Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Gemstar Intl (GMST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NY Stew who wrote (2929)	4/29/2000 2:52:00 PM
From: Jeff Bond	Respond to of 6516

A rather critical look at copyright as it applies to e-books. The premise of the quite sharp author Richard Stallman (proponent of free software, and founder of the GNU Project), is that copyright as it was originally intended was a means of ensuring PUBLISHERS first obtained permission before an author's work into print. He argues it was originally not intended to prevent a READER from making a copy of the material to share with another person. In fact, his claim is that the copyright process was implemented at the publisher level specifically so the author could collect his reward up front, but the process was also designed to ensure information was disseminated to the masses. His point is that the copyright process has been stretched to ensure REVENUE GENERATION is the primary focus of copyright regulations, as evidenced by the recent Digial Millenium Copyright Act passed in 1998. Here is a link, for anyone who has never read MIT Technology Review, I would recommend it as an excellent source of forward-looking information. techreview.com OFF-TOPIC : Also excellent articles in Quantum computing, DNA computing, Biological computing, and Molecular computing worth a look. Regards, JB P.S. Thank you Stew, I also am rooting for Xerox. People tend to forget things like the decimation of Detroit as the auto industry collapsed, rarely considering what might happen if a similar event occurred in their home town. I need only ponder for a nano-second (calculating faster than a quantum computer working on an encryption algorithm) to realize the area in which I live (SF Bay Area outskirts) would be decimated by such an event. Go Xerox go ... !!!