Monday, January 23, 2012

HockeyStick my ass

This is going to take a while and really, I hope you have some time on your hands because if you like the internet then this is important.  First up an excellent video that concisely lays out SOPA and PIPA's place in history, how we got here and where it leads from here. Again it's long but you should watch it.



So I'm going to bet at this point your response is something along the lines of wow great info, but didn't you hear we "defeated SOPA and PIPA".

Here's the thing no we did not.

Engadget and Gizmodo both have article about this, but the gist of what is going on here is a typical congress tactic of stalling until the news moves on and then doing what they planed on anyway.  That video called on you to vigilant and get ready, LOIC isn't going to make this go away and you need to understand that this is about more than LOLcats (but they are included in this).

 

This song falls clearly into the category of parody for the common observer, but because it's using the melody of a copyrighted work it could be a target for take down notices especially when you consider that you are not allowed to profit from performances of works currently covered by copyright.  What we need and I'm sure I'm not the first to propose it is a substantial effort to rework copyright.  As it sits the last several times that legislation has been introduced by the media industry it has substantially increased the length of time copyright is in effect.  When it was originally written it was intended to give the artist that created the work the right to profit from their work during their lifetime, but so as to encourage them to continue to work was limited enough that it couldn't carry their family forever (or as is more commonly the case now the company that owns the rights forever).


7 comments:

  1. This is the reason why copyright should be attributed to the artist not major companies, because those companies doesn't care about the consumer populace. They just want their money.

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  2. I agree. The rapid rate at which technology is shaping and altering what we consider "copyrightable" material, the standard copyright laws just don't apply anymore. They need major reworking.

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  3. Thanks for spreading awareness, there are too many people that think that we "won" with a simple blackout and subsequent shelving. Not only are SOPA and PIPA still alive, there are other bills creeping in that are just as bad, if not worse.

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  4. Thanks for sharing these videos, can't believe our politicians keep introducing these bills.

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  5. Anonymous7:23 PM

    Life without lolcats would not be life.

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  6. I named my child LOLcats

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