I may hate OpenAI and Anthropic but honest to God my hatred of copyright is more intense.

I lived through the 00's, when copyright enforcement involved big companies suing literal children and grandmothers, when Big Media tried VERY hard to make it so you would literally lose Internet access after infringement as well, and then adopted compromise positions like "six strikes" because the "zero tolerance" policy was politically rancid. In Germany, you can still get a demand letter from a rights holder demanding payment if you're caught pirating. This was the model they wanted in the US: the right to shake you down at any time, just because they believed you infringed.

And don't think for a fucking minute big content wouldn't try it again the moment they see an opening. People have started pirating again. Think about who is in charge. They could very well succeed this time.

This is the system that shook people down for years for "Happy Birthday" until a grassroots movement successfully challenged the copyright on an old technicality, but they patched those rules long ago, so works going into copyright since the ~80's will never have that technicality again.

You might think that copyright is some secret weapon against OpenAI. It is not. They will change the rules again, just as they changed the rules repeatedly to stop Mickey Mouse from going out of copyright, until the rules became too ridiculous.

I don't want to live in a world where content can disappear because someone sent someone a DMCA notice.

No, I refuse to support the tools of an oppressive system to fight another. Not at any cost.

Copyright is not pro-artist. Copyright is not pro-expresssion. Copyright is value extraction. Copyright is a means for Capital to extract more from the masses and give nothing back. It is a means of oppression.

People will defend copyright to death because they labour under the delusion artists need it to get paid, or whatever. All I hear is "I support oppression because someone might hypothetically make money."

If you are using copyright to make money? You are using an oppressive system to make money. That is how I see it. I am kind of tired of pretending otherwise.

We should structure society where we do not need copyright to make money.

Copyright didn't exist most of human history. And the sky did not fall. The introduction of copyright didn't stop people from being poor or from being exploited, either.

Copyright does not stop big companies from exploiting small people who cannot afford to fight back. I know this because I know people who've been ripped off by Big Media and have gotten a pittance for it.

Enforcing copyright requires corporate surveillance because there is literally no other means to enforce it. How else can you do it? You need to notice infringement to enforce it, and that requires monitoring and surveillance. If you hate Flock cameras, you should hate copyright.

And yes, there are companies devoted to this. WebSheriff comes to mind as one. The Pirate Bay has a whole record of takedown notices they've gotten over the years from these companies.

Even for small content creators; they will need to perform the same surveillance to enforce their rights. I don't want my shit monitored online just because John Mastodon has some art he made and wants to make sure I'm not using his art. I don't want John Mastodon monitoring me any more than I want fucking Sony or Google monitoring me.

Not to mention: in addition to being a shakedown scheme and means to informally censor the Internet through DMCA takedowns, it has caused immeasurable harm through the loss of a great deal of content that is just not publicly available because of copyright restrictions.

So you know what? If OpenAI or Anthropic destroys the copyright system, either through an adverse court ruling or getting the laws changed? I won't fucking shed a God damn fucking tear. I will be grumpy because of who did it. I will not object to the result.

That Onion article comes to mind: "Heartbreaking: The Worst Person You Know Just Made a Great Point"

@Elizafox time to double down and insist that copyright be abolished for _everyone_, and not just for Anthropic