On Tue, 2009-10-20 at 16:30 +0100, Bod Notbod wrote:
On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 11:58 PM, Andrew Turvey andrewrturvey@googlemail.com wrote:
Peter Mandelson is a keynote speaker, which could be an important opportunity to put the case for public domain to a key decision maker.
My question: what should I focus on at this conference and what should I aim to get out of it?
Shoot Peter Mandelson in the head at point blank range wearing a Wikimedia UK bandana and shout "INFORMATION WANTS TO BE FREEEEEEEE!"
I expect that would get the odd headline here and there. A bit of publicity for us.
If you're not keen on a lengthy prison sentence a decent kick in the balls should get us at least onto page four or five.
This may not be a professional approach to Peter Mandelson, but WMUK simply lacks the funds to hire a professional hitman. :-P
Can't abolish the *unaccountable* Lords fast enough for me. Although I'm none too happy about rumours the Dark Lord may be exiting that chamber to stand in a safe Labour seat.
What is, actually, conspicuously absent from the discussion is whether anyone has a *right* to make a profit on these creative works. Copyright is a social contract; society grants a work's creator(s) a limited duration monopoly to allow them the *opportunity* to make a profit.
Arstechnica has a good article relating to this today. Those well-entrenched and profiting from creative works have a 100+ year history of scaremongering and depriving the public domain what they agreed to give it in the first place.