ok its rant time.
[rant]
once again , mickey mouse's copyright is about to expire. so under
large bribes heavy lobbying by the RIAA/MPIAA , disney, sony, and many others (notably siriusXM objects to this bill) this bill has passed the senate, and needs to return to the house for consideration of senate amendments. it is expected that it will pass the house and trump will sign it.
this
bill is
345 pages long. i dont have the time to read that novel.
the short version i have found online is :
1: it streamlines payments and payment methods to copyright holders (IE big corps; 90% of the copyright holders are big corps), creates royalties for material created from 1928 to 1972 (thanks mickey), and prevents material from becoming public domain for "life of the author +144 years" .
2: it provides a means to remove previously public domain works from the public domain
here is an example as i understand it: you create and publish a record that uses some Beethoven stanzas. now you claim copyright on this. now no one can use these stanzas without paying you, despite it previously being in the public domain.
3:rewrites the DCMA and the
mickey mouse protection act along with several others.
4: provides means for collecting royalties from online streamers and online radio stations (because they typically do not record)
this means me when i play sunday night tuneshere is what the EFF said in may, and the bill has been made worse now.
the verge has an article on it as well.
my ideas (that i have conflicting thoughts on, see * at bottom) on copyright is:
1: it should not exist at all as it does in any current form.
2: content creators should be entitled to charge for their works if they publish it on a physical medium (a dvd /cd/vinyl/etc ) for a limited time (life +144 years is essentially a infinite time, especially as they keep increasing the time limit every 20 years).
--
i propose 10 years, then into the public domain. all copyright issues will become civil matters. if someone violates a copyright and presents it as their own, then the copyright holder can both sue, and press fraud charges (criminally), as this would be fraud (presenting the original rights holders work as their own). since most copyright holders are big corps, they have plenty of money for civil court, and should be forced to pay the actual cost of the court action, and not the "official court fee". individuals (corporations are NOT individuals) should be allowed to pay just the official court fee. this allows individual (a real person) to sue for alleged copyright violations.
current law wastes criminal court time and taxpayer monies on prosecuting criminally what should be civil matters.
for example under this law, men with guns will come under the color of law and toss me into a cage for sunday night tunes. once in jail i will be asked (by inmates) why are you here? oh i streamed some music online without permission.
, this wastes taxpayer monies on stupid shit.
online streamers (aka individuals, corporations are NOT individuals) should be exempt from paying royalties if they do not charge for access or record said streams. those that charge (even if by displaying ads as this is a form of payment) should pay royalties. so pandora and spotify ,for example, would need to pay royalties to copyright holders.
my thing is very simple and probably has some (large) holes in it. however there is
absolutely no way it will ever pass in the district of criminals as they are to busy lining their own pockets with money from big corps, so it doesnt matter.
so for that i propose several changes (that will never happen):
1: lobbying should never allow any monetary (things such as meals and gifts are included in this) flow from the lobbyist (or any source for that matter) to any one running for or in office for any reason or circumstance .
2: term limits of 2 terms or 8 years, whichever is longer. then you are no longer eligible for that or a lower (even state/local) office. once in congress you are also barred from becoming a judge at a later date.
3: all proposed laws will be 2 double spaced, typewritten pages long, or less. excluding headers, footers, and sponsers. this
prevents hopefully limits convoluted laws that can be interpreted an anyway the courts wish, which enables courts to make or alter laws, instead of congress.
orrin hatch is possibly the worst person to ever hit congress in the history of the united states. i disagree with nearly all of his socialist bills as i consider them oppressive to the people of the united states.he should of retired 6 months after being elected the 1st time.
this latest bill essentially removes personal freedom (by altering the definition of public domain and enabling works to be removed from public domain) and actually would cost each and every taxpayer by causing a slew of lawsuits and criminal cases, which are essentially paid for by all of us. additionally it delays real criminal trials (rape, murder, theft, etc) more, in violation of the speedy trial clause in the US constitution. our courts are overburdened now, this will make that worse.
you might say "well you have to pay court costs" . well court costs are set by law. and we also know everything the govt does
always costs more than what is charged by said govt agency. the taxpayers pick up the excess in that case.
* my personal opinion is that copyrights should not exist at all. all physical (stuff you can hold) items invented can be covered by patents. intellectual property cannot patented (as $micro$oft and others keep trying to do - another rant). i also think authors should be able to charge for their works if they wish. a perfect example of this is RedHat Linux. they took free and open source software and built a billion dollar company on it. linus torvalds and others give RedHat their blessings.
additionally (and lastly thank god) any software i write and publish will carry the least restrictive open source license , or be public domain.
[/rant]