CNET News – WH wants new copyright law crackdown

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  • #99633
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    CNET NEWS – March 15, 2011
    White House wants new copyright law crackdown
    by Declan McCullagh

    Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20043421-281.html

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    #99636
    FlakBait
    Keymaster

    This is what happens when you make the RIAA’s main attack dog the Attorney General.

    Strange to think that copyright laws were originally introduced to protect the public with the average copyright lasting 14 years after which the product would become public domain.

    #99642
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    14 yrs – I think you mean patient rights, not copyright.

    Copyright is supposed to be life of the author, plus 50 yrs after death. After it expires the works go into the public domain.

    At least that how it used to be, until Disney (among others) pushed to have it extended in the US so its prized cash-cow characters wouldn’t start to enter into the public domain.

    And if the past is any leading indicator of future performance (no pun) they’ll extend it again, probably getting away with it indefinitely so long as the uber-corporations call the tunes (no pun, again).

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    #99644
    Seldom
    Participant

    Copyright is not supposed to be anything. It’s an artificial restriction created for the purpose of promoting creative works.

    At the time of its invention, copyright was thought of as a useful idea. Science in its current form was in its early days. Copyright was not the product of investigation into what would promote creative works; it was the product of political philosophy.

    Since then, copyright has become largely ideological, but it did not start as such. Its origins are strictly utilitarian, but not evidence-based.

    The first U.S. federal copyright law was the Copyright Act of 1790, which granted a copyright term of 14 years, with an option to extend for another 14 years if the original author survived to the end of the first term.

    I think there are a few interesting points that tend to get glossed over when it comes to copyright. The first is that copyright is not recognized anywhere in law as a natural right. It is explicitly artificial. The second is that copyright is supposed to be utilitarian in nature; metaphors that treat intellectual property like physical property subject to “natural” property rights are entirely missing the point.

    Finally, the U.S. constitution grants Congress the right to enact copyright laws, but not the obligation. The constitution is silent on the necessity of copyright, it merely leaves the possibility open.

    #99645
    Ashlee
    Participant

    Its another attempt Of this Administration to control the information.
    Thank God the congress said “no way ” for him to have foreign troops “to Train on American Soil”!!!

    #99662
    Robert McNay
    Participant

    It definitely looks like I’m in the minority on this around here. Probably because I’m the only person on here to have something professionally published.

    I know how much time I spent researching, plotting, outlining, writing, rewriting, editing, rewriting the edits, having some one else edit, do rewrites from those edits, having a legal entity overlook the work and then making changes to it for them.

    To have someone then take that several years worth of work, then spread it around for free is a frustrating, aggravating and ultimately discouraging. Its why I have NOT pursued getting anymore of my writing published, because it seems to be the prevailing attitude amongst those who don’t create, that they are entitled to other’s work for free.

    #99663
    FlakBait
    Keymaster

    I’ve got no problem with copyright laws. My problem is with the way they’ve been enforced, especially amongst the music industry. Backhanded tactics, illegal use of unlicensed investigators, reverse class action lawsuits targeting thousands of “doe defendants” that have no attorneys to defend them with little facts to back up the massive damage claims filed in different states with different laws.

    The DMCA which was hailed as a landmark legislative piece to safeguard the rights of content owners has been twisted into an enforcement tool used to stifle aftermarket competition in everything from garage door openers to ink toner and cartridges and as used by apple to force everyone to use its own software and services on the iPad and iPhone by locking the devices to the apple app store. Corporations have used it as a bullying club to threaten legitimate research into cyber security and vulnerabilities in software. Restrictive DRM that limits what a person can do with something they have legally purchased.

    I don’t think anybody here was arguing that piracy should be ignored. It’s the way copyright laws and the legal system have been twisted and abused.

    #99784
    None
    Participant

    CaptMatt…

    What did you have published? I’m curious.

    #99792
    AlexG
    Keymaster

    CptMatt wrote:

    It definitely looks like I’m in the minority on this around here.

    No you’re not, you’re not alone. 😉 B)

    “I like a good story well told. That is the reason I am sometimes forced to tell them myself.”
    ~ Mark Twain / Samuel Clemens (1907)

    #99798
    Robert McNay
    Participant

    captr wrote:

    CaptMatt…

    What did you have published? I’m curious.

    A science fiction novella. I lucked into some cash and took it to a vanity publisher that used to be here in Chicago. I actually took it around to bookstores on the Northside and suburbs, myself, and asked if they would put it on their racks. A few did, about 150 copies sold.

    Two years later, at a local scifi con, I’m looking at APA’s on a vender’s table and inside one of them, I find my story. A few minor plot changes, different title, but almost exactly the same. Even the character names were the same.

    I contacted the APA manager, showed her my book and she pulled her volume and apologized profusely. The guy who put it in there was blacklisted but when I finally met him, he just laughed and gave me the finger.

    He moved to California not too long after.

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