[LINK] copyright rent seekers

[Kim Holburn]

http://www.internetevolution.com/document.asp?doc_id=178058&page_number=1

Nice article by Corey Doctorow on how copyright gatekeepers are  
stifling competition.


> What if the Authors Guild had offered to stop suing Google for  
> notional copyright violations in exchange for Google contributing  
> its scans to a common pool of indexable books available to all  
> search-engines, ensuring that book search was as competitive as Web  
> search?
>
> Copyright is a powerful weapon, and it grows more powerful every  
> day, as lawmakers extend its reach and strength. Funny thing about  
> powerful weapons, though: Unless you know how to use them, they make  
> lousy equalizers. As they say in self-defense courses, "Any weapon  
> you don't know how to use belongs to your opponent."
>
> Recording artists get an extra 45 years of copyright, and it’s  
> promptly taken from them by the all-powerful record labels, who then  
> use it to strengthen their power by extending their grasp over  
> distribution channels. Authors are given the right to control  
> indexing of their works, and it's promptly scooped up by Google, who  
> can use it to prevent competitors from giving authors a better deal.
>
> For so long as copyright holders think like short-timers, seeking a  
> quick buck instead of a healthy competitive marketplace, they're  
> doomed to work for their gatekeepers, rather than the other way  
> around.


-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
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