The question I am going to address today is:
What are the responsibilities, consequences, and effects of the digital on copyright and on internet users?
Copyright, where do you stand?
The old notion that the audience is solely the consumer and the artist is solely the producer no longer stands. It is safe to say that the digital has a somewhat negative effect on the copyright and a somewhat positive effect on internet users. I would say that the digital age has weakened the strength of copyright regulations.
Online, it is much easier to share, collaborate and co-produce because there is no one right there watching you do the manipulation. The internet has created this networked society, globalizing connection between individual users. In this digital age, information wants to be free, thus, internet users are using this to their advantage. The copyleft has invented this "creative commons" where internet users can go to this online application software and find donated art works (music, literature, etc.) and use it as an influence to create their own works. The only consequence I would say that the digital has on internet users is that internet users now have this extreme desire to remix, rearrange, and collaborate, but we still have to remember that copyright laws still exist. If internet users take this form of piracy to extreme levels, either them or their internet service providers can be held liable!
Copyright was originally designed to encourage innovation but it seems to be stopping it. Like mentioned earlier, I believe that the digital has lessened the strength of copyright laws. Copyright is designed to prevent piracy and yes it is true that the amount of raw online source material has been decreasing at a rapid rate due to copyright regulations. Although there are not many resources available in the public domain, there are still resources available and these resources are accessible by internet users. I also believe that copyright laws were designed by the government so that they can control old culture. The government wants to keep culture from us, but culture belongs to us! Thus, digital has weakened copyright regulation because it is much harder to enforce these intellectual property laws on online infringements.
Where do I stand with copyright?
I believe that copyright should exist, however, collaboration and borrowing is essential to creation. I would have to agree with Lawrence Lessig's vision of copyright laws being limited. I believe that artists should be credited for their creations, but only for a limited amount of time. This limitation would allow future generations to refer to previous works without copyright infringement. The creative commons is one of the smartest ideas because it encourages borrowing and collaboration which I already mentioned is essential to creation. If copyright laws continue to be so restrictive, then the networked society will inevitably become less-free and less-creative. We cannot keep letting the government have control over culture when culture belongs to us.
signed,
g.i.a.c.w.
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