Tap the Goat

Did you see the story about the Sudanese man who was caught having sex with a goat? The council of elders forced him to marry the goat as his punishment. Apparently, man and goat are living happily ever after, except for the goat, who is still getting cornholed by a crazy Sudanese guy, but now he has to wash dishes with his hooves.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ukfs_news/hi/newsid_4740000/newsid_4748200/4748292.stm

In related news, Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband claims he had an affair with the goat too.

Having a goat wife might come in handy. You could carry a Dixie Cup with you, folded up in your pocket, and any time you got thirsty, you could just reach over and yank a nice warm cup of goat milk. That might not sound delicious to you, but in Sudan, warm goat milk is a delicacy, second only to humping the goat. Unless it's a boy goat, in which case it's considered a close third.

I wonder what the perp's defense was. I think I would have claimed I was performing an experiment in churning goat butter without using a churn. I would probably say something about Galileo being persecuted for his genius too. Or maybe I would try to make the council of elders laugh by saying, "The goat looked horny. Get it? He has horns!"

Anyway, this story raises many interesting issues about property rights. The owner obviously felt wronged when he saw his neighbor going all Lego on his goat. Why?

Evidently it wasn't a bestiality issue, since the council of elders forced the perpetrator to marry the goat. And it wasn't concern for the goat's wellbeing, since marrying a goat-humper isn't a step in the right direction. So what was the problem?

Was the owner planning to butcher the goat, and didn't want his goatburgers to have any special sauce?

Was the owner mad because he was saving the goat for himself?

There was no damage to the goat, unless you count some stretching. Having sex with your neighbor's goat is a lot like violating a copyright. It's totally victimless, right?

Go.

Comments

[That one guy]

Someone stole your blog.

http://www.zug.com/gab/index.cgi?func=view_thread&thread_id=75151

[Sophia Thore]

Victimless? Have you asked the GOAT if it felt victimized? I would guess that it did.

And force a goat to marry a human? Are there ANY laws against torturing animals?

I think I'd prefer to marry a goat before I married a man who did things like that to an animal.

[Michelle]

Hi!!! Excellent resource you've got here!!! Will definately be back!!!

[Richard Gosling]

The goat is dead

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6619983.stm

She was called Rose. She apparently suffocated on a plastic bag. It is not stated whether or not this was part of an erotic auto-suffocation ritual.

[Paul]

Well, I hope you are all happy.

The goat is dead now.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6619983.stm

I hope you are all happy, driving the poor dear to suicide.

Shame on you all

[Wolfger]

"Having sex with your neighbor's goat is a lot like violating a copyright."
I think I get it. You're trying to piss people off so that they'll have no respect for your copyrights, so that they'll 'pirate' your stuff, thereby making you even more popular than you already are. Sheer diabolical genius.

[Diana W]

Ok, way too many animal humping blog themes. Same comment as before - most sexually transmitted diseases can be traced back to lame guys who thought there would be no harm in nailing a poor animal. Maybe the council's idea of making the guy marry the goat was to ensure that he didn't eventually marry or have relations with a woman and spread goat-diseases to the population. While some women will help a guy cheat on a wife he claims doesn't under stand him, I'm guessing even desperate women will think twice about helping a guy cheat on his goat.

[RML]

[i]Going all Lego? I'm confused by the reference too. The closest I can get to "goat" from Lego is the root, Leg Godt, or "play well" in Dutch.[/i]

Dutch? I'm Dutch and "leg godt" isn't.

Maybe you mean Danish?

[iGetTheJoke]

I think I get it!

I mean, the 'going all LEGO...' thing. Here it is, Barney style: LEGO pieces stick together when pressed into contact with each other. So the guy and his goat were stuck together like LEGO blocks when he had um... relations with it. So, do I win anything?

Btw, I stumbled on your blog today and enjoyed it very much. Some people don't seem to get it though. The part about making silly comments and inviting people to get all serious about them. Sometimes it's fun to watch people freak. It seems like some participants are wound like springs, just waiting to release their tension. This is kinda like dragging a stick along a fence to activate the guard dog's barking mechanism.

As if posting, "Go" weren't enough to tip them off.

But I get it (I hope... otherwise I might be one of "them"!) and I appreciate the humor in it.

This is a place where Mr. Adams can be funny in ways that would be unacceptable in the cartoon strip, because it's not on everyone's kitchen table with the coffee and cereal.

Many of the replies are funny too. Not just the people who had their buttons pushed, but the people that have a sense of humor. I mean, it was written by a humorist, no?

Thanks for a very entertaining blog. Another reason not to get out more!

Anyway, I hope that someone will comment on my analysis of the LEGO analogy. I hope I'm right. And really, who doesn't need a little affirmation now and then.

[TrevOverT]

Nowhere do you mention that the violator was or was not wearing protection... and by protection I mean steel underpants, those ravaged goats have a murderous kick.

[Tony]

Scott, you are a control freak, this is a serious problem. Let go of it, just a bit. You just can not control what people do with your work. You need to learn this. Otherwise you will end up living in a ditch shouting "THEY STOLE MY WORK!" at people passing by.

[Sondra]

Lego on his goat?

[D. Mented]

Did you mean "going all Lincoln Log" on the goat?
Otherwise, I'm curious about the reference.
And...Is it just men, or are there some Catherine the Greats out there? If you're going to give the bestiality report I'd like to see equal time.
(maybe it's just the women are less exhibitionist about it. I did have a friend that - in private - liked to let the dog lick her where dogs always try to lick.
Ick.)
....D. Mented

[Leora]

Okay, I have to say it.
It's "bestiality", not "beastiality" or whatever bizarre spellings people are inventing. Apologies if your first language isn't English, extra lashes if it is!

I've heard of putting lipstick on a pig, but I always assumed it wasn't literal...

[mcgurker]

But scooooott, the goat is a living thing. Sure, it will eat anything and shits wherever it wants, but it is a living thing. Plus, there were no carbon copies of that goat. Stealing that goat made the man have one less. Plus, now the screwer can sell the goat milk and the owner can't, being that you can't make carbon copies of goats. I mean. That goat was one of a kind, it was special, and screwing it was like screwing the owner.

Except...he probably wouldn't have to marry the owner.

[mendel]

The problem is that Sudan is a patriarchical society, especially so in the more rural regions. If you want to have sex with a woman, you have to ask her father first. And you need to make a marriage contract and have it properly witnessed before being allowed to "enjoy the (women's) private parts" (or, apparently, the goat's private parts).

If you can get away with humping your neighbor's goat without a proper contract, it's a slippery slope that quickly leads to getting away with enjoying your neighbor's daughter's private parts without a proper contract, and we can't have that, can we? So one short sharp shock later the goat-humper finds himself married to a hooved animal.

