{"id":3081,"date":"2011-06-17T11:20:51","date_gmt":"2011-06-17T11:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/?p=3081"},"modified":"2011-06-19T10:45:39","modified_gmt":"2011-06-19T10:45:39","slug":"a-classic-post-on-the-origins-and-future-of-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/?p=3081","title":{"rendered":"A classic post on the origins and future of copyright"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I just came across this very wonderful post on copyright, excerpted here. Read <a href=\"http:\/\/culturalliberty.org\/blog\/index.php?id=276\" title=\"Cultural Liberty: The 18th Century Overture\">the rest of it<\/a>, its a classic, and do spread it.<\/p>\n<p><b>A Crescendo of Copyright<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>\t<b>Natural Finale and Reprise<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>\t<b><em>Rejected<\/em> by The <a href=\"http:\/\/rethink-music.com\">Rethink Music<\/a> Conference, April 2011, Berkman Center for Internet &amp; Society, Harvard University<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>\t<b>Abstract<\/b> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>prologue<\/strong> \u2013 mankind\u2019s culture and copyright in perspective<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<em>Copyright\u2019s 18<sup>th<\/sup> Century Overture<\/em> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1709 Queen Anne\u2019s <strong>privilege<\/strong> of copyright<\/li>\n<li>1787 the <strong>philosophy<\/strong> of <strong>Paine<\/strong> and the (natural) rights of man<\/li>\n<li>1790 the <strong>prestidigitation<\/strong> in which a privilege is inveigled as a natural right<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<em>Copyright\u2019s Confrontation with Cultural Liberty reaches a crescendo<\/em> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>C19-20 the <strong>printing<\/strong> industry\u2019s exploitation of its privilege<\/li>\n<li>1990s the <strong>propertisation<\/strong> of published intellectual works as an entrenchment<\/li>\n<li>2000s the <strong>piracy<\/strong> of published intellectual works as a natural liberty<\/li>\n<li>2010s the <strong>persecution<\/strong> of the <strong>people<\/strong> for their <strong>piracy<\/strong> (cultural liberty)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<em>Copyright\u2019s finale, and the reprise of natural rights<\/em> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>20?? the <strong>prospectus<\/strong> for mankind\u2019s future<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<b>Prologue<\/b> <\/p>\n<p>\tThe extent of mankind\u2019s primordial cultural activity stretches back at least half a million years, but thanks to repeated erasure by glaciation we start the notable cultural events calendar at 50,000<sub>BC<\/sub>. <\/p>\n<p>\t51,709 years later a nascent empire and its pampered press have the impudence to decide that mankind\u2019s cultural commonwealth would be so much better if a law was created to prohibit people from copying each other.  <\/p>\n<p>\tThere are a few words for the precursory, unbridled cultural intercourse that still remain in the English language, though they are almost obsolete: \u2018folksong\u2019, \u2018folkmusic\u2019, \u2018folktales\u2019, and \u2018folklore\u2019. These primeval springs are still known to a few among us and can be found seeping through the pre-renaissance foundations upon which our modern culture stands. <\/p>\n<p>\tToday we have the luxury of looking back over the last three centuries of \u2018protection\u2019 to see how much richer our culture has become, being effectively manacled and enclosed by corporations such as Disney. Permitted the liberty only to create purely original works, albeit with some tolerance for cultural cross contamination (if not too flagrant), we enjoy a far more creative and diverse culture. Or rather, this is what Queen Anne\u2019s Stationers\u2019 Guild and its descendant publishing corporations would persuade us is the consequence of her wise enactment of law to \u2018protect\u2019 published works from the grubby hands and mouths of the great unwashed. <\/p>\n<p>\t<em>Nothing to do with the printers\u2019 monopolies then\u2026<\/em> <\/p>\n<p>\tLet us see the historical accident of copyright in perspective: <\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" BORDERCOLOR=\"black\">\n<tr>\n<td>65,000,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Primates<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2,000,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Homo Erectus<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>500,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Division into Neanderthal &amp; Homo Sapiens<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>200,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Homo Sapiens\u2019 ancestral basis<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>140,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Glacial retreat after 40,000 year long glacial period<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Dawn of mankind\u2019s culture: language, music, drawing, etc.