The truth is, copyright is ultimately stupid, because, we in reality own nothing. The problem though that makes copyright necessary, is that people are not respectful in the game. If you steal for yourself and never give credit where credit is due, this is shameful. I believe copyright is more necessary to protect us from the mega-corporations than from each other. I believe in the libertarian ideal of letting things flow in cyberspace freely, but I copyright my stuff here, for reasons above. I believe that artistically we can brave new worlds by allowing the information to progress and evolve infinitely without major restrictions. Why can't I take a photo from the Internet, collage it and give it a new life and perhaps and entirely new context of meaning? In this sense it is already happening and there is no real way to control it.
Well, it is fine, in my opinion, if you take it and make it really "yours". I don't mean this beyond the spiritual and intellectual context. I wouldn't care if something of mine popped up somewhere, but as long I got the appropriate credit for it. A particular architectural firm had my mural done in New Haven, CT up on their website and refused to give me credit for it there. It would have been so easy. The thing is, there is mutual benefit in sharing ideas, merging forms and making new things together instead of trying to preserve one's economic dominance etc.
All ideas came from something...so it is stupid to look for originality in that sense. This is very postmodern, but Post-modernism is what gave us what we have today. Let's make it more interesting and progressive. Let's understand the beauty of a transmogrifying reality that includes all arts and creates, and fosters freedom. It will continue to manifest in baroque levels of elaboration. Imagine if we had no economic concerns and were only interested in preserving our identities as a form of recognition for what we have done? It would be amazing, but until this is so, we're going to face the reality of copyright. It is like marijuana legalization, it would only be successful if the pirates and gangsters got out of the game and the true, blue artists took it over and created the appropriate environment for it.
