Re: Attribution is not required in public domainmaterials

On Mon, 9 Jun 2003, Lars Gaarden <larsg[_at_]eurorights.org> wrote:

>

This shows that we have different systems of morals. I don't see it as one of the Seven Deadly Sins or even one of the 70 Lesser Sins. (On the contrary, forcing people to provide attributions to your works may be one of the Seven Deadly Sins, namely, pride.)

You mention the concept of the ownership. In the world of the public domain, there is no concept of ownership. (Technically speaking, everyone owns the public domain but because there is no one who cannot own it, ownership becomes meaningless.) Do you own your own ideas? No. The ideas belongs to everyone. Therefore, there is no reason to provide attribution to anyone who provides the ideas.

Because open source and free-according-to-Stallman software are not truly public domain, it is possible to force people to provide attribution through terms and conditions in license but that is a different topic.

> But take my code and claim you wrote it!? I work in a highly technical
> environment. The work you are able to do is directly related to your
> detailed knowledge about a highly specific field. I guess the
> scientific term is that I live in a meritocracy. My worth as an
> employee is directly related to my knowledge - and my ability to prove
> that I have that knowledge. Claiming my work as yours is claiming that
> you have my knowledge. I'll be long gone when the copyright expires
> so I don't care about my right to attribution after the expiration of
> copyright protection, but as long as I'm still alive I don't want
> anyone else claiming my expression as their own.

This may be ad hominem but here are the questions for you. Are you truly an author that creates something out of nothing or are you mostly a compiler that takes some ideas, concepts, and expressions from other sources and assemble them to produce a program, report, story, play, etc.? Do you give attribution for every idea, concept, expression, and so on that you copy or use? Do you write 300 pages of credits at the end of your 50-page report? I am questioning your claim that the knowledge in your code or field is wholly yours ("my knowledge").

(Just to appease those who have strong belief in attribution, the expression "300 pages of credits" that I just used in the previous paragraph came from the oral argument made by David A. Gerber, Esq. before the Supreme Court on April 2, 2003 which can be found on page 55 at
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/02-428.pdf. Some other ideas in my post came from other sources but why bother listing all attributions!)

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com>
http://www.boycottcopyright.com

Number of days left until 1-1-2019 when all knowledge of 1923 in the land of the U.S.A. will be freed from their copyright owners' prisons: 5,684

Public domain notice: I put all of my expressions in this post in the public domain. Received on Tue Jun 10 2003 - 19:01:54 GMT