[Foundation-l] Attribution survey, first results

[Ray Saintonge]

geni wrote:
> 2009/3/10 Ray Saintonge:
>   
>> Milos Rancic wrote:
>>     
>>> On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 10:07 PM, geni wrote:
>>>       
>>>> 2009/3/9 Milos Rancic:
>>>>         
>>>>> So, they don't care about their own copyright law.
>>>>>           
>>>> Common law is very much driven by legal precedent. Looking to see what
>>>> similar legal systems have done is a fairly common approach.
>>>>
>>>> That said Kenya allows for up 6 years of jail time for some forms of
>>>> copyright infringement (and two for others) so I suggest it is
>>>> probably a good idea to take Kenyan law seriously.
>>>>         
>>> You don't need to Serengeti and explain it to Maasai people. Try with
>>> suburbs of Nairobi :) There are parts of the world which really don't
>>> give a shit for the copyright law :)
>>>       
>> Yep!  The only reason they may even have such a law would be to fulfil a
>> quid pro quo extorted by the World Bank as a prerequisite for foreign aid.
>>  Any application of such laws is seriously unrealistic unless an
>> offended foreigner wants to finance the prosecution.
>>     
> No they would have had such a law on independence due in inheriting it
> from the UK. The reason they now have a law with the kind of backing
> France would view as excessive (two year terms and a special state
> backed body  to go after copyright infingers) is US pressure.
>
>
>   
I'm not sure that it's as simple as that.  I agree that their first law 
on this was inherited, and that some US publishers will do anything to 
protect the turf upon which they cull their profits.  At the same time 
the US government has provided far more wiggle room about fair use and 
the like.  While it does provide for criminal infringement it prefers to 
use civil infringement provisions.  Also, the evidence required for a 
criminal infringement is at a much higher standard than for a civil 
infringement. I would not single out the US as the sole pressure source; 
vested interests in the EU can be just as aggressive.  For countries 
like Kenya one might rightly ask how much of these stated jail terms are 
all bark and no bite.

Ec