An apology

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

Path: cc!ccjs
From: CCJS@cc.nu.oz (James Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: An apology
Date: 25 Sep 89 10:02:44 EST
Organization: University of Newcastle
Lines: 25

Last night while looking over some old postings I had a chance to reread
a message on the morality issue I posted a while back.  In it I said that
an author does not own the text of a book he writes or a scientist a
machine he invents.  This amounts to an advocation of piracy.  Lazlo
flamed me over it and I flamed him back.

Lazlo, I apologise.  I'm an idiot.  You were right to say such an
attitude is morally corrupt: it is.

What I was trying to say is that I regard a piece of artwork as akin
to a scientific discovery.  If I discover a process for turning lead
into gold, I have the moral right to make money from that process and
to stop others from doing so.  But I don't own the process, nor do I
have the moral right to suppress it.  I feel art falls into the same
category.

You probably don't agree with this; fair enough.  But I hope you can
understand it.

Jim

-- 
James Smith, Computing Centre, University of Newcastle, ccjs@cc.nu.oz.au
"Who's for dinner?  Shall we draw lots, boys?"
                                        -- _Asterix at the Olympic Games_