Rant Buy real books, not DRM-laced bits

[Andy44]

Yeah, one of you guys could build an Orbiter simpit for it...

 

[Linguofreak]

IIRC, the Bern convention says at least 20y copyright, the EU says something like 50 or 70 years, and the US says anything Disney wants. I say:
20 years for books
10 years for movies
5 years for software, music and photographs
And automatically turn into public domain 1 year after the copyright holder doesn't sell it anymore.
And make laws that prohibit DRM.

The Bern Convention says "Author's death + 50 years, at least," except for photographs and cinematographic works.

That is obscene. US copyright law originally said "14 years, with a 14 year extension if you're still alive". Now we're a signatory of the Bern convention and you can pretty much count on a given work being under copyright for a good century.

I'd say let people keep hold of copyright as long as they keep something in print, with a renewal fee after they remove it from the market (thus if Microsoft wants to keep Windows 95 under copyright to protect trade secrets, they can, but have to pay to do so). Put limits on how long copyright can be renewed after something is out of print, even with fees.

And prohibit DRM.

 

[ar81]

I'd say let people keep hold of copyright as long as they keep something in print, with a renewal fee after they remove it from the market (thus if Microsoft wants to keep Windows 95 under copyright to protect trade secrets, they can, but have to pay to do so). Put limits on how long copyright can be renewed after something is out of print, even with fees.

And prohibit DRM.

That would leave small entrepreneurs unprotected.

 

[ijuin]

Anyway, I do believe that you (as a company or as an individual artist/author) should be allowed to keep the copyright on a work or set of works as long as you are still producing new art using them--for example Disney would continue to own Mickey Mouse as long as they continue to produce new cartoons or books or artwork featuring him. However, "abandoned" works--i.e. any works that the owner has lost interest in selling due to a perception that sales volume would be too low to be worthwhile--should become public domain within a few years (say, five) after they are no longer available for widespread distribution. If such "abandoned" works are allowed to linger in this limbo where the owner sees no profit to be made either from selling copies or from selling the copyright itself, then the works in question can become completely unavailable once the supply of copies is exhausted, and if copyrights take longer than a human lifespan to expire, they may be completely forgotten by the time their copyright term expires--who would remember a book that printed fifty thousand copies ninety years ago and was never printed again?

Furthermore, the life cycle of all media forms are not equal. Books, plays, songs, and video (movies and television) do have lifespans measured in decades, but some media, such as most software, generally has a much shorter life. Long-running software such as operating systems may stick around for a decade, but something like a game may be all but worthless to its publisher a mere year after release due to the short retail cycles in the video game industry. If a company is only going to sell a game for a year or two, then why should its copyright extend for a century?

 

[Urwumpe]

And the story goes on....

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17878326/Amazon-Complaint-Kindle-Ate-Homework-on-1984?autodown=pdf

 

[Ark]

And the story goes on....

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17878326/Amazon-Complaint-Kindle-Ate-Homework-on-1984?autodown=pdf

Saw that in the paper this morning, hopefully it amounts to something.

 

[Andy44]

And the story goes on....

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17878326/Amazon-Complaint-Kindle-Ate-Homework-on-1984?autodown=pdf

According to that complaint, Amazon's terms of use agreement never disclosed their capability to delete stuff from the kindle, nor did they retain a right to do so.

If that's the case, then all this "you signed the agreement" crap goes out the window. Amazon set themselves up for this one.

It also says they can remotely render useless notes, highlighting, and bookmarking.

Unacceptable. NEVER buy a Kindle. Buy real books. Ray Bradbury, are you listening out there?

 

[TSPenguin]

Regarding the coffeshop idea.

There are quite a few ones out there that feature a "leave a book, take a book" area. Adding your own repertoire to that and establish a lending fee is not that far away (and has probably been done already).

And also:

 

[Hielor]

Regarding the coffeshop idea.

There are quite a few ones out there that feature a "leave a book, take a book" area. Adding your own repertoire to that and establish a lending fee is not that far away (and has probably been done already).

And also:

The problem is that piracy has no analog in the material world. The closest thing we have to it is theft, so that's what it's compared to. The fact is that you are benefiting from the work of someone else, without them receiving any compensation for it.

