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Originally Posted by Moejoe
The problem with all this is that it fits the physical, object-based reality of old media publishing and cannot fit into a digital world. DRM doesn't work, the expectation of payment of any kind will only last for a short while, free sharing is on the increase.
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First of all, I agree with you that DRM is silly and stupid (I am sure if you have read some of my other posts, you would see that). I also agree that new standards need to apply to digital publishing and to copyright. That being said, if producers of content cannot expect
"payment of any kind" for their work, then there will cease to be new content to share.
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And what does this all have in relation to your examples? Simply this; I'm not the only one who feels this way, and there are plenty of others fed up with the way 'things were' as regard to copyright. Writers who want readers not a steady income. Writers who have something to say, not saying something because they're under contractual obligation. And readers who are growing up now who don't even recognize the copyrights that you think we still need. Copyrights that don't work in a digital world. Copyrights that can't last in a digital world.
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I am just curious, how many authors do you think will write a dozen or more books in a career if they can expect no steady income from it? Every author that chooses to publish obviously wants readers; at the same time however, I think the number of serious authors who don't care about income is vanishingly small (Just as the number of people period who don't care about income). More than a few authors, including some very well respected authors have admitted that paying the rent was a major incentive for them to finish their book.
I am perfectly willing to abandon copyright if a reasonable system is established to ensure that authors are fairly compensated for their work. Perhaps we need every download server to be registered so that we can track exactly how many unique downloads occur for every artistic work and then have a national arts tax (perhaps a surcharge to your monthly ISP bill) that goes to compensate artists based on how often their works are downloaded. That being said, I don't see too many people who want to abandon the free market for a state controlled system... at least not in the United States. Until we are willing to make that change, we will need some form of copyright and it will need to be enforced.
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Bill