Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
But the right of property <does not> override all other rights in a free society (it does override in authoritarian socialist and corporatist societies). These rights are a balancing act between competing needs, of which property ownership rights are just one, which means that some property rights are not going to be enforced as vigorously as some owner might want; due to the societal cost being too "high". You seem to be in favor of extremely vigorous property rights enforcement, others on the forum consider privacy rights far more important. Competing needs, in a nutshell.
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You're right in that the desires of a creator to enact laws to protect their creations, would necessarily result in restrictions on privacy rights... and yes, that is clearly what I'm saying.
However, a restriction of privacy rights, and the rights you have to do what you want with your property, are not necessarily as draconian and extreme as many of the posters here seem to assume. Re-using the car analogy, you have a right to drive your car once you've bought it, but you do not have the right to drive over the speed limit, through red lights, and against traffic. These are limitations to what you can do with the vehicle you legally own (including in democratic societies), and these are accepted limitations by most, because they protect the society at-large from being run over by car owners.
Suggesting that new laws designed to track e-books will somehow bring about The End Of The World As We Know It (and We Won't Feel Fine) is an overly-extreme viewpoint, as bad as if I suggested that the establishment of these laws would somehow make all creators rich beyond avarice... it would be like suggesting that any laws passed against automobiles will inevitably result in my not being allowed to leave my driveway. Taking this tack in any discussion is pointless, and will get us nowhere.
I'm suggesting that the reality would be somewhere in the middle, and with some work and cooperation, it could be a
comfortable middle... for creators
and for consumers. Because if both groups aren't comfortable... we probably won't have e-books at all.
Based on this, I still think TM could be made workable as a concept. If people disagree, that's okay... but there's no need for the apocalyptic doom and gloom statements. Humanity, democracy, socialism, et al, have faced much more serious issues in the past, and have found ways to work them out. We can with e-books too, if we're just willing to stop name-calling and over-reacting, and work together on it.