Subject: within the fence

Dear Bart,

Regarding Napster, you used faulty logic.
If you had said, "I have a really good joke, send me a buck and I'll tell it"
some people might buy the joke, some may not. But you'd get paid prior to
releasing your property. It's the same with a book or a movie or an album
...one promises it'll be good, you pay your money to get the product.

If there was a copyright law that prevented anyone telling your joke to another
without paying you, and they told the joke and didn't pay you, they'd be breaking the law.
Simple as that.

I understand what you're saying, but the point still stands:
Technology gives hundreds of millions of people the ability to "break the law"
in the privacy of their own home. That's means it's unstoppable.
I'm not saying breaking the law is a good thing, but how can you stop a hundred
million people from doing something in the privacy of their home?
 

I've been quite confused over the course you've taken in regards to Napster and the like.
You seem pissed that the members of Metallica won't give away their product.
Is this a correct interpretation?

No, but I can see where you'd come to that conclusion..
I think the multi-multi-millionaires in Metallica made a huge mistake in threatening
prison time for their fans who (gasp!) wanted to get/hear more of their music.
To me, it's the Rush Limbaugh/Bill Gates ego problem:  How much is enough?
It's like a baseball player who turns down a contract for $100,000,000 so he can
 move to another city and get $102,000,000, while pissing off his fans.
 

Let's say that your labor of love, bartcop.com, became your labor to put food on your family.
If I downloaded your entire site, renamed it  jeffcop.com  and started taking money for people
to view it, I'd expect that you'd be pissed, and rightly so.

I'd say you have half a point.
If I could no longer write, if all my value was tied up in my yesterdays, I might "be pissed,"
but if millions of people did that, wouldn't that mean I was rich beyond my wildest dreams?
If everyone knew I was BartCop, and I was filthy rich, where would my complaint lie?
 

If I understand correctly, you seem to think this would be ok just because the technology
exists to do it. Anyone that has access to a color copier can literally make money.
And although we're not talking intellectual property here, does your argument hold in this case?

best-jeff wagner
 

It just goes to show you how ineffective I am at making my point.
I never said it was, "OK," I'm saying that the situation exists.
If everyone with a computer CAN do it, many/most will.
One can either roll with the punches or get knocked out.