Rebel Against Copyright
A tool used to preserve the rights and freedom of artists and creators, has been twisted to suit the ends of capitalistic greed.
As such, the time has come to rebel against copyright.
Copyright, as it stands now in the US, no longer functions to preserve art, but to turn it into a cash cow for corporations to milk dry.
When the limits of copyright were extended far beyond what is reasonable, we created a frozen culture. No longer are we creating fresh and innovative works of art and culture. The giants whose shoulders we might have stood on are locked and gated away for only a select few to use as sparingly as possible.
While we are not allowed to easily use and reuse the works of the recent past, our culture will be stuck in the far past.
To rebel, we must sever ties with the slop we have been fed and seek to create our own culture.
While most arguments against copyright lead to an advocation of piracy, I want to go a little bit further.
Nothing that requires piracy is worth consuming.
Whether you pay for it or not, you are still consuming the product of a stagnant culture.
True rebellion means consuming from, and creating for, the public good. Not for private interests.
True rebellion means consuming from, and creating for, the Public Domain.
I will admit, audio and video media is quite lacking with respects to the public domain.
For me, rebellion in this area looks like rebellion against streaming. Use physical media that you own and can use in perpetuity, and become a pirate if you must.
That being said, there is a wealth of great pieces of art in the public domain for text and still images.
Two sources I highly recommend are:
and
If we are to rebel against the status quo of corporate greed, we must break free from the culture they are holding hostage and create a new culture of our own.
To create our own culture, we must be intentional about the works we create, and how we release them.
If we have any hope of increasing the overall public good, we must use the public record as the source of our inspiration, and give back by opening our works to that same public record.
In an attempt to do my part, the content of this blog is now and forever entirly a part of the Public Domain.
~ V