New Legislation Threatens Copywrite Laws

Today I was checking out the forum on Zazzle when I came across a very disturbing post explaining about a new bill set to hit Congress any minute now that could jeopardize the protection of inferred copy write laws that are currently in place. Essentially, this set of legislation will strongly encourage the legal theft of content not registered properly. So, what are the particulars?

"Orphan" Works
Any work that cannot be connected to a creator after a "reasonable search" will be deemed an "orphan" work and be eligible for public use under fair use laws. This is especially significant for people like me who create images that are often more difficult to trace back to an original creator. Also, if the interested party does not search the correct registry, but has proof that they conducted a "reasonable search", what is to stop them from using my images? Do you see the problem here?

Privatized Registeries
Instead of a single registry run by the US government, the new system will require artists, writers, and other creators, to register with privatized registries. This means that a private company will be able to set the price for registering. You can bet that because of this set up, some are ready and waiting to pounce and make LOADS of money on this. The people who lose? Once again, the ones who cannot afford to lose.

What does this mean for the average artist, writer, creator, etc?

• significantly higher costs to protect your content
  
• incentive for other people to not find who created your work so they can make money on it
  
• if someone finds an "orphan work" you created and you later claim it, even if you have proof of creation, if they register it, it is theirs to use and profit from
  
• this effects more than just the copy write laws in the US, but affects artists and creators all over the globe- if an American finds an orphaned work someone in Italy created, what's to stop them from registering it and profiting?
  

Personally, I have not been able to find any good thing about this law except the disgusting amount of money all the big whigs are posed to make from it. So, what can you do to stop this thing?

1. Do your own research. Understand exactly what is going on with this thing before you decide to jump on board. (This is always a good precaution in dealing with legal advocacy.)
   
2. Contact your congressman and/or representative. Let them know your concerns as a voting citizen and ask them to support you and others like you in preventing this bill from passing.
   
3. Sign petitions like this one.
   
4. Let all of your friends and family know about what's going on. You can do this with an email, joining the facebook petition group and inviting all your friends to join, starting discussions on any web forum you frequent often, etc. The point is, the word needs to get out SOON! With the presidential elections coming up, this bill is probably going to be fast-tracked through before most Congressmen really take notice of what it's really saying. This dangerous bill NEEDS our opposition now!
   

For more information about this, check out the following links:
Orphaned Works- No Myth
ASMP Orphan Works Legislation
How to Lose All the Rights to Every Piece of Art You Ever Created
Orphan Works Act of 2008 Squidoo lens