New Minister Of Culture In Brazil Brings Hope Of Return To Earlier Enlightened Copyright Policy
from the back-to-the-future dept
As Techdirt observed back in 2007, Brazilian artists were some of the first to recognize that piracy can be a positive force that helps get the word out about their creations. That was part of a larger openness to new ideas about copyright that was symbolized by the appointment of the well-known Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil as Minister of Culture, a post he held from 2003 until 2008. However, more recently, things have gone into reverse on the copyright front. Ana de Hollanda, the Minister of Culture appointed by the current President, ordered the CC license to be removed from the Ministry of Culture's website, and there were indications that harsher copyright laws were coming.
Now, in something of a shock move, de Hollanda has been dismissed according to this report by infojustice.org:
Ana de Hollanda has been on shaky grounds since she appointed. Her first words were to say she would review the Copyright Law Reform in order to "protect the author" from what she saw as an attack on their rights and its exercise. By that she meant the expansion of the limitations, the supervision of the Collective Management Organization and the institutionalization of the equivalent to a Copyright Office with consulting, mediation and possibly arbitration powers.
As the article points out, there are signs that de Hollanda's successor, Marta Suplicy, may return to the more enlightened policies of Gil and the President who appointed him, known popularly as "Lula". Moreover, Lula's successor, President Dilma Rousseff, has also talked about widening access to culture in her country:
It is important to note that, when taking office in 2011, the President Dilma established 13 directives which were priorities for the Government. Among them, the 11th, there is an explicit statement on "democratization of access to cultural goods". One of the most important ways of achieving such goal is strengthening the copyright limitations and exceptions by opening up the system.
It's too early to tell whether the new Minister of Culture will make that happen, but the signs are looking better than they have for a while.
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Filed Under: ana de hollanda, brazil, copyright, culture, gilberto gil, marta suplicy
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"One of the most important ways of achieving such goal is strengthening the copyright limitations and exceptions by opening up the system."
The same thing could be accomplished by opening more libraries or approving more over the air TV channels. You are taking this guy's opinion and trying to make it sound like fact. It's not.
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Anyhow, it's less an opinion, but more a directive to her government.
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It should also be noted that this President has changed cabinet members (and ideas) fairly often. I wouldn't count on this appointment meaning anything more than a shuffle for the sake of shuffling.
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Also, it's not for the sake of shuffling. It's a political move because Marta Suplicy gave up trying to run for S�o Paulo Prefecture so Fernando Haddad could run for it. As a consolation prize she got the Culture Ministry.
I do expect her to be better than her predecessor though for my experience as a citizen of S�o Paulo during her mandate. She has a tendency to really do what's best for the poorer (as she did during her mandate) and opening up copyright and allowing culture to spread is on par with that philosophy. Also, she has a son called Supla who is a singer himself and as far as I know he is the type of artist that couldn't care less with copyright so this should influence her.
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I can't find the full quote anywhere... I can see the president talking about "Among them, the 11th, there is an explicit statement on "democratization of access to cultural goods". " but I can't find the direct quote of " One of the most important ways of achieving such goal is strengthening the copyright limitations and exceptions by opening up the system."
Care to share a link with the rest of us, because the story is lacking entirely in substance on that level.
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The linked article is dead on on what's happening here and the translations are as good as possible: http://infojustice.org/archives/27320
Also, that article links to Dilma's Governmental Directives in which you have:
11. Valorizar a cultura nacional, dialogar com outras culturas, democratizar os bens culturais e favorecer a democratiza��o da comunica��o.
To value national culture, dialogue with other cultures, democratize*** the cultural goods and favor the democratization of communications.
*** This word is used pretty much in the same meaning as popularize (make it popular and widespread).
I'm wary to say it explicitly says they will strengthen copyright limitations and exceptions but to achieve what that directive says it's the logical step and Lula had the same ideas and as we've seen under Gilberto Gil Ministry that's pretty much what was done either officially or unofficially (there's no case against file sharers and it's very limited against sharing sites as far as I know). The aberration in this process is ECAD (the collection society) they pretty much run in the opposite direction. Generally speaking the article is right on spot, both TD and Infojustice ones.
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Especially when they come from you!
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There are other open culture initiatives and sites maintained by the Govt but I use this one quite frequently.
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/s
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We are walking very slowly in this sense because while the lower slice can now buy their cars the educational system is still very very deficient.
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Sure...
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"I am a musical artist" is another way of saying "I make fart noises that I force others to listen to and expect them to pay me for!"
See how that works? I just take anything that someone says and re-interpret it according to my bias and agenda and suddenly they're the bad guys, even if that's not actually what they said. Then I can pretend that anyone who makes reference to the statement I twisted is supportive of the twisted interpretation.
We'll try it again, just for fun.
"Hope all your 'pirates' are proud" is another way of saying, "I'm a goat rapist." Why would I buy your music if you're just going to spend it on acquiring goats for your sick pleasures?
What? You're not a goat rapist? But I just said you are and therefore it's true because I said so! Anyone who buys your music supports goat rape! Moral panic! Think of the kids (i.e. baby goats)! Somebody pass a law!
Or maybe it would be nice to have a civilized conversation instead of just throwing around strawmen and vilifying people who disagree with you.
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Do you actually know how much money you're supposedly losing due to copyright violations (based on the flawed assumption of a one-to-one lost sale ratio) or are you fighting with strawmen over a hypothetical loss you're not actually experiencing?
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Your name is nowhere in the Top 20. You're clearly not being affected.
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