[fc-uk-discuss] Ye Olde AGM (or why you should sign up on the wiki)

[Graham Seaman]

David Berry wrote:
>
> Why on earth would FC-UK want to become the loony fringe of the 
> debate? The idea is to *fight* for the ideas you believe in, not to 
> act as a straw man just because ORG is too scared to say anything more 
> radical than keep things as they are. If we keep letting the media 
> image of how we are represented in the debate drive things then we 
> become nothing more than a PR stunt. I find that sad and pointless. 
>
> How about actually addressing the issues, and dealing with the 
> questions raised by the radical reform of copyright, rather than 
> idiotic abolitionist positions that are not substantiated by careful 
> consideration of the pros and cons
I find that offensive.

Since I brought up patents, I'll talk in terms of patents.
There is a perfectly reasonable case for patent abolition. There are 
well-known orthodox economists who will argue for it (michele boldrin 
and david levine, in particular). There are major global campaigns 
around alternatives to patents applied to medicine (see Jamie Love's 
CPTech site).  There have been repeated studies that show that periods 
of patent abolition in the past (Holland/Switzerland) had no kind of 
adverse economic effects. etc.

You may well disagree with the position, and/or think it unrealistic  
for FC-UK to support it.  But there is no reason  to call people who 
believe patents to be harmful 'idiots', especially when FC-UK has so far 
been broad enough to contain both points of view. Or to claim some kind 
of monopoly on 'careful consideration of the pros and cons'.

Graham




> - afterall SOMEHOW the artists and musicians *will* need to 
> be compensated else why would they accept change. See William Fisher's 
> book, Promises to Keep, for an excellent attempt to make a cogent case 
> for copyright reform. 
>
> http://www.amazon.co.uk/Promises-Keep-Technology-Future-Entertainment/dp/0804750130/sr=8-3/qid=1164886440/ref=sr_1_3/026-7241997-7440430?ie=UTF8&s=books 
> <http://www.amazon.co.uk/Promises-Keep-Technology-Future-Entertainment/dp/0804750130/sr=8-3/qid=1164886440/ref=sr_1_3/026-7241997-7440430?ie=UTF8&s=books>
>
> We can argue till we are blue in the face for changes in copyright 
> law, but if we are to have political impact we need to make a 
> *convincing* argument, substantiated with *evidence*. And no, just 
> because you feel in your gut that copyright is wrong, doesn't mean 
> that everyone is going to accept your argument. 
>
>
>  
>
>
> On 30 Nov 2006, at 11:15, Timothy Cowlishaw wrote:
>
>>
>> On 30 Nov 2006, at 10:41, Crosbie Fitch wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> If ORG wish to be seen as loony compromisers adopting the logical 
>>> fallacy of
>>> 'appeal to moderation', well that's up to them.
>
>
>
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