Re: [dvd-discuss] Hang the RIAA in their own noose.

[John Galt <galt(at)inconnu.isu.edu>]

On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, John Zulauf wrote:

>>From an AC at /.-- shockingly well reasoned (especially for /.).
>Anybody here want to take credit?
>
>.002
>"how does one determine the copyright duration of an anonymous work?"

Assume that they died at the moment of creation: 75 years.

>--- begin block quotation ---
>
>The answer is that technology cannot solve the problem, because
>copyright is a social contract, not a set of absolute rights of control.
>
>There are NO technological methods to distinguish piracy from fair use.
>In the end, that is a legal distinction, and is based on a number of
>factors. In fact, quite often, the same, identical act can be either
>infringement or fair use, based on nothing more then the intent of the
>person committing the act.
>
>If I record a television show off the air so I can watch it later, when
>I'm home, that's fair use. If I record the same television show off the
>air so I can sell the videotape on ebay, that's piracy. There is
>absolutely no technology that can determine what I'm going to do with
>that videotape. The idea that technology offers a "solution" to the
>problem is a fallacy.
>
>The real "problem" is that copyright law is completely out of sync with
>the reality of how people use, and want to use, copyrighted works. The
>problem is that copyright holders have grown far too powerful, and have
>convinced Congress that they, and they alone, are the only "interested
>party" in matters of copyright, when in fact, the real purpose of
>copyright is not to protect them, but to serve the public by increasing
>access to and the availability of creative and useful works.
>
>The copyright industry is struggling to reduce and control access to and
>to limit the availability of copyrighted works -- the exact opposite of
>the constitutional purpose of copyright.
>
>The "solution" is for Congress to change the laws to maximize the
>availability and access to copyrighted works, through such methods as
>statutory royalties, and eliminating the "right" of copyright holders to
>control who may use and distribute their work.
>
>The problem is that unlike the recording and motion picture industries,
>which pay individual Congressmen directly through campaign
>contributions, the rest of the country -- the citizens at large, pay
>Congress indirectly through taxes. We've created a system where no one
>can get elected without selling out to the media corporations, then we
>wonder why Congress keeps repealing our freedoms, but leaving exemptions
>open for the recording and motion picture industries.
>

-- 
There is no problem so great that it cannot be solved with suitable
application of High Explosives.

Who is John Galt?  galt@inconnu.isu.edu, that's who!