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Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

blog.wikimedia.org

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Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#71

Post by webkike »

azernik wrote: post #47
scotty79 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politicians don't get educated. They get bought. Do you have as much money as copyright industry? No? Then, no, you can't have your sensible laws. You'll have theirs. The only action you can take is to ignore those unenforcible.

Or, they get threatened with loss of their seats. Which is accomplished by educating the population. It's a lot more gratifying to live in this conspiratorial world where a romanticized resistance against our corporate overlords is the only way, but it's not a useful mental model for actually succeeding at anything.

The fact of the matter is we've always lived in a 50/50 conspiracy world. Sure, its never as bad as the worst extreme we can think of, but its always half as bad. Not even Stalin's dictatorship, which is what 1984 is based on, was as bad as 1984.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#72

Post by legulere »

eggy wrote: post #4

I am more distressed that a work by a German, at the time stateless in the Netherlands, that long ago, and given the global importance of such a work, that the U.S. even has the copyright. The explanation in Wikimedia I understand clearly, but I do not acept it.

Why should foreign stuff not be protected by copyright? Think about american movies or software written in america not being protected abroad.

It's also not the US that owns the copyright but the Anne Frank Fonds in Basel, which got the copyright from her father.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#73

Post by [deleted] »

deciplex wrote: post #53
tluyben2 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average person cannot comprehend the effects of what they do unless it is directly fed back and even then. Thinking macro is hard for the smartest 0.01%: the average Pam and Jim will not understand what happens when the game plays out. Some politicians are above that, most are not. Sounds elitist and maybe it is however I am not saying I am better than that I am saying politicians should be. If they are not and t…

In fact, if piracy really had the deleterious effects on culture and artistic expression that copyright advocates always claim it does, I suspect you'd see much more of a social taboo against piracy than exists now. I'm not one to usually rush to the defense of people reasoning with "their gut" but, in this case, I think most people know that the copyright regime is bullshit, and they act accordingly, even if they ha…

[deleted]

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#74

Post by icebraining »

noonespecial wrote: post #11

Just like that silly explanation of the width of railroad tracks starting with the width of a roman horse's ass, the question of "why can't I read the Diary of Anne Frank" starts with "so there was this cartoon for little kids in the '20's called Mickey Mouse..." We reach this ridiculous situation by serious people taking a series of thoughtful actions a tiny bit at a time. But serious and thoughtful actions only add…

Was it really bit by bit? In most of the world, the Berne convention - signed in 1886 - implemented a copyright length of author's life + 50 years. This was a massive leap for most countries.

Even in the US, the people behind the Sonny Bono Act (aka Mickey Mouse Protection Act) proposed indefinite copyright - MPAA's Jack Valenti actually suggested "forever less one day" to avoid the Constitutional restriction! The life + 50 years was the compromise they could reach.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#76

Post by pitay »

deciplex wrote: post #28
slg wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This logic is the reason why we have so many archaic laws surrounding the technology. Too often our community simply decides it is easier to ignore the law in question than trying to fight it and so we withdraw ourselves from the debate. It isn't our job as technologist to build tools to circumvent the law. It is our job as technologist to educate politicians and the greater population as a whole why these issues are…

If you think that education, or the lack thereof, of politicians anywhere is the reason for absurd copyright law across the entire globe, you really aren't paying attention. There is no argument clever enough or convincing enough to overpower the flood of money and bullshit that keeps copyright law the way it is. You may as well argue against the law of gravity. The only solution is to deprive the bad actors of the f…

Creating new things that people like to spend their time on will help stop a bit of those funds getting to the bad actors. Until the bad actors figure out how to 'own' the new activity in some way.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#77

Post by pitay »

kijin wrote: post #58
Houshalter wrote: post #49

Please read this: https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2016/pre-1976 And also look at the graphic on this page: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/03/the-mi... Copyright serves a legitimate purpose. I doubt there would be many big budget games or movies produced without some degree of protection. The purpose of copyright is to provide an incentive to produce creative works. But it also needs…

It doesn't even have to be a strict cutoff. The first 10 years might be free and automatic, but the Copyright Office could charge exponentially increasing fees for renewals afterward. For example, $1K for the next 10 years, then $10K, then $100K... This means that only works that remain truly profitable in the long term will stay copyrighted. If Disney wants to pay $10B to keep Mickey Mouse copyrighted, they are welc…

Another option is to tax intellectual property at the rate of real property in the countries that they want to claim copyright in. The holder of the copyrighted material will have to declare how much the intellectual property is worth, and be forced to put it in the public domain (or maybe transfer ownership) if some entity pays the declared worth of that asset.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#79

Post by TeMPOraL »

ufo wrote: post #30
ivanca wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Educate politicians" Nonsense. Politicians already settled their mind a long time ago, it was when they were in college or before that, now its way too late. You don't believe me? Try to convince creationist politicians about evolution, and it doesn't matter how many proofs you show them, the complete fossil record, they are not going to get educated, you can prove them evolution is not against their beliefs but it…

I think the idea is to stop voting for those dumb politicians.

There are no non-dumb politicians; dumbness is a feature of this occupation much more than of particular people involved.

Re: Wikimedia removes the Diary of Anne Frank due to copyright law

#80

Post by dijit »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #79
ufo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the idea is to stop voting for those dumb politicians.

There are no non-dumb politicians; dumbness is a feature of this occupation much more than of particular people involved.

Only a power hungry moron would actively seek the responsibility they hold.

I fight off being a manager, I can't imagine being in any kind of leadership position over an entire county/state or country.

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