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- From: Howard Flack <Howard.Flack@cryst.unige.ch>
- Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2001 16:57:12 GMT
This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_hw1xvkPwXBpDtTsG8jxPpw) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit -- Howard Flack http://www.unige.ch/crystal/ahdf/Howard.Flack.html Laboratoire de Cristallographie Phone: 41 (22) 702 62 49 24 quai Ernest-Ansermet mailto:Howard.Flack@cryst.unige.ch CH-1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland Fax: 41 (22) 702 61 08 --Boundary_(ID_hw1xvkPwXBpDtTsG8jxPpw) Content-type: message/rfc822 Return-path: <owner-icsti-l@DTIC.MIL> Received: from gate.unige.ch ([129.194.8.77]) by mbx.unige.ch (PMDF V6.0-24 #44959) with ESMTP id <0G8N00EBGQ3D0A@mbx.unige.ch> for flack@mail.cryst.unige.ch (ORCPT howard.flack@CRYST.UNIGE.CH); Mon, 12 Feb 2001 19:30:49 +0100 (MET) Received: from DIRECTORY-DAEMON.gate.unige.ch by gate.unige.ch (PMDF V6.0-24 #44959) id <0G8N00501Q3C38@gate.unige.ch> for flack@mail.cryst.unige.ch (ORCPT howard.flack@CRYST.UNIGE.CH); Mon, 12 Feb 2001 19:30:48 +0100 (MET) Received: from mails.dtic.mil (mails.dtic.mil [131.84.1.19]) by gate.unige.ch (PMDF V6.0-24 #44959) with ESMTP id <0G8N004B2Q3BEL@gate.unige.ch> for howard.flack@CRYST.UNIGE.CH; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 19:30:48 +0100 (MET) Received: from list.dtic.mil (list.dtic.mil [131.84.105.11]) by mails.dtic.mil (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3/990419cac) with ESMTP id NAA03665; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 13:30:23 -0500 (EST) Received: from list (list.dtic.mil [172.16.105.11]) by list.dtic.mil (8.9.3+Sun/1.0) with ESMTP id NAA27146; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 13:29:36 -0500 (EST) Received: from DTIC.MIL by DTIC.MIL (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 9673 for ICSTI-L@DTIC.MIL; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 13:29:36 -0500 Received: from mails.dtic.mil (mails.dtic.mil [131.84.1.19]) by list.dtic.mil (8.9.3+Sun/1.0) with ESMTP id LAA14377 for <icsti-l@list.dtic.mil>; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:43:04 -0500 (EST) Received: from brockman.tinet.ie (mail1.tinet.ie [159.134.237.20]) by mails.dtic.mil (8.9.3+Sun/8.9.3/990419cac) with ESMTP id LAA17601 for <icsti-l@dtic.mil>; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 11:43:00 -0500 (EST) Received: from p83.as2.bantry1.eircom.net ([159.134.209.83] helo=eircom.net) by brockman.tinet.ie with esmtp (Exim 2.05 #23) id 14SM3y-0000vJ-00 for icsti-l@dtic.mil; Mon, 12 Feb 2001 16:42:54 +0000 Date: Mon, 12 Feb 2001 17:45:45 +0100 From: Barry Mahon <mahons1@EIRCOM.NET> Subject: FT.com | News and Analysis | World Article Sender: ICSTI-L list <ICSTI-L@DTIC.MIL> Approved-by: crandall@DTIC.MIL To: ICSTI-L@DTIC.MIL Reply-to: ICSTI-L list <ICSTI-L@DTIC.MIL> Message-id: <3A881339.265189BE@eircom.net> MIME-version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en]C-CCK-MCD NSCPCD47 (Win98; I) Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary="Boundary_(ID_HXzo+ZZMKZyIDdAQN0Ft2A)" X-Accept-Language: en X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --Boundary_(ID_HXzo+ZZMKZyIDdAQN0Ft2A) Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit Apropos of my latest news, the following URL is an interesting article on the subject of copyright, and shows that there is nothing new..... http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3RT0W43JC&live=true&tagid=ZZZAN4NOD0C --Boundary_(ID_HXzo+ZZMKZyIDdAQN0Ft2A) Content-type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1; name=ftc Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Content-disposition: inline; filename=ftc Content-Base: "http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagen ame=View&c=Article&cid=FT3RT0W43JC& live=true&tagid=ZZZAN4NOD0C" Content-Location: "http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagen ame=View&c=Article&cid=FT3RT0W43JC& live=true&tagid=ZZZAN4NOD0C" = <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> = <head> = <script