[Web4lib] Consumer Group Raises Concerns about Google Print Library

[Bob Rasmussen]

On Tue, 25 Oct 2005, Chuck0 wrote:

> While I have plenty of reservations about a big corporation and its plan to
> become "the Internet," I see anything that dissolves intellectual property and
> moves our society to the eventual abolition of IP as a good thing.
> ...

My initial, gut-level response is: if there were no IP rights, I wouldn't
write software. Nor would III or Dynix or Microsoft or ...

But let me take a step back. Let's take the example you cite. If a small
band in Montana can achieve exposure through widespread sampling of their
music on the internet, they achieve exactly that, exposure. If they want
to quit their day jobs and make a living at music, beyond the bars in
their hometown, then they have to be able to sell their recordings. At the
point that downloads are painless and free, the band gets no financial
benefit from their exposure. If their goal is to be starving artists,
that's great.

Now I won't argue that NOTHING would be created without IP rights - the
open source movement would argue against that. I haven't figured out who
is paying for those people's time, though.

But your blanket statement against all IP rights seems, shall we say,
"unsustainable".

Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

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