PhotoDude.com

Tue. Jun 03, 2003

Shouting Into the Wilderness ... Again

Shouting Into the Wilderness … Again – Before you jump on Lawrence Lessig’s bandwagon, and sign his petition calling for a “Public Domain Enhancement Act” that would require a $1 tax/fee to retain a copyright after 50 years, take the time to read an opposing viewpoint.

Not from a corporation. From an individual.

Read The False Binary of Copyright. Then Taxing Creators, a direct response to this proposal. Those are the more … temperate … comments, but there’s also this and this, as I got more agitated. Heck, there’s a whole category on copyright, much of which agrees with the “party line.” But on this one, I have to cry foul.

Read where the petition says, “This legislation would strengthen the public domain without burdening copyright owners,” then imagine me at the age of 76, sorting through hundreds of images, trying to decide which ones I can afford to shell out a retirement buck for in order to retain the copyright, then dealing with the paperwork to file. And wondering why my property is subject to transference when the property of other 76 year olds is not.

Then go sign his petition.