Copyright vs. Community

Location: C4, hus C, campus Valla, Linkoeping University, Linkoeping, Sweden. Richard Stallman will talk on the issue of copyright, a system developed in the age of the printing press designed to fit with the system of centralized copying imposed by the printing press, but which does not fit well with computer networks. The global corporations that profit from copyright are lobbying for draconian punishments, and to increase their copyright powers, while suppressing public access to technology. But if we seriously hope to serve the only legitimate purpose of copyright--to promote progress, for the benefit of the public--then we must make changes in the other direction. Richard Stallman will also suggest changes to the Pirate Party program, in order to avoid the unintended consequence of giving proprietary software an advantage over free software.