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https://boingboing.net/2018/05/18/orrin-fucking-hatch.html
https://www.wired.com/story/congress-latest-move-to-extend-copyright-protection-is-misguided/
Almost exactly 20 years ago, Congress passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which extended the term of existing copyrights by 20 years. The Act was the 11th extension in the prior 40 years, timed perfectly to assure that certain famous works, including Mickey Mouse, would not pass into the public domain.
[...] Twenty years later, the fight for term extension has begun anew. Buried in an otherwise harmless act, passed by the House and now being considered in the Senate, this new bill purports to create a new digital performance right—basically the right to control copies of recordings on any digital platform (ever hear of the internet?)—for musical recordings made before 1972. These recordings would now have a new right, protected until 2067, which, for some, means a total term of protection of 144 years. The beneficiaries of this monopoly need do nothing to get the benefit of this gift. They don’t have to make the work available. Nor do they have to register their claims in advance.
That this statute has nothing to do with the constitutional purpose of “promot[ing] Progress” is clear from its very title. The “Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society Act” (or CLASSICS) is as blatant a gift without any public return as is conceivable. And it's not just a gift through cash; it's a gift through a monopoly regulation of speech. Archives with recordings of music from the 1930s or 1940s would now have to clear permission before streaming their musical content even if the underlying work was in the public domain.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday May 21 2018, @08:42PM (7 children)
Do as I say, not as the whole of history has demonstrated to be natural human behavior, -check. We'll get right on that, boss. Should we call you Emperor, or Fuhrer?
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 23 2018, @11:37AM (6 children)
Joe, you and me have a pretty big gap between our definitions of authoritarian. Passing a law that keeps people from using a very convoluted loophole does not fit my definition. Neither does drastically reducing government granted monopolies.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @12:03PM (5 children)
And different approaches, too:
That sounds like legislative welfare for lawyers and accountants.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 23 2018, @02:15PM (4 children)
On the contrary, if you properly test and debug your bill before passing it, there's nothing for the lawyers and accountants to exploit.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @03:04PM (3 children)
What fantasy are you living in? I can't get software engineers with masters' degrees to properly test and debug things before shipping them in a highly regulated industry, laws are written and passed by a majority vote of politicians.
You might elect one or two legislators who have some inkling of logical thought, but never a majority - not with the popular vote deciding who becomes a legislator.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:06PM (2 children)
Excuse me, I thought we were talking about how to do things properly rather than how to muddle along enjoying absurd amounts of corruption and graft.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:37PM (1 child)
While I agree that your ideas may be "proper" they would be far from "popular" and therefore unlikely to gain real-world traction in our lifetime.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday May 23 2018, @06:58PM
Depends on how they come about. The seven years with an option for seven more part was what we started out with unless I misremember, so we could get it back using the same method we acquired it with originally in a relatively short amount of time. The rest is how things should be done but I'll admit doing things properly because that's the way you should is not likely to happen under our current rulership.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.