Re: (none)

[tim@toad.com (Tim Maroney)]

Quoted-From: ide!lofdahl@Sun.COM (Corey Lofdahl)
>
>1)  Does the copyright/public domain argument hold up?  
>I'm curious to know the resolution of this.

Yes.  If you allow people to make copies of anything without
restriction, then you no longer have the right to tell anyone else that
they can't make copies.  In the USA's copyright law, the copyright is
on the work as soon as it's written regardless of whether it has a
notice or not.  This has been the case for a few years; those who say
the notice is required are talking about an earlier generation of
copyright law.  As things are now, you can only give away your
copyright by explicitly entering into a work for hire contract or
permitting the work to be copied without a copyright notice.

I don't know about the British law, but I'm sure that it also holds
that unpublished and unsold works remain the property of the artist.
It may not be called "copyright" before there is an actual plan for
copying (as used to be the case in USA law) but there is protection of
the intellectual property.  The person who said that unpublished works
are in the public domain was just spouting gibberish.

>I'd like it to make some comments
>on Tim Maroney's letter to IED.  I didn't like it; it was shrill,
>self-rightous, and the rape metaphor was particularly offensive.

Yes, precisely like IED's letter to me.  Mine was a straight parody of
his style, right down to inappropriate pronouns, overblown modifiers,
exagerrated analogies, specious transcendentalism, and tangled sentence
structures.  Sorry that your grasp of English prose styling wasn't up
to the challenge.

>Tim's follow up missive to Michel Waucomont had all the deep introspection
>and respect for the subject matter as a Geraldo Rivera documentary.

Now *there's* a devastating rejoinder!  Without delivering even a
single objection of substance, Corey proceeds to pass general judgment
on an entire message.  Gosh, we're all really impressed with your
debating style, I can tell you.

>You won the argument Tim, now do yourself a favor and shut up.

I've got a better idea.  Why don't you go gargle ground glass?

>Despite Tim's TV evangelist tone,

No, IED's TV evangelist tone.  I was only making fun of it.  It seems
that sauce for the goose may not be sauce for the gander, if one
happens to agree with the goose.

>he does raise some valid and disturbing points.

So answer them and forget about these personal attacks.  Just a wild
idea.  Never mind, I don't know what came over me.

>Nevertheless it is all too easy to criticize someone who takes
>it upon himself to accomplish something.  The communist peasant
>mentality of fearing such people because it makes them look "bad" by
>comparison is common, understandable, and ugly.

WHAAAAT?  Maybe you've been gargling ground glass already!  Do these
two sentences actually mean anything at all?
-- 
Tim Maroney, Mac Software Consultant, sun!hoptoad!tim, tim@toad.com
Postal: 424 Tehama, SF CA 94103; Phone: (415) 495-2934

"There's a real world out there, with real people.  Go out and play there for
 a while and give the Usenet sandbox a rest.  It will lower your stress
 levels and make the world a happier place for us all." -- Gene Spafford