Re: Asimov Mirror Sites Access Information

[lee@lcremeans.erols.com (Lee Cremeans)]

In article <3933f04f.154161776@news>, Jeff Blakeney wrote:
>On 30 May 2000 03:16:01 GMT, lee@lcremeans.erols.com (Lee Cremeans)
>wrote:
>
>>[2] As for a long-term solution, I think copyright law should be made more
>>favorable to the general public, not just corporate America (face it, he who
>>has the gold makes the rules here). I like one of the suggestions given by a
>>poster to Slashdot...standard "shrink-wrap" copyright on computer software
>>should be limited to 5 years, with a possible 5-year renewal.
>
>If this were to ever happen you can be sure that a lot of the things I
>create would never get released to the public.  In fact, I probably
>wouldn't create very much of anything if that were to happen.
>
>If you are telling me that I can only own my creations for five years
>then there is little to no incentive for me to create anything.  The
>same will most likely be true for lots of other people and without all
>these people creating stuff, then where will we be?

Five years is probably too short, then; granted, it does seem somewhat
extreme. But I still think that 95 years is massive overkill, even for a
corporation wanting to milk a cash cow, and even more so for computer
software that could lose its profitability within a few months, at least
with the licenses most companies put on things. Also, you have to remember
that not everyone is in it for the money -- I do have respect for the little
guy in this case, but I'm more inclined to support causes like the BSDs and
Linux, where giving things away for the common good is the norm. Please
don't tar all the world's creative minds with the same brush.

-lee

-- 
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|      Lee Cremeans -- Manassas, VA, USA  (WakkyMouse on WTnet)      |  
|         lcremeans@erols.com | http://wakky.dyndns.org/~lee         |