There are different things that bring me to believe that copyright is overrated in our society:
- In eastern societies the influence of Confucius replaces the influence of Aristotle. Copying someones’ works or thoughts, according to their view, is not stealing their ideas but acknowledging their mastership and creativity. Unluckily our cultural model is dominant in the world. I wouldn’t mind a change.
- All the recent fuss about the glass negatives that should have been Ansel Adam’s (and worth 200 million $), but turned out to be from some guy named Earl, therefore worth the 45$ paid at the garage sale. So it looks like the same photo is worth different prices according to who is the author.
- The “right to your own image”. Photons come from the sun, hit you, are reflected back in different directions, some hit my camera. In which way do people think they own those photons? The truth is that this approach has killed street photography in continental Europe.
- The record industry: these blokes are crying that “hometaping is killing business” since the ’70s, thought that burning CDs is evil, copying mp3 even worse. You get fined if you do it and get caught. These guys are stinking rich. Thanks to copyright.
Now, probably it isn’t a good idea to abolish it, but I seriously start thinking that some things have gone to far. I need to look better into Creative Commons.