1 # SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
2 # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
3 # This file is distributed under the same license as the PACKAGE package.
4 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
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34 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
36 msgid "<abbrev>\"freeculture\"</abbrev>"
39 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subtitle>
42 "HOW BIG MEDIA USES TECHNOLOGY AND THE LAW TO LOCK DOWN CULTURE AND CONTROL "
46 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
48 msgid "<pubdate>2004-03-25</pubdate>"
51 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><releaseinfo>
53 msgid "Version 2004-02-10"
56 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><authorgroup><author><firstname>
61 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><authorgroup><author><surname>
66 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
68 msgid "Intellectual property—United States."
71 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
73 msgid "Mass media—United States."
76 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
78 msgid "Technological innovations—United States."
81 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
83 msgid "Art—United States."
86 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><publisher><address>
89 msgid "<city>Oslo</city>"
92 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
95 "<publisher> <publishername>Petter Reinholdtsen</publishername> <placeholder "
96 "type=\"address\" id=\"0\"/> </publisher> <copyright> <year>2004</year> "
97 "<holder>Lawrence Lessig</holder> </copyright>"
100 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para><inlinemediaobject>
101 #: freeculture.xml:80
103 "<imageobject> <imagedata fileref=\"images/cc.png\" contentdepth=\"3em\" "
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106 "align=\"center\"/> </imageobject>"
109 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para><inlinemediaobject><textobject><phrase>
110 #: freeculture.xml:87
111 msgid "Creative Commons, Some rights reserved"
114 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
115 #: freeculture.xml:79
116 msgid "<placeholder type=\"inlinemediaobject\" id=\"0\"/>"
119 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
120 #: freeculture.xml:93
122 "This version of <citetitle>Free Culture</citetitle> is licensed under a "
123 "Creative Commons license. This license permits non-commercial use of this "
124 "work, so long as attribution is given. For more information about the "
125 "license, click the icon above, or visit <ulink "
126 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/\">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/</ulink>"
129 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><title>
130 #: freeculture.xml:102
131 msgid "ABOUT THE AUTHOR"
134 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><para>
135 #: freeculture.xml:104
137 "LAWRENCE LESSIG (<ulink "
138 "url=\"http://www.lessig.org\">http://www.lessig.org</ulink>), professor of "
139 "law and a John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law "
140 "School, is founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and is "
141 "chairman of the Creative Commons (<ulink "
142 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org\">http://creativecommons.org</ulink>). The "
143 "author of The Future of Ideas (Random House, 2001) and Code: And Other Laws "
144 "of Cyberspace (Basic Books, 1999), Lessig is a member of the boards of the "
145 "Public Library of Science, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public "
146 "Knowledge. He was the winner of the Free Software Foundation's Award for the "
147 "Advancement of Free Software, twice listed in BusinessWeek's <quote>e.biz "
148 "25,</quote> and named one of Scientific American's <quote>50 "
149 "visionaries.</quote> A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge "
150 "University, and Yale Law School, Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner of "
151 "the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals."
154 #. testing different ways to tag the cover page
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168 #: freeculture.xml:125
170 "<imageobject remap=\"lrg\" role=\"front-large\"> <imagedata "
171 "fileref=\"images/cover.png\" format=\"PNG\" width=\"444\" /> </imageobject>"
175 #. http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+2003063276&CNT=10+records+per+page
177 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
178 #: freeculture.xml:123
180 " <placeholder type=\"mediaobject\" id=\"0\"/> <biblioid "
181 "class=\"isbn\">978-82-92812-XX-Y</biblioid> <biblioid "
182 "class=\"libraryofcongress\">2003063276</biblioid>"
185 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><title>
186 #: freeculture.xml:152
187 msgid "Also by Lawrence Lessig"
191 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
192 #: freeculture.xml:159
193 msgid "The USA is lesterland: The nature of congressional corruption"
197 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
198 #: freeculture.xml:163
199 msgid "Republic, lost: How money corrupts Congress - and a plan to stop it"
203 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
204 #: freeculture.xml:167
205 msgid "Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy"
209 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
210 #: freeculture.xml:171
211 msgid "Code: Version 2.0"
215 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
216 #: freeculture.xml:175
217 msgid "The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World"
221 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
222 #: freeculture.xml:179
223 msgid "Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace"
226 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
227 #: freeculture.xml:191
229 "To Eric Eldred — whose work first drew me to this cause, and for whom "
230 "it continues still."
233 #. type: Content of: <book><lot><title>
234 #: freeculture.xml:200
235 msgid "List of figures"
238 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><title>
239 #: freeculture.xml:262
243 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><indexterm><primary>
244 #: freeculture.xml:263
248 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
249 #: freeculture.xml:265
251 "<emphasis role=\"bold\">At the end</emphasis> of his review of my first "
252 "book, <citetitle>Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace</citetitle>, David "
253 "Pogue, a brilliant writer and author of countless technical and "
254 "computer-related texts, wrote this:"
257 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
258 #: freeculture.xml:276
260 "David Pogue, <quote>Don't Just Chat, Do Something,</quote> <citetitle>New "
261 "York Times</citetitle>, 30 January 2000."
264 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
265 #: freeculture.xml:272
267 "Unlike actual law, Internet software has no capacity to punish. It doesn't "
268 "affect people who aren't online (and only a tiny minority of the world "
269 "population is). And if you don't like the Internet's system, you can always "
270 "flip off the modem.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
273 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
274 #: freeculture.xml:281
276 "Pogue was skeptical of the core argument of the book—that software, or "
277 "<quote>code,</quote> functioned as a kind of law—and his review "
278 "suggested the happy thought that if life in cyberspace got bad, we could "
279 "always <quote>drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome</quote>-like simply flip a "
280 "switch and be back home. Turn off the modem, unplug the computer, and any "
281 "troubles that exist in <emphasis>that</emphasis> space wouldn't "
282 "<quote>affect</quote> us anymore."
286 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
287 #: freeculture.xml:290
289 "Pogue might have been right in 1999—I'm skeptical, but maybe. But "
290 "even if he was right then, the point is not right now: <citetitle>Free "
291 "Culture</citetitle> is about the troubles the Internet causes even after the "
292 "modem is turned off. It is an argument about how the battles that now rage "
293 "regarding life on-line have fundamentally affected <quote>people who aren't "
294 "online.</quote> There is no switch that will insulate us from the Internet's "
298 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
299 #: freeculture.xml:301
301 "But unlike <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, the argument here is not much about "
302 "the Internet itself. It is instead about the consequence of the Internet to "
303 "a part of our tradition that is much more fundamental, and, as hard as this "
304 "is for a geek-wanna-be to admit, much more important."
307 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para><footnote><para>
308 #: freeculture.xml:313
310 "Richard M. Stallman, <citetitle>Free Software, Free Societies</citetitle> 57 "
311 "(Joshua Gay, ed. 2002)."
314 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
315 #: freeculture.xml:308
317 "That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages "
318 "that follow, we come from a tradition of <quote>free "
319 "culture</quote>—not <quote>free</quote> as in <quote>free beer</quote> "
320 "(to borrow a phrase from the founder of the free software "
321 "movement<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), but <quote>free</quote> "
322 "as in <quote>free speech,</quote> <quote>free markets,</quote> <quote>free "
323 "trade,</quote> <quote>free enterprise,</quote> <quote>free will,</quote> and "
324 "<quote>free elections.</quote> A free culture supports and protects creators "
325 "and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property "
326 "rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those rights, to "
327 "guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain <emphasis>as free as "
328 "possible</emphasis> from the control of the past. A free culture is not a "
329 "culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which "
330 "everything is free. The opposite of a free culture is a <quote>permission "
331 "culture</quote>—a culture in which creators get to create only with "
332 "the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past."
335 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
336 #: freeculture.xml:328
338 "If we understood this change, I believe we would resist it. Not "
339 "<quote>we</quote> on the Left or <quote>you</quote> on the Right, but we who "
340 "have no stake in the particular industries of culture that defined the "
341 "twentieth century. Whether you are on the Left or the Right, if you are in "
342 "this sense disinterested, then the story I tell here will trouble you. For "
343 "the changes I describe affect values that both sides of our political "
344 "culture deem fundamental."
347 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
348 #: freeculture.xml:336 freeculture.xml:990
349 msgid "power, concentration of"
352 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
353 #: freeculture.xml:337 freeculture.xml:13824
354 msgid "CodePink Women in Peace"
357 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
358 #: freeculture.xml:338 freeculture.xml:359 freeculture.xml:13825
359 msgid "Safire, William"
362 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><indexterm><primary>
363 #: freeculture.xml:339
367 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
368 #: freeculture.xml:341
370 "We saw a glimpse of this bipartisan outrage in the early summer of 2003. As "
371 "the FCC considered changes in media ownership rules that would relax limits "
372 "on media concentration, an extraordinary coalition generated more than "
373 "700,000 letters to the FCC opposing the change. As William Safire described "
374 "marching <quote>uncomfortably alongside CodePink Women for Peace and the "
375 "National Rifle Association, between liberal Olympia Snowe and conservative "
376 "Ted Stevens,</quote> he formulated perhaps most simply just what was at "
377 "stake: the concentration of power. And as he asked,"
380 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
381 #: freeculture.xml:357
383 "William Safire, <quote>The Great Media Gulp,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
384 "Times</citetitle>, 22 May 2003. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
387 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
388 #: freeculture.xml:353
390 "Does that sound unconservative? Not to me. The concentration of "
391 "power—political, corporate, media, cultural—should be anathema "
392 "to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby "
393 "encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the "
394 "greatest expression of democracy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
397 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
398 #: freeculture.xml:364
400 "This idea is an element of the argument of <citetitle>Free "
401 "Culture</citetitle>, though my focus is not just on the concentration of "
402 "power produced by concentrations in ownership, but more importantly, if "
403 "because less visibly, on the concentration of power produced by a radical "
404 "change in the effective scope of the law. The law is changing; that change "
405 "is altering the way our culture gets made; that change should worry "
406 "you—whether or not you care about the Internet, and whether you're on "
407 "Safire's left or on his right."
410 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
411 #: freeculture.xml:375
413 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">The inspiration</emphasis> for the title and for "
414 "much of the argument of this book comes from the work of Richard Stallman "
415 "and the Free Software Foundation. Indeed, as I reread Stallman's own work, "
416 "especially the essays in <citetitle>Free Software, Free Society</citetitle>, "
417 "I realize that all of the theoretical insights I develop here are insights "
418 "Stallman described decades ago. One could thus well argue that this work is "
419 "<quote>merely</quote> derivative."
423 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
424 #: freeculture.xml:384
426 "I accept that criticism, if indeed it is a criticism. The work of a lawyer "
427 "is always derivative, and I mean to do nothing more in this book than to "
428 "remind a culture about a tradition that has always been its own. Like "
429 "Stallman, I defend that tradition on the basis of values. Like Stallman, I "
430 "believe those are the values of freedom. And like Stallman, I believe those "
431 "are values of our past that will need to be defended in our future. A free "
432 "culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the "
433 "path we are on right now. Like Stallman's arguments for free software, an "
434 "argument for free culture stumbles on a confusion that is hard to avoid, and "
435 "even harder to understand. A free culture is not a culture without property; "
436 "it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without "
437 "property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not "
438 "freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here."
441 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
442 #: freeculture.xml:402
444 "Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between "
445 "anarchy and control. A free culture, like a free market, is filled with "
446 "property. It is filled with rules of property and contract that get enforced "
447 "by the state. But just as a free market is perverted if its property becomes "
448 "feudal, so too can a free culture be queered by extremism in the property "
449 "rights that define it. That is what I fear about our culture today. It is "
450 "against that extremism that this book is written."
453 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
454 #: freeculture.xml:417
458 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
459 #: freeculture.xml:418 freeculture.xml:521 freeculture.xml:979
460 msgid "Wright brothers"
463 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
464 #: freeculture.xml:420
466 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">On December 17</emphasis>, 1903, on a windy North "
467 "Carolina beach for just shy of one hundred seconds, the Wright brothers "
468 "demonstrated that a heavier-than-air, self-propelled vehicle could fly. The "
469 "moment was electric and its importance widely understood. Almost "
470 "immediately, there was an explosion of interest in this newfound technology "
471 "of manned flight, and a gaggle of innovators began to build upon it."
474 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
475 #: freeculture.xml:427
476 msgid "air traffic, land ownership vs."
479 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
480 #: freeculture.xml:428 freeculture.xml:14848
481 msgid "land ownership, air traffic and"
484 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
485 #: freeculture.xml:429 freeculture.xml:4655 freeculture.xml:13727 freeculture.xml:14849
486 msgid "property rights"
489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
490 #: freeculture.xml:429 freeculture.xml:14849
491 msgid "air traffic vs."
494 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
495 #: freeculture.xml:435
497 "St. George Tucker, <citetitle>Blackstone's Commentaries</citetitle> 3 (South "
498 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1969), 18."
501 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
502 #: freeculture.xml:431
504 "At the time the Wright brothers invented the airplane, American law held "
505 "that a property owner presumptively owned not just the surface of his land, "
506 "but all the land below, down to the center of the earth, and all the space "
507 "above, to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards.</quote><placeholder "
508 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> For many years, scholars had puzzled about how "
509 "best to interpret the idea that rights in land ran to the heavens. Did that "
510 "mean that you owned the stars? Could you prosecute geese for their willful "
511 "and regular trespass?"
514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
515 #: freeculture.xml:445
517 "Then came airplanes, and for the first time, this principle of American "
518 "law—deep within the foundations of our tradition, and acknowledged by "
519 "the most important legal thinkers of our past—mattered. If my land "
520 "reaches to the heavens, what happens when United flies over my field? Do I "
521 "have the right to banish it from my property? Am I allowed to enter into an "
522 "exclusive license with Delta Airlines? Could we set up an auction to decide "
523 "how much these rights are worth?"
526 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
527 #: freeculture.xml:453 freeculture.xml:466 freeculture.xml:499 freeculture.xml:519 freeculture.xml:705 freeculture.xml:832 freeculture.xml:959 freeculture.xml:977 freeculture.xml:1025 freeculture.xml:9577 freeculture.xml:13143 freeculture.xml:13928
528 msgid "Causby, Thomas Lee"
531 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
532 #: freeculture.xml:454 freeculture.xml:467 freeculture.xml:500 freeculture.xml:520 freeculture.xml:706 freeculture.xml:833 freeculture.xml:960 freeculture.xml:978 freeculture.xml:1026 freeculture.xml:9578 freeculture.xml:13144 freeculture.xml:13929
533 msgid "Causby, Tinie"
536 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
537 #: freeculture.xml:456
539 "In 1945, these questions became a federal case. When North Carolina farmers "
540 "Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby started losing chickens because of low-flying "
541 "military aircraft (the terrified chickens apparently flew into the barn "
542 "walls and died), the Causbys filed a lawsuit saying that the government was "
543 "trespassing on their land. The airplanes, of course, never touched the "
544 "surface of the Causbys' land. But if, as Blackstone, Kent, and Coke had "
545 "said, their land reached to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards,</quote> "
546 "then the government was trespassing on their property, and the Causbys "
550 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
551 #: freeculture.xml:468
552 msgid "Douglas, William O."
555 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
556 #: freeculture.xml:469 freeculture.xml:4544 freeculture.xml:5146 freeculture.xml:8890 freeculture.xml:14236
557 msgid "Supreme Court, U.S."
560 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
561 #: freeculture.xml:469
562 msgid "on airspace vs. land rights"
565 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
566 #: freeculture.xml:471
568 "The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Causbys' case. Congress had declared "
569 "the airways public, but if one's property really extended to the heavens, "
570 "then Congress's declaration could well have been an unconstitutional "
571 "<quote>taking</quote> of property without compensation. The Court "
572 "acknowledged that <quote>it is ancient doctrine that common law ownership of "
573 "the land extended to the periphery of the universe.</quote> But Justice "
574 "Douglas had no patience for ancient doctrine. In a single paragraph, "
575 "hundreds of years of property law were erased. As he wrote for the Court,"
578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
579 #: freeculture.xml:491
581 "United States v. Causby, U.S. 328 (1946): 256, 261. The Court did find that "
582 "there could be a <quote>taking</quote> if the government's use of its land "
583 "effectively destroyed the value of the Causbys' land. This example was "
584 "suggested to me by Keith Aoki's wonderful piece, <quote>(Intellectual) "
585 "Property and Sovereignty: Notes Toward a Cultural Geography of "
586 "Authorship,</quote> <citetitle>Stanford Law Review</citetitle> 48 (1996): "
587 "1293, 1333. See also Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Real Property</citetitle> "
588 "(Mineola, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1984), 1112–13. <placeholder "
589 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
592 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
593 #: freeculture.xml:482
595 "[The] doctrine has no place in the modern world. The air is a public "
596 "highway, as Congress has declared. Were that not true, every "
597 "transcontinental flight would subject the operator to countless trespass "
598 "suits. Common sense revolts at the idea. To recognize such private claims to "
599 "the airspace would clog these highways, seriously interfere with their "
600 "control and development in the public interest, and transfer into private "
601 "ownership that to which only the public has a just claim.<placeholder "
602 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
605 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
606 #: freeculture.xml:505
607 msgid "<quote>Common sense revolts at the idea.</quote>"
611 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
612 #: freeculture.xml:509
614 "This is how the law usually works. Not often this abruptly or impatiently, "
615 "but eventually, this is how it works. It was Douglas's style not to "
616 "dither. Other justices would have blathered on for pages to reach the "
617 "conclusion that Douglas holds in a single line: <quote>Common sense revolts "
618 "at the idea.</quote> But whether it takes pages or a few words, it is the "
619 "special genius of a common law system, as ours is, that the law adjusts to "
620 "the technologies of the time. And as it adjusts, it changes. Ideas that were "
621 "as solid as rock in one age crumble in another."
624 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
625 #: freeculture.xml:523
627 "Or at least, this is how things happen when there's no one powerful on the "
628 "other side of the change. The Causbys were just farmers. And though there "
629 "were no doubt many like them who were upset by the growing traffic in the "
630 "air (though one hopes not many chickens flew themselves into walls), the "
631 "Causbys of the world would find it very hard to unite and stop the idea, and "
632 "the technology, that the Wright brothers had birthed. The Wright brothers "
633 "spat airplanes into the technological meme pool; the idea then spread like a "
634 "virus in a chicken coop; farmers like the Causbys found themselves "
635 "surrounded by <quote>what seemed reasonable</quote> given the technology "
636 "that the Wrights had produced. They could stand on their farms, dead "
637 "chickens in hand, and shake their fists at these newfangled technologies all "
638 "they wanted. They could call their representatives or even file a "
639 "lawsuit. But in the end, the force of what seems <quote>obvious</quote> to "
640 "everyone else—the power of <quote>common sense</quote>—would "
641 "prevail. Their <quote>private interest</quote> would not be allowed to "
642 "defeat an obvious public gain."
645 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
646 #: freeculture.xml:544 freeculture.xml:9585 freeculture.xml:10280
647 msgid "Armstrong, Edwin Howard"
650 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
651 #: freeculture.xml:545
652 msgid "Bell, Alexander Graham"
655 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
656 #: freeculture.xml:546
657 msgid "Edison, Thomas"
660 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
661 #: freeculture.xml:547
662 msgid "Faraday, Michael"
665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
666 #: freeculture.xml:548 freeculture.xml:4285 freeculture.xml:6827 freeculture.xml:10187
670 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
671 #: freeculture.xml:548 freeculture.xml:6827
672 msgid "FM spectrum of"
676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
677 #: freeculture.xml:550
679 "<emphasis role='strong'>Edwin Howard Armstrong</emphasis> is one of "
680 "America's forgotten inventor geniuses. He came to the great American "
681 "inventor scene just after the titans Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham "
682 "Bell. But his work in the area of radio technology was perhaps the most "
683 "important of any single inventor in the first fifty years of radio. He was "
684 "better educated than Michael Faraday, who as a bookbinder's apprentice had "
685 "discovered electric induction in 1831. But he had the same intuition about "
686 "how the world of radio worked, and on at least three occasions, Armstrong "
687 "invented profoundly important technologies that advanced our understanding "
691 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
692 #: freeculture.xml:563
694 "On the day after Christmas, 1933, four patents were issued to Armstrong for "
695 "his most significant invention—FM radio. Until then, consumer radio "
696 "had been amplitude-modulated (AM) radio. The theorists of the day had said "
697 "that frequency-modulated (FM) radio could never work. They were right about "
698 "FM radio in a narrow band of spectrum. But Armstrong discovered that "
699 "frequency-modulated radio in a wide band of spectrum would deliver an "
700 "astonishing fidelity of sound, with much less transmitter power and static."
703 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
704 #: freeculture.xml:573
706 "On November 5, 1935, he demonstrated the technology at a meeting of the "
707 "Institute of Radio Engineers at the Empire State Building in New York "
708 "City. He tuned his radio dial across a range of AM stations, until the radio "
709 "locked on a broadcast that he had arranged from seventeen miles away. The "
710 "radio fell totally silent, as if dead, and then with a clarity no one else "
711 "in that room had ever heard from an electrical device, it produced the sound "
712 "of an announcer's voice: <quote>This is amateur station W2AG at Yonkers, New "
713 "York, operating on frequency modulation at two and a half meters.</quote>"
716 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
717 #: freeculture.xml:584
718 msgid "The audience was hearing something no one had thought possible:"
721 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
722 #: freeculture.xml:595
724 "Lawrence Lessing, <citetitle>Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard "
725 "Armstrong</citetitle> (Philadelphia: J. B. Lipincott Company, 1956), 209."
728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
729 #: freeculture.xml:588
731 "A glass of water was poured before the microphone in Yonkers; it sounded "
732 "like a glass of water being poured. … A paper was crumpled and torn; "
733 "it sounded like paper and not like a crackling forest fire. … Sousa "
734 "marches were played from records and a piano solo and guitar number were "
735 "performed. … The music was projected with a live-ness rarely if ever "
736 "heard before from a radio <quote>music box.</quote><placeholder "
737 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
741 #: freeculture.xml:600 freeculture.xml:6830
745 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
746 #: freeculture.xml:601 freeculture.xml:2478 freeculture.xml:2496 freeculture.xml:2530 freeculture.xml:2532
750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
751 #: freeculture.xml:601 freeculture.xml:2532
752 msgid "ownership concentration in"
756 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
757 #: freeculture.xml:603
759 "As our own common sense tells us, Armstrong had discovered a vastly superior "
760 "radio technology. But at the time of his invention, Armstrong was working "
761 "for RCA. RCA was the dominant player in the then dominant AM radio "
762 "market. By 1935, there were a thousand radio stations across the United "
763 "States, but the stations in large cities were all owned by a handful of "
767 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
768 #: freeculture.xml:611 freeculture.xml:633
769 msgid "Sarnoff, David"
772 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
773 #: freeculture.xml:613
775 "RCA's president, David Sarnoff, a friend of Armstrong's, was eager that "
776 "Armstrong discover a way to remove static from AM radio. So Sarnoff was "
777 "quite excited when Armstrong told him he had a device that removed static "
778 "from <quote>radio.</quote> But when Armstrong demonstrated his invention, "
779 "Sarnoff was not pleased."
782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
783 #: freeculture.xml:624
785 "See <quote>Saints: The Heroes and Geniuses of the Electronic Era,</quote> "
786 "First Electronic Church of America, at www.webstationone.com/fecha, "
787 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #1</ulink>."
790 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
791 #: freeculture.xml:621
793 "I thought Armstrong would invent some kind of a filter to remove static from "
794 "our AM radio. I didn't think he'd start a revolution— start up a whole "
795 "damn new industry to compete with RCA.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
800 #: freeculture.xml:632 freeculture.xml:6826
804 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
805 #: freeculture.xml:635
807 "Armstrong's invention threatened RCA's AM empire, so the company launched a "
808 "campaign to smother FM radio. While FM may have been a superior technology, "
809 "Sarnoff was a superior tactician. As one author described,"
812 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
813 #: freeculture.xml:640
814 msgid "Lessing, Lawrence"
817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
818 #: freeculture.xml:648
819 msgid "Lessing, 226."
822 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
823 #: freeculture.xml:643
825 "The forces for FM, largely engineering, could not overcome the weight of "
826 "strategy devised by the sales, patent, and legal offices to subdue this "
827 "threat to corporate position. For FM, if allowed to develop unrestrained, "
828 "posed … a complete reordering of radio power … and the "
829 "eventual overthrow of the carefully restricted AM system on which RCA had "
830 "grown to power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
833 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
834 #: freeculture.xml:652
838 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
839 #: freeculture.xml:652
843 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
844 #: freeculture.xml:654
846 "RCA at first kept the technology in house, insisting that further tests were "
847 "needed. When, after two years of testing, Armstrong grew impatient, RCA "
848 "began to use its power with the government to stall FM radio's deployment "
849 "generally. In 1936, RCA hired the former head of the FCC and assigned him "
850 "the task of assuring that the FCC assign spectrum in a way that would "
851 "castrate FM—principally by moving FM radio to a different band of "
852 "spectrum. At first, these efforts failed. But when Armstrong and the nation "
853 "were distracted by World War II, RCA's work began to be more "
854 "successful. Soon after the war ended, the FCC announced a set of policies "
855 "that would have one clear effect: FM radio would be crippled. As Lawrence "
856 "Lessing described it,"
859 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
860 #: freeculture.xml:673
861 msgid "Lessing, 256."
864 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
865 #: freeculture.xml:669
867 "The series of body blows that FM radio received right after the war, in a "
868 "series of rulings manipulated through the FCC by the big radio interests, "
869 "were almost incredible in their force and deviousness.<placeholder "
870 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
874 #: freeculture.xml:678
878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
879 #: freeculture.xml:680
881 "To make room in the spectrum for RCA's latest gamble, television, FM radio "
882 "users were to be moved to a totally new spectrum band. The power of FM radio "
883 "stations was also cut, meaning FM could no longer be used to beam programs "
884 "from one part of the country to another. (This change was strongly "
885 "supported by AT&T, because the loss of FM relaying stations would mean "
886 "radio stations would have to buy wired links from AT&T.) The spread of "
887 "FM radio was thus choked, at least temporarily."
890 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
891 #: freeculture.xml:692
893 "Armstrong resisted RCA's efforts. In response, RCA resisted Armstrong's "
894 "patents. After incorporating FM technology into the emerging standard for "
895 "television, RCA declared the patents invalid—baselessly, and almost "
896 "fifteen years after they were issued. It thus refused to pay him "
897 "royalties. For six years, Armstrong fought an expensive war of litigation to "
898 "defend the patents. Finally, just as the patents expired, RCA offered a "
899 "settlement so low that it would not even cover Armstrong's lawyers' "
900 "fees. Defeated, broken, and now broke, in 1954 Armstrong wrote a short note "
901 "to his wife and then stepped out of a thirteenth-story window to his death."
905 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
906 #: freeculture.xml:708
908 "This is how the law sometimes works. Not often this tragically, and rarely "
909 "with heroic drama, but sometimes, this is how it works. From the beginning, "
910 "government and government agencies have been subject to capture. They are "
911 "more likely captured when a powerful interest is threatened by either a "
912 "legal or technical change. That powerful interest too often exerts its "
913 "influence within the government to get the government to protect it. The "
914 "rhetoric of this protection is of course always public spirited; the reality "
915 "is something different. Ideas that were as solid as rock in one age, but "
916 "that, left to themselves, would crumble in another, are sustained through "
917 "this subtle corruption of our political process. RCA had what the Causbys "
918 "did not: the power to stifle the effect of technological change."
921 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
922 #: freeculture.xml:725 freeculture.xml:1098 freeculture.xml:2349 freeculture.xml:2361 freeculture.xml:2445 freeculture.xml:2479 freeculture.xml:2505 freeculture.xml:2755 freeculture.xml:4161 freeculture.xml:6710 freeculture.xml:7567 freeculture.xml:7640 freeculture.xml:10186 freeculture.xml:13459 freeculture.xml:14019 freeculture.xml:14020 freeculture.xml:14094
926 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
927 #: freeculture.xml:725 freeculture.xml:4695 freeculture.xml:13459 freeculture.xml:14019
928 msgid "development of"
931 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
932 #: freeculture.xml:733
934 "Amanda Lenhart, <quote>The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A New Look at "
935 "Internet Access and the Digital Divide,</quote> Pew Internet and American "
936 "Life Project, 15 April 2003: 6, available at <ulink "
937 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #2</ulink>."
940 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
941 #: freeculture.xml:727
943 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">There's no</emphasis> single inventor of the "
944 "Internet. Nor is there any good date upon which to mark its birth. Yet in a "
945 "very short time, the Internet has become part of ordinary American "
946 "life. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 58 percent of "
947 "Americans had access to the Internet in 2002, up from 49 percent two years "
948 "before.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That number could well "
949 "exceed two thirds of the nation by the end of 2004."
952 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
953 #: freeculture.xml:742
955 "As the Internet has been integrated into ordinary life, it has changed "
956 "things. Some of these changes are technical—the Internet has made "
957 "communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so "
958 "on. These technical changes are not the focus of this book. They are "
959 "important. They are not well understood. But they are the sort of thing that "
960 "would simply go away if we all just switched the Internet off. They don't "
961 "affect people who don't use the Internet, or at least they don't affect them "
962 "directly. They are the proper subject of a book about the Internet. But this "
963 "is not a book about the Internet."
966 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
967 #: freeculture.xml:753
969 "Instead, this book is about an effect of the Internet beyond the Internet "
970 "itself: an effect upon how culture is made. My claim is that the Internet "
971 "has induced an important and unrecognized change in that process. That "
972 "change will radically transform a tradition that is as old as the Republic "
973 "itself. Most, if they recognized this change, would reject it. Yet most "
974 "don't even see the change that the Internet has introduced."
977 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
978 #: freeculture.xml:762
982 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
983 #: freeculture.xml:763
987 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
988 #: freeculture.xml:763
989 msgid "commercial vs. noncommercial"
992 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
993 #: freeculture.xml:764
994 msgid "Webster, Noah"
998 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
999 #: freeculture.xml:766
1001 "We can glimpse a sense of this change by distinguishing between commercial "
1002 "and noncommercial culture, and by mapping the law's regulation of each. By "
1003 "<quote>commercial culture</quote> I mean that part of our culture that is "
1004 "produced and sold or produced to be sold. By <quote>noncommercial "
1005 "culture</quote> I mean all the rest. When old men sat around parks or on "
1006 "street corners telling stories that kids and others consumed, that was "
1007 "noncommercial culture. When Noah Webster published his "
1008 "<quote>Reader,</quote> or Joel Barlow his poetry, that was commercial "
1012 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1013 #: freeculture.xml:778
1015 "At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our "
1016 "tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated. Of course, if "
1017 "your stories were lewd, or if your song disturbed the peace, then the law "
1018 "might intervene. But the law was never directly concerned with the creation "
1019 "or spread of this form of culture, and it left this culture "
1020 "<quote>free.</quote> The ordinary ways in which ordinary individuals shared "
1021 "and transformed their culture—telling stories, reenacting scenes from "
1022 "plays or TV, participating in fan clubs, sharing music, making "
1023 "tapes—were left alone by the law."
1026 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1027 #: freeculture.xml:788 freeculture.xml:2851 freeculture.xml:2852 freeculture.xml:2879 freeculture.xml:2880 freeculture.xml:2881 freeculture.xml:7799 freeculture.xml:9644 freeculture.xml:9645 freeculture.xml:9920 freeculture.xml:9921 freeculture.xml:9922 freeculture.xml:9965
1028 msgid "copyright infringement lawsuits"
1031 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1032 #: freeculture.xml:788
1033 msgid "commercial creativity as primary purpose of"
1036 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1037 #: freeculture.xml:804 freeculture.xml:1940 freeculture.xml:1953
1038 msgid "Brandeis, Louis D."
1041 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1042 #: freeculture.xml:796
1044 "This is not the only purpose of copyright, though it is the overwhelmingly "
1045 "primary purpose of the copyright established in the federal constitution. "
1046 "State copyright law historically protected not just the commercial interest "
1047 "in publication, but also a privacy interest. By granting authors the "
1048 "exclusive right to first publication, state copyright law gave authors the "
1049 "power to control the spread of facts about them. See Samuel D. Warren and "
1050 "Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> Harvard Law Review 4 "
1051 "(1890): 193, 198–200. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1054 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1055 #: freeculture.xml:790
1057 "The focus of the law was on commercial creativity. At first slightly, then "
1058 "quite extensively, the law protected the incentives of creators by granting "
1059 "them exclusive rights to their creative work, so that they could sell those "
1060 "exclusive rights in a commercial marketplace.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
1061 "id=\"0\"/> This is also, of course, an important part of creativity and "
1062 "culture, and it has become an increasingly important part in America. But in "
1063 "no sense was it dominant within our tradition. It was instead just one part, "
1064 "a controlled part, balanced with the free."
1067 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
1068 #: freeculture.xml:811 freeculture.xml:1699 freeculture.xml:5253 freeculture.xml:6481 freeculture.xml:14059
1069 msgid "free culture"
1072 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1073 #: freeculture.xml:811
1074 msgid "permission culture vs."
1077 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1078 #: freeculture.xml:812
1079 msgid "permission culture"
1082 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1083 #: freeculture.xml:812
1084 msgid "free culture vs."
1087 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1088 #: freeculture.xml:818 freeculture.xml:10170
1089 msgid "Litman, Jessica"
1092 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1093 #: freeculture.xml:816
1095 "See Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (New York: "
1096 "Prometheus Books, 2001), ch. 13. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1099 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1100 #: freeculture.xml:814
1102 "This rough divide between the free and the controlled has now been "
1103 "erased.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Internet has set the "
1104 "stage for this erasure and, pushed by big media, the law has now affected "
1105 "it. For the first time in our tradition, the ordinary ways in which "
1106 "individuals create and share culture fall within the reach of the regulation "
1107 "of the law, which has expanded to draw within its control a vast amount of "
1108 "culture and creativity that it never reached before. The technology that "
1109 "preserved the balance of our history—between uses of our culture that "
1110 "were free and uses of our culture that were only upon permission—has "
1111 "been undone. The consequence is that we are less and less a free culture, "
1112 "more and more a permission culture."
1115 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1116 #: freeculture.xml:834
1117 msgid "protection of artists vs. business interests"
1120 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1121 #: freeculture.xml:836
1123 "This change gets justified as necessary to protect commercial creativity. "
1124 "And indeed, protectionism is precisely its motivation. But the protectionism "
1125 "that justifies the changes that I will describe below is not the limited and "
1126 "balanced sort that has defined the law in the past. This is not a "
1127 "protectionism to protect artists. It is instead a protectionism to protect "
1128 "certain forms of business. Corporations threatened by the potential of the "
1129 "Internet to change the way both commercial and noncommercial culture are "
1130 "made and shared have united to induce lawmakers to use the law to protect "
1131 "them. It is the story of RCA and Armstrong; it is the dream of the Causbys."
1134 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1135 #: freeculture.xml:850
1137 "For the Internet has unleashed an extraordinary possibility for many to "
1138 "participate in the process of building and cultivating a culture that "
1139 "reaches far beyond local boundaries. That power has changed the marketplace "
1140 "for making and cultivating culture generally, and that change in turn "
1141 "threatens established content industries. The Internet is thus to the "
1142 "industries that built and distributed content in the twentieth century what "
1143 "FM radio was to AM radio, or what the truck was to the railroad industry of "
1144 "the nineteenth century: the beginning of the end, or at least a substantial "
1145 "transformation. Digital technologies, tied to the Internet, could produce a "
1146 "vastly more competitive and vibrant market for building and cultivating "
1147 "culture; that market could include a much wider and more diverse range of "
1148 "creators; those creators could produce and distribute a much more vibrant "
1149 "range of creativity; and depending upon a few important factors, those "
1150 "creators could earn more on average from this system than creators do "
1151 "today—all so long as the RCAs of our day don't use the law to protect "
1152 "themselves against this competition."
1155 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1156 #: freeculture.xml:869
1158 "Yet, as I argue in the pages that follow, that is precisely what is "
1159 "happening in our culture today. These modern-day equivalents of the early "
1160 "twentieth-century radio or nineteenth-century railroads are using their "
1161 "power to get the law to protect them against this new, more efficient, more "
1162 "vibrant technology for building culture. They are succeeding in their plan "
1163 "to remake the Internet before the Internet remakes them."
1166 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1167 #: freeculture.xml:878 freeculture.xml:7522
1168 msgid "Valenti, Jack"
1171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1172 #: freeculture.xml:878 freeculture.xml:7522
1173 msgid "on creative property rights"
1176 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1177 #: freeculture.xml:888
1179 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Black Hawk Download: Moving Beyond Music, Pirates Use New "
1180 "Tools to Turn the Net into an Illicit Video Club,</quote> <citetitle>New "
1181 "York Times</citetitle>, 17 January 2002."
1184 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1185 #: freeculture.xml:880
1187 "It doesn't seem this way to many. The battles over copyright and the "
1188 "Internet seem remote to most. To the few who follow them, they seem mainly "
1189 "about a much simpler brace of questions—whether <quote>piracy</quote> "
1190 "will be permitted, and whether <quote>property</quote> will be "
1191 "protected. The <quote>war</quote> that has been waged against the "
1192 "technologies of the Internet—what Motion Picture Association of "
1193 "America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti calls his <quote>own terrorist "
1194 "war</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—has been framed "
1195 "as a battle about the rule of law and respect for property. To know which "
1196 "side to take in this war, most think that we need only decide whether we're "
1197 "for property or against it."
1200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1201 #: freeculture.xml:897
1203 "If those really were the choices, then I would be with Jack Valenti and the "
1204 "content industry. I, too, am a believer in property, and especially in the "
1205 "importance of what Mr. Valenti nicely calls <quote>creative "
1206 "property.</quote> I believe that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that "
1207 "the law, properly tuned, should punish <quote>piracy,</quote> whether on or "
1211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1212 #: freeculture.xml:905
1214 "But those simple beliefs mask a much more fundamental question and a much "
1215 "more dramatic change. My fear is that unless we come to see this change, the "
1216 "war to rid the world of Internet <quote>pirates</quote> will also rid our "
1217 "culture of values that have been integral to our tradition from the start."
1220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1221 #: freeculture.xml:910 freeculture.xml:6862 freeculture.xml:6975 freeculture.xml:6976 freeculture.xml:6977 freeculture.xml:7022 freeculture.xml:7610 freeculture.xml:8888 freeculture.xml:11173 freeculture.xml:11464 freeculture.xml:12110
1222 msgid "Constitution, U.S."
1225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1226 #: freeculture.xml:910 freeculture.xml:6862 freeculture.xml:7610 freeculture.xml:8888
1227 msgid "First Amendment to"
1230 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1231 #: freeculture.xml:911 freeculture.xml:1076 freeculture.xml:1183 freeculture.xml:1208 freeculture.xml:1552 freeculture.xml:1596 freeculture.xml:1710 freeculture.xml:3112 freeculture.xml:3203 freeculture.xml:4283 freeculture.xml:4284 freeculture.xml:4695 freeculture.xml:4696 freeculture.xml:5297 freeculture.xml:6483 freeculture.xml:6929 freeculture.xml:7009 freeculture.xml:7010 freeculture.xml:7194 freeculture.xml:7293 freeculture.xml:7325 freeculture.xml:7355 freeculture.xml:7390 freeculture.xml:7504 freeculture.xml:7505 freeculture.xml:7566 freeculture.xml:7600 freeculture.xml:7705 freeculture.xml:7719 freeculture.xml:7778 freeculture.xml:7779 freeculture.xml:7877 freeculture.xml:9806 freeculture.xml:10159 freeculture.xml:11113 freeculture.xml:11158
1232 msgid "copyright law"
1235 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1236 #: freeculture.xml:911 freeculture.xml:7009
1237 msgid "as protection of creators"
1240 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1241 #: freeculture.xml:912 freeculture.xml:6863 freeculture.xml:7611 freeculture.xml:8889
1242 msgid "First Amendment"
1245 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1246 #: freeculture.xml:913 freeculture.xml:923 freeculture.xml:15247
1247 msgid "Netanel, Neil Weinstock"
1250 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1251 #: freeculture.xml:921
1253 "Neil W. Netanel, <quote>Copyright and a Democratic Civil Society,</quote> "
1254 "<citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 106 (1996): 283. <placeholder "
1255 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1258 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1259 #: freeculture.xml:915
1261 "These values built a tradition that, for at least the first 180 years of our "
1262 "Republic, guaranteed creators the right to build freely upon their past, and "
1263 "protected creators and innovators from either state or private control. The "
1264 "First Amendment protected creators against state control. And as Professor "
1265 "Neil Netanel powerfully argues,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1266 "copyright law, properly balanced, protected creators against private "
1267 "control. Our tradition was thus neither Soviet nor the tradition of "
1268 "patrons. It instead carved out a wide berth within which creators could "
1269 "cultivate and extend our culture."
