"Copying"...what does that mean?

[Shawn K. Quinn]

On Tue, 2005-11-22 at 12:46 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote:
> 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?

> That's part of my gist. 

Indeed, I had wondered if that's some of the same stuff you were getting
at.

> I guess what I'm asking is, in the digital age does "copying" make a
> lot sense legally?

Maybe not.

> 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".

It need not be lossless compression and it need not be the entire
bitstream.

> 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? 

I think the test is "large enough to be identifiably part of another
previous copyrighted work". It could even be some portion smaller than a
second, if someone can identify this drum beat as being from, say,
Loverboy instead of Aerosmith, AC/DC, Motley Crue, or one of a countless
number of local bands.

-- 
Shawn K. Quinn <skquinn at speakeasy.net>