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Major Copyright Judgement

I explained several pages back why that analogy fails entirely.

Libraries lend for a limited period of time. For popular authors, or authors that readers find interesting, or for longer books, or just for things that readers want to have on hand, they purchase the book.

So yes. While libraries may cut some sales, they may also introduce readers to new authors, and they offer a service with a limited timespan.

Pray tell, how long does it take for the internet to ask for a stolen game back?

By the way, there's several very reasonably priced game rental companies. I suggest that there is no ethical or moral problems about that service, and you examine those. Except, oh yeah, you'd rather steal.
 
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GreyICE

Let's face it, reference books aside, would you ever borrow a book from a library, read it, and go buy it? For example, the Da Vinci Code, you know, there was the huge frenzy over that, but once you borrow it from the library and read it and realize how awful it is, there is no chance you are gonna buy it.

And I'll give you the limited amount of time thing - though you could always scan the book into your computer or photocopy it (not sure if these are illegal), and thus have your own permanent copy, without contributing to the author. I know that in my country, last I checked (few years ago) photocopying books is permissible.

However, I'm still trying to understand you here. You say a library is permissible because it lends materials out only for a limited amount of time. Would it follow, then, that it is permissible to establish a library which lends out video games free of charge for a limited amount of time?

And if that is the case, could library patrons not simply make copies of the borrowed games (as with a photocopier in a library), and this would be permissible? Or is this where you draw the line? Lending out a legal copy is OK, but photocopying from it is not?

Furthermore, if photocopying or scanning an entire book is not ok, what amount is? A page? A chapter? 10% of the book? 20%? And what about google books? I've saved hundreds by using that library. Is this permissible - after all, there is no time limit on access to these books, so surely, it must be impermissible? And if so, where are the lawsuits?
 
I don't think "I don't like it enough" is a reason to not pay for it.

I routinely borrow books from the library or read them online, conclude "I don't like it enough" and don't pay for it. No one seems to take issue with this, but somehow bits are different?
 
GreyICE

Let's face it, reference books aside, would you ever borrow a book from a library, read it, and go buy it? For example, the Da Vinci Code, you know, there was the huge frenzy over that, but once you borrow it from the library and read it and realize how awful it is, there is no chance you are gonna buy it.
Certainly. As a short list, Perdido Street Station, Robert Jordan's wheel of time, the Deathstalker cycle, Kim Harrison's books, The Electric Church, Neuromancer, and The Diamond Age all spring to mind as series or books that I first encountered in a library and now own. The list of authors whose works I chose to purchase when they become available, and who I first encountered in a library include Brian Sanderson (actually I bought the Mistborn Trilogy, so that should be on the list too), Patrick Rothfuss, John Varley, Phillip K. Dick, Jim Butcher, oh this list goes on.

So, in summary: fail.


And I'll give you the limited amount of time thing - though you could always scan the book into your computer or photocopy it (not sure if these are illegal), and thus have your own permanent copy, without contributing to the author. I know that in my country, last I checked (few years ago) photocopying books is permissible.

However, I'm still trying to understand you here. You say a library is permissible because it lends materials out only for a limited amount of time. Would it follow, then, that it is permissible to establish a library which lends out video games free of charge for a limited amount of time?
Certainly. There's several services that lend out video games free of charge. Gamefly springs immediately to mind.

There doesn't seem to be a compelling social interest to establish a video game library the way there is for a print library. So I don't think it should be government funded. But there's private book rental services, and private video game rental services. I doubt I even have to mention movie rental, Blockbuster, Netflix, there's literally dozens of services.

I don't get why you think this is somehow not allowed. I really don't follow where you're going at all here.
And if that is the case, could library patrons not simply make copies of the borrowed games (as with a photocopier in a library), and this would be permissible? Or is this where you draw the line? Lending out a legal copy is OK, but photocopying from it is not?

Furthermore, if photocopying or scanning an entire book is not ok, what amount is? A page? A chapter? 10% of the book? 20%? And what about google books? I've saved hundreds by using that library. Is this permissible - after all, there is no time limit on access to these books, so surely, it must be impermissible? And if so, where are the lawsuits?
Certainly photocopying a book entire is impermissible.

As for how much is, there was a reasonable law created at some point. It's called the 'Fair Use and Copyright Act.' Most European countries have a similar equivalent law.

You may engage in Loki's Wager all you wish (which is all you are doing, it is a boring fallacy), but in general the Fair Use act sets reasonable limits.