1272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1273 #: freeculture.xml:931
1275 "Yet the law's response to the Internet, when tied to changes in the "
1276 "technology of the Internet itself, has massively increased the effective "
1277 "regulation of creativity in America. To build upon or critique the culture "
1278 "around us one must ask, Oliver Twist–like, for permission first. "
1279 "Permission is, of course, often granted—but it is not often granted to "
1280 "the critical or the independent. We have built a kind of cultural nobility; "
1281 "those within the noble class live easily; those outside it don't. But it is "
1282 "nobility of any form that is alien to our tradition."
1285 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1286 #: freeculture.xml:943
1288 "The story that follows is about this war. It is not about the "
1289 "<quote>centrality of technology</quote> to ordinary life. I don't believe in "
1290 "gods, digital or otherwise. Nor is it an effort to demonize any individual "
1291 "or group, for neither do I believe in a devil, corporate or otherwise. It is "
1292 "not a morality tale. Nor is it a call to jihad against an industry."
1295 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1296 #: freeculture.xml:951
1298 "It is instead an effort to understand a hopelessly destructive war inspired "
1299 "by the technologies of the Internet but reaching far beyond its code. And by "
1300 "understanding this battle, it is an effort to map peace. There is no good "
1301 "reason for the current struggle around Internet technologies to "
1302 "continue. There will be great harm to our tradition and culture if it is "
1303 "allowed to continue unchecked. We must come to understand the source of this "
1304 "war. We must resolve it soon."
1307 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1308 #: freeculture.xml:961 freeculture.xml:13375 freeculture.xml:13458 freeculture.xml:13628
1309 msgid "intellectual property rights"
1312 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1313 #: freeculture.xml:963
1315 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">Like the Causbys'</emphasis> battle, this war is, "
1316 "in part, about <quote>property.</quote> The property of this war is not as "
1317 "tangible as the Causbys', and no innocent chicken has yet to lose its "
1318 "life. Yet the ideas surrounding this <quote>property</quote> are as obvious "
1319 "to most as the Causbys' claim about the sacredness of their farm was to "
1320 "them. We are the Causbys. Most of us take for granted the extraordinarily "
1321 "powerful claims that the owners of <quote>intellectual property</quote> now "
1322 "assert. Most of us, like the Causbys, treat these claims as obvious. And "
1323 "hence we, like the Causbys, object when a new technology interferes with "
1324 "this property. It is as plain to us as it was to them that the new "
1325 "technologies of the Internet are <quote>trespassing</quote> upon legitimate "
1326 "claims of <quote>property.</quote> It is as plain to us as it was to them "
1327 "that the law should intervene to stop this trespass."
1331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1332 #: freeculture.xml:981
1334 "And thus, when geeks and technologists defend their Armstrong or Wright "
1335 "brothers technology, most of us are simply unsympathetic. Common sense does "
1336 "not revolt. Unlike in the case of the unlucky Causbys, common sense is on "
1337 "the side of the property owners in this war. Unlike the lucky Wright "
1338 "brothers, the Internet has not inspired a revolution on its side."
1341 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1342 #: freeculture.xml:992
1344 "My hope is to push this common sense along. I have become increasingly "
1345 "amazed by the power of this idea of intellectual property and, more "
1346 "importantly, its power to disable critical thought by policy makers and "
1347 "citizens. There has never been a time in our history when more of our "
1348 "<quote>culture</quote> was as <quote>owned</quote> as it is now. And yet "
1349 "there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the "
1350 "<emphasis>uses</emphasis> of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as "
1354 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1355 #: freeculture.xml:1002
1357 "The puzzle is, Why? Is it because we have come to understand a truth about "
1358 "the value and importance of absolute property over ideas and culture? Is it "
1359 "because we have discovered that our tradition of rejecting such an absolute "
1363 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1364 #: freeculture.xml:1008
1366 "Or is it because the idea of absolute property over ideas and culture "
1367 "benefits the RCAs of our time and fits our own unreflective intuitions?"
1370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1371 #: freeculture.xml:1012
1373 "Is the radical shift away from our tradition of free culture an instance of "
1374 "America correcting a mistake from its past, as we did after a bloody war "
1375 "with slavery, and as we are slowly doing with inequality? Or is the radical "
1376 "shift away from our tradition of free culture yet another example of a "
1377 "political system captured by a few powerful special interests?"
1380 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1381 #: freeculture.xml:1019
1383 "Does common sense lead to the extremes on this question because common sense "
1384 "actually believes in these extremes? Or does common sense stand silent in "
1385 "the face of these extremes because, as with Armstrong versus RCA, the more "
1386 "powerful side has ensured that it has the more powerful view?"
1390 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1391 #: freeculture.xml:1028
1393 "I don't mean to be mysterious. My own views are resolved. I believe it was "
1394 "right for common sense to revolt against the extremism of the Causbys. I "
1395 "believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme "
1396 "claims made today on behalf of <quote>intellectual property.</quote> What "
1397 "the law demands today is increasingly as silly as a sheriff arresting an "
1398 "airplane for trespass. But the consequences of this silliness will be much "
1402 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1403 #: freeculture.xml:1039
1405 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">The struggle</emphasis> that rages just now "
1406 "centers on two ideas: <quote>piracy</quote> and <quote>property.</quote> My "
1407 "aim in this book's next two parts is to explore these two ideas."
1410 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1411 #: freeculture.xml:1044
1413 "My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don't want to plunge you "
1414 "into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French "
1415 "theorists—however natural that is for the weird sort we academics have "
1416 "become. Instead I begin in each part with a collection of stories that set a "
1417 "context within which these apparently simple ideas can be more fully "
1421 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1422 #: freeculture.xml:1052
1424 "The two sections set up the core claim of this book: that while the Internet "
1425 "has indeed produced something fantastic and new, our government, pushed by "
1426 "big media to respond to this <quote>something new,</quote> is destroying "
1427 "something very old. Rather than understanding the changes the Internet might "
1428 "permit, and rather than taking time to let <quote>common sense</quote> "
1429 "resolve how best to respond, we are allowing those most threatened by the "
1430 "changes to use their power to change the law—and more importantly, to "
1431 "use their power to change something fundamental about who we have always "
1435 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1436 #: freeculture.xml:1063
1438 "We allow this, I believe, not because it is right, and not because most of "
1439 "us really believe in these changes. We allow it because the interests most "
1440 "threatened are among the most powerful players in our depressingly "
1441 "compromised process of making law. This book is the story of one more "
1442 "consequence of this form of corruption—a consequence to which most of "
1443 "us remain oblivious."
1446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
1447 #: freeculture.xml:1073
1448 msgid "<quote>PIRACY</quote>"
1451 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1452 #: freeculture.xml:1076 freeculture.xml:4696
1456 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1457 #: freeculture.xml:1077 freeculture.xml:5106
1458 msgid "Mansfield, William Murray, Lord"
1461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1462 #: freeculture.xml:1078
1463 msgid "music publishing"
1466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1467 #: freeculture.xml:1079 freeculture.xml:3200
1471 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1472 #: freeculture.xml:1081
1474 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">Since the inception</emphasis> of the law "
1475 "regulating creative property, there has been a war against "
1476 "<quote>piracy.</quote> The precise contours of this concept, "
1477 "<quote>piracy,</quote> are hard to sketch, but the animating injustice is "
1478 "easy to capture. As Lord Mansfield wrote in a case that extended the reach "
1479 "of English copyright law to include sheet music,"
1483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1484 #: freeculture.xml:1093
1486 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
1487 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777) (Mansfield)."
1490 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1491 #: freeculture.xml:1089
1493 "A person may use the copy by playing it, but he has no right to rob the "
1494 "author of the profit, by multiplying copies and disposing of them for his "
1495 "own use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
1499 #: freeculture.xml:1098
1500 msgid "efficient content distribution on"
1503 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1504 #: freeculture.xml:1099 freeculture.xml:6711 freeculture.xml:11161
1505 msgid "peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing"
1508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
1509 #: freeculture.xml:1099
1510 msgid "efficiency of"
1514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1515 #: freeculture.xml:1101
1517 "Today we are in the middle of another <quote>war</quote> against "
1518 "<quote>piracy.</quote> The Internet has provoked this war. The Internet "
1519 "makes possible the efficient spread of content. Peer-to-peer (p2p) file "
1520 "sharing is among the most efficient of the efficient technologies the "
1521 "Internet enables. Using distributed intelligence, p2p systems facilitate the "
1522 "easy spread of content in a way unimagined a generation ago."
1525 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1526 #: freeculture.xml:1110
1528 "This efficiency does not respect the traditional lines of copyright. The "
1529 "network doesn't discriminate between the sharing of copyrighted and "
1530 "uncopyrighted content. Thus has there been a vast amount of sharing of "
1531 "copyrighted content. That sharing in turn has excited the war, as copyright "
1532 "owners fear the sharing will <quote>rob the author of the profit.</quote>"
1535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1536 #: freeculture.xml:1119
1538 "The warriors have turned to the courts, to the legislatures, and "
1539 "increasingly to technology to defend their <quote>property</quote> against "
1540 "this <quote>piracy.</quote> A generation of Americans, the warriors warn, is "
1541 "being raised to believe that <quote>property</quote> should be "
1542 "<quote>free.</quote> Forget tattoos, never mind body piercing—our kids "
1543 "are becoming <emphasis>thieves</emphasis>!"
1546 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1547 #: freeculture.xml:1127
1549 "There's no doubt that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that pirates "
1550 "should be punished. But before we summon the executioners, we should put "
1551 "this notion of <quote>piracy</quote> in some context. For as the concept is "
1552 "increasingly used, at its core is an extraordinary idea that is almost "
1556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1557 #: freeculture.xml:1133
1558 msgid "The idea goes something like this:"
1561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1562 #: freeculture.xml:1137
1564 "Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative "
1565 "work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take "
1566 "something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The "
1567 "taking of something of value from someone else without permission is "
1568 "wrong. It is a form of piracy."
1571 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1572 #: freeculture.xml:1145
1576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1577 #: freeculture.xml:1146
1578 msgid "Dreyfuss, Rochelle"
1581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1582 #: freeculture.xml:1147
1586 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1587 #: freeculture.xml:1148 freeculture.xml:6980 freeculture.xml:7080 freeculture.xml:7523
1588 msgid "creative property"
1591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
1592 #: freeculture.xml:1148
1593 msgid "<quote>if value, then right</quote> theory of"
1596 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1597 #: freeculture.xml:1149 freeculture.xml:3008
1598 msgid "<quote>if value, then right</quote> theory"
1602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1603 #: freeculture.xml:1155
1605 "See Rochelle Dreyfuss, <quote>Expressive Genericity: Trademarks as Language "
1606 "in the Pepsi Generation,</quote> <citetitle>Notre Dame Law "
1607 "Review</citetitle> 65 (1990): 397."
1610 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1611 #: freeculture.xml:1168 freeculture.xml:7459
1612 msgid "Zittrain, Jonathan"
1615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1616 #: freeculture.xml:1163
1618 "Lisa Bannon, <quote>The Birds May Sing, but Campers Can't Unless They Pay "
1619 "Up,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 21 August 1996, "
1620 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #3</ulink>; "
1621 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>Calling Off the Copyright War: In Battle of "
1622 "Property vs. Free Speech, No One Wins,</quote> <citetitle>Boston "
1623 "Globe</citetitle>, 24 November 2002. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
1627 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1628 #: freeculture.xml:1151
1630 "This view runs deep within the current debates. It is what NYU law professor "
1631 "Rochelle Dreyfuss criticizes as the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1632 "theory of creative property<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1633 "—if there is value, then someone must have a right to that value. It "
1634 "is the perspective that led a composers' rights organization, ASCAP, to sue "
1635 "the Girl Scouts for failing to pay for the songs that girls sang around Girl "
1636 "Scout campfires.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> There was "
1637 "<quote>value</quote> (the songs) so there must have been a "
1638 "<quote>right</quote>—even against the Girl Scouts."
1642 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1643 #: freeculture.xml:1175
1645 "This idea is certainly a possible understanding of how creative property "
1646 "should work. It might well be a possible design for a system of law "
1647 "protecting creative property. But the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1648 "theory of creative property has never been America's theory of creative "
1649 "property. It has never taken hold within our law."
1652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1653 #: freeculture.xml:1183 freeculture.xml:7293 freeculture.xml:7390 freeculture.xml:7705
1654 msgid "on republishing vs. transformation of original work"
1657 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1658 #: freeculture.xml:1184 freeculture.xml:1366 freeculture.xml:1523
1662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
1663 #: freeculture.xml:1184
1664 msgid "legal restrictions on"
1667 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1668 #: freeculture.xml:1186
1670 "Instead, in our tradition, intellectual property is an instrument. It sets "
1671 "the groundwork for a richly creative society but remains subservient to the "
1672 "value of creativity. The current debate has this turned around. We have "
1673 "become so concerned with protecting the instrument that we are losing sight "
1677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1678 #: freeculture.xml:1193
1680 "The source of this confusion is a distinction that the law no longer takes "
1681 "care to draw—the distinction between republishing someone's work on "
1682 "the one hand and building upon or transforming that work on the "
1683 "other. Copyright law at its birth had only publishing as its concern; "
1684 "copyright law today regulates both."
1687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1688 #: freeculture.xml:1201
1690 "Before the technologies of the Internet, this conflation didn't matter all "
1691 "that much. The technologies of publishing were expensive; that meant the "
1692 "vast majority of publishing was commercial. Commercial entities could bear "
1693 "the burden of the law—even the burden of the Byzantine complexity that "
1694 "copyright law has become. It was just one more expense of doing business."
1697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
1698 #: freeculture.xml:1208
1699 msgid "creativity impeded by"
1702 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1703 #: freeculture.xml:1209 freeculture.xml:1240
1704 msgid "Florida, Richard"
1707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1708 #: freeculture.xml:1210 freeculture.xml:1241
1709 msgid "Rise of the Creative Class, The (Florida)"
1712 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1713 #: freeculture.xml:1232
1715 "In <citetitle>The Rise of the Creative Class</citetitle> (New York: Basic "
1716 "Books, 2002), Richard Florida documents a shift in the nature of labor "
1717 "toward a labor of creativity. His work, however, doesn't directly address "
1718 "the legal conditions under which that creativity is enabled or stifled. I "
1719 "certainly agree with him about the importance and significance of this "
1720 "change, but I also believe the conditions under which it will be enabled are "
1721 "much more tenuous. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
1722 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
1725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1726 #: freeculture.xml:1212
1728 "But with the birth of the Internet, this natural limit to the reach of the "
1729 "law has disappeared. The law controls not just the creativity of commercial "
1730 "creators but effectively that of anyone. Although that expansion would not "
1731 "matter much if copyright law regulated only <quote>copying,</quote> when the "
1732 "law regulates as broadly and obscurely as it does, the extension matters a "
1733 "lot. The burden of this law now vastly outweighs any original "
1734 "benefit—certainly as it affects noncommercial creativity, and "
1735 "increasingly as it affects commercial creativity as well. Thus, as we'll see "
1736 "more clearly in the chapters below, the law's role is less and less to "
1737 "support creativity, and more and more to protect certain industries against "
1738 "competition. Just at the time digital technology could unleash an "
1739 "extraordinary range of commercial and noncommercial creativity, the law "
1740 "burdens this creativity with insanely complex and vague rules and with the "
1741 "threat of obscenely severe penalties. We may be seeing, as Richard Florida "
1742 "writes, the <quote>Rise of the Creative Class.</quote><placeholder "
1743 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Unfortunately, we are also seeing an "
1744 "extraordinary rise of regulation of this creative class."
1747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1748 #: freeculture.xml:1248
1750 "These burdens make no sense in our tradition. We should begin by "
1751 "understanding that tradition a bit more and by placing in their proper "
1752 "context the current battles about behavior labeled <quote>piracy.</quote>"
1755 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
1756 #: freeculture.xml:1256
1760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1761 #: freeculture.xml:1257
1762 msgid "animated cartoons"
1765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1766 #: freeculture.xml:1258
1767 msgid "cartoon films"
1770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1771 #: freeculture.xml:1259 freeculture.xml:5301 freeculture.xml:5335 freeculture.xml:6050 freeculture.xml:6094
1775 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1776 #: freeculture.xml:1259
1780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1781 #: freeculture.xml:1260
1782 msgid "Steamboat Willie"
1785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1786 #: freeculture.xml:1261 freeculture.xml:7484
1787 msgid "Mickey Mouse"
1790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1791 #: freeculture.xml:1263
1793 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">In 1928</emphasis>, a cartoon character was "
1794 "born. An early Mickey Mouse made his debut in May of that year, in a silent "
1795 "flop called <citetitle>Plane Crazy</citetitle>. In November, in New York "
1796 "City's Colony Theater, in the first widely distributed cartoon synchronized "
1797 "with sound, <citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle> brought to life the "
1798 "character that would become Mickey Mouse."
1801 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1802 #: freeculture.xml:1269 freeculture.xml:1486 freeculture.xml:1540 freeculture.xml:1681 freeculture.xml:1927 freeculture.xml:4531 freeculture.xml:6226 freeculture.xml:7483 freeculture.xml:11054 freeculture.xml:11467
1803 msgid "Disney, Walt"
1806 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1807 #: freeculture.xml:1271
1809 "Synchronized sound had been introduced to film a year earlier in the movie "
1810 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle>. That success led Walt Disney to copy "
1811 "the technique and mix sound with cartoons. No one knew whether it would work "
1812 "or, if it did work, whether it would win an audience. But when Disney ran a "
1813 "test in the summer of 1928, the results were unambiguous. As Disney "
1814 "describes that first experiment,"
1818 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1819 #: freeculture.xml:1280
1821 "A couple of my boys could read music, and one of them could play a mouth "
1822 "organ. We put them in a room where they could not see the screen and "
1823 "arranged to pipe their sound into the room where our wives and friends were "
1824 "going to see the picture."
1827 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1828 #: freeculture.xml:1287
1830 "The boys worked from a music and sound-effects score. After several false "
1831 "starts, sound and action got off with the gun. The mouth organist played the "
1832 "tune, the rest of us in the sound department bammed tin pans and blew slide "
1833 "whistles on the beat. The synchronization was pretty close."
1837 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1838 #: freeculture.xml:1300
1840 "Leonard Maltin, <citetitle>Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated "
1841 "Cartoons</citetitle> (New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 34–35."
1844 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1845 #: freeculture.xml:1294
1847 "The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They "
1848 "responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion. I thought "
1849 "they were kidding me. So they put me in the audience and ran the action "
1850 "again. It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something "
1851 "new!<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1854 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1855 #: freeculture.xml:1305
1859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1860 #: freeculture.xml:1307
1862 "Disney's then partner, and one of animation's most extraordinary talents, Ub "
1863 "Iwerks, put it more strongly: <quote>I have never been so thrilled in my "
1864 "life. Nothing since has ever equaled it.</quote>"
1867 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1868 #: freeculture.xml:1312
1870 "Disney had created something very new, based upon something relatively "
1871 "new. Synchronized sound brought life to a form of creativity that had "
1872 "rarely—except in Disney's hands—been anything more than filler "
1873 "for other films. Throughout animation's early history, it was Disney's "
1874 "invention that set the standard that others struggled to match. And quite "
1875 "often, Disney's great genius, his spark of creativity, was built upon the "
1879 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1880 #: freeculture.xml:1321 freeculture.xml:1683
1881 msgid "Keaton, Buster"
1884 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1885 #: freeculture.xml:1322 freeculture.xml:1553 freeculture.xml:1941
1886 msgid "Steamboat Bill, Jr."
1889 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1890 #: freeculture.xml:1324
1892 "This much is familiar. What you might not know is that 1928 also marks "
1893 "another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to cartoon) "
1894 "genius created his last independently produced silent film. That genius was "
1895 "Buster Keaton. The film was <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>."
1898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1899 #: freeculture.xml:1330
1901 "Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in 1895. In the era of silent film, "
1902 "he had mastered using broad physical comedy as a way to spark uncontrollable "
1903 "laughter from his audience. <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. was a "
1904 "classic of this form, famous among film buffs for its incredible stunts. "
1905 "The film was classic Keaton—wildly popular and among the best of its "
1909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1910 #: freeculture.xml:1337 freeculture.xml:1494 freeculture.xml:7294 freeculture.xml:7391 freeculture.xml:7569 freeculture.xml:7678 freeculture.xml:7720
1911 msgid "derivative works"
1914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1915 #: freeculture.xml:1337 freeculture.xml:1494 freeculture.xml:7391 freeculture.xml:7569
1919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
1920 #: freeculture.xml:1338 freeculture.xml:1497 freeculture.xml:3007 freeculture.xml:3706 freeculture.xml:7392 freeculture.xml:7570 freeculture.xml:15313
1924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
1925 #: freeculture.xml:1338 freeculture.xml:1497 freeculture.xml:7392 freeculture.xml:7570
1926 msgid "derivative work vs."
1930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1931 #: freeculture.xml:1346
1933 "I am grateful to David Gerstein and his careful history, described at <ulink "
1934 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #4</ulink>. According to Dave "
1935 "Smith of the Disney Archives, Disney paid royalties to use the music for "
1936 "five songs in <citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle>: <quote>Steamboat "
1937 "Bill,</quote> <quote>The Simpleton</quote> (Delille), <quote>Mischief "
1938 "Makers</quote> (Carbonara), <quote>Joyful Hurry No. 1</quote> (Baron), and "
1939 "<quote>Gawky Rube</quote> (Lakay). A sixth song, <quote>The Turkey in the "
1940 "Straw,</quote> was already in the public domain. Letter from David Smith to "
1941 "Harry Surden, 10 July 2003, on file with author."
1944 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1945 #: freeculture.xml:1340
1947 "<citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. appeared before Disney's cartoon "
1948 "Steamboat Willie. The coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat "
1949 "Willie is a direct cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill,<placeholder "
1950 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and both are built upon a common song as a "
1951 "source. It is not just from the invention of synchronized sound in "
1952 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle> that we get <citetitle>Steamboat "
1953 "Willie</citetitle>. It is also from Buster Keaton's invention of Steamboat "
1954 "Bill, Jr., itself inspired by the song <quote>Steamboat Bill,</quote> that "
1955 "we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse."
1958 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
1959 #: freeculture.xml:1366 freeculture.xml:1523
1960 msgid "by transforming previous works"
1963 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
1964 #: freeculture.xml:1367 freeculture.xml:6267 freeculture.xml:7777
1965 msgid "Disney, Inc."
1969 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1970 #: freeculture.xml:1373
1972 "He was also a fan of the public domain. See Chris Sprigman, <quote>The Mouse "
1973 "that Ate the Public Domain,</quote> Findlaw, 5 March 2002, at <ulink "
1974 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #5</ulink>."
1977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1978 #: freeculture.xml:1369
1980 "This <quote>borrowing</quote> was nothing unique, either for Disney or for "
1981 "the industry. Disney was always parroting the feature-length mainstream "
1982 "films of his day.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> So did many "
1983 "others. Early cartoons are filled with knockoffs—slight variations on "
1984 "winning themes; retellings of ancient stories. The key to success was the "
1985 "brilliance of the differences. With Disney, it was sound that gave his "
1986 "animation its spark. Later, it was the quality of his work relative to the "
1987 "production-line cartoons with which he competed. Yet these additions were "
1988 "built upon a base that was borrowed. Disney added to the work of others "
1989 "before him, creating something new out of something just barely old."
1992 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1993 #: freeculture.xml:1387 freeculture.xml:1682 freeculture.xml:11055
1994 msgid "Grimm fairy tales"
1997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1998 #: freeculture.xml:1389
2000 "Sometimes this borrowing was slight. Sometimes it was significant. Think "
2001 "about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. If you're as oblivious as I "
2002 "was, you're likely to think that these tales are happy, sweet stories, "
2003 "appropriate for any child at bedtime. In fact, the Grimm fairy tales are, "
2004 "well, for us, grim. It is a rare and perhaps overly ambitious parent who "
2005 "would dare to read these bloody, moralistic stories to his or her child, at "
2006 "bedtime or anytime."
2010 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2011 #: freeculture.xml:1398
2013 "Disney took these stories and retold them in a way that carried them into a "
2014 "new age. He animated the stories, with both characters and light. Without "
2015 "removing the elements of fear and danger altogether, he made funny what was "
2016 "dark and injected a genuine emotion of compassion where before there was "
2017 "fear. And not just with the work of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed, the catalog "
2018 "of Disney work drawing upon the work of others is astonishing when set "
2019 "together: <citetitle>Snow White</citetitle> (1937), "
2020 "<citetitle>Fantasia</citetitle> (1940), <citetitle>Pinocchio</citetitle> "
2021 "(1940), <citetitle>Dumbo</citetitle> (1941), <citetitle>Bambi</citetitle> "
2022 "(1942), <citetitle>Song of the South</citetitle> (1946), "
2023 "<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle> (1950), <citetitle>Alice in "
2024 "Wonderland</citetitle> (1951), <citetitle>Robin Hood</citetitle> (1952), "
2025 "<citetitle>Peter Pan</citetitle> (1953), <citetitle>Lady and the "
2026 "Tramp</citetitle> (1955), <citetitle>Mulan</citetitle> (1998), "
2027 "<citetitle>Sleeping Beauty</citetitle> (1959), <citetitle>101 "
2028 "Dalmatians</citetitle> (1961), <citetitle>The Sword in the Stone</citetitle> "
2029 "(1963), and <citetitle>The Jungle Book</citetitle> (1967)—not to "
2030 "mention a recent example that we should perhaps quickly forget, "
2031 "<citetitle>Treasure Planet</citetitle> (2003). In all of these cases, Disney "
2032 "(or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity from the culture around him, mixed that "
2033 "creativity with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into "
2034 "the soul of his culture. Rip, mix, and burn."
2037 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2038 #: freeculture.xml:1421
2040 "This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should remember and "
2041 "celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no creativity except "
2042 "this kind. We don't need to go that far to recognize its importance. We "
2043 "could call this <quote>Disney creativity,</quote> though that would be a bit "
2044 "misleading. It is, more precisely, <quote>Walt Disney "
2045 "creativity</quote>—a form of expression and genius that builds upon "
2046 "the culture around us and makes it something different."
2049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2050 #: freeculture.xml:1432 freeculture.xml:4748 freeculture.xml:4749 freeculture.xml:4815 freeculture.xml:4853 freeculture.xml:4909 freeculture.xml:4955 freeculture.xml:5090 freeculture.xml:5184 freeculture.xml:6678 freeculture.xml:6978 freeculture.xml:6979 freeculture.xml:6982 freeculture.xml:7051 freeculture.xml:7077 freeculture.xml:7116 freeculture.xml:7239 freeculture.xml:7286 freeculture.xml:7323 freeculture.xml:7631 freeculture.xml:7798 freeculture.xml:11112 freeculture.xml:11136 freeculture.xml:11465 freeculture.xml:11466
2054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2055 #: freeculture.xml:1432 freeculture.xml:4748 freeculture.xml:4909 freeculture.xml:6979 freeculture.xml:6982 freeculture.xml:7077 freeculture.xml:11112 freeculture.xml:11466
2059 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
2060 #: freeculture.xml:1433 freeculture.xml:1434 freeculture.xml:5185 freeculture.xml:7081 freeculture.xml:7204 freeculture.xml:8089 freeculture.xml:11046 freeculture.xml:13463 freeculture.xml:14253 freeculture.xml:14254
2061 msgid "public domain"
2064 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2065 #: freeculture.xml:1433
2069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2070 #: freeculture.xml:1434
2071 msgid "traditional term for conversion to"
2075 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2076 #: freeculture.xml:1441
2078 "Until 1976, copyright law granted an author the possibility of two terms: an "
2079 "initial term and a renewal term. I have calculated the "
2080 "<quote>average</quote> term by determining the weighted average of total "
2081 "registrations for any particular year, and the proportion renewing. Thus, if "
2082 "100 copyrights are registered in year 1, and only 15 are renewed, and the "
2083 "renewal term is 28 years, then the average term is 32.2 years. For the "
2084 "renewal data and other relevant data, see the Web site associated with this "
2085 "book, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
2089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2090 #: freeculture.xml:1435
2092 "In 1928, the culture that Disney was free to draw upon was relatively "
2093 "fresh. The public domain in 1928 was not very old and was therefore quite "
2094 "vibrant. The average term of copyright was just around thirty "
2095 "years—for that minority of creative work that was in fact "
2096 "copyrighted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That means that for "
2097 "thirty years, on average, the authors or copyright holders of a creative "
2098 "work had an <quote>exclusive right</quote> to control certain uses of the "
2099 "work. To use this copyrighted work in limited ways required the permission "
2100 "of the copyright owner."
2103 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2104 #: freeculture.xml:1458
2106 "At the end of a copyright term, a work passes into the public domain. No "
2107 "permission is then needed to draw upon or use that work. No permission and, "
2108 "hence, no lawyers. The public domain is a <quote>lawyer-free zone.</quote> "
2109 "Thus, most of the content from the nineteenth century was free for Disney to "
2110 "use and build upon in 1928. It was free for anyone— whether connected "
2111 "or not, whether rich or not, whether approved or not—to use and build "
2116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2117 #: freeculture.xml:1469
2119 "This is the ways things always were—until quite recently. For most of "
2120 "our history, the public domain was just over the horizon. From until 1978, "
2121 "the average copyright term was never more than thirty-two years, meaning "
2122 "that most culture just a generation and a half old was free for anyone to "
2123 "build upon without the permission of anyone else. Today's equivalent would "
2124 "be for creative work from the 1960s and 1970s to now be free for the next "
2125 "Walt Disney to build upon without permission. Yet today, the public domain "
2126 "is presumptive only for content from before the Great Depression."
2129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2130 #: freeculture.xml:1488
2132 "<emphasis role=\"strong\">Of course</emphasis>, Walt Disney had no monopoly "
2133 "on <quote>Walt Disney creativity.</quote> Nor does America. The norm of free "
2134 "culture has, until recently, and except within totalitarian nations, been "
2135 "broadly exploited and quite universal."
2138 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2139 #: freeculture.xml:1493 freeculture.xml:1597 freeculture.xml:1711
2140 msgid "comics, Japanese"
2143 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2144 #: freeculture.xml:1495 freeculture.xml:1713
2145 msgid "Japanese comics"
2148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2149 #: freeculture.xml:1496 freeculture.xml:1714
2153 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2154 #: freeculture.xml:1499
2156 "Consider, for example, a form of creativity that seems strange to many "
2157 "Americans but that is inescapable within Japanese culture: "
2158 "<citetitle>manga</citetitle>, or comics. The Japanese are fanatics about "
2159 "comics. Some 40 percent of publications are comics, and 30 percent of "
2160 "publication revenue derives from comics. They are everywhere in Japanese "
2161 "society, at every magazine stand, carried by a large proportion of commuters "
2162 "on Japan's extraordinary system of public transportation."
2165 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2166 #: freeculture.xml:1508
2168 "Americans tend to look down upon this form of culture. That's an "
2169 "unattractive characteristic of ours. We're likely to misunderstand much "
2170 "about manga, because few of us have ever read anything close to the stories "
2171 "that these <quote>graphic novels</quote> tell. For the Japanese, manga cover "
2172 "every aspect of social life. For us, comics are <quote>men in "
2173 "tights.</quote> And anyway, it's not as if the New York subways are filled "
2174 "with readers of Joyce or even Hemingway. People of different cultures "
2175 "distract themselves in different ways, the Japanese in this interestingly "
2179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2180 #: freeculture.xml:1519
2182 "But my purpose here is not to understand manga. It is to describe a variant "
2183 "on manga that from a lawyer's perspective is quite odd, but from a Disney "
2184 "perspective is quite familiar."
2187 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2188 #: freeculture.xml:1524 freeculture.xml:1712
2189 msgid "doujinshi comics"
2193 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2194 #: freeculture.xml:1526
2196 "This is the phenomenon of <citetitle>doujinshi</citetitle>. Doujinshi are "
2197 "also comics, but they are a kind of copycat comic. A rich ethic governs the "
2198 "creation of doujinshi. It is not doujinshi if it is "
2199 "<emphasis>just</emphasis> a copy; the artist must make a contribution to the "
2200 "art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly. A "
2201 "doujinshi comic can thus take a mainstream comic and develop it "
2202 "differently—with a different story line. Or the comic can keep the "
2203 "character in character but change its look slightly. There is no formula for "
2204 "what makes the doujinshi sufficiently <quote>different.</quote> But they "
2205 "must be different if they are to be considered true doujinshi. Indeed, there "
2206 "are committees that review doujinshi for inclusion within shows and reject "
2207 "any copycat comic that is merely a copy."
2210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2211 #: freeculture.xml:1542
2213 "These copycat comics are not a tiny part of the manga market. They are "
2214 "huge. More than 33,000 <quote>circles</quote> of creators from across Japan "
2215 "produce these bits of Walt Disney creativity. More than 450,000 Japanese "
2216 "come together twice a year, in the largest public gathering in the country, "
2217 "to exchange and sell them. This market exists in parallel to the mainstream "
2218 "commercial manga market. In some ways, it obviously competes with that "
2219 "market, but there is no sustained effort by those who control the commercial "
2220 "manga market to shut the doujinshi market down. It flourishes, despite the "
2221 "competition and despite the law."
2224 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2225 #: freeculture.xml:1552 freeculture.xml:1596 freeculture.xml:1710
2229 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2230 #: freeculture.xml:1555
2232 "The most puzzling feature of the doujinshi market, for those trained in the "
2233 "law, at least, is that it is allowed to exist at all. Under Japanese "
2234 "copyright law, which in this respect (on paper) mirrors American copyright "
2235 "law, the doujinshi market is an illegal one. Doujinshi are plainly "
2236 "<quote>derivative works.</quote> There is no general practice by doujinshi "
2237 "artists of securing the permission of the manga creators. Instead, the "
2238 "practice is simply to take and modify the creations of others, as Walt "
2239 "Disney did with <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. Under both "
2240 "Japanese and American law, that <quote>taking</quote> without the permission "
2241 "of the original copyright owner is illegal. It is an infringement of the "
2242 "original copyright to make a copy or a derivative work without the original "
2243 "copyright owner's permission."
2246 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2247 #: freeculture.xml:1569
2248 msgid "Winick, Judd"
2252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2253 #: freeculture.xml:1581
2255 "For an excellent history, see Scott McCloud, <citetitle>Reinventing "
2256 "Comics</citetitle> (New York: Perennial, 2000)."
2259 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2260 #: freeculture.xml:1571
2262 "Yet this illegal market exists and indeed flourishes in Japan, and in the "
2263 "view of many, it is precisely because it exists that Japanese manga "
2264 "flourish. As American graphic novelist Judd Winick said to me, <quote>The "
2265 "early days of comics in America are very much like what's going on in Japan "
2266 "now. … American comics were born out of copying each other. … "
2267 "That's how [the artists] learn to draw — by going into comic books and "
2268 "not tracing them, but looking at them and copying them</quote> and building "
2269 "from them.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2272 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2273 #: freeculture.xml:1586
2274 msgid "Superman comics"
2277 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2278 #: freeculture.xml:1588
2280 "American comics now are quite different, Winick explains, in part because of "
2281 "the legal difficulty of adapting comics the way doujinshi are "
2282 "allowed. Speaking of Superman, Winick told me, <quote>there are these rules "
2283 "and you have to stick to them.</quote> There are things Superman "
2284 "<quote>cannot</quote> do. <quote>As a creator, it's frustrating having to "
2285 "stick to some parameters which are fifty years old.</quote>"
2288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2289 #: freeculture.xml:1598
2290 msgid "Mehra, Salil"
2294 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2295 #: freeculture.xml:1608
2297 "See Salil K. Mehra, <quote>Copyright and Comics in Japan: Does Law Explain "
2298 "Why All the Comics My Kid Watches Are Japanese Imports?</quote> "
2299 "<citetitle>Rutgers Law Review</citetitle> 55 (2002): 155, "
2300 "182. <quote>[T]here might be a collective economic rationality that would "
2301 "lead manga and anime artists to forgo bringing legal actions for "
2302 "infringement. One hypothesis is that all manga artists may be better off "
2303 "collectively if they set aside their individual self-interest and decide not "
2304 "to press their legal rights. This is essentially a prisoner's dilemma "
2308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2309 #: freeculture.xml:1600
2311 "The norm in Japan mitigates this legal difficulty. Some say it is precisely "
2312 "the benefit accruing to the Japanese manga market that explains the "
2313 "mitigation. Temple University law professor Salil Mehra, for example, "
2314 "hypothesizes that the manga market accepts these technical violations "
2315 "because they spur the manga market to be more wealthy and "
2316 "productive. Everyone would be worse off if doujinshi were banned, so the law "
2317 "does not ban doujinshi.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2321 #: freeculture.xml:1622
2323 "The problem with this story, however, as Mehra plainly acknowledges, is that "
2324 "the mechanism producing this laissez faire response is not clear. It may "
2325 "well be that the market as a whole is better off if doujinshi are permitted "
2326 "rather than banned, but that doesn't explain why individual copyright owners "
2327 "don't sue nonetheless. If the law has no general exception for doujinshi, "
2328 "and indeed in some cases individual manga artists have sued doujinshi "
2329 "artists, why is there not a more general pattern of blocking this "
2330 "<quote>free taking</quote> by the doujinshi culture?"
2333 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2334 #: freeculture.xml:1635
2336 "I spent four wonderful months in Japan, and I asked this question as often "
2337 "as I could. Perhaps the best account in the end was offered by a friend from "
2338 "a major Japanese law firm. <quote>We don't have enough lawyers,</quote> he "
2339 "told me one afternoon. There <quote>just aren't enough resources to "
2340 "prosecute cases like this.</quote>"
2344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2345 #: freeculture.xml:1642
2347 "This is a theme to which we will return: that regulation by law is a "
2348 "function of both the words on the books and the costs of making those words "
2349 "have effect. For now, focus on the obvious question that is begged: Would "
2350 "Japan be better off with more lawyers? Would manga be richer if doujinshi "
2351 "artists were regularly prosecuted? Would the Japanese gain something "
2352 "important if they could end this practice of uncompensated sharing? Does "
2353 "piracy here hurt the victims of the piracy, or does it help them? Would "
2354 "lawyers fighting this piracy help their clients or hurt them?"
2357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2358 #: freeculture.xml:1655
2359 msgid "<emphasis role='strong'>Let's pause</emphasis> for a moment."
2362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2363 #: freeculture.xml:1658
2365 "If you're like I was a decade ago, or like most people are when they first "
2366 "start thinking about these issues, then just about now you should be puzzled "
2367 "about something you hadn't thought through before."
2370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2371 #: freeculture.xml:1668 freeculture.xml:3025 freeculture.xml:4761 freeculture.xml:5020 freeculture.xml:7908 freeculture.xml:9033
2372 msgid "Vaidhyanathan, Siva"
2375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2376 #: freeculture.xml:1668
2378 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> The term <citetitle>intellectual "
2379 "property</citetitle> is of relatively recent origin. See Siva Vaidhyanathan, "
2380 "<citetitle>Copyrights and Copywrongs</citetitle>, 11 (New York: New York "
2381 "University Press, 2001). See also Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>The Future of "
2382 "Ideas</citetitle> (New York: Random House, 2001), 293 n. 26. The term "
2383 "accurately describes a set of <quote>property</quote> rights — "
2384 "copyright, patents, trademark, and trade-secret — but the nature of "
2385 "those rights is very different."
