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posted by martyb on Monday May 21 2018, @12:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the Frodo^W-Mickey-Mouse-Lives! dept.

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.


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  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday May 22 2018, @12:20AM (1 child)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Tuesday May 22 2018, @12:20AM (#682469) Journal

    Letters to our reps can help, if they're in large enough quantity. But the reform that most people here are debating, shortening the term, doesn't do nearly enough. Until it's legal to fully use our technology, until libraries are allowed to upload anything they have to anyone who wants it, and can have works the moment they're released, it's not enough.

    How is it ethical for the industry to do stunts such as the region coding of DVDs, and their general practice of releasing to theaters months before they allow rental and purchase of the content? Paywall publicly funded research? Sneak DRM onto media?

    The public doesn't demand enough, still doesn't realize the full extent of the rip off that's been perpetrated on us all.

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  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @06:53AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 22 2018, @06:53AM (#682555)

    1) Stuff that's in envelopes and goes to Capitol Hill gets slowed down while it goes through screening.
    (Remember the Anthrax scare?)

    1a) Postcards are always better.
    ...and long-winded bloviation isn't any better than getting right to the point.

    2) Phone calls are not as impressive as hand-written mail, but they're still quite good.

    2a) If you set yourself up on a schedule, it gets to be an easy habit.
    Monday: Congressman
    Tuesday: Senator 1
    Wednesday: Senator 2
    Thursday: State Senator
    Friday: Assemblyman
    Let them know you're alive and what you think about what they're doing well or otherwise.

    3) Email ranks lowest in effectiveness.

    4) Mail/phone calls/visits to his|her -local- office actually has a bit better chance of getting the message through.

    3) Want to really get attention?
    Get together a crowd and go to the local office.
    Alert media beforehand about what you're doing.

    Most of this stuff was gleaned from listening to Ralph Nader's weekly Pacifica Radio program [ralphnaderradiohour.com] (which has webcasts available: KPFK, KPFA, KPFT, perhaps others I haven't found).
    After several weeks, he has a (searchable) PDF transcript of the show available as well.

    -- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]