Re: Barriers to an ASP loophole closure

[tb@becket.net (Thomas Bushnell, BSG)]

Jeremy Hankins <nowan@nowan.org> writes:

> But I'm not yet clear what your argument for that is.  On the face of
> it, attaching it to use makes more sense, since who the possessor of a
> copy is is really a technical detail that can be changed or made
> unclear via technical means (e.g., ASP).

The argument is simple.  Making a new possessor of a copy requires
*copying*, and is a legitimate thing for copyright to control.  Adding
a new user does not necessarily involve copying, and it is not
legitimate for copyright to control this.

Allow me to propose the "What if Microsoft Did It" test.  Microsoft
creates a new program, and says "you are prohibited from running this
program behind a web site for other people without paying us money;
after all, this is really a way of trying to cheat us out of selling
the program to more people."  We would cry foul, right?

Thomas