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more on ] Lessig the Grey vs. Creative Commons
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 17:50:51 -0400
-----Original Message----- From: Rick Bradley <rick () rickbradley com> Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 16:39:04 To:Dave Farber <dave () farber net> Cc:Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>, scott () turnstyle com Subject: Re: [IP] Lessig the Grey vs. Creative Commons [IP] * Dave Farber (dave () farber net) [040305 15:32]:
However, the Grey Tuesday movement seeks to take that right away. Notably, Larry Lessig (Creative Commons Chairman of the Board) commented in his blog: http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/001754.shtml "Should the law give DJ Danger Mouse the right to remix without permission? I think so, though I understand how others find the matter a bit more grey." "Should the law give DJ Danger Mouse a compulsory right to remix? That is, the right, conditioned upon his paying a small fee per sale? Again, I think so, and again, you might find this a bit less grey." So, what exactly does Creative Commons mean by "some rights reserved" -- would it perhaps be more accurate if they said: "some rights reserved until we can cook up a new compulsory license to take those rights away"?
Not being much of a Lessig fan (I wish someone else had handled the Eldred case, for example), and not being a Creative Commons license user, I find it tempting to let the quoted comments stand. However, these issues are important beyond the specific parties cited and the sort of dissembling proffered in the parent post merely multiplies misunderstandings. At the risk of being pedantic, while it is instructive to consider the personal stance of contributors such as Lessig on issues that Creative Commons addresses, it's misleading (and one wonders whether this is deliberately so) to attribute to the platform of Creative Commons the blog musings of Larry Lessig. Likewise, while one could certainly outline any number of boundaries for a possible "Grey Tuesday movement", conflating Creative Commons (much less via association with Larry Lessig) and such a movement overstates the importance and contributions of the Grey Tuesday backers and does a significant disservice to those who have worked hard to promote the Creative Commons licenses. It is worth clarifying a few issues here: - The EFF (certainly not a subsidiary of Creative Commons, "The Grey Tuesday movement", nor Larry Lessig Enterprises Inc.) casts doubt upon the legal merits of EMI's claims to copyright infringement: http://www.eff.org/IP/grey_tuesday.php - On my last reading of the Constitution, as amended, I failed to note under which branch of government Creative Commons operates. I believe it's safe to say that any compulsory licensing scheme dreamed up by the conspiring Marxists at Creative Commons to steal our creative output and to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids will at least require the complicity of a couple of souls working for the U.S. Gov't. - Short of compulsory licensing, which (thanks to the valiant actions of patriots like yourself and Base Commander Ripper!) those bloody Marxists haven't managed to enforce (yet!) noone is using a Creative Commons license who isn't voluntarily doing so. Not choosing to use their licenses myself I can't seem to get my panties in a very tight wad about whether other people are using them or not -- no matter how many rights they claim to reserve. It's also safe to say that, unlike the RIAA or the MPAA, the Creative Commons won't be shoving their own biased legislation through a gauntlet of well-bribed legislators to emerge fully formed from the head of Fritz Hollings like some depraved capitalist Athena. No. Quite to the contrary: by siding with the Pigopolists for the continuing lockdown of intellectual "property", you're well on the safe side of the Vegas spread in this playoff series. So why all the stress? Rick -- http://www.rickbradley.com MUPRN: 324 | the event itself, random email haiku | nothing seemed to be going | on, close to or so. ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on ] Lessig the Grey vs. Creative Commons Dave Farber (Mar 05)