Still wanted: Copyright answers from John Kerry’s policy people in photo below

0

By

Yo, Brian Levine! Yes, you, the Kerry policy aide. You who would not answer my copyright-related questions even after I left messages twice after talking to you!

I’d greatly appreciate your cooperating now even if you wouldn’t several months ago. You and your colleagues will ideally get your man to do right by the schools and libraries. Will Sen. Kerry agree to work toward repeal or mitigation of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, the DMCA and other anti-child, anti-Net measures? I’m a lifelong liberal Democrat. I’d like the Party to leave Bill Clinton’s copyright messes behind so I can hold my head high again. This is a time for a fresh start. As disappointed as I am by your past silence, Brian, I’m more interested in the future and will have a very short memory of earlier frustrations.

Closing the gap between copyright policy and populist rhetoric

Republicans are hardly copyright paragons, as shown by the name of the Bono act, but we Democrats have a special responsibility to move our copyright policies a bit closer to populist rhetoric. Over the years the Bono act alone will funnel billions from schools, libraries and society at large to Hollywood fatcats and other members of the copyright elite, as well as Time Warner and other huge conglomerates. If it weren’t for Bono, U.S. students by now could legally download The Great Gatsby and 1984 for free off the Net. Nothing wild advocated here–just a more balanced approach that respects property rights, but also the needs of ordinary Americans who don’t happen to be heirs of F. Scott Fitzgerald or the CEO of Time Warner.

Stolen from today’s public domain: One Great Gatsby

Neither George Bush signed the Bono Act. Bill Clinton did, thereby helping to deprive the public domain–as it exists today–of The Great Gatsby. Will John Kerry be different? Will he place schools ahead of elite interests?

Brian, I’m going to see if you’re still at the Kerry campaign and will respond. Another Kerry aide assured me earlier that you’re could speak with authority. Maybe that’s true. Maybe not. I don’t know. However, I did poke around the Kerry site just now and saw on a Young Voters for Kerry page that you’re 22 years old.

Whatever your age, I’ll respectfully appreciate a written reply–substantive and with Kerry’s personal authorization–on Bono and the DMCA. It would be especially helpful in the wake of those new millions your guy’s gotten from Hollywood. Thanks! Let’s get John Kerry to act in the spirit of Profiles in Courage. Just might help at the polls, too. Young people and soccer moms may not be aware of the Bono Act and the rest now; but sooner or later the truth will catch up. If nothing else, students are fed up with high textbook prices that Draconian copyright policies encourage. Moreover, what happens if the Republicans reverse course and listen to Glenn Reynolds? There is one thing Karl Rove and friends on the Bush campaign side value more than big donations. Votes. In a close election, an enlightened intellectual property policy could help the candidate who latched on to the issue first. Copyright is far, far more complicated than simply going after foreign pirates as the Kerry campaign has pledged to do. It also requires careful balances at home and abroad between the rights of consumers and content owners. Thanks to proprietary formats and restrictive DRM today, U.S. book buyers can’t even own e-books for real–not when software vendors may go out of business.

(Photo shows Brian Levine with Kerry Policy Director Sara Bianchi, left, and Deputy Policy Director Heather Higginbottom, to Ms. Bianchi’s right.)

Related: Copyright excesses worry teachers, scholars, from eSchool News. For a good overview of the issues, Brian Levine and friends would also do well to read Stanford Law Prof. Larry Lessig’s Free Culture, available both on paper and electronically. In fact, if the Kerry campaign, is hurting for cash, even after all those Hollywood millions, Brian can even legally download the book for free.

Update, 11:55 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time and later: Softened the language somewhat. Honey vs. vinegar and all that. Let’s see if the Kerryians can respond constructively and helpfully.

0

 Print Friendly