From: Katharine Thayer (kthayer@pacifier.com)
Date: 09/30/03-03:27:45 AM Z
I thought of an analogy that might help people understand what I was
trying to say the other day about copyright.
If I put a card table out by the street and put jars of flowers on it
with a sign saying "FREE" (as people in my little community sometimes do
when they have more flowers than they can use) I would be happy to have
anyone take whatever flowers they wanted for their own homes, and they
wouldn't even have to thank me; I would just like the feeling that
someone else is enjoying my flowers. But if someone came along, took
all the jars of flowers and set up a card table across the street and
sold those flowers for $5 a bunch, I would be very angry. And knowing
that there was someone like that in the community, I would never put
flowers out for free again, but would take them individually to selected
neighbors and friends.
To say that to be selective about sharing after I've learned that there
are people who think it's okay to sell what I've shared means that I'm
egotistical or paranoid or not a sharing person, as several of you
seemed to imply, is baffling to me. What it means, rather, is that
there is a person in the community who doesn't understand the concept of
community and sharing, and I don't care to give my flowers to such a
person. To take and sell for your own gain (and I don't differentiate
between financial profit, academic points, and just making a name for
yourself) property which should belong to the community as a whole. is
what I object to. It seems really simple to me, but like everything that
seems simple to me, it seems very hard to get across to the alt-photo
list, which is interesting because one thing I've been told for my
entire life, in a variety of contexts, is that my writing is always
concise, cogent, and clear.
I can't remember the name of the play, but there's a line from a play
that made me catch my breath and has stayed with me for ten years or so.
A cowgirl in the play said sadly, after the rodeo had been ruined for
her, "Whatever you love, 'they' will find a way to sell." I just don't
care to have someone else selling what I've given out of love. Thank you
for listening,
Katharine Thayer
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