this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
668 points (97.2% liked)
Sysadmin
7717 readers
16 users here now
A community dedicated to the profession of IT Systems Administration
No generic Lemmy issue posts please! Posts about Lemmy belong in one of these communities:
!lemmy@lemmy.ml
!lemmyworld@lemmy.world
!lemmy_support@lemmy.ml
!support@lemmy.world
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I did quote owned in that comment.
Legally I think you own the book, but not it's contents? So legally it would be the same? (The content is copyrighted so you can't reproduce it etc)
The real difference is in usage, with a book, even an ebook, if you have it you effectively own it. They can't stop you reading it.
Unfortunately with games nowerdays everything checks in with servers or is online only, so if the publisher or distributor say so, you lose access. The only way round that is cracked copies or DRM free games like on GoG.
You own the book and you own your copy of its contents, but you don't hold* the copyright.
Why do people have such a hard time phrasing it clearly like that, and instead say things like "you don't own the contents?"
(* A copyright is a temporary monopoly privilege granted by Congress. It isn't itself property and is therefore "held," not "owned.")
Is the ownership of property in general not also just a "temporary monopoly privilege granted by Congress" or whatever the local legal authority is? If there were no laws protecting property rights, backed up by the power of some sort of government, those property rights would be meaningless.
No, it's not. In stark and diametric contrast to copyright, ownership of actual property is a natural right.
Read the Constitution: copyright law has the express purpose "to promote the progress of science and the useful arts." It is nothing more than a means to that end. And in particular, it is absolutely not, in any way whatsoever, some sort of entitlement for creators.
I have seen a few of your arguments, and it sounds like you are being very pedantic, and are totally ignoring the big picture entirely.