[ExtractStream] Re: My dangerous idea.

[steve bryan]

At 1:19 pm -0400 6/29/01, sharkey@a... wrote:
>there really are no restrictions
>on non-profit activities such as public/private library lending

I promise I'll minimize the copyright law angle after this but it is 
a point from the book "Digital Copyright" that I found most 
interesting. When people are asked what they think the current 
copyright law involves they will almost always include a comment like 
the one above. It was certainly part of my thinking. But the author 
says in no uncertain terms that whether there is payment involved or 
not makes no difference in actual copyright law when determining 
infringement. Please note that "informational" statements at the 
beginning of movies have no legal weight. They can and do say 
anything they want.

You might say that is not so fascinating and you don't know if you 
really believe it is true. What I did find intriguing was her 
proposal that we try to make such a principle a starting point for 
future copyright law so it stands a decent chance of being understood 
and accepted by the public at large: making copies can constitute 
infringement if it is done to make money but not if it is not done to 
make money. There is actually a refinement that she adds but I'll 
leave that for people willing to purchase (or borrow) a copy of the 
book (mine is currently loaned out).
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