If he's lucky he's living in a region where the so-called "Triple Talaq" can be used (it is a somewhat controversial procedure, and some Islamic nations have outlawed it). If the goat becomes an inconvenience at any time, he just says "talaq, talaq, talaq" ("I divorce you", three times) and the goat is left to fend for its own again (although it retains the use of its dowry).

Apparently some modern muslims find this too cumbersome; if you're an Islamic wife and receive a text message on your phone with these words, you may just have been divorced.

The Triple Talaq is also legal in India, so if you outsource policymaking to India, Americans will likely soon enjoy quick divorces that don't involve a trip to Reno, Nevada.

[Charles Teasley]

Scott,

You wrote about how your original book was downloaded a million times. I admit I was one of them. Of the million, let's optimistically say 600,000 people actually read it. I for one did, but no offense, I never would have bought it. Hence, I didn't read your sequel. To me, the 1000 copies sold of the sequel means that 599,000 people shared my opinion. I believe the marketing strategy was genius. I just didn't think the book was. I think that could be said about most of the copyright violations you're complaining about. If I download a song for personal use (illegally of course), I never would of purchased that song to begin with. Most music today is so mediocre at best. I think that these artist mistakenly assume that every stolen copy of their art, would have been purchased. Where I agree with you is that when the stolen art is used to turn a profit. That is why I applaud you for allowing personal use of your comic strips.

[LA Clay]

Zsa Zsa Gabors Husband! Now I get it!

[E. van As]

A goat can hardly be considered 'intellectual property'. Unless you can learn it not to shit on the carpet.

[Joe]

First you talk about the dear in the ditch, now the sheep of the nehbor, give the humping animal stories a rest, we know you want to get giggy but don't tell us your fantisies, we are all skared for life.

[Don G]

Again, the new husband wasn't violating the owner's rights, just his goat.

[Edward Garbowski]

Do you work at my job somewhere and we haven't met yet?

[Shawn]

Let me be the first to say:

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
EWWW,
EWWW,
EWWW,
EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Funny, but EWWWWWWWWW!!!

[Lego_90]

Going all Lego? I'm confused by the reference too. The closest I can get to "goat" from Lego is the root, Leg Godt, or "play well" in Dutch. Nothing about Sudan, goats or sex.

Otherwise, keep up the good blogs... I look forward to 'em everyday.

[Amethyst]

Well, having sex with a goat is bizarre behavior certainly, and probably indicative of a mental illness, but I don't see anyone getting hurt here. PETA nuts may have a different opinion, however.

[Bhisham]

Hey where did all the archived posts go! New readers like me would like to read the old one's too mate! I had just reached November 2006 and now it's disappeared!

[Padraig]

No idea what this copyright stuff is all about, but I do like the goat story - I did last time round.

Not happy about Asok losing his soul though! Seems such a shame.

[octal]

I know that's not the point, but actually the elders only forced him to pay the dowry as he has used the goat as his wife. What I can't understand from the article is if now he is forced to marry her or he just has bought the freedom of the animal, and now both are free to decide if they want to form a family together.

[Gwapple]

If the goat was wearing your neighbour's underwear while listening to the Beatles on his/her mp3 machine during sex, who is the biggest victim? Neighbour, Apple Records or the goat's life partner (also a goat)? Breaking the law is bad, but it happens, coz people are poor/lazy/evil/jealous/greedy or just coz they wanna do it (or are programmed that way). If you don't like it, go be an antique noose seller, the easiest job in world. It is money for old rope.

[Joe McDonnell]

OK, we get it. Violating copyright is a serious crime. I started reading this blog because I enjoyed a good laugh. (you are a genius with words, and take the greatest perspective on stories) But lately this copyright thing is getting way too much attention on this blog. Especially since you are writing to your fan base. Sure, there are trolls on here who like to 'get your goat?' (sorry), and there are people who genuinely feel you are wrong. You won't change their mind, they won't change yours. Can we please move on? Btw, great post, up until the copyright plug. Meanwhile, let RIAA sue all the 13 year old p2p'ers out there (perhaps you could find a way to join them, where it would make a difference...after all, how many 13 year olds have $$$ to pay off the RIAA?) and I will continue to buy all my dilbert books.

joe

p.s., I understand this is your soapbox, and I certainly understand why. But wow...dead deer, married goat, and now a dead horse...let's stop kicking it before we are forced to marry it...

[Oliver]

It is like in South Park where Metallica can only build a swimming pool from silver (as apposed to gold) due to copyright violations. And the software companies also over charge just as much for their products while the licensing agreement states that they have all the rights and you have none and for as long as they deem appropriate, you can use the software.

If they start to be socially responsible and stop to make sooo much money every time for sooo little work... maybe people would have more respect for them.

More respect = less violations. No law can force respect.

[Jasonian]

Clearly Scott, you should (re-) read Edward Albee's The Goat, Or Who is Sylvia, if you're interested in goat sex.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1585676470?tag=jasonian-20

[david's sling]

Following this logic, all libraries are whorehouses, neh? I'll be sure to tell our Librarian you said that, which will be too bad because she used to like you a lot.

[Ashwin R J]

check this out while u r tapping ur goat - http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20070419/014033.shtml

[GG]

My comment on this topic never made it. I am honored!

[Lea Johnston]

I can't wait to see that in a Dilbert. Dogbert is gonna hate you...

[gordon_goosemonster]

So what does "going all lego" mean? To me lego is the childrens building block toy. What does this have to do with having sex with a goat?
OK you could recreate the scene using lego, or make your own lego goat and have a blast (ouch), but I don't see the obvious conection you american types have.

[rain]

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www.zlykyo.blogspot.com

[Q]

nice one!... Have any thoughts on length of copyrights?

[rain]

You website is very well! fantastic! I hope you can click in my website and give me some advices. Thank you, and my website:
www.zlykyo.blogspot.com

[gregor]

"It's totally victimless, right?

Go."

the best part of the post ;)

[TG]

Copyright violation = goat sex

I'm glad your analogies are finally moving in the right direction! That underpants one was just bad. I hope Techdirt analyzes this one too.

It should be clear to even the last two people who didn't get it before that you're totally insane and your views on copyright are so egocentrically skewed that they have no validity in the real world.

[nakliyat]

thank you very much very very nıce...

[nakliyat]

thank you very much very very nıce...

