On Fri, 11 Nov 2005 11:17:43 -0500, Mike Meyer wrote: >> I'd just like to make it non-trivial to make or use additional copies. > > How do you do that without infringing my fair use rights?
And that is the million dollar question. So-called "intellectual property" is a government-granted monopoly which is not based on any principle of ownership. Ideas are not something you can own in any real sense (as opposed to the legal fiction), ideas are something that you can *have* -- but having had an idea, you can't naturally prevent others from having the same idea independently, or making use of your idea if you tell them about it -- and should you tell them your idea so that now they have it as well, that does not diminish the fact that you also have that idea. Given the absolute lack of real evidence that strong "intellectual property" laws are good for either innovation or the economy, and given the absolute artificiality of treating ideas as if they were scarce goods, I don't understand why the artificial monopoly rights of copyright holders are allowed to trump the natural rights of copyright users. -- Steven. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
