kmself@ix.netcom.com writes: > Russ and I have been a few more rounds than I care to remember on this > issue -- there's something fundamental about what he thinks is Lessig's > position which he absolutely cannot bear. I can't say I was persuaded > by his argument. What it comes down to is that I think I know how to run my business better than anyone else. Other people disagree, and create laws that interfere with my best judgement. I continually find it curious that some businessmen support this kind of thing -- as if they *wanted* to make themselves, their employees, and their customers implement decisions of someone else's choosing. Now, as to Lessig's "duh" observation that sometimes you have a limited choices in the free market (code as "law" -- presumably this only being a problem when it's someone else's code), I fail to see how the situation is improved by further limiting the choices (legislation as law). Some people justify government because it solves public goods problems. All you have to do is create a good law and the market no longer fails. But it just moves the public good problem to that of making good law. Fine, so with copyright we don't have a public goods problem related to authorship. NOW we have a problem making copyright law meet societal goals. What with the Disney copyright extensions, I'm not sure it is. Another issue is out-of-print items -- I think copyright should only exist if the author is copying something. If you take something out of print, you lose the copyright. Hey, the same principle applies to trademarks -- you keep them only as long as you defend them. But regardless of whether you agree, it points out that some problems are hard to solve, and that government can't solve a problem, it can just transform it. Hopefully into one that's easier to solve, but in my experience just into one whose solution is less fair. Or even just differently unfair. -- -russ nelson <sig@russnelson.com> http://russnelson.com Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country 521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.