Get Your Hands Off My Barracuda

To respond to myself for a moment on copyright legislation and meaningful artist control of licensing, all this Palin / Barracuda nonsense strikes me as a perfectly good example of why copyright and sharing (or assumed public domain rights) shouldn’t be in anyone else’s hands.

With all the difficulties they’ve had in finding a tune whose composer will let them use, the McCain/Palin campaign may well soon discover a previously unknown fondness for material in the public domain, which thanks to McCain’s earlier votes on copyright legislation, now includes only a very small amount of music composed within his lifetime. (via)

The Wilson sisters aren’t happy without their copyright choice being considered, and McCain is frustrated that no one in the public domain (ie people still alive) want him to use their songs. Gee, I think it might be time to revisit how we legislate these things, you think?