i have posted the following (and more) elsewhere.
once again , mickey mouse’s copyright is about to expire. so under large bribes heavy lobbying by the RIAA/MPIAA , disney, sony, and many others (notably siriusXM objects to this bill) this bill has passed the senate, and needs to return to the house for consideration of senate amendments. it is expected that it will pass the house and trump will sign it.
this bill is 345 pages long. i dont have the time to read that novel.
the short version i have found online is :
1: it streamlines payments and payment methods to copyright holders (IE big corps; 90% of the copyright holders are big corps), creates royalties for material created from 1928 to 1972 (thanks mickey), and prevents material from becoming public domain for “life of the author +144 years” .
2: it provides a means to remove previously public domain works from the public domain
here is an example as i understand it: you create and publish a record that uses some Beethoven stanzas. now you claim copyright on this. now no one can use these stanzas without paying you, despite it previously being in the public domain.
3:rewrites the DCMA and the mickey mouse protection act along with several others.
4: provides means for collecting royalties from online streamers and online radio stations (because they typically do not record) this means me when i play sunday night tunes
//edit i have a crappy little internet station i play tunes on on sunday nights
here is what the EFF said in may, and the bill has been made worse now.
the verge has an article on it as well.
my ideas (that i have conflicting thoughts on, see * at bottom) on copyright is:
1: it should not exist at all as it does in any current form.
2: content creators should be entitled to charge for their works if they publish it on a physical medium (a dvd /cd/vinyl/etc ) for a limited time (life +144 years is essentially a infinite time, especially as they keep increasing the time limit every 20 years).
<ive snipped the part about govt reform such as term limits and all bills limited to a certain typewritten size, among other things>
orrin hatch is possibly the worst person to ever hit congress in the history of the united states. i disagree with nearly all of his socialist bills as i consider them oppressive to the people of the united states.he should of retired 6 months after being elected the 1st time.
this latest bill essentially removes personal freedom (by altering the definition of public domain and enabling works to be removed from public domain) and actually would cost each and every taxpayer by causing a slew of lawsuits and criminal cases, which are essentially paid for by all of us. additionally it delays real criminal trials (rape, murder, theft, etc) more, in violation of the speedy trial clause in the US constitution. our courts are overburdened now, this will make that worse.
you might say “well you have to pay court costs” . well court costs are set by law. and we also know everything the govt does always costs more than what is charged by said govt agency. the taxpayers pick up the excess in that case.
- my personal opinion is that copyrights should not exist at all. all physical (stuff you can hold) items invented can be covered by patents. intellectual property cannot patented (as $micro$oft and others keep trying to do - another rant). i also think authors should be able to charge for their works if they wish. a perfect example of this is RedHat Linux. they took free and open source software and built a billion dollar company on it. linus torvalds and others give RedHat their blessings.
additionally (and lastly thank god) any software i write and publish will carry the least restrictive open source license , or be public domain.