From the OA Librarian comes this useful link to the 2-minute Author’s Rights Video by the Association of Research Libraries. The film explains clearly and succinctly what scholars can do to make sure they retain the rights to use and share their work.
Film
Theatrical weekend and snow
This weekend had a theatrical slant. A movie premiere on Friday including the red carpet walk (not as part of the film but as a “trophy” boyfriend). Sunday was closing night at the children’s theater’s production of the musical Jungle Book with the Norwegian lyrics…
and a birthday party which ended with a bit of a paint shop…
On the way to Göteborg on Monday it was snowing a lot and by the time the train reached the outskirts of the city the snow was piled high… Wednesday is my moving day and now I am really hoping for a big melt down since I need it to be dry on moving day.
The Treasure of Sierra Madre
Watching the bar room fight scene in The Treasure of Sierra Madre and it is the most unrealistic fight scene I have ever seen. The film is a classic black & white with Humphrey Bogart and it shows how greed will change people and make them betray their friends and their ideals. The film is also the origin of the great quote: Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinkin’ badges!
Back to the boob tube
Since moving into my new apartment in April last year I have been without a television. It has been an interesting experience. I cannot say that I have grown intellectually and developed new pursuits. What I can say is that it’s a pain to watch films on a laptop all the time.
Yesterday I finally left the non-tv owning quasi luddite group and became mainstream. I bought a tv!
the shiny boob tube
Today I began paying my tv license and supporting public service again…
I wouldn't steal
The European Green Parties have begun a counter-attack on media propaganda. Most media companies claim that if you download a film you are just as likely to steal a handbag, break into a car or shoplift. These are ridiculous claims but somebody needed to say this out loud.
So enter the Greens! With their short film and their website they are making the fundamental and important point that making a copy is fundamentally different from stealing.
The media industry has failed to offer viable legal alternatives and they will fail to convince consumers that sharing equals stealing. Unfortunately, they have succeeded in another area – lobbying to adapt laws to criminalize sharing, turning consumers into criminals. They argue that their laws are necessary to [support artists], but in reality all they’re protecting is their own profits.
The Greens in Europe and worldwide has been opposing these laws. We believe that consumers are willing to pay if offered good quality at a fair price. We also believe that sharing is expanding culture – not killing it.
To protest against the faulty propaganda from the industry, we made our own film. The difference is – you can choose whether you want to watch this one.
Check out the I wouldn’t steal website and watch the film on YouTube or download it as a torrent. Oh and the movie is licensed under Creative Commons (by-nc) so you can even make your own remix version – try doing that legally with the industry propaganda.
Piracy is inevitable
The Wall Street Journal have an interesting article on the upcoming file sharing case involving the Pirate Bay. In the article Showdown Looms Over Pirated Media-Directory the WSJ presents a balanced view of the situation but writes:
While Sweden might seem to be an unlikely harbor for pirates of any kind, weak copyright laws, lax enforcement, high broadband penetration and general antipathy toward the entertainment industry have made it a file-sharing free-for-all.
This opinion that Sweden is somehow exceptional when it comes to file sharing has been cropping up a lot recently – both in print media and in conversations and I must say that I am surprised. Yes, the Pirate Bay is a Swedish outfit but anyone who thinks it is a problem in Sweden has fundamentally misunderstood the situation.
Ask around most teenagers in most countries are involved in copyright violations. Most of this is copying music and films. A bit more difficult (but not much) is to get an honest response from adults. Many adults are doing the same thing.
Remove all of Sweden and the Swedes and you would not significantly impact world copyright violations. Remove the Pirate Bay and you would have created nothing more than a hiccup or temporary annoyance.
The pirates are all around you. This is not about weak laws and lax enforcement it is about a fundamental change in the way in which we view right and wrong in relation to copyright and having the technological base with which to act.
It’s all about the digitalization of copyrightable material coupled with the development of technological gadgets such as iPods, iPhones, cheap storage and good broadband. Piracy is inevitable.
Seven Random Things
After reading the results of the Seven Random Things meme at both The Mummy’s Bracelet and The Little Professor I want to join in.
- I grew up on the island of Malta where I attended an all boys catholic school. I have been an atheist as long as I can remember.
- I once predicted that I would never need a mobile phone. I have lost count of how many I have owned.
- As a child I was accident prone and required stitches on several occasions, I lost half a finger before I was two – but I have never broken a bone.
- My first job was at McDonalds I survived 4 days before quitting.
- I have been a vegetarian for twenty years but recently I have become aware of the fact that I don’t know why.
- Science Fiction/Fantasy books bore me, but I like the films. Deep films bore me but I like to read the books. But I rarely read fiction.
