Orphan Works Act of 2008

Ok, so this is something that was brought to my attention a while ago, and while I thought this could not possibly even be considered by the US Congress, it turns out I gave them way too much credit. I am not going to go through all the ramifications and details of this bill if it ends up passing (I'll give you some links to the information you'll need), but let me just state that this would not just make all your artistic work, that you'll ever do or ever have done, become up for grabs by anyone who wants to profit from it, but also cost you future employment. Why hire an illustrator or a photographer to shoot what you need for your ad, when you can just hop on the interwebs, pick out just the right photo that someone else has taken, and use that one for free? All you need to do, is compose a document that says "yeah, I really sort of tried to find who owned this image, but couldnt find 'im. It said some name on the bottom of the image but I just cropped it out and pretended it was like that when I found it."

This is really bad, people. And as always, it seems that trying to oppose this bill is like talking to a fucking wall. No wonder, really, when the people deciding it aren't the ones affected by this bill, and the ones lobbying it are the people who will be making a shitload of money on the new copyright register libraries.

I have done a lot of thinking about this issue, but I am going to let the bill and the documentation and commentary around it talk for itself. I really encourage (and beg) you, if you are any kind of creative person anywhere in the world, to check out these links and spread this around. If this is not stopped, it might mean the end of all online creative communities, and the nail in the coffin for a lot of smaller companies and independent artists.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CqBZd0cP5Yc (the full interview at http://www.sellyourtvconceptnow.com/orphan.html)

http://orphanworks.blogspot.com/