[news.misc] Johnny Appleseed

Jeff Daiell (12/21/89)

As you know, there was once a man known as Johnny Appleseed.  He
went around planting apple seeds across a good portion of the
continent.

It is likely that some people came along later and picked the apples
from some of the trees and sold those apples.

Did Johnny Appleseed have moral or legal grounds to sic the dogs of
The State on those merchants?

It doesn't take a GEnieous to see that the answer is no.


Jeff Daiell



Elise, are you still on the net?

jik@athena.mit.edu (Jonathan I. Kamens) (12/22/89)

In article <7381@ficc.uu.net> Jeff Daiell writes:
>As you know, there was once a man known as Johnny Appleseed.  He
>went around planting apple seeds across a good portion of the
>continent.
>
>It is likely that some people came along later and picked the apples
>from some of the trees and sold those apples.
>
>Did Johnny Appleseed have moral or legal grounds to sic the dogs of
>The State on those merchants?
>
>It doesn't take a GEnieous to see that the answer is no.

  Sigh.  This wonderfully irrelevant analogy ignores what most of the
other analogies of this sort which have been posted to the net have
ignored.

  Johnny Appleseed *voluntarily* planted his apple seeds, *knowing*
that people were going to pick the apples and quite possibly sell
them.  He *knew* the consequences of his actions, and *wanted* to do
what he did anyway.

  If I post an article to ...atari.st, and GEnie comes along and takes
that article and puts it on GEnie and puts it under their "Anthology
Copyright", they've taken something of mine and made it theirs,
without my consent and without my willingness to allow them to do
this.

  I can't believe the people having this discussion aren't intelligent
enough to see the difference between something done voluntarily and
with knowledge of the results, and with some benefit received in
return (paying for phone time, buying a modem, buying a computer,
buying a computer program, writing a letter to a newspaper, and
planting apple trees are some of the examples already cited), and
doing something which leads to results which are not known to you, not
expected by you, and not fair to you.

Jonathan Kamens			              USnail:
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