Re: Intellectual property & copyright

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Leslie,

If you want to get formal about it, I'm using a refutation by contrary
example.

I'm rejecting the principle that it is *always* wrong to use a writer's
copyrighted material without permission. There are many cases when it is
acceptable, and one example -- which I run into all the time -- is when a
patient seeks access to information about a disease, and it is impossible
to get permission, because of the bureaucratic delays or obstinacy of the
copyright holder.

Another good example is an abandoned work, where a book would be useful,
and promote the useful arts or sciences, and the copyright hodler is
unavailable or non-existent.

As far as I'm concerned, if I got a PDF version of the XyWrite manual, I
would simply be getting the same content that I've already paid for in a
more convenient form. It's as if I transferred my 8-track tapes to CD-ROMs.
I made a point back in the old days of paying for XyWrite, rather than
getting a pirate copy. The manual is mine. I paid for it. I have a right to
convert it into a more usable, permanent form.

I don't believe in absolute property rights. You do. The only way for you
to enforce those rights is with a massive police state that intrudes into
our personal life.

Norman

At 09:22 AM 8/31/02 -0400, Leslie Bialler wrote:
>
>Norman,
>
>I am not advocating charging poor people for information they need. You
>are playing the old trick used by journalists when they want to address
>a problem by going "up close and personal." I.e., you want a good
>article on a homeless person? You don't write about that guy who squats
>on a corner with his cap out, muttering obscenities under his breath,
>but about the articulate single mom trying to raise two children who has
>been thrown out of work and is now living in a former jail. Thus, you
>are merely using one anecdotal incident that I cannot possibly refute
>without looking like a skank. I am not a skank and I refuse to play your
>game.
>
>WARNING: This poster is speaking for himself and not his employer and
>does not advocate housing homeless families in former jails.
>
>
>
>--
>Leslie Bialler, Columbia University Press
>lb136@xxxxxxxx
>61 W. 62 St, NYC 10023
>212-459-0600 X7109 (phone) 212-459-3677 (fax)
>
>

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Norman Bauman
411 W. 54 St. Apt. 2D
New York, NY 10019
(212) 977-3223
http://www.nasw.org/users/nbauman
Alternate address: nbauman@xxxxxxxx
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