"Crybaby Artists" (Copyright protection)

Thought this article would be of interest here as it shows the media doing what it does best - puts its' spin to work...

Listening to the Statists (old media), you’d think Congress was trying to make art illegal, or kill babies in their sleep.

The Constitutional provisions for copyright were designed to protect the public domain, but allow some provisions for a temporary monopoly for personal profit.

Today, the public domain has for all intents and purposes been eliminated. This quiet death was hailed by vested interests, and in perfect 1984 fashion the common idea of copyright protection has been altered to its opposite.

Now the dialog is waterlogged with fear. It’s about about “protecting” businesses (all artists are businesses) from their customers. This “war is peace, peace is war” inversion has reinforced a sense of entitlement among artists. My fellow artists tend to embrace statism, so this is no great surprise.

I’ve followed copyright law closely over the last couple of decades, watching the Federally-granted monopoly grow stronger each step of the way.

The stranglehold has gone past obvious and become onerous, and it’s nice to see Congress make a token effort to undo some of the mess that it’s made with the “Orphan Works” bill.

Nick Anderson gives a list of reasons how the bill would “end that exclusive right”, which is disappointingly full of holes. Seriously, Nick, under the current rules you can’t (for example) “assure a client that your work hasn’t been — or won’t be — infringed”. One counter example strips this assertion of substance. Can’t you put up a credible argument against the bill?

But, if bad logic is too ho-hum, in the comments a person by the name of Katryna flew off the handle, screaming (in bold) “You’re obviously not an artist so you shouldn’t even PRETEND to try to speak about what we do and don’t DESERVE”

I dislike narrow-minded, fearful artists like this giving the rest of us a bad name.

The current draconian, monopolistic system was desired by big corporations that in many cases used their lawyers to steal from artists in the first place. Piece by piece Congress destroyed the public domain. (Am I the only one who thinks it ironic that one of the most rabid companies is Disney, who relied on the public domain in engineering their early success?)

It’s too bad those artists who live in fear of being “stolen from” have no idea how important the public domain has been to art. Now it’s been gone for decades and shows no signs of coming back.

Is this legislation flawed? Sure. But I’d rather have a flawed step in the right direction rather than wait for a sighting of that legal Sasquatch known as the “flawless bill”.

My fellow artists! Stop worshiping your works! If “stuff” is all you have as an artist, then an artist you are not. You forget that value lies not in the creation, but comes from yourselves.

The power I have — you have — is our creative ability, not the things that we have created. Make everything that I’ve created disappear. Burn them. Delete them. Take them all. I, as a creative person, will still produce. Copycats cannot. People hiring me want me and what I can do.

People like Katryna whine, “With every image that I put on the internet…” Really? Wow! Tell me more! Are you saying that you didn’t realize that putting stuff on the ‘Net and then crying that people copied your stuff is like crawling into the lion cage at the zoo and complaining that you got mauled? Maybe Congress should pass a law requiring warning labels on computers sold to creative professionals.

Instead of asking the government to use violence on your behalf, ask how you can use the nature of the ‘Net to your advantage (or don’t put stuff on the ‘Net). Crybaby artists give the rest of us a bad name.

How about this for a novel idea: contact your Congress Critter and suggest improvements, that would help the public domain make a re-appearance, starting with orphan works. Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot. That would take some creativity and thinking, wouldn’t it?

– STGM

http://sictransitgloriamundi.wordpress.com/2008/05/18/crybab...