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In America? First of all, I'm impressed that you're able to speak on such a grand scale as to paint a very large, very diverse nation with such a simplistic and

In America? First of all, I'm impressed that you're able to speak on such a grand scale as to paint a very large, very diverse nation with such a simplistic and sarcastic brush. Second, what exactly was the value in posting that? As a means of making a point, it's obnoxious at best, and useless at worst. Surely there's a better way to contribute to the conversation.

tensor 14y ago
There are many problems with the north american intellectual property systems. The post certainly could have communicated in a far clearer manner though. I will try in the orignal posters place. 1) Copyright law. It is indefinitely extended. Is this right? It is certainly true that the term "content creator" extends past the point where the actual content creator lived. Ok, so the law says that corporations are people. They own the content! But since they do not die, is copyright truly indefinite? 2) Lobbying in the US. Corporations can "donate" to politicians and essentially buy their positions on copyright and enforcement matters. This is a problem. The government should not be able to be bought. 3) Extortion. A combination of copyright and patent laws, that are perhaps overly broad, allow those with established positions and a lot of money to force innovative newcomers into the systems the incumbents put in place which exists only to funnel money into the incumbents pockets. Small companies do not have the funds to be able to adequately defend copyright or patent infringement cases, regardless of the merit of the claims. None of these are easy problems, but they are none the less problems.
- rmc 14y ago
  2) Lobbying in the US. Corporations can "donate" to politicians and essentially buy their positions on copyright and enforcement matters. I often hear people in the US complain about this, and sometimes make reference to US Supreme Court rulings that allowed companies to donate as much as they want, and these activists want this laws repealed. You note that political corruption is not unique to the USA right? You know bribery and donations can take many forms even if you remove 'corporate personhood'? Lots of countries have a problem with corrupt politicians.
  - Yver 14y ago
    And your point is?
    - rmc 14y ago
      My point is that its not totally the law's fault. Changing the law without changing the culture will not totally solve the problem.
  - koide 14y ago
    And how corruption being worldwide makes it less of a problem?
    - rmc 14y ago
      It doesn't make it less of a problem. But it shows how the specific laws in the USA are not the root cause of the problem. Change the culture, don't just overturn Citizens United.
      - koide 14y ago
        Laws are (among other things) a reflection of culture. You can change the law and trigger culture changes.
        mokus 14y ago
        As was shown during prohibition in the US. The challenge isn't changing the culture by legislation, that's easy. The challenge is changing it in a particular desired way.
  - stellar678 14y ago
    Of course political corruption is not unique to the USA. Really, we have a much better situation than many parts of the world. What's different though, is that the US law will often serve as a sort of template or "social proof" when it comes to something like extending copyright. The next step is enshrining it into treaties or law in other nations.
- Natsu 14y ago
  > hey own the content! But since they do not die, is copyright truly indefinite? There's actually a fixed statutory period on corporately owned works, given that the life + X years scheme wouldn't work very well there. But yes, they have extended it and can be expected to lobby for further extensions, most likely by trying to convince different countries to leapfrog each other in the terms they offer.
- dredmorbius 14y ago
  This is pretty much the conclusion and central tenet of Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture, and in it you can see the genesis of his next book, Republic, Lost, exploring the corrupting power of money in politics. Free Culture is itself freely available online, highly recommended reading: http://manybooks.net/titles/lessiglother04free_culture.html http://manybooks.net/titles/lessiglother04free_culture.html
cygx 14y ago
> In America? First of all, I'm impressed that you're able to speak on such a grand scale as to paint a very large, very diverse nation with such a simplistic and sarcastic brush. He's commenting on federal law, which indeed applies to the United States as a whole, or do you claim otherwise?
apk17 14y ago
'diverse nation'? Last time I checked, America consisted of twentysomething nations, one of wich in the habit of speaking for all of them.
- antidoh 14y ago
  America is the widely used casual name for the United States of America. Context matters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America "America usually refers to either: "The Americas, a landmass comprising North America and South America "The United States of America, a country in North America"
  - pm90 14y ago
    This actually is reasonable since US is the only country with `america' in its name. Other countries have fancier names that can be used to easily recognize them.

