I remember when America was free, and the rest of the world was oppressed. I remember when Russia
was the Evil Empire. Nowdays it seems we move closer and closer to becoming what we fear.
The latest evidence of this is the (US Sponsored) UN Treaty that would create a ‘Broadcast Right’. The idea is that there would be a separate ‘right’ beyond copyrights belonging to broadcasters.
The proposed law is being called “deadly to podcasters”, as it would forbid them from quoting or re-using each others’ work and would allow podcast-hosting companies to tell people how podcasts can be used. Imagine creating content only to have your host tell you what you could and could not do with it. Even worse, broadcasters would have to pay their lawyer once to make sure they had fair copyright use, and then again to make sure they had fair broadcast use.
I won’t go into details on the technicalities and impact of the treaty. I would rather look at the bigger picture. A picture of a country that used to stand for Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness who is now continually miring herself down with a flood of restrictive laws that limit people’s ability to express ideas and share concepts. As the, allegedly, leader of the free world you would think we would embrace the liberty provided by modern technology, instead we choose to muzzle that creativity to be sure the big corporations can make a buck.
I’m all for capitalism, free markets, and making money, but there are freedoms that deserve protecting and passing laws (or signing treaties) that give broadcasters rights over content they didn’t even create just isn’t right.