[d@DCC] Forming a more formal "interest group".

[Chris Brand]

I wrote :
2. A "purpose/mission statement", which I see as a list of stuff we agree
is important.

(bad form to reply to your own message, but I'm going to anyway :-))

As it happens, I used a recent train journey to try to write just such a list.
Here it is for your critique :

1. We need the right to reverse engineer (this is the "anti-DMCA" aspect).
2. We should be in control of the technological devices we purchase (I've
been thinking about this one a lot recently, particularly regarding devices
like cable modems which are routinely tampered with by the cable cos).
3. We should be legally allowed to take apart and modify things we buy
(freedom to tinker).
4. Sharing information and collaboration are how most progress in both the
sciences and arts takes place. It is vital that we are able to "stand on the
shoulders of giants" and be the "second innovator".
5. Tools are not good or evil. They can generally be used for either.
6. "Intellectual property" is fundamentally unlike physical property.
7. Audiences are not just "consumers".
8. The public domain is a valuable common asset.
9. Copyright law is a means to two ends - the ends being to make more creative
works available to Canadians and to ensure that creators are fairly rewarded
for their work. (I have to admit to being unsure whether the second aim *should*
be there, although I'm sure that it is currently. It seems to me that there
isn't any general "right to be paid for your work" - if I mow your lawn without
you agreeing to pay me, I don't believe I have any right to force you, or
anyone else, to pay me for my work).

Making a broad unjustified leap and assuming that we all agree on the above
list, now all we need to do is phrase it nicely and come up with a name
that for the organisation that believes all the above. :-)

Chris

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