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The MPAA and RIAA have helped create (in conjunction with the Center For Copyright Information and the Internet Keep Safe Coalition) a curriculum on copyright infringement for use in public schools. It's aimed at elementary school kids and seems heavily biased towards content owners. Currently part of a pilot program in California, there are hopes for it to be applied nationally. Both Wired and Torrentfreak have articles reviewing the material and it sounds like the program will only teach one side of copyright--that we always need permission to use someone else's creation--even though the Fair Use Doctrine explicitly states the opposite. Copyright law in this country is already absurd: a term of life of the author +70 years, and for corporate works it's 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication. That's an insane amount of time for a creative work to be kept from the public domain. Almost five times what copyright terms were when the US was getting started (assuming the author dies around 80). As an artist myself, I want my works to be protected--but I think we need to come up with something more reasonable than what we've currently got. I propose that the copyright term for a creative work last for a period of 25-50 years, or until the author's death--whichever is longer. This lets the author receive benefit from his work during his lifetime (or lets his descendants benefit for a short period after his death) while ensuring the work will still enter the public domain in a reasonable time frame. Of course, when we start living to 200 years we'll need to re-examine the terms. And in the meantime, let's teach our kids what the laws actually state about the use of other's creative works.

(This post was inspired by these articles regarding the new copyright infringement based curriculum: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/09/mpaa-school-propaganda/; http://torrentfreak.com/mpaa-and-riaa-to-teach-copyright-at-kindergartens-130918/; and by the letter C, and the number 2013.)

Technology for Everyone!

Tens of thousands of people line up each year to attend E3, MacWorld, CES and other such events to be the first to experience everything new.  Being an "early adopter" can even become a full-time job now, with youtube offering monetization options.  But is there a downside to this fast-paced rate of change we are experiencing?  It's not something that I've really stopped to think about much myself until now.  It's like we're becoming addicted to "new".  New phones, new laptops, new tablets, new cars.  Getting your hands on a new toy is exciting.  And there's that little rush of adrenalin when I first unbox a new gadget.  Then there is all the electronic waste we're building up from our constant need for new items.  I've seen landfills composed entirely of discarded computers and monitors.  Just sitting out there.  No recycling, no reuse.  It's incredible to me.  If we're going to continue to drive the ever-increasing rate of technological advancement, I think we also need to look at the other end, and take care of what's being discarded.