Copyright Czar is now watching – hang on to your laptop

Posted by crackerbelly on
Friday, October 17th, 2008 at 9:30 am

This week, President Bush signed the Pro-Copyright law. We now have a copyright czar. For me, having a copyright czar reeks of dystopian new-speak that would make Orwell proud. Why does copyright need a czar? How about potentate or terminator? Why czar? Oh well, I guess it fits with other recent efforts. We have a drug czar in our war on drugs. How is that war going? Are we winning? I don’t think so. I think we’re running neck and neck in that war with the war on poverty, i.e., we’re losing. Come to think of it, do we have a poverty czar?  Apparently Hillary Clinton thought it was a good idea but it never got any traction. For whom would this czar act as overlord, the rich? This would just get awkward…no future in it.

Lawrence Lessig published an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, In Defense of Piracy.

“How is it that sensible people, people no doubt educated at some of the best universities and law schools in the country, would come to think it a sane use of corporate resources to threaten the mother of a dancing 13-month-old? What is it that allows these lawyers and executives to take a case like this seriously, to believe there’s some important social or corporate reason to deploy the federal scheme of regulation called copyright to stop the spread of these images and music? “Let’s Go Crazy” indeed!

It doesn’t have to be like this. We could craft copyright law to encourage a wide range of both professional and amateur creativity, without threatening Prince’s profits. We could reject the notion that Internet culture must oppose profit, or that profit must destroy Internet culture. But real change will be necessary if this is to be our future — changes in law, and changes in us.”

Where is fair use? Where is reason? Let’s hear from our Presedential candidates. Where does Joe the Plumber stand on this? Not a mention, not a whimper, it just doesn’t rise to the level of attention that would draw conversation when considered in the same field of priorities as war and global economy crisis. It’s too bad. The future of human communication is on the line but it hardly even draws a headline.

I encourage you to contact your congressional representatives and let them know that ths law is wrong headed, detrimental to free exchange of information and elitist.