atributetofairuse
A Tribute to Fair Use
Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation.Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things. It is the continuous revolution of the marketplace. It is the understanding that allows [us] to recognize shortcomings and seek solutions.
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger... I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. He who lights his candle at mine, receives light without darkening me and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds. You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on Earth, or we will sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.
There’s a battle going on right now, a battle to define everything that happens on the Internet in terms of traditional things that the law understands. New technology, instead of bringing us greater freedom, would have snuffed out fundamental rights we had always taken for granted. With malice toward none, with charity for all ... let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds ... to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Information is power. But like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. The world’s entire scientific and cultural heritage, published over centuries in books and journals, is increasingly being digitized and locked up. You can’t share it, because your best way of making money from it is to own it, and to keep other people from it. That may be okay [for] real estate, but is it okay [for] knowledge? That may be okay [for] diamonds, but is it okay [for] culture? That may be all right when what it means is that the poor don’t have Lexus, but is it okay when it means the poor don’t have physics?
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. For it is the common good and not private gain that makes cities great.
Do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Things like freedom and the expansion of knowledge are beyond success, beyond the personal. Personal success is not wrong, but it is limited in importance, and once you have enough of it it is a shame to keep striving for that, instead of for truth, beauty, or justice.
Think deeply about things. Don’t just go along because that’s the way things are or that’s what your friends say. Consider the effects, consider the alternatives, but most importantly, just think. Whatever is true ... noble ... right ... pure ... lovely, ... admirable excellent, or praiseworthy—think about such things. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Once you change your philosophy, you change your thought pattern. Once you change your thought pattern, you change ... your attitude. Once you change your attitude, it changes your behavior pattern and then you go on into some action. Action is the antidote to apathy and cynicism and despair. You will inevitably make mistakes. Learn what you can and move on. At the end of your days, you will be judged by your gallop, not by your stumble. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. Never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. We have the power to decide the fate of our planet and ourselves. This is a time of great danger, but our species is young, and curious, and brave. It shows much promise. It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart. May the Force be with you.
The Tributed
Dr. Seuss, The Lorax, (1904 - 1991)Ronald Reagan, California Gubernatorial Inauguration Speech (5 January 1967)
Ronald Reagan, Republican National Convention Annual Gala (3 February 1994)
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural address, Washington D.C. (20 January 1961)
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Isaac McPherson (13 August 1813)
Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (c. 563 – c. 483 BC)
Matthew 5:16
Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing (27 October 1964)
Aaron Swartz, F2C:Freedom to Connect 2012. Washington, D.C. (21 May 2012)
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, (4 March 1865)
Aaron Swartz, Guerilla Open Access Manifesto (July 2008)
Eben Moglen, Plenary session at Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco, (28 April 2009)
Frederick Douglass, Speech at Civil Rights Mass Meeting, Washington, D.C. (22 October 1883)
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, (1469 - 1527)
Galatians 5:13
Colossians 3:12
Richard Stallman, Znet Inteview (18 December 2005)
Aaron Swartz, UTI interview, (23 January 2004)
Philistines 4:8
Romans 12:2
Malcom X, Speech at the Congress for Racial Equality, in Detroit, Michigan (12 April 1964)
Bradley Whitford, Spring Commencement at University of Wisconsin, (15 May 2004)
Ronald Reagan, Speech about the Space Shuttle disaster (28 January 1986)
Winston Churchill, Harrow School, (29 October 1941)
Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage (1990 Update)
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, (1469 - 1527)
Colossians 3:23
Han Solo, Star Wars, 1977