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Against Monopoly

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Monopoly corrupts. Absolute monopoly corrupts absolutely.





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President Obama - Copyright Violator?

President Obama reportedly gave an iPod, loaded with 40 show tunes, to England's Queen Elizabeth II as a gift. Did he violate copyright laws when he did so?

Read here for a great analysis.


Comments

I'm dismayed to see Fred von Lohman miss the overreach of licenses. A license cannot further restrict the liberty of a purchaser of a copy, it can only restore liberties suspended by copyright (subject to conditions). If you have a purchased copy then you have first sale, a license has no power to prevent that.
There's another angle that no one seems to have picked-up on. DRM has caused an international incident. Think of it, the President of the United States has given an "innocent" gift of DVDs to the Queen of England and they won't work!!!! Clearly we have protected US intellectual property to the point that it can't even be exported. Good old regional DVD restrictions has had the unintended consequence of an international Faux Pas. Now if Obama had only given a book, the Queen could read it.

I hope that Obama will learn something from this "mistake" and realize that DRM is ludicrous.

Toby Harnden reports: "There was widespread criticism in Britain and from Anglophiles in the US of Mr Obama's recent present to Mr Brown of a box set of classic American movies on DVDs that were not compatible with British DVD players."

Barack Obama's gift for the Queen: an iPod, your Majesty

Brown's DVD Gift From Obama Wrong Format

Obama's International DRM Embarrassment


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