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Here are collage's I've made in my spare time. Some were made as album covers for CDs I mailed away. Others take the form of pseudo-tarot cards with complementary concepts written on each side. The cards accompany the CDs. A few were made for fun. I still have those. All are free to use under the terms of their creative commons licenses (found on each picture's page).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/32737927@N04/sets/72157610024998312/

Now spit on them.

There was a conversation in the IRC channel about copyright earlier. I was curious what you all think. Do you think current US Copyright Law needs reform? Should it be strengthened or weakened? For those outside of the country: What are the laws where you live? How do you feel about it?

I for one think copyright law in the United States needs to change. Most new works don't enter the public domain until 70 years after the author's death. As I understand, the goal of copyright is to encourage artists and thinkers to make new works by giving them a state granted monopoly over the distribution of their works. What will extending the term past their death accomplish? Do the dead need incentives to write books?

Not to mention, the ambiguity surrounding public domain has created many orphaned works.

What's more, the current law punishes offenders unfairly. In one case, a man was sued for $675,000 for illegally downloading 31 songs. If he had physically shoplifted the same amount of music from a record store, he would have owed the store 50 dollars at the most. Downloading 31 songs does not inflict $675,000 dollars worth of damages on the recording industry. Why does the current law award record companies thousands of dollars per stolen song?

Please share your thoughts.