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Denise Howell: A Lawyer Licenses Her Weblog.  Today marks the beginning of winter and the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. From here the days just get longer, until June, when they start getting shorter again. Any day now Time will announce their Person of the Year. John Robb: "Why can't email have a shortcuts feature?" Guardian: "It's the latest trend in weblogging: moblogging - or posting thoughts to your weblog from wherever you might be, via mobile phone or handheld device." Wired: "A federal agency's request for commentary on a controversial digital copyright law drew a boatload of criticism from respondents who asked for new limitations on the far-reaching statute." Adam Curry: "Is it just me, or is iCal an incredibly good looking piece of crap?" Is is software?  Lessig: "Creative reuse of creative content is what CC is all about." I first met Lessig just after a speech he gave at Esther's a few years ago. The question he raised, which was much on my mind at the time (and still is), is what can we do about software patents. I had what was, then, a unique theory -- that software and writing are the same thing. You can't patent the plot of a novel, so why should you be able to patent the plot of a piece of software. Because I can (and do) put macros in Web pages, and because I can (and do) write extensive prose in my source code (I like long comments, some code I write is just like a weblog) -- there is no reasonable line between prose and software. I am both a writer and a programmer. I believe I could find an example to contradict any distinction. It's interesting to see the discussion about CC go in this direction. Of course RSS isn't software. Until you look at the <cloud> element or the <enclosure> element. Then you have to wonder if reading a RSS feed isn't the same thing as running a program. Don't forget the First Amendment. It's why writers have much greater freedom of expression than programmers, for now, until a clever lawyer like Lessig sees the bug and works with the Supreme Court to fix it. What is Scripting News: "Only steal from the best is a motto I have stolen from some great writer whose name I don't know." Jon Udell says it is software. One year ago today: Balderdash! |
 
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