Fate of data held by Megaupload up in the air

Doesn't it seem logical to anyone that copyright laws are heavily slanted toward the profits of business and totally ignore the rights of individuals to own, in any respect whatsoever, intellectual matter that they didn't create? What, in fact, do any of us have exclusive right to intellectually? Do we actually invent knowledge itself? If we were the first to know of the existence of Pluto, would that mean we own the right to know Pluto? Of course not. Knowledge is always around whether we learn of it or someone else does. So how can we say anything is absolutely ours just because we find it first? What knowledge do we find that was not found on the back of many other researchers who never made profit on their teachings or restricted its usage? If someone sent you a letter, it becomes yours, doesn't it? Once sent, the letter no longer has an owner. Yes, if someone uses your intellectual property (words, inventions, music or software), you could rightfully be viewed as having some right to any profit on that property, but once in the hands of many people, can we still speak of your ownership????? Back to the comparison to a letter: What if you received a letter that said, "You have no right to this letter but must send a payment to me since I put so much work into it". Don't businesses do just that when they advertise and try to push their material upon us and then restrict its ownership? Also, we would be instructed to never do anything with it but read it, not letting anyone else read it. Sounds pretty selfish to any reasonable person, but free enterprise always has inclined that way. Writing music or creating anything else should never be ours alone. To live with others is to share. Don't we tell our children that? The simple fact is that selfishness never worked and it never will. Of course, selfish people can't write unselfish laws.

Dave of MA 9:17AM April 16, 2012