A great essay on copyright from the Atlantic Monthly...

September 12, 2000 7:28 PM

A great essay on copyright from the Atlantic Monthly... Hardly new [1998]... but a great read nonetheless. Of course, it might have been better to have placed it under the previous Powazek posting, but I still can't figure out how to post a link within a thread. Well, that and it's only tangentially related.
posted by silusGROK (13 comments total)

It's pretty rare that I read something that long onscreen, but that was very good (and strangely timely given its age). I'd certainly recommend that all those people who have been considering these issues lately have a look. There is a big important context here.
posted by sylloge at 1:23 AM on September 13, 2000

link here, Vis10n.
posted by holgate at 4:42 AM on September 13, 2000

oh, arse, it looked fine at the preview, but then it converted the character entities to HTML.

But use A HREF.
posted by holgate at 4:44 AM on September 13, 2000

There is a big important context here

Yeah, Right! Half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water and you're more concerned about some web designer's ego being hurt by imitation or copying of his content/graphics. Funny sense of priorities.
posted by murray_kester at 5:59 AM on September 13, 2000

Thanks, Holgate... and now I know. And knowing is half the battle.

As for murray's mini-diatribe... Murray: you may only be able to process one issue at a time, but my soul has been multi-tasking for years. I don't have to give up one issue for another. Come back when you have something constructive or at least amusing to say.
posted by silusGROK at 6:41 AM on September 13, 2000

"half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water" This is precisely why you should support my bid for Supreme Authority. By inaugurating the Murder Generation, I will solve the drinking water problem -- by killing half the global population. Prosperity and fresh water for all survivors!
posted by aramaic at 7:36 AM on September 13, 2000

half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water and you're more concerned about some web designer's ego being hurt

Yeah, Right! Half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water and you're more concerned about someone concerned about some web designer's ego being hurt. Funny sense of priorities.
posted by ericost at 8:42 AM on September 13, 2000

The funny thing is that I'm not even the slightest bit concerned about Derek's ego being hurt by people imitating his design. I'm not sure what else you could be talking about so it seems like a complete non sequitur.

The essay does offer a lot of past (and future) context for current discussions about copyright. And it does that irrespective of all the people who might lack clean drinking water or other people who write threatening letters to their wives' families and publish them on the internet, as bad as those things are.
posted by sylloge at 11:42 AM on September 13, 2000

half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water and you're more concerned about some web designer's ego being hurt

So Murray, why is the "non-profit" site you run (for which you were accused of swiping graphics & web design) devoted to coping with "Narcissistic Personality Disorder" (which you believe is the reason your ex-wife won't speak to you), rather than gaining access to clean drinking water for the other half of the world's population?

Half the world's population doesn't even have access to clean drinking water and you're more concerned about a rare mental disorder that inflates some people's egos? Funny sense of priorities.

(BTW, for those who think I'm being tasteless for bringing up Mr. Kester's ex, check out his site; the entire sordid story of his breakup is publically laid out there, revealing several things about said ex that Kester admits are her secrets. He also lists his ex's email address. This was covered exhaustively back when Kester linked to his own site and someone realized he had lifted code and graphics from another site. But that was a while back. Lest we forget...)
posted by wiremommy at 12:27 PM on September 13, 2000

You obviously took great delight in reading it Wiremommy. Whatever you think of me, I do not care, I just hope you derived some benefit from it. It's long and exhausting reading (as you surely know)...My point is, I think most Non-Americans (and many Americans too I am sure) find the US obsession with litigation and the petty and small minded attitudes about copyright rather irritating.

Lest we forget too, Wiremommy, it was YOU that wrote you would rather "run over screaming babies with lawnmowers" than have the material on YOUR site copied.

Funny sense of priorities again.
posted by murray_kester at 2:38 PM on September 13, 2000

You're absolutely right, Murray. I should probably stop running over screaming babies with lawnmowers and concentrate instead on supplying clean drinking water to the half of the world that still lacks it.

It's silly and selfish of me to think about and get involved with debate about an issue that affects my livelihood. It's petty and small minded of me to wish to retain some say over the creative work I've done. I should follow your example and selflessly devote myself to rehashing the intimate details of my failed marriage on my own "non-profit" site. I don't know exactly how that will provide clean drinking water to the half the world that lacks it, but it seems to be working for you-- you do practice what you preach, don't you?
posted by wiremommy at 2:57 PM on September 13, 2000

Ghod... and *I* get bitched out for topic drift...
posted by baylink at 3:33 PM on September 13, 2000

Yeah, I know, bay. Still, while I'm following Kester down this tangent, I actually dug up that 'screaming babies' thing he was griping about. It's from the thread that pointed out that Kester's site had lifted some HTML and graphics from another site. I wrote: "I hate to gripe at a guy with a nonprofit site, but if it was my design I'd be pissed off even if the website that was stealing from me was directly responsible for saving a thousand babies from being run over by lawnmowers."
posted by wiremommy at 3:50 PM on September 13, 2000