IF: Current US copyright laws

I will begin this post by saying that my detailed understanding of US copyright laws is fairly limited. However, from the research I have done and from listening to people who have researched the subject extensively I think it is fair to say that the current incarnation of the copyright laws have strayed away from their original purpose. According to the U.S. constitution copyright was upheld in order "To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries."

Since 1978 the duration of time that material is considered to be under copyright has been regularly extended. There appears to be no foreseeable change to this trend since copyright reform advocates hold little political clout compared to the large businesses who throw money behind keeping their intellectual property outside of the public domain for as long as possible (*coughDisneycough*)

So what does copyright law have to do with intellectual freedom? Well, with the changing copyright climate toward being very pro business and anti creator or consumer there is a chilling effect on information being created and distributed. Even museums are getting behind this and have begun to ban sketching of works, a long time tradition of art school students to help improve their skills, in order to avoid being sued or because of a misunderstanding of what copyright laws protect.

Personally, I am an armature photographer who occasionally manages to capture an image that could potentially be sold for some extra revenue. Because of this I have thought extensively about how I want copyright to apply to my own works and have decided to use the terms set up by the creative commons (either attribution, share-alike or Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike, depending on the piece). If more creators learned about the protections allowed them under these licenses I believe that many would see that they can both retain their rights while allowing others to build upon their creations and therefore promoting the spread of information.