Re: Hypertext, Copyrights, and Royalty Distribution

my inner geek (geek@ifeden.com)
Mon, 09 Dec 1996 13:57:04 -0800


Robin Hanson wrote:

> By the time an issue like this hits the big media, the big powers that
> care have already organized their strategies, and aren't really
> interesting in creative but untested suggestions from unknowns. The
> time to present solid ideas is well before this stage. Robin

You may be giving the industry credit for being too informed.

I haven't yet seen a standard for including accounting/permissions
agents *into* sample segments from digital media streams. In the case
of derivative art, the industry could profit tremendously conditionally
releasing copyrighted works into "the derivative domain".

For creative new media artists, the freedom to reuse commercial material
without going through permissions-bureaucracies will dramatically
accelerate the content development process. The obvious application is
machine-mediated content delivery, initially of near-CD quality audio.

Instead of sending someone "Virtual Flowers", you could send them a
personalized playlist or remix. The idea is not to avoid compensating
the intellectual property owners. The goal is reward them through
automated transaction systems.

I think you give them too much credit. Maybe now is not the opportune
time to present solutions, but it's a good time to plant some seeds.
Maybe by next Christmas, the mechanisms can be standardized and
operational.