[pp.int.general] philosophy vs. action

[Carlos Ayala Vargas]

Reinier Bakels wrote:
> *We* badly need some sort of "fair use" regulation, instead of the 
> present law that considers all copying (even of my own legally 
> objtained CDs onto a MP3 player!) "reserved" acts in the sense of 
> copyright.
*We* (the pirate parties) badly need free non-commercial sharing of 
cultural works. Check pirate parties national platforms, and the wiki 
page of their ideologies at a glance.
> If the probability to get caught is low, the substance of the threat 
> must by very terrifying. Like renowned copyright professor Hugenholtz 
> said some years ago: "why not the death penalty"?
If Choruss-like projects have success, the probability of /getting 
caught/ will dramatically increase, as such projects have surveillance 
as one of their tools.
> Solutions for a more balanced copyright have already been given 
> (although admittedly on a fairly theoretical level): 
> http://www.ip.mpg.de/ww/de/pub/aktuelles/declaration_on_the_three_step_/declaration.cfm 
>
> While this is really a modest approach (within present law!) such 
> proposals should not be ignored imho.
About that proposal, I think one of the main issues regarding it -as 
I've already stated in former mails- is that it talks about /exceptions/ 
and /limitations/, where there actually exists a citizens' *right* to 
enjoy culture. Talking about citizens' rights as limitations or 
exceptions, in my viewpoint, help making public opinion think of actual 
rights as /privileges/ conceded by rightholders -and which, as well as 
they were conceded by rightholders, would may taken back by them-. Too 
risky in my viewpoint.

There is another risk, already analyzed by RMS: that of people being 
appeased with /gratix music/ -as some people jokingly describe it, 
though it wouldn't be actually /gratix/ if there are levies and such on 
the table (I can also eat /gratis/ in famous Madrid's Asador Donostiarra 
.... as long as I've previously paid)-, and forgetting the rest of our goals.

By the way, the authorised Spanish translation of that document talks 
about author's rights, not about the /c word/. I don't know what the /c 
word/ is -within the Spanish legal framework-.
> Perhaps the easiest "counter-philosophy" is top argue that the 
> persistent reference to the interests of (allegedly) poor artists is 
> false and dishonest: they are only exploited as a pretext for the 
> greed of record companies.
As I've repeatedly stated to you: we already do it. Simply, it's not the 
only thing we do. And -at least if talking about PIRATA- it won't be the 
only thing we do. We are able to follow those advices from you -those, 
not others- while still demanding all our goals; are you?


                                                                                                    
Carlos Ayala
                                                                                                    
( Aiarakoa )

                                                                               
Partido Pirata National Board's Chairman