[free-sklyarov] Rights vs capabilities

[huaiyu_zhu at yahoo.com]

Quote from BusinessWeek Online
(http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/010725/u2uwdgj7_smmdbiz41ntqa.html)

  To be sure, the stated purpose of Sklyarov's software makes logical
  sense.  [...] That still doesn't give anyone the right to violate
  copyrights, if, in fact, that's what Sklyarov did.


How to combat such media disinformation?   Here're some thoughts. 

The general media often confuse rights with capabilities.  They miss the
fact that having a capability does not automatically gives one a right.

Often a capability can be used to exercise A's rights, and also to
infringe on B's rights.

They usually describe it purely in terms of an "infringement capability".

They also automatically approve B's attempt to restrict A's such
capability, regardless of the fact that the restrictions might in
turn infringe on A's right of fair use.

If A is actually a group of entities, such as consumers, they often cite
the worst member of A to justify the severest restriction applied to all
members of A.  In other words, if one consumer steals, all consumers are
treated as potential thieves.

They describe attempts of restoring A's capability purely in terms of
circumventing the protection against infringing B's rights, instead of in
terms of A's legal usage.

In summary, when the rights of two parties conflict due to dual usage of a
specific capability, the media's view is very much skewed in favor of
restricting such capabilities to protect the rights of one side, without
taking into account that such restrictions may also severely infringe the
rights of the other side.

This kind of logic, when used to control thoughts, is very reminiscent of
the excuses used by totalitarian regimes: giving freedom to people might
allow someone to do some bad things.

This is exactly what the First Ammendment is designed to prevent.

We need to let the media see this point.

This is not about property rights per se.  It is about taking away a right
from one group just because the necessary capability to exercise this
right may also be used to infringe on the rights of another group.

"If we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a
wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform
their discretion by education."  - Thomas Jefferson



Huaiyu Zhu