Slashdot Mirror
US Says Canadian Copyright As Bad As China's, Russia's
An anonymous reader writes "The US is blaming Canada in a new
report that claims that Canadian copyright and intellectual
property laws are as bad as those found in China and Russia. Michael Geist notes
that Canadian officials have dismissed these findings in the past,
arguing it 'does not recognize the Special 301 process due to its
lacking of reliable and objective analysis.'" (Read more about the annual Special 301 report.)
A breath of fresh air in the murky air of pollution spewed by the RIAA/MPAA et. al.
Given America's stance on copyright these days, this sounds more like a ringing endorsment of Canadian copyright law than a condemnation.
Honestly, if you want to compare American and Canadian laws, copyright laws are the bottom of the list in terms of impact and relevency. There are WAY more important laws that clearly shows Canada's are generally more enlightened and less restrictive compared to their American counterparts.
---
Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
Swine flu first came to US through Canadian border.
With all their beady little eyes
And flapping heads so full of lies
Watch out, here comes the RIAA. Maybe I should have posted this from Canada.
Once I went to Canada and found that the inhabitants there were heathens who spoke some sort of Mexican language and insulted my Wife with their leering glances and slouching, bad manners so I shot them to teach them a lesson that AMERICA belongs to GOD and people who fear and believe in GOD, not "canadians" and other taco-eating peoples who came from Mexico or somewhere like that. So it is not surprising at all that these renefgades from our LORD would copy things badly because most of them are illiterate because they can't even read BIBLES since the BIBLE (the greatest and best book ever writted) is in AMERICAN like everybody already should know from CHURCH. So why is Obama not stopping these terroristical Mexicans of the North? Probably because he is some sort of Italian spy, like I always suspectid.
I hereby denounce all of my posts detrimental to Canada and us annexing them ala Fallout....Really.
I bow down to my Northern Hockey Stick Wielding Overlords!
Go Canada! Maple leaves and 'eh! You Hoser!' forever!
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Dear USA
We really don't give a flying fuck what you think. Come up here, drink some beer, smoke some pot, chill the hell out and go back home with a little less of that pole stuck up your ass.
Your friends and Neighbours
Canada
P.S. When you guys come for the party can you bring me some white castle, we don't have that shit up here and it looks delicious.
Wow i didn't know the RIAA and MPAA could lobby the USA to condemn other countries. Have they ever actually bothered to look at themselves instead of being hypocrites telling the rest of the world to do things they themselves are not willing to do.
Look at the http://geo.keff.org/ pirate bay peer tracker and it's clear America and china are the big peer providers for torrents.
sorry Canada is a real democracy not a corporate sponsored illusion. We put laws into place that the people want not corporate powers that run other nations to ignorant to new technology and progression. For starters if we here in the great white north had access to hulu i would not need to download many of the shows i miss well at work. Screw the usa and its overkill laws that allow corporations to exploit and extort their own customer base.
Wasn't this already said two years ago, and then when we looked at who this group was in the USA, it turned to be a 'media rights' group or something like that. Either way, I think Canada may just have a bit more sanity in it copyright laws. When I hear lobby groups who represent the likes of the MPAA and the RIAA, I would rather support Lawrence Lassig.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
for letting in the 911 terrorist ............
I paid my dues last time I paid the levy on blank cd's. Thanks... Off I go to legaly download some music.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
You are a far more forgiving people than US[pun intended]. ...what?
We can trade you one 'Sheryl Crow' for
Okay, throw in Brian Adams, but we are still out producing the crap shit^Hpped out compared to y'all.
Get with the times dude! 'Pump up the Volume'/Shite, man!!
*apply sarcasm filter heavily above*
BTW, I am not anti-Canadian, I was just unduly influenced by the 'Fallout' series, and 'Strange Brew'.
This is why I broke /. protocol to reply to my own post.
