Copyright is such a mess. I hope we all can agree with that.
https://copyrightlately.com/mondrian-public-domain-controversy/
/via @progo
@levisan @progo the biggest problems with copyright cut both ways: one, people are accustomed to subsidized media -- ad-supported media, for example. On the other, you have the Mickey Mouse copyright paradigm that maintains copyright for the better part of a century.
Underneath this is the fact that whether you build houses or paint mouses, you've got bills to pay.
The answers to this are varied, from state supported arts aned media (you pay whether you use it or not) to Copyright Term Extension Act (you pay long after the author is dead), and the DMCA (... and if you pick the lock, you pay bigly.)
In the first case, the issue is allowing the state or other organization to determine the value of other people's work, and the second case is maximizing rent-seeking for what amounts to privatized public culture.
The matter is complicated by the near infinite replicability of media, including the machines to render it as physical artifacts (printers, 3d printers.)
This may be one of those issues of eternal discourse with no "right" answers, or no final regime to moot the discourse.
The closest thing I have to an answer is to start with some basic copyright regime, pick a period of time (25 years?) and the allow purchases of extensions to a maximum of x (40? 50?) years at costs that go up on a logarithmic curve by year (and whose proceeds can be used to liberate currently owned culture to the public domain.)
@jezza @levisan Generally I'm with Nina Paley on this.
https://archive.org/details/CopyingIsNotTheft-ScratchTrack1280X720Hdv
https://ninapaley.com/2009/12/15/minute-meme-1-copying-is-not-theft/
> If I steal your bicycle
> you have to take the bus,
> but if I just copy it
> there’s one for each of us!
@progo @levisan the argument works until you consider the revenue of the artists. For example, if you apply that to most games and movies, those companies need to more than break even to finance the next film or game. If harmlessly denying them profit is significant enough, it can collapse the organization and put the developers, artists, talent, etc. out of business.
This is the horrid reality that confronts the duplication argument.
That said, it doesn't really apply to the long tail of most films, music, and software. Pirating a copy of All the President's Men or Alpha Centauri doesn't effect anyone today.
