Subject: Richard Stallman visit to UB From: "William J. Rapaport" Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:42:41 -0500 (EST) Brian Borncamp writes: "Richard Stallman, founder of the GNU project and the Free Software Foundation, will be at UB Feb 22nd at 6pm in Norton 112. The title of the talk will be Copyright vs. Community. An abstract is as follows. Copyright developed in the age of the printing press, and was designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press. But the copyright system does not fit well with computer networks, and only draconian punishments can enforce it. The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright--to promote progress, for the benefit of the public--then we must make changes in the other direction. ------- Note that the background for this topic will be discussed in class on or around Mar 19, so if you want to read some background material before then, take a look at: http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/584/c-vs-pat.html