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
I've said it before: The US government and the IP lobbying groups can go frak themselves ten ways to Sunday on this issue.
In the softwood lumber dispute the US not only flipped the bird at Canada, but refused to accept several judgments against them by the WTO and NAFTA.
If you don't respect international laws and rulings against you, don't expect others to respect the lopsided laws you're trying to force down the throats of more free-thinking countries.
(Sadly, they've come to expect no less; in the end, the newly-elected Conservative government rolled over on the softwood issue, gave the ball to the US, and begged for more. Yes, I'm just as disgusted at the pansies who sold us out)
does not recognize the Special 301 process due to its lacking of reliable and objective analysis
Actually, it's because we don't give a fuck.
Copyright is too strong in the USA. Anywhere that they say is "lax", must be better then the USA at it.
It was supposed to last just long enough so that inventors and artists could make enough money for their next work. Not an ever lasting deal as is what we get with the copyrights being extend again and again.
The sad part is that now that we've been 'called out', so to speak, Canada will inevitably bend to the will of the USA and change it's laws to be just as draconian, if not moreso.
Well... Canada's basically the 51st state anyway.
Planet Zebeth - Metroid with a twist
It says Canadian copyright laws are as bad as China and Russia.
What it didn't say is that - US copyright laws are even worse.
As a US citizen who has never left the US, even for vacation, this is not flamebait. The US needs to relax its copyright laws as soon as possible.
There are WAY more important laws
On the contrary, I would submit that copyright laws are among the most significant in shaping the world as we know it. Copyright laws are not about entertainment, but rather, about thought control.
As a species we are standing on a crossroads never before faced by any species on the planet.
I argue that the single most significant contributor to our supremacy over this planet is our capacity for meme-exchange. We have taken mammalian peer-learning to an unprecedented level. The fact that every member of our species frequently expends great energy in the singular business of meme-aquisition, and that we spend just as much energy in the business of meme-distribution, serves as a testament to its survival-utility and evolutionary effectiveness.
Are we to embrace this freedom, allow the currents of information to flow unrestrained, and see where our exponentially-increasing rate of technological evolution (which, from a more metaphysical perspective, is not so different from our genetic evolution) takes us?
Or are we, on the other hand, going to lock ourselves down and block this flow, all in the name of preserving the economic prosperity of a select few?
Is our future one of wild change and uncertainty, or one of regularity and control?
Information is the currency with which we purchase our spiritual destiny. Copyright law is a manifestation of how we are spending that currency.
I may be a religious nut, but you, sir, are completely blind.
The [mighty] USA will always complain about her neighbor to the north (Canada). Heck, there is even a prominent politician who said the 9/11 terrorists came from Canada! Imagine that.
This politician had presidential ambitions I must add.
Then there are those who criticize its health care system although Canadians generally love what they have and in fact, live as long as Americans on average.
It's a strange world.
(amenglish)
Y'all can ken go fuck yerselves, ya morans.
(/amenglish)
Canada is the only place I know of where 100 CDRs costs more than 100 DVD-Rs...
We pay EVERY FUCKING DAY massive extra money to the American Ideological State Apparatus and Canadian native culture is pressured into virtual non-existence thanks to the Hollywood/TV juggernaut.
Our only consolation is we have all the water and oil, and the last time you invaded Canada, we kicked your ass.
Please, please, please, we pray that your empire dies so we can sell our resources to the highest bidder and not to you thanks to NAFTA.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
ah, as bad as Nazi Germany.
There. Discussion's over. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwins_law)
From TFA, "Canada now joins a group of countries designated as being especially lax in protecting intellectual property, including Algeria, China, Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia and Venezuela". So it means "bad for corporations", not "bad for citizens".
