Heavy-handed regulation will not help to nurture creative talent in the digital age
(crossposted from CreativeFreedom.org.nz)
The Independent reports on UK schemes for online culture “Across the world, ordinary people are beginning to realise their stake in the copyright settlement, and demand that legislators act beyond the interests of the incumbent analogue publishers to secure the future of digital cultural production. Not only do the sanctions ultimately risk criminalising a large proportion of UK citizens, but they also attach an unbearable burden on an emerging technology that has the power to transform society, with no guarantees at the end that our artists and our culture will get any richer. A more fruitful path would be to ask why economic and regulatory conditions are not bringing about enough legal alternatives to draw UK consumers away from illicit peer-to-peer sharing. Working on the safe assumptions that (a) people like downloading music from the internet, and (b) most people would prefer not to break the law, we should aim to map a way forward for businesses to take financial advantage of the digital market.”
