Copyright [was Re: Python obfuscation]

[The Eternal Squire]

>As far as I know, only one country ever claimed to have that, so your
>"we" only applies to citizens of that country, and not to everyone who
>may be reading the letter - and the status of the person you quoted
>but did not attribute is unclear.

It applies to not only the US, which explicitly has "We The People" in
our
Constitution, but to all other countries who model on republican
systems:  Japan, Germany, France, South Korea, Taiwan, and more.

>Further, recent evidence is that this is no longer true in that
>country, assuming it ever was.

Wow, how Machiaviellian.

>Copyright by itself does not pay
>the rent, put food on the table or put people through college. It's
>strong enough to be do that *if* the public values what you create
>enough and *if* you work hard enough at marketing it and *if* you
>produce enough. Those are some mighty big ifs.

Yes, profitable innovation is 1 percent inspiration plus 99 percent
persperation.

>Maybe "the people" you're talking about above are "the rich corporations
>with the congresscritters in their pockets." But that's hardly "the
>majority".

It sometimes works that way, unfortunately.  But at least we can vote
the
bastards out when we hear of such things.

>You apparently think that taking the opportunity for the creator to be
>rewarded for their efforts is ok if you deride other people who do
>that very thing.

And in what way is piracy a form of creation?

>So what's the difference between the RIAA and a
>pirate who publicly points out that what the RIAA is up to?

The difference is that the RIAA does not copy software without the
copyright holder's consent.