Even if we, for the sake of the argument, ignore the practical and ethical issues of current copyright laws as a matter of principle, and buy the argument that infringing copyright hurts the producers and not just the pockets of *AA execs, still, the fact remains that Canada (as well as China, Russia, and the rest of the world) is under huge influx of American corporations, who profit from out-of-border sales while not offering jobs in foreign countries, paying anywhere near the taxes they pay at the states, contribute to foreign producers or foreign culture in general, or otherwise benefit foreign countries in proportion to the profits they make, or seek to make, from them.
Reciprocal treaties, aka "you respect my copyright, I'll respect yours", really are not appealing to foreign governments because the US, by far, exports more of what they call Intellectual Property than other countries export to the states. So pray tell us, if you want our governments to spend our own taxpayers money to enforce your copyright laws so that YOUR companies can make a profit... What's in it for us?
"First Post", "Frosty Piss", and similar derivations thereof are registered copyright of Anonymous Coward. Were it not for your lax copyright laws in Canada, we'd be sending our lawyers. Expect political intrusion followed by a retroactive DMCA takedown notice, and enjoy your Friday.
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
What they're actually sore about is that the Canadian legal system isn't open to the same loophole that allows the RIAA to sue file sharers: you can't sue anonymous users, use subpeonas to get their real names, drop the original lawsuits, and then file new ones with the learned identities. I don't know enough about the legal system to know why that doesn't work, but sure enough, there haven't been any lawsuits against individual filesharers here.
In the absence of that, they'd like laws that force ISPs to store and then divulge user info. This is a politically unpopular proposal that doesn't win a minority government any support, so it keeps getting killed. Sorry, but this is what a government looks like when you have more than two parties: minority governments have to form fragile coalitions that actually listen to their constituents sometimes.
Pot is as dangerous as heroin.
Ex-GIs might be terrorists.
Canada is as bad as the commies.
Is it any wonder we tend to not believe anything our government says?
-- Will program for bandwidth
doesn't matter what we do with it but just in case someone copies something they shouldn't everyone pays. Here let this guy explain.
"Copy?" "Right!"
How can I copyright freedom?
Hey guys, guess what we have different laws from you.
We have business laws that require that when you pay money you have to get something in return. IT IS THE LAW! We don't want your completely broken copyright, or patent system.
Furthermore, since the US is so fond of prosecuting US laws that happened on Canadian soil, I think you deserve the same treatment and if any of you lay foot on Canadian soil, you should be prosecuted as the criminals you are.
The sad part being that your lies are best dis proven by the stats you publish. Maybe you should read them.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
Here in Canada we have a Communist party.
In the US it is illegal. We don't have freedom of speech, but it sure seems like we have a lot more than the US that claims to have it.
Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon what's the difference? All steal money from devs and control with walled gardens.
As in beer, Frosty root beer...hmmm
But seriously, this is true. Canada is no better than most of east europe and russia. China? Few there read/wite engrish so not much to do about anything.
What the 2009 Special 301 Report says about Canada is:
Canada will be added to the Priority Watch List in 2009. The United States appreciates the high level of cooperation between our two governments in many important bilateral and multilateral IPR initiatives. The United States also welcomed the Government of Canada's reaffirmation earlier this year of its 2007 and 2008 commitments to improve IPR protection and enforcement. However, the Government of Canada has not delivered on these commitments by promptly and effectively implementing key copyright reforms. The United States continues to have serious concerns with Canada's failure to accede to and implement the WIPO Internet Treaties, which Canada signed in 1997. We urge Canada to enact legislation in the near term to strengthen its copyright laws and implement these treaties. The United States also continues to urge Canada to improve its IPR enforcement system to enable authorities to take effective action against the trade in counterfeit and pirated products within Canada, as well as curb the volume of infringing products transshipped and transiting through Canada. Canada's weak border measures continue to be a serious concern for IP owners. The United States hopes that Canada will implement legislative changes to provide a stronger border enforcement system by giving its customs officers the authority to seize products suspected of being pirated or counterfeit without the need for a court order. The provision of additional resources and training to customs officers and domestic law enforcement personnel would enhance IPR enforcement. The United States will continue to follow Canada's progress toward providing an adequate and effective IPR protection and enforcement regime, including near term accession to and implementation of the WIPO Internet Treaties and improved border enforcement.
