2012-01-18 Privateering For Fun And Profit

Yesterday, I wrote about my thoughts on SOPA and how the USA’s legal arm had grown long indeed.

Today, I want to comment on something I’m seeing in a lot of the statements in protest to SOPA, eg. on Google’s End Piracy, Not Liberty page: “Fighting online piracy is important.” Wil Wheaton says on Today the US Senate is considering legislation that would destroy the free and open Internet: “I’ve probably lost a few hundred dollars in my life to what the MPAA and RIAA define as piracy, and that sucks, but that doesn’t come close to how much money I’ve lost from a certain studio’s creative accounting.”

SOPA

End Piracy, Not Liberty

Today the US Senate is considering legislation that would destroy the free and open Internet

I agree that SOPA and PIPA are terrible. They will reduce our freedoms, increase legal uncertainty, make it harder to do business, make it harder to host user contributed content (forums, wikis, archives, social networking and more). The goal, of course: Big Hollywood’s Big SOPA Defeat.

Big Hollywood’s Big SOPA Defeat

But while the citizens of the USA fight stupid legislation (which the USA will then most probably try to impose on other countries as well), let us not forget that the current copyright regime is stupid, too. We need *less* protection. We need *shorter* protection. We need *less* punishment.

impose on other countries

Tim O'Reilly Explains Where The Federal Gov't Has Gone Wrong On SOPA/PIPA: Solving The Wrong Problem: “In the entire discussion, I’ve seen no discussion of credible evidence of this economic harm. There’s no question in my mind that piracy exists, that people around the world are enjoying creative content without paying for it, and even that some criminals are profiting by redistributing it. But is there actual economic harm?”
Film preservation: “It’s bad enough, to cite a common estimate, that 90 percent of all American silent films and 50 percent of American sound films made before 1950 appear to have vanished forever.” Film Archives Being Eaten Away; Would Be Nice If People Could Make Copies To Preserve – one of the problem is securing the rights: you can’t find the people owning the rights and if you don’t watch out, they’ll reappear once you’re making money. Too bad I can’t find any decent links for this issue. Anybody? There is Historical Audio Recordings Disappearing; Copyright Partly To Blame but it’s not about movies, it’s about audio. Stuff regarding the library exemption and Google’s involvement in digital archiving: Can Our Culture Be Saved? The Future of Digital Archiving (PDF). Also here: [America’s cultural record: a thing of the past?](http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/America's%20cultural%20record.htm).
What really pained me: Sita Sings the Blues copyright issues: “The contract is $3,500 per song, and it would have cost them more than $3,500 for their lawyers to revisit the contract and modify it.” Also in the same vein as the film preservation issue: “Estimates vary, but it’s said that 98 percent of all culture is unavailable right now because of copyrights.”

Tim O'Reilly Explains Where The Federal Gov't Has Gone Wrong On SOPA/PIPA: Solving The Wrong Problem

Film preservation

Film Archives Being Eaten Away; Would Be Nice If People Could Make Copies To Preserve

Historical Audio Recordings Disappearing; Copyright Partly To Blame

Can Our Culture Be Saved? The Future of Digital Archiving

http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/America's%20cultural%20record.htm

Sita Sings the Blues copyright issues

I want to be a privateer! 😈 :tentacle:

privateer

Update*: Supreme Court Chooses SOPA/PIPA Protest Day To Give A Giant Middle Finger To The Public Domain – they keep extending copyright, what a shame! I prefer the Public Domain.

Supreme Court Chooses SOPA/PIPA Protest Day To Give A Giant Middle Finger To The Public Domain

Public Domain

Update*: I love this rant: Why I'm a pirate!

Why I'm a pirate!

Update*: A step in the right direction: Another Interesting White House Petition: Reduce The Term Of Copyright – even though 56 years is still way too long and even though the president appears to be the wrong addressee.

Another Interesting White House Petition: Reduce The Term Of Copyright