Zathras

I edited it a little, but just a little. I always do for comments that end up as front-page posts. I also lightly edit stories if I think they need it. But it’s always just for style – ie, isn’t instead of is not, it’s instead of it is, etc – and consistency. I’m not here for re-writes which, nine times out of ten, aren’t necessary in the first place.

You can easily see the original if you want.

Rafael and I have ‘virtually’ known each other for quite some time, now, and I’m sure he understands.

Cheers!

Very soon everything that can be conceived as an idea and can be reproduced or copied will be restricted through patents and copyright.

As a result most of the world’s population suffers and dies from hunger and disease and the solutions are tied up in the patent quagmire and in the courts.

As a result most of the world’s population suffer from cultural hunger and that hunger cannot be satisfied because culture is tied up in the copyright quagmire and in the courts.

If the common people actually knew what politicians have done to advance the interest of the lobby companies and organizations and how much that is hurting their health and culture, they would revolt.

If people knew that prescription controlled medicines cost, at the drug store, 100 times (1:100 ratio) the cost of manufacture, which makes the medicine too costly for the poor in poor countries, they would revolt.

BTW, the 1:100 ratio is for a multi-billion per year sale medicine being manufactured by a pharmaceutical company that hired this writer as a consultant in the area of cost control and improvement through software. The cost of the medicine was the cost in my neighborhood pharmacy.

If people knew that intellectual property treaties are advantageous only for technologically advanced corporations, at the expense of the people, they would revolt.

If people knew that a $20 dollar CD can be profitably distributed for $3 to 5 they would revolt and they are doing it, at last. P2P is a revolution against the copyright oligarchy.

If people knew that intellectual property treaties are advantageous only for technologically advanced corporations (of countries where the corrupt politicians of poor countries have the money they have stolen stashed away in banks and investments) at the expense of the people, the poor countries, they would revolt.

Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com

A lot of Indian farmers got together and told them to shove it.

Now they have semi-ceremonial seed sharing days where people get together and give each other handfuls of seed.

[This situation was covered in great detail in the documentary The Corporation - check the extended interviews for the entire story]

On the matter of patenting food, it is already done. Try the corporation Monsoto and their genetically altered corn. Farmers are expected and it is demanded that new crops be from purchased new seeds and not from harvested seed. They check regularly to verify that farmers are indeed living up to the protected rights of Monsoto and very much like the RIAA they are extremely active in the checking and sueing.

Rafael Venegas’ post shows just how ridiculas this is in the sense that protections are going way to far in what are right’s holders rights and what are not their rights. It is to the point now that those right holders feel it is quite alright to invade your security and they see nothing wrong in that. Still today, Sony is calling the whole rootkit business a slight matter. In their eyes, it’s all good.

But if your computer is riddled with this type of spyware and you are the victim of driveby malware install, this is anything but slight. Sony has all along been far short of forthcoming to remedy this “slight problem”. In short, if you are a purchasing customer, you are also assumed to be a theif, a pirate, and you should suffer for being that paying customer. On the other hand, if you download your music, you face no such immediate problems with your music. Infringer then you may be but suffering from malware installs isn’t something you will be rewarded with in the process.

Indeed a rose by any name…

Look forward to your future postings.

Regards, Zathras