way i figure it, the only reason copyright should outlast the author is because he died unusually soon after publication... and then only because otherwise it wouldn't take long before someone saw the profit in having the author murdered for access to his works. for this reason, it's also probably not smart to say 'death of author +x years' either. even 'x years or death of author +y' is problematic, where if it is 'whichever is shorter' you're back to that murder issue depending on how x and y compare, and for 'whichever is longer' you're back to where we are now. much less problematic to have a straight fixed time limit.
there's some research (been mentioned here before) that indicates that there might be some point in copyright for five or ten years (i forget which) after publication, and after that financial gain for the creators is limited at best even with it. based on this, it seems that after ten years it serves mostly to limit further creation without any redeeming factors.
so, logically, it seems to me, copyright should last no more than ten years (more logically, opt in, pay, get five years, and if you want after five pay a heck of a lot more for another five, one time only), and if the author dies before that period expires, the monopoly right for the work should be treated as part of his estate until such time as it expires. this isn't That much of a problem when you're looking at a short copyright period. the problem is when the copyright lasts a very long time, the owner is actually a corporation (as is the case with movies and games), Especially when the owner is not actually the author, and... well, then you get this sort of sillyness.
if memory serves, this was tossed out as a bad idea to avoid incentives to commit murder.
(seriously, given the stupidity that corporations get up to now, what makes you think they Wouldn't hire assassins if it looked to be the most profitable rout?)
corporations like to have works locked up under their control where only they can exploit them, rather than in the public domain, but they'd rather have them in the public domain where, again, they can exploit them, than locked up under someone Else's control, where they can't.
that and an author's natural lifetime is just way too freaking long in a lot of cases.
we have/had some joke parties here in NZ. the Wizard used to run one of them. the Imperial something or other party. i forget the exact name.
the depressing thing is, when you read it's four pages of basic philosophy/policy/goals/whatever, it's not until you get 3/4ths of the way through the 4th page that you realise there's something wrong with it and look back, then notice it started getting strange about 1/3rd of the way through the 4th page (this is the section about forming a new empire and taking over the world, basically. (if i remember rightly)). the worst part is, even taking that part into account, it's Still Better Than The Equivilant From Our Actual Real Political Parties. (well, most of them most of the time, anyway.) and if you ignore the last page is actually the most sensible platform i think anyone's run on in decades.
i seem to remember a country in eastern europe (poland? maybe someone else) had a 'free beer party'. their entire campaign was that if they won they'd buy every single citizen one beer each.
they did, and they did, and proceeded to be the best government the country had had in a very long time, for about two terms, before deciding they'd done everything useful they could and had better things to do. (i may be misremembering the details. pretty sure it's on wikipedia somewhere though)
NZ has something similar... though if you move house and go far enough away from where you started, your landline number doesn't go with you. (basically, if you're still in the same area they just reshuffle how the numbers are asigned. if you move to a Different area, the first three digits have to change because you're now on a different exchange, or at least that used to be the reasoning. that said they'd still try to get you the same number Within that exchange (last four digits) if it was not already assigned.)
well, i can see that going down like a lead balloon here. (fast and with a messy impact at the end)
well, given how our government works, i can see it happening, but currently there's no legal way to do it :)
here's a question: what's the difference between a phone number and a fixed IP, and how does someone go about finding your one, specifically, on an international network used by millions and millions of people? That is the purpose the phone number serves, really. ya gotta admit, it's actually less complex (if less easily remembered) tahn the way web addresses work. and the phone's contact list (enter number, attach to name, just grab the name from the list to talk to that person) works fine.
honestly, given that phone numbers are more unique than people's Names, all i can see any change away from them doing is making it Harder to find the person you want. (well, the switch from 'phone numbers' to 'fixed IP address' would change nothing in that reguard beyond standardising the systems... until you realise that, here at least, the vast majority of our consumer internet stuff uses non-fixed IP addresses... and is identified with a consumer by the phone number it's associated with, if i understand it correctly.)
see, here abouts the local phone companies got smart. while they still gouge you horribly on mobile data plans, a combination of well chosen regulation and smart business decisions lead them to be the major entities in the ISP business as well. (note, we didn't used to have cable TV. it finally came about when one of the phone companies started laying fiber to the home for better internet services and thought it'd be useful for getting customers to provide the satalite tv channels as part of the service.)
