EU Pirate Party and Shorter Copyright Term
Sunday, October 18th, 2009I just read a short article on The Next Web (http://thenextweb.com/europe/2009/10/18/pirate-party-leader-threatened-burnt-stake/)about Sweden’s Pirate Party in the European Union. Here were a few very interesting points they summarized which made a lot of sense to me:
* Deep Packet Inspection and any other methods of ‘looking inside’ the data being transmitted by individuals is wrong, just like it’s illegal to intercept mail in the postal service.
* ISPs should be immune from prosecution for what’s sent through their networks, just like the postal service isn’t prosecuted for moving illegal drugs.
* Individuals have a right to privacy online and offline
* Copyright should only apply to commercial work – bedroom remixers and mashup artists shouldn’t have to ask permission to release their work unless they want to charge for it.
* Finally, and most controversially, copyright on any song, film or any other creative work should be just five years. That would mean artists would only be able to earn a living from their music for five years before the song became public property.
I definitely agree that the last one is controversial, but I have heard similar points from GNU creator, Richard Stallman: http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/misinterpreting-copyright.html. His point is that a copyright is a monopoly given to a writer,etc with the intent of promoting innovation. Having long copyrights is counter to the purpose of the law, and he claims, counter to the constitution. I still do not have enough knowledge about this subject to form a strong opinion, so I will leave it at that.