[Kevin Kunreuther]

My goat is dead. Die infidels. My unmentionables are in mourning. Stop laughing. This is serious. Where's my froggy Exocet missile? Boy are you people gonna' get it for not respecting my goat. My goat is dead! The sadness overcomes the happy, the joy has gone from my loins. Stop grinning. Boy are you chubbys gonna get it!Why does the infidel not respect my goat? My goat is dead. Woe, woe, woe is gasping from my gonads. Stop laughing you chubby infidel bastards. Okay, it's clobbering time. Are you gonna' get such a pinch. Why does all the chubbies disrespect my goat? Woe! Woe! Woe! MY grief shall be revenged on the chubbies! Eat froggy missile chubbies - I remove your concrete erections with my flying froggy hard-on. Bye Bye Exocet! Memory of my goat be praised. Ah-ouhm! Ah-ouhm! Ah-ouhm! I am now in astral plane with my goat away from the chubbies .. all is swell ... all is swell.

[Srini]

So, let me see if I get this right?

A guy humps a goat.... and he gets the goat, plus 15 grand?

From the perspective of a practitioner of bestiality, that's an awesome deal !! Go Goat-humper!!

[Paul O]

Yeah, and prostitution is a victimless crime.

Except that those who understood before have been joined by those who understood later: the entire community is the victim in such a circumstance.

Just as they are when one marries a goat.

[Richard Hunter]

We had a similar thing in the UK a few years ago. A commuter train stopped at a signal box between Hull and Bridlington right next to a field that had a guy and a goat 'getting married'. The best thing is that he did not stop, he simply moved slightly out of view.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2002050329,00.html
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002120064,00.html

[Skrrp]

Sean wrote:

[remember who approves the posts]

It must be Ratbert or an Elbonian, as I am sure someone with the intelligence of Scott wouldn't let all those double posts through.

Would you Scott?

Scott?

[Desktidy]

I bought "God's Debris". I felt happy.
My PC went pop. The book was gone. I felt sad.
I got the book again for free from Scott. I felt happy.
I heard the pants analogy and felt disturbed:
I had lost my underpants and lived without for 4 years. Then Scott gave me a pair. Had he worn them? Did he wash them after? (Would they be more valuable if he hadn't?)
Then I read the goat analogy.

I felt violated.

Aha! I think Scott was just making a veiled comment about copyright violation.

I think I'll still consult a urologist to be on the safe side.

[SirDrinksalot]

Who are you to argue against love?

[Bilious Prudence]

Whichever side of the fence one stands with regard to copyright violations, we all have to face the reality that people have free access to copyrighted materials and so they will take/steal them.

Complaints, or efforts to hinder such activities by corporations, or even artists, are not going change this. In fact, practices such as downloading illegally distributed MP3 files is only going to become more endemic.

The only way to deal with this is to adopt an entirely new way of creating and distributing copyright materials that makes "stealing" redundent. The "big corporates" affected by this issue will have to find a way to adapt, by adopting a new operational paradigm, as the traditional way of doing business is slowly becoming unworkable.

[Angst]

What's with dead deer and goat humps nowadays? New trend? Ha, ha..

By the way the guy's name 'Tombe' is present participle for the word 'Tomba' which translates to 'having sex' in Swahili. The coincidence is glaring.

Warm milk is a delicacy everywhere Scott...unless you are vegeterian.

[Carl]

Goat humping must be fairly common because the same thing happened when I worked in Botswana...in a small rural community. A local was caught humping one of the neighbours goats. In a small village word gets around fast! Seems people were rather amused, than shocked! The goat fucker was taken to the traditional court and apparently his sentence was a combination of a number of lashes, jail time and a fine. The owner of the goat was furious as he would never be able to sell the goat. It is psychologically damaging as in a tradional societies goats are very prized possessions. Would you want to eat a goat you knew had been sexually tapped by some sex starved human?

[Courtney]

hmmm... I smell a recycled blog entry here (your readers are nothing if not really really good remember-ers).

Anyway - I agree with you on the copywrite thing, I know you never said that people shouldn't print out a dilbert comic and post it on their cube wall or send it to a friend, and I thought your underwear analogy made perfect sense.

Doesn't make for very witty commenting or conversation, I know - which, yes, I get it, is the whole point of this blog - but I thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

[abominable noseman]

I think I'm detecting a pattern here. You are associating copyright violation with things that our society has a unreasoning disgust for ie. sharing underwear and humping goats. Although this makes an emotionally persuasive argument, it does not make your position any more morally correct. The reason we find humping animals and sharing underwear instinctively repulsive is that these are methods of contracting horrible diseases. Were it not for this (and the feelings of the goat), we would view these activities as relatively harmless. Since disease is not a factor in downloading copyright material, I do not think you make a valuable contribution to the debate by connecting these things

[Wendell]

Scott -- You're the guy who likes to tease and poke sleeping dogs or cats until they get annoyed and try to turn your hand into hamburger, aren't you? It is entertaining to watch from a safe distance, I'll grant you. Go ahead, do another one!

[Alexis]

That was horrible what you did to ASOK!! Fix him Scott...and get him to give the HR cat a good dose of his own medicine... please... :(

[Dave K.]

I read another account of this story. The goat's owner is partly to blame as he dressed his animal with one of those attractive silk scarves around its neck. Plus, the strangely erotic "clunk, clunk" of those goat-bells is like a siren's song. As usual, the media leaves out many important facts.

[Karl N]

BA-HAHAHAHA!

[Roni]

No, I'm with you. The owner has lost the control to decide who can root his goat.

There, "root", that's a perfectly suitable word for you, Scott Adams to use. Stop using "Tap", it makes me shudder with the image of you trying to be cool.

[Boris]

Since you're bringing up bestiality again (you do seem to be fascinated by it) that reminds of a really ancient joke.

1st Man: "Did you hear about old Throckmorton? They caught him having sexual intercourse with a sheep."
2nd Man: "How revolting; ewe or ram?"
1st Man: "Oh, ewe, of course. Nothing queer about old Throckmorton."

I agree with Scott on copyrights, but I believe I could have made the point without discussing physical intimacy between species.

BTW, to those who say copyrights should expire, they do. It just takes a very long time, and the writer is generally dead by then. I don't pretend that's a complete explanation of copyright law, and I'm not a lawyer, but look it up for yourselves. Also, go to the Project Gutenberg web page some time. You can get all sorts of free texts there, in the public domain because they were written before some time in the mid 1920s.

[rd]

an example of post-soc art
- as an analogy to copyright vs copywrong debate

http://greetings.banjig.net/send.php?card_type=f&card_id=1837

CR(mass-media): - dead!dead!dead!(intepret -wrong! x 3)
CW(bin laden): - not at all! not at all! not at all!( translated - i don't care etc)
not weirder than your analogies
hope this is tickling to your filter as you say on so many levels
hope the artist thanks me somewhere for PR on THE Dilbert blog
if you allow it, of course
may be not (like he's thanking or you're allowing - nevermind)

as for me, i am indifferent, i am completely indifferent to the debate
may both sides win

[Richard]

Man... Scott must be pissed off about losing his Blackberry service. Seriously, has someone been pissin in your cheerios lately?