tensor 14y ago

There are many problems with the north american intellectual property systems. The post certainly could have communicated in a far clearer manner though. I will try in the orignal posters place. 1) Copyright law. It is indefinitely extended. Is this right? It is certainly true that the term "content creator" extends past the point where the actual content creator lived. Ok, so the law says that corporations are people. They own the content! But since they do not die, is copyright truly indefinite? 2) Lobbying in the US. Corporations can "donate" to politicians and essentially buy their positions on copyright and enforcement matters. This is a problem. The government should not be able to be bought. 3) Extortion. A combination of copyright and patent laws, that are perhaps overly broad, allow those with established positions and a lot of money to force innovative newcomers into the systems the incumbents put in place which exists only to funnel money into the incumbents pockets. Small companies do not have the funds to be able to adequately defend copyright or patent infringement cases, regardless of the merit of the claims. None of these are easy problems, but they are none the less problems.

rmc 14y ago
2) Lobbying in the US. Corporations can "donate" to politicians and essentially buy their positions on copyright and enforcement matters. I often hear people in the US complain about this, and sometimes make reference to US Supreme Court rulings that allowed companies to donate as much as they want, and these activists want this laws repealed. You note that political corruption is not unique to the USA right? You know bribery and donations can take many forms even if you remove 'corporate personhood'? Lots of countries have a problem with corrupt politicians.
- Yver 14y ago
  And your point is?
  - rmc 14y ago
    My point is that its not totally the law's fault. Changing the law without changing the culture will not totally solve the problem.
- koide 14y ago
  And how corruption being worldwide makes it less of a problem?
  - rmc 14y ago
    It doesn't make it less of a problem. But it shows how the specific laws in the USA are not the root cause of the problem. Change the culture, don't just overturn Citizens United.
    - koide 14y ago
      Laws are (among other things) a reflection of culture. You can change the law and trigger culture changes.
      - mokus 14y ago
        As was shown during prohibition in the US. The challenge isn't changing the culture by legislation, that's easy. The challenge is changing it in a particular desired way.
- stellar678 14y ago
  Of course political corruption is not unique to the USA. Really, we have a much better situation than many parts of the world. What's different though, is that the US law will often serve as a sort of template or "social proof" when it comes to something like extending copyright. The next step is enshrining it into treaties or law in other nations.
Natsu 14y ago
> hey own the content! But since they do not die, is copyright truly indefinite? There's actually a fixed statutory period on corporately owned works, given that the life + X years scheme wouldn't work very well there. But yes, they have extended it and can be expected to lobby for further extensions, most likely by trying to convince different countries to leapfrog each other in the terms they offer.
dredmorbius 14y ago
This is pretty much the conclusion and central tenet of Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture, and in it you can see the genesis of his next book, Republic, Lost, exploring the corrupting power of money in politics. Free Culture is itself freely available online, highly recommended reading: http://manybooks.net/titles/lessiglother04free_culture.html http://manybooks.net/titles/lessiglother04free_culture.html

cygx 14y ago

> In America? First of all, I'm impressed that you're able to speak on such a grand scale as to paint a very large, very diverse nation with such a simplistic and sarcastic brush. He's commenting on federal law, which indeed applies to the United States as a whole, or do you claim otherwise?

apk17 14y ago

'diverse nation'? Last time I checked, America consisted of twentysomething nations, one of wich in the habit of speaking for all of them.

antidoh 14y ago
America is the widely used casual name for the United States of America. Context matters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America "America usually refers to either: "The Americas, a landmass comprising North America and South America "The United States of America, a country in North America"
- pm90 14y ago
  This actually is reasonable since US is the only country with `america' in its name. Other countries have fancier names that can be used to easily recognize them.