Re: The Man With The Attitude up his ***....

[Lazlo Nibble <csbrkaac@ariel.unm.edu>]

James Smith <munnari!cc.nu.oz.au!CCJS@uunet.UU.NET> writes:

> Kate does not own her music, any more than an author owns the text of a
> novel he writes or a scientist owns the design of an invention he creates.
> Such things belong to humanity.  What she does own is the right to copy
> them.

I don't know the legal standing of this argument, but I think that
morally, it's unbelievably corrupt.  Are you arguing that once an
artist creates something, its ultimate fate immediately falls out of
their control?  That's ridiculous.  If I write a novel and don't care
to share it with anyone outside of an immediate circle of close
friends, then I think that anyone who copies it and passes it around to
the world at large is *in the wrong*, both legally AND morally.
"Humanity" doesn't have a right to see and hear everything I do.

> I fully agree that it is illegal to copy the demos, and that it is
> against Kate's wishes.  I don't agree that it is morally wrong.

Obviously I disagree.  I happen to believe that the creator of an
artistic work has the moral right to decide what ultimately happens to
that work.  If Kate wants her early demos to stay out of the hands of
collectors and fans, then I believe those collectors and fans should
respect her wishes.

> I get the impression that you and Tim Maroney are confusing morals with
> money--such unfortunately seems to be the way with some Americans.

That's a cheap shot, Jim.  It also doesn't happen to apply in my case
...  my concern for Kate's pocketbook is virtually nonexistant.  I'm
much more worried about Kate's privacy and her right as an artist to
control her work.

If you wrote the copyright laws, where would you draw the line?  Would
everything an artist creates immediately fall into the public domain?

                                                Lazlo (csbrkaac@ariel.unm.edu)
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Lock the target.  Bait the line.  Spread the net.  Catch the man.