Richard Stallman
takes to the soapbox, in a lively interview, as one would
expect: (Slashdot)
(In 1988, George Bush called Mike Dukakis a "card-carrying member of the
ACLU", in effect comparing the Bill of Rights with Communism and its
defenders with Communists. This insult to the US Constitution inspired me,
as it did many others, to join the ACLU. Let's hope the Shrub will not be
president; one Bush was too many.)
The War on Drugs has continued for some 20 years, and we see little prospect
of peace, despite the fact that it has totally failed and given the US an
imprisonment rate almost equal to Russia. I fear that the War on Copying
could go on for decades as well. To end it, we will need to rethink the
copyright system, based on the Constitution's view that it is meant to
benefit the public, not the copyright owners. Today, one of the benefits
the public wants is the use of computers to share copies.