[lac-discuss-en] Fwd: [governance] FW: [A2k] Ed Felten proposes a three-strikes law for print

[Carlton Samuels]

For your information.....

Carlton

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Michael Gurstein <gurstein at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, May 25, 2009 at 9:49 AM
Subject: [governance] FW: [A2k] Ed Felten proposes a three-strikes law for print
To: governance at lists.cpsr.org

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Often farcical extrapolation is the best way to put a point across.

http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/felten/modest-proposal-three-strikes-p
rint

A Modest Proposal: Three-Strikes for Print
By Ed Felten - Posted on May 13th, 2009 at 6:50 am
Yesterday the French parliament adopted a proposal to create a
"three-strikes" system that would kick people off the Internet if they are
accused of copyright infringement three times.

This is such a good idea that it should be applied to other media as well.
Here is my modest proposal to extend three-strikes to the medium of print,
that is, to words on paper.

My proposed system is simplicity itself. The government sets up a registry
of accused infringers. Anybody can send a complaint to the registry,
asserting that someone is infringing their copyright in the print medium. If
the government registry receives three complaints about a person, that
person is banned for a year from using print.

As in the Internet case, the ban applies to both reading and writing, and to
all uses of print, including informal ones. In short, a banned person may
not write or read anything for a year.

A few naysayers may argue that print bans might be hard to enforce, and that
banning communication based on mere accusations of wrongdoing raises some
minor issues of due process and free speech. But if those issues don't
trouble us in the Internet setting, why should they trouble us here?

Yes, if banned from using print, some students will be unable to do their
school work, some adults will face minor inconvenience in their daily lives,
and a few troublemakers will not be allowed to participate in -- or even
listen to -- political debate. Maybe they'll think more carefully the next
time, before allowing themselves to be accused of copyright infringement.

In short, a three-strikes system is just as good an idea for print as it is
for the Internet. Which country will be the first to adopt it?

Once we have adopted three-strikes for print, we can move on to other media.
Next on the list: three-strikes systems for sound waves, and light waves.
These media are too important to leave unprotected.


--
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283
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