2388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2389 #: freeculture.xml:1663
2391 "We live in a world that celebrates <quote>property.</quote> I am one of "
2392 "those celebrants. I believe in the value of property in general, and I also "
2393 "believe in the value of that weird form of property that lawyers call "
2394 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2395 "id=\"0\"/> A large, diverse society cannot survive without property; a "
2396 "large, diverse, and modern society cannot flourish without intellectual "
2400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2401 #: freeculture.xml:1685
2403 "But it takes just a second's reflection to realize that there is plenty of "
2404 "value out there that <quote>property</quote> doesn't capture. I don't mean "
2405 "<quote>money can't buy you love,</quote> but rather, value that is plainly "
2406 "part of a process of production, including commercial as well as "
2407 "noncommercial production. If Disney animators had stolen a set of pencils "
2408 "to draw Steamboat Willie, we'd have no hesitation in condemning that taking "
2409 "as wrong— even though trivial, even if unnoticed. Yet there was "
2410 "nothing wrong, at least under the law of the day, with Disney's taking from "
2411 "Buster Keaton or from the Brothers Grimm. There was nothing wrong with the "
2412 "taking from Keaton because Disney's use would have been considered "
2413 "<quote>fair.</quote> There was nothing wrong with the taking from the Grimms "
2414 "because the Grimms' work was in the public domain."
2417 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2418 #: freeculture.xml:1699
2419 msgid "derivative works based on"
2423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2424 #: freeculture.xml:1701
2426 "Thus, even though the things that Disney took—or more generally, the "
2427 "things taken by anyone exercising Walt Disney creativity—are valuable, "
2428 "our tradition does not treat those takings as wrong. Some things remain free "
2429 "for the taking within a free culture, and that freedom is good."
2432 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2433 #: freeculture.xml:1716
2435 "The same with the doujinshi culture. If a doujinshi artist broke into a "
2436 "publisher's office and ran off with a thousand copies of his latest "
2437 "work—or even one copy—without paying, we'd have no hesitation in "
2438 "saying the artist was wrong. In addition to having trespassed, he would have "
2439 "stolen something of value. The law bans that stealing in whatever form, "
2440 "whether large or small."
2443 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2444 #: freeculture.xml:1725
2446 "Yet there is an obvious reluctance, even among Japanese lawyers, to say that "
2447 "the copycat comic artists are <quote>stealing.</quote> This form of Walt "
2448 "Disney creativity is seen as fair and right, even if lawyers in particular "
2449 "find it hard to say why."
2452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2453 #: freeculture.xml:1736 freeculture.xml:4701 freeculture.xml:4833 freeculture.xml:4870 freeculture.xml:5200
2454 msgid "Shakespeare, William"
2457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2458 #: freeculture.xml:1738
2460 "It's the same with a thousand examples that appear everywhere once you begin "
2461 "to look. Scientists build upon the work of other scientists without asking "
2462 "or paying for the privilege. (<quote>Excuse me, Professor Einstein, but may "
2463 "I have permission to use your theory of relativity to show that you were "
2464 "wrong about quantum physics?</quote>) Acting companies perform adaptations "
2465 "of the works of Shakespeare without securing permission from anyone. (Does "
2466 "<emphasis>anyone</emphasis> believe Shakespeare would be better spread "
2467 "within our culture if there were a central Shakespeare rights clearinghouse "
2468 "that all productions of Shakespeare must appeal to first?) And Hollywood "
2469 "goes through cycles with a certain kind of movie: five asteroid films in the "
2470 "late 1990s; two volcano disaster films in 1997."
2474 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2475 #: freeculture.xml:1752
2477 "Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the "
2478 "creativity that went before and that surrounds them now. That building is "
2479 "always and everywhere at least partially done without permission and without "
2480 "compensating the original creator. No society, free or controlled, has ever "
2481 "demanded that every use be paid for or that permission for Walt Disney "
2482 "creativity must always be sought. Instead, every society has left a certain "
2483 "bit of its culture free for the taking—free societies more fully than "
2484 "unfree, perhaps, but all societies to some degree."
2487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2488 #: freeculture.xml:1764
2490 "The hard question is therefore not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> a culture is "
2491 "free. All cultures are free to some degree. The hard question instead is "
2492 "<quote><emphasis>How</emphasis> free is this culture?</quote> How much, and "
2493 "how broadly, is the culture free for others to take and build upon? Is that "
2494 "freedom limited to party members? To members of the royal family? To the top "
2495 "ten corporations on the New York Stock Exchange? Or is that freedom spread "
2496 "broadly? To artists generally, whether affiliated with the Met or not? To "
2497 "musicians generally, whether white or not? To filmmakers generally, whether "
2498 "affiliated with a studio or not?"
2501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2502 #: freeculture.xml:1776
2504 "Free cultures are cultures that leave a great deal open for others to build "
2505 "upon; unfree, or permission, cultures leave much less. Ours was a free "
2506 "culture. It is becoming much less so."
2509 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
2510 #: freeculture.xml:1785
2511 msgid "<quote>Mere Copyists</quote>"
2514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2515 #: freeculture.xml:1786
2516 msgid "Daguerre, Louis"
2519 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2520 #: freeculture.xml:1787 freeculture.xml:1942 freeculture.xml:1997 freeculture.xml:6789
2521 msgid "camera technology"
2524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2525 #: freeculture.xml:1788
2529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2530 #: freeculture.xml:1790
2532 "<emphasis role='strong'>In 1839</emphasis>, Louis Daguerre invented the "
2533 "first practical technology for producing what we would call "
2534 "<quote>photographs.</quote> Appropriately enough, they were called "
2535 "<quote>daguerreotypes.</quote> The process was complicated and expensive, "
2536 "and the field was thus limited to professionals and a few zealous and "
2537 "wealthy amateurs. (There was even an American Daguerre Association that "
2538 "helped regulate the industry, as do all such associations, by keeping "
2539 "competition down so as to keep prices up.)"
2542 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2543 #: freeculture.xml:1799
2544 msgid "Talbot, William"
2547 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2548 #: freeculture.xml:1801
2550 "Yet despite high prices, the demand for daguerreotypes was strong. This "
2551 "pushed inventors to find simpler and cheaper ways to make <quote>automatic "
2552 "pictures.</quote> William Talbot soon discovered a process for making "
2553 "<quote>negatives.</quote> But because the negatives were glass, and had to "
2554 "be kept wet, the process still remained expensive and cumbersome. In the "
2555 "1870s, dry plates were developed, making it easier to separate the taking of "
2556 "a picture from its developing. These were still plates of glass, and thus it "
2557 "was still not a process within reach of most amateurs."
2560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2561 #: freeculture.xml:1811
2562 msgid "Eastman, George"
2566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2567 #: freeculture.xml:1813
2569 "The technological change that made mass photography possible didn't happen "
2570 "until 1888, and was the creation of a single man. George Eastman, himself an "
2571 "amateur photographer, was frustrated by the technology of photographs made "
2572 "with plates. In a flash of insight (so to speak), Eastman saw that if the "
2573 "film could be made to be flexible, it could be held on a single "
2574 "spindle. That roll could then be sent to a developer, driving the costs of "
2575 "photography down substantially. By lowering the costs, Eastman expected he "
2576 "could dramatically broaden the population of photographers."
2579 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2580 #: freeculture.xml:1824 freeculture.xml:1979 freeculture.xml:6791
2581 msgid "Kodak cameras"
2584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2585 #: freeculture.xml:1825
2586 msgid "Kodak Primer, The (Eastman)"
2590 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2591 #: freeculture.xml:1832
2593 "Reese V. Jenkins, <citetitle>Images and Enterprise</citetitle> (Baltimore: "
2594 "Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), 112."
2597 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2598 #: freeculture.xml:1827
2600 "Eastman developed flexible, emulsion-coated paper film and placed rolls of "
2601 "it in small, simple cameras: the Kodak. The device was marketed on the basis "
2602 "of its simplicity. <quote>You press the button and we do the "
2603 "rest.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As he described in "
2604 "<citetitle>The Kodak Primer</citetitle>:"
2607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2608 #: freeculture.xml:1848 freeculture.xml:1874
2612 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
2613 #: freeculture.xml:1848
2615 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Brian Coe, <citetitle>The Birth "
2616 "of Photography</citetitle> (New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1977), 53."
2619 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2620 #: freeculture.xml:1837
2622 "The principle of the Kodak system is the separation of the work that any "
2623 "person whomsoever can do in making a photograph, from the work that only an "
2624 "expert can do. … We furnish anybody, man, woman or child, who has "
2625 "sufficient intelligence to point a box straight and press a button, with an "
2626 "instrument which altogether removes from the practice of photography the "
2627 "necessity for exceptional facilities or, in fact, any special knowledge of "
2628 "the art. It can be employed without preliminary study, without a darkroom "
2629 "and without chemicals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2634 #: freeculture.xml:1867
2635 msgid "Jenkins, 177."
2639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2640 #: freeculture.xml:1871
2641 msgid "Based on a chart in Jenkins, p. 178."
2644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2645 #: freeculture.xml:1856
2647 "For $25, anyone could make pictures. The camera came preloaded with film, "
2648 "and when it had been used, the camera was returned to an Eastman factory, "
2649 "where the film was developed. Over time, of course, the cost of the camera "
2650 "and the ease with which it could be used both improved. Roll film thus "
2651 "became the basis for the explosive growth of popular photography. Eastman's "
2652 "camera first went on sale in 1888; one year later, Kodak was printing more "
2653 "than six thousand negatives a day. From 1888 through 1909, while industrial "
2654 "production was rising by 4.7 percent, photographic equipment and material "
2655 "sales increased by 11 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
2656 "Eastman Kodak's sales during the same period experienced an average annual "
2657 "increase of over 17 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2661 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2662 #: freeculture.xml:1889
2666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2667 #: freeculture.xml:1878
2669 "The real significance of Eastman's invention, however, was not economic. It "
2670 "was social. Professional photography gave individuals a glimpse of places "
2671 "they would never otherwise see. Amateur photography gave them the ability to "
2672 "record their own lives in a way they had never been able to do before. As "
2673 "author Brian Coe notes, <quote>For the first time the snapshot album "
2674 "provided the man on the street with a permanent record of his family and its "
2675 "activities. … For the first time in history there exists an authentic "
2676 "visual record of the appearance and activities of the common man made "
2677 "without [literary] interpretation or bias.</quote><placeholder "
2678 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2681 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2682 #: freeculture.xml:1892 freeculture.xml:1998 freeculture.xml:2376 freeculture.xml:2394
2686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2687 #: freeculture.xml:1892 freeculture.xml:1998 freeculture.xml:2376
2688 msgid "in technologies of expression"
2691 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2692 #: freeculture.xml:1893 freeculture.xml:1999 freeculture.xml:2039 freeculture.xml:2378
2693 msgid "expression, technologies of"
2696 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2697 #: freeculture.xml:1893 freeculture.xml:1999 freeculture.xml:2378
2701 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2702 #: freeculture.xml:1895
2704 "In this way, the Kodak camera and film were technologies of expression. The "
2705 "pencil or paintbrush was also a technology of expression, of course. But it "
2706 "took years of training before they could be deployed by amateurs in any "
2707 "useful or effective way. With the Kodak, expression was possible much sooner "
2708 "and more simply. The barrier to expression was lowered. Snobs would sneer at "
2709 "its <quote>quality</quote>; professionals would discount it as "
2710 "irrelevant. But watch a child study how best to frame a picture and you get "
2711 "a sense of the experience of creativity that the Kodak enabled. Democratic "
2712 "tools gave ordinary people a way to express themselves more easily than any "
2713 "tools could have before."
2716 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2717 #: freeculture.xml:1908
2721 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2722 #: freeculture.xml:1908
2723 msgid "photography exempted from"
2727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2728 #: freeculture.xml:1919
2730 "For illustrative cases, see, for example, <citetitle>Pavesich</citetitle> "
2731 "v. <citetitle>N.E. Life Ins. Co</citetitle>., 50 S.E. 68 (Ga. 1905); "
2732 "<citetitle>Foster-Milburn Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Chinn</citetitle>, "
2733 "123090 S.W. 364, 366 (Ky. 1909); <citetitle>Corliss</citetitle> "
2734 "v. <citetitle>Walker</citetitle>, 64 F. 280 (Mass. Dist. Ct. 1894)."
2737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2738 #: freeculture.xml:1910
2740 "What was required for this technology to flourish? Obviously, Eastman's "
2741 "genius was an important part. But also important was the legal environment "
2742 "within which Eastman's invention grew. For early in the history of "
2743 "photography, there was a series of judicial decisions that could well have "
2744 "changed the course of photography substantially. Courts were asked whether "
2745 "the photographer, amateur or professional, required permission before he "
2746 "could capture and print whatever image he wanted. Their answer was "
2747 "no.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2751 #: freeculture.xml:1928 freeculture.xml:9732
2752 msgid "images, ownership of"
2756 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2757 #: freeculture.xml:1930
2759 "The arguments in favor of requiring permission will sound surprisingly "
2760 "familiar. The photographer was <quote>taking</quote> something from the "
2761 "person or building whose photograph he shot—pirating something of "
2762 "value. Some even thought he was taking the target's soul. Just as Disney was "
2763 "not free to take the pencils that his animators used to draw Mickey, so, "
2764 "too, should these photographers not be free to take images that they thought "
2768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2769 #: freeculture.xml:1954
2770 msgid "Warren, Samuel D."
2773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2774 #: freeculture.xml:1951
2776 "Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> "
2777 "<citetitle>Harvard Law Review</citetitle> 4 (1890): 193. <placeholder "
2778 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
2781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2782 #: freeculture.xml:1944
2784 "On the other side was an argument that should be familiar, as well. Sure, "
2785 "there may be something of value being used. But citizens should have the "
2786 "right to capture at least those images that stand in public view. (Louis "
2787 "Brandeis, who would become a Supreme Court Justice, thought the rule should "
2788 "be different for images from private spaces.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2789 "id=\"0\"/>) It may be that this means that the photographer gets something "
2790 "for nothing. Just as Disney could take inspiration from <citetitle>Steamboat "
2791 "Bill, Jr</citetitle>. or the Brothers Grimm, the photographer should be free "
2792 "to capture an image without compensating the source."
2796 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2797 #: freeculture.xml:1972
2799 "See Melville B. Nimmer, <quote>The Right of Publicity,</quote> "
2800 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 19 (1954): 203; William "
2801 "L. Prosser, <quote>Privacy,</quote> <citetitle>California Law "
2802 "Review</citetitle> 48 (1960) 398–407; <citetitle>White</citetitle> "
2803 "v. <citetitle>Samsung Electronics America, Inc</citetitle>., 971 F. 2d 1395 "
2804 "(9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 951 (1993)."
2807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2808 #: freeculture.xml:1962
2810 "Fortunately for Mr. Eastman, and for photography in general, these early "
2811 "decisions went in favor of the pirates. In general, no permission would be "
2812 "required before an image could be captured and shared with others. Instead, "
2813 "permission was presumed. Freedom was the default. (The law would eventually "
2814 "craft an exception for famous people: commercial photographers who snap "
2815 "pictures of famous people for commercial purposes have more restrictions "
2816 "than the rest of us. But in the ordinary case, the image can be captured "
2817 "without clearing the rights to do the capturing.<placeholder "
2818 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>)"
2821 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2822 #: freeculture.xml:1980 freeculture.xml:3808 freeculture.xml:3830 freeculture.xml:3831 freeculture.xml:5780 freeculture.xml:9973
2826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2827 #: freeculture.xml:1982
2829 "We can only speculate about how photography would have developed had the law "
2830 "gone the other way. If the presumption had been against the photographer, "
2831 "then the photographer would have had to demonstrate permission. Perhaps "
2832 "Eastman Kodak would have had to demonstrate permission, too, before it "
2833 "developed the film upon which images were captured. After all, if permission "
2834 "were not granted, then Eastman Kodak would be benefiting from the "
2835 "<quote>theft</quote> committed by the photographer. Just as Napster "
2836 "benefited from the copyright infringements committed by Napster users, Kodak "
2837 "would be benefiting from the <quote>image-right</quote> infringement of its "
2838 "photographers. We could imagine the law then requiring that some form of "
2839 "permission be demonstrated before a company developed pictures. We could "
2840 "imagine a system developing to demonstrate that permission."
2844 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2845 #: freeculture.xml:2003
2847 "But though we could imagine this system of permission, it would be very hard "
2848 "to see how photography could have flourished as it did if the requirement "
2849 "for permission had been built into the rules that govern it. Photography "
2850 "would have existed. It would have grown in importance over "
2851 "time. Professionals would have continued to use the technology as they "
2852 "did—since professionals could have more easily borne the burdens of "
2853 "the permission system. But the spread of photography to ordinary people "
2854 "would not have occurred. Nothing like that growth would have been "
2855 "realized. And certainly, nothing like that growth in a democratic technology "
2856 "of expression would have been realized."
2859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2860 #: freeculture.xml:2019 freeculture.xml:6790
2861 msgid "digital cameras"
2864 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2865 #: freeculture.xml:2020
2869 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2870 #: freeculture.xml:2022
2872 "<emphasis role='strong'>If you drive</emphasis> through San Francisco's "
2873 "Presidio, you might see two gaudy yellow school buses painted over with "
2874 "colorful and striking images, and the logo <quote>Just Think!</quote> in "
2875 "place of the name of a school. But there's little that's <quote>just</quote> "
2876 "cerebral in the projects that these busses enable. These buses are filled "
2877 "with technologies that teach kids to tinker with film. Not the film of "
2878 "Eastman. Not even the film of your VCR. Rather the <quote>film</quote> of "
2879 "digital cameras. Just Think! is a project that enables kids to make films, "
2880 "as a way to understand and critique the filmed culture that they find all "
2881 "around them. Each year, these busses travel to more than thirty schools and "
2882 "enable three hundred to five hundred children to learn something about media "
2883 "by doing something with media. By doing, they think. By tinkering, they "
2887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2888 #: freeculture.xml:2037 freeculture.xml:2835
2892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2893 #: freeculture.xml:2037
2894 msgid "in media literacy"
2897 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2898 #: freeculture.xml:2038
2899 msgid "media literacy"
2902 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
2903 #: freeculture.xml:2039
2904 msgid "media literacy and"
2908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2909 #: freeculture.xml:2047
2911 "H. Edward Goldberg, <quote>Essential Presentation Tools: Hardware and "
2912 "Software You Need to Create Digital Multimedia Presentations,</quote> "
2913 "cadalyst, February 2002, available at <ulink "
2914 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #7</ulink>."
2917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2918 #: freeculture.xml:2041
2920 "These buses are not cheap, but the technology they carry is increasingly "
2921 "so. The cost of a high-quality digital video system has fallen "
2922 "dramatically. As one analyst puts it, <quote>Five years ago, a good "
2923 "real-time digital video editing system cost $25,000. Today you can get "
2924 "professional quality for $595.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2925 "id=\"0\"/> These buses are filled with technology that would have cost "
2926 "hundreds of thousands just ten years ago. And it is now feasible to imagine "
2927 "not just buses like this, but classrooms across the country where kids are "
2928 "learning more and more of something teachers call <quote>media "
2932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2933 #: freeculture.xml:2057
2934 msgid "Yanofsky, Dave"
2938 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2939 #: freeculture.xml:2060
2941 "<quote>Media literacy,</quote> as Dave Yanofsky, the executive director of "
2942 "Just Think!, puts it, <quote>is the ability … to understand, analyze, "
2943 "and deconstruct media images. Its aim is to make [kids] literate about the "
2944 "way media works, the way it's constructed, the way it's delivered, and the "
2945 "way people access it.</quote>"
2948 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2949 #: freeculture.xml:2068
2951 "This may seem like an odd way to think about <quote>literacy.</quote> For "
2952 "most people, literacy is about reading and writing. Faulkner and Hemingway "
2953 "and noticing split infinitives are the things that <quote>literate</quote> "
2954 "people know about."
2957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2958 #: freeculture.xml:2073 freeculture.xml:2625 freeculture.xml:6786 freeculture.xml:7758 freeculture.xml:8855 freeculture.xml:8909
2962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
2963 #: freeculture.xml:2074 freeculture.xml:6788 freeculture.xml:8856
2967 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
2968 #: freeculture.xml:2075 freeculture.xml:6787 freeculture.xml:8857 freeculture.xml:8891 freeculture.xml:15311
2972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
2973 #: freeculture.xml:2075 freeculture.xml:6787 freeculture.xml:8857
2974 msgid "advertising on"
2978 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2979 #: freeculture.xml:2081
2981 "Judith Van Evra, <citetitle>Television and Child Development</citetitle> "
2982 "(Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990); <quote>Findings on "
2983 "Family and TV Study,</quote> <citetitle>Denver Post</citetitle>, 25 May "
2987 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2988 #: freeculture.xml:2077
2990 "Maybe. But in a world where children see on average 390 hours of television "
2991 "commercials per year, or between 20,000 and 45,000 commercials "
2992 "generally,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it is increasingly "
2993 "important to understand the <quote>grammar</quote> of media. For just as "
2994 "there is a grammar for the written word, so, too, is there one for "
2995 "media. And just as kids learn how to write by writing lots of terrible "
2996 "prose, kids learn how to write media by constructing lots of (at least at "
2997 "first) terrible media."
3000 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3001 #: freeculture.xml:2092
3003 "A growing field of academics and activists sees this form of literacy as "
3004 "crucial to the next generation of culture. For though anyone who has written "
3005 "understands how difficult writing is—how difficult it is to sequence "
3006 "the story, to keep a reader's attention, to craft language to be "
3007 "understandable—few of us have any real sense of how difficult media "
3008 "is. Or more fundamentally, few of us have a sense of how media works, how it "
3009 "holds an audience or leads it through a story, how it triggers emotion or "
3013 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3014 #: freeculture.xml:2103
3016 "It took filmmaking a generation before it could do these things well. But "
3017 "even then, the knowledge was in the filming, not in writing about the "
3018 "film. The skill came from experiencing the making of a film, not from "
3019 "reading a book about it. One learns to write by writing and then reflecting "
3020 "upon what one has written. One learns to write with images by making them "
3021 "and then reflecting upon what one has created."
3024 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3025 #: freeculture.xml:2110 freeculture.xml:2126 freeculture.xml:2232
3026 msgid "Daley, Elizabeth"
3029 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3030 #: freeculture.xml:2111
3031 msgid "Crichton, Michael"
3034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3035 #: freeculture.xml:2125 freeculture.xml:2185 freeculture.xml:2192 freeculture.xml:2265 freeculture.xml:2688
3036 msgid "Barish, Stephanie"
3039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3040 #: freeculture.xml:2123
3042 "Interview with Elizabeth Daley and Stephanie Barish, 13 December 2002. "
3043 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3048 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3049 #: freeculture.xml:2137
3051 "See Scott Steinberg, <quote>Crichton Gets Medieval on PCs,</quote> E!online, "
3052 "4 November 2000, available at <ulink "
3053 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #8</ulink>; "
3054 "<quote>Timeline,</quote> 22 November 2000, available at <ulink "
3055 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #9</ulink>."
3058 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3059 #: freeculture.xml:2113
3061 "This grammar has changed as media has changed. When it was just film, as "
3062 "Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the University of Southern "
3063 "California's Annenberg Center for Communication and dean of the USC School "
3064 "of Cinema-Television, explained to me, the grammar was about <quote>the "
3065 "placement of objects, color, … rhythm, pacing, and "
3066 "texture.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But as computers "
3067 "open up an interactive space where a story is <quote>played</quote> as well "
3068 "as experienced, that grammar changes. The simple control of narrative is "
3069 "lost, and so other techniques are necessary. Author Michael Crichton had "
3070 "mastered the narrative of science fiction. But when he tried to design a "
3071 "computer game based on one of his works, it was a new craft he had to "
3072 "learn. How to lead people through a game without their feeling they have "
3073 "been led was not obvious, even to a wildly successful author.<placeholder "
3074 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3078 #: freeculture.xml:2144
3079 msgid "computer games"
3082 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3083 #: freeculture.xml:2146
3085 "This skill is precisely the craft a filmmaker learns. As Daley describes, "
3086 "<quote>people are very surprised about how they are led through a film. [I]t "
3087 "is perfectly constructed to keep you from seeing it, so you have no idea. If "
3088 "a filmmaker succeeds you do not know how you were led.</quote> If you know "
3089 "you were led through a film, the film has failed."
3092 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3093 #: freeculture.xml:2153
3095 "Yet the push for an expanded literacy—one that goes beyond text to "
3096 "include audio and visual elements—is not about making better film "
3097 "directors. The aim is not to improve the profession of filmmaking at all. "
3098 "Instead, as Daley explained,"
3101 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3102 #: freeculture.xml:2160
3104 "From my perspective, probably the most important digital divide is not "
3105 "access to a box. It's the ability to be empowered with the language that "
3106 "that box works in. Otherwise only a very few people can write with this "
3107 "language, and all the rest of us are reduced to being read-only."
3110 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3111 #: freeculture.xml:2168
3113 "<quote>Read-only.</quote> Passive recipients of culture produced elsewhere. "
3114 "Couch potatoes. Consumers. This is the world of media from the twentieth "
3118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3119 #: freeculture.xml:2184
3120 msgid "Interview with Daley and Barish. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3124 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3125 #: freeculture.xml:2189 freeculture.xml:4075 freeculture.xml:5248 freeculture.xml:8744
3129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3130 #: freeculture.xml:2173
3132 "The twenty-first century could be different. This is the crucial point: It "
3133 "could be both read and write. Or at least reading and better understanding "
3134 "the craft of writing. Or best, reading and understanding the tools that "
3135 "enable the writing to lead or mislead. The aim of any literacy, and this "
3136 "literacy in particular, is to <quote>empower people to choose the "
3137 "appropriate language for what they need to create or "
3138 "express.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It is to enable "
3139 "students <quote>to communicate in the language of the twenty-first "
3140 "century.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3143 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3144 #: freeculture.xml:2194
3146 "As with any language, this language comes more easily to some than to "
3147 "others. It doesn't necessarily come more easily to those who excel in "
3148 "written language. Daley and Stephanie Barish, director of the Institute for "
3149 "Multimedia Literacy at the Annenberg Center, describe one particularly "
3150 "poignant example of a project they ran in a high school. The high school "
3151 "was a very poor inner-city Los Angeles school. In all the traditional "
3152 "measures of success, this school was a failure. But Daley and Barish ran a "
3153 "program that gave kids an opportunity to use film to express meaning about "
3154 "something the students know something about—gun violence."
3157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3158 #: freeculture.xml:2207
3160 "The class was held on Friday afternoons, and it created a relatively new "
3161 "problem for the school. While the challenge in most classes was getting the "
3162 "kids to come, the challenge in this class was keeping them away. The "
3163 "<quote>kids were showing up at 6 A.M. and leaving at 5 at night,</quote> "
3164 "said Barish. They were working harder than in any other class to do what "
3165 "education should be about—learning how to express themselves."
3168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3169 #: freeculture.xml:2215
3171 "Using whatever <quote>free web stuff they could find,</quote> and relatively "
3172 "simple tools to enable the kids to mix <quote>image, sound, and "
3173 "text,</quote> Barish said this class produced a series of projects that "
3174 "showed something about gun violence that few would otherwise "
3175 "understand. This was an issue close to the lives of these students. The "
3176 "project <quote>gave them a tool and empowered them to be able to both "
3177 "understand it and talk about it,</quote> Barish explained. That tool "
3178 "succeeded in creating expression—far more successfully and powerfully "
3179 "than could have been created using only text. <quote>If you had said to "
3180 "these students, `you have to do it in text,' they would've just thrown their "
3181 "hands up and gone and done something else,</quote> Barish described, in "
3182 "part, no doubt, because expressing themselves in text is not something these "
3183 "students can do well. Yet neither is text a form in which "
3184 "<emphasis>these</emphasis> ideas can be expressed well. The power of this "
3185 "message depended upon its connection to this form of expression."
3189 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3190 #: freeculture.xml:2236
3192 "<quote>But isn't education about teaching kids to write?</quote> I asked. In "
3193 "part, of course, it is. But why are we teaching kids to write? Education, "
3194 "Daley explained, is about giving students a way of <quote>constructing "
3195 "meaning.</quote> To say that that means just writing is like saying teaching "
3196 "writing is only about teaching kids how to spell. Text is one part—and "
3197 "increasingly, not the most powerful part—of constructing meaning. As "
3198 "Daley explained in the most moving part of our interview,"
3201 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3202 #: freeculture.xml:2247
3204 "What you want is to give these students ways of constructing meaning. If all "
3205 "you give them is text, they're not going to do it. Because they can't. You "
3206 "know, you've got Johnny who can look at a video, he can play a video game, "
3207 "he can do graffiti all over your walls, he can take your car apart, and he "
3208 "can do all sorts of other things. He just can't read your text. So Johnny "
3209 "comes to school and you say, <quote>Johnny, you're illiterate. Nothing you "
3210 "can do matters.</quote> Well, Johnny then has two choices: He can dismiss "
3211 "you or he [can] dismiss himself. If his ego is healthy at all, he's going to "
3212 "dismiss you. [But i]nstead, if you say, <quote>Well, with all these things "
3213 "that you can do, let's talk about this issue. Play for me music that you "
3214 "think reflects that, or show me images that you think reflect that, or draw "
3215 "for me something that reflects that.</quote> Not by giving a kid a video "
3216 "camera and … saying, <quote>Let's go have fun with the video camera "
3217 "and make a little movie.</quote> But instead, really help you take these "
3218 "elements that you understand, that are your language, and construct meaning "
3219 "about the topic.…"
3222 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3223 #: freeculture.xml:2267
3225 "That empowers enormously. And then what happens, of course, is eventually, "
3226 "as it has happened in all these classes, they bump up against the fact, "
3227 "<quote>I need to explain this and I really need to write something.</quote> "
3228 "And as one of the teachers told Stephanie, they would rewrite a paragraph 5, "
3229 "6, 7, 8 times, till they got it right."
3233 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3234 #: freeculture.xml:2274
3236 "Because they needed to. There was a reason for doing it. They needed to say "
3237 "something, as opposed to just jumping through your hoops. They actually "
3238 "needed to use a language that they didn't speak very well. But they had come "
3239 "to understand that they had a lot of power with this language."
3242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3243 #: freeculture.xml:2288 freeculture.xml:2347 freeculture.xml:6079
3244 msgid "September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks of"
3247 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3248 #: freeculture.xml:2289
3249 msgid "World Trade Center"
3252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3253 #: freeculture.xml:2290 freeculture.xml:5999
3254 msgid "news coverage"
3257 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3258 #: freeculture.xml:2292
3260 "<emphasis role='strong'>When two planes</emphasis> crashed into the World "
3261 "Trade Center, another into the Pentagon, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania "
3262 "field, all media around the world shifted to this news. Every moment of just "
3263 "about every day for that week, and for weeks after, television in "
3264 "particular, and media generally, retold the story of the events we had just "
3265 "witnessed. The telling was a retelling, because we had seen the events that "
3266 "were described. The genius of this awful act of terrorism was that the "
3267 "delayed second attack was perfectly timed to assure that the whole world "
3268 "would be watching."
3271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3272 #: freeculture.xml:2304
3274 "These retellings had an increasingly familiar feel. There was music scored "
3275 "for the intermissions, and fancy graphics that flashed across the "
3276 "screen. There was a formula to interviews. There was <quote>balance,</quote> "
3277 "and seriousness. This was news choreographed in the way we have increasingly "
3278 "come to expect it, <quote>news as entertainment,</quote> even if the "
3279 "entertainment is tragedy."
3282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3283 #: freeculture.xml:2311 freeculture.xml:8683 freeculture.xml:8903
3287 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3288 #: freeculture.xml:2312
3292 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3293 #: freeculture.xml:2314
3295 "But in addition to this produced news about the <quote>tragedy of September "
3296 "11,</quote> those of us tied to the Internet came to see a very different "
3297 "production as well. The Internet was filled with accounts of the same "
3298 "events. Yet these Internet accounts had a very different flavor. Some people "
3299 "constructed photo pages that captured images from around the world and "
3300 "presented them as slide shows with text. Some offered open letters. There "
3301 "were sound recordings. There was anger and frustration. There were attempts "
3302 "to provide context. There was, in short, an extraordinary worldwide barn "
3303 "raising, in the sense Mike Godwin uses the term in his book <citetitle>Cyber "
3304 "Rights</citetitle>, around a news event that had captured the attention of "
3305 "the world. There was ABC and CBS, but there was also the Internet."
3309 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3310 #: freeculture.xml:2329
3312 "I don't mean simply to praise the Internet—though I do think the "
3313 "people who supported this form of speech should be praised. I mean instead "
3314 "to point to a significance in this form of speech. For like a Kodak, the "
3315 "Internet enables people to capture images. And like in a movie by a student "
3316 "on the <quote>Just Think!</quote> bus, the visual images could be mixed with "
3320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3321 #: freeculture.xml:2339
3323 "But unlike any technology for simply capturing images, the Internet allows "
3324 "these creations to be shared with an extraordinary number of people, "
3325 "practically instantaneously. This is something new in our "
3326 "tradition—not just that culture can be captured mechanically, and "
3327 "obviously not just that events are commented upon critically, but that this "
3328 "mix of captured images, sound, and commentary can be widely spread "
3329 "practically instantaneously."
3332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3333 #: freeculture.xml:2348 freeculture.xml:2443 freeculture.xml:2582
3334 msgid "blogs (Web-logs)"
3337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3338 #: freeculture.xml:2349 freeculture.xml:2445
3342 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3343 #: freeculture.xml:2350 freeculture.xml:2446
3344 msgid "Web-logs (blogs)"
3347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3348 #: freeculture.xml:2352
3350 "September 11 was not an aberration. It was a beginning. Around the same "
3351 "time, a form of communication that has grown dramatically was just beginning "
3352 "to come into public consciousness: the Web-log, or blog. The blog is a kind "
3353 "of public diary, and within some cultures, such as in Japan, it functions "
3354 "very much like a diary. In those cultures, it records private facts in a "
3355 "public way—it's a kind of electronic <citetitle>Jerry "
3356 "Springer</citetitle>, available anywhere in the world."
3359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3360 #: freeculture.xml:2360 freeculture.xml:2429
3361 msgid "political discourse"
3364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3365 #: freeculture.xml:2361
3366 msgid "public discourse conducted on"
3369 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3370 #: freeculture.xml:2363
3372 "But in the United States, blogs have taken on a very different character. "
3373 "There are some who use the space simply to talk about their private "
3374 "life. But there are many who use the space to engage in public "
3375 "discourse. Discussing matters of public import, criticizing others who are "
3376 "mistaken in their views, criticizing politicians about the decisions they "
3377 "make, offering solutions to problems we all see: blogs create the sense of a "
3378 "virtual public meeting, but one in which we don't all hope to be there at "
3379 "the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked. The "
3380 "best of the blog entries are relatively short; they point directly to words "
3381 "used by others, criticizing with or adding to them. They are arguably the "
3382 "most important form of unchoreographed public discourse that we have."
3385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3386 #: freeculture.xml:2377
3391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3392 #: freeculture.xml:2380
3394 "That's a strong statement. Yet it says as much about our democracy as it "
3395 "does about blogs. This is the part of America that is most difficult for "
3396 "those of us who love America to accept: Our democracy has atrophied. Of "
3397 "course we have elections, and most of the time the courts allow those "
3398 "elections to count. A relatively small number of people vote in those "
3399 "elections. The cycle of these elections has become totally professionalized "
3400 "and routinized. Most of us think this is democracy."
3403 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3404 #: freeculture.xml:2393
3405 msgid "Tocqueville, Alexis de"
3408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3409 #: freeculture.xml:2394
3410 msgid "public discourse in"
3413 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3414 #: freeculture.xml:2395
3419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3420 #: freeculture.xml:2412
3422 "See, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville, <citetitle>Democracy in "
3423 "America</citetitle>, bk. 1, trans. Henry Reeve (New York: Bantam Books, "
3427 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3428 #: freeculture.xml:2397
3430 "But democracy has never just been about elections. Democracy means rule by "
3431 "the people, but rule means something more than mere elections. In our "
3432 "tradition, it also means control through reasoned discourse. This was the "
3433 "idea that captured the imagination of Alexis de Tocqueville, the "
3434 "nineteenth-century French lawyer who wrote the most important account of "
3435 "early <quote>Democracy in America.</quote> It wasn't popular elections that "
3436 "fascinated him—it was the jury, an institution that gave ordinary "
3437 "people the right to choose life or death for other citizens. And most "
3438 "fascinating for him was that the jury didn't just vote about the outcome "
3439 "they would impose. They deliberated. Members argued about the "
3440 "<quote>right</quote> result; they tried to persuade each other of the "
3441 "<quote>right</quote> result, and in criminal cases at least, they had to "
3442 "agree upon a unanimous result for the process to come to an end.<placeholder "
3443 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
3447 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3448 #: freeculture.xml:2422
3450 "Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, <quote>Deliberation Day,</quote> "
3451 "<citetitle>Journal of Political Philosophy</citetitle> 10 (2) (2002): 129."
3454 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3455 #: freeculture.xml:2418
3457 "Yet even this institution flags in American life today. And in its place, "
3458 "there is no systematic effort to enable citizen deliberation. Some are "
3459 "pushing to create just such an institution.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3460 "id=\"0\"/> And in some towns in New England, something close to deliberation "
3461 "remains. But for most of us for most of the time, there is no time or place "
3462 "for <quote>democratic deliberation</quote> to occur."
3466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3467 #: freeculture.xml:2438
3469 "Cass Sunstein, <citetitle>Republic.com</citetitle> (Princeton: Princeton "
3470 "University Press, 2001), 65–80, 175, 182, 183, 192."
3473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3474 #: freeculture.xml:2431
3476 "More bizarrely, there is generally not even permission for it to occur. We, "
3477 "the most powerful democracy in the world, have developed a strong norm "
3478 "against talking about politics. It's fine to talk about politics with people "
3479 "you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you "
3480 "disagree with. Political discourse becomes isolated, and isolated discourse "
3481 "becomes more extreme.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We say what "
3482 "our friends want to hear, and hear very little beyond what our friends say."
3485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3486 #: freeculture.xml:2444
3491 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3492 #: freeculture.xml:2451
3494 "Enter the blog. The blog's very architecture solves one part of this "
3495 "problem. People post when they want to post, and people read when they want "
3496 "to read. The most difficult time is synchronous time. Technologies that "
3497 "enable asynchronous communication, such as e-mail, increase the opportunity "
3498 "for communication. Blogs allow for public discourse without the public ever "
3499 "needing to gather in a single public place."
3502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3503 #: freeculture.xml:2462
3505 "But beyond architecture, blogs also have solved the problem of "
3506 "norms. There's no norm (yet) in blog space not to talk about politics. "
3507 "Indeed, the space is filled with political speech, on both the right and the "
3508 "left. Some of the most popular sites are conservative or libertarian, but "
3509 "there are many of all political stripes. And even blogs that are not "
3510 "political cover political issues when the occasion merits."
3513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3514 #: freeculture.xml:2469
3515 msgid "Dean, Howard"
3518 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3519 #: freeculture.xml:2471
3521 "The significance of these blogs is tiny now, though not so tiny. The name "
3522 "Howard Dean may well have faded from the 2004 presidential race but for "
3523 "blogs. Yet even if the number of readers is small, the reading is having an "
3527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3528 #: freeculture.xml:2476
3532 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3533 #: freeculture.xml:2477
3534 msgid "Thurmond, Strom"
3537 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3538 #: freeculture.xml:2478
3539 msgid "blog pressure on"
3542 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3543 #: freeculture.xml:2479
3544 msgid "news events on"
3548 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3549 #: freeculture.xml:2492
3551 "Noah Shachtman, <quote>With Incessant Postings, a Pundit Stirs the "
3552 "Pot,</quote> New York Times, 16 January 2003, G5."
