> I don't "cling" to it or anything like a security blanket, I USE it.
> It protect's my work in what ever terms you want to put it. I have no idea
> what your problem with what I said is I merely stated why I use it, for
> poetry (that I too have had published). As long as I'm writing, and the laws
> are set up as such I will continue to use them.
I have no problem with you personally using whatever means are at your disposal--I am arguing against the existence of those means in the first place. When 95% of the population believes something, it's hard to fault one individual for following the crowd, so I apologize if that sounded like a personal slur. In today's world, individual artists may indeed need copyrights--because the market and common practices are set up under the assumption of their use. But that view is short-sighted. Extropians should be more forwardlooking and willing to see beyond the next meal, next quarter, or even next century.
I believe that copyrights and patents are shackles holding back human progress, and I have spent a long time fighting them and fighting the common misconceptions about them. Rest assured, I know the precise details of copyright and patent law to the letter, can quote the Feist and Markman decisions from memory, and keep up with all the treaties that are making things even worse. It is not from ignorance that I protest. Sometimes you have to jump out of the system for a while and imagine a very different world. Some of that world I've detailed before many times here (you can find much discussion in the archives--just look for a thread with lots of posts by me and Michael Lorrey :)
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lcrocker.html> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC