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| Monday, August 19, 2002 |
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Whoop! 
Random acts, cont'd
| | Thanks again to everybody who joined Cory in buying me a new wi-fi base station. I got the Linksys from Amazon. Donations matched up nicely with the cost + shipping. You guys are terrific. |
Finding agreement
| | 1. The idea that fair use and copyright are being extended in ways that are not in keeping with the spirit of that law's origins. |
| | I agree with this one wholeheartedly -- WHOLEHEARTEDLY. I think that the Gov is being bought by Eisner, et al for the express purpose of making sure I can't use a certain Mouse in my creations. |
| | Eric and Eric and Dave and Larry and Josh a I (and most of the peole who read any or all of us, I suspect) disagree about a lot of shit. Open source for example. Big one there. Makes some people cheer and others wretch. Meanwhile most people — even in the computer business — could give a shit. |
| | There's a ton of emotion raging around these topics. Witness Doc's recent statements about "along with everybody else who truly cares about the Net." These statements (right or wrong) *really* make me bristle (and I respect Doc as much as anyone else i know) -- if only because this political battle is becoming so polarized as to shut down conversations. I know Doc wasn't intending that with this statement --- i only point that out to demonstrate the level of passion around these debates. |
| | Now: what's this political battle about? |
| | If it's about open source, or who's really a collectivist, it's a tempest in a teapot and a waste of time. |
| | If it's about the stuff Eric agrees with WHOLEHEARTEDLY (in all caps, even), there are roughly two groups on our side fighting it with much effect at all. One is software developers who create and innovate in ways that obsolete insane laws. The others are organizations like the EFF, which fight insane laws directly. |
| | Larry Lessig is trying to get more people from the first group to support the second. |
| | But hey, maybe he's asking too much, or in the wrong way. I say that for cultural reasons. Rather than re-invent the wheel of that explanation, I'll just point to A Tale of Three Cultues, which I wrote in March. It still applies. |
| | Has Lessig studied commercial software? Have you ever heard him talk about commercial software without binding to Microsoft? He's supposed to be a learned man, a scholar, a thinker and researcher -- but I find his arguments are missing a lot of substance. So much so that I suspect we are not allies or friends on most issues. |
| | I think Dave is onto something here, and it may be the reason why there aren't more folks in Larry's parade. |
| | I'l write more about this later. Right now I gotta work on real-job stuff. |
All the colors in the monochrome
| | This juxtaposition of political poles is lost on Doc Searls. He responds to Dave's comments on Lessig, saying, "That vision in Washington won't change unless we do something about it. Larry and Dave are both doing their part. And they're both on the same side of this thing, along with everybody else who truly cares about the Net." |
| | I am sorry to say so, but Lessig and Dave couldn't be more different. The two tend to agree when it comes to software patents, and especially when it comes to the particularly abominable pieces of DMCA. But the fundamental philisophical differences begin to be revealed when the subject is copyright. Lessig is like Stallman; a collectivist opposed to individual property rights. Dave is like Tim; in favor of individual liberty. |
| | Read closely. I said "they're both doing their part." So what if the two aren't politically identical? Or even if they're radically different? |
| | Is Larry going to tell Dave not to do the good stuff Dave's doing with software? I don't detect that anywhere in the stuff Larry's been saying or writing. Nor is Larry associated (as Josh sems to suggest) with the "Digital Software Security Act" stuff that a few open source advocates are pushing. (And they don't include me: I'm totally Libertarian on this one, just like Tim.) |
| | Is Dave going to tell Larry not to inveigh against IP insanity? Or not to work on Creative Commons? Or not to argue Eldred v. Ashcroft? Why would he? I've not heard Dave say any of those efforts are bad ideas. |
| | And on what hard evidence is Larry "like Stallman; a collectivist opposed to individual property rights"? And how is Larry not in favor of individual liberty? Facts, please. |
| | Here are a few: Larry clerked for Antonin Scalia and guided the dreaded (and clearly dreadful) Judge Jackson in the U.S. v Microsoft case (which Josh and I both think was a waste, for what that's worth). Larry also smuggled a heart valve into the Soviet Union for a Jewish dissident in 1985... in the crotch of his pants. |
Feel good, automatically
Going offsore
| | Now you don't need to hit the waters at all. You only need to cross them. Across the intermediating void of the vast hollow i-world, we are all zero distance from each other anyway. |
| | Anybody know what countries would welcome new iBroadcasters? Might make an interesting list. |
Blogseeding
| | The David Bowie item below came to me courtesy of Michael Mussington. In fact, I get lots of good stuff from Michael, with nary a request that I point back at his blog. |
Can they die even sooner, pleeeease?
| | I personally don't think the copyright will exist in the next 10 years. We'll lose all authorship whatsoever...the corporate companies will come to an end...Yeah. It's all over. They're just Canutes. They're sitting on the beach asking the seas to go back. It's over. |
discuss
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