On 14 Jul 2005, at 14:39, - M e l - wrote:
I get these in digest form, so I've read a lot of discussions about this all at once. Some thoughts... At the risk of being flamed, I'm throwing these out "as is" because without properly briefing myself, I probably think now what the "great unwashed" are going to think on hearing about this initially.
- First off, we all want to see the back of counterfeit or
dangerous products.
Indeed, particularly that counterfeit version of Unix by that Finnish counterfeiter.
- Secondly, if subversive or criminal groups are profiting from
this, they need to be deterred.
I think it is very likely that both subversive and criminal groups use the aforementioned counterfeit Unix.
But seriously, rather than try to pander to the prejudices of the "intellectual property" maximilists, I think we should be pointing out the ridiculousness of affording stronger protections to so-called "intellectual property" than we do to human life in many cases (where you have more to worry about if you "steal" someone's IP than if you mug them in the street).
We shouldn't allow them to pretend that the targets of this Directive will only be shady organised criminal gangs and terrorists, when the reality is that these laws will likely be targeted towards ordinary children and innovators, as is already the case with today's IP laws.
Ian.