said by major marco:said by funchords:What [copyright] 'law' is trying to do is make it 'harder' for the average customer to get information.
What copyright and patent law try to do is make it financially easier for the artists and inventors to release information.
Wrong on both counts. What copyright and patent law were
originally set up to do -as promulgated in the Constitution itself was to ensure the balance between individual profit vs the ability to copy and otherwise influence culture. That's why the original copyright wasn't set for the life of the creator.
Damn, until mickey came along, NO-ONE in the history of the world had 'copyrights'. Ideas were shared with whomever wanted to share them, and the WORLD advanced because of it. It's only since the greed of capitalism have we tried to put an artificial scarcity on the products have we seen this become a problem.
said by funchords:This clearly isn't true, since the concept is mentioned in the Constitution and Congress established copyright law more than a century before Mickey came along.
Copyright is in fact mentioned in the Constitution, however, the Disney Corporation brought the issue of copyright front & center when it copyrighted the famous mouse and prevented others from copying it. Historically, it was behemoth movie corporations (like Disney) that expanded westward to California before it became a State to avoid copyright laws. (Read your history on this count - "Free Culture" (incidentally, a FREE download) by Lessig details this mindblowing hypocrisy exhibited by the movie studios back to the early 1900s.)
said by funchords:The last time I looked at Wikipedia's entry on copyright (both the general one and the one specific to the USA), it was fairly well done.
LMAO - You're relying on Wiki. Really? LMAO. The last time I checked, any entry on Wiki was to be taken with an entire salt shaker and then the facts checked from real sources who have confirmed the information.
said by funchords:Because we are a global community, and most of the globe has recognized copyright as a way to create and support the industry of creating entertainment and dispensing information.
The "global community" also recognizes the vast discrepancy between locking down rights for the life of the creator plus 70 yrs and its detrimental effects on culture. That's why the U.S. is the only country in the world with draconian copyright laws/DRM and other nasties meant to lock down technology. These other countries negotiating secret treaties undeer cover of night behind locked doors represent a tiny minority in all likelihood bought off by the *AAs. Just because a country's government espouses XYZ policy, does not mean the culture as a whole embraces it. Case in point: TPB.
EXCELLENT POST. 
