What has copyright to do with democracy?

[Karl-Erik Tallmo <ketallmo@xxxxxxxx>]

In view of recent debates, not the least those in Sweden, I wrote 
this article about the democratic aspects of copyright legislation. 
Many people today claim that copyright and democracy are incompatible 
concepts, that copyright infringes the privacy of readers and other 
cultural consumers etc. I believe it is not that simplistic:


>What has copyright to do with democracy?
>
>Abstract: The debates on whether or not copyright and democracy are 
>compatible concepts are not new. It has been discussed since the 
>1700s and concerns a form of separation of powers. Copyright is a 
>monopoly, but at the same time, when copyright came, it was a strike 
>at another form of monopoly, the printers' rights, with their roots 
>in the guild system. Copyright could not occur until censorship was 
>abolished, and it can actually be seen as a complement to the 
>freedom of expression. Copyright was early associated with privacy 
>issues. However, if proportionality is not followed in the 
>maintenance of law, both integrity and freedom of expression could 
>be threatened.


This text is part of the annual book "For or Against the Citizenry: 
Power sharing", which is published for the third time by the 
democracy study group D2D. It is available free of charge on the web.


Read the whole article at:
http://www.nisus.se/archive/090525e.html


Karl-Erik Tallmo



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   KARL-ERIK TALLMO, Swedish writer, artist and journalist.
   ARTICLES: http://www.nisus.se/archive/artiklar.html        
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