License Wars

1. Time passed, the Builders begin tightening their hold • Wars are fought sometimes the Computer won, but those victories; though crucial, were smothered under a wave of victories by the Builders. • In the short time from its creation till now the computer has been mutilated with lines of proprietary code, and DCRM. • The Court has lagged behind, unable to update its policies fast enough to keep pace in this cold war. • The Builders formed into a subgroup, no longer do they build, they now work tirelessly, to retain ownership through making Builders sign contracts stating that the new group owns that Builder's project in exchange for the money to create it. • They are the Patent Corporations • The Patent Corporations had been chipping away, not just at Computer's foundations, but the Buyer's, and the Builder's too. • As the date nears now these Patent Corporations troll the world, waiting for their legislators to dredge up a new target before coming out of the shadows to pounce while its victim is vulnerable. • The Patent Troll is born. • The Patent Troll is now trying to make it so that no one but them can own, instead trying to sell a subscription license to the newly formed mega-group of Buyers, and Builders. • They are the Users. In the beginning there was property • Property was made by its Builder and they owned it. • The Builders sold it. • The Buyer became the owner, free to open, tinker, repair, and resell as they saw fit. • Disputes between them were settled efficiently by the Court. • All was limited by ownership • But then came another, the Computer. License Wars The Users are trying to resist. • Most are unaware of how the troll is going about removing User rights. • They make the User sign an agreement that disallows them to tamper with the property licensed to the Computer. They aren't even allowing the User to transfer the property to another Computer that they own. • They offer fantastically designed services that are simple and easy to interact with, and use them to hide their movement to removing ownership of all property • Then the Corps started putting Computers in all products, thus forcing more and more to be locked down under the guise of “Intellectual Property”. It is becoming illegal to mess with even the physical things the users buy. • Even the Users transportation, clothing, communications, and cooking utensils are ceasing to be considered their own. The Computer was gifted • It could create perfect copies of intellectual property, like music, pictures, books, movies, and designs. These designs were easy to copy and give around • The Builders were jealous and grouped together in an attempt to take back their precious property, claiming that Buyers wouldn't come if Computer would give it away free. • A great battle ensued. • The Builders won in courts gaining unspeakable amounts of power over the Computer and the Buyers. • But the computer resisted deciding to open itself to all and many Buyers decided to join into war on both sides.

2. Citations • http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/apr/05/digital-media-licensed-not-owned • http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/03/you-dont-own-your-cellphones-or-your-cars/ • http://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/jul/16/broadcasting.bbc Images • http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/faust_20.png • http://cdn.howtogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/20121009theproblemwithintellectualproperty.jpg