is copyright evil? (Re: about warez.at)

Alessandro Rubini rubini at gnu.org
Sat Oct 20 12:18:11 UTC 2001


Tomasz:
> And copyright is evil law that should be abolished..

As already noted, this opinion may not be shared by everyone here :)

> If no-one obeys copyright, all software is free.

It's gratis, but not libre. Abolishing copyright doesn't create libre
software, to that you also need to make availability of source code
compulsory.

Computer software, unlike every[1] other item protected by copyright,
is not self-evident, so having no copyright would be absolutely
useless for the common good. Whether or not copyright fosters
production by potential authors is irrelevant here.

When you read a book, you have all information. When you listen to
music you have all information. When you run a program you have no
information at all. Recreating "source code" for books and music once
you have a "runnable" copy is a very little effort. For computer
programs it's impossible. Without copyright you'd be able to exploit
the four freedoms for every authoral work but software.

Moreover, we need copyright to enforce copyleft. Without copyright, we
can't ensure our software is not proprietarized.

[1] I may forget some item, but "most" applies even if I am wrong

-- 
Quello che scrivo rappresenta solo il mio personale punto di vista,
non rispecchia l'opinione di organizzazioni di cui faccio o ho fatto parte.



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