Going waaaay back to the theories behind IP, specifically copyright. I remember reading that the US chose the the utilitarian theory over other theories such as the personhood theory (see droit d'auteur). I can understand why the US went the way it did, but there is much to be said about the other theories, specifically the personhood theory.
I just realized that when I post, typepad lists "Ch3wiE3" as the author. Ch3wiE3 was my old AIM screen name ("SN"). I went by that name for years, I mean from AOL 1.5 all the way up to 5.0 or 6.0 (I forget). Back then to instant message you had to have AOL, so I did, but I lost my AOL privileges for some time, and didn't get them back until about 2 years ago.
AOL used to have this policy that once you canceled your membership your SN died and it could never be used again, but when they came out with AIM a lot people wanted to switch to the free AIM service and keep their SNs, so AOL allowed you resurrect your SN if you hopped on one foot while singing the alphabet song backwards... I don't remember what you had to do, but you could get your SN back. So most of my friends were able to make the switch from AOL to AIM and keep their SN's. I didn't get back online until some time after AIM first came out, and by that time EVERYONE was on AIM, and somewhere from the time when AIM first came out to when I got back online, AOL got rid of their graveyard of SN's and opened up all "dead" SN for use to the public.
So, I finally get back online, and I'm all excited because Ch3wiE3 was going to make a triumphant return and be reunited with all his online homies from back in the days... but there would be no happy ending. When AIM asked what I wanted my SN to be I typed in "Ch3wiE3" and AIM told me that that name was already in use... oh and you better believe I was pissed off, who in the world would take my SN!?
I don't even know if a SN can is copyrightable, but lets just assume it is. A lot went into that SN there's a whole story behind those 5 letters and 2 numbers... this sounds corny, but there's a little bit of me in there. I can understand why one might prefer the utilitarian theory, but there's a lot to be said for the personhood theory. I mean, someone just took my SN, in the highly unlikely event that I write a book, and someone took that from me...
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