Book People Archive

Skylarov

Tony Kline wrote:

>I note that at the same time a Russian citizen, Skylarov, is prosecuted
>in the USA for changing a piece of Adobe software in a way that would
>allow others to perform an illegal act of copying, gun manufacturers
>in the same country are cleared of responsibility for the use made of
>the instruments they produce, with which others often illegally kill
>people. Very Curious! Does this indicate some arcane sense of values
>that I don't comprehend.....or the confusion of mind engendered by
>too much law at the service of big business and too little at the service 
>of the decent individual citizen...or something else I equally don't grasp. 

It's a mess all around.  The same principle should apply in both cases,
that people who break laws should be punished, not the tools,
or the people who provide the tools, that could, possibly, be misused.
In both cases, the legitimate use of the tools far outweigh
the illegitimate uses, but there is always a surplus of individuals
whose fears lead them to try to ban anything that scares them,
almost always resulting in the same predictable way, as availability
becomes tied to criminal behaviour.


> My own wish would be for the law to enshrine
> lifetime copyright only (or twenty years for a business...no longer,
> and maybe shorter for certain types of copyright..businesses can live
> for ever, so all the more reason to restrict their powers),

You may want to revise your opinion of restricting copyright
to life of an author.  With current trends, this could soon become
an interminably long period.  In fact, I would not be surprised
if technology evolves within this century to allow an indefinite
life span.  I much prefer the traditional U.S. method of using
a set number of years from publication, and preferably an amount
that would allow creators to profit from their work,
but not unduly restrict cultural use of those works as background
for further innovations.  I think about 30 years would be good.




Alan