Any-hoo, my opinion on the matter goes like this:

I am not an artist. I am incapable of coming up with a viable and original idea. My only hope is to steal something from someone and make it better (or use it for my own devices). I don't feel bad for taking it as our civilization has safeguards (what ever that may be) to provide compensation to the author. Note: compnesation is direclty proportional to the quality (useability) of the work. Chances are if you write the next bad ass piece of software or novel, or breed the sexyest goats, you will end up being "taken care of." BOCTA-NOT-OE.

Oh yeah,

WA-WA-BAAAAAAA!

[Tell that to the Dilberts of the world - Not.Scott]

[Bytesage]

EEEEWWWWWW! !! !

This makes me think the place name is really

"The Suda-a-a-a-a-a-a-an"

[Jim]

Having your copyright violated or your goat violated is only of passing interest to someone who owns neither a goat or a copyright.
Love this philosophical brevity thing

[EternalMarksman]

Ya know, it wasn't enough for you to mention the dead dear in a ditch. I thought you were done with the gross analogies when you mentioned, "Satan humping a porcupine without lube." But this...Scott...man...no...

[David]

Having sex with a goat is like violating a copyright in the same way that wearing your socks inside out is a lot like having a cold. They're both bad analogies.

[The writer formerly known as CC]

*yawn*
can we talk about something more interesting than copyright laws?
Hockey perhaps?

GO SENS GO!!!!
Haha Sid Crosby my arse! Bye bye Penguins!

[Albert]

Apparently this is a big issue with you Scott and I have to wonder why. Do you feel that you don't have enough money and you could get more and be happier if people just stopped violating your copyrights? Is it a matter of principle and you are determined to right this terrible injustice being done to you by the common masses? Yes, it is a crime and yes people are doing it without remorse. But don't expect much sympathy. If you don't feel you are making enough money to be creative than maybe being creative isn't what you should be about any more. Invest in real estate or goat marriage licenses or come up with some brilliant way to make the money that you seem to need on the internet but stop preaching to us. I will never have the money that you have. I'm not saying you don't deserve it and you are not entitled to the money that you are not getting. I'm just saying I don't give a f*ck.

BTW, could Mrs Scott have anything to do with this increasingly paranoid sense of outrage?

[Theo Bee]

The big difference I can see between copy protected material and patents are the disclosure requirements.

A patent must be _disclosed_ so it will become available to benefit society as a whole when it expires.

Maybe if there were a similar requirement to lodge an unencumbered copy (as in no DRM) with the government before copyrights would apply they also would accrue long-term benefit to society in exchange for this protection.

Distinction could be applied between different kinds of works.

For example that poem aunty Flo posted to the local rag is lost forever to us, just to trace her or her descendants would be impossible in most cases for little benefit, it is just plain silly to apply Micky$ extended commercial rules to that type of works if the author had no such intention.

OTOH professionals could easily register their output and gain extended protection and at the same time assure there is an archive down the track.

Theo

[Minister of Silly People in Green]

I think the goat's the victim. Forced into an arranged marraige. I bet she could have done better.

[brian]

scott. just let it go! alternatively take someone to court sue them for everything they have got.
Ruining someones life might make you feel better and would probably raise your self esteem.

>:-D

[Tharun]

I'd like to propose another analogy to the whole copyright infringement topic.

Take a manufacturing sector. Say the motor industry. Now pick a manufacturer. Let's say Mercedes Benz. Now, Mercedes Benz is said to spend about a million of pounds a day on R&D. Eventually, that R&D goes into production and they build a car. Those cars get tested, revised and so on, until they get produced. The production process is complex and involves lots of materials like steel, plastic, leather, etc. Once the car is built, its then distributed and sold. The vehicles can then be bought with Motor Service Plan or not.

In the software business its almost similar. We spend large sums of money on R&D. Then we produce a prototype of sorts, which then gets tested, revised and so on. Once we are satisfied with the final lot of testing, and all is well, we put the software into mass production. That said, the production and distribution systems for us are far simpler. We basically make CD's and then package the system. Many companies allow their products to be downloaded. The software can be bought with support or not.

With software, we even allow you to borrow our system for trial period to see if it works for you. You must ask yourself, will a motor car company lend you a car on their dime for 30 days free of charge?

The problem is that people think that because software companies don't spend much on packaging and distribution, it means we don't actually sell anything tangible. It's often not realized that hundreds of man hours go into developing an application which you then get to appreciate and improve your own productivity.

[synapticmisfires]

Hey, that goat was asking for it: going around basically naked everywhere, batting her/his eyelashes and "baaa"ing at any guy that walked past. Slut.

[Ryan]

Alright Scott, we get it. But allow me to propose a solution to your cognitive dissonance trap.

First, we know copywrite violation is wrong.
eqn. 1 copywrite violation = theft
eqn. 2 theft = a bad thing

Second, we know I think highly of myself.
eqn. 3 I = a good person

So, how can I justify copywrite violation?
I think it is safe to define that nobody is perfect.
eqn. 4 a person != perfect (can't find the slashed equal sign)
Therefore,
eqn. 5 a good person = imperfect
eqn. 6 imperfection = good things + bad things

Substitute to get:
a good person = good things + bad things
I = good things + bad things
And most importantly:
eqn. 7 I = good things + copywrite violations

Here, Scott. Find the logical paradox. go.

(The fact that I violate copywrites turns out to be independent of whether or not I'm a good person.)

[CraigB]

Scott,

I have followed the recent arguments about copyright, and I am surprised that your comparison of copyright infringement and stealing has been so controversial. I do not see how it can be anything other than a form of stealing. All "property" under our legal system is really only the right of the owner to control something, to deal with it as he or she sees fit, and to exclude others from exercising those rights in relation to whatever it is. Whether that something is a piece of land, a car, or some intangible "intellectual property" hardly seems to matter to me, and I can see no good reason for drawing a distinction.

Physically taking an item from an owner deprives him of his capacity to exercise his right of ownership over that item. Copyright infringement is just another means of doing the same thing - depriving the owner of his capacity to exercise all of the rights that the law entitles him to exercise. But then, I guess The Artful Dodger (from Oliver Twist) also found a way to convince himself that his pickpocketing activites were not really stealing either.

Now, you may have guessed by now that I am a lawyer. I don't really have a problem with people who infringe the copyright of others. But then, I don't really have a problem with people who steal cars either (I don't own a car).

I am not really familiar with US law, as I live in Australia. But copyright laws in this country (and I suspect this is typical of many countries, as the law is based on an international convention) do in many ways equate copyright infringement with stealing.

