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I'm not talking about getting rid of copyright. Of course I want copyright protection for my work, and of course I want other people to enjoy that protection as

I'm not talking about getting rid of copyright. Of course I want copyright protection for my work, and of course I want other people to enjoy that protection as well. I don't see any reason, however, that I need that protection for every single thing that I create. What purpose does _automatic_ copyright serve? I stick a copyright notice in every software project already, but when I don't want the copyright I also have to explicitly disavow it. Why shouldn't the model be flipped to claiming copyright with a simple attached notice, instead of disavowing it?

astrodust 10y ago
You stick a copyright notice on things so people know who to contact if they need to license it. That clarifies ownership, it does not establish it. > I don't see any reason, however, that I need that protection for every single thing that I create. This is the social network problem. When the network starts to co-opt copyrights, demanding they're able to license the work you submit to them for any purpose, for any reason, without compensation, people understand that's a form of property theft and fight back. The problem with "intellectual property" is it comes in forms both inconsequential and profound, and in the middle is a very, very grey area. There's been flippant comments on Reddit that have turned into screenplays. There's been stuff posted on Instagram and Pinterest that turned into a line of merchandise. These things have a way of growing in importance when you're not even looking. Like code, where a quick throw-away hack might actually turn out to be a big breakthrough and gain popularity. This is why we have license like GPL, MIT, and CC that describe how your work can be used. You're talking about a pre 1970 world where copyrights had to be registered, and honestly, that sucks. Can you imagine having to get each and every revision of your code officially copyrighted? What about someone stealing your idea you write about on Medium, or ripping your content wholesale and publishing a book. It's not stealing if it's not copyrighted, but thankfully it is. Automatically.

astrodust 10y ago

You stick a copyright notice on things so people know who to contact if they need to license it. That clarifies ownership, it does not establish it. > I don't see any reason, however, that I need that protection for every single thing that I create. This is the social network problem. When the network starts to co-opt copyrights, demanding they're able to license the work you submit to them for any purpose, for any reason, without compensation, people understand that's a form of property theft and fight back. The problem with "intellectual property" is it comes in forms both inconsequential and profound, and in the middle is a very, very grey area. There's been flippant comments on Reddit that have turned into screenplays. There's been stuff posted on Instagram and Pinterest that turned into a line of merchandise. These things have a way of growing in importance when you're not even looking. Like code, where a quick throw-away hack might actually turn out to be a big breakthrough and gain popularity. This is why we have license like GPL, MIT, and CC that describe how your work can be used. You're talking about a pre 1970 world where copyrights had to be registered, and honestly, that sucks. Can you imagine having to get each and every revision of your code officially copyrighted? What about someone stealing your idea you write about on Medium, or ripping your content wholesale and publishing a book. It's not stealing if it's not copyrighted, but thankfully it is. Automatically.