Burning Man & Copyright

[kengr]

EFF has an article aboutr some really questioning copyright stuff the Burning Man Organization is doing:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/08/snatching-rights-playa

Comments

Equal time

[kshandra]

Burning Man deeply respects the efforts of the EFF, and frankly, would ourselves like to embrace their opinion - but we don’t think the issue is as simple as Corynne McSherry would have you believe.

Re: Equal time

[kengr]

I can understand that it ain't simple. But on the other hand, while their reasons for wanting those rights are good, that doesn't mean that some future set of folks running things couldn't abuse those rights.

That's the problem. Doing it via copyright means that they have *complete* control over someone else's works.

The right way to do it would be a lot harder to implement (something like binding contracts with *specific* restrictions).

Using copyright, especially the DMCA stuff, gives them control over stuff they *shouldn't* have control over.

And the trademark bit *is* out of line. They can't legally do what they have apparently been trying to do with that.