Re: droit de suite

On Wed, 12 Apr 2000, Joseph P. Riolo <riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 11 Apr 2000, Marty Hayes <9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> wrote:
> >
> > Sooooooooo, let me see if I get your point, Colin. It's okay to
> > infringe on others' rights, be they property rights or copyright
> > rights or any other rights, as long as there's a strong chance that
> > you won't be held legally accountable for doing so. In fact, key,
> > it's okay to break any law you want as long as your chances of being
> > held responsible for your actions are *neglible* or *unlikely*.
> > "There may be a technical breach, but..."????? No, Colin, not a
> > technical breach. It's a breach. PERIOD.
> >
> > It appears it doesn't matter to you that the activities in question
> > may not right *ethically*... it only matters that you won't be held
> > legally responsible. If that's your position as a lawyer, then I am
> > truly saddened. What saddens me even more is your interpretation of
> > the questions that were asked.
>
> I am tempted to ask you, Marty, if you never infringe anyone's
> copyright in your life. I think nobody on this list can raise his
> hand and say that he never infringes anyone's copyright. But, that
> is ad hominem.
>
> Just because a law says what you cannot do does not make it morally
> wrong and what you can do does not make it morally right. When a
> person feels that a law is morally wrong (according to his value
> system or belief), impractical, ridiculous, or hard to follow; he
> will have to calculate the risk of being arrested, prosecuted, or
> sued before he decides to disregard the law. People do that all
> the times. Driving at 5 or 10 more than the posted speed limit is
> a good example. The copyright law is no stranger to the everyday
> low-key infringements.
>
> > When I read those questions posed to the group, *I* read them with
> > the thought that these people wanted to make sure they were doing
> > the right thing as a matter of ethics and conscience. Helen said,
> > "how do I make sure I don't breach any IP issues", NOT "how do I
> > make sure I don't get caught/prosecuted for breaching." The
> > discussion about losing access to works due to inability to find
> > rightsholders, etc. was one that made suggestions on how to make
> > the LAW more reasonable (at least in theory), not how to disregard
> > the law.
>
> I am interested in how we can make the law more reasonable. That
> the U.S. Congress and judges are listening to reason is becoming a
> rarity.
>
> > All I can say is, no wonder the world is the way it is today.
> > No respect for anyone else or for what is *right* anymore.
>
> Do I have to respect the copyright owners who are stingy and/or
> domineering? Do I have to respect the copyright owners who
> diminish or suppress my right to communicate knowledge in any
> form and medium? Do I have to respect the copyright owners who
> have no sense of responsibility in making their works available
> to the world or who want to suppress their works? Do I have to
> respect the copyright owners who copy the public domain works
> without disclosing that they are actually public domain? Do I
> have to respect the people who make the access to the public
> domain works impossible or more difficult? Do I have to respect
> the copyright owners who use copyright law to prompt their
> goals that serve no one but themselves? Why do the authors,
> creators, and copyright owners silently or actively desire
> to expand the scope of the copyright law indefinitely but
> oppose very vehemently against any attempt to decrease or
> even trim the scope of the copyright law? It is no wonder
> that they, and the copyright law, do not earn any high
> respect from me, at least.

My dear Mr. Riolo:

Please. It would be as unrealistic to suggest that all of us haven't infringed at one time or another as it would be to suggest that all of us haven't lied at one time or another. Being human means that we sometimes do things which we may be feel are acceptable from a personal belief standpoint but acknowledge are *societally* wrong. However, in my estimation, there is a *vast* difference between making those choices personally and encouraging a wholesale disregard for societally or legally responsible behavior. To illustrate, it's one thing to make a personal choice to lie even though it is societally unacceptable, but it's completely another to say, "Hey, don't sweat it -- in fact, let's ALL lie."

Now, had the two people asking those questions posed them as "What do you think my chances are of getting caught/prosecuted if I do thus and such?", then a response saying "Even if you do, it probably won't stick" wouldn't seem as offensive. But here, as I read it, were two parties who were asking for help because they wanted to prevent an unintentional "stepping outside the lines". In short, they appeared to be trying to do the right thing (legally or societally), and one of the offered responses is essentially "I don't know why you're concerned. Don't sweat it -- it doesn't matter anyway. Who cares?"

As I've already replied to another post which honed in on my comment regarding ethics, I did not and do not suggest that moral values and legal values are identical. Hence, we agree that what is legally acceptable is not necessarily morally right, and vice versa. I did not state nor imply that the act of copying itself was ethically questionable; I stated that taking an active role in promoting a disregard for societal law was ethically questionable.

As for your comments regarding respect, it is irrelevant whether or not you respect the individual entities who hold the rights. No one says you have to respect them as individuals. However, it is important that members of a society have some measure of respect for the laws (no matter who they protect, be it copyright owners or individuals or even flying camels) that have been implemented for us to play nice and get along, even when those laws don't flush with our personal value systems. It is important for us to apply effort, however futile it may seem, to refining those laws if we personally believe that they are not sound as is. In short, if a law disturbs you that greatly, then work to change it through the processes that society provides to do so.

Marty Hayes
<9ball[_at_]hostsite.net> Received on Fri Apr 14 2000 - 05:04:24 GMT