Digital BW, The Print

Editor P.O.V. Image Service writes:

> The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (while probably well-intentioned)
> has made it far worse though...

U.S. copyright law used to be short and sweet.  The DMCA multiplied the
size of the relevant sections of U.S. code by at least a factor of ten,
with lots of highly esoteric and specific legislation that will be dated
and inapplicable in no time, and will be constantly used, abused, and
misunderstood.  A bonanza for lawyers, and a loss for society,
consumers, and authors.

> ... and Habeas Inc using the DMCA to add an anti-spam haiku
> to e-mail headers, etc..

That's one of the worst abuses at all, because it perverts the whole
notion of copyright.  The others aren't much better, though.

I'd like a copyright law that lets me sue people for making money with
my pictures without my permission, or for using them for any
_significant_ purpose without authorization.  The protection doesn't
have to be perpetual, and I don't worry about the small stuff.  I'd also
like to eliminate or reduce registration requirements so that I can
actually have a chance of suing someone without registration.  Indeed,
it would be nice to have simplified procedures that don't require a
_lawyer_ at all, since the lawyer is more expensive than any other part
of copyright law, and often renders all the rest moot in consequence.