of which, I think I like the ideas of my professor better. She seems more middle of the road, and I need to sit down and just talk with her. Part of the reason I'm really glad to have gotten into SIMS is simply IS 235, which is officially "Legal Issues in Information Management", but is unofficially called Cyberlaw. :) And that one course by itself makes this whole master's program worth it. (Don't get me wrong, I'm learning lots of nifty things. But this is what excites me.)

But yeah, she's so far seems to be the kinda middle of the road thinks the corps have too much power, but then again, Stallman might be a bit far out for her. Or then again, maybe not. Samuelson is the sort to hang out at the CFP conference, so make of it what you will. It's still cool. :) They call her the copyright goddess. %)

Anyway, I'm off topic again, aren't I?

Yeah. Thanks for the discussion. It's fun thinking out these ideas.

-kat