[CS-FSLUG] Advocacy Sword and Bolivia

[davidm at hisfeet.net]

 You are absolutely right.
"What hast thou that thou dids't not recieve?"
Christians freely support a ministry that produces something of value in
getting the gospel to a dying world, and then that 'ministry' ties it up
with 'copyrights'.  In our work with the illiterate migrant workers in the
migrant camps of Mexico, we make use of Gospel films. At one time we used
a borrowed 16MM film for a long time (Spanish) because a new copy would
have cost $1600.00 dollars. Even when it began to be produced in VHS
format for a long while it was costing us $50.00 a copy. I realise that
there is some cost in producing it, but costs like that are prohibitive
for the people that need it the worst.

Now it is available in about 1000 languages world wide, and in DVD format,
which brings the actual cost of making copies down to way less than a
dollar each, but here are some who still want to hold to the rules of the
copyright, and make it as difficult to get as possible.

In the case of the "Jesus Movie", (in my opinion one of the best ways to
make the gospel plain to an illiterate individual in his own language when
I do not speak his language), someone who is able to use the internet can
go to the internet, and find (and watch) the "Jesus movie" in many
different languages, but then is inhibited from making a copyfor others.
Obviously only those who are able to read (and in this case read English)
can watch it on the internet. The people who are left out are still the
poorest of the poor who speak one of the languages that is included there,
but They have no way of accessing it.

Wycliffe copyrights have the same devastating results.

Dave McMullen

> Stephen,
>
........
> OTOH, my soul smarts on the matter of people who will happily register
> their copyright on God's word.  I know and agree that copyrights -
> reasonable ones, maybe 12 years - have a good reason to exist, but all
> of God's word, or materials directly using God's word are IM upset
> opinion, of the highest order Public Domain, actually above it if there
> ever was such a classification as Creation Domain.
>

>
>
> On 04/14/2011 12:24 AM, sjm wrote:
...................
>> The one thing that is lacking
>> is that the owners of the copyrights for the more up to date
>> translations in English and Spanish have not given permission to have
>> their translations published for use with The Sword Project. See this
>> link:
>> http://www.crosswire.org/wiki/Copyright#Contacting_Copyright_Holders
>>
>> Would you be willing to pray for this effort and even write or call
>> the copyright holders so they might give permission to The Sword
>> Project to publish their modules?