This is a good explanation for the widespread disregard of copyright. My take on it is that running a FSB is good practice for the future. :) -russ > Date: Sun, 02 Jul 2000 18:32:48 -0700 > From: "Tim O'Reilly" <tim@oreilly.com> > Subject: The Death of Copyright > > Energetic and readable article on the atrocities being performed on > copyright law. Mostly focuses on music, but has some interesting > historical anecdotes and some great sidebar quotes: > > http://www.macedition.com/soup/soup_20000627a.shtml > > I'm a publisher, and I agree that copyright law is getting way out of > hand. Between software patents and extensions to copyright, we're > undermining the foundations of our culture's past success, which has > been based on free exchange of ideas. Here's to the coming dark ages! > > An excerpt: > > > In the past century, though, the wealthy and powerful have been > > lobbying long and hard through international consortiums such as > > WIPO to shift the balance of power back to the > > publisher. Fourteen years became thirty. Then seventy five > > years. Then it became the life of the copyright holder. Then it > > became life plus thirty. Now it's life plus seventy years, > > applied retroactively, and ninety-five years if the copyright > > holder is a corporation instead of a person. No copyright held > > by a corporation has passed into the public domain since the > > first World War. Nothing at all has passed into the public > > domain since the end of the second world war unless the author > > donated it. As bad as that is, the fallout from the murder of > > copyright in the music industry is far, far worse. You see, most > > of the music you hear on the radio is considered "work for > > hire", which means even though the artist created and performed > > the music, the record studio owns all rights to it. This was > > unpleasant, but accepted by early recording artists, because, > > after all, work for hire reverted from its owner to its creator > > after 35 years. This was changed under the Digital Millennium > > Copyright Act so record companies, immortal entities, now own > > the copyrights in effective if not literal perpetuity. Tom Petty > > and Metallica will never own the music they wrote and performed > > while under a "work for hire" clause. > > > > Copyright is dead, a murder most foul, and the effect it's had > > on our society, civilization, and culture is heartbreaking. > > > > -- > Tim O'Reilly @ O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. > 101 Morris Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 > +1 707-829-0515, FAX +1 707-829-0104 > tim@oreilly.com, http://www.oreilly.com > >