Re: IP: Crunch Time for Y2K Suppliers (fwd)

[Adam Back <aba@dcs.ex.ac.uk>]

Declan McCullagh writes:
> I'm not sure I like intellectual property laws in general -- like some
> libertarians, I might prefer a contract-based system. But for now I support
> civil laws to punish copyright infringements, and it seems to me it's
> difficult to argue that redistributing entire articles isn't one.

Ah good -- I thought you'd taken leave of your cypherpunkly senses for
a moment there!  (re my `fuck copyright' post).

> Besides, and more importantly, it's also rude.

That it might be, if it is a social says that it is polite to honor
peoples requests about bit flow.

But hey, if more and more people find ignoring the supposed social
convention convenient, then perhaps this social convention isn't as
widely adhered to as people making money off subsidized copyright
enforcement thugs might like to claim it is.  ie. IMO social
conventions on copyright are moving, and quite fast.  And copyright
has a hidden cost which we are all paying for.

Adam