ETA: Useful links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Use
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_of_the_heap
 
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Obviously. However it's the "us" I have a problem with. I understand that you think that society's needs trumps individual freedoms (correct me if I'm wrong, but that seems to be what you've been saying). The heck of it is, I disagree.

"Society's needs" is just as made up as "individual freedoms", first off,

Happiness is not made up. Preference satisfaction is not made up. They are real, empirically observable phenomena.

As opposed to rights, which are just rhetorical constructs used to sell people the idea that they are entitled to something. They have a great deal of appeal to people who think they should be entitled to things, but they have no coherent philosophical basis.

and second it simply doesn't work as well. It's also much harder to properly define. I mean, let's return to the composer who can't make a buck for his life work because some shmuck decided to steal his notes and make money off of them. I gather you think that that composer has no right to his compositions ? But doesn't that mean, by the same token, that NONE of us have a right to anything we do or make ? And how does THAT help society ?

I never ceases to amaze me that you continue to participate in threads like this when it's absolutely clear you have understood none of the preceding conversation.

If it helps society overall to create and enforce copyright privileges, we should do it. Not because anyone has a made-up "right" that nobody else copy their work, but because it works out best for everyone if we make up a law that stops people copying their work.

On the other hand if it does not benefit society overall, then if a composer thinks they have a "right" that society spend a fortune on lawmakers, police and lawyers to go around stopping people copying their tunes then said composer can go jump in the lake.

Okay, I have explained the basis of rights.

You have handwaved, waffled, tried on a few different dumb justifications on for size and now given up.

I have explained why they arise naturally out of the necessity of having humans in close proximity.

If they really were necessary, then they would necessarily be socially beneficial.

The whole argument centres on claimed "rights" which are not necessary and are arguably not socially beneficial, like the right to sue people who share music non-commercially.

Your new argument is a feeble attempt to dress up a post hoc Just So Story with the mantle of "necessity", to enable you to pretend that alternative ways of running a society cannot work.

I have explained why your system, as a piece of government is a total failure.

You sit there with your arms crossed saying 'well you tell me' and 'godly butt fairies.'

I don't see how you bring anything to this.

The Socratic method is used to make people with idiotic, incoherent ideas realise that their ideas are incoherent and idiotic.

It works best upon subjects that have the wit and the integrity to admit it when they have talked themselves into a corner, of course, but even lacking such a subject it can be educational for onlookers.

Once it's sunk into people's heads that talk of "rights" is nothing more than self-entitled windbaggery, we can move on to discuss the subject more intelligently.
 
The only person arguing for "society" rights, so far, has been Kevin. I was under the impression that the Bill of Rights, among other such documents, was based on individual freedoms, instead.

And it wasn't a slippery slope. He argued that individuals basically don't have rights. So, if it's "good" to society that some bloke dies, then he should be killed, right ?
It was indeed a slippery slope. You presented "Artists have a right to profit off their ideas", which I countered with "I have a right to do what I want with the music I purchase", which you then took to the extreme of "He feels he has the right to murder someone else". How is that not a slippery slope argument on your end?

This is the problem with arguing over individual rights - 1) they don't exist beyond what society has determined to allow to exist (hint: there are plenty of dictatorships in the current world where individuals have very few "rights") and 2) any right/freedom you attribute to an individual will always conflict with someone else's rights/freedoms.

For example: let's say every person has the right to live, then that means we deny every person the right to kill another. When we look at this from a societal point of view, we realize that society has determined the benefits of granting the right for everyone to live their life far outweigh the benefits (if any) of granting the right for an individual to end the life of another individual. And, in fact, certain societies have decided that the right to end some individuals lives are a benefit to that society (see: the Death Penalty, also see Life Without Parole). The debate over the Death Penalty vs Life W/o Parole is, of course, a whole different discussion - but the point remains.

Society determines what "rights" or "freedoms" the individual has. And it does this by a cost/benefit analysis.

Individuals, on their own, have no rights. None. Do you think Mother Nature respects your "right" to life? Hell no. Try living out in the wilderness for a while, you'll find every day is a fight for survival. The only "right" or "freedom" anyone can claim is the "right" to die.

Well that's not exactly what I've been saying: my point was about the artist, not the pirate. But there ARE pirates who've been making quite a sum (not their main revenue, I guess) selling stuff that doesn't belong to them.

I agree. But we're not discussing those pirates. We all agree that this is a Bad Thing&#0153. We're discussing people who distribute/download music without profiting from said download/distribution.


It depends whether you would've purchased the album had the option to download it not been available. And since there's really no way to establish statistics on this, we have to assume that SOME of the downloads represent lost sales.

