Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Here we go again: Congress readies broad new digital copyright bill
Librarians have numerous concerns about new copyright laws and regulations. Will they inhibit library preservation work? Will they have a chilling effect on the creation of new works? Will they take away the rights we already have? Etc., etc., etc. (Be sure to study the issues in library school.) Congress is at it again. Read up and speak out.
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This is *very* disturbing. It seems a strange shift of priorities for the FBI to be directed to put such a lot of resources into combatting IP "theft" (which in many cases is debateable anyway) when it seems there should be other more significant crimes to investigate - and expanding their ability to seize records is alarming.
It occured to me yesterday, trying to address a question of whether something was legal or not, that it's a tad bizarre that it's so darned hard for those who want to comply with a strict interpretation of copyright to do so. Wouldn't it make sense to have, along with the stern FBI warning on DVDs and videos, some information on who you gonna call to get permission (and no doubt pay for it) - but no, that's just too difficult to provide. And of course the hardest thing to do when trying to get a digitization project off the ground is to locate the people who may own the rights.
I'm willing to bet this was not what the Founders had in mind when they gave Congress the right "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."
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