language=3D"JavaScript"> // Added/Modified Ad tracking and version-checking // 18-11 by jjohnson@ixl.com = // Checking what platform is being used (mac os, windows, etc) var vers =3D parseInt(navigator.appVersion); var agt =3D navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); if ( vers < 4 ) { location.href =3D "http://globalelements.ft.com/global/version3/"; } </script> = = <script language=3D"JavaScript"> // Ad targeting document.cookie=3D'FTSection=3Dna/nbemai;domain=3D.ft.com;path=3D/'; document.cookie=3D'FTPage=3D2nbinea;domain=3D.ft.com;path=3D/'; = </script> <!-- Upgrade to track cookie setting --> <script language=3D"JavaScript" src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Comm= on/Track/FTTrack.js"></script> <script language=3D"JavaScript" src=3D"http://track.ft.com/track/track.j= s"></script> <title>FT.com | News and Analysis | World Article</title> = <script language=3D"JavaScript" src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Comm= on/Wrapper/navigation.js"></script> = <link rel=3D"stylesheet" type=3D"text/css" href=3D"http://globalelements= =2Eft.com/Common/Wrapper/fontspec.css"/> <script language=3D"JavaScript"> if(document.layers) { document.write('<LINK rel=3D"stylesheet" TYPE=3D"text/css" href=3D"ht= tp://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/ns_fontspec.css"/>') } </script> </head> = = = <body bgcolor=3D"#ffffff" link=3D"#330033" alink=3D"#996600" vlink=3D"#33= 0033" leftmargin=3D"0" topmargin=3D"0" marginheight=3D"0" marginwidth=3D"= 0"> = = <script>writeheader("");</script> = <table cellpadding=3D"0" cellspacing=3D"0" border=3D"0" width=3D"778"> <tr> <td width=3D"6"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrap= per/clear.gif" width=3D"6" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></td> <td width=3D"1= 44"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" wi= dth=3D"144" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></td> <td width=3D"8"><img src=3D"h= ttp://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"8" height=3D= "1" border=3D"0"></td> <td width=3D"447"><img src=3D"http://globalelement= s.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"447" height=3D"1" border=3D"0= "></td> <td width=3D"12"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/= Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"12" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></td> <td width= =3D"149"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gi= f" width=3D"149" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></td> </tr> <tr> <td width=3D"6" valign=3D"top"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft= =2Ecom/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"6" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></= td> <td width=3D"144" valign=3D"top"> = <script language=3D"javascript"> if (document.layers) { document.write('<layer name=3D"formContainer1" left=3D"6" top=3D"170= " width=3D"144" height=3D"1300" src=3D"/global/News/left_column"></layer>= '); } else { document.write('<iframe src=3D"/global/News/left_column" name=3D"for= mContainer1" width=3D"144" height=3D"1300" marginwidth=3D"0" marginheight= =3D"0" scrolling=3D"no" frameborder=3D"0"></iframe>'); } </script> = </td> <td width=3D"8" valign=3D"top"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.= ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"8" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></= td> = <td width=3D"447" valign=3D"top" height=3D"1300"> = = <img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/global/images/global/logon.gif= " width=3D"150" height=3D"30" border=3D"0" usemap=3D"#logOn"><img src=3D"= http://globalelements.ft.com/global/images/global/hdr_gutter.gif" width=3D= "20" height=3D"30" border=3D"0"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/= global/images/news/world.gif" width=3D"277" height=3D"30" border=3D"0"><b= r> <br> = <TABLE WIDTH=3D"447" BORDER=3D"0" CELLSPACING=3D"0" CELLPADDING=3D"0" VAL= IGN=3D"TOP"> = = = <TR><TD><p></p><font