Copyright: How long is long enough?

Last week there was a ruling in Australia on what Men At Work get to pay out for having copied a riff from an Australian folk tune published over 70 years ago...  It's actually a folk tune that I learned i school when I was a kid and I have to say I've never even thought about the similarity to 'Down Under'.

It's an interesting reminder though of what it means to have copyright terms that stretch long after an author or artists lifetime.  The band clearly made a fair bit of money from their hit - and now have to take a 5% cut from their royalties to pay... well who exactly?  

The value for society in copyright lies in the ability to stimulate creativity by giving limited monopoly rights to creators.  But here we see that the active creators, the band, are penalised to the benefit of a publishing house who are milking the benefits of someone else's creativity (Marion Sinclair- who died 22 years ago). 

Are long copyright terms really serving society's interests?   Even within a songwriter or artist's lifetime there is a clear disincentive to create new material if existing material continues to enjoy protection for the rest of their life.  The more talented and successful the creator the less incentive they have to work again.  Aren't they just the people that society wants to be most active?

Shorter copyright terms increase incentives to bring out and market new innovative material - and will hugely increase the free availability of older materal to be used in new creative ways.  It should mean a richer world for all of us... though we might hear some complaints from beyond the veil....

Privacy, Copyright & Integrity: Steps in the right direction..

I've been a bit busy recently - but things are happening out there in the big wide world...

You no doubt saw that in Australia they've ruled that an ISP shouldn't be held to account for the content carried...  a revalidation of the 'pure carrier' doctrine with it's analogy in "don't shoot the messenger".  A great commentary on the judgement by Technolama

In the UK, the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights were not at all happy with the provisions of the governments proposed Digital Economy Bill - which is hardly surprising but reasuring to hear.  Meanwile the EU parliament think the privacy of their citizens merits protection and have said no to the Swift agreement that gives the USA bulk access to european banking data. Thanks you guys (& gals)!

The EFF today reports on a victory in the US courts that confirms the 'first rights' principle that if you buy something it's yours to enjoy, share and sell as you like - no matter what small print a company may add on the box.  You bought it, you own it.

..and Cory Doctorow explains how if you look into the issues with IP, copyright and innovation you come to very different conclusions than if you crib your research from lobbyists... (from the tireless Michel Geist).

And of course Christian Engström, Piratpartiet's MEP, celebrated making it to the big 50.  Congratulations Christian - keep up the good work!

Censorship on the loose in Oz

While the snow lies thick and even here... things are getting hot down in Australia. John Lilburne writes about new plans for net censorship which will force ISPs to blacklist sites.  As Electronic Frontiers Australia puts it, Australia is "gaining a reputation as the Iran of the South Pacific".

This took a new turn on Friday when a satirical site set up in the name of Australia's broadband minister Stephen Conroy has been taken down at three hours notice for not following Australia's domain name rules. This has led to allegations of a political motive for the take down and complaints that the domain name rules are being used to stifle political comment on net censorship and of the Australian government's policy to restrict freedom of communication.

Needless to say...  the affected site can now be found on a new domain while they fight to get their domain back....

Who is deciding what you surf?  Say NO to network censorship.

Piratpartiet and The Pirate Party -  Putting privacy first.