Yay, Sam! “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” It doesn’t say “the people’s” or “of the people.”
Now, I’d disagree on copyright (to a degree), because Congress is granted the right to make that determination in its enumerated powers, and I don’t think some amount of protection as provided for in the Constitution is all bad. However, I am in the camp that feels that current law has gone _way_ beyond that power, which is restricted only to “limited times.” That is, current copyright terms are insane; current patent protection terms seem just as ridiculously long.
Well, as I said on the podcast, I wasn’t talking about what the constitution does or does not allow congress or anyone else to do, I was talking about what I thought was “right”. I certainly agree that current copyright has gone too far. However, I do go further and believe that at this point it is a completely outmoded and not only useless but harmful notion in any form whatsoever, even very limited protections. Might a world without copyright at all result in lesser incentives for the creation of books, music, movies and other forms of mass entertainment and art? Sure. It almost certainly would. Might it result in the bankruptcy of entire portions of our economy? Sure! And I don’t think that either of those things bothers me in the slightest.
Yay, Sam! “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech.” It doesn’t say “the people’s” or “of the people.”
Now, I’d disagree on copyright (to a degree), because Congress is granted the right to make that determination in its enumerated powers, and I don’t think some amount of protection as provided for in the Constitution is all bad. However, I am in the camp that feels that current law has gone _way_ beyond that power, which is restricted only to “limited times.” That is, current copyright terms are insane; current patent protection terms seem just as ridiculously long.
Well, as I said on the podcast, I wasn’t talking about what the constitution does or does not allow congress or anyone else to do, I was talking about what I thought was “right”. I certainly agree that current copyright has gone too far. However, I do go further and believe that at this point it is a completely outmoded and not only useless but harmful notion in any form whatsoever, even very limited protections. Might a world without copyright at all result in lesser incentives for the creation of books, music, movies and other forms of mass entertainment and art? Sure. It almost certainly would. Might it result in the bankruptcy of entire portions of our economy? Sure! And I don’t think that either of those things bothers me in the slightest.