[Fsfe-ie] IPRED2 draft 0.4

Ian Clarke ian at locut.us
Mon Aug 29 13:10:21 CEST 2005


On 29 Aug 2005, at 10:46, Ciaran O'Riordan wrote:
>>> 6. Propaganda terms like referring to copying as "piracy" should  
>>> not be part
>>>    of EU legislation and continues the confusion between stealing  
>>> and
>>>    copying.

It is primarily use of the term "intellectual property" that allows  
people to get away with referring to copyright infringement as stealing.

>> I quite agree, but the term "piracy" has been used in this sense for
>> over two hundred years, if the OED is correct. I think we should  
>> suggest
>> "unauthorised copying" or a similarly neutral term.
>>
>
> I don't have an OED handy, but the original use of the term in  
> relation to
> publication was for publishers who didn't pay the authors.  I'm not  
> sure how
> it got flipped around but either way, do we agree it is a  
> propaganda term?
> I'll try to word that point more carefully, but if we agree it's a
> propaganda term then we shouldn't let it pass into law uncommented.

I probably wouldn't go so far as to use the term "propaganda", but I  
think it would be appropriate to point out that "piracy" is certainly  
a pejorative term that does not belong in EU legislation.

Ian.



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