Posts Tagged: law

As media and technologies have advanced over the centuries, society has changed with it.  Has law kept up with all the changes and adapted adequately?

This was the final question I posed in my framing post earlier this week in regards to the sociocultural contest of interactive media.  After reading and discussing in class, I think it is apparent that society has outgrown the law and it needs to be rethought.  Digital mediums have brought copyright, sharing, and the idea of professional versus amateur to a whole new level.  Just as some societies may be afraid to adopt the new technologies in our world today, I believe our world is afraid to adapt new laws to accommodate these new technologies.  It’s time for a change and we can no longer fit our new world into our old regulation model.

The younger generation makes this issue apparent through their disregard for pirating consequences.  Although everyone knows that downloading copyrighted material is illegal and there is big talk that those who take part in these activities will be punished, we don’t hear of a lot of follow through action.  It’s common knowledge that a lot of younger people’s digital content was not paid for and that sharing this content with others is expected among friends.

So where are the repercussions.  If we don’t enforce the rules in this realm, how will other laws concerning wrongdoing be viewed?  Will vandalism and shoplifting also been seen as a something that can be brushed away or not taken seriously?  How will this shape the younger generation and what implications will this behavior and attitude toward law have on society in the future when they run the world?  Frankly, I am a little nervous to see how today’s kids will turn out.

I am also concerned about the trend toward free content online.  Unfortunately, since the Internet’s beginnings back in the late 1960s it was always deemed as and intended to be  a free medium.  However, I don’t believe people know how quickly the Internet would explode onto the societal scene and be integrated so deeply into our modern lives.  Although everyone today is accustomed to the idea of free content online, I think this needs to change.  Just because we are used to something doesn’t mean it is the best method.

As mentioned early, it seems that the world is afraid to change laws to adapt to the new digital lives we live.  Everyone demands free, free, free, free.  But in reality this isn’t possible or fair.  Internet users want a socialist society online but shutter at the idea in real life.  For some people, the Internet is their main world and their main source of income and societal development.  We can not treat the online world as if it is not connected to real lives.

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?

If music be the food of love, play on…right?

Looking at that lyric, the first thing I think about is ‘can I be sued for copyright for using that?’

Shudder. With the music industry cracking down on pirating and illegal downloading, many users are thinking twice before getting the latest episode of “True Blood” from the Internet.

But wait—isn’t the Internet supposed to be used for sharing information? How is it fair that file sharing be banned in the US but legal in other countries like Sweden?

It’s not fair, and the only people making big money off copyright are the musicians and the lawyers. Suing for copyright should be self-damning however—musicians are really slapping their biggest fans in the face by denying them full access to their music.

Plus, copyright helps to further the gap between rich and poor, like Lanier explains in his book You Are Not A Gadget. So what can we do to change this? Consider the producers in Good Copy, Bad Copy. There was a Brazilian who remixed a version of Gnarls Barkley’s song.

Maybe Americans need to follow his example. The more we use copyrighted material, the  more we expose ourselves to the law system for punishment. However, nothing will change unless it goes to court.

Copyrighted material has a long lifespan today, and it can be renewed so it stays in the same hands for years and years. We have the opportunity to file share, but with copyright controlled by a select number of power users this is impossible.

As Lanier points out, the media is connected to finance. Copyright law proves this point. The major players making money off copyright are the lawyers. Go figure.