For instance, one of the remedies available here to someone whose copyright is infringed is that of "delivery up." This is how it works. Lets assume I am a really talented cartoonist who draws cartoons and publishes them in local newspapers. Some t-shirt manufacturing guy decides to make some money out of my cartoons without cutting me in on the deal. He prints off a couple thousand t-shirts with one of my cartoons on them, in breach of my copyright. I find out about it before he sells too many, and I know he has got a few thousand t-shirts with my cartoon on them sitting in a warehouse. I can sue the guy, and ask the Court for an order for "delivery" of the t-shirts. That is, the Court can make an order that those t-shirts with "my" cartoon on them, actually now belong to me! The shirts are then mine to do what I want with - to sell if I want, or to have destroyed. [Deisgner label companies do this with cheap third-world manufactured imitations - get orders for delivery and destruction of all those fake Nikes and "Rolex" watches - if they manage to find a heap all on one place, like on a ship].

There was a case in Australia, about 15 years ago now (jeez, am I that old?). Australia's Federal Government infringed the copyright of an indigenous (Aboringal) artist, using his artwork without permission. Can you guess what they decided to print his design on? The ten dollar note. He sued the Federal Government, seeking "delivery" of every ten dollar note that had his design on it. The Federal Government came to a financial settlement with him pretty quickly. [Of course, if he had been successful with his suit, the Government would have passed a law saying the ten dollar bill was no longer legal tender. Seeking an order for delivery was really a tactical move to pressure the government, which would obviously have experienced considerable political embarassment].

[techguy]

I don't think the FBI should have to stop him from screwing his neighbor's goat. It's more of a civil matter, hence the "settlement". Likewise copyrights.

[Chris Hulley]

His defence was probably that he's a taxidermist, and mounting and stuffing animals is his job.

[Ubu Walker]

Ewe guano about copyrights, huh?

[Christopher]

I got right to the end of this, being mildly amused. And then I got to "Having sex with your neighbor's goat is a lot like violating a copyright." and the tea came out my nose.

Who was it that said Scott Adams is a shit stirrer? Talk about stating the bleedingly obvious!

Keep it up Scott. Your copy rights are legally protected, and you should use every bit of that protection - including comparing copyright theft to goat shagging.

[Billy B]

The world is larger than your opinions about copy writes. But whatever.

My uncle moved to South America, bought a 14 year old girl and she came with a goat. Hum.

[Pyce]

Hmm - I posted for the first time yesterday and two people commented on my comments so I'm now addicted.

LOOK AT ME EVERYONE!!!!

;-)

There are a lot of people writing (seemingly) well informed posts about the finer points of bestiality.

I'm trying to figure out whether this means that people who read your blog turn to beastiality OR that bestiality fans are attracted to your blogs.

RE: the copywrite debate. You've hit a dead end, stop flogging a dead horse.

Unless that's the topic of your next blog.......

Kinky.

Words most unlikely to be written in these blog response forums; "wow - I've really changed my mind about that".

Except me - I've changed my mind. I've gone from neutral (I do it but I don't think it should be legitimised) to anti copywrite.

Attached here for all your convenience is a list of the best free download websites.

{section removed}

Pyce out

[jerry w]

Hey Scott,

Maybe it wasn't a back beard that guy had at your gym (you're welcome, I'm always happy to bring an image back to mind), perhaps he was from Sudan and it was the equivalent of the Scarlet letter, you know, a back Goatee?

If he had a few of them, they might be considered a score (sorry) card, kind of like military pilots have on the side of their fighter planes.

http://boskolives.wordpress.com/

[Mokkery]

Why bother with the Dixie Cup?

I mean...if she’s your wife...wouldn’t you just...

Oh, never mind.

[daniel presburger]

"If the dowry for a man's daughter is a couple of goats, what is the dowry for a man's goat?"

I would say it would have to be the first born.

[Jason Allen]

Ewwwww!!!

[adk]

Nice!

Will the third faulty analogy be having sex with your neighbor's underpants, then cleaning them? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure we could all get behind that being a crime with at least one victim.

... Still unrelated to how the RIAA/MPAA are doing Gawd's work, however. Also unrelated to piracy being theft, which is a self-evident statement I would think.

[miranda]

Ohmygod. I just snorted soda out my nose. This is why I love you Scott. Just for things like this.

[Lori]

I wonder how many of you who think copyright is lame would be singing the same tune if it were your own creative works that were being taken for free. You're welcome to slave away for weeks, months, even years creating your stuff and then giving it away for free. More power to ya. But for those of us whose livelihood depends on seeing returns (which are often very small per unit sold) for our efforts, copyright is a godsend. Percentage of people who bitch about copyrights: 80
Percentage of those who actually create something worthwhile themselves: 0

[HAW HAW]

Lego?

[mel]

ROTFLMFAO! <----(that's right i used it).

I loved the phrase "he fell off the goat" *laughs* That made my day.

[Jack Xu]

1. The goat-humper has lowered himself to the level of beast by his conduct, thus as punishment is permanently degraded to the level of beast through inter-species marriage.

2. He is banned from having a respectable social life due to antisocial behaviour. Until maybe the goat has an "accident" (would that count as murder?)

3. The goat which has been tainted and possibly abandonned by its owner (I wouldn't want to work near that animal either afterwards) will have a place to go.

4. If it's a victimless crime, then by the same arguments the verdict resulted in victimless punishment.

I can't believe I agree with the verdict in so many ways.. Those Sudanese elders rule!

[jorge]

you can buy an animal and then legally kill it and eat it.

or you can buy an animal, name it, and be friends with it.

furthermore, if you decide to be friends with the animal, but mistreat it, you can get in legal trouble.

If you can get in legal trouble for mistreating something which you are also legally allowed to kill and eat, then there must be some other source of reasoning regarding your relationship with it.

Society tells us it's wrong to do it to animals. society needs us to keep doing it to each other and make lots more little future burger king janitors. without those janitors, we are lost, apparently, as the penalties for getting off with your pet are quite bad.

Not to condemn or condone, but merely to analyze- we make rules up, but with questionable reasoning.

[Chris B]

Below are two stories about Chris, Scott and the Goat.

As you read them, think about the possibility that "ownership" and "property" and merely assumptions we make about who we would consider the instigator and who the victim if a fight started.

At the end of each ask yourself: Who is the instigator and who is the victim? (Is your answer the same for both?)

-------
The First Story of Chris, Scott and the Goat:

Chris and Scott are shipwrecked on an island and they see a wild goat running around.

Chris shouts, "Dibs! I now own the goat. I choose to let it run free because that makes me happy."

Scott makes a rope out of vines, captures the goat and says, "I now own the goat. I choose to 'stretch it' because that makes me happy."

