In 2022, Senator Josh Hawley introduced a measure to strip Disney of all its copyright protections. This bill called the Copyright Clause Restoration Act would reinstate the limit on copyrighted material to 56 years. This new law would be retroactive. This means that any work that has been under copyright for over 56 years would become public domain immediately. Any number of computing innovations could become public domain in just a few years under this act.
How might privacy be involved?
Privacy could be involved in this scenario in a few ways. For example, some copyrighted material may contain personal or sensitive information about individuals. If this material were to become public domain under the Copyright Clause Restoration Act, this information could potentially be accessed and distributed without the consent of the individuals involved, leading to privacy concerns.
Additionally, if computing innovations were to become public domain under this act, there may be concerns about the security and privacy implications of widespread access to these technologies. If sensitive information or personal data is stored or processed using these innovations, there could be potential risks to privacy if they were to be widely available without copyright protections in place.
Overall, the removal of copyright protections as proposed in the Copyright Clause Restoration Act could have implications for privacy in terms of the potential public availability of sensitive information and the security risks associated with widespread access to copyrighted technologies.