Wow, this sketch makes some ideas about fair use and copyright clear from a global perspective. Glad to see that the Yes Men’s brilliant Bhopal anniversary work didn’t go unnoticed.
“While sharing and copying technologies are disrupting some of the ways we understanding “content,” when you visit a non-Western country like India, the spectrum of choices become broader. There is less timidity wrestling with questions like: should poor farmers pay inflated prices for patented genetically-engineered seeds? How long should patents be given for life-saving medicines that cost more than many make in a year? Should Indian universities spend millions on academic journals and articles? In the United States or other rich countries we may weigh both sides of these questions–the rights of the owner vs. the moral rights of the user–but there’s no question people elsewhere, such as in India, weigh them different given the questions of life and death or of poverty and development.”
(via Beyond Property Rights: Thinking About Moral Definitions of Openness | TechPresident)
Barbara K Iverson 