Owning a piece of my mind

[Geoffrey Dutton <dutton@spatial-effects.com>]

Here's a question that has been concerning me recently, and I wonder who
else has considered it. Quite soon we may very well see corporations such
as Microsoft start to assert rights of ownership to documents produced with
the aid of their software agents and accessories, first to the extent that
documents' content is composed automatically, later extending to a share of
all works produced, as soon as it becomes possible to accurately meter,
report and charge for such processes. For example, if a person composes a
poem with online aids such as rhyming dictionaries, thesauri, modal
advisors and meter-correcting agents, the argument will be made (probably
successfully) that ownership of the poem must be shared with the holders of
patents and copyrights for the technology involved in its creative
production.

This is like, but not the same as Ted Nelson's vision of a hypertext future
in which all authors linked to a document would be recognized and
automatically compensated for their portions as copyright holders. It
disturbs me not because I would object to sharing labor and credit for my
creative work with electronic entities, but because we would be working to
enrich corporations far beyond the costs of their actual efforts to deploy
the technology, literally giving them a piece of my mind -- to own.

Do you see this becoming a public issue? Is this already happening? Can
anyone provide real examples from various contexts? Can anything be done
about it? Your thoughful input is appreciated.

-Geoff Dutton