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# A vehicle for the denigration of copright
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/article-539jsp/
- Published: 2002-07-14T23:07:00.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:46:02.000Z
- Author: Dean Kay
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:59

What troubles me the most about **openDemocracy** is their use of the headline, The People vs. Copyright, to frame what should be a serious public debate about copyright. The headline is obviously designed to inflame passions and instill negative mindsets without requiring the reader to read a single word.

I certainly may be wrong, but it's hard to believe that people I respect like [Jack Valenti](https://www.opendemocracy.net/articles/View.jsp?id=58) (MPAA) and [Walter McDonough](https://www.opendemocracy.net/articles/View.jsp?id=28) (FOMC) were asked for their blessings before their publicly available thoughts were included in a forum clearly billboarded as a vehicle for the denigration of copyright.

While Fred von Lohmann ([EFF](http://www.eff.org/?ref=opendemocracy.net)) and I rarely agree, I applaud him for his instantaneous reaction to the negative connotations invoked by openDemocracy's use this headline:

Wait, wait, wait! wrote Fred on [Pho](http://www.62chevy.com/pho.htm?ref=opendemocracy.net), It's \*not\* the People v. Copyright. Copyright is for the People. Copyright has delivered lots of good things to both the People and the Owners for over a century. That's what the Copyright Bargain is all about....

Perhaps the day will come when someone without an agenda will create a space where great thinkers from all sides of the copyright debate can have a rational and meaningful dialog that will be a benefit, rather than a detriment to the future well being of those whose lives enjoy non stop enrichment as a result of the existance of copyright... the general public.