Chris says "Release my goat or else!"

Scott says "I'll do whatever it takes to keep my goat."

Scott and Chris pull guns on each other.

FIN
-------

-------
The Second Story of Chris, Scott and the Goat:

Chris and Scott are shipwrecked on an island and they see a wild goat running around. Chris makes up a poem about the goat.

Chris recites the poem to Scott and says, "I own that poem about the goat. You can't repeat it unless you give me 10 coconuts."

Scott then repeats the poem about the goat and says, "Just because you claim you own a poem doesn't necessarily make it so. I am not giving you 10 coconuts since I never agreed to do so."

Chris says "Give me 10 coconuts or else!"

Scott says "I'll do whatever it takes to keep my coconuts."

Scott and Chris pull guns on each other.

FIN
-------

[Big Dave]

From Andrew:
"It is a basic legal presumption that animals lack the ability to give informed consent to sexual contact..."

Anyone who believes that has never been kicked in the cods by a frigid goat.

Did I say that out loud?

But seriously, Scott, I think I finally understand what you are getting at. So, if anybody could just download a free copy of that goat, then the farmer, and maybe the entire goat-wife industry, would be damaged, because there would be no return on the investment of labor and capital in raising goat-wives if they no longer brought $50 a piece (no pun intended). Certainly, that would not be a victimless crime. Think of the damage to world agriculture, not to mention the internet porn industry.

[Vuck Fista]

seriously, the copyright bull crap needs to stop.

Your stance against copyright infringement is fundamentally flawed as ANY real world example of "sharing" property is not in any way similar to IP theft.

the underwear example, the goat, and any others all rely on you physically coming into contact with the object to be shared. (the goat more so than most, ewww)

in all reality, "pirating" an MP3/movie/comic strip/... is akin to fashioning a replica of a Model-T, or seeing a bird house hanging from a tree and building your own just like it.

The original work is completely undisturbed while you now have a perfect replica for your own use.

My question to you is this, how do you lose money if i was never going to buy your product in the first place?
America is not a land where everything is fair, that's communism not capitalism.

Our capitalist society is about getting as much as you can for as little as possible. If you really want to end piracy then stop trying to control what the end users can do with the things they purchase by infecting it with useless DRM. Then take the money you used to spend for the DRM, and decrease the price of said product by that much. If i can get a bootleg copy for 5$ or a legit copy for 6$, I'll gladly pay the 1$ more to have a fancy cover and a receipt to return it with if the disc wont play.

When i buy dvd's the first thing i do is rip them to my media server to stream over my network to my modded xbox which is running XBMC.

everything about this is illegal, even though i paid for all of the items in question, and it's all thanks to the DMCA signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1999.

sorry, the government has no right to tell me what i can and can not do inside my own home, for a reffrence to this see this link about sodomy in texas:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/26/scotus.sodomy/

also, if you ever researched the topic at hand, piracy not goat sex, you'd have noticed that downloading pirated content is perfectly legal as you are expressly able to receive any transmissions you can get your grubby paws on.

Retransmission and decryption of said signals is what is illegal, and that is why no one yet to date has been sued for DOWNLOADING. All the lawsuits are for UPLOADING as the actual act of replication happens on the server side.
Take note that decryption and decoding are vastly different . Decryption = security/unlocking, Decoding = playability/converting data into video/audio

This is why police scanners are legal but not police radios. You can get in a metric shitton of trouble if you interfere with police communications.
Also people can receive free satellite as long as no decryption takes place. (something like 5000 channels are out there for free)
http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/28/proof-that-tv-is-ruining-the-world/

As a content provider i can understand your desire to control what you create, however once your product gets into the real world you no longer have any control of it.

My advice to you and the rest of the content industry is instead of tracking down and persecuting violators, try to keep legit customers happy so they don't turn to other means to get your content.
The customer is always right!

Vuck Fista

[Vuck Fista]

seriously, the copyright bull crap needs to stop.

Your stance against copyright infringement is fundamentally flawed as ANY real world example of "sharing" property is not in any way similar to IP theft.

the underwear example, the goat, and any others all rely on you physically coming into contact with the object to be shared.

in all reality, "pirating" an MP3/movie/comic strip/... is akin to fashioning a replica of a Model-T, or seeing a bird house hanging from a tree and building your own just like it.

The original work is completely undisturbed while you now have a perfect replica for your own use.

My question to you is this, how do you lose money if i was never going to buy your product in the first place?
America is not a land where everything is fair, that's communism not capitalism.

Our capitalist society is about getting as much as you can for as little as possible. If you really want to end piracy then stop trying to control what the end users can do with the things they purchase by infecting it with useless DRM. Then take the money you used to spend for the DRM, and decrease the price of said product by that much. If i can get a bootleg copy for 5$ or a legit copy for 6$, I'll gladly pay the 1$ more to have a fancy cover and a receipt to return it with if the disc wont play.

When i buy dvd's the first thing i do is rip them to my media server to stream over my network to my modded xbox which is running XBMC.

everything about this is illegal, even though i paid for all of the items in question, and it's all thanks to the DMCA signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1999.

sorry, the government has no right to tell me what i can and can not do inside my own home, for a reffrence to this see this link about sodomy in texas:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/06/26/scotus.sodomy/

also, if you ever researched the topic at hand, piracy not goat sex, you'd have noticed that downloading pirated content is perfectly legal as you are expressly able to receive any transmissions you can get your grubby paws on.

Retransmission and decryption of said signals is what is illegal, and that is why no one yet to date has been sued for DOWNLOADING. All the lawsuits are for UPLOADING as the actual act of replication happens on the server side.
Take note that decryption and decoding are vastly different . Decryption = security/unlocking, Decoding = playability/converting data into video/audio

This is why police scanners are legal but not police radios. You can get in a metric shitton of trouble if you interfere with police communications.
Also people can receive free satellite as long as no decryption takes place. (something like 5000 channels are out there for free)
http://www.engadget.com/2005/11/28/proof-that-tv-is-ruining-the-world/

As a content provider i can understand your desire to control what you create, however once your product gets into the real world you no longer have any control of it.

My advice to you and the rest of the content industry is instead of tracking down and persecuting violators, try to keep legit customers happy so they don't turn to other means to get your content.
The customer is always right!

Vuck Fista

[ASM826]

Interestingly enough, when questioned, the man expressed his belief in determinism, and cited his lack of free will.

[VJ]

Incidentally I forgot to tell you yesterday that I was one of the 1000 who went and bought that sequel. I am now reading "Try rebooting yourself"

[locomotivebreath1901]

Krykee!

This kinda puts 'bob's yer uncle' in a new light.

Hey. When's the real Scott coming back?

I blogged about this 2 years ago.

