Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain • Hacker News Board

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#121

Post by betterunix » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 3:49 PM UTC

alexqgb wrote: post #111

betterunix wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why should a law that has its roots in 17th century censorship continue to be clung to in the 21st century? Times have changed, get over it and develop a business model that is more appropriate for this century.

Why don't you apply this line of thought to the 4th Amendment, and see if it still makes sense to you?

OK, sure: we have the same problem today that we had back then, which is the tendency of governments to descend into tyranny. The 4th amendment is a protection against that and so it remains relevant.

Copyright was began with an effort to simplify tyranny, and later evolved into a way to promote the interests of the publishing industry. Neither of those are relevant to today's world; we do not want the Star Chamber and the publishing industry is no longer necessary to spread information and entertainment. Why, then, should we keep copyright around?

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#122

Post by davidw » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 4:48 PM UTC

gluczywo wrote: post #119

davidw wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're looking for has a precise definition in economics, and it's called "rivalrous" vs "non rivalrous" goods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivalry_%28economics%29 Many things are in this category, not just IP. Paying for them can be kind of tricky, because who wants to spend a year, say, writing a book when someone decides they can just go ahead and copy it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Possible_so…

who wants to spend a year, say, writing a book when someone decides they can just go ahead and copy it The best books I've read were written by people who weren't financially motivated. Is it just me?

"Not financially motivated" is fair, but there's also "unable to work full time on something due to lack of funds" that you have to keep in mind.

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#123

Post by davidw » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 4:50 PM UTC

jamieb wrote: post #120

davidw wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you're looking for has a precise definition in economics, and it's called "rivalrous" vs "non rivalrous" goods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivalry_%28economics%29 Many things are in this category, not just IP. Paying for them can be kind of tricky, because who wants to spend a year, say, writing a book when someone decides they can just go ahead and copy it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good#Possible_so…

About 10 years ago I had pretty much this exact conversation with RMS over email. As a video game developer, I made box software that I needed people to buy in order for me to get paid. I put it to him that without keeping our code and assets "closed" we couldn't make games. RMS's response was that he'd rather we not make games then: if we couldn't make them "open" then he'd rather we not make them at all. I still wr…

I think RMS' response is honest, even if I disagree with it to some degree. What I dislike are the handwavy answers about people being able to work on stuff without some source of funding.

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#124

Post by rwmj » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 5:46 PM UTC

livnev wrote: post #19

rwmj wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should probably switch to an ISP that doesn't filter. Mine doesn't.

May I ask which one you're with?

Currently enta.net, however I can't really recommend them (beyond the fact that they don't filter). I'm intending to switch to Andrews & Arnold as soon as FTTC is rolled out in my street, which is supposed to be real soon now.

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#125

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 9:50 PM UTC

betterunix wrote: post #121

alexqgb wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you apply this line of thought to the 4th Amendment, and see if it still makes sense to you?

OK, sure: we have the same problem today that we had back then, which is the tendency of governments to descend into tyranny. The 4th amendment is a protection against that and so it remains relevant. Copyright was began with an effort to simplify tyranny, and later evolved into a way to promote the interests of the publishing industry. Neither of those are relevant to today's world; we do not want the Star Chamber a…

[deleted]

Re: Pirate Bay Finds Safe Haven in Iceland, Switches to .IS Domain

#126

Post by alexqgb » Fri, Apr 26, 2013, 9:56 PM UTC

betterunix wrote: post #121

alexqgb wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why don't you apply this line of thought to the 4th Amendment, and see if it still makes sense to you?

OK, sure: we have the same problem today that we had back then, which is the tendency of governments to descend into tyranny. The 4th amendment is a protection against that and so it remains relevant. Copyright was began with an effort to simplify tyranny, and later evolved into a way to promote the interests of the publishing industry. Neither of those are relevant to today's world; we do not want the Star Chamber a…

"the publishing industry is no longer necessary to spread information and entertainment."

What's your real problem here? Are you smart but dishonest? Or are you just a complete idiot? Because there's no way an informed person of good will could say something as obviously wrong as that. Seriously, publishers do a hell of a lot more than just "spread" information an entertainment. They actually produce the goddamn stuff. Moreover, they do so by putting billions (with a b) at risk. And thank goodness for that, since producing top-flight media remains an insanely difficult, expensive, and risky thing to do.

And that's the reason copyright exists: to ensure when some of the bets these publishers place do turn into giant booming successes, they can actually recover enough of their investment to remain profitably engaged in the production business.

An an institution, copyright has problems galore, but as Churchill said of democracy "is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried."