A Republican Study Committee has posted a document (as a pdf) that nails three myths about copyright law and suggests four areas of reform.

Later that day: The author of the memo has put himself forward for questions at Reddit.

A few hours after that: The MPAA and RIAA have leapt into action, forcing the Republicans to retract the report. Dreams die fast in DC. Fuckwads. (Hat-tip to Jay Rosen.) (And just in case the Republicans decide to take the memo down, here’s a mirror.)

The 3 myths are:

1. The purpose of copyright is to compensate the creator of the content

2. Copyright is free market capitalism at work

3. The current copyright legal regime leads to the greatest innovation and productivity

And the four “potential policy solutions” are:

1. Statutory damages reform

2. Expand Fair Use

3. Punish false copyright claims

4. Heavily limit the terms for copyright, and create disincentives for renewal

I’ve started a thread at Reddit if you want to talk about it.

And for a flat-out statement of how the Net’s regulators don’t understand the cultural revolution they (we) are facing, here’s the statement by Amelia Anderstotter to the 2012 Internet Governance Forum. Amelia is a member of the European Parliament, from the Pirate Party:

Categories: copyright dw