Re:Pirate Library Mirror: Preserving 7TB of books (that are ...
by dredmorbius on Tuesday July 05, 2022 @01:02PM
(#31990779)
No, it's not.
Your comment above suggested that stripping direct profit motive and incentives from copyright would produce a net harm. The Free Software model is based on the premise that stripping most exclusive rights under copyright, and specifically the ability to create new copies of, and new derivatives of works, is actually a net benefit to society, and often to the original author of a work who benefits by the collaborative and collective development and advancement of it.
One of the more fascinating characteristics of not only the Web but modern computing is that it's been the abandonment of proprietary interest in works (code, standards, protocols, operating systems) which have delivered the greatest value. AT&T did not voluntarily relinquish UNIX to the world, it was forced to do so under a 1950s US antitrust decree which granted the firm its monopoly in telecommunications but forbade it from engaging in the computer business.
Arpanet, IETF, the GNU Project, TBL's CERN document-distribution project, Linux, multiple programming languages, and other elements are all based on the notion of non-proprietary ownership rights to the extent that free use and (generally) modification are permitted, often with little further restriction (MIT/BSD licenses), or with the requirement that further distribution also requires source availability in preferred form for making modifications (GNU GPL, AGPL, etc.).
That is: my comment was salient to the (implied) central fallacy of your previous statement. A foundation which your subsequent replies suggest is in fact your point.
Your comment above suggested that stripping direct profit motive and incentives from copyright would produce a net harm. The Free Software model is based on the premise that stripping most exclusive rights under copyright, and specifically the ability to create new copies of, and new derivatives of works, is actually a net benefit to society, and often to the original author of a work who benefits by the collaborative and collective development and advancement of it.
One of the more fascinating characteristics of not only the Web but modern computing is that it's been the abandonment of proprietary interest in works (code, standards, protocols, operating systems) which have delivered the greatest value. AT&T did not voluntarily relinquish UNIX to the world, it was forced to do so under a 1950s US antitrust decree which granted the firm its monopoly in telecommunications but forbade it from engaging in the computer business.
https://www.softpanorama.org/History/Unix/unix_chonology.sht...
Arpanet, IETF, the GNU Project, TBL's CERN document-distribution project, Linux, multiple programming languages, and other elements are all based on the notion of non-proprietary ownership rights to the extent that free use and (generally) modification are permitted, often with little further restriction (MIT/BSD licenses), or with the requirement that further distribution also requires source availability in preferred form for making modifications (GNU GPL, AGPL, etc.).
That is: my comment was salient to the (implied) central fallacy of your previous statement. A foundation which your subsequent replies suggest is in fact your point.