Lawmakers Toss Publishers Copyright Bill Under The Bus - July 5, 2018
Internet freedom has suffered in recent years as trolls, bots, propaganda and hate speech tainted the concept. Still, there are more internet users every minute of every day, most generally pleased to access a sorts of news, information, music, videos, gossip and cat photos. While the internet has offered global access to anything that can be digitized, even dodgy stuff, proximity has been lost. This has not gone unnoticed.

There Are Many Arguments For Erasing An Argument - November 20, 2017
The titans of digital technology believed, a generation ago, that their inventions would power great good and such progress would be universally approved. They talked about creating unlimited access to knowledge and unfettered social interaction. The world beat a path to their door, to paraphrase the old parable about the power of innovation. Algorithms led to new fortunes as well as bots, trolls and other evils. Knowledge unbound beget battles over copyright, privacy and, ultimately, order versus disorder.

Sometimes There Are Only A Few Seconds To Adapt - July 3, 2017
Seekers of economic wisdom watch for turning points, moments when trends become reality. Technology almost always points the way. Steam engines effectively powered the Industrial Revolution, replacing horse-drawn power. Steam gave-way to diesel, then lighter fuels which, in turn, allowed aviation, forever changing transportation and, arguably, communication. Through this transition rules, conventions and laws changed to facilitate the new and accommodate the old. Horses have survived, their tasks reaching that turning point.

Rowing The Digital Boat - September 20, 2016
The future is digital, everyone likes to chant in asymmetrical rhythm. Nobody wants to skip a beat lest storms and tides sink the boat. While the technology-blessed surf the waves to greater and greater riches, legacy media operators fear being stranded, friendless and penniless, on islands no longer safe havens, tax or otherwise. Rules, however, are like life preservers, buoyancy confused for safety.

Copyright Law, Fragments and Imagination - February 24 2014
Intellectual property rights laws are undoubtedly overdue for revision. The digital age has, remarkably, expanded access to a wide range of words, songs, pictures and ideas. Creating all that is work, deserving recognition. The laws see the door to those works as either open or closed. The simple solution is finding a different door.

Court Says Play Ball - July 22, 2013
That big live events are fought over by many drives more than one business model. Often they compete, in that free market way. All is fair, indeed, balancing competition, rights and the money. Not everybody wins but everyone watches.

Copyright Law: Think Small And Thin - March 4, 2013
If the digital age needs dramatically different copyright law, the wait keeps getting longer. Legislatures looking to the past to chart the future choose vague language so everybody stays happy or, at least, quiet. And it’s the small things that get in the way.

See also in ftm Knowledge

Intellectual Property Rights - Yours, Mine and Ours

Every content creator and user has a vested interest in intellectual property rights, the rules meant to set a course for fair distribution of art, music, video and the written word. Agreement on those rules is not absolute. This ftm Knowledge file explores what's yours, mine and ours. 42 pages PDF (March 2011)

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