Tuesday, March 25, 2008

The Misdirection of Recent Copyright Laws

The introduction of new copyright protection laws in the past few years has put a bad mark on our country’s strong tradition of balancing the interests of inventors with the greater good of progressing the arts and sciences. While doing very little to protect inventors and in many cases reducing their incentive to innovate, these laws are calculated only to protect the outdated business model of large corporations in the recording and movie industries. Many roles, careers, and organizations in society have been suffered to pass away and be replaced as new technologies remodel the world’s cultural and business landscape, but few have had the money, resources, and political clout of these corporations, and few have fought against extinction so fiercely. This battle, and the damage it is causing to society, mostly clearly reveals itself in the current struggles between the music and electronics industries. New innovative products that bring us information faster and more conveniently are literally being held back from store shelves until the copyright legal wars are resolved. It is time for us to recognize the tactics of these self-serving industries for what they are and begin to shift our legislative focus towards creating laws that restore the balance between creator and consumer in the context of the changing technological world.

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