It's not clear that it's "[claiming] that Canadian copyright and intellectual property laws are as bad as those found in China and Russia" - or Algeria or Argentina or Chile or India or Israel or Pakistan or Thailand or Venezuela, to give the other countries who appear after China and Russia in the list of Priority Watch countries in the report.
(I'm not saying that the report is justified in thumping Canada - or any of the other Priority Watch or Watch countries; I'm just suggesting that "Canadian copyright and intellectual property laws are as bad as those found in China and Russia" might be an overstatement of what the report is saying.)
If so, I would like to see the United States added to it. I'm trying to think of an industrialized nation with which the United States is on par, but I'm having difficulty. I seriously doubt Canada's copyright laws (or lack of same, depending upon your viewpoint) have ever been directly responsible for the death of any American citizens. By contrasts, America's laws surrounding guns (or lack thereof, depending upon your viewpoint) have been directly responsible for the deaths of Canadian Citizens. So I'm writing to my MP tomorrow to ask that the US be put on a blacklist to highlight the fact that their legislators' failure to act has resulted in harm to countless Canadians, most of which, I am certain, is more serious than the harm visited upon US rights-holders. I know we are merely Canadians, however we do enjoy living, and your (lack of) gun law is killing us. So once you fix that, perhaps we can discuss our copyright laws. Until then...sit on your blacklist and rotate.
"even our closest allies and neighbors such as Canada - to enhance protection and *enforcement* of intellectual property rights in the context of a rules-based trading system"
wtf they mean by "enforcement"?
Believe it or not but that's called "interference with the policy of a foreign country"
The people themselves can figure out what is good for them.
Hilariously, Antigua is missing from either of the watch lists. Why might that be?
Could it possibly be because the WTO awarded them the right to ignore US IP restrictions due to the US failing to uphold their own free trade agreement? I guess they don't want to highlight the hypocrisy of the US's foreign policy.
Lots of Canadians in these comments that would rather learn from our (US) mistakes than follow them blindly. That's great news - keep it up!
Obviously those of us in the States will do what we can to turn the tide here, but everyone else could do humanity (most especially themselves) a favor by stopping the spread of our madness. If we happen to end up with a shining beacon of government of/by/for the people directly to our north (no, you're not close yet, but we can hope, right?), then so much the better!
Since when did HTTP server redirects become applicable to laws anyway? Can Canada reply with a 400 Bad Request?
...of solving the economic problems....
If there weren't for such a large amount of piracy the mortgage industry wouldn't be in the shit house and draging the rest of us along...
My 600 dollar check for stimulus last years was spent on increased gas prices and increased 2008 income taxes. And I bet it cost us all more money to have come up with such a bait and switch plan.....
Its all about intellectual property rights.... sure buddy... So who has ownership of the mortgage industry intellectual property for certainly they don't have it.
Maybe they should find it and pirate it...
> Given America's stance on copyright these days, this sounds more like a ringing endorsement of Canadian copyright law than a condemnation.
As an American, I want to commend Canada for this. If the MAFIAA hates you, you must be doing something right.
100 CDRs costs more than 100 DVD-Rs...
Wait, you buy yours? Why not just steal them from work like everyone else?!
What each side really meant:
US: "We want you to make your copyright laws as draconinan and backwards as ours! We don't like your laws allowing fair use. We wish you to be as oppressive to your populace as we are to ours!
Canada: Thdddddddt! Come on! Don't you fools realise that locking down intellectual property does for that property exactly the same things as putting up barriers to trade does for economics? Short answer: if you want your economy to tank, put up trade barriers. If you want knowledge creation/discovery industries to grind to a halt (and society as a whole), really lock down copyright laws, patents and other IP locks in as a draconian way as the US.
