We need a copyright law written from the perspective of a consumer/user
Walt Mossberg, technology writer for the Wall Street journal, wrote and filmed a piece (see embedded video below) today which makes a really great point about copyright. The current legislation, The Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 [PDF], was written by the record labels and the media industry. Internet companies have since added a clause to it, protecting some of their own rights. The only audience not reflected in the legislation is the audience of the consumer, and that needs to change.
This is an issue I have been discussing at length with several friends recently. Specifically, we’ve been discussing what changes when libraries go digital (as Google, Amazon, etc. are helping them do with scanned texts, etc.) and how the library’s goal of information availability is at direct odds with those of corporations whose goal is to maximize payment for those resources. A blurry line is being crossed right now and nobody know how to respond 100% appropriately yet.
Walt boils this down to the right conversation that needing to happen at the national level and ultimately the legislation which needs to be written on behalf of the consumer - complete details on what constitutes acceptable use of the material we buy. Certainly part of my enjoyment of my media is sharing the experience of listening, watching, or reading with my friends. At what level does that cross the line? The current DMCA does not allow for, or detail, the bounds for reasonable use. It instead focuses on making all users feel a bit criminal, even when we’re just mimicking old use cases - recordable cassette tapes, creating mixed CDs for friends, etc.
Now you’ll notice that Walt begins his article and video using the recent Viacom lawsuit against Google’s YouTube as an example of the current ambiguity and debate. Demetri Martin on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central (a Viacom owned property) summed up the whole debate in a more humorous, although no less effective way.
On a completely ridiculous note, showing just how out of touch Viacom is with all things internet related, the Comedy Central video clip above expires on 4/22/2007. Maybe it should have been all of us on the bottom of Demetri’s shoe.
Watch it while it’s available, I guess…
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Copyright law from the consumers point of view? Thats interesting, but if that is the case, shouldn’t the consumer be the one creating the content to be protected?
Why do people want to control or regulate things that other people do? If a content creater chooses to restrict access to the things they create, shouldn’t they have that right?
Hey RandomThoughts,
Thanks for the comment, always nice to see new folks on here -
My two cents is that in a functioning democracy, our representatives are supposed to represent the voice of the people, the voice of the consumer. The fact that legislation like the DMCA is being written by corporations and is not counter-balanced by the needs and interests of the people is a tragedy and a recipe for continued misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
On your other question about a content creator “restricting access” and whether or not they have the choice, the answer is that they certainly do. The problem is the amount of gray area in what is allowed with current content.
Imagine we are friends and I have a new song on a disc I want to show you. It’s pretty clear that if you come over to my house, I can play it for you without violating any agreement. It’s pretty clear I could take it over to your house as well. What happens if I have a copy on my computer and I send you the disc? Is that a problem? What if I send you the disc and promise I won’t listen to the copy on my own computer until you send me my physical disc back - can I transfer ownership, in other words, while keeping a backup? If I make you a mixed CD is that a crime? How is that different than sending you a copy of an album?
The issue here is that there really aren’t very clear use cases and rules around DRM and copyright and that coporations have knowingly created a large gray area so that they can selectively choose what to prosecute. That’s my problem.
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