I liked the fact that instead of reading all the articles on the subject (as there are atleast a couple) people flew off the handle and started running around posting journals up left right and centre based on the testimony of just one article.

I've already had half a dozen people on my watchlist post journals essentially going: OH NOES!!111! GOVERNMENT SUXOR!!1 which basically just read like chinese whispers and scare mongering. Shockingly they were all written by people who I genuinely thought would be shrewd enough to do their own research and thus form rational conclusions.

Which they did. After they'd tired themselves out from a hard day's hysteria.

People are treating this as breaking news. It isn't. The news is supposed to objective and reflect current events. This is one sided speculation on a proposed concept that was reffered to in US sub commitee's as something to be put under disccussion before going largely ignored: [link]

The only "current" element of this is that the concept is back up for discussion and is basically a re-clarification of what was discussed last time.

If passed it would also only effect work produced or used in the US that hadn't been explicitly labelled as your own. (rather classily i've had some people claim that if passed the law would see you paying to register each piece of work you produce - essentially selling you something you already owned).

"Orphan Works" has been left to a lot of people imaginations aswell I notice as people hastily took turns turns to define what it actually meant. For those of you still wondering here's a quote lifted from the proposal itself, courtesy of the Library of Congress:

"Concerns have been raised, however, as to whether current copyright law imposes inappropriate burdens on users, including subsequent creators, of works for which the copyright owner cannot be located (hereinafter referred to as “orphan”' works). The issue is whether orphan works are being needlessly removed from public access and their dissemination inhibited. If no one claims the copyright in a work, it appears likely that the public benefit of having access to the work would outweigh whatever copyright interest there might be." - LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Copyright Office

and:

"Instead, we recommended a framework whereby a legitimate orphan works owner who resurfaces may bring an action for “reasonable compensation” against a qualifying user. A user does not qualify for the benefits of orphan works legislation unless he first conducts a good faith, reasonably diligent (but unsuccessful) search for the copyright owner." - United States House of Representatives 110th Congress, 2nd Session March 13, 2008

Now, that's not an ideal legal enviroment for creators to work under but... It basically says that if you did'nt have the sense to label your work in a public enviroment then anyone has the right to use it until you kick up a fuss about it.

Keep in mind of course that laws like this have been in force for years anyway. The copyright of anything you make expires after a set time of you or the owner being dead unless placed into a foundation be it private or corprate.

For instance, most of the characters used in Alan Moores League Of Extraodinary Gentleman were only usable because their creators had been dead for decades and their creations not passed onto a foundation that could maintain the copy right (with the exception of the Invisible Man). EDIT [That's actually Fu Manchu it seems and The Invisible Man situation only affects the film - who knew?]

Basically while it's unethical to use the work of others, even if altered (stealng a bike then putting a new bell on it doesn't make it yours) it's still your responsibilty to copyright it all. Realise that there are people out there who will use your work regardless of what laws do or don't exist regardless of if they are or aren't in your favour.

And finally, well done users of DA. Your ability to over react and read things at face value has probably convinced the world at large that we're a bunch of hysterical idiots yet again.

Well done.