Right to Read

State lawmakers in country music’s capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend’s login—even with permission—to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix or Rhapsody.

Source: Yahoo! News. Tenn. passes Web entertainment theft bill

Funny how almost 15 years ago Richard Stallman wrote The Right to Read:

For Dan Halbert, the road to Tycho began in college—when Lissa Lenz asked to borrow his computer. Hers had broken down, and unless she could borrow another, she would fail her midterm project. There was no one she dared ask, except Dan.

This put Dan in a dilemma. He had to help her—but if he lent her his computer, she might read his books. Aside from the fact that you could go to prison for many years for letting someone else read your books, the very idea shocked him at first. Like everyone, he had been taught since elementary school that sharing books was nasty and wrong—something that only pirates would do.

written June 2nd, 2011

June 2011

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Try hitting the home page or viewing all archives.