
'I Have a Dream' Posted in Defiance of Copyright for Internet Freedom Day - zoowar
https://mashable.com/2013/01/18/i-have-a-dream-internet-freedom/
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jivatmanx
You can also sing the happy birthday song for him on MLK's birthday, in
defiance of copyright.

This is even more apt than you think:

"In the 1987 documentary Eyes on the Prize about the US Civil Rights Movement,
there was a birthday party scene in which Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s
discouragement began to lift. After its initial release, the film was
unavailable for sale or broadcast for many years because of the cost of
clearing many copyrights, of which "Happy Birthday to You" was one. Grants in
2005 for copyright clearances[15] have allowed PBS to rebroadcast the film as
recently as February 2008.[16]"

[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Birthday_to_You>

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jwb119
Close. Just signing the song doesn't violate copyright any more than reading a
book out loud to yourself would. Singing it in a public place or making a
public performance on YouTube for instance though, that's where this is more
likely to come into play.

Still, your point on the absurdity of this is well taken.

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Create
While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also
championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People’s Campaign to
address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S.
foreign policy and the Vietnam War.

In his “Beyond Vietnam” speech, which he delivered at New York’s Riverside
Church on April 4th, 1967, a year to the day before he was assassinated, Dr.
King called the United States, quote, “the greatest purveyor of violence in
the world today.” Time magazine called the speech “demagogic slander that
sounded like a script for Radio Hanoi.” The Washington Post said King, quote,
“diminished his usefulness to his cause, his country, his people.”

Today, we’ll let you decide. We play an excerpt of Dr. King’s speech “Beyond
Vietnam.”

[http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/16/special_dr_martin_luth...](http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/16/special_dr_martin_luther_king_jr)

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danso
One of the most famous (perhaps _the_ most famous) speeches in our televised
history...and now come to think of it, I don't think I've ever heard it in its
entirety.

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orangethirty
I suggest you acquire an MP3 version of it. Quite a powerful speech. I have
been studying it for quite a while and learning about what makes it such an
amazing powerhouse.

~~~
oftenwrong
or an ogg version

<https://archive.org/download/MLKDream/MLKDream.ogg>

~~~
orangethirty
Yes, thank you for posting the better format.

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jwb119
> "[The video is] copyrighted so what we are doing technically is illegal"

> "We think we have an excellent argument for Fair Use since it is clearly
> part of political speech and we are not making any money off it."

So which one is it, guys? Not illegal if it's fair use.

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sp332
Fair use is determined by courts. Unfortunately there is in fact no way to
know whether a use is fair without having a judge decide.

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pyre
Well, there is case-law... which could possibly be overturned if someone
decides to push far enough through the court system.

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subsystem
It's on TPB of course.

[http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110040/Martin_Luther_King__I...](http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/6110040/Martin_Luther_King__I_Have_A_Dream_Mp4)

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slacka
These draconian laws like DMCA, SOPA, and copyright extensions that pushed
though by the RIAA and MPAA are suppressing our creativity
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tk862BbjWx4> and are destroying our cultural
heritage.
[http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/11/48625?cu...](http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2001/11/48625?currentPage=all)
To top it off, their outdated business model leaches most of the money from
the artists. <http://www.salon.com/2000/06/14/love_7/> Copyright needs to be
reformed. Some changes that I'd like to see are:

* Abolish the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

* Intellectual property should be taxed like real property. [http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-weaver20feb20,0,1...](http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-weaver20feb20,0,1675278.story) It is an asset with a value, right? If you no longer make enough to pay your taxes on it, it goes to the state to dispose of.

* Copyrights are supposed to be an incentive to create. One that lasts unto your grandchildren are a dis-incentive, because not only are you not creating any more once you are dead, neither are your descendants. Copyright should last half a working lifetime (20 years), to encourage people to continue to create.

* Someone who makes copies without permission should pay a fine, but it should be at the regular royalty rate for the item x copies made. So upload a song, it's iTunes price x number of downloads, with perhaps a factor of 3 penalty to discourage doing it, not $150,000 per copy.

If you care about copyright reform, you can donate money to the EFF or at
least sign this petition urging reform.
<http://www.fightforthefuture.org/fixcopyright>

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smogzer
The people need a new party to defend their interests. The do not bully party.

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jamesbritt
Happy Internet Freedom Day!

[Void where prohibited by law.]

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nasmorn
I am sorry if I am mistaken here since I am not American. But don't you have a
public holiday for him (MLK)? How did the government not secure copyright for
his most famous speech? That is almost like the national anthem copyrighted by
a corp. Does at least the president keep copyright of his speeches?

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RyanMcGreal
Direct link to video: <http://vimeo.com/57653391>

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eagsalazar2
Already deleted.

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TheAmazingIdiot
This link works: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs>

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muloka
"This video contains content from Screen Media Ventures, LLC, CD Baby, Diwan
Videos and IODA, one or more of whom have blocked it in your country on
copyright grounds."

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neumann_alfred
Different message, same result:

"Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany because it may contain
music for which GEMA has not granted the respective music rights."

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delinka
Can we get a journalist to cover the history of the copyright of this
broadcast and the players who continue to profit from the doctor's fine words?
I'd really like to know why his family ever felt entitled to keeping such a
monumental event repressed.

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Anechoic
Various NPR shows (On Point and Talk of the Nation come immediately to mind)
have covered this.

On the media also did a report: [http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/jan/13/dr-
martin-luther-king-...](http://www.onthemedia.org/2012/jan/13/dr-martin-
luther-king-jr-and-public-imagination/)

transcript: [http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jan/14/dr-martin-luther-
king-...](http://www.onthemedia.org/2011/jan/14/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-and-
the-public-imagination/transcript/)

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aspensmonster
Well, that was fast. It's already taken down from the vimeo link in the
article. I doubt anyone here hasn't already seen it, but here it is:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smEqnnklfYs>

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bborud
This is relevant: [http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/01/17/who-owns-the-words-
th...](http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/01/17/who-owns-the-words-that-come-
out-of-your-mouth-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/)

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lnanek2
Last time I researched this, it looked like the profits from licensing were
being used for good works, so it is tough to begrudge them.

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lloeki
The number of times I have come across this video in whatever store or
whatever other legal form is effectively zero. This is the first time I have
the opportunity to see it. So, I expect profits to be extremely small, and
thus resulting in good works getting basically nothing and the video being
virtually lost to mankind's current culture, save for events like this one.

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danielweber
What's wrong with the formatting on this page?

I mean, this HN page. Margins are messed up.

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dale386
Someone posted a long link below that stretched out the entire page.

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discountgenius
FYI: It looks fine with "Hacker News Enhancement Suite" Chrome extension.

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benwerd
Removed at 1:03:37. That's a slightly suspicious-looking timestamp.

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vertr
I find this funny because Martin Luther King turned out to be a plagiarist.

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sjwright
Erm, it's called _remixing._

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derleth
Remixers give credit.

This is actually an interesting part of the culture around copyright: People
seem to think copyright law is actually about plagiarism, so as long as they
explicitly say they don't own something they're in the clear. It doesn't work
like that, but it's how people seem to want the law to work.

What's more, plagiarism is reliably punished using whatever social means the
community has. As we see here, in fact: Mentioning it is pretty much the only
recourse left, so that's what we do.

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maeon3
the united states judicial system discriminates against programmers, giving
10x the sentences for equivalent crimes in other older offenses like armed
robbery. downloading a file can get you more jail time than waving a gun
around in a populated area demanding money.

I demand to be treated equally. that means when a senator gets caught bribing
for millions in personal gain, he gets put away for 35 years, as an example.