Shouldn't that be the U.S Trade Protectionist Lobby (USTP)
"Today's Special 301 Report guides our efforts to protect American innovation and creativity around the world," said Ambassador Ron Kirk. "Our creative and innovative products can hit the global marketplace sometimes with just a keystroke. If we and our trading partners are not vigilant in protecting and enforcing intellectual property rights, they can vanish just as quickly"
The Absurdity of the USTR's Blame Canada Approach
Chevron Lobbyists Misleading USTR Over Ecuador Environmental Case
Measures Concerning the Importation, Marketing and Sale of Tuna and Tuna Products
davecb5620@gmail.com
American media is not usually government owned though.
Actually, American government is media-owned: executive, legislature, and judiciary. Full Stop. End message.
If you want your life to be different, live it differently.
So in Canada all blank media is subject to a fine for the piracy one might commit with that media, irrelevant of actual use.
This akin to you having to pay a partial speeding ticket every time you start your car; you're guilty, period.
Of course, courts ruled that since this is a fine, and has been paid, additional prosecution is difficult, which really upset Canada's RIAA, which pushed so hard for the blank media fine in the first place.
Retarded.
- - - Non Caffeine Drink or Drink Error
This is all nice and sweet, really, but until we get a proper unbiased source to judge the effects of piracy, and the toll it takes on the music/movie industries, I would not put an ounce of validity in the report.
Show me proper statistics that say x + y =z, then I will say, ok let's review the damage.
Then I might feel some remorse when I torrent my favorite show 24, because Keifer just isn't able to pay his mortgage anymore.
For a long time, I spoke of how the decision to sell a movie for 24$ in dvd at blockbuster was
an act of criminal nature...who came up with this figure, is it a fair number or just an unchallenged one. So let's really review the process movie and music companies take to sell their service/merchandise.
For once I applaud Walmart, for sticking it to MGM, Paramount, Universal, Virgin, all of those, that say No we want 20$ a cd, even though the artist only gets 1$ from that....yeah that is really fair! So instead when I see Walmart selling for 5$ a cd...then I won't worry about to
torrent the new album, because it is actually considerable when you compare to the bandwidth needed to download an album or movie....plus the effort of burning it unto a cd/dvd.
Canad just does not sit back and let themselves get consumerised blindly for the profit of a big corporation, we do actually give a crap and speak out!
"Don't Blame Canada" for not enforcing your st00pid copyright laws.
If you are driving from Canada to the USA, the *only* checkpoint is the US customs. Similarly, if you're crossing from the US to Canada, you only get stopped at Canadian customs. You are not inspected by both.
So if the problem, as you specified, is incoming bootlegged products making it into the US, AND since the only checkpoint is the US customs, what's preventing the US customs from doing any sort of reasonable and unreasonable searches that it's known for? Sounds to me that it's not Canadian customs that are performing poorly (in fact, they're not even acting in their role as customs agents if you're crossing from Canada to US), it's the US customs.
Makes me wonder, did you ever cross the border?
Great Lake Swimmers
The Two Minute Miracles
...there will always be poverty, homelessness, disease, and starvation, being ignored over the pursuit of the almighty dollar. Most of the blame can be put at the hands of what money is: Money As Debt, and those who control it's issuance (Federal Reserve, IMF, BIS)
~ awaiting spiritual enlightenment ~
Again, which war? Oh, that's right ...
Has the USA won any wars which it started? The two world wars don't really count since the USA didn't start them and they weren't the only allied force. I am not sure Iraq was a win given the mess that ensued.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
That shit IS delicious. It's the bomb. I'll bring a bag on my next trip up. You friend, An Overfed American
Since the US cannot interfere with other countries without losing the benefits of them being a trading partner, this seems like an exercise in futility. They are basically saying please conform to our beliefs on copyright or we will put you on a list!
