don't mind the fine print

I'm not gonna lie, legal issues bore me. Nonetheless, it is crucial to understand them. I've always been interested in freelance work, but before this week, I felt like I didn't have enough of an understanding of how not to get ripped off. I'd still like to know more, but Monday's lecture was definitely helpful. My dad used to be a lawyer, so through him I've learned a lot about the law, but not so much about contracts and copyrights as they apply to intellectual property. The movie we watched was also pretty interesting. As one of my classmates pointed out, it was kind of one-sided, but it made some valid points nonetheless. I have mixed feelings about Girl Talk as an artist. On one hand, I don't think his music has as much value as original (or so-called original) compositions, but I don't really think that what he's doing is wrong. His songs are definitely different than the samples (I don't like AC/DC as much when it's not in one of his songs) and what he's doing is certainly creative, but I can see why people might be pissed at him. Either way, it's pretty ridiculous to see the lengths to which corporations will go to protect creative work, as well as scientific work. I think it would be nice if copyrights didn't exist, but at the same time, I'm sure that there are people out there who would blatantly abuse the system and just rip other people off for profit. Overall, it's a slippery slope, but I think it's pretty easy to judge the difference between an original work and an outright rip-off.