3555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3556 #: freeculture.xml:2481
3558 "One direct effect is on stories that had a different life cycle in the "
3559 "mainstream media. The Trent Lott affair is an example. When Lott "
3560 "<quote>misspoke</quote> at a party for Senator Strom Thurmond, essentially "
3561 "praising Thurmond's segregationist policies, he calculated correctly that "
3562 "this story would disappear from the mainstream press within forty-eight "
3563 "hours. It did. But he didn't calculate its life cycle in blog space. The "
3564 "bloggers kept researching the story. Over time, more and more instances of "
3565 "the same <quote>misspeaking</quote> emerged. Finally, the story broke back "
3566 "into the mainstream press. In the end, Lott was forced to resign as senate "
3567 "majority leader.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
3570 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3571 #: freeculture.xml:2496 freeculture.xml:2530
3572 msgid "commercial imperatives of"
3575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3576 #: freeculture.xml:2498
3578 "This different cycle is possible because the same commercial pressures don't "
3579 "exist with blogs as with other ventures. Television and newspapers are "
3580 "commercial entities. They must work to keep attention. If they lose "
3581 "readers, they lose revenue. Like sharks, they must move on."
3584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3585 #: freeculture.xml:2505
3586 msgid "peer-generated rankings on"
3589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3590 #: freeculture.xml:2507
3592 "But bloggers don't have a similar constraint. They can obsess, they can "
3593 "focus, they can get serious. If a particular blogger writes a particularly "
3594 "interesting story, more and more people link to that story. And as the "
3595 "number of links to a particular story increases, it rises in the ranks of "
3596 "stories. People read what is popular; what is popular has been selected by a "
3597 "very democratic process of peer-generated rankings."
3600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3601 #: freeculture.xml:2516
3605 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3606 #: freeculture.xml:2517
3611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3612 #: freeculture.xml:2519
3614 "There's a second way, as well, in which blogs have a different cycle from "
3615 "the mainstream press. As Dave Winer, one of the fathers of this movement and "
3616 "a software author for many decades, told me, another difference is the "
3617 "absence of a financial <quote>conflict of interest.</quote> <quote>I think "
3618 "you have to take the conflict of interest</quote> out of journalism, Winer "
3619 "told me. <quote>An amateur journalist simply doesn't have a conflict of "
3620 "interest, or the conflict of interest is so easily disclosed that you know "
3621 "you can sort of get it out of the way.</quote>"
3624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3625 #: freeculture.xml:2529 freeculture.xml:2579
3629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3630 #: freeculture.xml:2531 freeculture.xml:2580 freeculture.xml:5943
3635 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3636 #: freeculture.xml:2540
3637 msgid "Telephone interview with David Winer, 16 April 2003."
3640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3641 #: freeculture.xml:2534
3643 "These conflicts become more important as media becomes more concentrated "
3644 "(more on this below). A concentrated media can hide more from the public "
3645 "than an unconcentrated media can—as CNN admitted it did after the Iraq "
3646 "war because it was afraid of the consequences to its own "
3647 "employees.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It also needs to sustain "
3648 "a more coherent account. (In the middle of the Iraq war, I read a post on "
3649 "the Internet from someone who was at that time listening to a satellite "
3650 "uplink with a reporter in Iraq. The New York headquarters was telling the "
3651 "reporter over and over that her account of the war was too bleak: She needed "
3652 "to offer a more optimistic story. When she told New York that wasn't "
3653 "warranted, they told her that <emphasis>they</emphasis> were writing "
3654 "<quote>the story.</quote>)"
3658 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3659 #: freeculture.xml:2560
3661 "John Schwartz, <quote>Loss of the Shuttle: The Internet; A Wealth of "
3662 "Information Online,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 2 "
3663 "February 2003, A28; Staci D. Kramer, <quote>Shuttle Disaster Coverage Mixed, "
3664 "but Strong Overall,</quote> Online Journalism Review, 2 February 2003, "
3665 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #10</ulink>."
3668 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3669 #: freeculture.xml:2552
3671 "Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the "
3672 "debate—<quote>amateur</quote> not in the sense of inexperienced, but "
3673 "in the sense of an Olympic athlete, meaning not paid by anyone to give their "
3674 "reports. It allows for a much broader range of input into a story, as "
3675 "reporting on the Columbia disaster revealed, when hundreds from across the "
3676 "southwest United States turned to the Internet to retell what they had "
3677 "seen.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And it drives readers to read "
3678 "across the range of accounts and <quote>triangulate,</quote> as Winer puts "
3679 "it, the truth. Blogs, Winer says, are <quote>communicating directly with our "
3680 "constituency, and the middle man is out of it</quote>—with all the "
3681 "benefits, and costs, that might entail."
3684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3685 #: freeculture.xml:2581
3686 msgid "Olafson, Steve"
3689 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3690 #: freeculture.xml:2579
3692 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3693 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
3694 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> See Michael Falcone, <quote>Does an Editor's "
3695 "Pencil Ruin a Web Log?</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 29 "
3696 "September 2003, C4. (<quote>Not all news organizations have been as "
3697 "accepting of employees who blog. Kevin Sites, a CNN correspondent in Iraq "
3698 "who started a blog about his reporting of the war on March 9, stopped "
3699 "posting 12 days later at his bosses' request. Last year Steve Olafson, a "
3700 "<citetitle>Houston Chronicle</citetitle> reporter, was fired for keeping a "
3701 "personal Web log, published under a pseudonym, that dealt with some of the "
3702 "issues and people he was covering.</quote>)"
3706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3707 #: freeculture.xml:2572
3709 "Winer is optimistic about the future of journalism infected with "
3710 "blogs. <quote>It's going to become an essential skill,</quote> Winer "
3711 "predicts, for public figures and increasingly for private figures as "
3712 "well. It's not clear that <quote>journalism</quote> is happy about "
3713 "this—some journalists have been told to curtail their "
3714 "blogging.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is clear that we "
3715 "are still in transition. <quote>A lot of what we are doing now is warm-up "
3716 "exercises,</quote> Winer told me. There is a lot that must mature before "
3717 "this space has its mature effect. And as the inclusion of content in this "
3718 "space is the least infringing use of the Internet (meaning infringing on "
3719 "copyright), Winer said, <quote>we will be the last thing that gets shut "
3723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3724 #: freeculture.xml:2603
3726 "This speech affects democracy. Winer thinks that happens because <quote>you "
3727 "don't have to work for somebody who controls, [for] a gatekeeper.</quote> "
3728 "That is true. But it affects democracy in another way as well. As more and "
3729 "more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will "
3730 "change the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and "
3731 "misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be "
3732 "criticized by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has "
3733 "been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore "
3734 "when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and "
3735 "criticism improves democracy. Today there are probably a couple of million "
3736 "blogs where such writing happens. When there are ten million, there will be "
3737 "something extraordinary to report."
3740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3741 #: freeculture.xml:2624 freeculture.xml:6777
3742 msgid "Brown, John Seely"
3745 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3746 #: freeculture.xml:2627
3748 "<emphasis role='strong'>John Seely Brown</emphasis> is the chief scientist "
3749 "of the Xerox Corporation. His work, as his Web site describes it, is "
3750 "<quote>human learning and … the creation of knowledge ecologies for "
3751 "creating … innovation.</quote>"
3754 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3755 #: freeculture.xml:2633
3757 "Brown thus looks at these technologies of digital creativity a bit "
3758 "differently from the perspectives I've sketched so far. I'm sure he would be "
3759 "excited about any technology that might improve democracy. But his real "
3760 "excitement comes from how these technologies affect learning."
3764 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3765 #: freeculture.xml:2640
3767 "As Brown believes, we learn by tinkering. When <quote>a lot of us grew "
3768 "up,</quote> he explains, that tinkering was done <quote>on motorcycle "
3769 "engines, lawnmower engines, automobiles, radios, and so on.</quote> But "
3770 "digital technologies enable a different kind of tinkering—with "
3771 "abstract ideas though in concrete form. The kids at Just Think! not only "
3772 "think about how a commercial portrays a politician; using digital "
3773 "technology, they can take the commercial apart and manipulate it, tinker "
3774 "with it to see how it does what it does. Digital technologies launch a kind "
3775 "of bricolage, or <quote>free collage,</quote> as Brown calls it. Many get to "
3776 "add to or transform the tinkering of many others."
3779 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3780 #: freeculture.xml:2653
3782 "The best large-scale example of this kind of tinkering so far is free "
3783 "software or open-source software (FS/OSS). FS/OSS is software whose source "
3784 "code is shared. Anyone can download the technology that makes a FS/OSS "
3785 "program run. And anyone eager to learn how a particular bit of FS/OSS "
3786 "technology works can tinker with the code."
3789 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3790 #: freeculture.xml:2660
3792 "This opportunity creates a <quote>completely new kind of learning "
3793 "platform,</quote> as Brown describes. <quote>As soon as you start doing "
3794 "that, you … unleash a free collage on the community, so that other "
3795 "people can start looking at your code, tinkering with it, trying it out, "
3796 "seeing if they can improve it.</quote> Each effort is a kind of "
3797 "apprenticeship. <quote>Open source becomes a major apprenticeship "
3801 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3802 #: freeculture.xml:2668
3804 "In this process, <quote>the concrete things you tinker with are abstract. "
3805 "They are code.</quote> Kids are <quote>shifting to the ability to tinker in "
3806 "the abstract, and this tinkering is no longer an isolated activity that "
3807 "you're doing in your garage. You are tinkering with a community "
3808 "platform. … You are tinkering with other people's stuff. The more you "
3809 "tinker the more you improve.</quote> The more you improve, the more you "
3813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3814 #: freeculture.xml:2677
3816 "This same thing happens with content, too. And it happens in the same "
3817 "collaborative way when that content is part of the Web. As Brown puts it, "
3818 "<quote>the Web [is] the first medium that truly honors multiple forms of "
3819 "intelligence.</quote> Earlier technologies, such as the typewriter or word "
3820 "processors, helped amplify text. But the Web amplifies much more than "
3821 "text. <quote>The Web … says if you are musical, if you are artistic, "
3822 "if you are visual, if you are interested in film … [then] there is a "
3823 "lot you can start to do on this medium. [It] can now amplify and honor these "
3824 "multiple forms of intelligence.</quote>"
3828 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3829 #: freeculture.xml:2690
3831 "Brown is talking about what Elizabeth Daley, Stephanie Barish, and Just "
3832 "Think! teach: that this tinkering with culture teaches as well as "
3833 "creates. It develops talents differently, and it builds a different kind of "
3837 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3838 #: freeculture.xml:2698
3840 "Yet the freedom to tinker with these objects is not guaranteed. Indeed, as "
3841 "we'll see through the course of this book, that freedom is increasingly "
3842 "highly contested. While there's no doubt that your father had the right to "
3843 "tinker with the car engine, there's great doubt that your child will have "
3844 "the right to tinker with the images she finds all around. The law and, "
3845 "increasingly, technology interfere with a freedom that technology, and "
3846 "curiosity, would otherwise ensure."
3850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3851 #: freeculture.xml:2714
3853 "See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, <quote>Technological "
3854 "Access Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship,</quote> "
3855 "<citetitle>Communications of the Association for Computer "
3856 "Machinery</citetitle> 43 (2000): 9."
3859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3860 #: freeculture.xml:2707
3862 "These restrictions have become the focus of researchers and scholars. "
3863 "Professor Ed Felten of Princeton (whom we'll see more of in chapter <xref "
3864 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>) has developed a "
3865 "powerful argument in favor of the <quote>right to tinker</quote> as it "
3866 "applies to computer science and to knowledge in general.<placeholder "
3867 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But Brown's concern is earlier, or younger, or "
3868 "more fundamental. It is about the learning that kids can do, or can't do, "
3869 "because of the law."
3872 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3873 #: freeculture.xml:2722
3875 "<quote>This is where education in the twenty-first century is going,</quote> "
3876 "Brown explains. We need to <quote>understand how kids who grow up digital "
3877 "think and want to learn.</quote>"
3880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3881 #: freeculture.xml:2727
3883 "<quote>Yet,</quote> as Brown continued, and as the balance of this book will "
3884 "evince, <quote>we are building a legal system that completely suppresses the "
3885 "natural tendencies of today's digital kids. … We're building an "
3886 "architecture that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal system "
3887 "that closes down that part of the brain.</quote>"
3890 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3891 #: freeculture.xml:2735
3893 "We're building a technology that takes the magic of Kodak, mixes moving "
3894 "images and sound, and adds a space for commentary and an opportunity to "
3895 "spread that creativity everywhere. But we're building the law to close down "
3899 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3900 #: freeculture.xml:2741
3902 "<quote>No way to run a culture,</quote> as Brewster Kahle, whom we'll meet "
3903 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"collectors\"/>, "
3904 "quipped to me in a rare moment of despondence."
3907 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
3908 #: freeculture.xml:2748
3912 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3913 #: freeculture.xml:2749 freeculture.xml:2792 freeculture.xml:9647
3914 msgid "Jordan, Jesse"
3917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3918 #: freeculture.xml:2750
3922 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3923 #: freeculture.xml:2750 freeculture.xml:2751 freeculture.xml:2752
3924 msgid "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)"
3927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3928 #: freeculture.xml:2752
3929 msgid "computer network search engine of"
3932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3933 #: freeculture.xml:2753
3934 msgid "search engines"
3937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3938 #: freeculture.xml:2754
3939 msgid "university computer networks, p2p sharing on"
3942 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
3943 #: freeculture.xml:2755
3944 msgid "search engines used on"
3947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3948 #: freeculture.xml:2757
3950 "<emphasis role='strong'>In the fall</emphasis> of 2002, Jesse Jordan of "
3951 "Oceanside, New York, enrolled as a freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic "
3952 "Institute, in Troy, New York. His major at RPI was information "
3953 "technology. Though he is not a programmer, in October Jesse decided to begin "
3954 "to tinker with search engine technology that was available on the RPI "
3958 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3959 #: freeculture.xml:2765
3961 "RPI is one of America's foremost technological research institutions. It "
3962 "offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and engineering to "
3963 "information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five thousand "
3964 "undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high school "
3965 "class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience to imagine "
3966 "and then build, a generation for the network age."
3969 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3970 #: freeculture.xml:2773
3972 "RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration to one "
3973 "another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything available on the "
3974 "RPI network is available on the Internet. But the network is designed to "
3975 "enable students to get access to the Internet, as well as more intimate "
3976 "access to other members of the RPI community."
3979 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3980 #: freeculture.xml:2779 freeculture.xml:2834
3985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3986 #: freeculture.xml:2781
3988 "Search engines are a measure of a network's intimacy. Google brought the "
3989 "Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically improving the quality of "
3990 "search on the network. Specialty search engines can do this even better. The "
3991 "idea of <quote>intranet</quote> search engines, search engines that search "
3992 "within the network of a particular institution, is to provide users of that "
3993 "institution with better access to material from that institution. "
3994 "Businesses do this all the time, enabling employees to have access to "
3995 "material that people outside the business can't get. Universities do it as "
3999 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4000 #: freeculture.xml:2793 freeculture.xml:3710 freeculture.xml:3712 freeculture.xml:3713 freeculture.xml:5532 freeculture.xml:8219 freeculture.xml:13562 freeculture.xml:13631
4004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4005 #: freeculture.xml:2793
4006 msgid "network file system of"
4009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4010 #: freeculture.xml:2795
4012 "These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. Microsoft, for "
4013 "example, has a network file system that makes it very easy for search "
4014 "engines tuned to that network to query the system for information about the "
4015 "publicly (within that network) available content. Jesse's search engine was "
4016 "built to take advantage of this technology. It used Microsoft's network file "
4017 "system to build an index of all the files available within the RPI network."
4020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4021 #: freeculture.xml:2805
4023 "Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. Indeed, "
4024 "his engine was a simple modification of engines that others had built. His "
4025 "single most important improvement over those engines was to fix a bug within "
4026 "the Microsoft file-sharing system that could cause a user's computer to "
4027 "crash. With the engines that existed before, if you tried to access a file "
4028 "through a Windows browser that was on a computer that was off-line, your "
4029 "computer could crash. Jesse modified the system a bit to fix that problem, "
4030 "by adding a button that a user could click to see if the machine holding the "
4031 "file was still on-line."
4034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4035 #: freeculture.xml:2818
4037 "Jesse's engine went on-line in late October. Over the following six months, "
4038 "he continued to tweak it to improve its functionality. By March, the system "
4039 "was functioning quite well. Jesse had more than one million files in his "
4040 "directory, including every type of content that might be on users' "
4045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4046 #: freeculture.xml:2826
4048 "Thus the index his search engine produced included pictures, which students "
4049 "could use to put on their own Web sites; copies of notes or research; copies "
4050 "of information pamphlets; movie clips that students might have created; "
4051 "university brochures—basically anything that users of the RPI network "
4052 "made available in a public folder of their computer."
4055 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4056 #: freeculture.xml:2835
4057 msgid "tinkering as means of"
4060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4061 #: freeculture.xml:2837
4063 "But the index also included music files. In fact, one quarter of the files "
4064 "that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that means, of "
4065 "course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this point is "
4066 "absolutely clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to put music files "
4067 "in their public folders. He did nothing to target the search engine to these "
4068 "files. He was a kid tinkering with a Google-like technology at a university "
4069 "where he was studying information science, and hence, tinkering was the "
4070 "aim. Unlike Google, or Microsoft, for that matter, he made no money from "
4071 "this tinkering; he was not connected to any business that would make any "
4072 "money from this experiment. He was a kid tinkering with technology in an "
4073 "environment where tinkering with technology was precisely what he was "
4077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4078 #: freeculture.xml:2851 freeculture.xml:9645 freeculture.xml:9922
4079 msgid "in recording industry"
4082 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4083 #: freeculture.xml:2852
4084 msgid "against student file sharing"
4087 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4088 #: freeculture.xml:2853 freeculture.xml:2951 freeculture.xml:3204 freeculture.xml:3333 freeculture.xml:4286 freeculture.xml:4287 freeculture.xml:4288 freeculture.xml:9923 freeculture.xml:10334 freeculture.xml:10335 freeculture.xml:10336 freeculture.xml:10492
4089 msgid "recording industry"
4092 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4093 #: freeculture.xml:2853 freeculture.xml:9923
4094 msgid "copyright infringement lawsuits of"
4097 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4098 #: freeculture.xml:2854 freeculture.xml:2883 freeculture.xml:2952 freeculture.xml:9924 freeculture.xml:10337 freeculture.xml:10338 freeculture.xml:10490
4099 msgid "Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)"
4102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4103 #: freeculture.xml:2854 freeculture.xml:9924
4104 msgid "copyright infringement lawsuits filed by"
4107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4108 #: freeculture.xml:2857
4110 "On April 3, 2003, Jesse was contacted by the dean of students at RPI. The "
4111 "dean informed Jesse that the Recording Industry Association of America, the "
4112 "RIAA, would be filing a lawsuit against him and three other students whom he "
4113 "didn't even know, two of them at other universities. A few hours later, "
4114 "Jesse was served with papers from the suit. As he read these papers and "
4115 "watched the news reports about them, he was increasingly astonished."
4118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4119 #: freeculture.xml:2866
4121 "<quote>It was absurd,</quote> he told me. <quote>I don't think I did "
4122 "anything wrong. … I don't think there's anything wrong with the "
4123 "search engine that I ran or … what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't "
4124 "modified it in any way that promoted or enhanced the work of pirates. I just "
4125 "modified the search engine in a way that would make it easier to "
4126 "use</quote>—again, a <emphasis>search engine</emphasis>, which Jesse "
4127 "had not himself built, using the Windows filesharing system, which Jesse had "
4128 "not himself built, to enable members of the RPI community to get access to "
4129 "content, which Jesse had not himself created or posted, and the vast "
4130 "majority of which had nothing to do with music."
4133 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4134 #: freeculture.xml:2879 freeculture.xml:9644 freeculture.xml:9921
4135 msgid "exaggerated claims of"
4138 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4139 #: freeculture.xml:2880
4140 msgid "statutory damages of"
4143 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4144 #: freeculture.xml:2881
4145 msgid "individual defendants intimidated by"
4148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4149 #: freeculture.xml:2882
4150 msgid "statutory damages"
4153 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4154 #: freeculture.xml:2883
4155 msgid "intimidation tactics of"
4159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4160 #: freeculture.xml:2885
4162 "But the RIAA branded Jesse a pirate. They claimed he operated a network and "
4163 "had therefore <quote>willfully</quote> violated copyright laws. They "
4164 "demanded that he pay them the damages for his wrong. For cases of "
4165 "<quote>willful infringement,</quote> the Copyright Act specifies something "
4166 "lawyers call <quote>statutory damages.</quote> These damages permit a "
4167 "copyright owner to claim $150,000 per infringement. As the RIAA alleged more "
4168 "than one hundred specific copyright infringements, they therefore demanded "
4169 "that Jesse pay them at least $15,000,000."
4172 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4173 #: freeculture.xml:2895
4174 msgid "Michigan Technical University"
4177 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4178 #: freeculture.xml:2896
4179 msgid "Princeton University"
4183 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
4184 #: freeculture.xml:2910
4186 "Tim Goral, <quote>Recording Industry Goes After Campus P-2-P Networks: Suit "
4187 "Alleges $97.8 Billion in Damages,</quote> <citetitle>Professional Media "
4188 "Group LCC</citetitle> 6 (2003): 5, available at 2003 WL 55179443."
4191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4192 #: freeculture.xml:2898
4194 "Similar lawsuits were brought against three other students: one other "
4195 "student at RPI, one at Michigan Technical University, and one at "
4196 "Princeton. Their situations were similar to Jesse's. Though each case was "
4197 "different in detail, the bottom line in each was exactly the same: huge "
4198 "demands for <quote>damages</quote> that the RIAA claimed it was entitled "
4199 "to. If you added up the claims, these four lawsuits were asking courts in "
4200 "the United States to award the plaintiffs close to $100 "
4201 "<emphasis>billion</emphasis>—six times the <emphasis>total</emphasis> "
4202 "profit of the film industry in 2001.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4207 #: freeculture.xml:2917
4209 "Jesse called his parents. They were supportive but a bit frightened. An "
4210 "uncle was a lawyer. He began negotiations with the RIAA. They demanded to "
4211 "know how much money Jesse had. Jesse had saved $12,000 from summer jobs and "
4212 "other employment. They demanded $12,000 to dismiss the case."
4215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4216 #: freeculture.xml:2923
4217 msgid "Oppenheimer, Matt"
4220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4221 #: freeculture.xml:2925
4223 "The RIAA wanted Jesse to admit to doing something wrong. He refused. They "
4224 "wanted him to agree to an injunction that would essentially make it "
4225 "impossible for him to work in many fields of technology for the rest of his "
4226 "life. He refused. They made him understand that this process of being sued "
4227 "was not going to be pleasant. (As Jesse's father recounted to me, the chief "
4228 "lawyer on the case, Matt Oppenheimer, told Jesse, <quote>You don't want to "
4229 "pay another visit to a dentist like me.</quote>) And throughout, the RIAA "
4230 "insisted it would not settle the case until it took every penny Jesse had "
4234 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4235 #: freeculture.xml:2935
4236 msgid "legal system, attorney costs in"
4240 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4241 #: freeculture.xml:2937
4243 "Jesse's family was outraged at these claims. They wanted to fight. But "
4244 "Jesse's uncle worked to educate the family about the nature of the American "
4245 "legal system. Jesse could fight the RIAA. He might even win. But the cost of "
4246 "fighting a lawsuit like this, Jesse was told, would be at least $250,000. If "
4247 "he won, he would not recover that money. If he won, he would have a piece of "
4248 "paper saying he had won, and a piece of paper saying he and his family were "
4252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4253 #: freeculture.xml:2947
4255 "So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at winning, or "
4256 "$12,000 and a settlement."
4259 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
4260 #: freeculture.xml:2950 freeculture.xml:3334 freeculture.xml:4279 freeculture.xml:5541 freeculture.xml:5590 freeculture.xml:10232 freeculture.xml:10330 freeculture.xml:10491 freeculture.xml:10514 freeculture.xml:15212 freeculture.xml:15277
4264 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
4265 #: freeculture.xml:2950 freeculture.xml:3334 freeculture.xml:4279 freeculture.xml:10232 freeculture.xml:10330 freeculture.xml:10491 freeculture.xml:10514 freeculture.xml:15212 freeculture.xml:15277
4266 msgid "recording industry payments to"
4269 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4270 #: freeculture.xml:2951 freeculture.xml:4286 freeculture.xml:10334 freeculture.xml:10492
4271 msgid "artist remuneration in"
4274 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4275 #: freeculture.xml:2952 freeculture.xml:10338
4276 msgid "lobbying power of"
4280 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
4281 #: freeculture.xml:2962
4283 "Occupational Employment Survey, U.S. Dept. of Labor (2001) "
4284 "(27–2042—Musicians and Singers). See also National Endowment for "
4285 "the Arts, <citetitle>More Than One in a Blue Moon</citetitle> (2000)."
4289 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
4290 #: freeculture.xml:2970
4292 "Douglas Lichtman makes a related point in <quote>KaZaA and "
4293 "Punishment,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 10 September "
4297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4298 #: freeculture.xml:2954
4300 "The recording industry insists this is a matter of law and morality. Let's "
4301 "put the law aside for a moment and think about the morality. Where is the "
4302 "morality in a lawsuit like this? What is the virtue in scapegoatism? The "
4303 "RIAA is an extraordinarily powerful lobby. The president of the RIAA is "
4304 "reported to make more than $1 million a year. Artists, on the other hand, "
4305 "are not well paid. The average recording artist makes $45,900.<placeholder "
4306 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There are plenty of ways for the RIAA to affect "
4307 "and direct policy. So where is the morality in taking money from a student "
4308 "for running a search engine?<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
4311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4312 #: freeculture.xml:2977
4314 "On June 23, Jesse wired his savings to the lawyer working for the RIAA. The "
4315 "case against him was then dismissed. And with this, this kid who had "
4316 "tinkered a computer into a $15 million lawsuit became an activist:"
4319 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
4320 #: freeculture.xml:2984
4322 "I was definitely not an activist [before]. I never really meant to be an "
4323 "activist. … [But] I've been pushed into this. In no way did I ever "
4324 "foresee anything like this, but I think it's just completely absurd what the "
4328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4329 #: freeculture.xml:2991
4331 "Jesse's parents betray a certain pride in their reluctant activist. As his "
4332 "father told me, Jesse <quote>considers himself very conservative, and so do "
4333 "I. … He's not a tree hugger. … I think it's bizarre that they "
4334 "would pick on him. But he wants to let people know that they're sending the "
4335 "wrong message. And he wants to correct the record.</quote>"
4338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
4339 #: freeculture.xml:3006
4340 msgid "<quote>Pirates</quote>"
4343 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
4344 #: freeculture.xml:3007
4345 msgid "in development of content industry"
4348 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4349 #: freeculture.xml:3010
4351 "<emphasis role='strong'>If <quote>piracy</quote> means</emphasis> using the "
4352 "creative property of others without their permission—if <quote>if "
4353 "value, then right</quote> is true—then the history of the content "
4354 "industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of <quote>big "
4355 "media</quote> today—film, records, radio, and cable TV—was born "
4356 "of a kind of piracy so defined. The consistent story is how last "
4357 "generation's pirates join this generation's country club—until now."
4360 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4361 #: freeculture.xml:3021
4365 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4366 #: freeculture.xml:3025
4368 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> I am grateful to Peter DiMauro "
4369 "for pointing me to this extraordinary history. See also Siva Vaidhyanathan, "
4370 "<citetitle>Copyrights and Copywrongs</citetitle>, 87–93, which details "
4371 "Edison's <quote>adventures</quote> with copyright and patent."
4375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4376 #: freeculture.xml:3023
4378 "The film industry of Hollywood was built by fleeing pirates.<placeholder "
4379 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Creators and directors migrated from the East "
4380 "Coast to California in the early twentieth century in part to escape "
4381 "controls that patents granted the inventor of filmmaking, Thomas "
4382 "Edison. These controls were exercised through a monopoly "
4383 "<quote>trust,</quote> the Motion Pictures Patents Company, and were based on "
4384 "Thomas Edison's creative property—patents. Edison formed the MPPC to "
4385 "exercise the rights this creative property gave him, and the MPPC was "
4386 "serious about the control it demanded."
4389 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4390 #: freeculture.xml:3041
4391 msgid "As one commentator tells one part of the story,"
4394 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4395 #: freeculture.xml:3045
4397 "A January 1909 deadline was set for all companies to comply with the "
4398 "license. By February, unlicensed outlaws, who referred to themselves as "
4399 "independents protested the trust and carried on business without submitting "
4400 "to the Edison monopoly. In the summer of 1909 the independent movement was "
4401 "in full-swing, with producers and theater owners using illegal equipment and "
4402 "imported film stock to create their own underground market."
4405 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
4406 #: freeculture.xml:3053
4407 msgid "Fox, William"
4410 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
4411 #: freeculture.xml:3054
4412 msgid "General Film Company"
4415 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4416 #: freeculture.xml:3055 freeculture.xml:3352 freeculture.xml:4513 freeculture.xml:10380
4417 msgid "Picker, Randal C."
4420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4421 #: freeculture.xml:3079 freeculture.xml:4512 freeculture.xml:10100 freeculture.xml:10213
4422 msgid "broadcast flag"
4425 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4426 #: freeculture.xml:3068
4428 "J. A. Aberdeen, <citetitle>Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent "
4429 "Motion Picture Producers</citetitle> (Cobblestone Entertainment, 2000) and "
4430 "expanded texts posted at <quote>The Edison Movie Monopoly: The Motion "
4431 "Picture Patents Company vs. the Independent Outlaws,</quote> available at "
4432 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #11</ulink>. For a "
4433 "discussion of the economic motive behind both these limits and the limits "
4434 "imposed by Victor on phonographs, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison "
4435 "to the Broadcast Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the "
4436 "Propertization of Copyright</quote> (September 2002), University of Chicago "
4437 "Law School, James M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, Working Paper "
4438 "No. 159. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4442 #: freeculture.xml:3057
4444 "With the country experiencing a tremendous expansion in the number of "
4445 "nickelodeons, the Patents Company reacted to the independent movement by "
4446 "forming a strong-arm subsidiary known as the General Film Company to block "
4447 "the entry of non-licensed independents. With coercive tactics that have "
4448 "become legendary, General Film confiscated unlicensed equipment, "
4449 "discontinued product supply to theaters which showed unlicensed films, and "
4450 "effectively monopolized distribution with the acquisition of all U.S. film "
4451 "exchanges, except for the one owned by the independent William Fox who "
4452 "defied the Trust even after his license was revoked.<placeholder "
4453 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4458 #: freeculture.xml:3090
4460 "Marc Wanamaker, <quote>The First Studios,</quote> <citetitle>The Silents "
4461 "Majority</citetitle>, archived at <ulink "
4462 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #12</ulink>."
4465 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4466 #: freeculture.xml:3084
4468 "The Napsters of those days, the <quote>independents,</quote> were companies "
4469 "like Fox. And no less than today, these independents were vigorously "
4470 "resisted. <quote>Shooting was disrupted by machinery stolen, and "
4471 "`accidents' resulting in loss of negatives, equipment, buildings and "
4472 "sometimes life and limb frequently occurred.</quote><placeholder "
4473 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That led the independents to flee the East "
4474 "Coast. California was remote enough from Edison's reach that filmmakers "
4475 "there could pirate his inventions without fear of the law. And the leaders "
4476 "of Hollywood filmmaking, Fox most prominently, did just that."
4480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4481 #: freeculture.xml:3100
4483 "Of course, California grew quickly, and the effective enforcement of federal "
4484 "law eventually spread west. But because patents grant the patent holder a "
4485 "truly <quote>limited</quote> monopoly (just seventeen years at that time), "
4486 "by the time enough federal marshals appeared, the patents had expired. A new "
4487 "industry had been born, in part from the piracy of Edison's creative "
4491 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4492 #: freeculture.xml:3111
4493 msgid "Recorded Music"
4496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4497 #: freeculture.xml:3112 freeculture.xml:4283
4498 msgid "on music recordings"
4501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4502 #: freeculture.xml:3114
4504 "The record industry was born of another kind of piracy, though to see how "
4505 "requires a bit of detail about the way the law regulates music."
4508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4509 #: freeculture.xml:3117
4510 msgid "Fourneaux, Henri"
4513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4514 #: freeculture.xml:3118
4515 msgid "Russel, Phil"
4518 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4519 #: freeculture.xml:3120
4521 "At the time that Edison and Henri Fourneaux invented machines for "
4522 "reproducing music (Edison the phonograph, Fourneaux the player piano), the "
4523 "law gave composers the exclusive right to control copies of their music and "
4524 "the exclusive right to control public performances of their music. In other "
4525 "words, in 1900, if I wanted a copy of Phil Russel's 1899 hit <quote>Happy "
4526 "Mose,</quote> the law said I would have to pay for the right to get a copy "
4527 "of the musical score, and I would also have to pay for the right to perform "
4531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4532 #: freeculture.xml:3129 freeculture.xml:3267
4536 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4537 #: freeculture.xml:3131
4539 "But what if I wanted to record <quote>Happy Mose,</quote> using Edison's "
4540 "phonograph or Fourneaux's player piano? Here the law stumbled. It was clear "
4541 "enough that I would have to buy any copy of the musical score that I "
4542 "performed in making this recording. And it was clear enough that I would "
4543 "have to pay for any public performance of the work I was recording. But it "
4544 "wasn't totally clear that I would have to pay for a <quote>public "
4545 "performance</quote> if I recorded the song in my own house (even today, you "
4546 "don't owe the Beatles anything if you sing their songs in the shower), or if "
4547 "I recorded the song from memory (copies in your brain are "
4548 "not—yet— regulated by copyright law). So if I simply sang the "
4549 "song into a recording device in the privacy of my own home, it wasn't clear "
4550 "that I owed the composer anything. And more importantly, it wasn't clear "
4551 "whether I owed the composer anything if I then made copies of those "
4552 "recordings. Because of this gap in the law, then, I could effectively "
4553 "pirate someone else's song without paying its composer anything."
4556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4557 #: freeculture.xml:3154 freeculture.xml:3171
4558 msgid "Kittredge, Alfred"
4561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4562 #: freeculture.xml:3150
4564 "The composers (and publishers) were none too happy about this capacity to "
4565 "pirate. As South Dakota senator Alfred Kittredge put it, <placeholder "
4566 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4570 #: freeculture.xml:3165
4572 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright: Hearings on S. 6330 "
4573 "and H.R. 19853 Before the (Joint) Committees on Patents, 59th Cong. 59, 1st "
4574 "sess. (1906) (statement of Senator Alfred B. Kittredge, of South Dakota, "
4575 "chairman), reprinted in <citetitle>Legislative History of the Copyright "
4576 "Act</citetitle>, E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South "
4577 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1976). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4582 #: freeculture.xml:3158
4584 "Imagine the injustice of the thing. A composer writes a song or an opera. A "
4585 "publisher buys at great expense the rights to the same and copyrights "
4586 "it. Along come the phonographic companies and companies who cut music rolls "
4587 "and deliberately steal the work of the brain of the composer and publisher "
4588 "without any regard for [their] rights.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4592 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4593 #: freeculture.xml:3175
4594 msgid "Sousa, John Philip"
4598 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4599 #: freeculture.xml:3181
4601 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 223 (statement of "
4602 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
4606 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4607 #: freeculture.xml:3187
4609 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 226 (statement of "
4610 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
4614 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4615 #: freeculture.xml:3194
4617 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 23 (statement of "
4618 "John Philip Sousa, composer)."
4621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4622 #: freeculture.xml:3177
4624 "The innovators who developed the technology to record other people's works "
4625 "were <quote>sponging upon the toil, the work, the talent, and genius of "
4626 "American composers,</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and the "
4627 "<quote>music publishing industry</quote> was thereby <quote>at the complete "
4628 "mercy of this one pirate.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
4629 "As John Philip Sousa put it, in as direct a way as possible, <quote>When "
4630 "they make money out of my pieces, I want a share of it.</quote><placeholder "
4631 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
4634 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4635 #: freeculture.xml:3198
4636 msgid "American Graphophone Company"
4639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4640 #: freeculture.xml:3199
4641 msgid "player pianos"
4644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
4645 #: freeculture.xml:3201 freeculture.xml:3202 freeculture.xml:4281 freeculture.xml:4282 freeculture.xml:4365 freeculture.xml:4366 freeculture.xml:6989 freeculture.xml:7078 freeculture.xml:7192 freeculture.xml:7193 freeculture.xml:10331 freeculture.xml:10332 freeculture.xml:10333 freeculture.xml:11111 freeculture.xml:11172 freeculture.xml:12109
4646 msgid "Congress, U.S."
4649 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4650 #: freeculture.xml:3201 freeculture.xml:4281 freeculture.xml:4365 freeculture.xml:7078 freeculture.xml:7192 freeculture.xml:10331
4651 msgid "on copyright laws"
4654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4655 #: freeculture.xml:3202 freeculture.xml:4282 freeculture.xml:10333
4656 msgid "on recording industry"
4659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4660 #: freeculture.xml:3203 freeculture.xml:4284 freeculture.xml:10159
4661 msgid "statutory licenses in"
4664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4665 #: freeculture.xml:3204
4666 msgid "statutory license system in"
4670 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4671 #: freeculture.xml:3214
4673 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 283–84 "
4674 "(statement of Albert Walker, representative of the Auto-Music Perforating "
4675 "Company of New York)."
4679 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4680 #: freeculture.xml:3225
4682 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 376 (prepared "
4683 "memorandum of Philip Mauro, general patent counsel of the American "
4684 "Graphophone Company Association)."
4687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4688 #: freeculture.xml:3206
4690 "These arguments have familiar echoes in the wars of our day. So, too, do the "
4691 "arguments on the other side. The innovators who developed the player piano "
4692 "argued that <quote>it is perfectly demonstrable that the introduction of "
4693 "automatic music players has not deprived any composer of anything he had "
4694 "before their introduction.</quote> Rather, the machines increased the sales "
4695 "of sheet music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In any case, the "
4696 "innovators argued, the job of Congress was <quote>to consider first the "
4697 "interest of [the public], whom they represent, and whose servants they "
4698 "are.</quote> <quote>All talk about `theft,'</quote> the general counsel of "
4699 "the American Graphophone Company wrote, <quote>is the merest claptrap, for "
4700 "there exists no property in ideas musical, literary or artistic, except as "
4701 "defined by statute.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
4704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4705 #: freeculture.xml:3230
4710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4711 #: freeculture.xml:3232
4713 "The law soon resolved this battle in favor of the composer "
4714 "<emphasis>and</emphasis> the recording artist. Congress amended the law to "
4715 "make sure that composers would be paid for the <quote>mechanical "
4716 "reproductions</quote> of their music. But rather than simply granting the "
4717 "composer complete control over the right to make mechanical reproductions, "
4718 "Congress gave recording artists a right to record the music, at a price set "
4719 "by Congress, once the composer allowed it to be recorded once. This is the "
4720 "part of copyright law that makes cover songs possible. Once a composer "
4721 "authorizes a recording of his song, others are free to record the same song, "
4722 "so long as they pay the original composer a fee set by the law."
4725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4726 #: freeculture.xml:3246
4727 msgid "compulsory license"
4730 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4731 #: freeculture.xml:3247 freeculture.xml:4289 freeculture.xml:10158
4732 msgid "statutory licenses"
4735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4736 #: freeculture.xml:3249
4738 "American law ordinarily calls this a <quote>compulsory license,</quote> but "
4739 "I will refer to it as a <quote>statutory license.</quote> A statutory "
4740 "license is a license whose key terms are set by law. After Congress's "
4741 "amendment of the Copyright Act in 1909, record companies were free to "
4742 "distribute copies of recordings so long as they paid the composer (or "
4743 "copyright holder) the fee set by the statute."
