Crap Copyright Amendment

[ManDownUnder]

We'll get back to that original position where the only real value was created during the actual performances of the work. And perhaps that's the way it should be.

Apply that to SW. the first copy would cost $150,000 and every copy thereafter is free? How would that work?

[nigel]

Very simple fix, pass a law that makes it so that copyright infringment for non profit/non commercial purposes isn't infringement, but that commercial infringement is.. Problem solved :-)

Well there is a legal concept called "De minimis non curat lex" - the law does not care about small things. You could almost argue that one person copying a file worth nothing for personal use is a "small thing" . (IANAL, this might not be enshrined in NZ law)

[nigel]

Apply that to SW. the first copy would cost $150,000 and every copy thereafter is free? How would that work?

I think I've already presented you a viable alternative . Software is in it's nature easy to copy, so you have to work around that. Sell something scarce, like your expertise in customising it.

[Usarka]

Sigh. Legal lossless DRM-free music downloads. I solemly swear to buy no more music until this is a reality.

[Max Preload]

a tad hypocritical isn't it?

I don't think so - they're using it for profit. He's using it for enjoyment and by him learning it, there is a better chance of a commercial entity adopting it's use through recommendation.

Incidently, that's how AutCAD got such a foothold - they turned a blind eye to piracy in the early days and it became the de-facto standard - it was never the best (and still isn't) software for the job - just the most popular. Windows is probably a case in point for that too...

[jrandom]

Apply that to SW. the first copy would cost $150,000 and every copy thereafter is free? How would that work?

Like this.

Except that the first copy is free too.

Oh, you say, but the producers of that software are less wealthy than Bill Gates or Larry Ellison?

Well, like I said before, maybe that's the way it should be.

Isn't it interesting that the rise of easy distribution channels for copies of digital data has happened in parallel with the rise of Free Software (tm)?

However. I don't think that copyright is an invalid concept. But Western copyright laws, led by the USA's example, have been so stretched and extended over the past fifty years that they barely bear any resemblance to their original forms.

And when governments start enacting unfair laws due to pressure from commercial interests, enough is obviously enough.

Quite simply, when the cost of copying and distribution is zero, the added value in that process is zero, so any attempts to profit from it will be difficult and artificial.

That probably feels 'wrong' to you, but step back and look at the realities of the situation. There are plenty of business models, mostly service and research based, that work within those realities.

You're buying into the propaganda from the old monopolists that states that the new realities are immoral. Stop it.

Sigh. Legal lossless DRM-free music downloads. I solemly swear to buy no more music until this is a reality.

Amen.

[imdying]

I expect my place of employment to own legal software, but unless pricing structures for home use alter drastically, I probably never will.

Totally agree with that... if you're making a buck from it, then cough up the dollars to buy it!

[MaxB]

Here is a Sideswipe column from yesterday's Herald about Monty Python getting a huge response from putting much of their material on You Tube for free.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/ne...ectid=10553839

The media corporations have had it too good for too long. What some of them fail to grasp is that freely available material on the web creates the hype and hysteria that sells product.

Heaps of shows have been saved or improved by a net presence. Punters who dont have a clue with complex plots can catch up on their shows on the web. Shows that have benefitted include Lost, Battlestar Galatica and Desparate Housewives. The 'boosting ' as they call it makes them millions of $$$ worldwide. They can't have it both ways.

[Drunken Monkey]

...Piracy is theft. You're bullshitting yourself and everyone around you if you're taking the "it's only copying" line...

Erm, no it's not. Piracy is an emotive term used to incorrectly describe copyright infrigement. Yes, sometimes people will suffer a loss because of it. Other times they don't. There's certainly things out there people have obtained as pirate copies simply because they're free because the asking price is bullshit. If they couldn't copy it, they would never have bought the fucking pile of crap in the first place. Perhaps the music/film industry could wake up and smell the roses and take a lead from Shareware. Romero and Carmack still made a butload of cash and they weren't cut up that not everyone paid for Wolf3d or Doom.

And don't go on one of your self-righteous indignant rants on me again MDU, I'm in software too and this is a real issue with impact in my day to day job. And I still think copyright is bullshit.

Open source rules, ok.

[ManDownUnder]

I'm in software too and this is a real issue with impact in my day to day job. And I still think copyright is bullshit.

Open source rules, ok.

As a minor stakeholder you can afford to take that position... as someone needing the income to pay the wages of the minor stakeholders... I can't.

People taking my software outside my rules are theives. Pure... Simple. End of story

[Drunken Monkey]

guitar tabs are copyright work.

And doesn't that suck too.

So MDU's software business model relies on protection for whatever reason (we make ours on support services of our software, not the software itself). Can't argue with that and I can see where he gets his stand from, even though we disagree and I'd never run a model like that.

But how the fuck can the MPA justify that an individual person, tabbing out a song for personal practice, is causing the original artist a loss?

[Beemer]

I think the problem is most people dont really know they're doing it.

I hope you all realise most images in your avatars or sigs is in breech of the copyright act.

Not mine - took the photo myself! But I know what you mean - what happens if someone forwards you something that is copyrighted and you delete it but someone finds out you had it in the first place - are you still done? If so, then the law needs a far bit of tweaking to make it workable for most of us.

[The Stranger:Me]

Not mine - took the photo myself! But I know what you mean - what happens if someone forwards you something that is copyrighted and you delete it but someone finds out you had it in the first place - are you still done? If so, then the law needs a far bit of tweaking to make it workable for most of us.

What about a copyright image on a Web site?
If one of the avatars on this site is copyright we are all in breach as the image now resides on all of our HDD's.

A case in the states recently where 5 kids are being charged over child pornography. A couple of girls took photos of themselves and sent them to mates. The girls and their mates (all minors) are all being charged.

[Hitcher]

This isn't the only recently passed dumb law either.

I present for your edification and enjoyment, the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008, notably sections 32 and 33 of that Act.

You will no doubt be delighted to know that failure in official "documents" to use the macron in Maori placenames, determined by the above authority to require one, is now a criminal offence. The firing squad is polishing its weapons.

[Max Preload]

This isn't the only recently passed dumb law either.

I present for your edification and enjoyment, the New Zealand Geographic Board (Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa) Act 2008, notably sections 32 and 33 of that Act.

You will no doubt be delighted to know that failure in official "documents" to use the macron in Maori placenames, determined by the above authority to require one, is now a criminal offence. The firing squad is polishing its weapons.

That's some parting shot Liarbour fired!