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>32,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Cave paintings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>30,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Neanderthals extinct<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Glacial retreat after 50,000 year long glacial period<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>17,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Lascaux Cave Paintings<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Holocene \u2013 modern epoch<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>9,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Jericho<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>8,000<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Stonehenge site\u2019s significance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>3,100<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Stonehenge construction begins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2,611<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>First Egyptian Pyramid<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>753<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Foundation of Rome<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>300<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Library of Alexandria<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>48<sub>BC<\/sub><\/td>\n<td>Library of Alexandria accidentally destroyed by Julius Caesar<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>300<\/td>\n<td>Book format outnumbers scroll format<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1282<\/td>\n<td>Water powered paper mill<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1403<\/td>\n<td>Corporation of London forms Stationers\u2019 Guild<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1440<\/td>\n<td>Development and use of printing press begins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1492<\/td>\n<td>Europeans discover New World<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1536<\/td>\n<td>Erasmus dies \u2013 750,000 copies of his works sold<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1557<\/td>\n<td>Stationers\u2019 Guild granted control over all printing<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1572<\/td>\n<td>Fall of Inca Empire<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1695<\/td>\n<td>Stationers\u2019 Guild loses control upon expiry of the Licensing of the Press Act 1662<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1703<\/td>\n<td>Daniel Defoe endorses commercial piracy of his work &#8211; if true copies<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>1709<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Queen Anne Establishes the Privilege of Copyright<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1787<\/td>\n<td>US Constitution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1790<\/td>\n<td>Madison re-enacts Statute of Anne (tweaked for the US)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1791<\/td>\n<td>Thomas Paine deprecates privileges<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1814<\/td>\n<td>Steam powered printing press<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1837<\/td>\n<td>Babbage designs Analytical Engine<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1937<\/td>\n<td>Relay computers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1943<\/td>\n<td>Valve\/Tube computers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1953<\/td>\n<td>Transistor computers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1969<\/td>\n<td>Internet begins with two nodes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1971<\/td>\n<td>Microprocessor computers<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1991<\/td>\n<td>World Wide Web begins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2000<\/td>\n<td>The people obtain the means of mass reproduction and communication<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2010<\/td>\n<td>The successors to the Stationers\u2019 Guild seek possession of the Internet via <span class=\"caps\"><span class=\"caps\">ACTA<\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2011<\/td>\n<td>Copyright recognised to be ineffective vs the people\u2019s cultural liberty\/piracy<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2015??<\/td>\n<td>Copyright is reformed to exempt individuals in the digital domain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2020??<\/td>\n<td>Copyright is reformed to exempt individuals<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2025??<\/td>\n<td>Copyright is reformed to exempt the digital domain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>2030??<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Copyright is repealed<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2031??<\/td>\n<td>The author\u2019s exclusive right to their writings is properly secured at last \u2013 ethically<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<p>\tSeen in a proper perspective, copyright is a legislative misadventure borne of political expediency and commercial self-interest. It is a hiccup in mankind\u2019s history and, in the face of the diffusive nature of information, is coming to an abrupt and natural end.<\/p>\n<p>[&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p>read the rest of this epic, classic, brilliant, informative and insightful post here:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/culturalliberty.org\/blog\/index.php?id=276\" title=\"Cultural Liberty: The 18th Century Overture\">http:\/\/culturalliberty.org\/blog\/index.php?id=276<\/a><\/p>\n<p>No wonder it was rejected, it is so true it jumps off the screen and knocks you off your chair!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I just came across this very wonderful post on copyright, excerpted here. Read the rest of it, its a classic, and do spread it. A Crescendo of Copyright Natural Finale and Reprise Rejected by The Rethink Music Conference, April 2011, Berkman Center for Internet &amp; Society, Harvard University Abstract A prologue \u2013 mankind\u2019s culture and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[580,57,53,18,27,3,47,24],"tags":[273],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irdial.com\/blogdial\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}