Klarinet Archive - Posting 000068.txt from 2010/07

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Sheet music copyright
Date: Wed, 07 Jul 2010 05:37:45 -0400

On 07/06/2010 04:04 AM, Bill Hausmann wrote:
>> However, when it comes to thinking about _what the law should be_, we
>> can't simply go by what the current law says. We have to factor the
>> natural dynamics of information exchange into the process. The quote I
>> can't remember is illustrative of the latter, not the former.
>
> You can't change the law just because it has suddenly become
> inconvenient. Your references to "natural law" are a cop-out and
> invalid. Natural law says you own what is yours and can do with it
> as YOU chose. Of course, that means if you CHOSE to give it away for
> free, you can do so, and you might do that if you expect a payoff in
> the long run. But no one else has the right to make that choice for you.

I never used the phrase "natural law". That's your (mis)interpretation
of what I'm saying.

Here is a simple, undeniable fact: if you come up with a novel idea,
then it exists only in your head. You can do many things with it,
keeping it in your head and not disclosing it to others.

Here is another simple, undeniable fact: the moment you disclose that
idea to another person, you have lost control of how it is used. The
only way you can stop that other person doing whatever they want with it
is by coercion of one form or another.

Hence the 18th-century quote (which I still can't find again, porca
miseria) which talks of creations of the mind being property _up until
their creator chooses to disclose them_: once they're disclosed, they
don't behave like physical property any more, they have become part of a
commonly-available resource (and unlike physical "common resources",
they can be drawn from infinitely many times without denying them to
others).

Now, present law has decided that in many cases creations of the mind
_should_ be treated in a way very similar to physical property, and it
applies coercion on individuals and organizations to ensure that they
follow this rule. It's a matter of debate whether this is a good or a
bad thing. However, it shouldn't be denied that such law is a creation
of society, one that deliberately constrains the natural dynamics (note:
dynamics, not law) of information exchange between individuals.
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