Latest good idea I read

Not mine, but a really good idea: limit copyright on music (and I would add movies, and possibly television shows) to 5 years. I totally agree with the premise which motivates the suggestion: namely that copyright exists to promote innovation by allowing the innovator a period in which he can exclusively profit from the innovation, but that has to be balanced against the public interest in sharing the fruits of the innovation.

The pendulum has swung much too far in the corporations' direction, and the public interest has been essentially ignored by the legislature (since being purchased by special-interest lobby groups). 5 years is plenty of time to exclusively profit from artistic "innovation", in my opinion. And, as an added bonus, it would no-doubt dramatically reduce the amount of copyright infringement being aggressively fought by the RIAA/MPAA. It's a no-lose proposition!

In fact, it's such a good idea that it makes me kinda sad that our legislature is so corrupt and in the pockets of corporate interests that it'll never even be suggested at that level. But it's worth writing about, just in case a future version of our government cares what the people think.

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