4746 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4747 #: freeculture.xml:3256 freeculture.xml:14908
4748 msgid "Grisham, John"
4751 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4752 #: freeculture.xml:3258
4754 "This is an exception within the law of copyright. When John Grisham writes a "
4755 "novel, a publisher is free to publish that novel only if Grisham gives the "
4756 "publisher permission. Grisham, in turn, is free to charge whatever he wants "
4757 "for that permission. The price to publish Grisham is thus set by Grisham, "
4758 "and copyright law ordinarily says you have no permission to use Grisham's "
4759 "work except with permission of Grisham."
4763 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4764 #: freeculture.xml:3283
4766 "Copyright Law Revision: Hearings on S. 2499, S. 2900, H.R. 243, and "
4767 "H.R. 11794 Before the (Joint) Committee on Patents, 60th Cong., 1st sess., "
4768 "217 (1908) (statement of Senator Reed Smoot, chairman), reprinted in "
4769 "<citetitle>Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act</citetitle>, "
4770 "E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman "
4774 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4775 #: freeculture.xml:3269
4777 "But the law governing recordings gives recording artists less. And thus, in "
4778 "effect, the law <emphasis>subsidizes</emphasis> the recording industry "
4779 "through a kind of piracy—by giving recording artists a weaker right "
4780 "than it otherwise gives creative authors. The Beatles have less control over "
4781 "their creative work than Grisham does. And the beneficiaries of this less "
4782 "control are the recording industry and the public. The recording industry "
4783 "gets something of value for less than it otherwise would pay; the public "
4784 "gets access to a much wider range of musical creativity. Indeed, Congress "
4785 "was quite explicit about its reasons for granting this right. Its fear was "
4786 "the monopoly power of rights holders, and that that power would stifle "
4787 "follow-on creativity.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4791 #: freeculture.xml:3294
4793 "While the recording industry has been quite coy about this recently, "
4794 "historically it has been quite a supporter of the statutory license for "
4795 "records. As a 1967 report from the House Committee on the Judiciary relates,"
4799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4800 #: freeculture.xml:3316
4802 "Copyright Law Revision: Report to Accompany H.R. 2512, House Committee on "
4803 "the Judiciary, 90th Cong., 1st sess., House Document no. 83, (8 March "
4804 "1967). I am grateful to Glenn Brown for drawing my attention to this report."
4807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4808 #: freeculture.xml:3301
4810 "the record producers argued vigorously that the compulsory license system "
4811 "must be retained. They asserted that the record industry is a "
4812 "half-billion-dollar business of great economic importance in the United "
4813 "States and throughout the world; records today are the principal means of "
4814 "disseminating music, and this creates special problems, since performers "
4815 "need unhampered access to musical material on nondiscriminatory "
4816 "terms. Historically, the record producers pointed out, there were no "
4817 "recording rights before 1909 and the 1909 statute adopted the compulsory "
4818 "license as a deliberate anti-monopoly condition on the grant of these "
4819 "rights. They argue that the result has been an outpouring of recorded music, "
4820 "with the public being given lower prices, improved quality, and a greater "
4821 "choice.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4825 #: freeculture.xml:3327
4827 "By limiting the rights musicians have, by partially pirating their creative "
4828 "work, the record producers, and the public, benefit."
4831 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4832 #: freeculture.xml:3332 freeculture.xml:4477
4836 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
4837 #: freeculture.xml:3333 freeculture.xml:4288 freeculture.xml:10335
4838 msgid "radio broadcast and"
4841 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4842 #: freeculture.xml:3336
4843 msgid "Radio was also born of piracy."
4846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4847 #: freeculture.xml:3351
4848 msgid "Hand, Learned"
4851 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4852 #: freeculture.xml:3342
4854 "See 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, sections 106 and 110. At "
4855 "the beginning, record companies printed <quote>Not Licensed for Radio "
4856 "Broadcast</quote> and other messages purporting to restrict the ability to "
4857 "play a record on a radio station. Judge Learned Hand rejected the argument "
4858 "that a warning attached to a record might restrict the rights of the radio "
4859 "station. See <citetitle>RCA Manufacturing "
4860 "Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Whiteman</citetitle>, 114 F. 2d 86 (2nd "
4861 "Cir. 1940). See also Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison to the Broadcast "
4862 "Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the Propertization of "
4863 "Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> "
4864 "70 (2003): 281. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4865 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4869 #: freeculture.xml:3339
4871 "When a radio station plays a record on the air, that constitutes a "
4872 "<quote>public performance</quote> of the composer's work.<placeholder "
4873 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As I described above, the law gives the "
4874 "composer (or copyright holder) an exclusive right to public performances of "
4875 "his work. The radio station thus owes the composer money for that "
4879 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4880 #: freeculture.xml:3369 freeculture.xml:9401 freeculture.xml:9876 freeculture.xml:12957
4881 msgid "Lovett, Lyle"
4885 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4886 #: freeculture.xml:3359
4888 "But when the radio station plays a record, it is not only performing a copy "
4889 "of the <emphasis>composer's</emphasis> work. The radio station is also "
4890 "performing a copy of the <emphasis>recording artist's</emphasis> work. It's "
4891 "one thing to have <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> sung on the radio by the "
4892 "local children's choir; it's quite another to have it sung by the Rolling "
4893 "Stones or Lyle Lovett. The recording artist is adding to the value of the "
4894 "composition performed on the radio station. And if the law were perfectly "
4895 "consistent, the radio station would have to pay the recording artist for his "
4896 "work, just as it pays the composer of the music for his work. <placeholder "
4897 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4901 #: freeculture.xml:3374
4903 "But it doesn't. Under the law governing radio performances, the radio "
4904 "station does not have to pay the recording artist. The radio station need "
4905 "only pay the composer. The radio station thus gets a bit of something for "
4906 "nothing. It gets to perform the recording artist's work for free, even if it "
4907 "must pay the composer something for the privilege of playing the song."
4910 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4911 #: freeculture.xml:3381 freeculture.xml:3893 freeculture.xml:6500 freeculture.xml:6516
4915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4916 #: freeculture.xml:3383
4918 "This difference can be huge. Imagine you compose a piece of music. Imagine "
4919 "it is your first. You own the exclusive right to authorize public "
4920 "performances of that music. So if Madonna wants to sing your song in public, "
4921 "she has to get your permission."
4924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4925 #: freeculture.xml:3389
4927 "Imagine she does sing your song, and imagine she likes it a lot. She then "
4928 "decides to make a recording of your song, and it becomes a top hit. Under "
4929 "our law, every time a radio station plays your song, you get some money. But "
4930 "Madonna gets nothing, save the indirect effect on the sale of her CDs. The "
4931 "public performance of her recording is not a <quote>protected</quote> "
4932 "right. The radio station thus gets to <emphasis>pirate</emphasis> the value "
4933 "of Madonna's work without paying her anything."
4936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4937 #: freeculture.xml:3401
4939 "No doubt, one might argue that, on balance, the recording artists "
4940 "benefit. On average, the promotion they get is worth more than the "
4941 "performance rights they give up. Maybe. But even if so, the law ordinarily "
4942 "gives the creator the right to make this choice. By making the choice for "
4943 "him or her, the law gives the radio station the right to take something for "
4947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4948 #: freeculture.xml:3411 freeculture.xml:4483
4952 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
4953 #: freeculture.xml:3412 freeculture.xml:4303 freeculture.xml:8580 freeculture.xml:8619 freeculture.xml:15310
4954 msgid "cable television"
4957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4958 #: freeculture.xml:3414
4959 msgid "Cable TV was also born of a kind of piracy."
4963 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4964 #: freeculture.xml:3417
4966 "When cable entrepreneurs first started wiring communities with cable "
4967 "television in 1948, most refused to pay broadcasters for the content that "
4968 "they echoed to their customers. Even when the cable companies started "
4969 "selling access to television broadcasts, they refused to pay for what they "
4970 "sold. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more "
4971 "egregiously than anything Napster ever did— Napster never charged for "
4972 "the content it enabled others to give away."
4975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4976 #: freeculture.xml:3427
4977 msgid "Anello, Douglas"
4980 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4981 #: freeculture.xml:3428
4982 msgid "Burdick, Quentin"
4985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4986 #: freeculture.xml:3429 freeculture.xml:3440
4987 msgid "Hyde, Rosel H."
4990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4991 #: freeculture.xml:3435
4993 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV: Hearing on S. 1006 Before the "
4994 "Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Senate Committee "
4995 "on the Judiciary, 89th Cong., 2nd sess., 78 (1966) (statement of Rosel "
4996 "H. Hyde, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission). <placeholder "
4997 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5002 #: freeculture.xml:3447
5004 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 116 (statement of Douglas A. Anello, "
5005 "general counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters)."
5008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5009 #: freeculture.xml:3431
5011 "Broadcasters and copyright owners were quick to attack this theft. Rosel "
5012 "Hyde, chairman of the FCC, viewed the practice as a kind of <quote>unfair "
5013 "and potentially destructive competition.</quote><placeholder "
5014 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There may have been a <quote>public "
5015 "interest</quote> in spreading the reach of cable TV, but as Douglas Anello, "
5016 "general counsel to the National Association of Broadcasters, asked Senator "
5017 "Quentin Burdick during testimony, <quote>Does public interest dictate that "
5018 "you use somebody else's property?</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5019 "id=\"1\"/> As another broadcaster put it,"
5023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5024 #: freeculture.xml:3458
5026 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 126 (statement of Ernest W. Jennes, "
5027 "general counsel of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, Inc.)."
5030 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
5031 #: freeculture.xml:3454
5033 "The extraordinary thing about the CATV business is that it is the only "
5034 "business I know of where the product that is being sold is not paid "
5035 "for.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5038 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5039 #: freeculture.xml:3464
5040 msgid "Again, the demand of the copyright holders seemed reasonable enough:"
5044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5045 #: freeculture.xml:3473
5047 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 169 (joint statement of Arthur B. Krim, "
5048 "president of United Artists Corp., and John Sinn, president of United "
5049 "Artists Television, Inc.)."
5052 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
5053 #: freeculture.xml:3468
5055 "All we are asking for is a very simple thing, that people who now take our "
5056 "property for nothing pay for it. We are trying to stop piracy and I don't "
5057 "think there is any lesser word to describe it. I think there are harsher "
5058 "words which would fit it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5062 #: freeculture.xml:3479 freeculture.xml:3487
5063 msgid "Heston, Charlton"
5066 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5067 #: freeculture.xml:3485
5069 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 209 (statement of Charlton Heston, "
5070 "president of the Screen Actors Guild). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5074 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5075 #: freeculture.xml:3481
5077 "These were <quote>free-ride[rs],</quote> Screen Actor's Guild president "
5078 "Charlton Heston said, who were <quote>depriving actors of "
5079 "compensation.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5082 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5083 #: freeculture.xml:3492
5085 "But again, there was another side to the debate. As Assistant Attorney "
5086 "General Edwin Zimmerman put it,"
5089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
5090 #: freeculture.xml:3508 freeculture.xml:3510
5091 msgid "Zimmerman, Edwin"
5094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5095 #: freeculture.xml:3506
5097 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 216 (statement of Edwin M. Zimmerman, "
5098 "acting assistant attorney general). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
5103 #: freeculture.xml:3497
5105 "Our point here is that unlike the problem of whether you have any copyright "
5106 "protection at all, the problem here is whether copyright holders who are "
5107 "already compensated, who already have a monopoly, should be permitted to "
5108 "extend that monopoly. … The question here is how much compensation "
5109 "they should have and how far back they should carry their right to "
5110 "compensation.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
5111 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5115 #: freeculture.xml:3514
5117 "Copyright owners took the cable companies to court. Twice the Supreme Court "
5118 "held that the cable companies owed the copyright owners nothing."
5121 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5122 #: freeculture.xml:3518
5124 "It took Congress almost thirty years before it resolved the question of "
5125 "whether cable companies had to pay for the content they "
5126 "<quote>pirated.</quote> In the end, Congress resolved this question in the "
5127 "same way that it resolved the question about record players and player "
5128 "pianos. Yes, cable companies would have to pay for the content that they "
5129 "broadcast; but the price they would have to pay was not set by the copyright "
5130 "owner. The price was set by law, so that the broadcasters couldn't exercise "
5131 "veto power over the emerging technologies of cable. Cable companies thus "
5132 "built their empire in part upon a <quote>piracy</quote> of the value created "
5133 "by broadcasters' content."
5137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5138 #: freeculture.xml:3537
5140 "See, for example, National Music Publisher's Association, <citetitle>The "
5141 "Engine of Free Expression: Copyright on the Internet—The Myth of Free "
5142 "Information</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
5143 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #13</ulink>. <quote>The threat of "
5144 "piracy—the use of someone else's creative work without permission or "
5145 "compensation—has grown with the Internet.</quote>"
5148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5149 #: freeculture.xml:3532
5151 "<emphasis role='strong'>These separate stories</emphasis> sing a common "
5152 "theme. If <quote>piracy</quote> means using value from someone else's "
5153 "creative property without permission from that creator—as it is "
5154 "increasingly described today<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
5155 "— then <emphasis>every</emphasis> industry affected by copyright today "
5156 "is the product and beneficiary of a certain kind of piracy. Film, records, "
5157 "radio, cable TV. … The list is long and could well be expanded. Every "
5158 "generation welcomes the pirates from the last. Every generation—until "
5162 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
5163 #: freeculture.xml:3554
5164 msgid "<quote>Piracy</quote>"
5167 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5168 #: freeculture.xml:3556
5170 "<emphasis role='strong'>There is piracy</emphasis> of copyrighted "
5171 "material. Lots of it. This piracy comes in many forms. The most significant "
5172 "is commercial piracy, the unauthorized taking of other people's content "
5173 "within a commercial context. Despite the many justifications that are "
5174 "offered in its defense, this taking is wrong. No one should condone it, and "
5175 "the law should stop it."
5179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5180 #: freeculture.xml:3564
5182 "But as well as copy-shop piracy, there is another kind of "
5183 "<quote>taking</quote> that is more directly related to the Internet. That "
5184 "taking, too, seems wrong to many, and it is wrong much of the time. Before "
5185 "we paint this taking <quote>piracy,</quote> however, we should understand "
5186 "its nature a bit more. For the harm of this taking is significantly more "
5187 "ambiguous than outright copying, and the law should account for that "
5188 "ambiguity, as it has so often done in the past."
5191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
5192 #: freeculture.xml:3574
5196 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5197 #: freeculture.xml:3575 freeculture.xml:3655 freeculture.xml:3705 freeculture.xml:15312
5198 msgid "Asia, commercial piracy in"
5201 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5202 #: freeculture.xml:3576 freeculture.xml:4028 freeculture.xml:9877 freeculture.xml:10732 freeculture.xml:14703 freeculture.xml:15294
5206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
5207 #: freeculture.xml:3576
5208 msgid "foreign piracy of"
5212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5213 #: freeculture.xml:3584
5215 "See IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), "
5216 "<citetitle>The Recording Industry Commercial Piracy Report 2003</citetitle>, "
5217 "July 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
5218 "#14</ulink>. See also Ben Hunt, <quote>Companies Warned on Music Piracy "
5219 "Risk,</quote> <citetitle>Financial Times</citetitle>, 14 February 2003, 11."
5222 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5223 #: freeculture.xml:3578
5225 "All across the world, but especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, there are "
5226 "businesses that do nothing but take others people's copyrighted content, "
5227 "copy it, and sell it—all without the permission of a copyright "
5228 "owner. The recording industry estimates that it loses about $4.6 billion "
5229 "every year to physical piracy<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> (that "
5230 "works out to one in three CDs sold worldwide). The MPAA estimates that it "
5231 "loses $3 billion annually worldwide to piracy."
5234 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5235 #: freeculture.xml:3594
5237 "This is piracy plain and simple. Nothing in the argument of this book, nor "
5238 "in the argument that most people make when talking about the subject of this "
5239 "book, should draw into doubt this simple point: This piracy is wrong."
5242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5243 #: freeculture.xml:3600
5245 "Which is not to say that excuses and justifications couldn't be made for "
5246 "it. We could, for example, remind ourselves that for the first one hundred "
5247 "years of the American Republic, America did not honor foreign copyrights. We "
5248 "were born, in this sense, a pirate nation. It might therefore seem "
5249 "hypocritical for us to insist so strongly that other developing nations "
5250 "treat as wrong what we, for the first hundred years of our existence, "
5254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5255 #: freeculture.xml:3609
5257 "That excuse isn't terribly strong. Technically, our law did not ban the "
5258 "taking of foreign works. It explicitly limited itself to American "
5259 "works. Thus the American publishers who published foreign works without the "
5260 "permission of foreign authors were not violating any rule. The copy shops "
5261 "in Asia, by contrast, are violating Asian law. Asian law does protect "
5262 "foreign copyrights, and the actions of the copy shops violate that law. So "
5263 "the wrong of piracy that they engage in is not just a moral wrong, but a "
5264 "legal wrong, and not just an internationally legal wrong, but a locally "
5265 "legal wrong as well."
5269 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5270 #: freeculture.xml:3620
5272 "True, these local rules have, in effect, been imposed upon these "
5273 "countries. No country can be part of the world economy and choose not to "
5274 "protect copyright internationally. We may have been born a pirate nation, "
5275 "but we will not allow any other nation to have a similar childhood."
5278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5279 #: freeculture.xml:3648
5280 msgid "agricultural patents"
5283 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5284 #: freeculture.xml:3649 freeculture.xml:13249 freeculture.xml:13740 freeculture.xml:13747
5285 msgid "Drahos, Peter"
5288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5289 #: freeculture.xml:3633
5291 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: "
5292 "<citetitle>Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New "
5293 "Press, 2003), 10–13, 209. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual "
5294 "Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement obligates member nations to create "
5295 "administrative and enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property rights, "
5296 "a costly proposition for developing countries. Additionally, patent rights "
5297 "may lead to higher prices for staple industries such as agriculture. Critics "
5298 "of TRIPS question the disparity between burdens imposed upon developing "
5299 "countries and benefits conferred to industrialized nations. TRIPS does "
5300 "permit governments to use patents for public, noncommercial uses without "
5301 "first obtaining the patent holder's permission. Developing nations may be "
5302 "able to use this to gain the benefits of foreign patents at lower "
5303 "prices. This is a promising strategy for developing nations within the TRIPS "
5304 "framework. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
5305 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5309 #: freeculture.xml:3628
5311 "If a country is to be treated as a sovereign, however, then its laws are its "
5312 "laws regardless of their source. The international law under which these "
5313 "nations live gives them some opportunities to escape the burden of "
5314 "intellectual property law.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In my "
5315 "view, more developing nations should take advantage of that opportunity, but "
5316 "when they don't, then their laws should be respected. And under the laws of "
5317 "these nations, this piracy is wrong."
5320 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5321 #: freeculture.xml:3670 freeculture.xml:3949 freeculture.xml:15460
5322 msgid "Liebowitz, Stan"
5325 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5326 #: freeculture.xml:3663
5328 "For an analysis of the economic impact of copying technology, see Stan "
5329 "Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle> (New York: "
5330 "Amacom, 2002), 144–90. <quote>In some instances … the impact of "
5331 "piracy on the copyright holder's ability to appropriate the value of the "
5332 "work will be negligible. One obvious instance is the case where the "
5333 "individual engaging in pirating would not have purchased an original even if "
5334 "pirating were not an option.</quote> Ibid., 149. <placeholder "
5335 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5339 #: freeculture.xml:3657
5341 "Alternatively, we could try to excuse this piracy by noting that in any "
5342 "case, it does no harm to the industry. The Chinese who get access to "
5343 "American CDs at 50 cents a copy are not people who would have bought those "
5344 "American CDs at $15 a copy. So no one really has any less money than they "
5345 "otherwise would have had.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5348 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5349 #: freeculture.xml:3674
5351 "This is often true (though I have friends who have purchased many thousands "
5352 "of pirated DVDs who certainly have enough money to pay for the content they "
5353 "have taken), and it does mitigate to some degree the harm caused by such "
5354 "taking. Extremists in this debate love to say, <quote>You wouldn't go into "
5355 "Barnes & Noble and take a book off of the shelf without paying; why "
5356 "should it be any different with on-line music?</quote> The difference is, of "
5357 "course, that when you take a book from Barnes & Noble, it has one less "
5358 "book to sell. By contrast, when you take an MP3 from a computer network, "
5359 "there is not one less CD that can be sold. The physics of piracy of the "
5360 "intangible are different from the physics of piracy of the tangible."
5364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5365 #: freeculture.xml:3688
5367 "This argument is still very weak. However, although copyright is a property "
5368 "right of a very special sort, it <emphasis>is</emphasis> a property "
5369 "right. Like all property rights, the copyright gives the owner the right to "
5370 "decide the terms under which content is shared. If the copyright owner "
5371 "doesn't want to sell, she doesn't have to. There are exceptions: important "
5372 "statutory licenses that apply to copyrighted content regardless of the wish "
5373 "of the copyright owner. Those licenses give people the right to "
5374 "<quote>take</quote> copyrighted content whether or not the copyright owner "
5375 "wants to sell. But where the law does not give people the right to take "
5376 "content, it is wrong to take that content even if the wrong does no harm. If "
5377 "we have a property system, and that system is properly balanced to the "
5378 "technology of a time, then it is wrong to take property without the "
5379 "permission of a property owner. That is exactly what <quote>property</quote> "
5383 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
5384 #: freeculture.xml:3706 freeculture.xml:15313
5388 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5389 #: freeculture.xml:3707 freeculture.xml:13560 freeculture.xml:14146
5390 msgid "free software/open-source software (FS/OSS)"
5393 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5394 #: freeculture.xml:3708 freeculture.xml:3738 freeculture.xml:12041 freeculture.xml:13575 freeculture.xml:14202
5395 msgid "GNU/Linux operating system"
5398 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5399 #: freeculture.xml:3709 freeculture.xml:3739 freeculture.xml:12043 freeculture.xml:13576 freeculture.xml:14203
5400 msgid "Linux operating system"
5403 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
5404 #: freeculture.xml:3710
5405 msgid "competitive strategies of"
5408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5409 #: freeculture.xml:3711
5413 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
5414 #: freeculture.xml:3712
5415 msgid "international software piracy of"
5418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
5419 #: freeculture.xml:3713
5420 msgid "Windows operating system of"
5423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5424 #: freeculture.xml:3715
5426 "Finally, we could try to excuse this piracy with the argument that the "
5427 "piracy actually helps the copyright owner. When the Chinese "
5428 "<quote>steal</quote> Windows, that makes the Chinese dependent on "
5429 "Microsoft. Microsoft loses the value of the software that was taken. But it "
5430 "gains users who are used to life in the Microsoft world. Over time, as the "
5431 "nation grows more wealthy, more and more people will buy software rather "
5432 "than steal it. And hence over time, because that buying will benefit "
5433 "Microsoft, Microsoft benefits from the piracy. If instead of pirating "
5434 "Microsoft Windows, the Chinese used the free GNU/Linux operating system, "
5435 "then these Chinese users would not eventually be buying Microsoft. Without "
5436 "piracy, then, Microsoft would lose."
5439 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5440 #: freeculture.xml:3727 freeculture.xml:4770 freeculture.xml:4994 freeculture.xml:6484 freeculture.xml:6560 freeculture.xml:6695 freeculture.xml:7107 freeculture.xml:14234
5444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
5445 #: freeculture.xml:3727 freeculture.xml:14234
5446 msgid "databases of case reports in"
5449 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5450 #: freeculture.xml:3729
5452 "This argument, too, is somewhat true. The addiction strategy is a good "
5453 "one. Many businesses practice it. Some thrive because of it. Law students, "
5454 "for example, are given free access to the two largest legal databases. The "
5455 "companies marketing both hope the students will become so used to their "
5456 "service that they will want to use it and not the other when they become "
5457 "lawyers (and must pay high subscription fees)."
5460 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5461 #: freeculture.xml:3736
5465 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5466 #: freeculture.xml:3737
5467 msgid "Internet Explorer"
5470 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5471 #: freeculture.xml:3741
5473 "Still, the argument is not terribly persuasive. We don't give the alcoholic "
5474 "a defense when he steals his first beer, merely because that will make it "
5475 "more likely that he will buy the next three. Instead, we ordinarily allow "
5476 "businesses to decide for themselves when it is best to give their product "
5477 "away. If Microsoft fears the competition of GNU/Linux, then Microsoft can "
5478 "give its product away, as it did, for example, with Internet Explorer to "
5479 "fight Netscape. A property right means giving the property owner the right "
5480 "to say who gets access to what—at least ordinarily. And if the law "
5481 "properly balances the rights of the copyright owner with the rights of "
5482 "access, then violating the law is still wrong."
5486 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5487 #: freeculture.xml:3755
5489 "Thus, while I understand the pull of these justifications for piracy, and I "
5490 "certainly see the motivation, in my view, in the end, these efforts at "
5491 "justifying commercial piracy simply don't cut it. This kind of piracy is "
5492 "rampant and just plain wrong. It doesn't transform the content it steals; it "
5493 "doesn't transform the market it competes in. It merely gives someone access "
5494 "to something that the law says he should not have. Nothing has changed to "
5495 "draw that law into doubt. This form of piracy is flat out wrong."
5498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5499 #: freeculture.xml:3765
5501 "But as the examples from the four chapters that introduced this part "
5502 "suggest, even if some piracy is plainly wrong, not all <quote>piracy</quote> "
5503 "is. Or at least, not all <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong if that term is "
5504 "understood in the way it is increasingly used today. Many kinds of "
5505 "<quote>piracy</quote> are useful and productive, to produce either new "
5506 "content or new ways of doing business. Neither our tradition nor any "
5507 "tradition has ever banned all <quote>piracy</quote> in that sense of the "
5511 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5512 #: freeculture.xml:3774
5514 "This doesn't mean that there are no questions raised by the latest piracy "
5515 "concern, peer-to-peer file sharing. But it does mean that we need to "
5516 "understand the harm in peer-to-peer sharing a bit more before we condemn it "
5517 "to the gallows with the charge of piracy."
5520 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5521 #: freeculture.xml:3780
5523 "For (1) like the original Hollywood, p2p sharing escapes an overly "
5524 "controlling industry; and (2) like the original recording industry, it "
5525 "simply exploits a new way to distribute content; but (3) unlike cable TV, no "
5526 "one is selling the content that is shared on p2p services."
5529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5530 #: freeculture.xml:3786
5532 "These differences distinguish p2p sharing from true piracy. They should push "
5533 "us to find a way to protect artists while enabling this sharing to survive."
5536 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
5537 #: freeculture.xml:3792
5542 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5543 #: freeculture.xml:3797
5545 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
5546 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777)."
5550 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5551 #: freeculture.xml:3794
5553 "The key to the <quote>piracy</quote> that the law aims to quash is a use "
5554 "that <quote>rob[s] the author of [his] profit.</quote><placeholder "
5555 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This means we must determine whether and how "
5556 "much p2p sharing harms before we know how strongly the law should seek to "
5557 "either prevent it or find an alternative to assure the author of his profit."
5560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5561 #: freeculture.xml:3806
5562 msgid "Fanning, Shawn"
5565 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5566 #: freeculture.xml:3807 freeculture.xml:3814 freeculture.xml:9807
5570 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5571 #: freeculture.xml:3824 freeculture.xml:8813
5572 msgid "Christensen, Clayton M."
5575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5576 #: freeculture.xml:3814
5578 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> See Clayton M. Christensen, "
5579 "<citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary National Bestseller "
5580 "That Changed the Way We Do Business</citetitle> (New York: HarperBusiness, "
5581 "2000). Professor Christensen examines why companies that give rise to and "
5582 "dominate a product area are frequently unable to come up with the most "
5583 "creative, paradigm-shifting uses for their own products. This job usually "
5584 "falls to outside innovators, who reassemble existing technology in inventive "
5585 "ways. For a discussion of Christensen's ideas, see Lawrence Lessig, "
5586 "<citetitle>Future</citetitle>, 89–92, 139. <placeholder "
5587 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5590 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5591 #: freeculture.xml:3806
5593 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5594 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> Peer-to-peer sharing "
5595 "was made famous by Napster. But the inventors of the Napster technology had "
5596 "not made any major technological innovations. Like every great advance in "
5597 "innovation on the Internet (and, arguably, off the Internet as "
5598 "well<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"3\"/>), Shawn Fanning and crew had "
5599 "simply put together components that had been developed independently."
5602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5603 #: freeculture.xml:3829
5607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><secondary>
5608 #: freeculture.xml:3830
5609 msgid "number of registrations on"
5612 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><secondary>
5613 #: freeculture.xml:3831
5614 msgid "replacement of"
5618 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5619 #: freeculture.xml:3837
5621 "See Carolyn Lochhead, <quote>Silicon Valley Dream, Hollywood "
5622 "Nightmare,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 "
5623 "September 2002, A1; <quote>Rock 'n' Roll Suicide,</quote> <citetitle>New "
5624 "Scientist</citetitle>, 6 July 2002, 42; Benny Evangelista, <quote>Napster "
5625 "Names CEO, Secures New Financing,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
5626 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 23 May 2003, C1; <quote>Napster's Wake-Up "
5627 "Call,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 24 June 2000, 23; John "
5628 "Naughton, <quote>Hollywood at War with the Internet</quote> (London) "
5629 "<citetitle>Times</citetitle>, 26 July 2002, 18."
5632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5633 #: freeculture.xml:3829
5635 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5636 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> The result was "
5637 "spontaneous combustion. Launched in July 1999, Napster amassed over 10 "
5638 "million users within nine months. After eighteen months, there were close to "
5639 "80 million registered users of the system.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5640 "id=\"3\"/> Courts quickly shut Napster down, but other services emerged to "
5641 "take its place. (Kazaa is currently the most popular p2p service. It boasts "
5642 "over 100 million members.) These services' systems are different "
5643 "architecturally, though not very different in function: Each enables users "
5644 "to make content available to any number of other users. With a p2p system, "
5645 "you can share your favorite songs with your best friend— or your "
5646 "20,000 best friends."
5650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5651 #: freeculture.xml:3860
5653 "See Ipsos-Insight, <citetitle>TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Online Music "
5654 "Distribution</citetitle> (September 2002), reporting that 28 percent of "
5655 "Americans aged twelve and older have downloaded music off of the Internet "
5656 "and 30 percent have listened to digital music files stored on their "
5661 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5662 #: freeculture.xml:3869
5664 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Industry Offers a Carrot in Online Music Fight,</quote> "
5665 "<citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 6 June 2003, A1."
5668 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5669 #: freeculture.xml:3854
5671 "According to a number of estimates, a huge proportion of Americans have "
5672 "tasted file-sharing technology. A study by Ipsos-Insight in September 2002 "
5673 "estimated that 60 million Americans had downloaded music—28 percent of "
5674 "Americans older than 12.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A survey "
5675 "by the NPD group quoted in <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> "
5676 "estimated that 43 million citizens used file-sharing networks to exchange "
5677 "content in May 2003.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The vast "
5678 "majority of these are not kids. Whatever the actual figure, a massive "
5679 "quantity of content is being <quote>taken</quote> on these networks. The "
5680 "ease and inexpensiveness of file-sharing networks have inspired millions to "
5681 "enjoy music in a way that they hadn't before."
5684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5685 #: freeculture.xml:3878
5687 "Some of this enjoying involves copyright infringement. Some of it does "
5688 "not. And even among the part that is technically copyright infringement, "
5689 "calculating the actual harm to copyright owners is more complicated than one "
5690 "might think. So consider—a bit more carefully than the polarized "
5691 "voices around this debate usually do—the kinds of sharing that file "
5692 "sharing enables, and the kinds of harm it entails."
5696 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5697 #: freeculture.xml:3888
5699 "File sharers share different kinds of content. We can divide these different "
5700 "kinds into four types."
5704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5705 #: freeculture.xml:3896
5707 "There are some who use sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
5708 "content. Thus, when a new Madonna CD is released, rather than buying the CD, "
5709 "these users simply take it. We might quibble about whether everyone who "
5710 "takes it would actually have bought it if sharing didn't make it available "
5711 "for free. Most probably wouldn't have, but clearly there are some who "
5712 "would. The latter are the target of category A: users who download instead "
5717 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5718 #: freeculture.xml:3906
5720 "There are some who use sharing networks to sample music before purchasing "
5721 "it. Thus, a friend sends another friend an MP3 of an artist he's not heard "
5722 "of. The other friend then buys CDs by that artist. This is a kind of "
5723 "targeted advertising, quite likely to succeed. If the friend recommending "
5724 "the album gains nothing from a bad recommendation, then one could expect "
5725 "that the recommendations will actually be quite good. The net effect of this "
5726 "sharing could increase the quantity of music purchased."
5730 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5731 #: freeculture.xml:3917
5733 "There are many who use sharing networks to get access to copyrighted content "
5734 "that is no longer sold or that they would not have purchased because the "
5735 "transaction costs off the Net are too high. This use of sharing networks is "
5736 "among the most rewarding for many. Songs that were part of your childhood "
5737 "but have long vanished from the marketplace magically appear again on the "
5738 "network. (One friend told me that when she discovered Napster, she spent a "
5739 "solid weekend <quote>recalling</quote> old songs. She was astonished at the "
5740 "range and mix of content that was available.) For content not sold, this is "
5741 "still technically a violation of copyright, though because the copyright "
5742 "owner is not selling the content anymore, the economic harm is "
5743 "zero—the same harm that occurs when I sell my collection of 1960s "
5744 "45-rpm records to a local collector."
5749 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5750 #: freeculture.xml:3934
5752 "Finally, there are many who use sharing networks to get access to content "
5753 "that is not copyrighted or that the copyright owner wants to give away."
5756 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5757 #: freeculture.xml:3940
5758 msgid "How do these different types of sharing balance out?"
5761 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5762 #: freeculture.xml:3948
5764 "See Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle>, "
5765 "148–49. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5769 #: freeculture.xml:3943
5771 "Let's start with some simple but important points. From the perspective of "
5772 "the law, only type D sharing is clearly legal. From the perspective of "
5773 "economics, only type A sharing is clearly harmful.<placeholder "
5774 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Type B sharing is illegal but plainly "
5775 "beneficial. Type C sharing is illegal, yet good for society (since more "
5776 "exposure to music is good) and harmless to the artist (since the work is "
5777 "not otherwise available). So how sharing matters on balance is a hard "
5778 "question to answer—and certainly much more difficult than the current "
5779 "rhetoric around the issue suggests."
5782 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5783 #: freeculture.xml:3959
5785 "Whether on balance sharing is harmful depends importantly on how harmful "
5786 "type A sharing is. Just as Edison complained about Hollywood, composers "
5787 "complained about piano rolls, recording artists complained about radio, and "
5788 "broadcasters complained about cable TV, the music industry complains that "
5789 "type A sharing is a kind of <quote>theft</quote> that is "
5790 "<quote>devastating</quote> the industry."
5793 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5794 #: freeculture.xml:3966 freeculture.xml:3975 freeculture.xml:4335 freeculture.xml:8379 freeculture.xml:8408 freeculture.xml:10156 freeculture.xml:15020
5795 msgid "cassette recording"
5798 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
5799 #: freeculture.xml:3966 freeculture.xml:4335 freeculture.xml:8379 freeculture.xml:8408 freeculture.xml:10156 freeculture.xml:10157 freeculture.xml:15020 freeculture.xml:15021
5803 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5804 #: freeculture.xml:3975
5806 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> See Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, "
5807 "<citetitle>Technology Evolution and the Music Industry's Business Model "
5808 "Crisis</citetitle> (2003), 3. This report describes the music industry's "
5809 "effort to stigmatize the budding practice of cassette taping in the 1970s, "
5810 "including an advertising campaign featuring a cassette-shape skull and the "
5811 "caption <quote>Home taping is killing music.</quote> At the time digital "
5812 "audio tape became a threat, the Office of Technical Assessment conducted a "
5813 "survey of consumer behavior. In 1988, 40 percent of consumers older than ten "
5814 "had taped music to a cassette format. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology "
5815 "Assessment, <citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying: Technology Challenges the "
5816 "Law</citetitle>, OTA-CIT-422 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing "
5817 "Office, October 1989), 145–56."
5820 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5821 #: freeculture.xml:3968
5823 "While the numbers do suggest that sharing is harmful, how harmful is harder "
5824 "to reckon. It has long been the recording industry's practice to blame "
5825 "technology for any drop in sales. The history of cassette recording is a "
5826 "good example. As a study by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young put it, "
5827 "<quote>Rather than exploiting this new, popular technology, the labels "
5828 "fought it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The labels "
5829 "claimed that every album taped was an album unsold, and when record sales "
5830 "fell by 11.4 percent in 1981, the industry claimed that its point was "
5831 "proved. Technology was the problem, and banning or regulating technology was "
5835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5836 #: freeculture.xml:3993
5841 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5842 #: freeculture.xml:4003
5843 msgid "U.S. Congress, <citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying</citetitle>, 4."
5846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5847 #: freeculture.xml:3995
5849 "Yet soon thereafter, and before Congress was given an opportunity to enact "
5850 "regulation, MTV was launched, and the industry had a record "
5851 "turnaround. <quote>In the end,</quote> Cap Gemini concludes, <quote>the "
5852 "`crisis' … was not the fault of the tapers—who did not [stop "
5853 "after MTV came into being]—but had to a large extent resulted from "
5854 "stagnation in musical innovation at the major labels.</quote><placeholder "
5855 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5859 #: freeculture.xml:4008
5861 "But just because the industry was wrong before does not mean it is wrong "
5862 "today. To evaluate the real threat that p2p sharing presents to the industry "
5863 "in particular, and society in general—or at least the society that "
5864 "inherits the tradition that gave us the film industry, the record industry, "
5865 "the radio industry, cable TV, and the VCR—the question is not simply "
5866 "whether type A sharing is harmful. The question is also "
5867 "<emphasis>how</emphasis> harmful type A sharing is, and how beneficial the "
5868 "other types of sharing are."
5871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5872 #: freeculture.xml:4018
5874 "We start to answer this question by focusing on the net harm, from the "
5875 "standpoint of the industry as a whole, that sharing networks cause. The "
5876 "<quote>net harm</quote> to the industry as a whole is the amount by which "
5877 "type A sharing exceeds type B. If the record companies sold more records "
5878 "through sampling than they lost through substitution, then sharing networks "
5879 "would actually benefit music companies on balance. They would therefore have "
5880 "little <emphasis>static</emphasis> reason to resist them."
5883 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
5884 #: freeculture.xml:4028
5885 msgid "sales levels of"
5888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5889 #: freeculture.xml:4030
5891 "Could that be true? Could the industry as a whole be gaining because of file "
5892 "sharing? Odd as that might sound, the data about CD sales actually suggest "
5893 "it might be close."
