[sclug] Payments and "rights"

[Alex Butcher]

On Sun, 16 Mar 2008, mail at europa.demon.co.uk wrote:

> On Sunday 16 March 2008 17:01:35 you wrote:
>> Is it not morally and ethically right to allow the entity which spent
>> those resources some mechanism to recover those costs?  Surely it isn't
>> ethical to deny a writer or a filmmaker the fruits of their labour?
>
> There is no absolute right to expect payment because you've worked hard...
> The question is what the market value of the work done might be. And if
> you produced something which was not of value... hope you have a second
> job!

I couldn't agree more - this goes both for starving artists who slave for
months over works which no-one appreciates and for companies that spend
millions of dollars to produce films which no-one wants to see or buy on
DVD.

However, /allowing/ a creator to seek recompense for their work (at the
market value) is not the same as saying they /will/ be compensated, and is
certainly a better incentive for them than to say they will *not* be
compensated at all, or will only be compensated at the "standard
committee-approved rate for a single creative work". And, hopefully, that
leads to the production of more and better creative works, which in turn is
better for society as a whole.

> John

Best Regards,
Alex.
-- 
Alex Butcher, Bristol UK.                           PGP/GnuPG ID:0x5010dbff

"[T]he whole point about the reason why I think it is important we go for
identity cards and an identity database today is that identity fraud and
abuse is a major, major problem. Now the civil liberties aspect of it, look
it is a view, I don't personally think it matters very much."
  - Tony Blair, 6 June 2006 <http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page9566.asp>