One of the things that really bothers me about current day America is
how much we talk about freedom and then think talking about it is
equivalent to actually having it.
If freedom means being free from arbitrary government interference and
free from protection/promotion of corporate interest over individual
liberty, Americans are not free. I have had this pointed out to me by
Russian hams, who love to tell Americans that they should come to
Russia so they could be free.
Lest any of you scoff, here is what freedom looks like in Russia:
http://www.cqham.ru/sch_eng.html
Nothing there is of any use to you unless you already own the
hardware. From my perspective, once you own the hardware, and have
paid for it, it should be yours to do with as you please. If you want
to mod it, or dunk it into the nearest toilet, you should have the
freedom to do so. As far as I can determine, just myself and the
Russians believe this nowadays, or at least we're the only ones saying
it out loud.
I am not a believer in eternal copyrights. I'm thinking that the
lifetime of the author is plenty, and 25 years for a corporation is
plenty. The direction that "Intellectual Property" law is headed into
will eventually mean that all advances made by the human race will
belong to some corporation in perpetuity, which in turn will generate
engineering lockdown in the West outside of corporate R&D and signed
NDAs.
Any advances will then have to come from places where things are more
chaotic and less ossified. You know, like America used to be.
It's already started, really. For example, name one great American
invention from the last five years that wasn't just a glorified toy.
CDOs don't count, either.
Jeff/KD4RBG
On Thu, May 20, 2010 at 10:57 AM, Ryan Foster <foster.ryan@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hmm...
>
> Where might one find that jerk in England's site? :)
>
> I mean, you know, to give him a piece of my mind, of course...
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