5897 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5898 #: freeculture.xml:4039
5900 "See Recording Industry Association of America, <citetitle>2002 Yearend "
5901 "Statistics</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
5902 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #15</ulink>. A later report "
5903 "indicates even greater losses. See Recording Industry Association of "
5904 "America, <citetitle>Some Facts About Music Piracy</citetitle>, 25 June 2003, "
5905 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #16</ulink>: "
5906 "<quote>In the past four years, unit shipments of recorded music have fallen "
5907 "by 26 percent from 1.16 billion units in to 860 million units in 2002 in the "
5908 "United States (based on units shipped). In terms of sales, revenues are "
5909 "down 14 percent, from $14.6 billion in to $12.6 billion last year (based on "
5910 "U.S. dollar value of shipments). The music industry worldwide has gone from "
5911 "a $39 billion industry in 2000 down to a $32 billion industry in 2002 (based "
5912 "on U.S. dollar value of shipments).</quote>"
5915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5916 #: freeculture.xml:4066
5920 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5921 #: freeculture.xml:4063
5923 "Jane Black, <quote>Big Music's Broken Record,</quote> BusinessWeek online, "
5924 "13 February 2003, available at <ulink "
5925 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #17</ulink>. <placeholder "
5926 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5930 #: freeculture.xml:4035
5932 "In 2002, the RIAA reported that CD sales had fallen by 8.9 percent, from 882 "
5933 "million to 803 million units; revenues fell 6.7 percent.<placeholder "
5934 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This confirms a trend over the past few "
5935 "years. The RIAA blames Internet piracy for the trend, though there are many "
5936 "other causes that could account for this drop. SoundScan, for example, "
5937 "reports a more than 20 percent drop in the number of CDs released since "
5938 "1999. That no doubt accounts for some of the decrease in sales. Rising "
5939 "prices could account for at least some of the loss. <quote>From 1999 to "
5940 "2001, the average price of a CD rose 7.2 percent, from $13.04 to "
5941 "$14.19.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Competition from "
5942 "other forms of media could also account for some of the decline. As Jane "
5943 "Black of <citetitle>BusinessWeek</citetitle> notes, <quote>The soundtrack to "
5944 "the film <citetitle>High Fidelity</citetitle> has a list price of "
5945 "$18.98. You could get the whole movie [on DVD] for "
5946 "$19.99.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
5950 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5951 #: freeculture.xml:4081
5953 "But let's assume the RIAA is right, and all of the decline in CD sales is "
5954 "because of Internet sharing. Here's the rub: In the same period that the "
5955 "RIAA estimates that 803 million CDs were sold, the RIAA estimates that 2.1 "
5956 "billion CDs were downloaded for free. Thus, although 2.6 times the total "
5957 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, sales revenue fell by just 6.7 "
5961 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5962 #: freeculture.xml:4089
5964 "There are too many different things happening at the same time to explain "
5965 "these numbers definitively, but one conclusion is unavoidable: The recording "
5966 "industry constantly asks, <quote>What's the difference between downloading a "
5967 "song and stealing a CD?</quote>—but their own numbers reveal the "
5968 "difference. If I steal a CD, then there is one less CD to sell. Every taking "
5969 "is a lost sale. But on the basis of the numbers the RIAA provides, it is "
5970 "absolutely clear that the same is not true of downloads. If every download "
5971 "were a lost sale—if every use of Kazaa <quote>rob[bed] the author of "
5972 "[his] profit</quote>—then the industry would have suffered a 100 "
5973 "percent drop in sales last year, not a 7 percent drop. If 2.6 times the "
5974 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, and yet sales revenue dropped "
5975 "by just 6.7 percent, then there is a huge difference between "
5976 "<quote>downloading a song and stealing a CD.</quote>"
5979 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5980 #: freeculture.xml:4105
5982 "These are the harms—alleged and perhaps exaggerated but, let's assume, "
5983 "real. What of the benefits? File sharing may impose costs on the recording "
5984 "industry. What value does it produce in addition to these costs?"
5988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5989 #: freeculture.xml:4117
5991 "By one estimate, 75 percent of the music released by the major labels is no "
5992 "longer in print. See Online Entertainment and Copyright Law—Coming "
5993 "Soon to a Digital Device Near You: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on "
5994 "the Judiciary, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (3 April 2001) (prepared statement of "
5995 "the Future of Music Coalition), available at <ulink "
5996 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #18</ulink>."
5999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6000 #: freeculture.xml:4111
6002 "One benefit is type C sharing—making available content that is "
6003 "technically still under copyright but is no longer commercially available. "
6004 "This is not a small category of content. There are millions of tracks that "
6005 "are no longer commercially available.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6006 "id=\"0\"/> And while it's conceivable that some of this content is not "
6007 "available because the artist producing the content doesn't want it to be "
6008 "made available, the vast majority of it is unavailable solely because the "
6009 "publisher or the distributor has decided it no longer makes economic sense "
6010 "<emphasis>to the company</emphasis> to make it available."
6013 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
6014 #: freeculture.xml:4130 freeculture.xml:4138 freeculture.xml:4159 freeculture.xml:4183 freeculture.xml:4694 freeculture.xml:6154 freeculture.xml:6159 freeculture.xml:6211 freeculture.xml:7178 freeculture.xml:7179 freeculture.xml:7565 freeculture.xml:7639 freeculture.xml:7923 freeculture.xml:14406 freeculture.xml:15132 freeculture.xml:15133
6018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
6019 #: freeculture.xml:4130 freeculture.xml:4138 freeculture.xml:7178 freeculture.xml:15133
6023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6024 #: freeculture.xml:4138
6026 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> While there are not good "
6027 "estimates of the number of used record stores in existence, in 2002, there "
6028 "were 7,198 used book dealers in the United States, an increase of 20 percent "
6029 "since 1993. See Book Hunter Press, <citetitle>The Quiet Revolution: The "
6030 "Expansion of the Used Book Market</citetitle> (2002), available at <ulink "
6031 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #19</ulink>. Used records "
6032 "accounted for $260 million in sales in 2002. See National Association of "
6033 "Recording Merchandisers, <quote>2002 Annual Survey Results,</quote> "
6034 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #20</ulink>."
6037 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6038 #: freeculture.xml:4132
6040 "In real space—long before the Internet—the market had a simple "
6041 "response to this problem: used book and record stores. There are thousands "
6042 "of used book and used record stores in America today.<placeholder "
6043 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These stores buy content from owners, then sell "
6044 "the content they buy. And under American copyright law, when they buy and "
6045 "sell this content, <emphasis>even if the content is still under "
6046 "copyright</emphasis>, the copyright owner doesn't get a dime. Used book and "
6047 "record stores are commercial entities; their owners make money from the "
6048 "content they sell; but as with cable companies before statutory licensing, "
6049 "they don't have to pay the copyright owner for the content they sell."
6052 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
6053 #: freeculture.xml:4159 freeculture.xml:6154 freeculture.xml:6159 freeculture.xml:7179 freeculture.xml:15132
6054 msgid "out of print"
6057 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6058 #: freeculture.xml:4160
6059 msgid "Bernstein, Leonard"
6062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6063 #: freeculture.xml:4161 freeculture.xml:7640
6067 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6068 #: freeculture.xml:4163
6070 "Type C sharing, then, is very much like used book stores or used record "
6071 "stores. It is different, of course, because the person making the content "
6072 "available isn't making money from making the content available. It is also "
6073 "different, of course, because in real space, when I sell a record, I don't "
6074 "have it anymore, while in cyberspace, when someone shares my 1949 recording "
6075 "of Bernstein's <quote>Two Love Songs,</quote> I still have it. That "
6076 "difference would matter economically if the owner of the copyright were "
6077 "selling the record in competition to my sharing. But we're talking about the "
6078 "class of content that is not currently commercially available. The Internet "
6079 "is making it available, through cooperative sharing, without competing with "
6083 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6084 #: freeculture.xml:4176
6086 "It may well be, all things considered, that it would be better if the "
6087 "copyright owner got something from this trade. But just because it may well "
6088 "be better, it doesn't follow that it would be good to ban used book "
6089 "stores. Or put differently, if you think that type C sharing should be "
6090 "stopped, do you think that libraries and used book stores should be shut as "
6094 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
6095 #: freeculture.xml:4183 freeculture.xml:14406
6096 msgid "free on-line releases of"
6099 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6100 #: freeculture.xml:4184
6101 msgid "Doctorow, Cory"
6104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6105 #: freeculture.xml:4185
6106 msgid "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (Doctorow)"
6110 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6111 #: freeculture.xml:4187
6113 "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, file-sharing networks enable type D "
6114 "sharing to occur—the sharing of content that copyright owners want to "
6115 "have shared or for which there is no continuing copyright. This sharing "
6116 "clearly benefits authors and society. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow, "
6117 "for example, released his first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
6118 "Kingdom</citetitle>, both free on-line and in bookstores on the same "
6119 "day. His (and his publisher's) thinking was that the on-line distribution "
6120 "would be a great advertisement for the <quote>real</quote> book. People "
6121 "would read part on-line, and then decide whether they liked the book or "
6122 "not. If they liked it, they would be more likely to buy it. Doctorow's "
6123 "content is type D content. If sharing networks enable his work to be spread, "
6124 "then both he and society are better off. (Actually, much better off: It is a "
6128 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6129 #: freeculture.xml:4205
6131 "Likewise for work in the public domain: This sharing benefits society with "
6132 "no legal harm to authors at all. If efforts to solve the problem of type A "
6133 "sharing destroy the opportunity for type D sharing, then we lose something "
6134 "important in order to protect type A content."
6137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6138 #: freeculture.xml:4211
6140 "The point throughout is this: While the recording industry understandably "
6141 "says, <quote>This is how much we've lost,</quote> we must also ask, "
6142 "<quote>How much has society gained from p2p sharing? What are the "
6143 "efficiencies? What is the content that otherwise would be "
6144 "unavailable?</quote>"
6147 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6148 #: freeculture.xml:4219
6150 "For unlike the piracy I described in the first section of this chapter, much "
6151 "of the <quote>piracy</quote> that file sharing enables is plainly legal and "
6152 "good. And like the piracy I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
6153 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"pirates\"/>, much of this piracy is motivated by a "
6154 "new way of spreading content caused by changes in the technology of "
6155 "distribution. Thus, consistent with the tradition that gave us Hollywood, "
6156 "radio, the recording industry, and cable TV, the question we should be "
6157 "asking about file sharing is how best to preserve its benefits while "
6158 "minimizing (to the extent possible) the wrongful harm it causes artists. The "
6159 "question is one of balance. The law should seek that balance, and that "
6160 "balance will be found only with time."
6163 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6164 #: freeculture.xml:4233
6166 "<quote>But isn't the war just a war against illegal sharing? Isn't the "
6167 "target just what you call type A sharing?</quote>"
6171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6172 #: freeculture.xml:4249
6174 "See Transcript of Proceedings, In Re: Napster Copyright Litigation at 34- 35 "
6175 "(N.D. Cal., 11 July 2001), nos. MDL-00-1369 MHP, C 99-5183 MHP, available at "
6176 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #21</ulink>. For an "
6177 "account of the litigation and its toll on Napster, see Joseph Menn, "
6178 "<citetitle>All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's "
6179 "Napster</citetitle> (New York: Crown Business, 2003), 269–82."
6182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6183 #: freeculture.xml:4237
6185 "You would think. And we should hope. But so far, it is not. The effect of "
6186 "the war purportedly on type A sharing alone has been felt far beyond that "
6187 "one class of sharing. That much is obvious from the Napster case "
6188 "itself. When Napster told the district court that it had developed a "
6189 "technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing "
6190 "material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not "
6191 "good enough. Napster had to push the infringements <quote>down to "
6192 "zero.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6196 #: freeculture.xml:4260
6198 "If 99.4 percent is not good enough, then this is a war on file-sharing "
6199 "technologies, not a war on copyright infringement. There is no way to assure "
6200 "that a p2p system is used 100 percent of the time in compliance with the "
6201 "law, any more than there is a way to assure that 100 percent of VCRs or 100 "
6202 "percent of Xerox machines or 100 percent of handguns are used in compliance "
6203 "with the law. Zero tolerance means zero p2p. The court's ruling means that "
6204 "we as a society must lose the benefits of p2p, even for the totally legal "
6205 "and beneficial uses they serve, simply to assure that there are zero "
6206 "copyright infringements caused by p2p."
6209 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6210 #: freeculture.xml:4271
6212 "Zero tolerance has not been our history. It has not produced the content "
6213 "industry that we know today. The history of American law has been a process "
6214 "of balance. As new technologies changed the way content was distributed, the "
6215 "law adjusted, after some time, to the new technology. In this adjustment, "
6216 "the law sought to ensure the legitimate rights of creators while protecting "
6217 "innovation. Sometimes this has meant more rights for creators. Sometimes "
6221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6222 #: freeculture.xml:4280
6223 msgid "composers, copyright protections of"
6226 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6227 #: freeculture.xml:4285
6228 msgid "music recordings played on"
6231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6232 #: freeculture.xml:4287
6233 msgid "copyright protections in"
6236 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6237 #: freeculture.xml:4290
6238 msgid "composer's rights vs. producers' rights in"
6241 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6242 #: freeculture.xml:4292
6244 "So, as we've seen, when <quote>mechanical reproduction</quote> threatened "
6245 "the interests of composers, Congress balanced the rights of composers "
6246 "against the interests of the recording industry. It granted rights to "
6247 "composers, but also to the recording artists: Composers were to be paid, but "
6248 "at a price set by Congress. But when radio started broadcasting the "
6249 "recordings made by these recording artists, and they complained to Congress "
6250 "that their <quote>creative property</quote> was not being respected (since "
6251 "the radio station did not have to pay them for the creativity it broadcast), "
6252 "Congress rejected their claim. An indirect benefit was enough."
6255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6256 #: freeculture.xml:4305
6258 "Cable TV followed the pattern of record albums. When the courts rejected the "
6259 "claim that cable broadcasters had to pay for the content they rebroadcast, "
6260 "Congress responded by giving broadcasters a right to compensation, but at a "
6261 "level set by the law. It likewise gave cable companies the right to the "
6262 "content, so long as they paid the statutory price."
6266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6267 #: freeculture.xml:4316
6269 "This compromise, like the compromise affecting records and player pianos, "
6270 "served two important goals—indeed, the two central goals of any "
6271 "copyright legislation. First, the law assured that new innovators would have "
6272 "the freedom to develop new ways to deliver content. Second, the law assured "
6273 "that copyright holders would be paid for the content that was "
6274 "distributed. One fear was that if Congress simply required cable TV to pay "
6275 "copyright holders whatever they demanded for their content, then copyright "
6276 "holders associated with broadcasters would use their power to stifle this "
6277 "new technology, cable. But if Congress had permitted cable to use "
6278 "broadcasters' content for free, then it would have unfairly subsidized "
6279 "cable. Thus Congress chose a path that would assure "
6280 "<emphasis>compensation</emphasis> without giving the past (broadcasters) "
6281 "control over the future (cable)."
6284 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6285 #: freeculture.xml:4334
6289 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6290 #: freeculture.xml:4337
6292 "In the same year that Congress struck this balance, two major producers and "
6293 "distributors of film content filed a lawsuit against another technology, the "
6294 "video tape recorder (VTR, or as we refer to them today, VCRs) that Sony had "
6295 "produced, the Betamax. Disney's and Universal's claim against Sony was "
6296 "relatively simple: Sony produced a device, Disney and Universal claimed, "
6297 "that enabled consumers to engage in copyright infringement. Because the "
6298 "device that Sony built had a <quote>record</quote> button, the device could "
6299 "be used to record copyrighted movies and shows. Sony was therefore "
6300 "benefiting from the copyright infringement of its customers. It should "
6301 "therefore, Disney and Universal claimed, be partially liable for that "
6306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6307 #: freeculture.xml:4351
6309 "There was something to Disney's and Universal's claim. Sony did decide to "
6310 "design its machine to make it very simple to record television shows. It "
6311 "could have built the machine to block or inhibit any direct copying from a "
6312 "television broadcast. Or possibly, it could have built the machine to copy "
6313 "only if there were a special <quote>copy me</quote> signal on the line. It "
6314 "was clear that there were many television shows that did not grant anyone "
6315 "permission to copy. Indeed, if anyone had asked, no doubt the majority of "
6316 "shows would not have authorized copying. And in the face of this obvious "
6317 "preference, Sony could have designed its system to minimize the opportunity "
6318 "for copyright infringement. It did not, and for that, Disney and Universal "
6319 "wanted to hold it responsible for the architecture it chose."
6322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6323 #: freeculture.xml:4366
6324 msgid "on VCR technology"
6328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6329 #: freeculture.xml:4375
6331 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders): Hearing on S. 1758 "
6332 "Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., "
6333 "459 (1982) (testimony of Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association "
6334 "of America, Inc.)."
6338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6339 #: freeculture.xml:4387
6340 msgid "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 475."
6344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6345 #: freeculture.xml:4392
6347 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
6348 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 480 F. Supp. 429, (C.D. Cal., 1979)."
6352 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6353 #: freeculture.xml:4403
6355 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 485 (testimony of Jack "
6359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6360 #: freeculture.xml:4368
6362 "MPAA president Jack Valenti became the studios' most vocal champion. Valenti "
6363 "called VCRs <quote>tapeworms.</quote> He warned, <quote>When there are 20, "
6364 "30, 40 million of these VCRs in the land, we will be invaded by millions of "
6365 "`tapeworms,' eating away at the very heart and essence of the most precious "
6366 "asset the copyright owner has, his copyright.</quote><placeholder "
6367 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <quote>One does not have to be trained in "
6368 "sophisticated marketing and creative judgment,</quote> he told Congress, "
6369 "<quote>to understand the devastation on the after-theater marketplace caused "
6370 "by the hundreds of millions of tapings that will adversely impact on the "
6371 "future of the creative community in this country. It is simply a question of "
6372 "basic economics and plain common sense.</quote><placeholder "
6373 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Indeed, as surveys would later show, 45 percent "
6374 "of VCR owners had movie libraries of ten videos or more<placeholder "
6375 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> — a use the Court would later hold was "
6376 "not <quote>fair.</quote> By <quote>allowing VCR owners to copy freely by the "
6377 "means of an exemption from copyright infringement without creating a "
6378 "mechanism to compensate copyright owners,</quote> Valenti testified, "
6379 "Congress would <quote>take from the owners the very essence of their "
6380 "property: the exclusive right to control who may use their work, that is, "
6381 "who may copy it and thereby profit from its "
6382 "reproduction.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"3\"/>"
6386 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6387 #: freeculture.xml:4421
6389 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
6390 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 659 F. 2d 963 (9th Cir. 1981)."
6393 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
6394 #: freeculture.xml:4424
6395 msgid "Kozinski, Alex"
6398 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6399 #: freeculture.xml:4409
6401 "It took eight years for this case to be resolved by the Supreme Court. In "
6402 "the interim, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hollywood in "
6403 "its jurisdiction—leading Judge Alex Kozinski, who sits on that court, "
6404 "refers to it as the <quote>Hollywood Circuit</quote>—held that Sony "
6405 "would be liable for the copyright infringement made possible by its "
6406 "machines. Under the Ninth Circuit's rule, this totally familiar "
6407 "technology—which Jack Valenti had called <quote>the Boston Strangler "
6408 "of the American film industry</quote> (worse yet, it was a "
6409 "<emphasis>Japanese</emphasis> Boston Strangler of the American film "
6410 "industry)—was an illegal technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6411 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
6415 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6416 #: freeculture.xml:4427
6418 "But the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit. And in "
6419 "its reversal, the Court clearly articulated its understanding of when and "
6420 "whether courts should intervene in such disputes. As the Court wrote,"
6424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
6425 #: freeculture.xml:4446
6427 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
6428 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, 431 (1984)."
6431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
6432 #: freeculture.xml:4436
6434 "Sound policy, as well as history, supports our consistent deference to "
6435 "Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for "
6436 "copyrighted materials. Congress has the constitutional authority and the "
6437 "institutional ability to accommodate fully the varied permutations of "
6438 "competing interests that are inevitably implicated by such new "
6439 "technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6442 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6443 #: freeculture.xml:4452
6445 "Congress was asked to respond to the Supreme Court's decision. But as with "
6446 "the plea of recording artists about radio broadcasts, Congress ignored the "
6447 "request. Congress was convinced that American film got enough, this "
6448 "<quote>taking</quote> notwithstanding. If we put these cases together, a "
6452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
6453 #: freeculture.xml:4463
6457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
6458 #: freeculture.xml:4464
6459 msgid "WHOSE VALUE WAS <quote>PIRATED</quote>"
6462 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
6463 #: freeculture.xml:4465
6464 msgid "RESPONSE OF THE COURTS"
6467 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
6468 #: freeculture.xml:4466
6469 msgid "RESPONSE OF CONGRESS"
6472 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6473 #: freeculture.xml:4471
6477 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6478 #: freeculture.xml:4472
6482 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6483 #: freeculture.xml:4473 freeculture.xml:4485 freeculture.xml:4491
6484 msgid "No protection"
6487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6488 #: freeculture.xml:4474 freeculture.xml:4486
6489 msgid "Statutory license"
6492 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6493 #: freeculture.xml:4478
6494 msgid "Recording artists"
6497 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6498 #: freeculture.xml:4479
6502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6503 #: freeculture.xml:4480 freeculture.xml:4492
6507 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6508 #: freeculture.xml:4484
6509 msgid "Broadcasters"
6512 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6513 #: freeculture.xml:4489
6517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
6518 #: freeculture.xml:4490
6519 msgid "Film creators"
6522 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6523 #: freeculture.xml:4502
6525 "These are the most important instances in our history, but there are other "
6526 "cases as well. The technology of digital audio tape (DAT), for example, was "
6527 "regulated by Congress to minimize the risk of piracy. The remedy Congress "
6528 "imposed did burden DAT producers, by taxing tape sales and controlling the "
6529 "technology of DAT. See Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (Title 17 of the "
6530 "<citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>), Pub. L. No. 102-563, 106 Stat. "
6531 "4237, codified at 17 U.S.C. §1001. Again, however, this regulation did not "
6532 "eliminate the opportunity for free riding in the sense I've described. See "
6533 "Lessig, <citetitle>Future</citetitle>, 71. See also Picker, <quote>From "
6534 "Edison to the Broadcast Flag,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law "
6535 "Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 293–96. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6536 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
6539 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6540 #: freeculture.xml:4499
6542 "In each case throughout our history, a new technology changed the way "
6543 "content was distributed.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In each "
6544 "case, throughout our history, that change meant that someone got a "
6545 "<quote>free ride</quote> on someone else's work."
6549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6550 #: freeculture.xml:4520
6552 "In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these cases did either the courts or "
6553 "Congress eliminate all free riding. In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these "
6554 "cases did the courts or Congress insist that the law should assure that the "
6555 "copyright holder get all the value that his copyright created. In every "
6556 "case, the copyright owners complained of <quote>piracy.</quote> In every "
6557 "case, Congress acted to recognize some of the legitimacy in the behavior of "
6558 "the <quote>pirates.</quote> In each case, Congress allowed some new "
6559 "technology to benefit from content made before. It balanced the interests at "
6563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6564 #: freeculture.xml:4533
6566 "When you think across these examples, and the other examples that make up "
6567 "the first four chapters of this section, this balance makes sense. Was Walt "
6568 "Disney a pirate? Would doujinshi be better if creators had to ask "
6569 "permission? Should tools that enable others to capture and spread images as "
6570 "a way to cultivate or criticize our culture be better regulated? Is it "
6571 "really right that building a search engine should expose you to $15 million "
6572 "in damages? Would it have been better if Edison had controlled film? Should "
6573 "every cover band have to hire a lawyer to get permission to record a song?"
6576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6577 #: freeculture.xml:4544
6578 msgid "on balance of interests in copyright law"
6582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6583 #: freeculture.xml:4551
6585 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
6586 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, (1984)."
6589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6590 #: freeculture.xml:4546
6592 "We could answer yes to each of these questions, but our tradition has "
6593 "answered no. In our tradition, as the Supreme Court has stated, copyright "
6594 "<quote>has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all "
6595 "possible uses of his work.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
6596 "Instead, the particular uses that the law regulates have been defined by "
6597 "balancing the good that comes from granting an exclusive right against the "
6598 "burdens such an exclusive right creates. And this balancing has historically "
6599 "been done <emphasis>after</emphasis> a technology has matured, or settled "
6600 "into the mix of technologies that facilitate the distribution of content."
6603 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6604 #: freeculture.xml:4562
6606 "We should be doing the same thing today. The technology of the Internet is "
6607 "changing quickly. The way people connect to the Internet (wires "
6608 "vs. wireless) is changing very quickly. No doubt the network should not "
6609 "become a tool for <quote>stealing</quote> from artists. But neither should "
6610 "the law become a tool to entrench one particular way in which artists (or "
6611 "more accurately, distributors) get paid. As I describe in some detail in the "
6612 "last chapter of this book, we should be securing income to artists while we "
6613 "allow the market to secure the most efficient way to promote and distribute "
6614 "content. This will require changes in the law, at least in the "
6615 "interim. These changes should be designed to balance the protection of the "
6616 "law against the strong public interest that innovation continue."
6620 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
6621 #: freeculture.xml:4586
6623 "John Schwartz, <quote>New Economy: The Attack on Peer-to-Peer Software "
6624 "Echoes Past Efforts,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 22 "
6625 "September 2003, C3."
6628 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6629 #: freeculture.xml:4578
6631 "This is especially true when a new technology enables a vastly superior mode "
6632 "of distribution. And this p2p has done. P2p technologies can be ideally "
6633 "efficient in moving content across a widely diverse network. Left to "
6634 "develop, they could make the network vastly more efficient. Yet these "
6635 "<quote>potential public benefits,</quote> as John Schwartz writes in "
6636 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, <quote>could be delayed in the "
6637 "P2P fight.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6641 #: freeculture.xml:4591
6643 "<emphasis role='strong'>Yet when anyone</emphasis> begins to talk about "
6644 "<quote>balance,</quote> the copyright warriors raise a different "
6645 "argument. <quote>All this hand waving about balance and incentives,</quote> "
6646 "they say, <quote>misses a fundamental point. Our content,</quote> the "
6647 "warriors insist, <quote>is our <emphasis>property</emphasis>. Why should we "
6648 "wait for Congress to `rebalance' our property rights? Do you have to wait "
6649 "before calling the police when your car has been stolen? And why should "
6650 "Congress deliberate at all about the merits of this theft? Do we ask whether "
6651 "the car thief had a good use for the car before we arrest him?</quote>"
6654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
6655 #: freeculture.xml:4603
6657 "<quote>It is <emphasis>our property</emphasis>,</quote> the warriors "
6658 "insist. <quote>And it should be protected just as any other property is "
6659 "protected.</quote>"
6662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
6663 #: freeculture.xml:4612
6664 msgid "<quote>PROPERTY</quote>"
6668 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6669 #: freeculture.xml:4617
6671 "<emphasis role='strong'>The copyright warriors</emphasis> are right: A "
6672 "copyright is a kind of property. It can be owned and sold, and the law "
6673 "protects against its theft. Ordinarily, the copyright owner gets to hold out "
6674 "for any price he wants. Markets reckon the supply and demand that partially "
6675 "determine the price she can get."
6678 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6679 #: freeculture.xml:4624
6681 "But in ordinary language, to call a copyright a <quote>property</quote> "
6682 "right is a bit misleading, for the property of copyright is an odd kind of "
6683 "property. Indeed, the very idea of property in any idea or any expression "
6684 "is very odd. I understand what I am taking when I take the picnic table you "
6685 "put in your backyard. I am taking a thing, the picnic table, and after I "
6686 "take it, you don't have it. But what am I taking when I take the good "
6687 "<emphasis>idea</emphasis> you had to put a picnic table in the "
6688 "backyard—by, for example, going to Sears, buying a table, and putting "
6689 "it in my backyard? What is the thing I am taking then?"
6692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
6693 #: freeculture.xml:4635 freeculture.xml:6445 freeculture.xml:14393
6694 msgid "Jefferson, Thomas"
6698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
6699 #: freeculture.xml:4650
6701 "Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson (13 August 1813) in "
6702 "<citetitle>The Writings of Thomas Jefferson</citetitle>, vol. 6 (Andrew "
6703 "A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds., 1903), 330, 333–34."
6706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6707 #: freeculture.xml:4637
6709 "The point is not just about the thingness of picnic tables versus ideas, "
6710 "though that's an important difference. The point instead is that in the "
6711 "ordinary case—indeed, in practically every case except for a narrow "
6712 "range of exceptions—ideas released to the world are free. I don't take "
6713 "anything from you when I copy the way you dress—though I might seem "
6714 "weird if I did it every day, and especially weird if you are a "
6715 "woman. Instead, as Thomas Jefferson said (and as is especially true when I "
6716 "copy the way someone else dresses), <quote>He who receives an idea from me, "
6717 "receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his "
6718 "taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.</quote><placeholder "
6719 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6722 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><secondary>
6723 #: freeculture.xml:4655
6724 msgid "intangibility of"
6727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6728 #: freeculture.xml:4657
6730 "The exceptions to free use are ideas and expressions within the reach of the "
6731 "law of patent and copyright, and a few other domains that I won't discuss "
6732 "here. Here the law says you can't take my idea or expression without my "
6733 "permission: The law turns the intangible into property."
6737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
6738 #: freeculture.xml:4670
6740 "As the legal realists taught American law, all property rights are "
6741 "intangible. A property right is simply a right that an individual has "
6742 "against the world to do or not do certain things that may or may not attach "
6743 "to a physical object. The right itself is intangible, even if the object to "
6744 "which it is (metaphorically) attached is tangible. See Adam Mossoff, "
6745 "<quote>What Is Property? Putting the Pieces Back Together,</quote> "
6746 "<citetitle>Arizona Law Review</citetitle> 45 (2003): 373, 429 n. 241."
6749 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6750 #: freeculture.xml:4665
6752 "But how, and to what extent, and in what form—the details, in other "
6753 "words—matter. To get a good sense of how this practice of turning the "
6754 "intangible into property emerged, we need to place this "
6755 "<quote>property</quote> in its proper context.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
6760 #: freeculture.xml:4680
6762 "My strategy in doing this will be the same as my strategy in the preceding "
6763 "part. I offer four stories to help put the idea of <quote>copyright material "
6764 "is property</quote> in context. Where did the idea come from? What are its "
6765 "limits? How does it function in practice? After these stories, the "
6766 "significance of this true statement—<quote>copyright material is "
6767 "property</quote>— will be a bit more clear, and its implications will "
6768 "be revealed as quite different from the implications that the copyright "
6769 "warriors would have us draw."
6772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
6773 #: freeculture.xml:4693
6777 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
6778 #: freeculture.xml:4694
6779 msgid "English copyright law developed for"
6782 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6783 #: freeculture.xml:4697
6784 msgid "England, copyright laws developed in"
6787 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6788 #: freeculture.xml:4698 freeculture.xml:13934
6789 msgid "United Kingdom"
6792 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
6793 #: freeculture.xml:4698
6794 msgid "history of copyright law in"
6797 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6798 #: freeculture.xml:4699 freeculture.xml:4869
6799 msgid "Branagh, Kenneth"
6802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6803 #: freeculture.xml:4700
6807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6808 #: freeculture.xml:4702 freeculture.xml:4834
6809 msgid "Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare)"
6812 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6813 #: freeculture.xml:4704
6815 "<emphasis role='strong'>William Shakespeare</emphasis> wrote "
6816 "<citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> in 1595. The play was first "
6817 "published in 1597. It was the eleventh major play that Shakespeare had "
6818 "written. He would continue to write plays through 1613, and the plays that "
6819 "he wrote have continued to define Anglo-American culture ever since. So "
6820 "deeply have the works of a sixteenth-century writer seeped into our culture "
6821 "that we often don't even recognize their source. I once overheard someone "
6822 "commenting on Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Henry V: <quote>I liked it, "
6823 "but Shakespeare is so full of clichés.</quote>"
6826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6827 #: freeculture.xml:4715 freeculture.xml:4799 freeculture.xml:4908 freeculture.xml:5041
6831 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6832 #: freeculture.xml:4716
6833 msgid "Tonson, Jacob"
6836 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
6837 #: freeculture.xml:4722
6841 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
6842 #: freeculture.xml:4723
6843 msgid "Dryden, John"
6846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6847 #: freeculture.xml:4722
6849 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6850 "id=\"1\"/> Jacob Tonson is typically remembered for his associations with "
6851 "prominent eighteenth-century literary figures, especially John Dryden, and "
6852 "for his handsome <quote>definitive editions</quote> of classic works. In "
6853 "addition to <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle>, he published an "
6854 "astonishing array of works that still remain at the heart of the English "
6855 "canon, including collected works of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Milton, "
6856 "and John Dryden. See Keith Walker, <quote>Jacob Tonson, Bookseller,</quote> "
6857 "<citetitle>American Scholar</citetitle> 61:3 (1992): 424–31."
6861 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6862 #: freeculture.xml:4735
6864 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <citetitle>Copyright in Historical "
6865 "Perspective</citetitle> (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1968), "
6870 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6871 #: freeculture.xml:4718
6873 "In 1774, almost 180 years after <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> was "
6874 "written, the <quote>copy-right</quote> for the work was still thought by "
6875 "many to be the exclusive right of a single London publisher, Jacob "
6876 "Tonson.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Tonson was the most "
6877 "prominent of a small group of publishers called the Conger<placeholder "
6878 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> who controlled bookselling in England during "
6879 "the eighteenth century. The Conger claimed a perpetual right to control the "
6880 "<quote>copy</quote> of books that they had acquired from authors. That "
6881 "perpetual right meant that no one else could publish copies of a book to "
6882 "which they held the copyright. Prices of the classics were thus kept high; "
6883 "competition to produce better or cheaper editions was eliminated."
6886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6887 #: freeculture.xml:4747 freeculture.xml:4800 freeculture.xml:4940 freeculture.xml:5121 freeculture.xml:5277
6888 msgid "British Parliament"
6891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
6892 #: freeculture.xml:4749 freeculture.xml:7116
6893 msgid "renewability of"
6896 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6897 #: freeculture.xml:4750 freeculture.xml:4802 freeculture.xml:4846 freeculture.xml:4953 freeculture.xml:5040 freeculture.xml:7106
6898 msgid "Statute of Anne (1710)"
6901 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6902 #: freeculture.xml:4761
6904 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> As Siva Vaidhyanathan nicely "
6905 "argues, it is erroneous to call this a <quote>copyright law.</quote> See "
6906 "Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and Copywrongs</citetitle>, 40."
6909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6910 #: freeculture.xml:4752
6912 "Now, there's something puzzling about the year 1774 to anyone who knows a "
6913 "little about copyright law. The better-known year in the history of "
6914 "copyright is 1710, the year that the British Parliament adopted the first "
6915 "<quote>copyright</quote> act. Known as the Statute of Anne, the act stated "
6916 "that all published works would get a copyright term of fourteen years, "
6917 "renewable once if the author was alive, and that all works already published "
6918 "by 1710 would get a single term of twenty-one additional years.<placeholder "
6919 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Under this law, <citetitle>Romeo and "
6920 "Juliet</citetitle> should have been free in 1731. So why was there any issue "
6921 "about it still being under Tonson's control in 1774?"
6924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
6925 #: freeculture.xml:4770 freeculture.xml:4994
6926 msgid "common vs. positive"
6929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6930 #: freeculture.xml:4771 freeculture.xml:4995
6931 msgid "positive law"
6934 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6935 #: freeculture.xml:4772
6936 msgid "Licensing Act (1662)"
6939 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6940 #: freeculture.xml:4774
6942 "The reason is that the English hadn't yet agreed on what a "
6943 "<quote>copyright</quote> was—indeed, no one had. At the time the "
6944 "English passed the Statute of Anne, there was no other legislation governing "
6945 "copyrights. The last law regulating publishers, the Licensing Act of 1662, "
6946 "had expired in 1695. That law gave publishers a monopoly over publishing, as "
6947 "a way to make it easier for the Crown to control what was published. But "
6948 "after it expired, there was no positive law that said that the publishers, "
6949 "or <quote>Stationers,</quote> had an exclusive right to print books."
6952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6953 #: freeculture.xml:4785 freeculture.xml:4993 freeculture.xml:5064 freeculture.xml:5164
6957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6958 #: freeculture.xml:4787
6960 "There was no <emphasis>positive</emphasis> law, but that didn't mean that "
6961 "there was no law. The Anglo-American legal tradition looks to both the words "
6962 "of legislatures and the words of judges to know the rules that are to govern "
6963 "how people are to behave. We call the words from legislatures "
6964 "<quote>positive law.</quote> We call the words from judges <quote>common "
6965 "law.</quote> The common law sets the background against which legislatures "
6966 "legislate; the legislature, ordinarily, can trump that background only if it "
6967 "passes a law to displace it. And so the real question after the licensing "
6968 "statutes had expired was whether the common law protected a copyright, "
6969 "independent of any positive law."
6972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6973 #: freeculture.xml:4801 freeculture.xml:5030 freeculture.xml:5138 freeculture.xml:5216
6974 msgid "Scottish publishers"
6978 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6979 #: freeculture.xml:4804
6981 "This question was important to the publishers, or "
6982 "<quote>booksellers,</quote> as they were called, because there was growing "
6983 "competition from foreign publishers. The Scottish, in particular, were "
6984 "increasingly publishing and exporting books to England. That competition "
6985 "reduced the profits of the Conger, which reacted by demanding that "
6986 "Parliament pass a law to again give them exclusive control over "
6987 "publishing. That demand ultimately resulted in the Statute of Anne."
6990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
6991 #: freeculture.xml:4815
6992 msgid "as narrow monopoly right"
6995 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6996 #: freeculture.xml:4817
6998 "The Statute of Anne granted the author or <quote>proprietor</quote> of a "
6999 "book an exclusive right to print that book. In an important limitation, "
7000 "however, and to the horror of the booksellers, the law gave the bookseller "
7001 "that right for a limited term. At the end of that term, the copyright "
7002 "<quote>expired,</quote> and the work would then be free and could be "
7003 "published by anyone. Or so the legislature is thought to have believed."
7006 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7007 #: freeculture.xml:4827
7009 "Now, the thing to puzzle about for a moment is this: Why would Parliament "
7010 "limit the exclusive right? Not why would they limit it to the particular "
7011 "limit they set, but why would they limit the right <emphasis>at "
7015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7016 #: freeculture.xml:4836
7018 "For the booksellers, and the authors whom they represented, had a very "
7019 "strong claim. Take <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> as an example: "
7020 "That play was written by Shakespeare. It was his genius that brought it into "
7021 "the world. He didn't take anybody's property when he created this play "
7022 "(that's a controversial claim, but never mind), and by his creating this "
7023 "play, he didn't make it any harder for others to craft a play. So why is it "
7024 "that the law would ever allow someone else to come along and take "
7025 "Shakespeare's play without his, or his estate's, permission? What reason is "
7026 "there to allow someone else to <quote>steal</quote> Shakespeare's work?"
7029 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7030 #: freeculture.xml:4848
7032 "The answer comes in two parts. We first need to see something special about "
7033 "the notion of <quote>copyright</quote> that existed at the time of the "
7034 "Statute of Anne. Second, we have to see something important about "
7035 "<quote>booksellers.</quote>"
7038 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
7039 #: freeculture.xml:4853 freeculture.xml:7631 freeculture.xml:7798
7040 msgid "usage restrictions attached to"
7044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7045 #: freeculture.xml:4855
7047 "First, about copyright. In the last three hundred years, we have come to "
7048 "apply the concept of <quote>copyright</quote> ever more broadly. But in "
7049 "1710, it wasn't so much a concept as it was a very particular right. The "
7050 "copyright was born as a very specific set of restrictions: It forbade others "
7051 "from reprinting a book. In 1710, the <quote>copy-right</quote> was a right "
7052 "to use a particular machine to replicate a particular work. It did not go "
7053 "beyond that very narrow right. It did not control any more generally how a "
7054 "work could be <emphasis>used</emphasis>. Today the right includes a large "
7055 "collection of restrictions on the freedom of others: It grants the author "
7056 "the exclusive right to copy, the exclusive right to distribute, the "
7057 "exclusive right to perform, and so on."
7060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7061 #: freeculture.xml:4872
7063 "So, for example, even if the copyright to Shakespeare's works were "
7064 "perpetual, all that would have meant under the original meaning of the term "
7065 "was that no one could reprint Shakespeare's work without the permission of "
7066 "the Shakespeare estate. It would not have controlled anything, for example, "
7067 "about how the work could be performed, whether the work could be translated, "
7068 "or whether Kenneth Branagh would be allowed to make his films. The "
7069 "<quote>copy-right</quote> was only an exclusive right to print—no "
7070 "less, of course, but also no more."
7073 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7074 #: freeculture.xml:4881
7075 msgid "Henry VIII, King of England"
7078 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7079 #: freeculture.xml:4882
7080 msgid "monopoly, copyright as"
7083 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7084 #: freeculture.xml:4883
7085 msgid "Statute of Monopolies (1656)"
7088 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7089 #: freeculture.xml:4885
7091 "Even that limited right was viewed with skepticism by the British. They had "
7092 "had a long and ugly experience with <quote>exclusive rights,</quote> "
7093 "especially <quote>exclusive rights</quote> granted by the Crown. The English "
7094 "had fought a civil war in part about the Crown's practice of handing out "
7095 "monopolies—especially monopolies for works that already existed. King "
7096 "Henry VIII granted a patent to print the Bible and a monopoly to Darcy to "
7097 "print playing cards. The English Parliament began to fight back against this "
7098 "power of the Crown. In 1656, it passed the Statute of Monopolies, limiting "
7099 "monopolies to patents for new inventions. And by 1710, Parliament was eager "
7100 "to deal with the growing monopoly in publishing."
