mhhfive - Certainly, getting rid of copyright middlemen like ASCAP and BMI could streamline the process. On the other hand, somebody has to handle calculations and enforcement.
While creative people deserve to get paid, perhaps copyright -- regulating copies -- is no longer the answer. For one thing, the Internet is a copying machine -- every time you look at a Web page or view a video, you're making a copy and theoretically violating copyright.
Google's "do no evil" theme seems to be growing thin as decades pass and the company gains more and more power.
Google has acted as a copyright cop on Youtube for years, now carefully screening music to make sure users aren't placing copyrighted material online without permission.
But, on the other hand, it's own actions, now the photo and books search feature is seemingly bypassing protections to authors and artists. Google can argue there's nothing new or dangerous to copyright protection, but in the end Google is just making it's search features more one clickable.
And who's going to argue with making things easier for the vast majority of users? A few artists and writers? At some point, there's sure to be some governmental intervention I would guess, to sort out just what's fair and just to everyone.
I think that Google purposely stays away from the idea of taking written work and not properly attributing it because of the way that they make money. Believe it or not, they still derive a lot of their revenue from those text ads that the unsuspecting still click on. As for images? I'm not sure exactley what their strategy is there. But I think we've all seen what they have done with video: you guessed it, ads.
...I have utilized the site for some of the projects I have worked on. As someone who is well aware of the need to acknowledge the source, respect the copyright and acknowledge, I try and be very dilligent in what I use. Just like all other resources, we have to live up to Gandh's admonition to " Be the change you want to see in the World"...and we can--although I think that sometimes view myself as naive....
Not necessarily so, mhhfive. As a photographer, I might give permission to a site to display my images. I don't think I therefore give permission to anyone else to take them and display them.
And the idea that nobody could ever reasonably claim loss of earnings when their work is stolen is legally radical to say the least.
Diplomats are not going to replace their translators with Google Translate any time soon....
Let's hope not: We already have enough trouble when, I think, each side knows what the other is saying! Relying on a machine to transate would be really dangerous!
the less we pay translators, the fewer professional translators we have.
Again, I'm not sure how the logic here works. Professional translators are NOT threatened by automated translations. I seriously doubt any business transactions are done with Google Translate! Automated translations have their use, and actual human translators have a very different use which is worth a LOT more. Diplomats are not going to replace their translators with Google Translate any time soon....
if we make it harder for people to make money with creative work, then we're going to have less professional-quality creative work.
I'm not sure how that really works... Most royalties are handled by associations or publishers (eg ASCAP, BMI, etc), and it's actually a really convoluted process that isn't exactly easy. Getting rid of these "royalty middlemen" might actually make it easier for markets to commission new works. Maybe it won't be as easy to retire after a one-hit wonder, but then again, people will be able to sing "Happy Birthday" in restaurants...
What's the value of just one photo? Ask the photographer who took a picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima. Or of John Jr. saluting JFK's coffin.
The flip side of this is it's ALREADY easy to grab photos from the original web page. Just download them or take a screenshot. So can Google really be blamed for removing that very small extra step?
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