[p2p-research] My letter to Obama

[Michel Bauwens]

thanks Marco,

you are probably right, I'm not an expert on the content of these laws, but
was assuming that they are based on long copyrights,

Michel

On Tue, Nov 11, 2008 at 2:49 AM, M. Fioretti <mfioretti at nexaima.net> wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 20:32:51 PM +0700, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> > Marco,
> >
> > what you propose would involve the repeal of the legislation that
> > Kevin mentions
>
> No, why? I'm not saying to repeal DMCA, WIPO, TRIPS, etc.. Not the
> copyright part, at least (*)
>
> I am saying that that is all stuff which only applies to copyrighted
> "content", not to stuff which is in the public domain. If you leave
> those treaties as they are, but only change that one line, to say that
> everything goes to public domain five or max ten years after
> publication, instead of 70+, you immediately make the Disneys and
> Sonys of the world financially not convenient.
>
> They'd go bankrupt on the stock exchange one year after copyright
> duration were reduced. Such corporations make sense today (and have
> enough money to bully artists and people) because they can still cash
> in on stuff produced decades ago. Pull that rug off their feet, and
> investors themselves will immediately sell those stocks for something
> more profitable.
>
> The first Harry Potter book was published in 1997: the profit
> expectations of the editor and the control fetish of Mrs Rowling (that
> is all the backing for the ridiculous limitations of fair use, derived
> work and so on on those characters and plots) are only relevant
> because copyright still applies, not because WIPO, DMCA and TRIPS
> exist.
>
> Had copyright been 10 years, Bloomsbury stock holders and Rowling
> would be rich all the same, but already powerless today, as far as
> damaging culture is concerned. Rowling could yell from all rooftops
> that she's the only one who can write Potter, and nobody would care.
>
> Had copyright been 5 or 10 years, probably Bloomsbury and Rowling
> would have also been much less of a bully in the past years. You don't
> piss off people if you know that the gun you're holding to their head
> will vanish very soon.
>
> Ditto for all entertainment corporations, and 90% of contemporary
> popular culture, from Dylan to Star Wars. If you have a big gun (DMCA,
> etc...) which expires very soon, equally soon you end up with no money
> to use it or cover the abuses you did with that gun; and so little
> time to use it anyway that the ROI of being an a**hole is greatly
> reduced. And there goes the money to lobby for DRM in parliaments.
> All the other bad consequences of DMCA and friends would remain
> without money to actually apply them.
>
> >, so I don't think you're saying anything different. I don't think
> > Kevin proposes a radical abolition, just a scaling back,
>
> same here. I'm just pointing out that there may be a much more
> efficient way to get there.
>
> "Cut copyright to 5 or ten years tomorrow" is something Joe Sixpack
> can understand and vote for. "Abolish WIPO, DMCA etc.." is much harder
> to sell to the general public.
>
> If you have a raging bull in a corral, harassing all the cows and the
> cowboys, you can make a huge, dangerous effort to physically remove it
> from the corral. Or you can just shoot it with a syringe full of
> extra-strenght anesthetic, which will keep it alive but so weak that
> it won't hurt anybody.
>
> Marco
>
> (*) yes, I've deliberately ignored here all the other parts of the
> "intellectual property" universe which are also managed by those
> treaties. One thing at a time, or at least per discussion.
>
> --
> Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
> software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84
>
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>



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