CopyTrapped

The scorching June wind was blowing hard as Frank entered the airport for the return flight to Orlando. This was Frank’s second flight as a commercial airline pilot for The U.S Airline, and he was looking forward to getting home after his exhausting day. Frank was a graduate of the 2011 class at the finest aeronautical college in the world, and even before the day he stepped foot into college, he knew he would make it to this stage of life in one piece. Although the excitement for his new job was high, he also couldn’t help but notice some very disturbing changes in the government’s policies and laws, especially with attempts to control the uncontrollable process of the brain. Just three years ago he was charged with a $200 fine for singing a song in his private shower because it violated intellectual property laws under the 15th revision. Even weirder, now people were getting thrown in jail because they “played,” through the power of though, a song in their head without compensating the copyright holder, a large company that held total control over any kind of media you can think of, and wanted more control, and eventually won an absolute monopoly not only on distribution but on thinking as well.
It was after this that more laws were passed, restricting the flow of information so if there was any at all, it was all under the jurisdiction of the large corporations. It began with things as simple as somebody’s name. Nobody could share the same name without violating copyrights. Next, they tried to control the flow of information by making an edict that any and all information not copyrighted by them was to be banned and destroyed, and that if any work was to be saved, it had to be placed under their control. Further extending their power, they pushed for copyright laws to be extended so it was the copyright holder’s life, and another one hundred years, as opposed to the life + 75 they experienced only 10 years ago. Total control was however not achieved until 2010, when they finally convinced the government to pass a series of laws that made it illegal to think about already copyrighted works in any way, through mandatory chips installed atop the brain which would download an updated database of prohibited thoughts automatically, and give the person a large zap of electricity when thinking one of these thoughts. Frank wanted to move out of the United States for this misuse of government, but unfortunately for him, he couldn’t convince his family – 2 kids and a beautiful wife to join him, so he was forced to stay here working for minimum wage on a low cost, non-copyright infringing airline.

As Frank placed his coat into the closet, he closed the door, and was surprised to hear a loud *BANG* from inside. When he re-opened the closet, there was nothing there that belonged to him. Not even static electricity or ashes were in there, just an empty closet in which used to contain his coat. “What… What the hell was that? What happened to my coat? OW!” The first officer was also startled when he heard the commotion, but soon realized what had happened and calmly explained the situation to Frank, who was still getting over his rather painful electric shock.

“That is a new copyright control device. It scans any item for items that have copyrighted material on them. If any copyrighted material is found, then the item is destroyed, and all findings are sent to the Copyright Control Office. Any memory of this event is also taken under copyright to them and any attempt to re-tell this event will get you into trouble, as if you already weren’t in enough trouble already.” Frank knew he was in deep trouble, but didn’t know what to do. As the crew powered the aircraft towards the runway, fear took control of his mind. “What will happen to my family?” he thought, “Would they all be arrested, and their house destroyed? Would they be forced to spend the rest of their lives in a dirty jail alongside murders and rapists?”

It was at the end of the last thought that the first officer, who was trying to awaken him from his semi-trance for takeoff, interrupted him. Trying to keep his mind off the recent run-in with the “copyright police,” as most of the people he worked with jokingly called them at one point or another, each with their own phrase of course, he proceeded to push the throttle on both the #1 and #2 engines to 75% power. The aircraft engines released the familiar groaning whine as the aircraft hurtled down the runway. 30, 60, 90 knots the aircraft traveled faster, gathering speed. “V1, V2, Rotate!” With the command, Frank pulled back on the yoke as the aircraft began a fast climb. Frank thought that he was safe from any harm in the sky as the aircraft leveled out at 25,000 feet. He settled in for the 5½-hour flight and was treated to a sight that no force on earth could control, the formation of the clouds as the sunset flowed over the plains.

Shortly after the meal was completed, the first class flight attendant delivered an urgent message to the cockpit. It was from the Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property, a group working to fight the illegal transfer of information against the control of the copyright holders. Their message was typed on plain paper, and read like this:

To the Pilots of Flight #1978:

There are several passengers that have been detected of being in violation of several of the recently1 passed copyright and intellectual property laws. The failure to bring the situation under control will result in potentially fatal consequences for everybody on board, whereas arresting the guilty and controlling the situation will result in a handsome reward for everybody on board that were involved in the arresting of the criminals. We await your decision, which hopefully will work out for the better of all, and most importantly their creative future.

- The Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property

(Recent being the past 5 to 10 years)


Upon reading the line “The failure to bring the situation under control will result in potentially fatal consequences for everybody on board,” Frank’s face turned onion white. He didn’t want everybody to die, but at the same time, the electric shock he encountered made him feel uneasy about following the government’s laws anymore. His command to the crew was simple. “Boys, let’s prepare to die sticking it to the man” With that, he threw down the headset, took the message and placed it into the closet his jacket was incinerated in earlier, and the laser did the rest. As an hour went by, there was another message delivered to the cockpit, also from the Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property. This time, the warning was much fiercer.

To the Pilots of Flight #1978:

You have one last chance to report the situation neutralized, or everybody onboard faces potentially fatal consequences under the current laws that we have the absolute power to uphold and enforce to the maximum extent.

- The Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property

Frank ordered the message incinerated as well, and the pilots continued to fly on, ignoring the message, and joking about it along the way. It was when they were preparing to land an hour after the message was delivered that they felt a stomach-smashing bump accompanied by an ear-shattering crash. A fighter plane with the “Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property” insignia on the side had struck the aircraft. The pilots lost control of the aircraft, which had began a nosedive to the ground below. Frank desperately pulled back on the yoke trying to bring back control to the aircraft, but just before he could pull out completely, the aircraft struck the ground and did a spectacular flip bursting into flames, and resting next to a mountain.

“It is with great regret that the Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property must inform you,” began the letter sent to Frank’s family, “That your family member, first name Frank was killed in an airplane crash on the day of January 22nd, 2016 on flight number 1978 for failure to comply with Bureau of Copyrights and Intellectual Property policies and copyright and intellectual property laws. As of this moment, the remainder of your family is to be immediately transported to the airport for exportation to another country as stated in his final testament.”

Frank’s family was devastated and having nothing more they could do, complied with this final will. They moved, along with all the families and friends of those who died at the hands of the BCIP, some 300 people, to another country that had a stable government, and with them came thousands of followers who also were fed up with the passing of corrupt laws in the country they thought of as free. And what might you ask did they do when they reached this country? They had the chip on the brain removed and burned the chips in a massive bonfire. After that they set out on the monotonous task of restoring works lost to the copyright control of the country they abandoned, a creative past that would have been lost forever had they not done something to end the spread of creative restrictions imposed upon them, if Frank had not been killed for his noble act which sparked a revolution to come. A revolution that was not only based on the realization that ideas and creative works could only have a limited type of protection before the impact affects the process of creative thinking, but how the idea of controlling creativity too much can be fatal to creative though in the long run. Upon years of work was a far system to be established to come...{/P}