more on ] Lessig the Grey vs. Creative Commons

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Rick Bradley <rick () rickbradley com>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2004 16:39:04 
To:Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Cc:Ip <ip () v2 listbox com>, scott () turnstyle com
Subject: Re: [IP] Lessig the Grey vs. Creative Commons

[IP] 

* Dave Farber (dave () farber net) [040305 15:32]:
> However, the Grey Tuesday movement seeks to take that right away. Notably,
> Larry Lessig (Creative Commons Chairman of the Board) commented in his blog:
>
> http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/001754.shtml
>
> "Should the law give DJ Danger Mouse the right to remix without permission?
> I think so, though I understand how others find the matter a bit more grey."
>
> "Should the law give DJ Danger Mouse a compulsory right to remix? That is,
> the right, conditioned upon his paying a small fee per sale? Again, I think
> so, and again, you might find this a bit less grey."
>
>
> So, what exactly does Creative Commons mean by "some rights reserved" -- 
> would it perhaps be more accurate if they said: "some rights reserved until
> we can cook up a new compulsory license to take those rights away"?

Not being much of a Lessig fan (I wish someone else had handled the
Eldred case, for example), and not being a Creative Commons license
user, I find it tempting to let the quoted comments stand.  However,
these issues are important beyond the specific parties cited and the
sort of dissembling proffered in the parent post merely multiplies
misunderstandings.

At the risk of being pedantic, while it is instructive to consider the
personal stance of contributors such as Lessig on issues that Creative
Commons addresses, it's misleading (and one wonders whether this is
deliberately so) to attribute to the platform of Creative Commons the
blog musings of Larry Lessig.  

Likewise, while one could certainly outline any number of boundaries for
a possible "Grey Tuesday movement", conflating Creative Commons (much
less via association with Larry Lessig) and such a movement overstates
the importance and contributions of the Grey Tuesday backers and does a
significant disservice to those who have worked hard to promote the
Creative Commons licenses.

It is worth clarifying a few issues here:

 - The EFF (certainly not a subsidiary of Creative Commons, "The Grey
   Tuesday movement", nor Larry Lessig Enterprises Inc.) casts doubt
   upon the legal merits of EMI's claims to copyright infringement:

        http://www.eff.org/IP/grey_tuesday.php

 - On my last reading of the Constitution, as amended, I failed to note
   under which branch of government Creative Commons operates.  I
   believe it's safe to say that any compulsory licensing scheme dreamed
   up by the conspiring Marxists at Creative Commons to steal our
   creative output and to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily
   fluids will at least require the complicity of a couple of souls
   working for the U.S. Gov't.

 - Short of compulsory licensing, which (thanks to the valiant actions
   of patriots like yourself and Base Commander Ripper!) those bloody
   Marxists haven't managed to enforce (yet!) noone is using a Creative
   Commons license who isn't voluntarily doing so.

Not choosing to use their licenses myself I can't seem to get my panties
in a very tight wad about whether other people are using them or not --
no matter how many rights they claim to reserve.  It's also safe to say
that, unlike the RIAA or the MPAA, the Creative Commons won't be shoving
their own biased legislation through a gauntlet of well-bribed
legislators to emerge fully formed from the head of Fritz Hollings like
some depraved capitalist Athena. 

No.  Quite to the contrary:  by siding with the Pigopolists for the
continuing lockdown of intellectual "property", you're well on the safe
side of the Vegas spread in this playoff series.  

So why all the stress?

Rick
-- 
 http://www.rickbradley.com    MUPRN: 324
                       |  the event itself,
   random email haiku  |  nothing seemed to be going
                       |  on, close to or so.

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