Posts Tagged: copyrights

Big institutions that control music and movies make a big deal about the immorality of downloading. Jack Valenti, the head of the Motion Picture Association of America calls it stealing. But I question the idea of equating filesharing with stealing for the following reasons:

1.) Almost every other tangible product that we buy is assumed to be fully ours once we purchase it. Imagine how hilarious it would be for a farmer to kick your door in with a SWAT TEAM and hall you off to jail because you gave away the seeds to the pumpkin you bought to your neighbor. In effect, you have shared the essence of the pumpkin, and now allow your neighbor to have a copy they did not purchase. But no reasonable person would allow that sharing to be called ‘theft.’ Why, then, doesn’t this same freedom of sharing extend to digital products that have been purchased by a user?

2.) Sharing music electronically precedes the internet. As a child, it was unremarkable for me to record music form the radio onto a cassette tape, copy that tape and then share it with a friend. That concept is no different than online filesharing. So why are record labels and movie studios up in arms NOW? And why are they being allowed to label digital file sharing as ‘theft’, when electronic file sharing never received that widespread label.

3.) Hollywood initially came after digital downloading just like the music industry. The claim was that downloading would bankrupt Hollywood. However, over time studios have figured out how to make money (yearly box office receipts are generally the same or better than ever.) So why can’t the music industry and other institutions that own art figure out how to make money in this environment, too?

1. In the first chapter, the author discusses the generational critiques of the Internet, with the first being that if the Internet gives everyone a voice or a chance to speak, then no one is listening. The second generational critique said the Internet is not as decentralized as we once thought (i.e., very few sites capture a large amount of attention and far more websites go unnoticed). Based on these observations and the continuing evolution of the World Wide Web, what could be some third generation critiques when it comes to networked publics and the democracy of sharing information?

2. In the second chapter, the author explains that many outlets do not rely on copyright royalties to attain their wealth, but rather see a greater benefit in sharing the information at a low (or zero) cost to users in order to have information circulated, thus making profit that way. With companies like the New York Times debating charging users for access to their websites, how would this affect the online information community and, perhaps, the focus on using copyrights for profits?

3. How are community-based websites, such as Wikipedia and Second Life, shaping our cultural understanding of the Internet? What are the social-norms and values (or even self-governing rules of conduct) of participating in these forums and how have they developed?