(hack ~ urban legend ~ hack)

[Some Moist Robot]

Yeah Scott, how long do you think copyright protection should last after the artist's death? Do you think the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act was constitutional?

[ddelphi]

Lego...goat...

Too funny...

http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/schlimps/Creatures/Goat/ziege_und_minifig.jpg

Scott, you are getting a little worrisome.

[Matthew Kovich]

Right on, brother man.

[Trickypickle]

If there were enough goats over there, do you think they'd stop fighting? I mean, if we imported some fine french sheep and gave one to every male, would they put down their weapons and start shagging the shaggy critters? Someone notify the UN security council. I see an Operation "Sheep Shank" in the future.

[gr8hands]

Scott,

Yesterday you wrote: "I dare say it was one of my finest analogies, although admittedly the bar is set low."

It is clear that the overwhelming majority of your readers disagree, and considered it a terrible analogy.

Several people have pointed out that you misread (or misunderstood) the article in the link you provided today.

Today you wrote: "There was no damage to the goat, unless you count some stretching. Having sex with your neighbor's goat is a lot like violating a copyright. It's totally victimless, right?"

It is also clear that the overwhelming majority of your readers disagree with you.

I read all the posts, but no one mentioned the trauma the goat must have experienced being raped by a human -- which clearly is "damage" (unless you don't feel that rape victims suffer anything but physical damage, which I'm sure is not the case).

I'm glad that freebert pointed out the inconsistency of your position on free will and intellectual property rights. I agree.

[Tom]

Maybe the deer guy should move to Sudan. Goats are different from deer, but they are both horny (which makes them mountable as a trophy), they don't talk much, and when you get sick of them they taste good.

This is from yesterday's post, but....If I am masturbating with one hand and downloading something with the other, it is porn, not music.

[Malcolm]

Seriously I was just helping the goat back over the fence

[Don]

Is the answer something to do with how we don't want to violate copyrights and goats but our lack of free will makes it happen? Or is it that our lack of free will causes us to want to violate things and then we do what we want?
I liked Sean's 9:48 AM post with the list of malfunctions.

[Gweedo]

Greatest post comment of the week: Sean's List of Analogies

Excellent...

Goat-humpers beware!

[bcammack]

A minor correction:
The cartoon is actually captioned: "Bizarre Sexual Practices #1027: Parking Meter Violation"

[bcammack]

The recurring references to copyright violation in a thread about goat tapping reminds me of an old B.Kliban cartoon simply labled "Meter Violation". If you haven't seen it, I recommend excercising your imagination.

[Tiffanie]

Isn't this the second post about beastiality in a matter of a few weeks...? Oh my....

[Sean]

Mason - he wrote about a guy convicted of sex with a dead deer.

Duh.

COMPLETELY different.

[Doug]

Holy crap Scott, I can't stop laughing!

I'm having a hard time holding on to my goat.

[Incredipete]

I just laughed my ass off. Literally.

I love you Scott, in a totally manly and non-gay way.

[Richard Commin]

the only way your underpants analogy would work would be if your underpants were magical underpants that were made up of intangible ones and zeros that could be magically be duplicated.. so your neighbour couldn't actually borrow your underpants but only an exact copy of your underpants.. a underpant clone if you will, so if he then returned a underpant clone which was then magically combined with the original underpants.. so did he borrow you underpants or not? You see, you just can't compare digital copies of anything, to anything other, than digital copies.

And digital copies are intangible..and actually don't even exist.. so in essence you have lost nothing tangible.. so how to you own something that is intangible?? Your underpants analogy still sucks big time!!Getting defensive about the fact that it sucks doesn't make it suck any less... seriously you can do a lot better..! I'd like to hear more about these magical cloning underpants.. go,go,go!

[mollishka]

I'd like to see a statistical study of how many of your posts end with the word "Go."

[RavenBlack]

Look at all the free publicity goat-sex is getting as a result!

[Chief of the Cubicle Police]

Sweet Jesus, Scott. If you're putting yourself into the role of "the goat" in this latest analogy you'd better be prepared to bleed I mean reap what you sow.

[Bob]

Yes.

[PatBOB]

I have a friend who once had a doberman that had a fondness for goat sex. We didn't make the dog marry the goat, but that goat sure didn't seem like she enjoyed it. Gave us a few laughs though.

[Christopher]

@T.G.

"I think copyrights are right and wrong, they should be like a patent, with a time limit before being public domain, so the protection to the authors AND creation is increased and the speculation that harms creation AND authors (while hidding their misdeeds on the former pretense), i know what i talk here from first hand experience."

Funny, that.... That *IS* how copyrights work. It just so happens that the length of protection has been extended way too far and continues to be extended, so the current generation knows nothing of copyrighted material expiring into the public domain.

You see, that is the justification for copyright violation. It's not that violating copyright is victimless. It's that copyright is a social contract that has by and large been violated by the side of the creators. Fix the copyright length to something reasonable and copyright violation is no longer justifiable in my eyes.

[JethroElfman]

Much better effort with this analogy than the underpants. The analogy police ought to let you get away with this one.

[Mason]

I'm almost positive you wrote about this back when it was first reported sometime last year, but for some reason your archives now only go back 6 weeks. Where did all your old blog entries go? There were some real classics in there!

[squigs]

So what if the owner was pissed off at the guy for having sex with the goat. Perhaps the goat humper was pissed off with the owner for not letting him do so.

I get pissed of with people parking outside my house. There's nothing I can do about it. They'd get pissed off if I stopped them.

You get pissed off with people violating your copyright. They clearly disagree with the law. Most people will ignore laws they disagree with if they can get away with it. And they can.

[Kilgore Trout]

At least it wasn't a fish.

[jerry w]

"The goat looked horny. Get it? He has horns!"

"...He has horns".....?????

So, in Sudan they have same sex marriages?

No wonder there's so much grief over there these days.

http://boskolives.wordpress.com/

[Jostein]

I'm starting to get that whole "a GNU world order" feel out if this blog and all this copyright stuff. It's like Richard Stallmann. At some point enough is enough.

And while that cognitive dissonance thing probably is all true, I feel nothing wrong in selectively violating a perverted form of copyright law when I pay for the goods in the end. To those who deserved it. To those who had a product actually worth paying for.

I think it's called capitalism.

[James Andrix]

It seems you were listening, or maybe it was just coincidence. In any case you see my point.

I do think there are pragmatic cases to be made for both physical property and trademarks that do not exist for copyright and patents, but again I'll leave that to you.

[Karl H.]

After reading the BBC article I had to conclude that Scott Adams paid as much attention to it as he does to arguments that run counter to his opinion. He merely skimmed it and saw only what he wanted to see. Makes life easier. And funnier.

