Where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket?

June 21, 2000 8:59 AM

Where am I going, and why am I in this handbasket? What's happening to copyright law lately, why, why ignoring it may well be the best thing to do to fix it, and why Mickey Mouse is a Yakuza. Very nice piece from (former?) EFF Legal Counsel Mike Godwin
posted by baylink (6 comments total)

The link didn't go to an article by Mike Godwin (at least it didn't on my computer. May want to check it, baylink.
posted by elgoose at 10:51 AM on June 21, 2000

Well, I *thought* I posted the correction: the copyright story is here.
posted by baylink at 12:47 PM on June 21, 2000

Well, I *thought* I posted the correction: the copyright story is here.
posted by baylink at 12:50 PM on June 21, 2000

Matt has apparently corrected the headlink; I thought he'd have eaten these comments, too, but I guess not. Feel free...

posted by baylink at 2:14 PM on June 21, 2000

Excellent article, baylink, I hope this discussion gets picked up here. I'm all for widespread non-compliance with ridiculous laws. Gnutella and FreeNet are making already-difficult-to-enforce copyright laws impossible to enforce.

Is it for the better? The anti-voluntary-micropayment-because-money-cheapens-art crowd should be all for stealing copyrighted work because the artists would produce much better work if it weren't for the whole money thing.
posted by daveadams at 3:20 PM on June 21, 2000

Damn. I can't even close a parenthesis -- I'm dangerous with html.

Very good overview of changing approaches to copyright law. I particularly like the opening sentence of the article: "I didn't give copyright law any serious study in law school, but that hasn't stopped me from flattering myself that I understand it." Ha! Him and 99.9% of people on the internet. Very few others give a flying fart about it, at least until they can't use something because of copyright laws.

Is copyright appropriately a benefit for "authors rather than the public"? I don't see the benefit in couching the issue in adversarial terms like this, given that authors and their publics are interdependent. Artists deserve to be paid for their work if they create it with the intention of being paid for it. Of course, that's different than being in a "content industry."

Maybe it's just time to return to a system of patronage and bag everything else. But I do like the suggestion of widespread noncopliance with the law. Particularly if one really believes that silly expression that information wants to be free.
posted by elgoose at 3:53 PM on June 22, 2000