Sadness….
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WorldTimZone flies the black flag. The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that Congress should be allowed to continually violate the Constitution by extending copyright indefinitely, so long as the soft contributions from Disney et al. keep flowing. The Court decided that the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Act was constitutional, which means that Congress can continue to extending copyright indefinitely, so long as the time remains “limited,” for some definition of “limited.” The relevant portion of the Consitution provides that the Congress has the power, “To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.” The key phrase here is “limited times.” Apparently, the Founders believed that the public should eventually get access to creative works. Disney, however, doesn’t like this idea and ever lines the pockets of Congressional leaders to keep Steamboat Willie and other Mickey Mouse works from going into the public domain.
I predict that, in response, “piracy” will rise, as the public reacts to the inherent injustice of current copyright legislation, in a wave that will eventually overtake the government’s ability to check. When laws become irrelevant, and selectively enforced, freedom is jeoardized.
Sorry, that was quite a rant. I’m sure it was not entirely coherent, either.