Friday, September 05, 2008

When Copyright is Copywrong - File Sharing Lawsuits (WIRED)

NVDL: I believe in property rights, and intellectual property rights, but not in a completely unlimited way. Think about Corporates who claim copyright over words and sounds. Someone can buy your name and sell it to you as a domain - sell you your own name? C'mon!

I think the fabulous wealth that musicians and celebrities accumulate is in many cases absurd and disproportionate. It enables a faux celebrity culture. What's more important is stuff like education, the environment, even sport - teachers ought to earn more than rockstars. I know it's not a popular view.

Another example of our ripoff culture is where we pay 200% mark ups because a t-shirt has a swoosh on it. Same with shoes. You go to a country like Thailand and you get sometimes inferior, but often the same quality Diesel shirts and other branded stuff for a fraction of the price.

Others will say these premiums stimulate the market. I dunno. What about placing a fair value on what something is (rather than an inflated, delusional price). I think our priorities in terms of what we value is skewed.

That said I also believe creativity should be rewarded, and handsomely when it is warranted.

"They're harassing me nonstop," says Lentz, who's been trying to settle her RIAA case, but can't afford a lawyer. "I wasn't the one who downloaded the music. It was a shared computer with my roommates and my friends. They want $7,500 for 10 songs."
clipped from blog.wired.com
Riaa5pic_2

It was five years ago Monday the Recording Industry Association of America began its massive litigation campaign that now includes more than 30,000 lawsuits targeting alleged copyright scofflaws on peer-to-peer networks.

The targets include the elderly, students, children and even the dead. No one in the U.S. who uses Kazaa, Limewire or other file sharing networks is immune from the RIAA's investigators, and fines under the Copyright Act go up to $150,000 per purloined music track.

Today, the RIAA -- the lobbying group for the world's big four music companies, Sony BMG, Universal Music, EMI and Warner Music -- admits that the lawsuits are largely a public relations effort, aimed at striking fear into the hearts of would-be downloaders.
 blog it

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That market is here for those superficial enough to believe that brandnames are an important part of what u portray to the world.
I also used to one but now have my life's priorities in better perspective.