"rights" and "freedoms"

[L. Peter Deutsch]

I've deleted geda-dev, ppc-mobo, and f-cpu from the distribution list, since
they consider this discussion off-topic.

> In fact, this is more or less how authors and musicians made their living
> for most of recorded history. It's only been relatively recently, since 
> the industrial revolution, that it's been any other way. Perhaps that was
> just a brief detour in human history and we're about to move back on track.

IMO, what made the difference was enforceable "intellectual property"
rights, which are a relatively new concept historically.  Are you suggesting
that the concept of "intellectual property" is (or should be) a brief detour
from which we're about to move back on track?  The dominant forces in the
world economy seem to be (successfully) pushing hard in the opposite
direction, what with lengthening copyright terms, allowing patenting of
patterns of human interaction (Priceline) and human genes, ....

BTW, I can argue both sides of whether IP is a good idea, so my question
isn't a rhetorical one.

-- 

L. Peter Deutsch         |       Aladdin Enterprises :::: ghost at aladdin.com
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