"Copying"...what does that mean?

Tyler Durden camera_lumina at hotmail.com
Tue Nov 22 09:46:57 PST 2005


Shawn Quinn wrote...

>This reminds me of something else: to a computer, playing is simply a
>form of copying, the output is simply a video card and/or sound card.
>Isn't this is, in fact, what makes computers so powerful, that they
>simply obey instructions without asking questions? Isn't this why every
>attempt to block "unauthorized" copying has failed in the end, because
>the reality is that if it can be played, it can be copied, because
>playing *is* copying from the point of view of the computer programs?
>
>--
>Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at speakeasy.net>

That's part of my gist. I guess what I'm asking is, in the digital age does 
"copying" make a lot sense legally? OK, there are a few clear cases: If I 
take bitstream X and replicate every single bit precisely, that's "copying". 
If I take bitstream X and losslessly compress it and then transmit it (along 
with instructions for decompressing it, this latter potentially 
out-of-band), then I am "copying".

After that I'm not convinced "copying" makes any sense. In other words, if 
"copying" is to mean anything besides what a bunch of Men with Guns say it 
is (because a big fat media company told them that), then it needs to be 
defined clearly. And if it can't be defined clearly then the MwG are merely 
MwG and the more strongly anti-state cypherpunks have a new insteresting 
argument: A law ain't a law (in the classic sense) if you can't define it.

As I said before, if a "sample" is copying, how small a sample are we 
talking about? Look-->0101
I sampled Britney and that's what I got. I'm therefore copying and could go 
to jail. I probably won't go to jail, though, unless I eat into someone's 
profits or piss off individuals in the government.

-TD





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