Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!steinmetz!ge-dab!codas!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.UUCP (Eric Green)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc
Subject: Re: Making a living from creativity (was: Software copying)
Message-ID: <3206@killer.UUCP>
Date: 3 Feb 88 07:52:58 GMT
References: <3313@sphinx.uchicago.edu>
Organization: Bayou Telecommunications
Lines: 57

in article <3313@sphinx.uchicago.edu>, cute@sphinx.uchicago.edu (John Robert Cavallino) says:
> In article <162@octopus.UUCP> pete@octopus.UUCP (Pete Holzmann) writes:
>>In article <6780@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> mwm@eris.UUCP (Mike (My watch has windows) Meyer) writes:
>>>demonstrates the common fallacy of thinking that anything you can do
>>>can be turned into a right:
>>
>>A 'right' is only a 'right' if a society deems it to be so. It is TRUE!
> Whats-his-name (you know, the guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence)
> must have been confused when he talked about "inalienable rights" and said that
> it was "self-evident" that they existed.  Glad we have you to clear that up for
> us.

Excuse me? It seems some people have gotten themselves deluded into believing
that anything they do IS a right.

The Declaration of Independence is not a law. Its value is purely historical.
It has no relevance to our current form of government, which originated in the
Constitution over 10 years later.

Legally, the only "rights" guaranteed you are those in the Constitution and in
the various laws which have been passed by Congress over the years (e.g., the
Voting Rights Act, etc.). What society thinks is irrelevant, except insofar as
it is reflected in legislative action.

First of all: THERE IS NO RIGHT THAT SAYS THAT YOU MUST BE PAID FOR SERVICES
RENDERED (e.g. for software that you have written). Such details must be
explicitly written out into a contract to be binding. Contracts can and are
enforced by law, and sometimes the courts can consider certain situations to
contain an "implied" contract (e.g. if you eat in a restaurant, you are
expected to pay for your meal). But contracts have no relation to the vague
idea of "rights".

There is no "right" to make a living, either. If you are hungry and miserable
because you are an artist and nobody wants to buy your masterpieces, it is not
your place to go storming the Capital with invective about imaginary "rights".

In fact, when you get right down to it, there's not a helluva lot that the
courts do consider to be a "right", and most of that applies only to the
national government, not to the states and cities.

So please, quit all this empty invective about "rights", calculated to make us
all stand up and salute the American flag, hand over breast, and say 5 Pledge
of Allegiances and singing fifteen Star Spangled Banner's. Please. I get tired
of super-patriotic bull-cr*p calculated to make chest puff out in pride and
mind go muddly with thoughts about how great our nation is. If you're going to
argue about copyrights, argue from reality, not from some propoganda taught
you in grade-school history classes (you know the ones I'm talking about --
all those history books that says the Commies are big mean people eaters, the
Americans are the freeist and bestest people on earth, and so forth -- very
common back during the 50's, which is probably when most of the people on
this net grew up).

--
Eric Lee Green  elg@usl.CSNET     Asimov Cocktail,n., A verbal bomb
{cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg              detonated by the mention of any
Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191              subject, resulting in an explosion
Lafayette, LA 70509                    of at least 5,000 words.