Re: Napster destroys Western Civilization

Arthur Miller's works imply that the origination of copyright was to prevent sedition via printing press -- it was a top-down oppression measure, and had little if anything to do with authors or even publishers per se. The idea was who was trusted to run this dangerous machine called a printing press.

I often start with that premise when explaining copyright to lay audiences. Even if overstated, it always leads to a discussion I find far more interesting than a debate limited strictly to rights of authors versus rights of readers.

Roland J. Cole, Executive Director
Software Patent Institute
9225 Indian Creek Parkway, #1100
OVERLAND PARK KS 64210-2009
913-451-3355; fax 913-451-3361
cole@spi.org; http://www.spi.org/ Received on Wed May 10 2000 - 20:25:55 GMT