7103 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7104 #: freeculture.xml:4898
7106 "Thus the <quote>copy-right,</quote> when viewed as a monopoly right, was "
7107 "naturally viewed as a right that should be limited. (However convincing the "
7108 "claim that <quote>it's my property, and I should have it forever,</quote> "
7109 "try sounding convincing when uttering, <quote>It's my monopoly, and I should "
7110 "have it forever.</quote>) The state would protect the exclusive right, but "
7111 "only so long as it benefited society. The British saw the harms from "
7112 "specialinterest favors; they passed a law to stop them."
7115 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7116 #: freeculture.xml:4906 freeculture.xml:5199
7117 msgid "Milton, John"
7120 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7121 #: freeculture.xml:4907
7122 msgid "booksellers, English"
7126 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7127 #: freeculture.xml:4926
7129 "Philip Wittenberg, <citetitle>The Protection and Marketing of Literary "
7130 "Property</citetitle> (New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1937), 31."
7133 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7134 #: freeculture.xml:4911
7136 "Second, about booksellers. It wasn't just that the copyright was a "
7137 "monopoly. It was also that it was a monopoly held by the booksellers. "
7138 "Booksellers sound quaint and harmless to us. They were not viewed as "
7139 "harmless in seventeenth-century England. Members of the Conger were "
7140 "increasingly seen as monopolists of the worst kind—tools of the "
7141 "Crown's repression, selling the liberty of England to guarantee themselves a "
7142 "monopoly profit. The attacks against these monopolists were harsh: Milton "
7143 "described them as <quote>old patentees and monopolizers in the trade of "
7144 "book-selling</quote>; they were <quote>men who do not therefore labour in an "
7145 "honest profession to which learning is indetted.</quote><placeholder "
7146 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7149 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7150 #: freeculture.xml:4930
7151 msgid "Enlightenment"
7154 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7155 #: freeculture.xml:4931
7156 msgid "knowledge, freedom of"
7159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7160 #: freeculture.xml:4933
7162 "Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread of "
7163 "knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment was "
7164 "teaching the importance of education and knowledge spread generally. The "
7165 "idea that knowledge should be free was a hallmark of the time, and these "
7166 "powerful commercial interests were interfering with that idea."
7169 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7170 #: freeculture.xml:4942
7172 "To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition among "
7173 "booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the wealth of "
7174 "valuable books. Parliament therefore limited the term of copyrights, and "
7175 "thereby guaranteed that valuable books would become open to any publisher to "
7176 "publish after a limited time. Thus the setting of the term for existing "
7177 "works to just twenty-one years was a compromise to fight the power of the "
7178 "booksellers. The limitation on terms was an indirect way to assure "
7179 "competition among publishers, and thus the construction and spread of "
7183 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7184 #: freeculture.xml:4955 freeculture.xml:5090 freeculture.xml:5184 freeculture.xml:11136
7185 msgid "in perpetuity"
7188 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7189 #: freeculture.xml:4957
7191 "When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were getting "
7192 "anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and like every "
7193 "competitor, they didn't like them. At first booksellers simply ignored the "
7194 "Statute of Anne, continuing to insist on the perpetual right to control "
7195 "publication. But in 1735 and 1737, they tried to persuade Parliament to "
7196 "extend their terms. Twenty-one years was not enough, they said; they needed "
7200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7201 #: freeculture.xml:4966
7203 "Parliament rejected their requests. As one pamphleteer put it, in words that "
7208 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
7209 #: freeculture.xml:4981
7211 "A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Bill now depending in the "
7212 "House of Commons, for making more effectual an Act in the Eighth Year of the "
7213 "Reign of Queen Anne, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by "
7214 "Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such "
7215 "Copies, during the Times therein mentioned (London, 1735), in Brief Amici "
7216 "Curiae of Tyler T. Ochoa et al., 8, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
7217 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01-618)."
7220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7221 #: freeculture.xml:4971
7223 "I see no Reason for granting a further Term now, which will not hold as well "
7224 "for granting it again and again, as often as the Old ones Expire; so that "
7225 "should this Bill pass, it will in Effect be establishing a perpetual "
7226 "Monopoly, a Thing deservedly odious in the Eye of the Law; it will be a "
7227 "great Cramp to Trade, a Discouragement to Learning, no Benefit to the "
7228 "Authors, but a general Tax on the Publick; and all this only to increase the "
7229 "private Gain of the Booksellers.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7232 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7233 #: freeculture.xml:4997
7235 "Having failed in Parliament, the publishers turned to the courts in a series "
7236 "of cases. Their argument was simple and direct: The Statute of Anne gave "
7237 "authors certain protections through positive law, but those protections were "
7238 "not intended as replacements for the common law. Instead, they were "
7239 "intended simply to supplement the common law. Under common law, it was "
7240 "already wrong to take another person's creative <quote>property</quote> and "
7241 "use it without his permission. The Statute of Anne, the booksellers argued, "
7242 "didn't change that. Therefore, just because the protections of the Statute "
7243 "of Anne expired, that didn't mean the protections of the common law expired: "
7244 "Under the common law they had the right to ban the publication of a book, "
7245 "even if its Statute of Anne copyright had expired. This, they argued, was "
7246 "the only way to protect authors."
7249 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
7250 #: freeculture.xml:5019 freeculture.xml:5029 freeculture.xml:5072
7251 msgid "Patterson, Raymond"
7254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7255 #: freeculture.xml:5019
7257 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7258 "id=\"1\"/> Lyman Ray Patterson, <quote>Free Speech, Copyright, and Fair "
7259 "Use,</quote> <citetitle>Vanderbilt Law Review</citetitle> 40 (1987): 28. For "
7260 "a wonderfully compelling account, see Vaidhyanathan, 37–48."
7263 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7264 #: freeculture.xml:5013
7266 "This was a clever argument, and one that had the support of some of the "
7267 "leading jurists of the day. It also displayed extraordinary chutzpah. Until "
7268 "then, as law professor Raymond Patterson has put it, <quote>The publishers "
7269 "… had as much concern for authors as a cattle rancher has for "
7270 "cattle.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The bookseller "
7271 "didn't care squat for the rights of the author. His concern was the "
7272 "monopoly profit that the author's work gave."
7275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7276 #: freeculture.xml:5028 freeculture.xml:5137
7277 msgid "Donaldson, Alexander"
7281 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7282 #: freeculture.xml:5036
7284 "For a compelling account, see David Saunders, <citetitle>Authorship and "
7285 "Copyright</citetitle> (London: Routledge, 1992), 62–69."
7288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7289 #: freeculture.xml:5032
7291 "The booksellers' argument was not accepted without a fight. The hero of "
7292 "this fight was a Scottish bookseller named Alexander Donaldson.<placeholder "
7293 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7297 #: freeculture.xml:5042
7298 msgid "Boswell, James"
7301 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7302 #: freeculture.xml:5043
7303 msgid "Erskine, Andrew"
7306 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7307 #: freeculture.xml:5052 freeculture.xml:15556
7311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7312 #: freeculture.xml:5050
7314 "Mark Rose, <citetitle>Authors and Owners</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard "
7315 "University Press, 1993), 92. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
7319 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7320 #: freeculture.xml:5061
7324 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7325 #: freeculture.xml:5045
7327 "Donaldson was an outsider to the London Conger. He began his career in "
7328 "Edinburgh in 1750. The focus of his business was inexpensive reprints "
7329 "<quote>of standard works whose copyright term had expired,</quote> at least "
7330 "under the Statute of Anne.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
7331 "Donaldson's publishing house prospered and became <quote>something of a "
7332 "center for literary Scotsmen.</quote> <quote>[A]mong them,</quote> Professor "
7333 "Mark Rose writes, was <quote>the young James Boswell who, together with his "
7334 "friend Andrew Erskine, published an anthology of contemporary Scottish poems "
7335 "with Donaldson.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
7338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7339 #: freeculture.xml:5072
7341 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Lyman Ray Patterson, "
7342 "<citetitle>Copyright in Historical Perspective</citetitle>, 167 (quoting "
7346 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7347 #: freeculture.xml:5066
7349 "When the London booksellers tried to shut down Donaldson's shop in Scotland, "
7350 "he responded by moving his shop to London, where he sold inexpensive "
7351 "editions <quote>of the most popular English books, in defiance of the "
7352 "supposed common law right of Literary Property.</quote><placeholder "
7353 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His books undercut the Conger prices by 30 to "
7354 "50 percent, and he rested his right to compete upon the ground that, under "
7355 "the Statute of Anne, the works he was selling had passed out of protection."
7358 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7359 #: freeculture.xml:5081
7360 msgid "Millar v. Taylor"
7363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7364 #: freeculture.xml:5083
7366 "The London booksellers quickly brought suit to block <quote>piracy</quote> "
7367 "like Donaldson's. A number of actions were successful against the "
7368 "<quote>pirates,</quote> the most important early victory being "
7369 "<citetitle>Millar</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Taylor</citetitle>."
7372 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7373 #: freeculture.xml:5089 freeculture.xml:5143
7374 msgid "Thomson, James"
7377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7378 #: freeculture.xml:5091
7379 msgid "Seasons, The (Thomson)"
7382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7383 #: freeculture.xml:5092
7384 msgid "Taylor, Robert"
7388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7389 #: freeculture.xml:5101
7391 "Howard B. Abrams, <quote>The Historic Foundation of American Copyright Law: "
7392 "Exploding the Myth of Common Law Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Wayne Law "
7393 "Review</citetitle> 29 (1983): 1152."
7396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7397 #: freeculture.xml:5094
7399 "Millar was a bookseller who in 1729 had purchased the rights to James "
7400 "Thomson's poem <quote>The Seasons.</quote> Millar complied with the "
7401 "requirements of the Statute of Anne, and therefore received the full "
7402 "protection of the statute. After the term of copyright ended, Robert Taylor "
7403 "began printing a competing volume. Millar sued, claiming a perpetual common "
7404 "law right, the Statute of Anne notwithstanding.<placeholder "
7405 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7409 #: freeculture.xml:5108
7411 "Astonishingly to modern lawyers, one of the greatest judges in English "
7412 "history, Lord Mansfield, agreed with the booksellers. Whatever protection "
7413 "the Statute of Anne gave booksellers, it did not, he held, extinguish any "
7414 "common law right. The question was whether the common law would protect the "
7415 "author against subsequent <quote>pirates.</quote> Mansfield's answer was "
7416 "yes: The common law would bar Taylor from reprinting Thomson's poem without "
7417 "Millar's permission. That common law rule thus effectively gave the "
7418 "booksellers a perpetual right to control the publication of any book "
7423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7424 #: freeculture.xml:5123
7426 "Considered as a matter of abstract justice—reasoning as if justice "
7427 "were just a matter of logical deduction from first "
7428 "principles—Mansfield's conclusion might make some sense. But what it "
7429 "ignored was the larger issue that Parliament had struggled with in 1710: How "
7430 "best to limit the monopoly power of publishers? Parliament's strategy was to "
7431 "offer a term for existing works that was long enough to buy peace in 1710, "
7432 "but short enough to assure that culture would pass into competition within a "
7433 "reasonable period of time. Within twenty-one years, Parliament believed, "
7434 "Britain would mature from the controlled culture that the Crown coveted to "
7435 "the free culture that we inherited."
7438 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7439 #: freeculture.xml:5140
7441 "The fight to defend the limits of the Statute of Anne was not to end there, "
7442 "however, and it is here that Donaldson enters the mix."
7445 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7446 #: freeculture.xml:5144
7447 msgid "Beckett, Thomas"
7450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7451 #: freeculture.xml:5145 freeculture.xml:5252
7452 msgid "House of Lords"
7455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7456 #: freeculture.xml:5146
7457 msgid "House of Lords vs."
7461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7462 #: freeculture.xml:5152
7463 msgid "Ibid., 1156."
7466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7467 #: freeculture.xml:5148
7469 "Millar died soon after his victory, so his case was not appealed. His estate "
7470 "sold Thomson's poems to a syndicate of printers that included Thomas "
7471 "Beckett.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Donaldson then released an "
7472 "unauthorized edition of Thomson's works. Beckett, on the strength of the "
7473 "decision in <citetitle>Millar</citetitle>, got an injunction against "
7474 "Donaldson. Donaldson appealed the case to the House of Lords, which "
7475 "functioned much like our own Supreme Court. In February of 1774, that body "
7476 "had the chance to interpret the meaning of Parliament's limits from sixty "
7480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7481 #: freeculture.xml:5163
7482 msgid "Donaldson v. Beckett"
7485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7486 #: freeculture.xml:5166
7488 "As few legal cases ever do, <citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> "
7489 "v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle> drew an enormous amount of attention "
7490 "throughout Britain. Donaldson's lawyers argued that whatever rights may have "
7491 "existed under the common law, the Statute of Anne terminated those "
7492 "rights. After passage of the Statute of Anne, the only legal protection for "
7493 "an exclusive right to control publication came from that statute. Thus, they "
7494 "argued, after the term specified in the Statute of Anne expired, works that "
7495 "had been protected by the statute were no longer protected."
7498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7499 #: freeculture.xml:5177
7501 "The House of Lords was an odd institution. Legal questions were presented to "
7502 "the House and voted upon first by the <quote>law lords,</quote> members of "
7503 "special legal distinction who functioned much like the Justices in our "
7504 "Supreme Court. Then, after the law lords voted, the House of Lords generally "
7508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7509 #: freeculture.xml:5185 freeculture.xml:5253
7510 msgid "English legal establishment of"
7514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7515 #: freeculture.xml:5187
7517 "The reports about the law lords' votes are mixed. On some counts, it looks "
7518 "as if perpetual copyright prevailed. But there is no ambiguity about how the "
7519 "House of Lords voted as whole. By a two-to-one majority (22 to 11) they "
7520 "voted to reject the idea of perpetual copyrights. Whatever one's "
7521 "understanding of the common law, now a copyright was fixed for a limited "
7522 "time, after which the work protected by copyright passed into the public "
7526 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7527 #: freeculture.xml:5196
7528 msgid "Bacon, Francis"
7531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7532 #: freeculture.xml:5197
7533 msgid "Bunyan, John"
7536 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7537 #: freeculture.xml:5198
7538 msgid "Johnson, Samuel"
7541 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7542 #: freeculture.xml:5202
7544 "<quote>The public domain.</quote> Before the case of "
7545 "<citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle>, there "
7546 "was no clear idea of a public domain in England. Before 1774, there was a "
7547 "strong argument that common law copyrights were perpetual. After 1774, the "
7548 "public domain was born. For the first time in Anglo-American history, the "
7549 "legal control over creative works expired, and the greatest works in English "
7550 "history—including those of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Johnson, and "
7551 "Bunyan—were free of legal restraint."
7555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7556 #: freeculture.xml:5228
7560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7561 #: freeculture.xml:5218
7563 "It is hard for us to imagine, but this decision by the House of Lords fueled "
7564 "an extraordinarily popular and political reaction. In Scotland, where most "
7565 "of the <quote>pirate publishers</quote> did their work, people celebrated "
7566 "the decision in the streets. As the <citetitle>Edinburgh "
7567 "Advertiser</citetitle> reported, <quote>No private cause has so much "
7568 "engrossed the attention of the public, and none has been tried before the "
7569 "House of Lords in the decision of which so many individuals were "
7570 "interested.</quote> <quote>Great rejoicing in Edinburgh upon victory over "
7571 "literary property: bonfires and illuminations.</quote><placeholder "
7572 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7576 #: freeculture.xml:5233
7578 "In London, however, at least among publishers, the reaction was equally "
7579 "strong in the opposite direction. The <citetitle>Morning "
7580 "Chronicle</citetitle> reported:"
7583 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7584 #: freeculture.xml:5239
7586 "By the above decision … near 200,000 pounds worth of what was "
7587 "honestly purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought property "
7588 "is now reduced to nothing. The Booksellers of London and Westminster, many "
7589 "of whom sold estates and houses to purchase Copy-right, are in a manner "
7590 "ruined, and those who after many years industry thought they had acquired a "
7591 "competency to provide for their families now find themselves without a "
7592 "shilling to devise to their successors.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
7597 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7598 #: freeculture.xml:5256
7600 "<quote>Ruined</quote> is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is not an "
7601 "exaggeration to say that the change was profound. The decision of the House "
7602 "of Lords meant that the booksellers could no longer control how culture in "
7603 "England would grow and develop. Culture in England was thereafter "
7604 "<emphasis>free</emphasis>. Not in the sense that copyrights would not be "
7605 "respected, for of course, for a limited time after a work was published, the "
7606 "bookseller had an exclusive right to control the publication of that "
7607 "book. And not in the sense that books could be stolen, for even after a "
7608 "copyright expired, you still had to buy the book from someone. But "
7609 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> in the sense that the culture and its growth would "
7610 "no longer be controlled by a small group of publishers. As every free market "
7611 "does, this free market of free culture would grow as the consumers and "
7612 "producers chose. English culture would develop as the many English readers "
7613 "chose to let it develop— chose in the books they bought and wrote; "
7614 "chose in the memes they repeated and endorsed. Chose in a "
7615 "<emphasis>competitive context</emphasis>, not a context in which the choices "
7616 "about what culture is available to people and how they get access to it are "
7617 "made by the few despite the wishes of the many."
7620 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7621 #: freeculture.xml:5279
7623 "At least, this was the rule in a world where the Parliament is antimonopoly, "
7624 "resistant to the protectionist pleas of publishers. In a world where the "
7625 "Parliament is more pliant, free culture would be less protected."
7628 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7629 #: freeculture.xml:5296
7633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
7634 #: freeculture.xml:5297 freeculture.xml:7600 freeculture.xml:7719 freeculture.xml:7778
7635 msgid "fair use and"
7638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7639 #: freeculture.xml:5298
7640 msgid "documentary film"
7643 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7644 #: freeculture.xml:5299
7648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
7649 #: freeculture.xml:5300 freeculture.xml:5447 freeculture.xml:7599 freeculture.xml:7641 freeculture.xml:7718 freeculture.xml:7780
7653 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7654 #: freeculture.xml:5300
7655 msgid "in documentary film"
7658 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7659 #: freeculture.xml:5301
7660 msgid "fair use of copyrighted material in"
7663 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7664 #: freeculture.xml:5303
7666 "<emphasis role='strong'>Jon Else</emphasis> is a filmmaker. He is best known "
7667 "for his documentaries and has been very successful in spreading his art. He "
7668 "is also a teacher, and as a teacher myself, I envy the loyalty and "
7669 "admiration that his students feel for him. (I met, by accident, two of his "
7670 "students at a dinner party. He was their god.)"
7673 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7674 #: freeculture.xml:5310
7676 "Else worked on a documentary that I was involved in. At a break, he told me "
7677 "a story about the freedom to create with film in America today."
7680 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7681 #: freeculture.xml:5314 freeculture.xml:5380
7682 msgid "Wagner, Richard"
7685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7686 #: freeculture.xml:5315 freeculture.xml:5394
7687 msgid "San Francisco Opera"
7690 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7691 #: freeculture.xml:5317
7693 "In 1990, Else was working on a documentary about Wagner's Ring Cycle. The "
7694 "focus was stagehands at the San Francisco Opera. Stagehands are a "
7695 "particularly funny and colorful element of an opera. During a show, they "
7696 "hang out below the stage in the grips' lounge and in the lighting loft. They "
7697 "make a perfect contrast to the art on the stage."
7700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7701 #: freeculture.xml:5324
7702 msgid "Simpsons, The"
7706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7707 #: freeculture.xml:5326
7709 "During one of the performances, Else was shooting some stagehands playing "
7710 "checkers. In one corner of the room was a television set. Playing on the "
7711 "television set, while the stagehands played checkers and the opera company "
7712 "played Wagner, was <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. As Else judged it, "
7713 "this touch of cartoon helped capture the flavor of what was special about "
7717 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
7718 #: freeculture.xml:5335
7719 msgid "multiple copyrights associated with"
7722 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7723 #: freeculture.xml:5337
7725 "Years later, when he finally got funding to complete the film, Else "
7726 "attempted to clear the rights for those few seconds of <citetitle>The "
7727 "Simpsons</citetitle>. For of course, those few seconds are copyrighted; and "
7728 "of course, to use copyrighted material you need the permission of the "
7729 "copyright owner, unless <quote>fair use</quote> or some other privilege "
7733 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7734 #: freeculture.xml:5343
7735 msgid "Gracie Films"
7738 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
7739 #: freeculture.xml:5344 freeculture.xml:5405 freeculture.xml:5469
7740 msgid "Groening, Matt"
7743 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7744 #: freeculture.xml:5346
7746 "Else called <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> creator Matt Groening's office "
7747 "to get permission. Groening approved the shot. The shot was a "
7748 "four-and-a-halfsecond image on a tiny television set in the corner of the "
7749 "room. How could it hurt? Groening was happy to have it in the film, but he "
7750 "told Else to contact Gracie Films, the company that produces the program."
7753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
7754 #: freeculture.xml:5352 freeculture.xml:5404 freeculture.xml:5468
7755 msgid "Fox (film company)"
7758 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7759 #: freeculture.xml:5354
7761 "Gracie Films was okay with it, too, but they, like Groening, wanted to be "
7762 "careful. So they told Else to contact Fox, Gracie's parent company. Else "
7763 "called Fox and told them about the clip in the corner of the one room shot "
7764 "of the film. Matt Groening had already given permission, Else said. He was "
7765 "just confirming the permission with Fox."
7768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7769 #: freeculture.xml:5362
7771 "Then, as Else told me, <quote>two things happened. First we discovered "
7772 "… that Matt Groening doesn't own his own creation—or at least "
7773 "that someone [at Fox] believes he doesn't own his own creation.</quote> And "
7774 "second, Fox <quote>wanted ten thousand dollars as a licensing fee for us to "
7775 "use this four-point-five seconds of … entirely unsolicited "
7776 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> which was in the corner of the shot.</quote>"
7779 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7780 #: freeculture.xml:5371
7781 msgid "Herrera, Rebecca"
7784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7785 #: freeculture.xml:5373
7787 "Else was certain there was a mistake. He worked his way up to someone he "
7788 "thought was a vice president for licensing, Rebecca Herrera. He explained "
7789 "to her, <quote>There must be some mistake here. … We're asking for "
7790 "your educational rate on this.</quote> That was the educational rate, "
7791 "Herrera told Else. A day or so later, Else called again to confirm what he "
7796 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7797 #: freeculture.xml:5382
7799 "<quote>I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight,</quote> he told "
7800 "me. <quote>Yes, you have your facts straight,</quote> she said. It would "
7801 "cost $10,000 to use the clip of <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle> in the "
7802 "corner of a shot in a documentary film about Wagner's Ring Cycle. And then, "
7803 "astonishingly, Herrera told Else, <quote>And if you quote me, I'll turn you "
7804 "over to our attorneys.</quote> As an assistant to Herrera told Else later "
7805 "on, <quote>They don't give a shit. They just want the money.</quote>"
7808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7809 #: freeculture.xml:5395
7810 msgid "Day After Trinity, The"
7813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7814 #: freeculture.xml:5397
7816 "Else didn't have the money to buy the right to replay what was playing on "
7817 "the television backstage at the San Francisco Opera. To reproduce this "
7818 "reality was beyond the documentary filmmaker's budget. At the very last "
7819 "minute before the film was to be released, Else digitally replaced the shot "
7820 "with a clip from another film that he had worked on, <citetitle>The Day "
7821 "After Trinity</citetitle>, from ten years before."
7824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7825 #: freeculture.xml:5407
7827 "There's no doubt that someone, whether Matt Groening or Fox, owns the "
7828 "copyright to <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. That copyright is their "
7829 "property. To use that copyrighted material thus sometimes requires the "
7830 "permission of the copyright owner. If the use that Else wanted to make of "
7831 "the <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> copyright were one of the uses "
7832 "restricted by the law, then he would need to get the permission of the "
7833 "copyright owner before he could use the work in that way. And in a free "
7834 "market, it is the owner of the copyright who gets to set the price for any "
7835 "use that the law says the owner gets to control."
7838 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7839 #: freeculture.xml:5418
7841 "For example, <quote>public performance</quote> is a use of <citetitle>The "
7842 "Simpsons</citetitle> that the copyright owner gets to control. If you take a "
7843 "selection of favorite episodes, rent a movie theater, and charge for tickets "
7844 "to come see <quote>My Favorite <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>,</quote> then "
7845 "you need to get permission from the copyright owner. And the copyright owner "
7846 "(rightly, in my view) can charge whatever she wants—$10 or "
7847 "$1,000,000. That's her right, as set by the law."
7851 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7852 #: freeculture.xml:5430
7854 "For an excellent argument that such use is <quote>fair use,</quote> but that "
7855 "lawyers don't permit recognition that it is <quote>fair use,</quote> see "
7856 "Richard A. Posner with William F. Patry, <quote>Fair Use and Statutory "
7857 "Reform in the Wake of <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle></quote> (draft on file "
7858 "with author), University of Chicago Law School, 5 August 2003."
7861 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7862 #: freeculture.xml:5427
7864 "But when lawyers hear this story about Jon Else and Fox, their first thought "
7865 "is <quote>fair use.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Else's "
7866 "use of just 4.5 seconds of an indirect shot of a "
7867 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> episode is clearly a fair use of "
7868 "<citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>—and fair use does not require the "
7869 "permission of anyone."
7873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7874 #: freeculture.xml:5444
7876 "So I asked Else why he didn't just rely upon <quote>fair use.</quote> Here's "
7880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
7881 #: freeculture.xml:5447 freeculture.xml:7780
7882 msgid "legal intimidation tactics against"
7885 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7886 #: freeculture.xml:5449
7888 "The <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> fiasco was for me a great lesson in the "
7889 "gulf between what lawyers find irrelevant in some abstract sense, and what "
7890 "is crushingly relevant in practice to those of us actually trying to make "
7891 "and broadcast documentaries. I never had any doubt that it was "
7892 "<quote>clearly fair use</quote> in an absolute legal sense. But I couldn't "
7893 "rely on the concept in any concrete way. Here's why:"
7896 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
7897 #: freeculture.xml:5458
7898 msgid "Errors and Omissions insurance"
7902 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
7903 #: freeculture.xml:5461
7905 "Before our films can be broadcast, the network requires that we buy Errors "
7906 "and Omissions insurance. The carriers require a detailed <quote>visual cue "
7907 "sheet</quote> listing the source and licensing status of each shot in the "
7908 "film. They take a dim view of <quote>fair use,</quote> and a claim of "
7909 "<quote>fair use</quote> can grind the application process to a halt."
7912 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
7913 #: freeculture.xml:5470
7914 msgid "Lucas, George"
7917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
7918 #: freeculture.xml:5471
7919 msgid "<citetitle>Star Wars</citetitle>"
7923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
7924 #: freeculture.xml:5474
7926 "I probably never should have asked Matt Groening in the first place. But I "
7927 "knew (at least from folklore) that Fox had a history of tracking down and "
7928 "stopping unlicensed <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> usage, just as George "
7929 "Lucas had a very high profile litigating <citetitle>Star Wars</citetitle> "
7930 "usage. So I decided to play by the book, thinking that we would be granted "
7931 "free or cheap license to four seconds of <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>. As "
7932 "a documentary producer working to exhaustion on a shoestring, the last thing "
7933 "I wanted was to risk legal trouble, even nuisance legal trouble, and even to "
7934 "defend a principle."
7939 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
7940 #: freeculture.xml:5486
7942 "I did, in fact, speak with one of your colleagues at Stanford Law School "
7943 "… who confirmed that it was fair use. He also confirmed that Fox "
7944 "would <quote>depose and litigate you to within an inch of your life,</quote> "
7945 "regardless of the merits of my claim. He made clear that it would boil down "
7946 "to who had the bigger legal department and the deeper pockets, me or them."
7950 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
7951 #: freeculture.xml:5498
7953 "The question of fair use usually comes up at the end of the project, when we "
7954 "are up against a release deadline and out of money."
7957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7958 #: freeculture.xml:5506
7960 "In theory, fair use means you need no permission. The theory therefore "
7961 "supports free culture and insulates against a permission culture. But in "
7962 "practice, fair use functions very differently. The fuzzy lines of the law, "
7963 "tied to the extraordinary liability if lines are crossed, means that the "
7964 "effective fair use for many types of creators is slight. The law has the "
7965 "right aim; practice has defeated the aim."
7968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7969 #: freeculture.xml:5514
7971 "This practice shows just how far the law has come from its "
7972 "eighteenth-century roots. The law was born as a shield to protect "
7973 "publishers' profits against the unfair competition of a pirate. It has "
7974 "matured into a sword that interferes with any use, transformative or not."
7977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7978 #: freeculture.xml:5529
7979 msgid "Transformers"
7982 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7983 #: freeculture.xml:5530
7987 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
7988 #: freeculture.xml:5531 freeculture.xml:5591 freeculture.xml:5776 freeculture.xml:10489 freeculture.xml:14923
7992 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7993 #: freeculture.xml:5534
7995 "<emphasis role='strong'>In 1993</emphasis>, Alex Alben was a lawyer working "
7996 "at Starwave, Inc. Starwave was an innovative company founded by Microsoft "
7997 "cofounder Paul Allen to develop digital entertainment. Long before the "
7998 "Internet became popular, Starwave began investing in new technology for "
7999 "delivering entertainment in anticipation of the power of networks."
8002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
8003 #: freeculture.xml:5541
8004 msgid "retrospective compilations on"
8007 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8008 #: freeculture.xml:5542
8009 msgid "CD-ROMs, film clips used in"
8012 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8013 #: freeculture.xml:5544
8015 "Alben had a special interest in new technology. He was intrigued by the "
8016 "emerging market for CD-ROM technology—not to distribute film, but to "
8017 "do things with film that otherwise would be very difficult. In 1993, he "
8018 "launched an initiative to develop a product to build retrospectives on the "
8019 "work of particular actors. The first actor chosen was Clint Eastwood. The "
8020 "idea was to showcase all of the work of Eastwood, with clips from his films "
8021 "and interviews with figures important to his career."
8024 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8025 #: freeculture.xml:5554
8027 "At that time, Eastwood had made more than fifty films, as an actor and as a "
8028 "director. Alben began with a series of interviews with Eastwood, asking him "
8029 "about his career. Because Starwave produced those interviews, it was free to "
8030 "include them on the CD."
8034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8035 #: freeculture.xml:5561
8037 "That alone would not have made a very interesting product, so Starwave "
8038 "wanted to add content from the movies in Eastwood's career: posters, "
8039 "scripts, and other material relating to the films Eastwood made. Most of his "
8040 "career was spent at Warner Brothers, and so it was relatively easy to get "
8041 "permission for that content."
8044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8045 #: freeculture.xml:5568
8047 "Then Alben and his team decided to include actual film clips. <quote>Our "
8048 "goal was that we were going to have a clip from every one of Eastwood's "
8049 "films,</quote> Alben told me. It was here that the problem arose. <quote>No "
8050 "one had ever really done this before,</quote> Alben explained. <quote>No one "
8051 "had ever tried to do this in the context of an artistic look at an actor's "
8055 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8056 #: freeculture.xml:5576
8058 "Alben brought the idea to Michael Slade, the CEO of Starwave. Slade asked, "
8059 "<quote>Well, what will it take?</quote>"
8062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><secondary>
8063 #: freeculture.xml:5590
8064 msgid "publicity rights on images of"
8067 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8068 #: freeculture.xml:5586
8070 "Technically, the rights that Alben had to clear were mainly those of "
8071 "publicity—rights an artist has to control the commercial exploitation "
8072 "of his image. But these rights, too, burden <quote>Rip, Mix, Burn</quote> "
8073 "creativity, as this chapter evinces. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
8074 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8078 #: freeculture.xml:5580
8080 "Alben replied, <quote>Well, we're going to have to clear rights from "
8081 "everyone who appears in these films, and the music and everything else that "
8082 "we want to use in these film clips.</quote> Slade said, <quote>Great! Go for "
8083 "it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8086 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8087 #: freeculture.xml:5595
8089 "The problem was that neither Alben nor Slade had any idea what clearing "
8090 "those rights would mean. Every actor in each of the films could have a claim "
8091 "to royalties for the reuse of that film. But CD- ROMs had not been specified "
8092 "in the contracts for the actors, so there was no clear way to know just what "
8093 "Starwave was to do."
8096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8097 #: freeculture.xml:5602
8099 "I asked Alben how he dealt with the problem. With an obvious pride in his "
8100 "resourcefulness that obscured the obvious bizarreness of his tale, Alben "
8101 "recounted just what they did:"
8104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8105 #: freeculture.xml:5608
8107 "So we very mechanically went about looking up the film clips. We made some "
8108 "artistic decisions about what film clips to include—of course we were "
8109 "going to use the <quote>Make my day</quote> clip from <citetitle>Dirty "
8110 "Harry</citetitle>. But you then need to get the guy on the ground who's "
8111 "wiggling under the gun and you need to get his permission. And then you "
8112 "have to decide what you are going to pay him."
8116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8117 #: freeculture.xml:5617
8119 "We decided that it would be fair if we offered them the dayplayer rate for "
8120 "the right to reuse that performance. We're talking about a clip of less than "
8121 "a minute, but to reuse that performance in the CD-ROM the rate at the time "
8122 "was about $600. So we had to identify the people—some of them were "
8123 "hard to identify because in Eastwood movies you can't tell who's the guy "
8124 "crashing through the glass—is it the actor or is it the stuntman? And "
8125 "then we just, we put together a team, my assistant and some others, and we "
8126 "just started calling people."
8129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8130 #: freeculture.xml:5628
8131 msgid "Sutherland, Donald"
8134 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8135 #: freeculture.xml:5630
8137 "Some actors were glad to help—Donald Sutherland, for example, followed "
8138 "up himself to be sure that the rights had been cleared. Others were "
8139 "dumbfounded at their good fortune. Alben would ask, <quote>Hey, can I pay "
8140 "you $600 or maybe if you were in two films, you know, $1,200?</quote> And "
8141 "they would say, <quote>Are you for real? Hey, I'd love to get "
8142 "$1,200.</quote> And some of course were a bit difficult (estranged ex-wives, "
8143 "in particular). But eventually, Alben and his team had cleared the rights to "
8144 "this retrospective CD-ROM on Clint Eastwood's career."
8147 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8148 #: freeculture.xml:5641
8150 "It was one <emphasis>year</emphasis> later—<quote>and even then we "
8151 "weren't sure whether we were totally in the clear.</quote>"
8154 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8155 #: freeculture.xml:5645
8157 "Alben is proud of his work. The project was the first of its kind and the "
8158 "only time he knew of that a team had undertaken such a massive project for "
8159 "the purpose of releasing a retrospective."
8162 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8163 #: freeculture.xml:5651
8165 "Everyone thought it would be too hard. Everyone just threw up their hands "
8166 "and said, <quote>Oh, my gosh, a film, it's so many copyrights, there's the "
8167 "music, there's the screenplay, there's the director, there's the "
8168 "actors.</quote> But we just broke it down. We just put it into its "
8169 "constituent parts and said, <quote>Okay, there's this many actors, this many "
8170 "directors, … this many musicians,</quote> and we just went at it very "
8171 "systematically and cleared the rights."
8175 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8176 #: freeculture.xml:5663
8178 "And no doubt, the product itself was exceptionally good. Eastwood loved it, "
8179 "and it sold very well."
8182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8183 #: freeculture.xml:5666
8184 msgid "Drucker, Peter"
8188 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8189 #: freeculture.xml:5674
8191 "U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management, "
8192 "<citetitle>Seven Steps to Performance-Based Services "
8193 "Acquisition</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
8194 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #22</ulink>."
8197 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8198 #: freeculture.xml:5668
8200 "But I pressed Alben about how weird it seems that it would have to take a "
8201 "year's work simply to clear rights. No doubt Alben had done this "
8202 "efficiently, but as Peter Drucker has famously quipped, <quote>There is "
8203 "nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at "
8204 "all.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Did it make sense, I "
8205 "asked Alben, that this is the way a new work has to be made?"
8208 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8209 #: freeculture.xml:5682
8211 "For, as he acknowledged, <quote>very few … have the time and "
8212 "resources, and the will to do this,</quote> and thus, very few such works "
8213 "would ever be made. Does it make sense, I asked him, from the standpoint of "
8214 "what anybody really thought they were ever giving rights for originally, "
8215 "that you would have to go clear rights for these kinds of clips?"
8218 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8219 #: freeculture.xml:5690
8221 "I don't think so. When an actor renders a performance in a movie, he or she "
8222 "gets paid very well. … And then when 30 seconds of that performance "
8223 "is used in a new product that is a retrospective of somebody's career, I "
8224 "don't think that that person … should be compensated for that."
8227 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8228 #: freeculture.xml:5698
8230 "Or at least, is this <emphasis>how</emphasis> the artist should be "
8231 "compensated? Would it make sense, I asked, for there to be some kind of "
8232 "statutory license that someone could pay and be free to make derivative use "
8233 "of clips like this? Did it really make sense that a follow-on creator would "
8234 "have to track down every artist, actor, director, musician, and get explicit "
8235 "permission from each? Wouldn't a lot more be created if the legal part of "
8236 "the creative process could be made to be more clean?"
8240 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8241 #: freeculture.xml:5709
8243 "Absolutely. I think that if there were some fair-licensing "
8244 "mechanism—where you weren't subject to hold-ups and you weren't "
8245 "subject to estranged former spouses—you'd see a lot more of this work, "
8246 "because it wouldn't be so daunting to try to put together a retrospective of "
8247 "someone's career and meaningfully illustrate it with lots of media from that "
8248 "person's career. You'd build in a cost as the producer of one of these "
8249 "things. You'd build in a cost of paying X dollars to the talent that "
8250 "performed. But it would be a known cost. That's the thing that trips "
8251 "everybody up and makes this kind of product hard to get off the ground. If "
8252 "you knew I have a hundred minutes of film in this product and it's going to "
8253 "cost me X, then you build your budget around it, and you can get investments "
8254 "and everything else that you need to produce it. But if you say, <quote>Oh, "
8255 "I want a hundred minutes of something and I have no idea what it's going to "
8256 "cost me, and a certain number of people are going to hold me up for "
8257 "money,</quote> then it becomes difficult to put one of these things "
8261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8262 #: freeculture.xml:5729
8264 "Alben worked for a big company. His company was backed by some of the "
8265 "richest investors in the world. He therefore had authority and access that "
8266 "the average Web designer would not have. So if it took him a year, how long "
8267 "would it take someone else? And how much creativity is never made just "
8268 "because the costs of clearing the rights are so high?"
8271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8272 #: freeculture.xml:5738
8274 "These costs are the burdens of a kind of regulation. Put on a Republican hat "
8275 "for a moment, and get angry for a bit. The government defines the scope of "
8276 "these rights, and the scope defined determines how much it's going to cost "
8277 "to negotiate them. (Remember the idea that land runs to the heavens, and "
8278 "imagine the pilot purchasing flythrough rights as he negotiates to fly from "
8279 "Los Angeles to San Francisco.) These rights might well have once made "
8280 "sense; but as circumstances change, they make no sense at all. Or at least, "
8281 "a well-trained, regulationminimizing Republican should look at the rights "
8282 "and ask, <quote>Does this still make sense?</quote>"
8286 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8287 #: freeculture.xml:5751
8289 "I've seen the flash of recognition when people get this point, but only a "
8290 "few times. The first was at a conference of federal judges in California. "
8291 "The judges were gathered to discuss the emerging topic of cyber-law. I was "
8292 "asked to be on the panel. Harvey Saferstein, a well-respected lawyer from an "
8293 "L.A. firm, introduced the panel with a video that he and a friend, Robert "
8294 "Fairbank, had produced."
8297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8298 #: freeculture.xml:5761
8300 "The video was a brilliant collage of film from every period in the twentieth "
8301 "century, all framed around the idea of a <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> "
8302 "episode. The execution was perfect, down to the sixty-minute stopwatch. The "
8303 "judges loved every minute of it."
