Contemplating Freedom

The world still hates us (we tend to piss people off), our economy is spiraling (dwindling? I like the adjective.), our government is conducting illegal electronic searches at the border (data is apparently explosive), discrimination is written into many state constitutions but rest assure (!) the Recording Industry can continue to screw artists and those who listen legally. Because the RIAA, and everything it represents, cannot grasp the ultimatum set forth by the digital world, the RIAA instead will try change the world and the bush (I refuse to capitalize his name) Administration to adhere to the RIAA's obsolete business model.

The Justice Department has increased its investigation and prosecutions of intellectual property violations when it just so happens that the JoD was under direct instruction from the White House to make Intellectual Property cases their first priority. Naturally this means there will be more prosecutions (go figure), so "tout"ing it to the public is quite obscene. Aren't we still at war?

Sadly, what the government is really doing is diminishing our fundamental right to fair use. It may not seem so in plain fact, but what this will do is cause certain rights to fade away from existence because other laws will treat you as a criminal. I disfavor my rights being diminished. You didn't take away the rights, you took away their ability to even be used as a right.

This came from fredmenace at News.com:
Copyright is NOT a property right. (The notion that "ideas" could even be owned has historically been considered odious, and rightly so, I believe.) Hence, no "theft" can occur when dealing with intellectual "property" (really a misnomer from the beginning). Anyone who tells you otherwise is either uninformed or trying to mislead you (the **AAs are notorious for the latter). In addition, even if you did "use without authorization", you are not depriving the "owner" of anything tangible - only some potential (and hypothetical) value from possibly unrealized sales.

He is absolutely right and I too believe that the notion that "ideas" can be owned is very ludicrous. All in all, you really are not depriving the owner of anything except some hypothetical value from an unlimited good that is falsely (and wrongly) distributed as a scarce good.

As copyrights laws become stronger and the patent system becomes worse, I only see a social decline in the middle class. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I think its time to start fighting.

Honestly I didn't read quite into the ruling but it seems Alcatel-Lucent lost a key part in against Microsoft's U.S trade complaint over patents for a system that integrates telephones and computers for voice calls, email and video conferencing. Originally Lucent had filed and won a patent infrigement against Microsoft before and then, Microsoft came back with retort later that a judge overturned. Now, Microsoft's current file against Alcatel-Lucent has succeeded, as a judge at the US International Trade Commission has determined that Alcatel-Lucent has infringed and even made a bolder move:

[Judge Paul] Luckern recommended an exclusion order "barring entry into the United States of infringing unified communication systems, products used with such systems and components," according to an excerpt posted on the ITC's Web site. The judge's reasoning is not yet public, and his determination will be reviewed by the six-member ITC in Washington, D.C.

It seems a bit stringent to completely wipe out a businesses trade of a questionable patent as it is. As we have been seeing lately, the patent system has become more and more of a battleground for big names and even bigger lawyers. And sadly, Microsoft is also using the popular loophole in patent law here explained by TechDirt's Mike Masnick.

Mainly, I am just worried about how out of hand Mr. Jefferson's patent system is becoming. Innovation may come to a stand still even if its moving faster than ever underground.