The Media Levy is only One Aspect
In 2002 I spent much of the year working with others to defeat some pretty outrageous consequences of the federal government's copyright legislation - the Blank Media Levy.
Today I'm involved with a company that is about to branch out into the music industry, headed up by a couple of old-time rock and rollers (more on that later).
The point is that while I've kept up on the Media Levy this last go around (and it has stayed the same and in fact been removed from music players by the courts) I've also been watching the general copyright fights the world over as (old) big business tries to secure its place in the face of a technologically changing world.
This thread of my blog will talk about some of the resources I've been watching as well as some of the things that are going on - with reference to resources and actions that you as individuals can use to help in the fight for the protection of society's ability to deal reasonably with creative art, literature, music and even software.
The watchword today is "Intellectual Property" - held in many cases by companies that are world-wide in scope and which use it to stop smaller companies from competing, individuals from fairly using or even in some cases really even enjoying that which they've purchased. The line crosses from copyright to patent through digital rights management, to heavy handed litigation and draconian tactics. It affects us all in many ways.
I'm looking forward to hearing from you about your experiences and opinions.
Other places to look at IP/Copyright info:
That ought to give you lots to read for now...
Just remember - if it were not for Copyright Law - you would probably not be able to read nearly as much as you do - the (current) laws strike a balance between protecting the author's/creators' rights and the rights of the rest of the population. They are given by the state to encourage creativity and the publication of thoughts and information. Without the laws authors/musicians/artists, etc. would have little incentive to write/create since there would be no protection of their income. On the other hand, if the laws are made too much in favour of the owners of created works, the public may be forever denied the ability to learn from the past or even about the past, and may be harrassed, tried and convicted for creating similar works with no abiltiy to know that they even were similar, simply because after a while all themes and plots would be "used up".
How many current books and plays are based upon the works of William Shakespeare - books and plays that would be today illegal under some of the proposed changes to copyright law?
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