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- habitue, on 10/11/2007, -4/+21Whether you agree with RMS or not, it's indisputable that the guy is incredibly intelligent. If only more of our politicians had his qualities (excepting the borderline autism perhaps :P)
Also good to see the site making full use of open technologies, Ogg-theora + bittorrent - inactive, on 10/11/2007, -2/+12I'm pleasantly surprised to see that the Q&A session has the questions audible :)
- Drealoth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8The idea is that knowledge is power, and so people should not be allowed to hoard knowledge. It is not that they want to steal people's things. The goal is free as in freedom, not free as in beer software. The driving force behind Linux is not that it costs nothing, but that there are no secrets on the system.
As for artistic works, Stallman talks about the need for copyright, just not as long as it is now. As he said, Mickey Mouse is still trademarked, and he was created 80 years ago! In case you didn't know, Mickey's creator, Walt Disney, has been dead for 40 years. - raitchison, on 10/11/2007, -8/+15Hey RMS:
LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX LINUX - kmlarose, on 10/11/2007, -2/+8It is because the purpose of copyright is not to produce money for a company, but to give *incentive* to the ARTIST PRODUCING the work to produce it in the first place and keep producing. Why should the descendants of an artists two hundred years from now be entitled to the information that the artist produced, especially when this information can be randomly produced--anybody can come up with it. Why should the first person to do so and talk to the government about it be the only one who benefits? Nobody has an inherent right to own information, simply because it can be randomly produced. So, since we want people actively search for such information, we create a privilege which is a compromise between the fact that this right doesn't exist, and the fact that people need money as an incentive. The length of this privilege does *not* need to extend to infinity, nor does it need to be passed down to descendants, in order for it to work. It has been proven to work. Walt Disney himself created these things back when it was around 15 years long. So, why, as a country, would we grant more of this privilege than necessary to reap its benefits?
- joeyjojo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6There seems to be a pervasive belief that derivative work requires no creativity.
Most everything created today is a derivative of something somewhere. It's absurd to assume that a derivative would be void of any creativity just as it's absurd to assume that anything original is really that creative. Sometimes it's just crap thrown together.
Point being, whether IP is derivative or not really has no bearing on the quality of the creativeness that went into it. - Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6He actually explicitly states in this talk that he thinks it's reasonable for modification of opinion pieces to be restricted. After all, why would you need to modify his statements of his own opinion?
- Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5How is Stallman a communist? I've never heard him call for the abolition of personal property, or money, or for the government to decide what jobs people work. Just because Stallman thinks you should have the right to share your stuff with your neighbor if you want to (maybe even using some of your physical property to make a copy) doesn't make him a communist.
- Phocion55, on 10/11/2007, -2/+7Have you ever read Microsoft's EULA?
I did and immediately vomited. - Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4> Stallman IS a communist.
Somehow, I don't think that word means what you think it means. If Stallman was a communist, he'd be saying that your house and car should be owned by the government, and that a government committee should decide what job you work. I'm pretty sure he's never said that. - raitchison, on 10/11/2007, -2/+6Of course they did this because RMS would pitch a fit if they didn't.
- HonoredMule, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4No idea is so special, yet unimportant to society, that a single corporation should be granted exclusive control over its representation and distribution for EIGHTY YEARS. Eventually, you have to stop milking what you've got and generate new ideas. Furthermore, if you personally didn't create the idea, you personally shouldn't get ***** out of it.
- maz2331, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4The big problem with copyright nowadays is that the term is way too long to stimulate creators to continue creating once they have one or two successful works. Life + 70 years means no derivitaves for over a century and a half, and that DOES slow down the pace of creativity. Copyright is a government granted monopoly in the use of a creative work, and is meant to incent people to generate creative works. It's been twisted, bent, mangled, and mutilated to now do the opposite. I'm actually a big supporter of the concept of copyright myself. It just needs to be dialed back to where it is a proper incentive to create, not a lottery.
BTW - Stallman IS a communist. I disagree with the guy on like 90% of things, but even a broken clock is right twice a day. Oh, and don't confuse "capatalist" with "corporatist". They are not the same thing. Capatalists want low entry barriers and a free market, and Corporatists want high barriers, lots of regulation, and other protection to keep their business free from competition. - rmillan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Those "knockoffs" as you call them do not necessarily have to be worse than the original, they can be much better! Turns out Shakespeare himself authored this kind of derivative works, which under current standards would constitute copyright infringement. (RMS speaks about this in the talk; long, but worth watching IMHO).