 

[TSPenguin]

The problem is that piracy has no analog in the material world. The closest thing we have to it is theft, so that's what it's compared to. The fact is that you are benefiting from the work of someone else, without them receiving any compensation for it.

That is the point of the picture. Just because you don't understand something, does not mean the analogy that you are using is sufficient. You can compare planets to balls beeing moved around a bigger ball, but that does not necessarily means that it really is a hand moving planets around a bigger planet.
Piracy is not theft, it is piracy.

 

[Hielor]

That is the point of the picture. Just because you don't understand something, does not mean the analogy that you are using is sufficient. You can compare planets to balls beeing moved around a bigger ball, but that does not necessarily means that it really is a hand moving planets around a bigger planet.
Piracy is not theft, it is piracy.

I think the people who get their ships pirated from them might disagree.

 

[TSPenguin]

I think the people who get their ships pirated from them might disagree.

Indeed. And they are absolutely right to do so. But this is pretty off-topic...

 

[Omhra]

I once bought an album on Itunes... (can I type that without infringing copyright? or should I claim "Fair use") ...and yes, I lost the album when I changed computers.
That was the first and last time I used DRM.

My observation is that there is a blurry or invisible WIDE bar between what has been allowed to remain legal and what is ethical.
When I went to school and prepared papers I read, synthesized and in some instances I quoted from the book.
Question; If I retype a book and keep it for myself, is that infringement? If I sell it? If I electronically duplicate it?
I guess it depends on the region.
But it is a culture that is spreading in the "2 minute attention span" generation. A generation that understand nothing about ethics. And does not care to be robbed 20 dollars at a time.

Another question.
I am a big fan of Rush. Through the years I have bought all their vinyl, all their tapes and all their CD and, up to Chronicles, I also have purchased their music sheets... now... Could I transfer the CD to tape? or could I digitize the vinyl and burn onto CD? Could I make an application that follows the partiture while the music plays?
Since I have purchased all media and obviously the right to listen to it...
Could I sell the additive work...If I specify the music should be purchased separately in order to "rightfully" use my product... (required addons if you will)
No I have no intention of doing this, but still what if.

Ethics.

 

[simonpro]

Oh no! People trying to protect copyright. Damn them! Damn them all!
It'd be nice if we all lived in a liberal utopia in which we could freely exchange creative works, but we don't. It costs a lot of money to create such works and obviously there has to be some checks and balances on who has what, and who paid for what.
Perhaps if there weren't so many scumbag pirates out there who try to get everything for free then we wouldn't need drm.

I once bought an album on Itunes... (can I type that without infringing copyright? or should I claim "Fair use") ...and yes, I lost the album when I changed computers.
That was the first and last time I used DRM.

All you need to do is log in to your iTunes account and redownload the music, iTunes will let you register it on your new computer with no problems. the only issue (as I discovered) is that it takes a long time to do if you have a lot of music. If it's just one album then it's fine.

 

[Ghostrider]

Nobody here questions the right of artists to be compensated for their work. What we question is their right (or, rather, the rights of the rightholders) to remotely disable or remove stuff you've shelled out money for or to tell you you cannot study the inner workings of something you've bought, or to stop you from modifying it to suit your purposes.

 

[Urwumpe]

Perhaps if there weren't so many scumbag pirates out there who try to get everything for free then we wouldn't need drm.

My paranoia tells me, that the companies would then find another reason to create contracts which give them all the rights and the customer only the duty to pay.

DRM is just like paying the full price for a car, pay the repair costs, pay the fuel - and still have to see your car being used by the car company managers for driving around parking the car with nearly empty tank at your place again and waiting for you to refuel it with your money.

If you don't refuse to sign such contracts, they will have a chance to become legal. You can't rely on judges to fix all immoral passages in such contracts.

 

[Ghostrider]

You can't rely on judges to fix all immoral passages in such contracts.

You can't rely on judges at all.

 

[Andy44]

You can't rely on judges at all.

Disgusting.

 

[Ark]

You can't rely on judges at all.

I wonder what they do with said IPs. Bush got around the 4th amendment by coercing private companies to do his wiretapping for him, so have they cut a deal with law enforcement to feed them information they can't get without a warrant?