[mahogany]

> Let's help shape this thought: Copyright should be abolished entirely. It is one of many monetization schemes and its negative effects greatly outweigh its positives.

Even if you're right in principle (and I would love new monetization structures), this will never happen in reality.

Meanwhile, this idealism will get applied asymmetrically in the real world. If you (or the comment I was replying to) say "Copilot is fine, all code should be publicly available anyway", it downplays the fact that this wish will never happen with big players like Microsoft and will only happen with little players like anyone who used Github to host their code. The big player will typically hide their code behind copyright and lawyers to enforce it, whereas the little players have no similar recourse.

So, I see the issue as an exploitation, as Microsoft is selling a product built on the little players and not the big players. The debate around whether copyright should exist at all, while interesting, is not that relevant to most of the concerns being aired in the context of Copilot.

[throwaway09223]

Yes, I agree the asymmetry needs to be addressed and the rules need to be enforced as they currently stand.

> this will never happen in reality.

Don't be so sure. These kinds of changes start with education.

[mahogany]

Agreed, I was a bit pessimistic when I wrote that. Amended: "will not happen soon enough".