2009/12/15 |

Lo siguiente son fragmentos de una plática llamada How to Destroy the Book (primera parte, segunda parte), por el genial Cory Doctorow:

Three strikes works like this: if anyone you live with is accused of three acts of copyright infringement, without any proof, without any evidence, without a judge, without a jury, without a lawyer, without due process, your Internet connection is taken away and your name is added to a register of people for whom it is illegal to provide Internet access for a period of time. In France, where this law was just passed, it’s a year.

Now think of what this means for your participation in the information society. Think of what this means for your children. How many kids could do their homework without the Internet? How many kids could stay in touch with their grandparents without the Internet? How many people could do their jobs without the Internet? How many parents could stay abreast of their children’s health issues without the Internet? How much will you lose if we take away your Internet access?

[…]

The third thing ACTA does is it imposes a burden on ISPs to surveil their networks, and to pass surveillance information on to rights holders so that rights holders would now be charged with examining in fine detail without a warrant, without due process, and without particularized suspicion—the hallmarks of liberal democracy—they would be required to surveil everything you did: your communications with your family, your communications with your doctor, your communications with your lawyer, your kids’ schoolwork.

[…]

Neil Gaiman, who I’m sure you’re all familiar with, is a wonderful and inspiring writer, has a lovely schtick that I’m going to do for you today. How many people here have a favourite writer? Put your hands up if you have a favourite writer. Keep your hand up if you paid for the first book you got by your favourite writer, put your hand down if you got it for free. About half of you got your first book by your favourite writer for free.

You got it from the library, you got it from your friend, someone gave it to you for nothing, because that’s one of the most important ways that we discover reading: our friends tell us how important it is to them and it becomes part of our social conversation. That’s the thing about copying on the Internet: it’s not like counterfeit, it’s not like that guy on a blanket on Yonge Street selling bootleg DVDs. Copying on the Internet is most often a hand-to-hand act, it’s a thing that happens between people: I buy this, you should, too. Here, take this, it means something to me. It’s part of that continuing conversation of literature that predates publishing, that predates printing, that predates copyright, that is really at the core of what it means to have a culture.

Vale mucho la pena leer la plática completa.