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0 pointsgaius14y ago0 comments

a living, breathing, thinking person--is behind the switch or lever that eliminates access.

A living, breathing, thinking person also did the research that this technology is based on, possibly risking their own capital (livelihood) to do so. Are they not entitled to earn anything? Should all researchers be starving artists in garrets?

Be careful what you ask for, because you might get it.

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3 comments · 2 top-level

jopt14y ago· 1 in thread

Nobody is entitled to earn anything. Perhaps your great idea can't make money without a special legal monopoly, but that is not in itself a reason for the legal monopoly to exist. Being creative is not a license to get rich off your ideas.

paulhauggis14y ago

I wonder what all of the pro-union people here on HN have to say about this. Unions are, in essence, a special monopoly in certain industries that entitles people to a certain wage.

In some industries (like the auto industry), a job that normally should pay a little above minimum wage is inflated to many more times this.

"Being creative is not a license to get rich off your ideas."

When copyrights and patents are finally gone, I hope I have money. Why? I will have the resources to cherry pick up-and-coming inventors that don't have the same resources as I do.

HolyHaddock14y ago

> Are they not entitled to earn anything? Should all researchers be starving artists in garrets?

Do you mean the creators of SfY, who seem to claim to have done at least some of the research that went into it themselves, or do you discount their effort and risk merely because another company accused them of infringing a software patent?

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