The Weak Must Die

Intermediate forms of thought which have been refined.

Misc

Copyright Is Bad for Society

Copyright is a tool used to placate publishers who feel that they will make no money if things can be freely copied. Publishers, however, contribute nothing of worth to our culture; they are mere middlemen who print the creative work of others, and so their pleas should be ignored.

A short copyright term is acceptable, and worked in most of the world for a few hundred years. As it stands now we have perpetual copyrights (as in the Old World), and the cultural stagnation that affected Europe then is now occurring today in most of the world. There are many books published between 1917 and a few years ago that I would love to read, but am unable to because they have not been printed (for older books often in as long as 40 or 50 years). The albums of a few bands I like are out of print now and I will be long dead before I get a chance to purchase them (if copyright is not extended again, which experience tells me will happen soon) because the record labels have no interest in returning the masters to the band!

What point is there to allowing copyright to exist on works which are not being published? If their terms had expired there is a chance that they would be being published by public domain publishing houses who subsist on smaller margins. This would create real economic value, and more importantly great social value. Allowing art to rot is a disrespect to human creativity and an immeasurable loss for all future humans.

I predict that in two or three hundred years there will be nearly no record of any literature or art produced in the twentieth century. As it stands today we have lost most of it with the exception of a few trashy works which have become popular to the masses.

clinton: last time I was a bit weak (*sniff* level four and only 18 hp) clinton: I had a -1 intelligence modifier for the first three weeks emacsen: what about your character?

Last Modified: January 21, 2013