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Apple Unvarnished : Digital Life
Letting Crazy People Set Intellectual-Property Policy
Three stories in the news this week demonstrate that intellectual-property policy is set by crazy people. NBC is threatening to dump iTunes unless Apple violates the laws of nature. An organization of science fiction writers is sending willy-nilly takedown notices for property it doesn't control. And Viacom pirated a YouTube video, and then sent down a takedown notice against the video's real author.
These shenanigans are further proof -- as if further proof were needed -- that intellectual property policy has gone mad. A sane intellectual property policy will recognize the fact that you simply can't use technology means to prevent the duplication of data. Can't be done. Won't work. Sure, you can try to legislate DRM. You also can legislate that water should run uphill, or pi should precisely equal 3.0. The real world won't comply with your legislation. When are we going to put greedy children like NBC, SFWA, and Viacom down for nap-time, and let grownups start writing intellectual property policy? |
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