(Second thoughts on the same message.) >Which of the following two options is more likely to feed starving >children in Africa: > > 1) the Africans produce millions of pieces of valuable IPR > > 2) we take Steamboat Willie away from Disney, making it valueless > to everybody In the long run? #2. As John Gilmore has pointed out, we are approaching an age when nanotech will mean that any material object can be copied as easily as we can currently copy digital information. When that day comes, the only thing stopping us from ending poverty will be copyright--and, arguably, if we have the power to end poverty, then we have the moral obligation to do so. This means that we have to hold the line on copyright *today*; the current battle is being fought by publishers of movies and music, but it will have repercussions on tomorrow's publishers of food and buildings. (He tells it better, but right now I can't get through to his Website to find the article.) /===========================================================\ |John Stracke |Principal Engineer | |jstracke@incentivesystems.com |Incentive Systems, Inc. | |http://www.incentivesystems.com |My opinions are my own. | |===========================================================| |Sleep is for wimps--healthy, well-adjusted wimps, but wimps| |nonetheless. | \===========================================================/