class=3D"bigHeadline"><b>Whigs and hackers in cy= berspace</b></font><BR> <font class=3D"all"> Copyright laws before the = European parliament should be treated as sceptically as they were by the = Victorians, says James Boyle<BR> Published: February 11 2001 20= :20GMT | Last Updated: February 11 2001 20:28GMT<br> </f= ont> </TD></TR> <TR> <TD ALIGN=3D"LEFT" colspan=3D"2"> <br> = = = = = = = = = = <IMG SRC=3D"/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTBlobServer?blobtable=3DImage&b= lobcol=3Durlpicture&blobkey=3Did&blobwhere=3DFT35Y0N8O3C&blobheader=3Dima= ge/gif" ALT=3D"Personal view" WIDTH=3D"130" HEIGHT=3D"130" ALIGN=3D"Left"= > <font class=3D"allwide"><P>Are there Whigs and Tories in cybersp= ace? In the 1840s, as British MPs debated a proposed revision to the Copy= right Law, passions ran high. Those supporting the measure, which extende= d the copyright term, saw it as a defence of the sacred rights of authors= =2E</P><P> To the bill's opponents, it was a tax on knowledge, a set of r= ules that would inhibit writing rather than encourage it and raise the co= st of books beyond the ability of the poor to pay for them. Like Macaulay= , their best-known spokesman, these critics believed it was sometimes nec= essary to create a legal monopoly to give writers an incentive, but they = felt that the monopoly should be as small as possible. They worried that = the system of copyright enforcement might give the state powers to restri= ct speech by the back door in the same way the newspaper stamp-tax had do= ne. Besides, they wondered, weren't the champions of authors' rights unwi= ttingly helping established publishers who wanted to forestall competitio= n and thought copyright law could be pressed into service? An unlikely co= alition of sceptics developed: free-traders opposed to monopoly, radicals= defending the cheap press and civil libertarians wary of speech regulati= on. </P><P>The European parliament is now debating a copyright directive = that raises exactly the same issues. The only differences are that the in= ternet has replaced the book trade, and that Macaulay and his fellow scep= tics are poorly represented. A few of the absurdities of the US's Digital= Millennium Copyright Act have been avoided, but broadly speaking, this i= s a victory for the protectionists. That is a shame. </P><P>The conventio= nal wisdom about cyberspace is that it will lower the cost of copying and= thus increase piracy. In order to maintain adequate incentives we must i= ncrease copyright protection, imposing taxes on media or devices that <I>= might</I> be used for unauthorised copying, cutting back on the "fair use= " or "fair dealing" rights of consumers and future creators, allowing med= ia companies to wrap their products in digital barbed wire and making it = a violation (even for a legitimate purchaser) to cut that barbed wire. Th= is conventional wisdom is wrong, or at least incomplete. It is wrong whet= her one looks at copyright as a system of economic incentives or a sacred= natural right. </P><P>The internet lowers the cost of copying. Does this= mean a net loss to rights-holders? Well, presumably one has to balance t= he costs of the network (easier unauthorised copying) against the benefit= s (free distribution, cheaper advertising, bigger markets, improved abili= ty to search for unauthorised copies.) Is the balance unfavourable? Are c= ontent industries suffering from this vast expansion of their markets? Ca= ll me when the price to earnings ratio of content industries falls below = the legal drinking age - maybe I will believe you then. </P><P>Hollywood = said the same things about the threat posed by video recorders - but vide= o rentals now make up the majority of the film industry's revenues. </P><= P>If you care about incentives, a 10 per cent rate of unauthorised copyin= g in a market of 300m is better for rights holders than a 2 per cent rate= of unauthorised copying in a market of 30m. Raising the cost of the medi= a through taxation and