I'm not going to say another word about mix tapes; somewhere along the
line, either I'm leaving a key element in the logical chain that links them
with sampling (as an ethical example) in my mind out of my arguments or the
people who have responded to them so far just aren't reading what I'm
saying, but whatever the case, I don't see any reason to flog an example
that is leading nowhere in a discussion that has obviously moved on. I do,
however, have two oddball questions in response to things that have been
brought up over the weekend.
First of all, Jim Carrico <jimATat.org> wrote:
>IP law does not protect creators, it protects owners.
This obviously creates a problem with it comes to shifting the general
public's conceptions of what "intellectual property" should be all about,
as "property" obviously presupposes ownership. With work-for-hire clauses
and similar nonsense being as common as they are, doesn't it make sense to
build arguments for the creators' rights around a notion of "intellectual
parentage", "intellectual guardianship", or some such description?
None of these labels quite fit in my mind, and I'm hoping that somebody
can encapsulate the idea of something created and offered to the public
(perhaps, but not necessarily, as a gift), and with the expectation that
both the creation and the creator be treated with some measure of
consideration and respect? I don't know how to reduce the idea of "being
excellent to one another" to a one- or two-word term as catchy as
"intellectual property", but if ownership is a concern, then elimating the
"property" association would seem like a logical starting point in finding
a solution. Anybody?
Secondly, that very same Jim wrote:
>...Musicbrainz metadata initiative, which is developing a
>comprehensive alternative to CDDB based on the Open
>Content licence
...and this is an entirely ignorance-grounded question on my part, but what
exactly is lacking from the CDDB format that makes an alternative
necessary? I can't say that I know anything about it (other than that it's
fun to assemble CDs for people and then completely mis-label the contents
for them), and would be interested in knowing a bit about its shortcomings
if anybody has the time to share. (If this is too far off-topic, then
please let me know off-list.)
Oh, and Steev <you already know his damned address> also wrote (quoting
Jim, Man of the Hour):
>->the point of freenet and mojonation is encourage users
>->to make the *system resources* available
>what do you mean, system resources?
This is just a guess on my part, but judging from the rest of the text that
was quoted in asking the question ("the files themselves are encrypted so
you don't even know what's in the corner of the network that's on your hard
drive"), these other systems are more about providing the storage space and
bandwidth necessary to make *any* files (not just one's own) available to
the public, and to move them from A to B; the encryption would be there to
keep temporary hosts from mucking with them, but also to absolve them of
any responsibility for the use of their machines in moving around
information that fourth parties might find objectionable. (I'd love to know
how people who don't already administer public sites feel about this sort
of thing: it isn't the same as opening your computer up to be used from
something like SETIAThome... what happens if you don't like the stuff that
your computer ends up being used for, even if you would never be able to
see what it was doing directly? Personal issues about firewalls and
security start being brought up, and participants would have to ask
themselves if they value the integrity and efficiency of their computers
and connections to the outside world as much as they do, say, the music
that they make, etc., etc. Bloody complexity.)
Anyway, thanks for your continued indulgence.
-me
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