- inactive, on 10/11/2007, -4/+7I find his choice of CC license confusing given how much time he spends most of the time talking about the importance of derivative works, but then releases his talk under a no-derivatives license. Oh well :(
- Drealoth, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5That's one of the big things that I thought with his commentary on the Micky Mouse act. Copyright, as abused as it is, serves to protect artistic integrity. I thought about this a lot, as I have only the utmost respect for Mr. Stallman, and I agree with most of what he says. The conclusion that I came to is that it would stop being profitable in a world where a 5 - 10 year copyright was the norm. Sure, if all of a sudden anything made before '97 was public domain, there would be a lot of junk knockoffs, but I think that the public would respond poorly if it became the norm for people to rip off popular works.
It's definitely one of the big issues to be addressed. - hadak, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I can *see* them. They're a video.
- Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5Yea, it's a pretty nice kernel isn't it? Works really good with the GNU system. =P
- Drealoth, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Sure, but if the market is flooded with this stuff, it won't be profitable anymore. And it doesn't really affect the original artist, as I doubt many people would read a knocked off version of Harry Potter without having read the original. We shouldn't have laws preventing remixes though - sure, a lot of them are really bad, but some are quite brilliant. The indie music scene has embraced remixes, and as far as I can tell, nobody's been hurt by it.
- HonoredMule, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4...and if you run a company that has the rights to the idea, we can't wait for the company to go belly up to release it into public domain. Would you still think it fair for a man to retire at 65 (and get a beefy pension for the rest of his days) if he were going to live 300 more years?
- gevurah, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3This may come as a surprise to you but Chavez was elected. Elected. You know as in a election. He was chosen by his people to be president by a pretty large margin and is popular in his country as well.
- trogdoor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2And I was amazed at the quality of the video considering it was streaming perfectly well on my mediocre DSL connection.
- rickst13, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Stallman is a supporter of the Green Party. I have seen no reliable sources stating he is a communist.
- PedleZelnip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2How does it serve the content creators to have the current system whereby publishers are increasing the control over which works can be viewed, thereby alienating most consumers of the work, as well as keeping much of the profit for the publishers themselves?
- PedleZelnip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Just so this is on a top-level message: if you are a Windows Media Player person and want to watch this, you'll need a codec to playback Ogg files. One can be found at:
http://www.wmplugins.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=681 - trogdoor, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2It's not an audio file, it's ogg-theora video file with audio included, plays fine in vlc and just about any other OSS video player.
Edit: Didn't see comment below, ignore - onebit, on 10/11/2007, -2/+4Richard should start taking care of his health.
- GMorgan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Chavez has been elected with massive support. As a Libertarian I intensely dislike what he stands for and think he misleads his population (or is misguided) but he is no dictator.
You listen to too much oil industry propaganda. - daftman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You probably have no ***** idea what communism is beside what other troll tell you. Stop being a drone and think for yourself.
- daftman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Who let you out of your cage? Someone call the dog pound.
- raitchison, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1The GNU "system" needs the Kernel a whole lot more than the Kernel needs it.
- Winston84, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1@"Stallman IS a Communist" : what the hell is a "capatalist" ? is it like...nucular ?
@ the "Bush was elected" claim : yeah, because DieBold don't GPL the software that runs the elections . - daftman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Does artist actually produce and own them? No! Open your ***** eyes. Record labels own artists. This so call capitalist illusion that you are living in is nothing more than Oligarchy. Go look that up and educate yourself.
There's also a large difference between physical property and intellectual property. Intellectual property is an illusion designed to help encourage creativity. That is dead now since companies abused it by extending copyrights to 100+ years. Intellectual property is not a right. You don't actually own *****. Notice how you have to pay for patent and trademark? Ever heard of paying to keep owning your property? With copyright, it is granted TO you for a certain amount of time. That "grant" is simple a protection for you.
Why is this? It is because everything intellectual that you created is not unique. It is simply built upon others' intellectual works.
