Week 5: Copyright and Digital Management

Wow, I am so glad we’re talking about copyright and digital rights management. I’ve been toying with this idea in my head for quite a long time and I’ve had many debates with people over it. Something  seems to happen every time there is a debate though—if I’m arguing with someone who is for protecting copyright and who argues that downloading and other forms of  ‘piracy’ is ‘wrong’, I inevitably run into this wall which they seem to think ends the argument: “IT’S ILLEGAL!”

Yeah, apparently it is, but who cares? Hasn’t anyone ever climbed over a fence that had a sign in front of it stating ‘NO TRESPASSING’. We’re not having moral debates about that and more than likely, a person trespassing that won’t get caught. If they don’t, they go on their merry way and it’s more than likely no one ever thinks of it. They’ve probably still got some dirt on their shoes from the place, but no one’s in a flivver about it. I

I guess the point I’m trying to make, which I feel like the lecture and readings highlighted, was that the issue of copyright and author ownership is so much more complex than just being about legalities.

I read the Boldrin and Levine reading about copyright and patenting, and I thought it made an excellent point. There’s an idea that they mention that was also talked about in the lecture, that without copyright protections, artists will stop producing, due to the line of thought that says “monetizing and protecting copyright provides incentive for new ideas to be developed.” I would argue that this is true, but I would also argue that not monetizing ideas or protecting copyright doesn’t necessarily mean that new work won’t be produced. My housemate, three or four of my best friends and myself are all artists. While all of us hope to one day employ our art in various ways for the purpose of gaining a living, the fact that we are not now and may never be earning money from our work does not stop us from creating. I feel that we do it, or at least I do it for the love of creating itself. For me, it’s not about money and I would argue that as long as it is, creativity could actually stilted, since my creations are being modified to fit an outcome—gaining profit.

I guess my final thoughts on it are that maybe there needs to be less ‘black-and-white-this-is-how-it-should-be-no exceptions’ arguing about the issue and more discussion of different ways the issue can be approached to make it work for everyone.