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On Sat, 05 May 2007 11:42:14 +0100 Simon Robert <simon.robert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > Piracy requires theft and theft is defined in terms of property - > > > software is not a physical thing, it does not exist in physical > > > terms, it is merely stored on physical media sometimes. Software > > > is not property and cannot be judged under crimes defined in > > > terms of property. When you download a file from my website, you > > > have not stolen that file - I still have the original - so how > > > can that ever be deemed theft? > Does this mean that e-books can never be property? Yes. The story contained in the book (the copyrighted element) does not exist in physical form - all you have is ink on paper. What that ink represents and the story that unfolds upon reading it are the copyrighted work and are distinct from the physical matter that holds the story. i.e. the same story has the same copyright when printed in paperback as in hardback or large print editions. The publisher can claim copyright on artwork or other items apart from the story. A book can be stolen, a story cannot. > Does software only > become property if the code has been printed in a book? Software can never become property - as above, it never actually exists. All you have is characters on the screen or ink on paper. Software, stories, speeches, numbers, thoughts, conversation and music do not and cannot ever exist as physical objects - they can only be stored using physical objects, they never become physical in their own right. A physical object can represent a copyrighted work but the copyrighted work can never be constrained by a mere physical object. > Or are we > only considering binaries, which I would argue are physical objects? A binary file is not a physical object. A hard disc platter is a physical object, the organisation of magnetic bits on that disc such as to create a filesystem and then a file is not a physical object, it is merely an algorithm for creating order from chaos. > Come to think of it a novel isn't a physical thing, only stored on a > physical medium sometimes. Exactly. A novel begins as a thought process - it can be told to others at this stage with no copy ever existing, yet you cannot deny that the story exists as soon as it is conceived in the mind. > Not that I'm defending patents for software, just that the above > statement throws up some interesting philosophical problems. > > In Marxist terms value is created by labour, the way the value is > stored or represented is neither here nor there. But Marxism does not dictate that stories must have a physical form, neither does it dictate that stories must have a monetary value or any other form of status as property. If the writer chooses to do the labour but not assign a value, that is their personal freedom and benefits the wider community. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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