Who cares what the USA thinks about other countries' copyright and IP positions? They're sovereign countries, not America's b*tches.
Enough said
Seriously. And there is lots of good canadian music. And even if you disagree, they can just play that 10% at 3am-5am ...
Quartz Extreme and Core Image. Are there any other real reasons to spend all that money on generic hardware?
US Copyright law (submitted without comment, as I haven't read it. I'm scared if it's supposed to be *MORE* draconian than the Canadian laws.)
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/
Canadian copyright law: See http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-42/index.html
for all the gory details of our national train wreck. :-( :-( :-(
This covers everything from painting, sculpting, tools with any sort of decorative design or pattern that are not mass produced (those are covered under the Industrial Design Act), public performances of well... anything ... just about anything you could do that's got anything creative to it at all, name it, and it's potentially illegal to do if it's already been done, or, even worse, been done for centuries, but only just now been recorded for the first time ever. :-(
The act is so vague that you literally can't tell what is and isn't legal until after you've gone to court, and the judge makes up *his* mind on a case by case basis. :-( :-( :-(
My favourite part of our Copyright Act is the bit which ever so kindly authorizes a teacher in a classroom to read "reasonable portions" of a book out loud -- gee, thanks! I wish everyone had that right, really! We could call it "free speech", or something. :-( ... as well as the special exemptions to violate copyright that are only extended to religious organizations, not the public at large. Freedom from religion in Canada...nah! We still have laws in our Canadian Criminal Code prohibiting "blasphemy". (I kid you not... check out the section labeled "Blasphemous Libel").
It's in this country so bad that our native Indians can't legally tell their centuries old ancestral stories anymore because some jerk wrote them down ("fixing them" in a "tangible format", which grants copyright to the first person to write them down). :-( :-(
The government recognized this as a problem during it's last call for copyright reforms, but did nothing to fix it.
Not just political intrusion. We need to send all those returning soldiers somewhere, too!
...that the poster not link to another bloody slashdot page when they can just link to the freaking document itself?
Just in case anyone wondered what the administration's position is: Vice President Joe Biden warned of the harms of Internet piracy at a private event organized by the MPAA in Washington, D.C. At the gala dinner on Tuesday evening, Biden lauded Hollywood, assailed movie piracy, and promised film executives that the Obama administration would pick "the right person" as its copyright czar. Biden also singled out Canada for criticism for not signing the treaty that led to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or placing other anti-circumvention restrictions on its citizens.
Despite rhetoric to the contrary, the administration knows which side of the bread is buttered.
Yes, yes, internet piracy is deadly serious to National Security.....
First, we learned that terrorists make money from drugs, and that if we buy drugs, we are funding terrorism.
Now, we know that if we pirate software, we are funding terrorism.
What's next on the National Security stage? Are they going to tell me that I should boycott my local kebab house because it is a meeting place for terrorists? Or maybe stop shopping at RadioShack because they might be secretly funneling SPST switches to Al Queda? Maybe also boycott my local---
WE'RE SORRY, BUT THE POST HAS BEEN TERMINATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH NATIONAL SECURITY DIRECTIVE 666-B, ALONG WITH THE AUTHOR.
BEST REGARDS,
Joseph Biden
Vice President,
United States of America
Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
Maybe not 20 years but 28 (original length for a long time), yes. Copyright is a social contract. We as a society will protect you with laws and a way to address grievances regarding your creation. In return, you give up your work back to society so that it can be advanced, changed, mixed, whatever. Since the average life span of someone is in the 70's and people tend to start creating in their 20's, a copyright until death is looking like 50 years. A long time. Even so, I can somewhat understand copyright until death, I just don't like it. There are great benefits to society for shorter copyright. Mainly, it advances the arts. Copyright holders benefit just as much as they get "screwed". A filmmaker could use music for example without a massive rights clearance team (and budget).
