New York headquarters was telling the reporter over and over that her
account of the war was too bleak: She needed to offer a more
optimistic story. When she told New York that wasn't warranted, they
-told her <emphasis>that</emphasis> they were writing "the story.")
+told her that <emphasis>they</emphasis> were writing "the story.")
</para>
<para> Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the
debate—"amateur" not in the sense of inexperienced, but in the
<para>
True, these local rules have, in effect, been imposed upon these
countries. No country can be part of the world economy and choose
-<!-- PAGE BREAK 77 -->
+<beginpage pagenum="77"/>
not to protect copyright internationally. We may have been born a
pirate nation, but we will not allow any other nation to have a
similar childhood.
these nations live gives them some opportunities to escape the burden
of intellectual property law.<footnote><para>
<!-- f2 -->
-See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: <citetitle>Who
-Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New Press, 2003), 10–13,
-209. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
-(TRIPS) agreement obligates member nations to create administrative
-and enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property rights, a costly
-proposition for developing countries. Additionally, patent rights may
-lead to higher prices for staple industries such as
-agriculture. Critics of TRIPS question the disparity between burdens
-imposed upon developing countries and benefits conferred to
-industrialized nations. TRIPS does permit governments to use patents
-for public, noncommercial uses without first obtaining the patent
-holder's permission. Developing nations may be able to use this to
-gain the benefits of foreign patents at lower prices. This is a
-promising strategy for developing nations within the TRIPS framework.
+See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism:
+<citetitle>Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The
+New Press, 2003), 10–13, 209. The Trade-Related Aspects of
+Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement obligates member
+nations to create administrative and enforcement mechanisms for
+intellectual property rights, a costly proposition for developing
+countries. Additionally, patent rights may lead to higher prices for
+staple industries such as agriculture. Critics of TRIPS question the
+disparity between burdens imposed upon developing countries and
+benefits conferred to industrialized nations. TRIPS does permit
+governments to use patents for public, noncommercial uses without
+first obtaining the patent holder's permission. Developing nations may
+be able to use this to gain the benefits of foreign patents at lower
+prices. This is a promising strategy for developing nations within the
+TRIPS framework.
+<indexterm><primary>agricultural patents</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Drahos, Peter</primary></indexterm>
</para></footnote> In my view, more developing nations should take
advantage of that opportunity, but when they don't, then their laws
life. I don't mean to deny the value in this narrower view, which
depends upon the context of the inquiry. I do, however, mean to argue
against any insistence that this narrower view is the only proper view
-of liberty. As I argued in <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, we come from a long tradition of
-political thought with a broader focus than the narrow question of
-what the government did when. John Stuart Mill defended freedom of
-speech, for example, from the tyranny of narrow minds, not from the
-fear of government prosecution; John Stuart Mill, <citetitle>On Liberty</citetitle> (Indiana:
-Hackett Publishing Co., 1978), 19. John R. Commons famously defended
-the economic freedom of labor from constraints imposed by the market;
-John R. Commons, "The Right to Work," in Malcom Rutherford and Warren
-J. Samuels, eds., <citetitle>John R. Commons: Selected Essays</citetitle> (London:
+of liberty. As I argued in <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, we come from a
+long tradition of political thought with a broader focus than the
+narrow question of what the government did when. John Stuart Mill
+defended freedom of speech, for example, from the tyranny of narrow
+minds, not from the fear of government prosecution; John Stuart Mill,
+<citetitle>On Liberty</citetitle> (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Co.,
+1978), 19. John R. Commons famously defended the economic freedom of
+labor from constraints imposed by the market; John R. Commons, "The
+Right to Work," in Malcom Rutherford and Warren J. Samuels, eds.,
+<citetitle>John R. Commons: Selected Essays</citetitle> (London:
Routledge: 1997), 62. The Americans with Disabilities Act increases
the liberty of people with physical disabilities by changing the
architecture of certain public places, thereby making access to those
-places easier; 42 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 12101 (2000). Each of
-these interventions to change existing conditions changes the liberty
-of a particular group. The effect of those interventions should be
-accounted for in order to understand the effective liberty that each
-of these groups might face.
+places easier; 42 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section
+12101 (2000). Each of these interventions to change existing
+conditions changes the liberty of a particular group. The effect of
+those interventions should be accounted for in order to understand the
+effective liberty that each of these groups might face.
+<indexterm><primary>Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Commons, John R.</primary></indexterm>
</para></footnote>
</para>
Wonderland".</title>
<graphic fileref="images/1641.png"></graphic>
</figure>
+<beginpage pagenum="164"/>
<para>
-<!-- PAGE BREAK 164 -->
Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to
copy, not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the
"permissions" indicated, not allowed to "read aloud"!
