What I experienced as a student in Sweden and working as a lower grade teacher is exactly opposite of this article. Long before the Internet, there were Xerox machines, wildy used in schools on a stretched budget.
In Kindergarten, schools store coloring books in locked rooms so kids won't get the originals--the originals are used to make copies in which the kids can actually color.
In lower grade school, various excercise sheets are copied for the class. I was about ten years old when the teacher first layed out the details of the Xeroxing laws. (It was something like "no more than 30 pages or 10%, whichever is lower, may be Xeroxed in more than 10 copies for classroom use.") They then announced that they're now breaking this rule to give us an education.
At university, teachers compile their own anthologies of Xerox pages from books, placing them next to the Xerox machines for student use. Teachers said: "We could compile an official anthology, but that would cost a lot more. You are only allowed to read Xeroxed anthologies here. If you were to Xerox them for home use, we wouldn't know about that, though."
Every level of education hammers the message loud and clear: your right to an education, to knowledge, on a strained budget, comes first, not the copyright laws.
There's some story about a skeptical Muslim leader only being persuaded to adopt radio after someone demonstrated that it could broadcast the Koran.
Perhaps, we could do something similar for the Internet in Afghanistan--show the Taliban that it can be used to broadcast their propaganda. In this way, people can take advantage of the greater access to post anti-Taliban material, communicate with the outside world, and so on.
It's ironic that Slashdot is thinking of micropayments or subscriptions when users contribute most of the actual content in the form of comments. (Consider also that top comments are spelled correctly and use proper grammar.)
On the other hand, Slashdot does contribute the Slash engine, however, they're asking us to pay for the news, not the code.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry, but when I see "shock the monkey to win" in a banner at the top of the page...err, no thanks.
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Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/
- In Kindergarten, schools store coloring books in locked rooms so kids won't get the originals--the originals are used to make copies in which the kids can actually color.
- In lower grade school, various excercise sheets are copied for the class. I was about ten years old when the teacher first layed out the details of the Xeroxing laws. (It was something like "no more than 30 pages or 10%, whichever is lower, may be Xeroxed in more than 10 copies for classroom use.") They then announced that they're now breaking this rule to give us an education.
- At university, teachers compile their own anthologies of Xerox pages from books, placing them next to the Xerox machines for student use. Teachers said: "We could compile an official anthology, but that would cost a lot more. You are only allowed to read Xeroxed anthologies here. If you were to Xerox them for home use, we wouldn't know about that, though."
Every level of education hammers the message loud and clear: your right to an education, to knowledge, on a strained budget, comes first, not the copyright laws.--
Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/
It's interesting that you say:
Morality is a personal issue...
While at the same time making moral prescriptions that are supposed to apply to everyone:
The only things that should be taught are issues that are beyond common politics...
By the way, you should try to find anything that's "universially accepted as morally wrong"--even acts like murder have many exceptions.
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Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/
And some encoders sound like dog shit on all forms of music.
What exactly does dogshit sound like?
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Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/
There's some story about a skeptical Muslim leader only being persuaded to adopt radio after someone demonstrated that it could broadcast the Koran.
Perhaps, we could do something similar for the Internet in Afghanistan--show the Taliban that it can be used to broadcast their propaganda. In this way, people can take advantage of the greater access to post anti-Taliban material, communicate with the outside world, and so on.
--
Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/
It's ironic that Slashdot is thinking of micropayments or subscriptions when users contribute most of the actual content in the form of comments. (Consider also that top comments are spelled correctly and use proper grammar.)
On the other hand, Slashdot does contribute the Slash engine, however, they're asking us to pay for the news, not the code.
--
Aaron J. Shaver
http://aaronshaver.com/