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Australian Judge Rules Facts Cannot Be Copyrighted
nfarrell writes "Last week, an Australian Judge ruled that copyright laws do not apply to collections of facts, regardless of the amount of effort that was spent collecting them. In this case, the case surrounded the reproduction of entries from the White and Yellow Pages, but the ruling referred to a previous case involving IceTV, which republishes TV guides. Does this mean that other databases of facts, such as financial data, are also legally able to be copied and redistributed?" Here are analyses from a former legal adviser to the directory publisher which prevailed as the defendant in this case, and from Smart Company.
The difference between Aboriginals and whites is a gulf that will be with us for centuries, and no amount of money, or do-gooders efforts, will do much to narrow it.
Until you have worked with Abo's or employed them, as I have, you will never grasp the differences between white and Aboriginal outlooks, on every facet of our respective cultures.
The problem is that Abo's are tribal - but whites are independent and self-reliant. Abos do not recognise material value - whites value it greatly. A fine wooden table, built by craftsmen, is adored and respected, and treated with care, by whites - but in Abo's eyes, it's seen as a table only until it gets cold - then it's seen as firewood to keep you warm.
Money is something that whites value greatly, and place great personal attachment to. Abo's see money as something to be spent - now - with no idea of its value, and no idea of the amount of work attached to gathering it.
If one Abo has $50, the whole tribe is rich. No Abo goes without, if just one Abo has money. If you're a white, and have $50M - and I'm down on my luck, unemployed, without a cent to my name - you'll walk past me in the street, telling me I need to work harder. If you're stuck, anywhere, for any reason - any Abo will help you - but he expects you to turn around and help the whole tribe, the minute he decides they need assistance.
The reason Abos steal everything they can lay their hands on, is because their minds work on simple tribal mentality. "You have money - I need it - if you don't give it to me, like other tribe members would do - I'll steal it."
The need for personal possessions, and the work ethic, are something that Abo's have never possessed in 40,000 years. They have never needed to work.
They get hungry, they hunt down some food, kill it and eat it on the spot. If it's a big feed, like a wallaby, the whole lot has to be eaten on the spot. There may not be any food tomorrow, and tomorrow may never come.
Abo's never even consider tomorrow in any form. Whites plan carefully, and plan ahead. Abos never plan anything. They take life as it comes, and live only for the present.
Booze is something that makes Abo's feel good, and is readily available. Why not drink booze all day? This is the simple childlike outlook of the Abo mentality. Unfortunately, booze was never a part of their culture until the whites arrived - but early administrators saw that Abo's were incapable of handling booze - and refused to give it them (a wise move).
In the 1960's, do-gooders said that was discrimination, and fought for "drinking rights" for Abo's - and won them. Since that time, billions have been spent trying to reverse the damage that alcohol has done to Abo communities. Some communities have gone completely dry to try and eliminate the community damage, and have ejected the Abo boozers - who have ended up hanging around the outskirts of, and in the centre of, country towns - creating trouble and indulging in anti-social behaviour. It will get worse before it gets better. The remote Abo communities don't want these trouble-making, boozing, Abo people - but neither do the white-run towns want them. Thus, they live in permanent limbo, from welfare payment to welfare payment, and from one booze-sozzled day, to the next.
The tribal, communal, simplistic, childlike outlook, that Abo's have, is totally at complete odds, with whites outlook - where we value the work ethic, monetary wealth, personal responsibility - and take great pride in material possessions, and guard them possessively.
The Abo's possess fabulous hunting, tracking, and visual skills that few whites can match. Ask a white child to look at a tree, and relate what they see - and a white child will tell you the type of tree, whether its a pretty tree, whether it has value as timber, or how it fits into its urban surroundings.
An Abo child will tell you about what medicine that tree is good for, what animals or insect inhabit it, that are good to eat, what the wood and resin is good for (digging sticks,
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a|_______|_____________\__________|______|______a_ _
t|_______`._____________|_________|_______:_____t_ _
s`________|_____________|________\|_______|_____s_ _
e_\_______|_/_______/__\\\___--___\\_______:____e_ _
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g____\______\_________.--------.______\|___|____g_ _
o______\_____\______//_________(_(__>__\___|____o_ _
a_______\___.__C____)_________(_(____>__|__/____a_ _
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s___|_________/_/______\__/\___/____|__________|s_ _
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Important Stuff: Please try to keep posts on topic. Try to reply to other people's comments instead of starting new threads. Read other people's messages before posting your own to avoid simply duplicating what has already been said. Use a clear subject that describes what your message is about. Offtopic, Inflammatory, Inappropriate, Illegal, or Offensive comments might be moderated. (You can read everything, even moderated posts, by adjusting your threshold on the User Preferences Page) If you want replies to your comments sent to you, consider logging in or creating an account.