Comments on: Joe Biden: RIAA stooge http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cio/joe-biden-riaa-stooge/ A SearchCIO-Midmarket.com blog Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:33:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: RetiredITGuy http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cio/joe-biden-riaa-stooge/#comment-28 RetiredITGuy Sun, 31 Aug 2008 16:08:46 +0000 http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cio/joe-biden-riaa-stooge/#comment-28 I expected that the articles appearing in this subject forum were to serve as a [I]proportional mix of news and wit[/I] - together with a bit of IT Knowledge. Unfortunately, this article contained none/little of any of the required information - only a political tirade. As Kille stated, let's work to address the real issue here and drop all the personal/political [I]trash talk[/I] and focus on the political issues that CIO's can expect to have to deal with and their implications on IT. I expected that the articles appearing in this subject forum were to serve as a proportional mix of news and wit - together with a bit of IT Knowledge. Unfortunately, this article contained none/little of any of the required information - only a political tirade. As Kille stated, let’s work to address the real issue here and drop all the personal/political trash talk and focus on the political issues that CIO’s can expect to have to deal with and their implications on IT.

]]> By: Klille http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cio/joe-biden-riaa-stooge/#comment-27 Klille Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:31:34 +0000 http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/cio/joe-biden-riaa-stooge/#comment-27 Alright, let’s make sure we are clear on the target please. The problem is not that copyrights are enforced; it is that they are essentially perpetual. Our founding fathers thought that innovation was to be supported, not squelched. They realized that intellect was a marketable commodity, just like cotton and tobacco. They also realized that if innovation was to be supported we could not have people sitting on their backsides raking in dough without adding value to the marketplace. Copyrights were supposed to expire so that others could build on a body of work and all of us would be better off. Instead, the copyright holders lobby congress, and congress, under no pressure not to do so, extends the copyrights for another set period of years. Every time the copyright for “Steamboat Willy” comes up to expire congress can count on a substantial influx of funds to their re-election campaign from the Disney corporation. It is a political game and consumers are sitting on the sidelines because we have some very small tools compared with Disney. When was the last time we had a candidate running on a platform that said, “I will work to make sure copyrights expire after twenty years?” This would only bring a preemptive strike and massive investment by Disney, and likely everyone else associated with the RIAA to fund their opponent. I am open to solutions to this problem, but enforcement of copyright is not the problem. Making copyrights perpetual is. Alright, let’s make sure we are clear on the target please. The problem is not that copyrights are enforced; it is that they are essentially perpetual. Our founding fathers thought that innovation was to be supported, not squelched. They realized that intellect was a marketable commodity, just like cotton and tobacco. They also realized that if innovation was to be supported we could not have people sitting on their backsides raking in dough without adding value to the marketplace.

Copyrights were supposed to expire so that others could build on a body of work and all of us would be better off. Instead, the copyright holders lobby congress, and congress, under no pressure not to do so, extends the copyrights for another set period of years. Every time the copyright for “Steamboat Willy” comes up to expire congress can count on a substantial influx of funds to their re-election campaign from the Disney corporation.

It is a political game and consumers are sitting on the sidelines because we have some very small tools compared with Disney. When was the last time we had a candidate running on a platform that said, “I will work to make sure copyrights expire after twenty years?” This would only bring a preemptive strike and massive investment by Disney, and likely everyone else associated with the RIAA to fund their opponent.

I am open to solutions to this problem, but enforcement of copyright is not the problem. Making copyrights perpetual is.

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