Oct 04 2010
[framing] ree-eh-eh-ree-eh-eh REEEMIX
Our age of political protesters do so silently and nonviolently and daily…from their computers.
This is what our radicals have become!
As Lessig suggested, youth today work within a different framework than the print media of our parents’ youth, and laws should be adjusted to flex and mold with the technology. Out of a fear that no creative work could be protected came a legal system that casts out a net wide enough to actually impede innovative creation. It’s time for the law to grow up…
1. Are there any aspects of current copyright law that should stay in place to protect work in the digital age?
2. How can we differentiate between amateur and professional in regard to making laws applicable to one group or the other?
3. How will we make these changes? Does it need to start with a grassroots movement? The youth themselves? Could it start with the government?
October 6th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Nicole, I feel that you bring up some very great questions that are in the process of being answered on a number of different levels. Currently one of the main differences between amateur and professionals is the bottom line that professionals are paid and trained to create the news and entertainment. Professionals have had laws in place for generations that dictate the role they play and how much power they are granted. On the other hand, these arising amateurs do not which as we see creates tension and unbalance amongst the two. I see this most evident in blogs where amateur bloggers can make pretty bold statements or remain biased on current events or ideas that professional can’t. In many aspects, it seems that professionals don’t like this sort of transition because as a professional journalist, you can’t always say what you feel without following a code of ethics or company restrictions. With this being said, I feel as your second and third questions are very closely correlated and that the change begins with government. First and foremost, until government steps in- professionals will continue to have laws and amateurs will have ethics. I don’t foresee that a grassroots movement will change this issue much because these “grassroot” individuals are basically amateurs themselves who have already indirectly and unconsciously set a level of ethical values. I predict that in the next five years, social networking regulations will be in place for both professionals and amateurs to abide to; however, these professionals will also have more limitations. Like Lessing discusses pertaining to copyright and as we’ve discussed in class, copyright (laws) will also be pretty hard to define and regulate in this aspect because while copyright laws are in place- government can’t take away freedom of speech but can only redirect it. The other main issue in creating and regulating these laws is acknowledging that amateurs eventually become professionals through experience (if that is their targeted goal). I realize that some amateurs don’t aim to be professionals, but only desire freedom of speech through blogging and other social media formats. But for the individuals who wish to gain experience with a targeted goal in mind, it is difficult to put into place laws that separate the two. For example, whether I become a web designer through academic schooling or strictly based on independent study considered experience, I eventually become skilled on a professional level. Hence with that said, I feel like maybe we should focus less on differentiating the two with titles, but redefine ethics that we see most important and urgent.