Semi-OT: Congress about to limit artists' copyright rights

[Billy Crook]

On Fri, May 30, 2008 at 5:35 PM, Jeffrey Watts
<jeffrey.w.watts at gmail.com> wrote:
...
> ...  Those
> people might not have aspirations of selling millions of CDs or lots
> of lithographs, but that doesn't mean that someone else should steal
> their labor and mass market it at their expense.  It's THEIR WORK.

So, uh, that means they should be able to just squander it?  Meanwhile
other people who independantly make something similar are either out
of luck if they do want to sell it?  It's THEIR WORK after all...

> This kind of bullshit bill basically says that your work is not  yours
> unless you pay a fee to someone else who has the right to charge that
> fee because they paid off a legislator.

No.  It basically says, if you have a *reason* to want copyright, you
can have it.  It says that if you actually don't want people
infringing on your rights, they will be able to avoid it or contact
you to negotiate licensing.

> Basically, if we went with your idea we'd start living in a world
> where you need to pay someone to register all of the stuff in your
> house.

Wrong.  Once this bill is passed, you will be able to safely derive
from the works of others without wondering if they indended it to be
"public domain" or if they wanted to control it.  No more confusion,
just type it's UPC/product name/fccid, hit enter, and know.

This legislation has nothing to do with your belongings, and in no way
promotes burglary

> registry that will only benefit the registry companies.
... and copyright holders ... and American citizens...