INIT: divisiveop.mhc
RUN/
<-I, as a furred quadruped and not an autonomous observation platform, support these endeavors to more tightly regulate the flow of information.->
<-A rudimentary analysis indicates that this legislation will result in an estimated 72% decrease in unauthorized fan works, including but not limited to illustrations of poor construct relating to diminutive equines.->
<-It is the opinion of this unit that the only individuals who have anything to fear from this legislation are those actively engaged in theft of copyrighted materials.->
/END
It's all very good in theory - theft is bad, on principle, but let's consider a few things.
Those MLP screenshots = copyrighted. That pretty much destroys half of everything on the internet. There are very, very few people who haven't in some way violated copyright law.
And what is wrong with fanworks? If they credit the original artist doesn't that just provide you with more fans?
Honestly, Hollywood is really not losing that much money because of pirating - they're losing money because they make horrible movies. I'm not going to a theatre and pay $15 to watch another crappy Pirates movie. I will, however, make it a point that if the movie I watch for free is decent, I'll buy it! I'll pay tons for something if it's worth it! I actually just bought 5 movies earlier today, Bluray, steelbooks. That's top dollar.
The music industry... Well, there's not much difference between law and no law, because music artists never made that much money to begin with. With this law they still will not be paid any more than they have been. Music artists really only make money off of solid merchandise. Many musicians feature their work for free in the first place, as free publicity; their music is spread like wildfire across the internet, and actually their business is improved. As with movies, if I hear something I enjoy, I'll buy it! But I find the ability to freely listen to an entire CD before purchase much more logical than randomly buying a CD and realizing it was only that one song that I liked.
Copyright for fine art is more sound, I believe this law would work more to the benefit of those artists, but it still greatly restricts their creativity - an
idea can be held to copyright rules. That... sucks.
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