Bravery in the Scary New World
my crystal ball tells me that visual artists are set to be screwed big time.
please please please, take the time to visit these links:
New York Times Op-Ed contribution from Lawrence Lessig dated May 20, 2008 (see below for highlights)
http://drawn.ca/2008/05/13/oppose-the-orphan-works-act-of-2008/
and
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-s2913/show
The first link will direct you to a template that will make it easy for you to write your Congress people and demand that they oppose this bill.
As Joe Strummer sang: KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.
protect your copyright!
as for this blog -
because of proposed atrocities relating to copyright and copyright registration, i am going to be updating the photos you see on here and adding watermarks on them; i am also marking as "private" the photos that appear on this site that are hosted from Flickr.com - so...if you see an error - some kind of blank spot where there was a photo - let me know by email so I can replace the missing space with a (watermarked) photo.
sorry - its going to be ugly. but i have to protect my work from being considered "orphaned" since it is out there so much already...
please visit the following link http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00263 to begin to learn more about this.
if you are a visual artist of any sort, this will affect you. get involved... learn about what is at stake and take action.
this post will remain as the second post of this blog until this potential copyright fiasco has been cured... just scroll down... all the other posts, old and new, are below this one
HIGHLIGHTS OF LESSGI's OPINION:
The solution before Congress, however, is both unfair and unwise. The bill would excuse copyright infringers from significant damages if they can prove that they made a “diligent effort” to find the copyright owner. A “diligent effort” is defined as one that is “reasonable and appropriate,” as determined by a set of “best practices” maintained by the government.
But precisely what must be done by either the “infringer” or the copyright owner seeking to avoid infringement is not specified upfront. The bill instead would have us rely on a class of copyright experts who would advise or be employed by libraries. These experts would encourage copyright infringement by assuring that the costs of infringement are not too great.
