ACZoom  ·  Archive-2016

It is quite instructive to plot the trend of copyright laws. Progressively this has allowed power and control to be held by the rich and powerful artists and corporations, and the law has completely lost sight of the original goals of copyright.

EFF has many good articles on this, and now they have created a teaching copyright site providing a much needed counterpoint to the one-sided views of the industry (and groups like Metallica, people like the manager of U2, organizations like RIAA, MPAA, and many others).

What is shocking is the way the laws have taken away rights from the people - the law in 1790 started with 14+14 years of copyright, but in 1998 with the passage of the Mickey Mouse act the term is now the life of the author + 70 years! The Constitution's stated purpose of "promoting the progress of science and useful arts" has been upended by raw corporate greed. We now have things such as encryption - so a movie or a song can be purchased but cannot be played if one moves from one country to another. DVDs are crippled so that users cannot fast-forward over parts and notices the industry believes we should watch - even if you just watched it a minute ago, you have to sit through it again. A song cannot be played except on devices that the industry has blessed. Seeing all these hurdles that the industry has thrust upon consumers, which were made possible by exploiting technology in the industry's favor, it seems somehow just that the same onward thrust of technology should cause big problems for their old business models.

Will copyright law ever be balanced out, or will the industry big-wigs, with their lobbying and money to create their laws all around the world, and keep winning? It will probably follow the same pattern as the last gasp of a tyrant - they still wield enormous power so they will continue to win big in the short-term but long-term they are doomed to fail because they have already lost the good-will of an entire new generation, and technology will march on, giving rise to a newer generation of artists who will be able to thrive in this new environment and not be afraid of it.