It seems hard for copyright holders to understand this for some reason. I think that many of them believe it should just last forever or something.
Witness patent holders, a very similar IP situation. 20 years, man....that's it. They also have created something unique, creative, and often quite costly at times in terms of money and time spent. But they only get 20 years. Why? Because it advances technology and society to have them expire. If the transistor were still under patent, do you really think we would have iPods at this point or the computer you are viewing this on?
How are books or music or films any different? "But that's not the same! They're different!" No, they're not. Expiring patents advance technology, expiring copyrights advance the arts. This is the contract. We as a country, as taxpayers, as voters, protect you for a while. Then, you have to give it back. This incredibly protective emotional thing from copyright holders I don't get. Is say, 30 years, really not long enough to market your work and make money on your project if you choose? My gosh, how long is Happy Birthday going to be protected?!? It's ridiculous.
I create media for a living incidentally and I have no problem with a copyright of mine expiring after say, 30 years. It would be interesting to see what someone might do with any IP in terms of derivation and changes. Imagine the mountain of material that would be generated if just several superhero characters were public domain. Much would be crap but much wouldn't and might be fantastic.
I wondered at one time why businesses haven't aggressively complained about the length of patents. Tech companies, drug companies, etc. My theory is that they realize that they also benefit from the works of others and they can build upon patents that expire. So can copyrights be built upon. Interesting how Disney has benefited from public domain works which they then made into successful and arguably great movies (get it? advancement of the arts) but then aggressively seek to strengthen their own copyrights and terms. As many have said, you can't have it both ways.
Copyright is too long. Get over it. If you want to hoard your work, that's fine....don't publish it or expose it publicly in any way. If you want to enjoy the protection we are prepared to give you, then be prepared to give back after a while. 30 years......30 years! That's not enough?
I'd say a big copyright reform is needed, just because the current technology and society is still partially based on sharing, another part based on buying. I'm not against copyrights at all, it's just not viable anymore in it's current form. I'm from 1976 and till now I have not seen that much of support towards the common artist (which is you and me!).
Music has been always the cornerstone of any healthy community, years ago it used to be teached to the youngsters; singing hand in hand because there simply was no computer in every household. There was no Internet, no TV, PSP or anything electronic keeping the youth busy in free time except playgrounds, games, metal & plastic toys and friends! Music, has never changed that much; because it's still (even in it's current form) adored by young and old. When is the last time ago you've seen someone singing on the beat? (not always that good of a performance but..)
It's a part of everyone, just like Bach and Beethoven are known by any, the culture has been shifted the last few years to a buying model only. Currently only classics and oldies are in the Public Domain, rendering a lot of music useless as long as the copyright stays. Not really a big problem; IF; not misused at all, like we are all knowing the "Happy Birthday" song as classical example of bad copyrights undermining culture. Next to that, we're in the remix culture while most of the songs can't be touched; so far for a controlled fanbase?!
Just like we used to be very relaxed with computer security 20 years ago; which is unimaginable now-a-days; the music industry has been waiting, very relaxed towards the dimise of their own business model. Their business model is based more or less towards physical distribution while music stores and indie bands are growing like mushrooms out of the ground. Artists want to give extras towards their fans, while often being limited by the collection agencies. (read: Sabam, really for the common? for more info)
Copyrights in it's current form does not only demolish culture as it is, but also destroys a lot of historical heritage. For example, we cannot make a photo of the Atomium in Belgium without being sued or paying outragious amounts of money to the architect of that building; even if this photo has merely been used on a blog. We're in 2009 folks, not in 1990 where business was big through physical media, simply because no-one else had the money to buy the machines to make cd's, vinyl and other media.
I've been writing extensive about this on my blog in Music Industry: Wake up for alternative licensing. Artists need their copyrights, but more-or-less how THEY like to. We artists are investing thousands of euro's to create music while the music industry tells us how we can copy our own created music! That outrage got to be over ...
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..