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Richard Stallman Talks On Copyright Vs. the People
holden writes "Richard M. Stallman recently gave a talk entitled Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks to the University of Waterloo Computer Science Club. The talk looks at the origin of copyright, and how it has evolved over time from something that originally served the benefit of the people to a tool used against them. In keeping with his wishes to use open formats, the talk and QA are available in ogg theora only."
Also, that should read, "also requires programmers to not buy a house, get married, and otherwise have a normal life." This is what happens when Slashdot posts are written in haste at four in the morning.
"Live as if you'll die tomorrow." Ridiculous. You could die later today.
The solution to the student's problem is not to pay for his education. That is, have free education for everyone.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Having not seen THIS video yet, I've seen previous talks, and yes, he's normally not very presentable and doesn't really have any shame. Reason being? He's been sheltered from the "real world" ever since he stepped foot inside uni.
This is how he can have a totally polar draconian view of commercial software. He doesn't have to rely on selling it to make a living. And since he doesn't have to win over customers ever, he doesn't have to act tactfully in public. I mean, I rarely dress up, but I at least shave, bathe, comb my friggin hair and act polite when guests/customers are around. It isn't selling out to have proper manners and hygiene...
That said, copyright is hardly as big a problem as people make it out to be. The DMCA [and similar laws] are, but they're not required for copyright to exist and be useful. And at anyrate I'd worry more about patents [especially on math and software] then copyrights.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.