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capri0mniThere's been much discussion on my F'List lately, about the powers and virtues of fan fiction and this whole issue of copyright.
Personally, I think Copyright Law as we know it today isn't long for this world. If I recall correctly, it didn't even exist, as such before 1891 -- though there were various local precursers around for maybe a couple hundred years before that. That's not long at all, compared to the all thousands of years we humans have been swapping stories and copying pictures. Despite the recent American Supreme Court ruling siding with the music industry over software Grokster and Streamcast, modern law isn't much protection against basic human nature.
One of the best arguments for why Copyright Law just doesn't make much sense is in this letter to Isaac McPherson, from Thomas Jefferson, dated August 13, 1813. And I lurve Jefferson's line: "...an idea, the fugitive fermentation of an individual brain..." That's t-shirt-worthy!
I don't think copyright will disappear completely, though. I got an idea of what it might become after reading the license agreement for the free-ware for XviD. Don't remember the words exactly, but it was something to the effect of: "You're free to copy and pass on this software as you please. You can even make changes, if you need to. But if you do change anything, be sure to point out which changes are yours in the new version of this agreement, so that if people get a bug from your changes, they'll know to contact you, and not us."
In other words, copyright will, one day, protect future users as much as, or more than, the "originator" of an idea. If we know the source, we can go back and learn more about the original context, decide what bias the writer or artist has, and, therefore, how valid an idea is.
um,,, yeah... speaking of ideas, I had an idea for a conclusion to this ramble, and now, I can't find it... It's gone fugitive! :-/
Brrraiiinnezzz!!!
Personally, I think Copyright Law as we know it today isn't long for this world. If I recall correctly, it didn't even exist, as such before 1891 -- though there were various local precursers around for maybe a couple hundred years before that. That's not long at all, compared to the all thousands of years we humans have been swapping stories and copying pictures. Despite the recent American Supreme Court ruling siding with the music industry over software Grokster and Streamcast, modern law isn't much protection against basic human nature.
One of the best arguments for why Copyright Law just doesn't make much sense is in this letter to Isaac McPherson, from Thomas Jefferson, dated August 13, 1813. And I lurve Jefferson's line: "...an idea, the fugitive fermentation of an individual brain..." That's t-shirt-worthy!
I don't think copyright will disappear completely, though. I got an idea of what it might become after reading the license agreement for the free-ware for XviD. Don't remember the words exactly, but it was something to the effect of: "You're free to copy and pass on this software as you please. You can even make changes, if you need to. But if you do change anything, be sure to point out which changes are yours in the new version of this agreement, so that if people get a bug from your changes, they'll know to contact you, and not us."
In other words, copyright will, one day, protect future users as much as, or more than, the "originator" of an idea. If we know the source, we can go back and learn more about the original context, decide what bias the writer or artist has, and, therefore, how valid an idea is.
um,,, yeah... speaking of ideas, I had an idea for a conclusion to this ramble, and now, I can't find it... It's gone fugitive! :-/
