John Dvorak comments on Napster

[javasaurus]

Napster is all but gone from the news, though lawsuits related to music piracy still continue. Still, John C. Dvorak's column in PC Magazine this month laments the loss of the music swapping service.

While Dvorak attacks the music industry for driving Napster away, and while his comments are valid, he ignores one thing. The copying of music against the wishes of the copyright holder is illegal. Once we get rid of the sanctity of copyright, what's next, patents? Dvorak's claims that the music industry would, as a whole, enjoy greater prosperity by encouraging free music-swapping services like Napster, and he may be right. But a copyright holder should be able to choose whether or not to participate.

Comments

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

Then it sounds like the problem is the music industry itself, not copyright law, and that's a completely different issue, one in which you'd not find me arguing with you. The industry sucks.

Same is true (i.e., that the industry sucks) of how patents are applied to software. But that doesn't mean that patents (as an idea) are bad, just that new industries find ways to twist the laws and set precedent before congressmen understand the new industry. In many industries patents really do promote advancement. For example, if you got rid of patents, you wouldn't see another new drug hit the market.