'course, the structure of our telecomunications industry is hard to keep track of. there are no monopolies anymore, but a lot of the older entities find themselves being customers, suppliers, and competitors to each other... often at the same time. then there's the constant attempts by both business and government regulation to try to find a balance that provides fair pricing to the customer, reasonable profits to the telcos, And deals with the fact that NZ isn't actually big enough for there to be viable competition at anything but a retail level.
(a recent change broke up the major entity that started life as part of the postoffice and was our main telco so it's retail part is now a seperate entity... something to do with the new government funded broadband improvement plan or something. i forget the termonolgy and such.)
when it comes to mobile... so far as i can tell most people just use prepayed sim cards for personal stuff. only limit is that if you don't put at least 20NZD on 'em a year they expire and you have to buy a new one (for about NZD30.) the number is tied to the sim card, and technically you can stick the card in anything that'll take a sim card. the Card is tied to the telco in question, of course. but if your phone's flat and your friend's isn't, a little fiddleing to swap the cards out will let you at your list.
it's also common to be able to store your contact list on either the phone, or the card. (if one is smart and not lazy, one will do both) so if you get a new phone, or the card expires... well, as long as they don't happen at once you've still got your info.
or you could be in NZ where payphones are rare (due to the cost of upkeep and pretty much every building having a phone anyway) not to mention it's almost random as to whether a given payphone want's a phone card or coins, and wifi hotspots are extremely rare (and practically nonexistant outside of the cities) ... plus new laws that are probably going to kill off the ones that do exist (thank you SO VERY MUCH, american entertainment industry :S)
you're actually probably going to have more luck going to a shop or farmhouse and asking to use their phone (depending on where you're calling) or if you can make use of a power socket to recharge your own. more likely to work.
On the post: US Porn Company Wins Default Judgment Against File Sharer In Canada; Guy Told To Pay $64k
Re: Not really an issue...
pretty sure copyright doesn't... well, at least as long as he doesn't want to visit the US for any reason. not so sure then.
On the post: US Porn Company Wins Default Judgment Against File Sharer In Canada; Guy Told To Pay $64k
Re: Re: Umm..
On the post: US Porn Company Wins Default Judgment Against File Sharer In Canada; Guy Told To Pay $64k
Re: Re: Re: Umm..
On the post: How Did The iTunes Terms Of Service Become A Cultural Phenomenon All Its Own?
Re: I AGREE
On the post: Supreme Court Not Interested In Dispute Over Steinbeck Heirs Trying To Reclaim Copyrights
Re: Re: Damage To Scholarship
there's some research (been mentioned here before) that indicates that there might be some point in copyright for five or ten years (i forget which) after publication, and after that financial gain for the creators is limited at best even with it. based on this, it seems that after ten years it serves mostly to limit further creation without any redeeming factors.
so, logically, it seems to me, copyright should last no more than ten years (more logically, opt in, pay, get five years, and if you want after five pay a heck of a lot more for another five, one time only), and if the author dies before that period expires, the monopoly right for the work should be treated as part of his estate until such time as it expires. this isn't That much of a problem when you're looking at a short copyright period. the problem is when the copyright lasts a very long time, the owner is actually a corporation (as is the case with movies and games), Especially when the owner is not actually the author, and... well, then you get this sort of sillyness.
On the post: Supreme Court Not Interested In Dispute Over Steinbeck Heirs Trying To Reclaim Copyrights
Re:
(seriously, given the stupidity that corporations get up to now, what makes you think they Wouldn't hire assassins if it looked to be the most profitable rout?)
corporations like to have works locked up under their control where only they can exploit them, rather than in the public domain, but they'd rather have them in the public domain where, again, they can exploit them, than locked up under someone Else's control, where they can't.
that and an author's natural lifetime is just way too freaking long in a lot of cases.
