While I think that copyright laws have become utterly ridiculous and are being abused shamelessly by corporations assuming ownership of things they're not entitled to, I am with Edward on this one, for this reason:
I make money from my writing, not from merchandising or "gigs" -- though I'm slowly overcoming it, my fear of social situations (thanks to my ex) precludes my doing the recitals that I used to enjoy, therefore it's the page or nothing. Over the years I have realised a decent return as these things go, and however insignificant it might seem to others, even the loss of a couple of hundred dollars is a massive deal to a poet. It came to my attention recently that someone I'd (probably foolishly) sent an electronic copy of an MS to has been disseminating it for profit (small, but still...) While this could be seen as flattering to someone who's prone to such vanities, I see it as a major violation of trust and a pain in the arse (though it might be said that I should have thought of it first). If I choose to put my writing up in the public domain, that's my business and I quite like it being freely available, but if someone else does, well that's a right fucker and I'm less than impressed, however there's not a lot I can do about it because, as is the case with Ed's sister, the pirate is in the USA. Legal battles for the sake of a few dollars are rather Pyrrhic.
I'm not opposed to things like Youtube, which I tend to consider more advertising than anything else and it's pretty cool to be able to quickly look up a vid/song/whatever for instant enjoyment. File sharing though... that's rather another story. Unless it's your own work, or you have the legal right to share it, that's theft. Intellectual property still has "property" about it.
*Incidentally, I consider corporations who slap copyrights on things they've only slightly modified and claim as their own to be equally guilty of theft, and since their profits are substantially greater, the law should punish them far more harshly.
I make money from my writing, not from merchandising or "gigs" -- though I'm slowly overcoming it, my fear of social situations (thanks to my ex) precludes my doing the recitals that I used to enjoy, therefore it's the page or nothing. Over the years I have realised a decent return as these things go, and however insignificant it might seem to others, even the loss of a couple of hundred dollars is a massive deal to a poet. It came to my attention recently that someone I'd (probably foolishly) sent an electronic copy of an MS to has been disseminating it for profit (small, but still...) While this could be seen as flattering to someone who's prone to such vanities, I see it as a major violation of trust and a pain in the arse (though it might be said that I should have thought of it first). If I choose to put my writing up in the public domain, that's my business and I quite like it being freely available, but if someone else does, well that's a right fucker and I'm less than impressed, however there's not a lot I can do about it because, as is the case with Ed's sister, the pirate is in the USA. Legal battles for the sake of a few dollars are rather Pyrrhic.
I'm not opposed to things like Youtube, which I tend to consider more advertising than anything else and it's pretty cool to be able to quickly look up a vid/song/whatever for instant enjoyment. File sharing though... that's rather another story. Unless it's your own work, or you have the legal right to share it, that's theft. Intellectual property still has "property" about it.
*Incidentally, I consider corporations who slap copyrights on things they've only slightly modified and claim as their own to be equally guilty of theft, and since their profits are substantially greater, the law should punish them far more harshly.
It could be worse