To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite
story of mine that makes the same point.
</para>
-<indexterm id="idxaibo" class='startofrange'>
+<indexterm id="idxaibo1" class='startofrange'>
<primary>Aibo robotic dog</primary>
</indexterm>
+<indexterm id="idxroboticdog1" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>robotic dog</primary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm id="idxsonyaibo1" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Sony</primary>
+ <secondary>Aibo robotic dog produced by</secondary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
Consider the robotic dog made by Sony named "Aibo." The Aibo
learns tricks, cuddles, and follows you around. It eats only electricity
The Aibo is expensive and popular. Fans from around the world
have set up clubs to trade stories. One fan in particular set up a Web
site to enable information about the Aibo dog to be shared. This fan set
-<!-- PAGE BREAK 165 -->
+<beginpage pagenum="165"/>
up aibopet.com (and aibohack.com, but that resolves to the same site),
and on that site he provided information about how to teach an Aibo
to do tricks in addition to the ones Sony had taught it.
their computer "dog" to make it do new tricks (thus, aibohack.com).
</para>
<para>
-If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the
-word <citetitle>hack</citetitle> has a particularly unfriendly connotation. Nonprogrammers
-hack bushes or weeds. Nonprogrammers in horror movies do even
-worse. But to programmers, or coders, as I call them, <citetitle>hack</citetitle> is a much
-more positive term. <citetitle>Hack</citetitle> just means code that enables the program to
-do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do. If you buy
-a new printer for an old computer, you might find the old computer
-doesn't run, or "drive," the printer. If you discovered that, you'd later be
-happy to discover a hack on the Net by someone who has written a
-driver to enable the computer to drive the printer you just bought.
+If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the word
+<citetitle>hack</citetitle> has a particularly unfriendly
+connotation. Nonprogrammers hack bushes or weeds. Nonprogrammers in
+horror movies do even worse. But to programmers, or coders, as I call
+them, <citetitle>hack</citetitle> is a much more positive
+term. <citetitle>Hack</citetitle> just means code that enables the
+program to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to
+do. If you buy a new printer for an old computer, you might find the
+old computer doesn't run, or "drive," the printer. If you discovered
+that, you'd later be happy to discover a hack on the Net by someone
+who has written a driver to enable the computer to drive the printer
+you just bought.
</para>
<para>
Some hacks are easy. Some are unbelievably hard. Hackers as a
bit of tinkering that turned the dog into a more talented creature
than Sony had built.
</para>
-<indexterm startref="idxaibo" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref="idxsonyaibo1" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref="idxroboticdog1" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref="idxaibo1" class='endofrange'/>
<para>
I've told this story in many contexts, both inside and outside the
United States. Once I was asked by a puzzled member of the audience,
weakness in the SDMI system, and why SDMI would not, as presently
constituted, succeed.
</para>
+<indexterm id="idxaibo2" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Aibo robotic dog</primary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm id="idxroboticdog2" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>robotic dog</primary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm id="idxsonyaibo2" class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Sony</primary>
+ <secondary>Aibo robotic dog produced by</secondary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
What links these two, aibopet.com and Felten, is the letters they
then received. Aibopet.com received a letter from Sony about the
anti-circumvention provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm startref="idxsonyaibo2" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref="idxroboticdog2" class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref="idxaibo2" class='endofrange'/>
<para>
And though an academic paper describing the weakness in a system
of encryption should also be perfectly legal, Felten received a letter
of the copyrighted material made possible by that circumvention would
have been a copyright violation.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Aibo robotic dog</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>robotic dog</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm>
+ <primary>Sony</primary>
+ <secondary>Aibo robotic dog produced by</secondary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
Aibopet.com and Felten make the point. The Aibo hack circumvented a
copyright protection system for the purpose of enabling the dog to
good, but permits guns, despite the obvious and tragic harm they do.
<indexterm><primary>Conrad, Paul</primary></indexterm>
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Aibo robotic dog</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>robotic dog</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm>
+ <primary>Sony</primary>
+ <secondary>Aibo robotic dog produced by</secondary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
The Aibo and RIAA examples demonstrate how copyright owners are
changing the balance that copyright law grants. Using code, copyright
</para>
<para>
There was some truth to the government's claim, but not much. We
-certainly agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in
+certainly agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in 1831
and in 1909. And of course, in 1962, Congress began extending
existing
terms regularly—eleven times in forty years.
projects / text-free-culture-lessig.git / blobdiff