On Fri, Jan 31, 2003 at 09:34:13AM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote: > On Fri, Jan 31, 2003 at 07:41:15PM +1100, Paul Hampson wrote: > > > > I'm saying that you seem to be confused by the word. You're analyzing > > > its etymology and deriving its meaning and properties based on that. > > > This is the wrong way to analyze a legal term. Instead, you should be > > > looking at how it actually works in law, and the history of that law. > > > Given the same legislation, you could call it "football" and it would > > > still behave the same: by printing and selling copies of my story, you > > > are infringing on my football, and I can sue you and reasonably expect > > > to win damages and an order that you cease distributing my story. The > > > name 'copyright' is not important. > > > I'm saying the meaning drives the word, not the word drives the meaning. > > I could call it "football", but it wouldn't provide a very clear idea of > > what it represents. Wouldn't the obvious default assumption be that > > people choose the right words for new concepts? (I'm aware this is quite > > frequently not true, but as a default assumption....) > > > I'm saying that 'copyright' the word is evidence that we are discussing > > rights here, not that 'copyright' the word is the cause of the concept > > being a right. > > That's begging the question, though. You know, I'm not totally clear on what that phrase means... Or I do know what it means, but I don't understand your usage here... I guess that's the same thing, really. :-) > > At this point, I looked back at the original email, and I can't see > > what you're suggest copyright is, if not a right... Neither 'privelege' > > nor 'responsibility' seemed to appear in your email, and those are the > > words I immediately associate with things that are not rights.... I > > don't think they're appropriate, either. > > In the US formulation of the concept, copyright *is* a privilege: the > copyright bargain grants a limited monopoly to authors in the belief that > doing so will encourage the advancement of the arts and sciences. > Unfortunately, the word "right" is so heavily overloaded in English that > this nuance is easily lost. > > To put it another way, anything that's granted to you by a government, > particularly in exchange for something else, is not really a right (a > natural right). OK, I can see a strong difference between you and me here. To me a right (as compared to a privelege) is something you can do, and no-one can take that away from you. A privelege is something you can do, but only with the good graces of someone else (in this case, the governemt.) As examples, I contrast walking down the footpath with driving a car. Of course, most people consider driving a car to be a right, not a privelege. I think natural rights are a bit of an arbitrary thing... And not really relevant to the discussion... Or maybe they are, and I'm in fact involved in a different discussion than I think I am. -- ----------------------------------------------------------- Paul "TBBle" Hampson, MCSE 5th year CompSci/Asian Studies student, ANU The Boss, Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361) Paul.Hampson@Anu.edu.au Of course Pacman didn't influence us as kids. If it did, we'd be running around in darkened rooms, popping pills and listening to repetitive music. This email is licensed to the recipient for non-commercial use, duplication and distribution. -----------------------------------------------------------
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