The Writers Guild of America submitted an exemplary set of comments to the U.S. Government’s Internet Policy Task Force green paper
on the future of American copyright. The WGA calls for balance in
copyright law, and stresses that censorship, surveillance and chilling
of critical speech have no place in copyright policy. It’s amazing
to see artists’ groups taking a stand for free expression when it comes
to copyright – far too often, arts groups are staunch free speech
defenders except when it comes to unproven accusations of copyright
infringement, which they hold to be sufficient grounds for arbitrary
censorship.
But artists who think the issue through know that communications
policies like copyright can’t do their job if they compromise free
expression. Artists have a wide variety of business-models and
commercial opportunities, but if you’re making art in a way that
requires total surveillance and arbitrary censorship, you’re doing art
wrong.
Torrentfreak summarizes
the best of the WGA submission. It’s an important read: it shows that
the entertainment industry’s regulatory agenda doesn’t serve the
creators they employ (and exploit).
