>Same goes for laws. What I'd like to reflect on, is the >fact that we can help steer the direction these laws go, >and in fact, probably should. > >I think it's pretty shameful how much power "corporations" >have, I mean, it's pretty blatant that big $$ is doing what >it can to protect it's interests, in general. And it's doing >pretty well so far, judging by the state of some things.
I disagree with this sentiment completely. Copyright laws are not being pushed or protected by/because of "corporations" -- they're protecting the individual!! And these laws are pushed and protected by those individuals. Photographers, journalists, novelists...the only way they can protect their intellectual property is through our copyright laws. Do they benefit corporations too? Of course. They benefit whomever is creating the intellectual property -- the person/people that actually did the work of creating the information in the first place. These laws are critical to the survival and progress of our economic system and our culture. They are an essential part of both and if we're going to take a stance on the issues (which is a fine point) it should be in support of the copyright laws not against it. That said, there are most certainly times when people -- or more often -- corporations try to take copyright protections too far. For instance, suggesting that game results for broadcast sporting events -- or even the statistics themselves -- are copyright of the owners of the league is ridiculous (anyone watching the game could compile those statistics). We recently had a ruling related to this in the US that declared the pro sports leagues don't have ownership rights to player and game statistics -- but they do have rights to THEIR version of those statistics. Suggesting that anyone should be able to freely take someone else's hard work is ludicrous -- in this example, someone spent the time to collect/compile the information or they purchased it from someone who did, so they should have protection from other people stealing that information from them. Copyright laws -- as they exist today -- are good for all of us. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/message.cfm/messageid:253971 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Talk/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.4