- I almost didn’t survive law school. Bad study routines, computer games (especially Diablo) and insufficient interest in general law almost made me quit. I wonder where I would be today.
Naturally its easy to tag friends like TechnoLlama, Jonas, Hesa, Cyberlaw… But I would also like to tag some of the blogs I regularly read so Mothugg, Stephen, Joi & Jill consider yourselves tagged!
Steal This Film II
Copyright never was what it used to be and the struggle to define the purpose and limits over the protection of intellectual property (or indeed the idea of intellectual property) continues daily.
One example of the ongoing debate is an op-ed in the Swedish paper Expressen a group of Swedish politicians called for the legalization of file sharing. One of the politicians was a police officer. But this is more an example of the exception than the rule.
The real attempt to draw the lines that may limit copyright occur every day and are defined in the way in which we all collectively use our technology. The act of file sharing by an individual is, in of itself, an unimportant act. Taken collectively file sharing is a massive active form of resistance and a re-interpretation of the the general consciousness of justice, right, wrong & morality.
Another important position is taken by those who actively comment and interpret the acts of all those involved in the re-definition of copyright. An important contribution to this is the film Steal this Film II. It features scholars such as Yochai Benkler, Felix Stalder, Siva Vaidhyanathan, and Howard Rheingold and portrays file sharing and the copyright debate as a historical development in the urge to regulate the spread of information.
Over at the Industrial IT Group blog Jonny has written a very good analysis of the importance of the film. Watch the movie, read the analysis and get involved in the most interesting re-defition of law in our time.
The Story of Stuff
Don’t you just love it when you find cool stuff online? When you find something that someone has worked on to create and perfect so that others can enjoy? I do.
The film The Story of Stuff attempts to educate consumers about the costs of all or stuff. Or as the question of the film is poed in the begining of the movie – how can it be that a radio can cost as little as 4.99?
The online blurb explains:
From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
I am particularly fond of the quote: “You cannot run a linear system on a finite planet indefinitely”.
So go to the site watch the movie, download the movie (its CC licensed) listen and learn. How can our stuff cost next to nothing…
Avoiding copyright extemism…
Lessig presented a very interesting talk entitled Three stories and an argument at TED recently. It’s well worth watching for both it’s content and delivery. The basic argument is familiar. Since digital technology and tools are becoming cheaper and easier to use the cost of producing and remixing copyrighted material is becoming very cheap. Add to this the cheap availability of an efficient communications platform (the Internet with its applications) large groups of people are moving from cultural consumers to becoming consumer/producers.
Professional creators in the past (musicians, authors, filmmakers etc) have always taken culture and remixed it. Taken different ideas and re-packaged them in order to create something new. Most of our ideas have not emerged in great leaps but in many small (inevitable?) steps. Today the technology is making this process more democratic in that the amateur is invading the realm of the professional – and, as Lessig puts it, this does not mean that the material produced is amateurish. It refers to amateur in the true sense of the word it is done out of love rather than money.
The major barrier to all this is copyright law. The problem with this is that the ability to take parts of our culture and remix them is an accepted form of communication among large groups of people and the institutional response has been criminalization. Copyright law has produced the presumption that remixing is illegal in particular in the digital realm. Since every use of culture in the digital realm entails a copy therefore every use should require permission.
This is an inefficient system that goes against the way in which people act. We are developing a system where people are aware that they are acting in violation to the law but they do not feel that this is wrong. Lessig warns about the growth of copyright extremism on both sides: One side builds new technologies to protect copies while the opponent cry out for the abolition of copyright.
Much of my time is spent advising university lecturers on the ways in which they can and cannot use new technologies in the classroom. The university of today is required to connect and compete with a generation of people who are connected and digitally sophisticated. In our attempts to connect and educate we provide students with laptops, wireless connectivity and digital material.
In all this copyright is creating a barrier to effective use of ICT in education. Lecturers and students attempting to benefit from online material are being driven to acting against the law. Copyright law limits the use of web2.0 technologies such as Blogs, YouTube and Flickr in the lecture halls, but the need to connect and educate is driving dedicated lecturers to circumvent, avoid, bend and break the law. This is not a good situation.
The problem is that the law has become inadequate for our needs. In order to ensure copyright control the legislator has forgotten to allow people to remix and to allow educators to use copyrighted material to a greater extent. This is not an argument for making mass copies of the latest Hollywood film – “pure” copyright “piracy” is, and should be, illegal.
But there is a need to allow access to culture beyond the passive consumer role. It also makes good business and democratic sense since it takes the edge away from the extremist positions, which threaten to push the discussions into chaos – as extremism, does. It is an argument to allow non commercial uses of copyrighted material without the fear of reprisals which exists today.