On the post: When Citizens Elect Comedians Who Run For Office As A Joke...
the depressing thing is, when you read it's four pages of basic philosophy/policy/goals/whatever, it's not until you get 3/4ths of the way through the 4th page that you realise there's something wrong with it and look back, then notice it started getting strange about 1/3rd of the way through the 4th page (this is the section about forming a new empire and taking over the world, basically. (if i remember rightly)). the worst part is, even taking that part into account, it's Still Better Than The Equivilant From Our Actual Real Political Parties. (well, most of them most of the time, anyway.) and if you ignore the last page is actually the most sensible platform i think anyone's run on in decades.
i seem to remember a country in eastern europe (poland? maybe someone else) had a 'free beer party'. their entire campaign was that if they won they'd buy every single citizen one beer each.
they did, and they did, and proceeded to be the best government the country had had in a very long time, for about two terms, before deciding they'd done everything useful they could and had better things to do. (i may be misremembering the details. pretty sure it's on wikipedia somewhere though)
On the post: When Citizens Elect Comedians Who Run For Office As A Joke...
Re: Re:
those who are both evil And stupid work in the ministries instead.
On the post: When Citizens Elect Comedians Who Run For Office As A Joke...
Re: Re:
On the post: Wisconsin Kills WiscNet, Because The Only Good Infrastructure Is AT&T Infrastructure
Re: What's the problem with Wisconsin's decision?
if the former, it's true enough.
if the latter, you need steel toed boots applied to sensitive portions of your anatomy until the stupid stops :S
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Re:
On the post: Iceland (a.k.a. The Transparentest Place On Earth) Crowdsources Its New Constitution
Re:
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re:
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re:
anything permanently attached to the human is problematic.
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re: Re: Honest question
well, given how our government works, i can see it happening, but currently there's no legal way to do it :)
here's a question: what's the difference between a phone number and a fixed IP, and how does someone go about finding your one, specifically, on an international network used by millions and millions of people? That is the purpose the phone number serves, really. ya gotta admit, it's actually less complex (if less easily remembered) tahn the way web addresses work. and the phone's contact list (enter number, attach to name, just grab the name from the list to talk to that person) works fine.
honestly, given that phone numbers are more unique than people's Names, all i can see any change away from them doing is making it Harder to find the person you want. (well, the switch from 'phone numbers' to 'fixed IP address' would change nothing in that reguard beyond standardising the systems... until you realise that, here at least, the vast majority of our consumer internet stuff uses non-fixed IP addresses... and is identified with a consumer by the phone number it's associated with, if i understand it correctly.)
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re: Voice is data
'course, the structure of our telecomunications industry is hard to keep track of. there are no monopolies anymore, but a lot of the older entities find themselves being customers, suppliers, and competitors to each other... often at the same time. then there's the constant attempts by both business and government regulation to try to find a balance that provides fair pricing to the customer, reasonable profits to the telcos, And deals with the fact that NZ isn't actually big enough for there to be viable competition at anything but a retail level.
(a recent change broke up the major entity that started life as part of the postoffice and was our main telco so it's retail part is now a seperate entity... something to do with the new government funded broadband improvement plan or something. i forget the termonolgy and such.)
when it comes to mobile... so far as i can tell most people just use prepayed sim cards for personal stuff. only limit is that if you don't put at least 20NZD on 'em a year they expire and you have to buy a new one (for about NZD30.) the number is tied to the sim card, and technically you can stick the card in anything that'll take a sim card. the Card is tied to the telco in question, of course. but if your phone's flat and your friend's isn't, a little fiddleing to swap the cards out will let you at your list.
it's also common to be able to store your contact list on either the phone, or the card. (if one is smart and not lazy, one will do both) so if you get a new phone, or the card expires... well, as long as they don't happen at once you've still got your info.
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Memory
you're actually probably going to have more luck going to a shop or farmhouse and asking to use their phone (depending on where you're calling) or if you can make use of a power socket to recharge your own. more likely to work.
On the post: How Long Until Phone Numbers Are A Historical Relic?
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Bu, bu, but . . .
On the post: The Best Time To Make A Decision Is... When You Have To Pee Really Badly?
Re:
On the post: How Out Of Control Copyright Law Is Keeping Millions Of Books & Images Away From Scholars
Re: Re: Separate out the problem area
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