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in reply to Re: Re: Ignorant Article
in thread Ignorant Article

I have psoted links to the entire article on WDVL so you can see the greater context. Please go there, I would appreciate it.

As for being unresponsible, please understand this....

WDVL is in no way associated with me. They are one of **dozens** of sites that has downloaded my work and republished it.

Part of my own intellectual property agreement with the world is that I have none. I encourage people to take and use whatever they want from me. They are free to cite me or not. They are free to plagiarize. They are free to reformat. They are free to use it to make money, to learn from, or throw away. I believe that information wants to be free and that nobody has the right to ensalve it.

There are pros and cons to this philosophy as there are to any philiospohy.

One of the cons is that I lose control of the information I put out. Although WDVL certainly has no copyright over my work, if they want to put that there and reformat it, I have no beef with them.

It is sad that they do not update when I make changes (cause like everyone I make lots of mistakes and need to revise my work from time to time.)

I have requested that they update the text, but to no avail and to me it is not worth fighting over as, like I said, there are dozens of similar cases. For me to personally fight this is too much.

Over the last 6 years, believe me, I have spent time trying and trying to get these mirrors to either shut down, or mirror using software that allows them to constantly keep source control in tact.

But this is only sosuccessful. I currently have mirrors in over 6 countries that simply never responded.

As a responsible author, what do I do?

Keep in mind that I have a life, and a company to run, a baby to look after, and all the usual trappings of reality.

Should I hire a lawyer to sue?

In the end, I have honestly done my best to get the information under control using social means. But because I do not believe in force, I am not willing to use it. If someone uses my work in a way that hurts, while I do feel responsible, I also am to some degree powerless to avoid it.

Telling me that I have a responsibility for keeping tabs with a ten thousand people who either use my code or use my writing is a bit like telling Dr. Dre to keep tabs on every suburbian white kid listening to 'Fuck the Police'.

I think that is actually wrong headed.

But I also respect your opinion. This is not a clear cut issue. I don't think that there is a clear right or wrong answer.

In my own life, I have just tried to counter misuse with as much positivity as possible.

Now your comment about the title is pretty good. It was a title that set within the context of the article, I think, makes sense. But, it is something that can be easily taken out of context. I used it originally as a stylistic tool in the writing but when reauoted....it can be easily misinterpreted.

But isn't that the case for every writer?