legal monopolies may actually drive some people ou= t of the market altogether. This is particularly worrying when we are tal= king about the internet, which has a potentially unparalleled role in dem= ocratic culture. At the very least, we should wait and see how the intern= et develops before demanding state intervention. </P><P>Why are the conte= nt industries so resolutely behind these measures? Partly, it is short-si= ghtedness, partly they like doing business the way they always have. The = technical measures protections and the "anti-Napster provisions" (which s= trike broadly against private peer-to-peer file sharing) offer a warm bla= nket of state-provided insulation against the chill winds of competition.= They fear that the internet might cut the middle man out of the distribu= tion chain, or reduce the mark-up. Copyright and database protection can = help fend off this danger. But this is hardly an attractive agenda; "auth= ors' rights" sounds much better. </P><P>What of those who genuinely belie= ve authors have a natural right to the protections granted them in the Di= rective? I have great sympathy for authors' rights. But pick your favouri= te natural rights thinker, put him on the stand, and ask whether authors = have a <I>natural</I> right to the extra slice of revenue that could be g= enerated if purchasers of a work could be digitally prevented from this o= r that use. The idea is just silly. Somewhere along the way, the authors'= rights view lost the Lockean perspective that even natural rights have l= imits; that "enough and as good" should be left for others. Natural right= became maximum monopoly. And in the name of authorial genius, the regime= proposed by the copyright directive offers us a bureaucratic system that= only a tax-collector could love. Is genius likely to flower in this worl= d, with its regulations, its pervasive surveillance and its taxes on know= ledge? I have my doubts. </P><P><I>The writer is professor of law at Duke= university</I> </P><br></font> <br> </TD></TR> <TR><TD> <font class=3D"allWide"><br></font> <FONT class=3D"head= line">more from FT.com</FONT><br> = = = = = = = = = = = = = <a href=3D"http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=3DView&c=3DColl= ection&cid=3DIXL8JPWGJAC"> <font class=3D"allWide">Read more from our col= umnists</font><br></a> = = = = = = = = = = = = = <font class=3D"allWide"><br></font> = <br> = = = = = = = </TD></TR> <TR><TD> <br> <div align=3D"center"><a href=3D"/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=3D= View&c=3DArticle&cid=3DFT3RT0W43JC&live=3Dtrue&useoverridetemplate=3DIXL8= L4VRRBC&tagid=3DZZZAN4NOD0C"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Com= mon/Wrapper/printer_button.gif" border=3D"0" width=3D"114" height=3D"14">= </a></div> <br> </TD> </TR> = = = </TABLE> <hr width=3D"100%" size=3D"1" color=3D"#C0C0C0"> </td> <t= d width=3D"12" valign=3D"top"><img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Co= mmon/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D"12" height=3D"1" border=3D"0"></td> <t= d width=3D"149" valign=3D"top"> <layer name=3D"formContainer2" left=3D"= 628" top=3D"170" width=3D"149" height=3D"1300" src=3D"/global/News/right_= column"></layer> <iframe src=3D"/global/News/right_column" name=3D"formCo= ntainer2" width=3D"149" height=3D"1300" marginwidth=3D"0" marginheight=3D= "0" scrolling=3D"no" frameborder=3D"0"></iframe> </td> = </tr> </table> = = = <iframe src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/footer.html"= name=3D"footer" width=3D"100%" height=3D"100" marginwidth=3D"0" marginhe= ight=3D"0" scrolling=3D"no" frameborder=3D"0"></iframe> <ilayer name=3D"f= ooter" width=3D"100%" height=3D"100" src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/= Common/Wrapper/footer.html"></ilayer> = <img src=3D"http://globalelements.ft.com/Common/Wrapper/clear.gif" width=3D= "1" height=3D"1"> </body> </html> = =00= --Boundary_(ID_HXzo+ZZMKZyIDdAQN0Ft2A)-- --Boundary_(ID_hw1xvkPwXBpDtTsG8jxPpw)--
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