I can quite easily envision a scenario in which this blog is nuked from orbit. After all, I frequently link to materials that are hosted for free online, and sometimes post poems and comics and the like that I want to dig into critically.
Should that be a problem?
Absolutely not!
Fair use, as far as I understand it, means that I can freely use these materials for the purpose of criticism or parody.
But that's never stopped YouTube from taking down parody videos that should be protected under Fair Use. LittleKuribo's longrunning work Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series has been taken off of Youtube countless times, despite its blatantly satirical nature, for example.
I suspect that the reason it's so difficult to keep popular works like this safe is simply that YouTube can't afford to defend its actions in court. They're trigger happy because if it comes to a standoff, they would probably end up losing quite a lot of money, either through actually battling the case out, or settling out of court.
What the United States government is proposing today is a law that would make these pressures all the stronger. Seriously, read up on the topic at the link covering my logo. It's not pretty. Especially since it puts a lot of pressure on websites and hosts and so on to make sure nothing even resembling piracy is happening. What's really problematic here is not even the execution so much as the threat.
I honestly don't know if this post will go out in time, but what the hell, I'm going to try to move what few people stop by here. Even the many non-US readers can get involved, just to show solidarity. I honestly do consider myself more a Citizen of the Internet than of any particular country, and I think the growth of Anonymous, international Pirate Parties, and, hell, loose groups like the people that frequent this very blog all show that I'm not alone in that sentiment.
Ultimately, what it comes down to is a question of whether you're satisfied with having your creativity, your commentary, your ingenuity muzzled by the large corporate copyright holders behind this bill.
I know where I stand. For my blog, for my ideas, for the other creative, clever people out there on the net... for these things I'm willing to fight.
How 'bout you?
Oddball media crit--laying siege to academia's ivory tower from pop culture's gutter
I had a huge post, but it was eaten.
ReplyDeleteBasically:
Pirating is a problem, and should be addressed.
This however is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Companies have a right to protect their income, they should not however stifle the source of future innovation. Nor should they so callously remove some of the greatest sources of word of mouth advertising available.
Also do you by chance have links to information on the bill with out the buzz words, projections presented as facts, or maybe even quotes from the actual bill? I tried to read between the lines, but everything I find is very heavily biased one way or another.
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