But the question of beastiality against your neighbor's goat being a victimless crime is an interesting one. It's actually not illegal where I live (no jokes, please), provided there was no physical damage to the animal.

[JoNa]

I'm beginning to think that, even more than being a cartoonist, you've always had a driving ambition to be a shepherd.

[Adam]

I don't get the lego reference. Am I the only one?

[timshepard]

I get it, so copying a Dilbert cartoon is like fornicating with a goat. Pretty clever Scott! You really caught us flatfooted this time.

[Sean]

I have listed the brain malfunctions that
most closely resemble the ones you recently made on the topic of copyright.

Amazingly Bad Analogy
Example: You can train a dog to fetch a stick. Therefore, you can train a potato to dance.

Faulty Cause and Effect
Example: On the basis of my observations, wearing huge trousers makes you fat.

I am the World
Example: I don't listen to country music. Therefore, country music is not popular.

Generalizing from Self
Example: I'm a liar. Therefore, I don't believe what you're saying.

Total Logical Disconnect
Example: I enjoy pasta because my house is made of bricks.

Judging Things Without Comparison to Alternatives
Example: I don't invest in US Treasury bills. There's too much risk.

Ignorance of statistics
Example: I'm putting ALL of my money on the lottery this week because the jackpot is so big.

Irrelevant Comparisons
Example: A hundred dollars is a good price for a toaster, compared to buying a Ferrari.

Incompleteness as Proof of Defect
Example: Your theory of gravity doesn't address the question of why there are no unicorns, so it must be wrong.

Following the Advice of Known Idiots
Example: Uncle Billy says pork makes you smarter. That's good enough for me!

Faulty Pattern Recognition
Example: His last six wives were murdered mysteriously. I hope to be wife number seven.

Failure to Recognise what's Important
Example: My house is on fire! Quick, call the post office and tell them to hold my mail!

Ignoring all Anecdotal Evidence
Example: I always get hives immediately after eating strawberries. But withouta scientifically controlled experiment, it's not reliable data. So I continue to eat strawberries every day, since I can't tell if they cause hives.

Inability to Understand That Some Things Have Multiple Causes
Example: The Beatles were popular for one reason only: They were good singers.

Judging the Whole by One of Its Characteristics
Example: The sun causes sunburns. Therefore, the planet would be better off without the sun.

Taking Things to Their Illogical Conclusion
Example: If you let your barber cut your hair, the next thing you know he'll be lopping off your limbs!

Proof by Lack of Evidence
Example: I've never seen you drunk, so you must be one of those Amish people.

(this list covers all posts by Soctt on this topic, and before anyone tries to be a smartass and accuse me of violating copyright with this post, remember who approves the posts)

[Nimrod]

OK, I think I finally got the common theme behind your analogies. Copyright violation, underpants, goats. The common theme is, "It's mine, and I didn't say you could do that."

Right?

Just basic respect for people's property.

If that's it, why is it so hard for people to get your point? It's not complicated. You really think it's cognitive dissonance?

Could be.

I think to talk about copyright violation, you need to sidestep the issue of whether anything was taken, and instead talk about what was violated. And what was violated? An agreement.

Then people can exercise their cognitive dissonance by claiming that no such agreement existed, because an agreement requires the consent of both parties. Then you can point out that with any other law, mutual consent is not required. Laws are about the will of one person versus the will of many; and in law, the will of many always prevails. (At least that's how I see it.)

Maybe society as a whole needs to decide, democratically, whether copyright law really is the will of many; whether we all want that system to work, or not.

Or, maybe we already did that, but a lot of people forgot, and others just didn't know.

[Fern]

After reading your post I think that I am now the victim of a victimless crime.

[Speaker to Animals]

Scott, I think you and everyone else here, is sadly confused. What you are missing is context: Sudan has a terrible shortage of camels and it is destroying its nation and culture. Clearly, the man in question was trying to rectify this situation by trying to camelize the goat by giving it a hump.

[Plain Jane]

"So the penalty for humping his neighbor's goat without permission was a much higher fee than just buying the goat in the first place."

HAHAHAHAHA isn't that what marriage is all about anyways? who coined 'why buy the cow if you can get the milk for free?'- except in this instance he got caught with the hand in the cookie jar and was made to buy a lifetime's worth of cookie dough!!

tee hee

[niCk(mem beth)]

Ouch. Your analogy is a bit extreme.

I guess your the goat.

[Brad Hutchings]

Hi Scott, I don't know if you know of the science fiction author Cory Doctorow, but on his web site, he lets everyone tap his goat for free. You can also purchase sex time with one of his goats if you like, and by all accounts, he makes so much money that he throws in some after-sex cigarettes whether you tap his goat for free or pay for it!

[Jay]

If the dowry for a man's daughter is a couple of goats, what is the dowry for a man's goat?

[Joe Canuck]

A copyright violation in more like looking lustfully at the goat without the neighbour's permission; or perhaps photographing the goat with lascivious intent. I.e., the only thing that changes hands is information.

/Joe

[David]

I’m going to have to go biblical on this one and say that God is totally on Scott’s side here.

The Bible clearly puts theft above coveting of thy neighbors goat on the 10 Commandments list. And yes they go in order of heinousness. Why else would all the ones about betraying God be at the top?

Commandment 7: Thou shalt not steal (thy neighbor’s intellectual property and cartoons)

Commandment 10: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. (i.e. his goat)

[Courageous Anonymous]

Funny that there are still people that don't think pirating is theft. Of course, the analogies are fun, as are their responses.

[Bob]

LOL

Learn to read, Scott. I find it amusing that you're doing the exact thing you chide others for doing to you.

The guy had to buy the goat. for 50 bucks. Think about it... 50 bucks for a goat? In the Sudan? Why, that's what you would hve to pay for a wife... Hmm... a perfect penalty, thought the Elders.

The original owner of the goat is undoubtedly ecstatic over the judgement and is putting lipstick and silk hose on the rest of the goats.

Why are you scouring the internet looking for stories about beastility, anyway?

[penny]

That's very disrespectful, Scott. :(

[freebert]

Well, I guess you could say, that the goat-diddler was just responding to stimulus that was beyond his control, since he has no free-will, and is nothing more than a wet robot, a box of wires with a name. So, I suppose you could extend that to say - how can a wet robot with a name, actually own a copyright? Copyright would indicate that something original had been created, making it unique to the creator of the work. But a wet robot with no free will, is just responding to stimulus beyond thier control, so it can't be unique to the creator - so - how could the wet robot possibly claim a right to the work? You use a computer in the creation of your comic strips - doesn't the computer deserve just as much right to your work as you do?

[Pablo]

Just hope the fella hasn't illegally copied a dilbert cartoon as well. That would really get your goat.....