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I don't think anyone's arguing about fairness. The idea of copyright is that it's suppose to allow us to enjoy more artistic works by incentivising artists. The

I don't think anyone's arguing about fairness. The idea of copyright is that it's suppose to allow us to enjoy more artistic works by incentivising artists. The degree to which it's successful in doing that compared to the degree to which it actually hampers the availability and diversity of content is measurable. And once we measure it, we can set the period non-arbitrarily. That the original purpose of copyright has been largely subverted doesn't mean we can't reestablish it in a principled way.

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago
> The degree to which it's successful in doing that compared to the degree to which it actually hampers the availability and diversity of content is measurable. And once we measure it, we can set the period non-arbitrarily. I've seen many claim this ("we can measure if the law is producing a net positive") everytime copyright law, or any controversial law, is discussed. Can you back this up, or is just blind positivism?
- icambron 13y ago
  Sure. We do measure that, and there are a great many studies that do just that. The results so far, as I understand them, are "no, the current law does not produce a net positive", but there's nothing to suggest that such measurements would stop working if the laws were changed such that they did produce a net positive. Some examples: - http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/09-132.pdf http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/09-132.pdf - http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/other/0118404830/0118404830.asp http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/other/01184048... - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf - http://www.booz.com/media/file/BoozCo-Impact-US-Internet-Copyright-Regulations-Early-Stage-Investment.pdf http://www.booz.com/media/file/BoozCo-Impact-US-Internet-Cop... I can't vouch for the strength of those particular reports or studies, but clearly people are putting a lot of energy into measuring this stuff. Why the nihilism?

hcarvalhoalves 13y ago

> The degree to which it's successful in doing that compared to the degree to which it actually hampers the availability and diversity of content is measurable. And once we measure it, we can set the period non-arbitrarily. I've seen many claim this ("we can measure if the law is producing a net positive") everytime copyright law, or any controversial law, is discussed. Can you back this up, or is just blind positivism?

icambron 13y ago
Sure. We do measure that, and there are a great many studies that do just that. The results so far, as I understand them, are "no, the current law does not produce a net positive", but there's nothing to suggest that such measurements would stop working if the laws were changed such that they did produce a net positive. Some examples: - http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/09-132.pdf http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/09-132.pdf - http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/other/0118404830/0118404830.asp http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/other/01184048... - http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipreview-finalreport.pdf - http://www.booz.com/media/file/BoozCo-Impact-US-Internet-Copyright-Regulations-Early-Stage-Investment.pdf http://www.booz.com/media/file/BoozCo-Impact-US-Internet-Cop... I can't vouch for the strength of those particular reports or studies, but clearly people are putting a lot of energy into measuring this stuff. Why the nihilism?