[CS-FSLUG] Proprietary Software: Capitalism or Greed?

[Robert W.]

On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:37:22 -0500 "Don Parris" <gnumathetes at gmail.com>
wrote:
> I can appreciate the dilemma you have presented.  As I mentioned, Bell
> got the credit for something an Italian had already invented.  We
> often share common ideas for which determining ownership is hardly
> possible, let alone desirable.  Still, I have always believed in the
> American copyright (and patent) system.  I believe it is an invaluable
> system, even with all its current warts.  However, I have learned that
> the entities that make up "big business" were seeking, not to maintain
> the balance, but to thwart the balance in favor of copyright holders
> (who are not always the authors).  That is not capitalism, but greed.

I'm not so sure about the value of copyrights on electronic media:
software, DVDs, cassette tapes, CDs, etc. And I'm just thinking out loud
about the points below. I'm still not quite sure the expressed opinions
are good...

Copyright law has an enforceable purpose where the cost of making is
high. Infringers will be fewer. The more it costs to copy, the more one
must make back on that investment. Plus physical copies require some
sort of production and distribution system. With paper books, you need a
press and expertise to run that press. It takes quite a bit of time
(though less than copying by hand). That gives the copyright holder a
target. And fewer targets lowers the cost of enforcing your copyrights.

Software, digital music, digital movies, etc have an extremely low cost
for copying. You can make perfect copies in minutes. That covers both
production and distribution. And that ease comes inherently from the
media. The question, in my mind, becomes "should the consumer understand
and follow a complicated contract or should the author find a medium
that better protects their ideas?"

If you look at each individual case, the contract idea doesn't sound so
bad. But most computer systems have more than one piece of software. And
most people own more than one CD or DVD. All of those contracts hinder
the consumer. That violates the principle of "do unto others as you
would have them do unto you". Well in my current opinion, anyway.

So I'm starting to lean towards the idea that copyright law should
balance any uses inherent in the medium. How to accomplish that
practically is a whole other can of worms.

-- 
Robert W.
robertwo at insightbb.com

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love 
him, who have been called according to his purpose. -- Romans 8:28