But I'm guessing I'm simply wasting my time explaining to a moron who frequently troll Linux forum and has no other ways to defining your existence. - fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1The edit option for some reason wasn't made available, but it occurs to me - where's the lineup of people demanding Packard Bell / HP relinquish all of their intellectual properties? What about IBM? When Wozniak and Jobs die do you think Apple should relinquish ownership of their IP?
- joeyjojo, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Balanced IP laws has really nothing to do with 'stealing other people's stuff'
- JQP123, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2"Elected." Yeah, so was Bush, what's your point? Being elected just means he was the most popular of the available choices at the time. It's possible to be elected and yet still be dead wrong on any given issue.
- Chandon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1People already do write all kinds of stuff with those characters. Some of the fanfics aren't even that bad. None of this impacts Rowling's story - anyone who isn't interested in other author's work in her world doesn't need to read any of it.
- HonoredMule, on 10/10/2007, -0/+11) "If he were going to live 300 more years then he would be unlikely to retire at 65." Way to totally ignore the point. If I work for my employer, he will pay me for the duration of time I work. When I stop working, I stop getting paid. But in the magical land of profiteering on copyrighted works, I can work for one year, and sit back and get paid for 10 years without doing any more work. The copyright system is fundamentally flawed when it allows this, because it's only purpose for existence is to provide me with incentive to KEEP MAKING new ideas and works. I'm not going to do that if I can retire on my first big success. No one should be allowed to reap the benefits of their labor for LONGER than the labor itself took. And the point I was rather obviously making is that this still applies when dealing with corporations, which CAN live 300 years. It really boils down to saying that a man shouldn't eat if he doesn't work...which is why government pensions don't kick in while we're still young, strapping 25 year-old visionaries who can and ought to be contributing to society in some meaningful way.
2) I believe they're called the Free Software Foundation, and the GPL is designed to make software patents (what IP is, NOT copyright) extinct. - fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Get a better job. I don't make enough money to buy a Porsche, it ain't Porsche's fault.
- rsmaniak, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1he is a disguised dictator, or haven't you heard he just modified our constitution to have himself reelected to infinity? besides all of the constitutional powers are sequestered by his government, there really isn't a democracy, this guy is a dictator there's no doubt about it.
- gevurah, on 02/08/2008, -0/+1You are not from Venezuela. Stop lying.
- PedleZelnip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1That's true, and that's where his "extreme" stance tends to alienate the general public, but it doesn't change the fact he makes *a lot* of very good points about copyright.
- PedleZelnip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1What does that have to do with this story -- he isn't talking about the GPL, he's talking about the principles of software freedom, why they are important, and how they relate to other copyrighted works.
- Chandon, on 10/10/2007, -0/+1If its that easy, point me to a "Linux Distro" that isn't GNU.
I think you'll find that without a C library and compiler, you don't have much of an operating system left. - sfllaw, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2supercrazyirish: From what I understand of Richard's position, he cares mostly about the functional aspects of derivatives. For the longest time, he's made his opinion pieces redistributable verbatim and this seems to be an obvious extension of that.
- PedleZelnip, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1http://www.wmplugins.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=681
This page has a Ogg codec for Windows Media Player. I was in the same boat as you -- didn't have something to playback Ogg's, but wanted to watch this, and I am currently watching it in WMP. - iLikeGoats, on 10/11/2007, -9/+10I know he has our best interests at heart, but seriously: if a work were to enter the public domain after five years, then each bestseller/blockbuster/single would shortly spawn hundreds of knockoffs: edited versions, extended versions, pornographic versions. Copyright does more than safeguard one man's idea--it forces the rest into creativity.
- daftman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Did you know that today Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake is actually a derivative work recomposed by Riccardo Drigo? Derivative work on many occasion add more value and creativity to the original.
- f0dder, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I think the words people are looking for are "useful idiots"
- fkr3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1If he were going to live 300 more years then he would be unlikely to retire at 65. However if his ideas and the company he builds are going to survive 300 years after him, why should it be released into the public?
The whole argument about copyright being relinquished focuses on you (not you specifically) wanting someone else's idea to make something out of. If being able to create a "new" cartoon character called "SUPER Mickey Mouse" is the extent of your talent then you need to re-evaluate your goals in life, and possibly move out of China. -
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