(OT) Re[2]: [ale] GAH

[Christopher R. Curzio]

> Amazon should be more clear as to who is offering the product, rather 
> than claiming it is the government.

It's not claimed that the government is offering the product; just that
they authored it. Honestly, it's not any less clear than any other book
Amazon offers on their site. 

-- 
Christopher R. Curzio     |  Quantum materiae materietur marmota monax
http://www.accipiter.org  |  si marmota monax materiam possit materiari?
:wq!




Thus Spake "Robert Reese" <ale at sixit.com>:
Sun, 11 Jul 2004 16:13:05 -0400


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> On 7/11/2004 at 1:57 PM Christopher R. Curzio wrote:
> 
> >> You are mistaken on many points.  The original Constitution is a
> >> singular irreplaceable document that is also extrememly fragile, and
> >> those measures are designed to protect it.
> >
> >I understand that, but you missed the entire point of the analogy.
> 
> I don't think I did.
> 
> 
> > I would
> >argue that the original document, while it would suck tremendously if
> >lost, is easily replacable. There are billions of copies of the
> >original text out there. Our government wouldn't collapse if the
> >original paper copy of the constitution burned up. 
> 
> No, the government won't collapse, but it would be a disaster of
> historical proportions.  And no, the original cannot be replaced.  A
> duplicate, and most likely a very poor duplicate, can be created but the
> original cannot be 'replaced'.
> 
> 
> >> By the way, you are not restricted from making copies of the
> >gift-shop > purchase either, though the cost of the copy available at
> >the gift-shop > should not be profit-making either as it should only be
> >enough to cover > just the production and distribution costs involved
> >for the purchase.
> 
> >No, there is a profit motive there; much of the costs go into
> >maintaining those security measures of which you spoke, along with the
> >facilities themselves, paying the staff, etc. 
> 
> I stand corrected; as long as it creates less burden on taxpayers, you
> are right that they should seek to recoup as much costs as possible in
> this manner.
> 
> 
> >> Other than a few hundredths of a cent for distribution,
> >> what costs are involved with the production (paid for by tax dollars)
> >> and the distribution (also paid for by tax dollars *and* also
> >volunteer> mirrors) of an E-Book?  We all know the answer is *none*, of
> >course.
> 
> >You're assuming that it's the government that is selling this document.
> >You're incorrect. Amazon is selling the e-book document, and its
> >publisher is NuVision Publications - both of which are for-profit
> >entities. Tax dollars don't factor into this equation anywhere. 
> 
> >The original text was created by the founders of the US
> >government, and the e-book of that document was created by NuVision
> >Publications using licensed technology from Microsoft - also a
> >for-profit entity. 
> 
> I see now where you are getting NuVision Publications.  It wasn't clear
> on Amazon's page until I actively sought out the publisher information
> as a result of your bringing it to my attention.  Amazon should be more
> clear as to who is offering the product, rather than claiming it is the
> government.
> 
> 
> >> There should be no charge whatsoever for the U.S. Government
> >> produced E-Book, and absolutely no DRM attached to said E-Book.
> >
> >I agree. But this is not the case here. 
> 
> I see now.  Thank you.
> 
> Cheers,
> Robert Reese~
> 
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