[LAU] Intellectual Property in the Digital Age (was ASCAP Assails...)

[David Baron]

This is one of the few threads here that I read most of the postings. ASCAP, 
Harry Fox, etc., are of a bygone era but may well be needed to rebuild for the 
new one!

Fact: Folks will download "legally" or "illegally" most anything posted by 
most anybody "legally" or "illegally." Folks will not stand on quality of the 
product but listen/view it on cellular phones and cheapo mp#-players with 
miniscule miserable speakers and screens (The luxury of the iPad is brand-
new!). That expensive ultra-hi-fi stereo system sits mostly idle in the 
living-room while folks flit everywhere with junk ear-buds dangling and 
falling out of the ears. Or settle for the speaker built into the phone.

Fact: All this copying and downloading traffic has not really hurt "legit" CD 
sales in and of itself, despite the pleas burnt on the end of CDs pleading 
with listeners not to burn or buy illicit copies or download illegal music. 
The disc-man is too big (so is the iPad). The phone is just right and why 
carry another gadget? Rarely play CDs anymore--why buy them?

Fact: DRM and other anti-copy scams burn consumers. My daughter downloaded a 
load of legal music to my Sony-Ericson phone. I cannot upgrade to a newer 
Sony-Ericson, much less to an iPhone or Android without losing this music. I 
cannot listen to what was bought legally with my hard-earned money on another 
device that I legally own and operate. Not the computer, not the MP3, not the 
stereo--nothing. Apple's players and phones share this problem although their 
more-widespread DRMs have more illegal breakage options.

Fact: Recent case where one of the "agencies" sued someone running a kumzits 
(sitting around the campfire singing) for royalty payments--Give me a break!

At least the folks behind Creative Commons and GNU (opensource) are proposing 
and implementing solutions, not just assailing ...

We do need to re-evaluate and rebuild just protections of intellectual 
property and payment for its fair and common! usage in the digital/internet 
era. Remember when folks said the Edison's new recording invention would kill 
off live music? It did not.