Where’s the copyright upgrade?
p2pnet.net News View:- The EFF proposed Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music might be the solution which brings p2p and file sharing out of its illegitimacy. I read their statement and watched a three-hour -ong debate on the subject at Cornell University. However, it still leaves some sticking points unresolved resulting in the main one: where’s the copyright upgrade?
VCL
Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music has a few things going for it and the EFF’s Fred von Lohmann gave a good defense of the system. VCL wants to impose a collective levy on Net distribution of Intellectual Property but it’s slightly different then the goverment levy system proposed by William Fisher III.
Yet, both still are systems on top of flawed copyright laws and they might do more harm then good in the long run.
Radio
VCL draws upon the collective radio licensing experience from the early 20’s. The licensing was then, and still is, used for broadcasting purposes. It didn’t encompass the other right: to copy or reproduce.
On the Net, broadcast right and copyright are heavily intertwined. We’re already seeing the convergence of file sharing and online broadcast with Podcasting. At the moment, Podcasting is a perfect candidate as RIAA’s next target.
Drawing clear lines won’t get any easier in the future. Copyright law has given rights holders the clear separation of those rights. Given the nature of the online world, it won’t be easy to get rights holders to relinquishing those rights in a bundle.
Users = Artist
The Net is increasingly blurring the lines between artists and users. The remixing culture has the unexpected side effect of making everybody a creator. That’s why Open Source and GPL licenses got started in software and Creative Commons tries to help with audio, video and text.
This seems to be working out well as long as you leave the green monster and the lawyers out of it.
The Green Monster
But VCL is about money and this, in turn, would make it a real hassle. Who gets to decide the price and who’ll slice up the pie? When it’s about money, the cure is always to use market forces. You have to go along with that because otherwise, you’d be called a communist.
But with market forces we’ll end up just where we started: with investors deciding who gets to be an artist. And taken into account the "Users = Artist", that clearly will conflict with the Net.
US centric view
The VCL needs a global approach but with the US leading the way. Needless to say, not every system or culture needs nor wants such a ‘cultural’ invasion.
While the US might be the biggest producer of IP, it is far from being the only one.
Better yet, its might is dwindling.
Most argue that the VCL system will leave US citizens paying the most. Yet, it might just be the other way around. With the bulk of the money streaming back to the US, where would it leave the local creators who fly under the VCL radar? Does the Nigerian filmmaker also get a piece?
Nigeria’s Film Industry (Africa’s Bollywood) has an estimated revenue projection between $600 – 800 million from African markets alone. And that’s from their so called ‘home movie’ productions with almost no budgets.
Just like the famous argument: "My Grandmother doesn’t download so why does she have to pay?" Well, everybody gets taxed for a lot of stuff they don’t use nor want. But that’s how we all pay your grandmother’s Social Security. Is that fair?
Copyright 2.0
Yes, copyright law seemingly works well in the real world but in the digital arena those laws are just spectators. Moreover, most solutions currently on the table including licensing are still based on a flawed copyright system.
Bottom line, VCL isn’t a fix just a patch while waiting for the definite Copyright Law upgrade 2.0.
But take it from me, it’ll be a much longer wait then "Longhorn".
The Cornell Debate is available here: streaming Realmedia (~3.5 hours) or downloadable mp4 (451mb) format.
Raymond Blijd – fk2w
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May 4th, 2005 at 11:52 am
it’s about time the consumer was afforded more rights – rights of privacy, rights of possession (9/10 of the law and all that), human rights, civil rights, rights of dignity – not humility and shame, rights to share info and entertainment legally purchased or recorded, rights to freedom.
the current US and (most) world copyright laws are seriously out of date and should be scrapped. new ones should be drawn up to include all the rights of the consumer, and all that implies.
filesharing=”infringement” doesn’t really make sense when the actual, physical creators of films – The Director’s Guild of America – is not against dvd copying for private use – which would presume to include all possibilities of private use.
when films are shown on tv, edited and riddled with ads, we don’t hear the director’s or MPAA complaining.
when songs are played on the radio and the DJ talks over the beginning or ending – or cuts the song too early or re-edits it to fit the 3-minute format, there is no outrage from the RIAA or the so-called lip-synching, electronic voice-manipulated “artists”.
but what we do get are inferior remakes of hollywood classics; remixes of golden oldies by so-called untalented “rap artists” to include their crap (rap=crap) over the songs we really want to hear; and lisa marie presley making more and more money off re-releasing “lost” or remixed elvis songs.
the public as a whole doesn’t want this crap or have to subsidize it. only the naive indoctrinated bubble-gum crowd whose maleable minds are owned by MTV and AOL Time Warner believe this is all there is.
years ago, hollywood tried to push colorizaion of b/w films onto the public. that failed because the consumers, directors, actors, and producers refused to accept it. and no-one went to court because of it.
civil disobedience, in the form of filesharing and copying/sharing, continuing to flex the might of our own will and dollar are one way to force change in the direction of the consumers’ freedoms of speech, choice, and use of legally purchased items.
the customer is always right. full stop.