{"id":866,"date":"2012-01-19T21:31:12","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T21:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/?p=866"},"modified":"2012-01-20T20:58:14","modified_gmt":"2012-01-20T20:58:14","slug":"some-thoughts-on-copyright","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2012\/01\/some-thoughts-on-copyright\/","title":{"rendered":"Some thoughts on copyright"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been watching the debate in the US over the heavy-handed and inappropriate Stop Online Piracy Act, and fully support the actions taken yesterday by Wikipedia and others. Even allowing for what seems to be a certain amount of unsubstantiated rhetoric, the potential consequences of the Act on freedom of speech are alarming, to say the least.<\/p>\n

It is, of course, the likes of Hollywood and the music industry who stand to gain from this. The losers will be the rest of us – individuals who create and share content online. SOPA and PIPA are a disproportionate response to the problem of illegal file sharing, their ramifications are far-reaching and they’re likely to be just the beginning. But the truth is that this isn’t a totally one-sided issue. The Bills would never have gained the traction they did if it weren’t for the all-too-common mindset that intellectual property – the result of other people’s hard work – should simply be given away for free.<\/p>\n

I spend a lot of time and money creating my images and I hate them being taken and used without permission. But the fact is that as soon as you put them online there is no way to stop this happening. There are ways to make it a little more difficult but nothing will prevent anyone with a bit of technical knowledge and time on their hands. In fact, if you research the subject in any depth you will, like others, quickly come to the conclusion that if you’re that concerned about people stealing your images it’s best not to put them on the web at all. How depressing.<\/p>\n

Is this really how we want the web to be? A lawless place where everything is up for grabs and theft is viewed as simply unavoidable?<\/p>\n

SOPA is a classic case of the end not justifying the means, but, let’s be honest here, the widespread disregard for intellectual property is partly to blame. Copyright exists for a reason but there seems to be no shortage of people who think that Adobe owes them a free copy of Photoshop, or that hard drives filled with pirated music and films are somehow okay. The last thing we need are tighter controls and more restrictions on the way we live our lives and it dismays me to think that people are playing right into their hands. Rant over.<\/p>\n

If you are a British citizen or UK resident you can sign this petition:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk\/petitions\/26143<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been watching the debate in the US over the heavy-handed and inappropriate Stop Online Piracy Act, and fully support the actions taken yesterday by Wikipedia and others. Even allowing for what seems to be a certain amount of unsubstantiated rhetoric, the potential consequences of the Act on freedom of speech are alarming, to say… Continue reading Some thoughts on copyright<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[39],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/04\/in-light-and-shadow\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":0},"title":"In light and shadow","date":"Sunday 12 April 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I tend to find myself reaching for certain lenses more than others, which can restrict my photographic style. For this trip up the River Wye I forced myself to take just one lens: a 70-200mm f2.8 that I don\u2019t use very often. Sometimes, by deliberately restricting the possibilities, I get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/RG-20090412-028.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/02\/february-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":1},"title":"February snow","date":"Tuesday 3 February 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The early snowfall in October could have been a warning sign of things to come, the snow finally arriving in force this week and forcing me to park my car in the village for the past few nights. Even so, the knee-deep drifts on the lane up to Marsh's Pool\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/RG-20090203-012.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":352,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/05\/i-guess-im-a-romantic-at-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":2},"title":"I guess I’m a Romantic at heart","date":"Friday 22 May 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm in the Lake District at the moment and the weather is decidedly un-May-like, generally made up of uninspiring light interspersed between rain showers. Maybe not ideal conditions for landscape photography, but this got me thinking about these \"ideal\" conditions and what we mean by this. I often feel that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/RG-20090520-032.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":734,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2011\/04\/the-twilight-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":3},"title":"The twilight world","date":"Sunday 24 April 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It seems strange to be writing a post like this so early in the year but the recent warm weather has got me thinking about summer. Stepping out of the door this morning, the stillness of the pre-dawn air rekindled a memory from last year\u2014almost dreamlike in its strangeness\u2014of walking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/RG-20110424-004-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/03\/lengthening-days\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":4},"title":"Lengthening days","date":"Sunday 22 March 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Spring comes late in the Cambrian Mountains and the hawthorn in the lane has yet to show much sign of it. Nevertheless, sitting outside this morning, writing this, there\u2019s a spring-like feel to the air that I've only really noticed in the last week. A pair of ravens have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":448,"url":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/2009\/09\/chasing-rainbows\/","url_meta":{"origin":866,"position":5},"title":"Chasing rainbows","date":"Friday 4 September 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The mountains of Wales are justly infamous as one of the wetter parts of Britain and\u2014according to Wikipedia\u2014Europe. Having spent a couple of weeks in Norway when I was 17, I'm not at all convinced, but it's true that the moorland plateaus of Mid Wales see rain on over 200\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "thoughts"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/RG-20090904-070.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edgeofthewild.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}