Does culture really want to be free?
Are new media companies “digital parasites”? The author of “Free Ride” tells Salon piracy is killing art
http://www.salon.com/2011/11/01/does_culture_really_want_to_be_free/singleton/
It seems that Salon is what is prompting me to blog today…
I found myself changing my attitudes as I read this article, something I rather enjoy. As the Mythbusters like to be wrong, I often like to have my thoughts challenged (though I might not always react as if I like it, deep down, I really do). I felt that copyright restrictions were curbing expressions, but now I think the problem is with corporate ownership of copyrights, not the copyrights themselves. The original intent of copyright (as I understand it) was analogous to the patent: an effort to promote innovation and creativity by rewarding the creator with a short-term monopoly on the right to profit from his or her creation in exchange for releasing the creation to the public. The idea that creativity and innovation would be promoted was based on the idea that knowledge is a cumulative thing and it is often difficult for humans to have novel thoughts, but generally trivial to transmit the novel thought so others can share.
Going with my understanding of the spirit of the intent, the idea that corporations can own patents on things and then prohibit others from exploiting those patents (by the simple expedient of making the licensing fee astronomical) is a clear violation. In parallel, the idea of allowing a corporation (an entity that can in principal exist forever) life time exclusive rights via copyright is also a clear violation. That Disney keeps getting an exception for Micky Mouse is a travesty in my mind, but of course, wealthy corporations own our government so for it to be otherwise would be the noteworthy event.
By the end of the article I have come to believe that we have a too loose copyright situation now and have sympathy for those who want to strengthen it, but based on much of what I have read that has been promulgated by the entertainment industry they want to take it too far back. As the journalist being interviewed comments, copyright violations need to be by default and not require someone to pay a raft of lawyers to spend all day trolling around looking for violators to notify. Though clearly corporate interests could just as easily use that as a club as well.