You've missed the point, again. I already posted that most people have a budgeted limit to be spent on music. Once that budget is reached, no more albums will be bought, regardless of how desired an album is. This answered your point before you even tried to wiggle out of a response to the questions I presented.

Yes, some of the downloads represent lost sales. Some of the downloads result in a gain of sales. We have anecdotal evidence of both and no way of knowing which way the balance is tilted - so we call it a draw/wash.

If I don't profit from the download and I wasn't going to buy the album anyway so the artist loses nothing from my download, is that download still morally reprehensible?
 
Well I can see Kevin has reached a new low here. He has yet to answer how his system works, why it works, what could possibly iron out the screamingly obvious flaws in it.

He states his lack of reading is due to Socrates. Presumably, like his mentor, he objects to making his arguments in writing, as he has blatantly failed to do so.

You have not coherently responded to a damn thing I've written for a page now. You've done damn little but repeat things I wrote and hope people don't realize that copy-pasting with a bit of editing just means you're using my arguments, for the past two posts.

You have failed to explain how your philosophy results in anything useful, you have repeatedly stated it is measurable when under your standards we could not even prove a society exists (since proving a society exists requires stringing two or more logical arguments together. Is there a fallacy of short attention span?).

At this point I really have to wonder if you found a book of philosophical terms, and are trying to copy them down without having read the damn thing. Post Hoc? How did that even make sense in the context of anything we're discussing? There aren't even any events! Post Hoc as a fallacy is the fallacy of 'If B follows A, then A caused B.' I.E. the order of occurrence dictates a chain of causality (the classic example is the dynamite whistle. Every day, a man hears a loud whistle. 5 minutes later he hears a large explosion. This pattern repeats without fail. He draws the conclusion that whistles cause explosions).

There's a 0% chance you could apply that to this discussion.

Seriously Kevin, nothing you wrote here makes a lick of sense. You froth and moan about how everyone is fallacious and flawed and very stupid, but your complaints amount to ad hominems and... nothing at all. A misapplication (at best) of a logical term you heard once.

Meanwhile you have addressed the flaws in your own argument by just broadly ignoring that they exist.
 
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Absolutely. Ownership is purely a social convention.

Nonsense. Ownership is nothing but an extension of possession, and possession is an entirely natural physical phenomenon that exists independent of society. If I am in possession of an object, that is a form of ownership. No society is required to affirm that I have possession of said object. It's an undeniable fact.

All society does, via laws, etc. is essentially ensure that weaker people do not have their possessions arbitrarily taken by stronger people.
 
You're the one who believes rights are anything other than rhetorical constructs made up entirely by humans, you tell me.


There is a certain argument that some rights are "natural" - that is you inherently have them unless someone actively does something to take them away from you. This distinguishes from "granted" rights which are rights you can only exercise because society says you can.

For example, the right to life is a natural right - free of interference from others, you will live. Likewise the right to free speech is a natural right - free of interference from others, you can say what you want.

On the other hand the "right to an education" is not a natural right, because without action on the part of other people (teachers, etc), you cannot access an education.
 
This is a reasonable point, but that doesn't mean we can't distinguish between rules (or at least parts of rules) that primarily restrict versus those that primarily permit.


Name me a single law that permits.

Every single law is defined by prohibition.
 
If it helps society overall to create and enforce copyright privileges, we should do it. Not because anyone has a made-up "right" that nobody else copy their work, but because it works out best for everyone if we make up a law that stops people copying their work.

On the other hand if it does not benefit society overall, then if a composer thinks they have a "right" that society spend a fortune on lawmakers, police and lawyers to go around stopping people copying their tunes then said composer can go jump in the lake.



This is basically the point that I made about a dozen pages ago or more. It's funny how no one actually commented on it at the time.
 
Happiness is not made up. Preference satisfaction is not made up. They are real, empirically observable phenomena.

As opposed to rights, which are just rhetorical constructs used to sell people the idea that they are entitled to something. They have a great deal of appeal to people who think they should be entitled to things, but they have no coherent philosophical basis.

Does this have anything to do with what I said ? I was talking about society's needs vs individual freedoms and you come up with this ?

Besides, aren't rights there to theoretically lead to "happiness" ?

If it helps society overall to create and enforce copyright privileges, we should do it. Not because anyone has a made-up "right" that nobody else copy their work, but because it works out best for everyone if we make up a law that stops people copying their work.

Tell me Kevin, isn't what is "best" for society ALSO made up ?

