Saturday, March 10, 2007
Copyright Laws vs. The First Amendment
Can copyright laws take precedence over the first amendment? In various different situations people have been protected by their right of freedom of speech. However, have the laws of copyright become an exception? Where is the line drawn between protecting ones creativity and work and expressing one freedom to speak their mind? In 1996 a federal court in Virginia ruled in favor of the Church of Scientology for the future protection of copyright laws. A Virginia resident Arnaldo Lerma was said to have made wholesale postings of scientology’s material on the internet. All materials were then seized from his house, and he was charged with violations against copyright laws. At his defense he stated that he was only exercising his rights to freedom of speech clearly stated in the first amendment. The Church of Scientology has always been a strong advocate of freedom of speech and the free flow of information, however in this particular situation they seem to be contradicting themselves in hoping to protect information from reaching those outside of their organization.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I've always viewed the CoS as less of a protector of free speech and more as directly responsible or dozens of unnecessary deaths. The entire religion depends on keeping what they believe to be the core truths of the universe secret from those they don't believe to be ready to hear them. If people knew from the get go that they were trying to reach the point in their lives where they could hear that our existence is due to an alien with a penchant for world domination and volcanoes, they might be a tad less willing to hand over their life savings, free personality test or no.
I think that the freedom of speech is very important especially in the case of religion. What if a relgion was based on killing people or undermining the system of government? These secrets must be revealed to prevent these things from happening. But if they are "protected" by the religion, how can the world be safe? In this matter, I am a proponent for freedom of speech. You can hold copyright over your material, but it still has to be open for public scrutiny.
Post a Comment