[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by Format C:

I just tried to say to my boss "I want to be paid for the work I done yesterday a fee everytime that work is used, cited o reviewed. For all my life, and for other 70 years after that. And I wont to decide who, when, where and how will access my work outcome. My heirs will make that same decision for 70 years after my death. And they'll renew this right eternally".

Guess what... It didn't work....

Did you agree to be paid a relatively tiny sum each time the work is used, cited or reviewed for the hours of time and effort you have put into it?

That's where the comparison to "normal" work falls down. Most people are willing to make a deal with a single boss to swap an hours worth of time for what they deem to be a reasonable rate of pay because it gives them the perceived security of a paycheque each week that the single boss must pay them right there and then.

An author on the hand doesn't get an hourly wage, the author takes the gamble that their time and effort will pay off by asking for a little bit from(hopefully) alot of people in order to make a decent wage from their labour. And, as has been mentioned time and time again on these boards, most authors(even good ones) never make a living from their writing. That means that even with copyright lasting till death +70 years, their gamble never paid off and they never got an equivalent monetary reward for their efforts that the paid worker gets.

So when looked at in that light, most authors are getting royally screwed by copyright because it runs out before their work has even made them a living!
(note, I'm not actually arguing that they are getting screwed or that it should last longer, just pointing out that for most authors they never make the same wage someone else does for doing their work even though the copyright lasts so long)

Originally Posted by Format C

Seriously: you can teach kids to share what they actually own, that is a good thing, i believe ("give half of your cake to your little sister, please...").
But they really have to understand that they won't own what they have.
That book, movie, videogame, comic strip, song they had last Crhistmas, it's not theirs. They can use it how and until when the Great Master of Content let them to do so.

But, really, you cannot teach them that they own the DVD and that they're thiefs if they "share" it with their friends keeping a backup copy...

That's really a completely different issue to how long copyright lasts.

I'm all for full ownership rights for digital media. No DRM, fair use policy, etc etc. I think it will come one day. One thing that is hampering its' introduction though, is the idea that anyone should be allowed to upload any file they want for the entire internet connected world to access for free. Until people get that idea out of their heads and replace it with the idea that paying a reasonable fee for digital media is ok and fair, authors and publishers will continue to drag the chain. It's a two way street and requires both parties to change their prevailing mindsets.

Cheers,
PKFFW