On the other hand if it does not benefit society overall, then if a composer thinks they have a "right" that society spend a fortune on lawmakers, police and lawyers to go around stopping people copying their tunes then said composer can go jump in the lake.

And again, tell me Kevin, aren't laws principally designed to protect those made up individual freedoms ?
 
It was indeed a slippery slope. You presented "Artists have a right to profit off their ideas", which I countered with "I have a right to do what I want with the music I purchase", which you then took to the extreme of "He feels he has the right to murder someone else". How is that not a slippery slope argument on your end?

Because that's not what I said. I was presenting a parallel. If you think infringing on someone's freedom is part of YOUR freedom, then it applies to all things, not just copyrights.

This is the problem with arguing over individual rights

We're down to arguing to whether they exist at all, it seems.

they don't exist beyond what society has determined to allow to exist

No one is questioning that. Music doesn't exist beyond what we make of it, either.

When we look at this from a societal point of view, we realize that society has determined the benefits of granting the right for everyone to live their life far outweigh the benefits (if any) of granting the right for an individual to end the life of another individual. And, in fact, certain societies have decided that the right to end some individuals lives are a benefit to that society (see: the Death Penalty, also see Life Without Parole).

Would you mind providing a link to those social rights ? So far I haven't seen any. All the laws I've seen so far are based on individual rights.

Individuals, on their own, have no rights. None. Do you think Mother Nature respects your "right" to life? Hell no. Try living out in the wilderness for a while, you'll find every day is a fight for survival. The only "right" or "freedom" anyone can claim is the "right" to die.

Why do you keep beating that dead horse ? No one here claimed that rights are inherent to nature. You are fighting a dead, burned and wind-scattered strawman. I am talking about rights as established by society. Those exist because we made them so.

I agree. But we're not discussing those pirates.

So... you're saying that pirates don't make a buck off of someone's work so long as we ignore those who do ???

You've missed the point, again. I already posted that most people have a budgeted limit to be spent on music. Once that budget is reached, no more albums will be bought, regardless of how desired an album is.

Irrelevant. They can always buy it later when their budget allows. Downloading it means they will never buy it, because they don't need to.

Yes, some of the downloads represent lost sales. Some of the downloads result in a gain of sales. We have anecdotal evidence of both and no way of knowing which way the balance is tilted - so we call it a draw/wash.

No, we don't, because that's not how it works.
 
Does this have anything to do with what I said ? I was talking about society's needs vs individual freedoms and you come up with this ?

Besides, aren't rights there to theoretically lead to "happiness" ?

The question is which comes first, and hence should trump the other. My view is that social utility comes first, and if "rights" turn out to get in the way of social utility they should be pushed aside.

Tell me Kevin, isn't what is "best" for society ALSO made up ?

Net social utility isn't made up, it's as measurable as any other psychological phenomenon.

And again, tell me Kevin, aren't laws principally designed to protect those made up individual freedoms ?

If so, the lawmakers are asses. Laws should be principally designed to bring about good outcomes, not to protect rhetorical fictions.
 
Name me a single law that permits.

Every single law is defined by prohibition.

In my first post on the subject I'm pretty sure I SAID that most laws are about restriction rather than freedom. So talking about copyright law as if it's about freedom is flat-out wrong.
 
Just to drag things back to the OP. The original judgement against the ISP, iinet is being appealed:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/25/2830134.htm?section=justin

The Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) has lodged an appeal against a Federal Court judgment that found internet service providers were not responsible for illegal downloads by their customers.

What's the feeling? Will the appeal succeed?
 
I routinely borrow books from the library or read them online, conclude "I don't like it enough" and don't pay for it. No one seems to take issue with this, but somehow bits are different?


For what it's worth, some countries (including my own) have a Public Lending Right program, which works somewhat like a Broadcasting fee, and ensures that when an author's book is lent from a library, the author receives a payment for it.

Given that libraries generally have lending fees or are funded by taxes, you are paying when you borrow a book.
 
Just to drag things back to the OP. The original judgement against the ISP, iinet is being appealed:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/25/2830134.htm?section=justin



What's the feeling? Will the appeal succeed?



I can't see it succeeding. If you think about it, an ISP doesn't actually have the legal authority to determine whether a given download is a copyright violation or not. Only the copyright owner can make that determination.

Also, making ISPs responsible for such behaviour is really non-workable. An ISP cannot possibly investigate every single file every single one of their customers downloads, determine the copyright status of that file, and determine if the customer has permission to download it or not. To suggest an ISP could do all of this is utterly ludicrous.
 

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