8306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8307 #: freeculture.xml:5766
8308 msgid "Nimmer, David"
8311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8312 #: freeculture.xml:5768
8314 "When the lights came up, I looked over to my copanelist, David Nimmer, "
8315 "perhaps the leading copyright scholar and practitioner in the nation. He had "
8316 "an astonished look on his face, as he peered across the room of over 250 "
8317 "well-entertained judges. Taking an ominous tone, he began his talk with a "
8318 "question: <quote>Do you know how many federal laws were just violated in "
8319 "this room?</quote>"
8322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8323 #: freeculture.xml:5777
8324 msgid "Boies, David"
8327 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8328 #: freeculture.xml:5778
8329 msgid "Court of Appeals"
8332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><secondary>
8333 #: freeculture.xml:5778
8334 msgid "Ninth Circuit"
8337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8338 #: freeculture.xml:5779
8339 msgid "Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals"
8342 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8343 #: freeculture.xml:5776
8345 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
8346 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
8347 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> For "
8348 "of course, the two brilliantly talented creators who made this film hadn't "
8349 "done what Alben did. They hadn't spent a year clearing the rights to these "
8350 "clips; technically, what they had done violated the law. Of course, it "
8351 "wasn't as if they or anyone were going to be prosecuted for this violation "
8352 "(the presence of 250 judges and a gaggle of federal marshals "
8353 "notwithstanding). But Nimmer was making an important point: A year before "
8354 "anyone would have heard of the word Napster, and two years before another "
8355 "member of our panel, David Boies, would defend Napster before the Ninth "
8356 "Circuit Court of Appeals, Nimmer was trying to get the judges to see that "
8357 "the law would not be friendly to the capacities that this technology would "
8358 "enable. Technology means you can now do amazing things easily; but you "
8359 "couldn't easily do them legally."
8362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8363 #: freeculture.xml:5796
8365 "We live in a <quote>cut and paste</quote> culture enabled by "
8366 "technology. Anyone building a presentation knows the extraordinary freedom "
8367 "that the cut and paste architecture of the Internet created—in a "
8368 "second you can find just about any image you want; in another second, you "
8369 "can have it planted in your presentation."
8372 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8373 #: freeculture.xml:5802
8378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8379 #: freeculture.xml:5804
8381 "But presentations are just a tiny beginning. Using the Internet and its "
8382 "archives, musicians are able to string together mixes of sound never before "
8383 "imagined; filmmakers are able to build movies out of clips on computers "
8384 "around the world. An extraordinary site in Sweden takes images of "
8385 "politicians and blends them with music to create biting political "
8386 "commentary. A site called Camp Chaos has produced some of the most biting "
8387 "criticism of the record industry that there is through the mixing of Flash! "
8391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8392 #: freeculture.xml:5815
8394 "All of these creations are technically illegal. Even if the creators wanted "
8395 "to be <quote>legal,</quote> the cost of complying with the law is impossibly "
8396 "high. Therefore, for the law-abiding sorts, a wealth of creativity is never "
8397 "made. And for that part that is made, if it doesn't follow the clearance "
8398 "rules, it doesn't get released."
8401 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8402 #: freeculture.xml:5822
8404 "To some, these stories suggest a solution: Let's alter the mix of rights so "
8405 "that people are free to build upon our culture. Free to add or mix as they "
8406 "see fit. We could even make this change without necessarily requiring that "
8407 "the <quote>free</quote> use be free as in <quote>free beer.</quote> Instead, "
8408 "the system could simply make it easy for follow-on creators to compensate "
8409 "artists without requiring an army of lawyers to come along: a rule, for "
8410 "example, that says <quote>the royalty owed the copyright owner of an "
8411 "unregistered work for the derivative reuse of his work will be a flat 1 "
8412 "percent of net revenues, to be held in escrow for the copyright "
8413 "owner.</quote> Under this rule, the copyright owner could benefit from some "
8414 "royalty, but he would not have the benefit of a full property right (meaning "
8415 "the right to name his own price) unless he registers the work."
8418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8419 #: freeculture.xml:5837
8421 "Who could possibly object to this? And what reason would there be for "
8422 "objecting? We're talking about work that is not now being made; which if "
8423 "made, under this plan, would produce new income for artists. What reason "
8424 "would anyone have to oppose it?"
8428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8429 #: freeculture.xml:5843
8431 "<emphasis role='strong'>In February 2003</emphasis>, DreamWorks studios "
8432 "announced an agreement with Mike Myers, the comic genius of "
8433 "<citetitle>Saturday Night Live</citetitle> and Austin Powers. According to "
8434 "the announcement, Myers and Dream-Works would work together to form a "
8435 "<quote>unique filmmaking pact.</quote> Under the agreement, DreamWorks "
8436 "<quote>will acquire the rights to existing motion picture hits and classics, "
8437 "write new storylines and—with the use of stateof-the-art digital "
8438 "technology—insert Myers and other actors into the film, thereby "
8439 "creating an entirely new piece of entertainment.</quote>"
8442 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8443 #: freeculture.xml:5856
8445 "The announcement called this <quote>film sampling.</quote> As Myers "
8446 "explained, <quote>Film Sampling is an exciting way to put an original spin "
8447 "on existing films and allow audiences to see old movies in a new light. Rap "
8448 "artists have been doing this for years with music and now we are able to "
8449 "take that same concept and apply it to film.</quote> Steven Spielberg is "
8450 "quoted as saying, <quote>If anyone can create a way to bring old films to "
8451 "new audiences, it is Mike.</quote>"
8454 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8455 #: freeculture.xml:5865
8457 "Spielberg is right. Film sampling by Myers will be brilliant. But if you "
8458 "don't think about it, you might miss the truly astonishing point about this "
8459 "announcement. As the vast majority of our film heritage remains under "
8460 "copyright, the real meaning of the DreamWorks announcement is just this: It "
8461 "is Mike Myers and only Mike Myers who is free to sample. Any general freedom "
8462 "to build upon the film archive of our culture, a freedom in other contexts "
8463 "presumed for us all, is now a privilege reserved for the funny and "
8464 "famous—and presumably rich."
8467 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8468 #: freeculture.xml:5875
8470 "This privilege becomes reserved for two sorts of reasons. The first "
8471 "continues the story of the last chapter: the vagueness of <quote>fair "
8472 "use.</quote> Much of <quote>sampling</quote> should be considered "
8473 "<quote>fair use.</quote> But few would rely upon so weak a doctrine to "
8474 "create. That leads to the second reason that the privilege is reserved for "
8475 "the few: The costs of negotiating the legal rights for the creative reuse of "
8476 "content are astronomically high. These costs mirror the costs with fair "
8477 "use: You either pay a lawyer to defend your fair use rights or pay a lawyer "
8478 "to track down permissions so you don't have to rely upon fair use "
8479 "rights. Either way, the creative process is a process of paying "
8480 "lawyers—again a privilege, or perhaps a curse, reserved for the few."
8483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
8484 #: freeculture.xml:5890
8488 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8489 #: freeculture.xml:5891 freeculture.xml:9231 freeculture.xml:11554 freeculture.xml:11799
8490 msgid "archives, digital"
8493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8494 #: freeculture.xml:5892 freeculture.xml:8518
8498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8499 #: freeculture.xml:5894
8501 "<emphasis role='strong'>In April 1996</emphasis>, millions of "
8502 "<quote>bots</quote>—computer codes designed to <quote>spider,</quote> "
8503 "or automatically search the Internet and copy content—began running "
8504 "across the Net. Page by page, these bots copied Internet-based information "
8505 "onto a small set of computers located in a basement in San Francisco's "
8506 "Presidio. Once the bots finished the whole of the Internet, they started "
8507 "again. Over and over again, once every two months, these bits of code took "
8508 "copies of the Internet and stored them."
8511 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8512 #: freeculture.xml:5904 freeculture.xml:5935 freeculture.xml:5997
8513 msgid "Way Back Machine"
8516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8517 #: freeculture.xml:5906
8519 "By October 2001, the bots had collected more than five years of copies. And "
8520 "at a small announcement in Berkeley, California, the archive that these "
8521 "copies created, the Internet Archive, was opened to the world. Using a "
8522 "technology called <quote>the Way Back Machine,</quote> you could enter a Web "
8523 "page, and see all of its copies going back to 1996, as well as when those "
8527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8528 #: freeculture.xml:5913
8529 msgid "Orwell, George"
8532 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8533 #: freeculture.xml:5915
8535 "This is the thing about the Internet that Orwell would have appreciated. In "
8536 "the dystopia described in <citetitle>1984</citetitle>, old newspapers were "
8537 "constantly updated to assure that the current view of the world, approved of "
8538 "by the government, was not contradicted by previous news reports."
8542 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8543 #: freeculture.xml:5923
8545 "Thousands of workers constantly reedited the past, meaning there was no way "
8546 "ever to know whether the story you were reading today was the story that was "
8547 "printed on the date published on the paper."
8550 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8551 #: freeculture.xml:5928
8553 "It's the same with the Internet. If you go to a Web page today, there's no "
8554 "way for you to know whether the content you are reading is the same as the "
8555 "content you read before. The page may seem the same, but the content could "
8556 "easily be different. The Internet is Orwell's library—constantly "
8557 "updated, without any reliable memory."
8560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8561 #: freeculture.xml:5944
8562 msgid "White House press releases"
8565 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8566 #: freeculture.xml:5943
8568 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
8569 "id=\"1\"/> The temptations remain, however. Brewster Kahle reports that the "
8570 "White House changes its own press releases without notice. A May 13, 2003, "
8571 "press release stated, <quote>Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.</quote> "
8572 "That was later changed, without notice, to <quote>Major Combat Operations in "
8573 "Iraq Have Ended.</quote> E-mail from Brewster Kahle, 1 December 2003."
8576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8577 #: freeculture.xml:5937
8579 "Until the Way Back Machine, at least. With the Way Back Machine, and the "
8580 "Internet Archive underlying it, you can see what the Internet was. You have "
8581 "the power to see what you remember. More importantly, perhaps, you also have "
8582 "the power to find what you don't remember and what others might prefer you "
8583 "forget.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8586 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8587 #: freeculture.xml:5952
8588 msgid "history, records of"
8591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8592 #: freeculture.xml:5954
8594 "<emphasis role='strong'>We take it</emphasis> for granted that we can go "
8595 "back to see what we remember reading. Think about newspapers. If you wanted "
8596 "to study the reaction of your hometown newspaper to the race riots in Watts "
8597 "in 1965, or to Bull Connor's water cannon in 1963, you could go to your "
8598 "public library and look at the newspapers. Those papers probably exist on "
8599 "microfiche. If you're lucky, they exist in paper, too. Either way, you are "
8600 "free, using a library, to go back and remember—not just what it is "
8601 "convenient to remember, but remember something close to the truth."
8604 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8605 #: freeculture.xml:5965
8607 "It is said that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat "
8608 "it. That's not quite correct. We <emphasis>all</emphasis> forget "
8609 "history. The key is whether we have a way to go back to rediscover what we "
8610 "forget. More directly, the key is whether an objective past can keep us "
8611 "honest. Libraries help do that, by collecting content and keeping it, for "
8612 "schoolchildren, for researchers, for grandma. A free society presumes this "
8617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8618 #: freeculture.xml:5974
8620 "The Internet was an exception to this presumption. Until the Internet "
8621 "Archive, there was no way to go back. The Internet was the quintessentially "
8622 "transitory medium. And yet, as it becomes more important in forming and "
8623 "reforming society, it becomes more and more important to maintain in some "
8624 "historical form. It's just bizarre to think that we have scads of archives "
8625 "of newspapers from tiny towns around the world, yet there is but one copy of "
8626 "the Internet—the one kept by the Internet Archive."
8629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8630 #: freeculture.xml:5985
8632 "Brewster Kahle is the founder of the Internet Archive. He was a very "
8633 "successful Internet entrepreneur after he was a successful computer "
8634 "researcher. In the 1990s, Kahle decided he had had enough business "
8635 "success. It was time to become a different kind of success. So he launched "
8636 "a series of projects designed to archive human knowledge. The Internet "
8637 "Archive was just the first of the projects of this Andrew Carnegie of the "
8638 "Internet. By December of 2002, the archive had over 10 billion pages, and it "
8639 "was growing at about a billion pages a month."
8642 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8643 #: freeculture.xml:5994 freeculture.xml:6049 freeculture.xml:10474
8644 msgid "Library of Congress"
8647 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8648 #: freeculture.xml:5995
8649 msgid "Television Archive"
8652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8653 #: freeculture.xml:5996
8654 msgid "Vanderbilt University"
8657 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
8658 #: freeculture.xml:5998 freeculture.xml:11045 freeculture.xml:14105 freeculture.xml:14235 freeculture.xml:14271
8662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
8663 #: freeculture.xml:5998
8664 msgid "archival function of"
8667 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8668 #: freeculture.xml:6001
8670 "The Way Back Machine is the largest archive of human knowledge in human "
8671 "history. At the end of 2002, it held <quote>two hundred and thirty terabytes "
8672 "of material</quote>—and was <quote>ten times larger than the Library "
8673 "of Congress.</quote> And this was just the first of the archives that Kahle "
8674 "set out to build. In addition to the Internet Archive, Kahle has been "
8675 "constructing the Television Archive. Television, it turns out, is even more "
8676 "ephemeral than the Internet. While much of twentieth-century culture was "
8677 "constructed through television, only a tiny proportion of that culture is "
8678 "available for anyone to see today. Three hours of news are recorded each "
8679 "evening by Vanderbilt University—thanks to a specific exemption in the "
8680 "copyright law. That content is indexed, and is available to scholars for a "
8681 "very low fee. <quote>But other than that, [television] is almost "
8682 "unavailable,</quote> Kahle told me. <quote>If you were Barbara Walters you "
8683 "could get access to [the archives], but if you are just a graduate "
8684 "student?</quote> As Kahle put it,"
8687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
8688 #: freeculture.xml:6018
8692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
8693 #: freeculture.xml:6019
8698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8699 #: freeculture.xml:6021
8701 "Do you remember when Dan Quayle was interacting with Murphy Brown? Remember "
8702 "that back and forth surreal experience of a politician interacting with a "
8703 "fictional television character? If you were a graduate student wanting to "
8704 "study that, and you wanted to get those original back and forth exchanges "
8705 "between the two, the <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> episode that came out "
8706 "after it … it would be almost impossible. … Those materials "
8707 "are almost unfindable. …"
8710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8711 #: freeculture.xml:6032
8715 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
8716 #: freeculture.xml:6032
8720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8721 #: freeculture.xml:6034
8723 "Why is that? Why is it that the part of our culture that is recorded in "
8724 "newspapers remains perpetually accessible, while the part that is recorded "
8725 "on videotape is not? How is it that we've created a world where researchers "
8726 "trying to understand the effect of media on nineteenthcentury America will "
8727 "have an easier time than researchers trying to understand the effect of "
8728 "media on twentieth-century America?"
8731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8732 #: freeculture.xml:6042
8734 "In part, this is because of the law. Early in American copyright law, "
8735 "copyright owners were required to deposit copies of their work in "
8736 "libraries. These copies were intended both to facilitate the spread of "
8737 "knowledge and to assure that a copy of the work would be around once the "
8738 "copyright expired, so that others might access and copy the work."
8741 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
8742 #: freeculture.xml:6050 freeculture.xml:6094
8747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8748 #: freeculture.xml:6061
8750 "Doug Herrick, <quote>Toward a National Film Collection: Motion Pictures at "
8751 "the Library of Congress,</quote> <citetitle>Film Library "
8752 "Quarterly</citetitle> 13 nos. 2–3 (1980): 5; Anthony Slide, "
8753 "<citetitle>Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United "
8754 "States</citetitle> (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1992), 36."
8757 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8758 #: freeculture.xml:6052
8760 "These rules applied to film as well. But in 1915, the Library of Congress "
8761 "made an exception for film. Film could be copyrighted so long as such "
8762 "deposits were made. But the filmmaker was then allowed to borrow back the "
8763 "deposits—for an unlimited time at no cost. In 1915 alone, there were "
8764 "more than 5,475 films deposited and <quote>borrowed back.</quote> Thus, when "
8765 "the copyrights to films expire, there is no copy held by any library. The "
8766 "copy exists—if it exists at all—in the library archive of the "
8767 "film company.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8771 #: freeculture.xml:6069
8773 "The same is generally true about television. Television broadcasts were "
8774 "originally not copyrighted—there was no way to capture the broadcasts, "
8775 "so there was no fear of <quote>theft.</quote> But as technology enabled "
8776 "capturing, broadcasters relied increasingly upon the law. The law required "
8777 "they make a copy of each broadcast for the work to be "
8778 "<quote>copyrighted.</quote> But those copies were simply kept by the "
8779 "broadcasters. No library had any right to them; the government didn't demand "
8780 "them. The content of this part of American culture is practically invisible "
8781 "to anyone who would look."
8785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8786 #: freeculture.xml:6081
8788 "Kahle was eager to correct this. Before September 11, 2001, he and his "
8789 "allies had started capturing television. They selected twenty stations from "
8790 "around the world and hit the Record button. After September 11, Kahle, "
8791 "working with dozens of others, selected twenty stations from around the "
8792 "world and, beginning October 11, 2001, made their coverage during the week "
8793 "of September 11 available free on-line. Anyone could see how news reports "
8794 "from around the world covered the events of that day."
8797 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8798 #: freeculture.xml:6091
8799 msgid "Movie Archive"
8802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8803 #: freeculture.xml:6092
8807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8808 #: freeculture.xml:6092 freeculture.xml:6095
8809 msgid "Internet Archive"
8812 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8813 #: freeculture.xml:6096
8814 msgid "Duck and Cover film"
8817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8818 #: freeculture.xml:6097
8819 msgid "ephemeral films"
8822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8823 #: freeculture.xml:6098
8824 msgid "Prelinger, Rick"
8827 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8828 #: freeculture.xml:6100
8830 "Kahle had the same idea with film. Working with Rick Prelinger, whose "
8831 "archive of film includes close to 45,000 <quote>ephemeral films</quote> "
8832 "(meaning films other than Hollywood movies, films that were never "
8833 "copyrighted), Kahle established the Movie Archive. Prelinger let Kahle "
8834 "digitize 1,300 films in this archive and post those films on the Internet to "
8835 "be downloaded for free. Prelinger's is a for-profit company. It sells copies "
8836 "of these films as stock footage. What he has discovered is that after he "
8837 "made a significant chunk available for free, his stock footage sales went up "
8838 "dramatically. People could easily find the material they wanted to use. Some "
8839 "downloaded that material and made films on their own. Others purchased "
8840 "copies to enable other films to be made. Either way, the archive enabled "
8841 "access to this important part of our culture. Want to see a copy of the "
8842 "<quote>Duck and Cover</quote> film that instructed children how to save "
8843 "themselves in the middle of nuclear attack? Go to archive.org, and you can "
8844 "download the film in a few minutes—for free."
8847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8848 #: freeculture.xml:6118
8850 "Here again, Kahle is providing access to a part of our culture that we "
8851 "otherwise could not get easily, if at all. It is yet another part of what "
8852 "defines the twentieth century that we have lost to history. The law doesn't "
8853 "require these copies to be kept by anyone, or to be deposited in an archive "
8854 "by anyone. Therefore, there is no simple way to find them."
8857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8858 #: freeculture.xml:6126
8860 "The key here is access, not price. Kahle wants to enable free access to this "
8861 "content, but he also wants to enable others to sell access to it. His aim is "
8862 "to ensure competition in access to this important part of our culture. Not "
8863 "during the commercial life of a bit of creative property, but during a "
8864 "second life that all creative property has—a noncommercial life."
8868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8869 #: freeculture.xml:6134
8871 "For here is an idea that we should more clearly recognize. Every bit of "
8872 "creative property goes through different <quote>lives.</quote> In its first "
8873 "life, if the creator is lucky, the content is sold. In such cases the "
8874 "commercial market is successful for the creator. The vast majority of "
8875 "creative property doesn't enjoy such success, but some clearly does. For "
8876 "that content, commercial life is extremely important. Without this "
8877 "commercial market, there would be, many argue, much less creativity."
8880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8881 #: freeculture.xml:6146
8883 "After the commercial life of creative property has ended, our tradition has "
8884 "always supported a second life as well. A newspaper delivers the news every "
8885 "day to the doorsteps of America. The very next day, it is used to wrap fish "
8886 "or to fill boxes with fragile gifts or to build an archive of knowledge "
8887 "about our history. In this second life, the content can continue to inform "
8888 "even if that information is no longer sold."
8891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8892 #: freeculture.xml:6159
8894 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Dave Barns, <quote>Fledgling "
8895 "Career in Antique Books: Woodstock Landlord, Bar Owner Starts a New Chapter "
8896 "by Adopting Business,</quote> <citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 5 "
8897 "September 1997, at Metro Lake 1L. Of books published between 1927 and 1946, "
8898 "only 2.2 percent were in print in 2002. R. Anthony Reese, <quote>The First "
8899 "Sale Doctrine in the Era of Digital Networks,</quote> <citetitle>Boston "
8900 "College Law Review</citetitle> 44 (2003): 593 n. 51."
8903 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8904 #: freeculture.xml:6156
8906 "The same has always been true about books. A book goes out of print very "
8907 "quickly (the average today is after about a year<placeholder "
8908 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>). After it is out of print, it can be sold in "
8909 "used book stores without the copyright owner getting anything and stored in "
8910 "libraries, where many get to read the book, also for free. Used book stores "
8911 "and libraries are thus the second life of a book. That second life is "
8912 "extremely important to the spread and stability of culture."
8915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8916 #: freeculture.xml:6174
8918 "Yet increasingly, any assumption about a stable second life for creative "
8919 "property does not hold true with the most important components of popular "
8920 "culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For "
8921 "these—television, movies, music, radio, the Internet—there is no "
8922 "guarantee of a second life. For these sorts of culture, it is as if we've "
8923 "replaced libraries with Barnes & Noble superstores. With this culture, "
8924 "what's accessible is nothing but what a certain limited market demands. "
8925 "Beyond that, culture disappears."
8929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8930 #: freeculture.xml:6185
8932 "<emphasis role='strong'>For most of</emphasis> the twentieth century, it was "
8933 "economics that made this so. It would have been insanely expensive to "
8934 "collect and make accessible all television and film and music: The cost of "
8935 "analog copies is extraordinarily high. So even though the law in principle "
8936 "would have restricted the ability of a Brewster Kahle to copy culture "
8937 "generally, the real restriction was economics. The market made it impossibly "
8938 "difficult to do anything about this ephemeral culture; the law had little "
8942 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8943 #: freeculture.xml:6197
8945 "Perhaps the single most important feature of the digital revolution is that "
8946 "for the first time since the Library of Alexandria, it is feasible to "
8947 "imagine constructing archives that hold all culture produced or distributed "
8948 "publicly. Technology makes it possible to imagine an archive of all books "
8949 "published, and increasingly makes it possible to imagine an archive of all "
8950 "moving images and sound."
8953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8954 #: freeculture.xml:6205
8956 "The scale of this potential archive is something we've never imagined "
8957 "before. The Brewster Kahles of our history have dreamed about it; but we are "
8958 "for the first time at a point where that dream is possible. As Kahle "
8962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><secondary>
8963 #: freeculture.xml:6211
8964 msgid "total number of"
8967 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8968 #: freeculture.xml:6213
8970 "It looks like there's about two to three million recordings of music. "
8971 "Ever. There are about a hundred thousand theatrical releases of movies, "
8972 "… and about one to two million movies [distributed] during the "
8973 "twentieth century. There are about twenty-six million different titles of "
8974 "books. All of these would fit on computers that would fit in this room and "
8975 "be able to be afforded by a small company. So we're at a turning point in "
8976 "our history. Universal access is the goal. And the opportunity of leading a "
8977 "different life, based on this, is … thrilling. It could be one of the "
8978 "things humankind would be most proud of. Up there with the Library of "
8979 "Alexandria, putting a man on the moon, and the invention of the printing "
8984 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8985 #: freeculture.xml:6228
8987 "Kahle is not the only librarian. The Internet Archive is not the only "
8988 "archive. But Kahle and the Internet Archive suggest what the future of "
8989 "libraries or archives could be. <emphasis>When</emphasis> the commercial "
8990 "life of creative property ends, I don't know. But it does. And whenever it "
8991 "does, Kahle and his archive hint at a world where this knowledge, and "
8992 "culture, remains perpetually available. Some will draw upon it to understand "
8993 "it; some to criticize it. Some will use it, as Walt Disney did, to re-create "
8994 "the past for the future. These technologies promise something that had "
8995 "become unimaginable for much of our past—a future "
8996 "<emphasis>for</emphasis> our past. The technology of digital arts could make "
8997 "the dream of the Library of Alexandria real again."
9000 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9001 #: freeculture.xml:6243
9003 "Technologists have thus removed the economic costs of building such an "
9004 "archive. But lawyers' costs remain. For as much as we might like to call "
9005 "these <quote>archives,</quote> as warm as the idea of a "
9006 "<quote>library</quote> might seem, the <quote>content</quote> that is "
9007 "collected in these digital spaces is also someone's <quote>property.</quote> "
9008 "And the law of property restricts the freedoms that Kahle and others would "
9012 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
9013 #: freeculture.xml:6254
9014 msgid "<quote>Property</quote>"
9017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9018 #: freeculture.xml:6255
9019 msgid "Johnson, Lyndon"
9022 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9023 #: freeculture.xml:6256 freeculture.xml:10233
9024 msgid "Kennedy, John F."
9027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9028 #: freeculture.xml:6258
9030 "<emphasis role='strong'>Jack Valenti</emphasis> has been the president of "
9031 "the Motion Picture Association of America since 1966. He first came to "
9032 "Washington, D.C., with Lyndon Johnson's administration—literally. The "
9033 "famous picture of Johnson's swearing-in on Air Force One after the "
9034 "assassination of President Kennedy has Valenti in the background. In his "
9035 "almost forty years of running the MPAA, Valenti has established himself as "
9036 "perhaps the most prominent and effective lobbyist in Washington."
9039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9040 #: freeculture.xml:6268
9041 msgid "Sony Pictures Entertainment"
9044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9045 #: freeculture.xml:6269
9049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9050 #: freeculture.xml:6270
9051 msgid "Paramount Pictures"
9054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9055 #: freeculture.xml:6271
9056 msgid "Twentieth Century Fox"
9059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9060 #: freeculture.xml:6272
9061 msgid "Universal Pictures"
9064 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9065 #: freeculture.xml:6273 freeculture.xml:7889 freeculture.xml:8060
9066 msgid "Warner Brothers"
9069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9070 #: freeculture.xml:6275
9072 "The MPAA is the American branch of the international Motion Picture "
9073 "Association. It was formed in 1922 as a trade association whose goal was to "
9074 "defend American movies against increasing domestic criticism. The "
9075 "organization now represents not only filmmakers but producers and "
9076 "distributors of entertainment for television, video, and cable. Its board is "
9077 "made up of the chairmen and presidents of the seven major producers and "
9078 "distributors of motion picture and television programs in the United States: "
9079 "Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth "
9080 "Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Brothers."
9084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9085 #: freeculture.xml:6288
9087 "Valenti is only the third president of the MPAA. No president before him has "
9088 "had as much influence over that organization, or over Washington. As a "
9089 "Texan, Valenti has mastered the single most important political skill of a "
9090 "Southerner—the ability to appear simple and slow while hiding a "
9091 "lightning-fast intellect. To this day, Valenti plays the simple, humble "
9092 "man. But this Harvard MBA, and author of four books, who finished high "
9093 "school at the age of fifteen and flew more than fifty combat missions in "
9094 "World War II, is no Mr. Smith. When Valenti went to Washington, he mastered "
9095 "the city in a quintessentially Washingtonian way."
9098 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9099 #: freeculture.xml:6300
9101 "In defending artistic liberty and the freedom of speech that our culture "
9102 "depends upon, the MPAA has done important good. In crafting the MPAA rating "
9103 "system, it has probably avoided a great deal of speech-regulating harm. But "
9104 "there is an aspect to the organization's mission that is both the most "
9105 "radical and the most important. This is the organization's effort, "
9106 "epitomized in Valenti's every act, to redefine the meaning of "
9107 "<quote>creative property.</quote>"
9110 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9111 #: freeculture.xml:6309
9112 msgid "In 1982, Valenti's testimony to Congress captured the strategy perfectly:"
9116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
9117 #: freeculture.xml:6323
9119 "Home Recording of Copyrighted Works: Hearings on H.R. 4783, H.R. 4794, "
9120 "H.R. 4808, H.R. 5250, H.R. 5488, and H.R. 5705 Before the Subcommittee on "
9121 "Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice of the Committee "
9122 "on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, 97th Cong., 2nd "
9123 "sess. (1982): 65 (testimony of Jack Valenti)."
9126 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
9127 #: freeculture.xml:6314
9129 "No matter the lengthy arguments made, no matter the charges and the "
9130 "counter-charges, no matter the tumult and the shouting, reasonable men and "
9131 "women will keep returning to the fundamental issue, the central theme which "
9132 "animates this entire debate: <emphasis>Creative property owners must be "
9133 "accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other property "
9134 "owners in the nation</emphasis>. That is the issue. That is the "
9135 "question. And that is the rostrum on which this entire hearing and the "
9136 "debates to follow must rest.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9141 #: freeculture.xml:6333
9143 "The strategy of this rhetoric, like the strategy of most of Valenti's "
9144 "rhetoric, is brilliant and simple and brilliant because simple. The "
9145 "<quote>central theme</quote> to which <quote>reasonable men and "
9146 "women</quote> will return is this: <quote>Creative property owners must be "
9147 "accorded the same rights and protections resident in all other property "
9148 "owners in the nation.</quote> There are no second-class citizens, Valenti "
9149 "might have continued. There should be no second-class property owners."
9152 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9153 #: freeculture.xml:6344
9155 "This claim has an obvious and powerful intuitive pull. It is stated with "
9156 "such clarity as to make the idea as obvious as the notion that we use "
9157 "elections to pick presidents. But in fact, there is no more extreme a claim "
9158 "made by <emphasis>anyone</emphasis> who is serious in this debate than this "
9159 "claim of Valenti's. Jack Valenti, however sweet and however brilliant, is "
9160 "perhaps the nation's foremost extremist when it comes to the nature and "
9161 "scope of <quote>creative property.</quote> His views have "
9162 "<emphasis>no</emphasis> reasonable connection to our actual legal tradition, "
9163 "even if the subtle pull of his Texan charm has slowly redefined that "
9164 "tradition, at least in Washington."
9168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
9169 #: freeculture.xml:6359
9171 "Lawyers speak of <quote>property</quote> not as an absolute thing, but as a "
9172 "bundle of rights that are sometimes associated with a particular "
9173 "object. Thus, my <quote>property right</quote> to my car gives me the right "
9174 "to exclusive use, but not the right to drive at 150 miles an hour. For the "
9175 "best effort to connect the ordinary meaning of <quote>property</quote> to "
9176 "<quote>lawyer talk,</quote> see Bruce Ackerman, <citetitle>Private Property "
9177 "and the Constitution</citetitle> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), "
9181 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9182 #: freeculture.xml:6356
9184 "While <quote>creative property</quote> is certainly <quote>property</quote> "
9185 "in a nerdy and precise sense that lawyers are trained to "
9186 "understand,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it has never been the "
9187 "case, nor should it be, that <quote>creative property owners</quote> have "
9188 "been <quote>accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other "
9189 "property owners.</quote> Indeed, if creative property owners were given the "
9190 "same rights as all other property owners, that would effect a radical, and "
9191 "radically undesirable, change in our tradition."
9194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9195 #: freeculture.xml:6374
9197 "Valenti knows this. But he speaks for an industry that cares squat for our "
9198 "tradition and the values it represents. He speaks for an industry that is "
9199 "instead fighting to restore the tradition that the British overturned in "
9200 "1710. In the world that Valenti's changes would create, a powerful few would "
9201 "exercise powerful control over how our creative culture would develop."
9205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9206 #: freeculture.xml:6382
9208 "I have two purposes in this chapter. The first is to convince you that, "
9209 "historically, Valenti's claim is absolutely wrong. The second is to convince "
9210 "you that it would be terribly wrong for us to reject our history. We have "
9211 "always treated rights in creative property differently from the rights "
9212 "resident in all other property owners. They have never been the same. And "
9213 "they should never be the same, because, however counterintuitive this may "
9214 "seem, to make them the same would be to fundamentally weaken the opportunity "
9215 "for new creators to create. Creativity depends upon the owners of "
9216 "creativity having less than perfect control."
9219 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9220 #: freeculture.xml:6397
9222 "Organizations such as the MPAA, whose board includes the most powerful of "
9223 "the old guard, have little interest, their rhetoric notwithstanding, in "
9224 "assuring that the new can displace them. No organization does. No person "
9225 "does. (Ask me about tenure, for example.) But what's good for the MPAA is "
9226 "not necessarily good for America. A society that defends the ideals of free "
9227 "culture must preserve precisely the opportunity for new creativity to "
9231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9232 #: freeculture.xml:6406
9234 "<emphasis role='strong'>To get</emphasis> just a hint that there is "
9235 "something fundamentally wrong in Valenti's argument, we need look no further "
9236 "than the United States Constitution itself."
9239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9240 #: freeculture.xml:6411
9242 "The framers of our Constitution loved <quote>property.</quote> Indeed, so "
9243 "strongly did they love property that they built into the Constitution an "
9244 "important requirement. If the government takes your property—if it "
9245 "condemns your house, or acquires a slice of land from your farm—it is "
9246 "required, under the Fifth Amendment's <quote>Takings Clause,</quote> to pay "
9247 "you <quote>just compensation</quote> for that taking. The Constitution thus "
9248 "guarantees that property is, in a certain sense, sacred. It cannot "
9249 "<emphasis>ever</emphasis> be taken from the property owner unless the "
9250 "government pays for the privilege."
9254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9255 #: freeculture.xml:6422
9257 "Yet the very same Constitution speaks very differently about what Valenti "
9258 "calls <quote>creative property.</quote> In the clause granting Congress the "
9259 "power to create <quote>creative property,</quote> the Constitution "
9260 "<emphasis>requires</emphasis> that after a <quote>limited time,</quote> "
9261 "Congress take back the rights that it has granted and set the "
9262 "<quote>creative property</quote> free to the public domain. Yet when "
9263 "Congress does this, when the expiration of a copyright term "
9264 "<quote>takes</quote> your copyright and turns it over to the public domain, "
9265 "Congress does not have any obligation to pay <quote>just "
9266 "compensation</quote> for this <quote>taking.</quote> Instead, the same "
9267 "Constitution that requires compensation for your land requires that you lose "
9268 "your <quote>creative property</quote> right without any compensation at all."
9271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9272 #: freeculture.xml:6437
9274 "The Constitution thus on its face states that these two forms of property "
9275 "are not to be accorded the same rights. They are plainly to be treated "
9276 "differently. Valenti is therefore not just asking for a change in our "
9277 "tradition when he argues that creative-property owners should be accorded "
9278 "the same rights as every other property-right owner. He is effectively "
9279 "arguing for a change in our Constitution itself."
9282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9283 #: freeculture.xml:6447
9285 "Arguing for a change in our Constitution is not necessarily wrong. There "
9286 "was much in our original Constitution that was plainly wrong. The "
9287 "Constitution of 1789 entrenched slavery; it left senators to be appointed "
9288 "rather than elected; it made it possible for the electoral college to "
9289 "produce a tie between the president and his own vice president (as it did in "
9290 "1800). The framers were no doubt extraordinary, but I would be the first to "
9291 "admit that they made big mistakes. We have since rejected some of those "
9292 "mistakes; no doubt there could be others that we should reject as well. So "
9293 "my argument is not simply that because Jefferson did it, we should, too."
9296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9297 #: freeculture.xml:6459
9299 "Instead, my argument is that because Jefferson did it, we should at least "
9300 "try to understand <emphasis>why</emphasis>. Why did the framers, fanatical "
9301 "property types that they were, reject the claim that creative property be "
9302 "given the same rights as all other property? Why did they require that for "
9303 "creative property there must be a public domain?"
9306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9307 #: freeculture.xml:6469
9309 "To answer this question, we need to get some perspective on the history of "
9310 "these <quote>creative property</quote> rights, and the control that they "
9311 "enabled. Once we see clearly how differently these rights have been "
9312 "defined, we will be in a better position to ask the question that should be "
9313 "at the core of this war: Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> creative property "
9314 "should be protected, but how. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> we will "
9315 "enforce the rights the law gives to creative-property owners, but what the "
9316 "particular mix of rights ought to be. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> "
9317 "artists should be paid, but whether institutions designed to assure that "
9318 "artists get paid need also control how culture develops."
9321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
9322 #: freeculture.xml:6481
9323 msgid "four modalities of constraint on"
9326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9327 #: freeculture.xml:6482 freeculture.xml:6741 freeculture.xml:9808 freeculture.xml:9925
9331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
9332 #: freeculture.xml:6482
9333 msgid "four modalities of"
9336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
9337 #: freeculture.xml:6483
9338 msgid "as ex post regulation modality"
9341 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9342 #: freeculture.xml:6484 freeculture.xml:6560 freeculture.xml:6695
9343 msgid "as constraint modality"
9347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9348 #: freeculture.xml:6488
9350 "To answer these questions, we need a more general way to talk about how "
9351 "property is protected. More precisely, we need a more general way than the "
9352 "narrow language of the law allows. In <citetitle>Code and Other Laws of "
9353 "Cyberspace</citetitle>, I used a simple model to capture this more general "
9354 "perspective. For any particular right or regulation, this model asks how "
9355 "four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken the "
9356 "right or regulation. I represented it with this diagram:"
9359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
9360 #: freeculture.xml:6497
9362 "How four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken "
9363 "the right or regulation."
9366 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9367 #: freeculture.xml:6498 freeculture.xml:6691 freeculture.xml:7061
9369 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1331.svg\" align=\"center\" "
9370 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
9373 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9374 #: freeculture.xml:6502
9376 "At the center of this picture is a regulated dot: the individual or group "
9377 "that is the target of regulation, or the holder of a right. (In each case "
9378 "throughout, we can describe this either as regulation or as a right. For "
9379 "simplicity's sake, I will speak only of regulations.) The ovals represent "
9380 "four ways in which the individual or group might be regulated— either "
9381 "constrained or, alternatively, enabled. Law is the most obvious constraint "
9382 "(to lawyers, at least). It constrains by threatening punishments after the "
9383 "fact if the rules set in advance are violated. So if, for example, you "
9384 "willfully infringe Madonna's copyright by copying a song from her latest CD "
9385 "and posting it on the Web, you can be punished with a $150,000 fine. The "
9386 "fine is an ex post punishment for violating an ex ante rule. It is imposed "
9387 "by the state. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9390 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9391 #: freeculture.xml:6518 freeculture.xml:6580 freeculture.xml:6696
9392 msgid "norms, regulatory influence of"
9395 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9396 #: freeculture.xml:6520
9398 "Norms are a different kind of constraint. They, too, punish an individual "
9399 "for violating a rule. But the punishment of a norm is imposed by a "
9400 "community, not (or not only) by the state. There may be no law against "
9401 "spitting, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished if you spit on the "
9402 "ground while standing in line at a movie. The punishment might not be harsh, "
9403 "though depending upon the community, it could easily be more harsh than many "
9404 "of the punishments imposed by the state. The mark of the difference is not "
9405 "the severity of the rule, but the source of the enforcement."
9408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9409 #: freeculture.xml:6530 freeculture.xml:6579 freeculture.xml:6672 freeculture.xml:6712 freeculture.xml:9817 freeculture.xml:10051
9410 msgid "market constraints"
9413 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9414 #: freeculture.xml:6532
9416 "The market is a third type of constraint. Its constraint is effected through "
9417 "conditions: You can do X if you pay Y; you'll be paid M if you do N. These "
9418 "constraints are obviously not independent of law or norms—it is "
9419 "property law that defines what must be bought if it is to be taken legally; "
9420 "it is norms that say what is appropriately sold. But given a set of norms, "
9421 "and a background of property and contract law, the market imposes a "
9422 "simultaneous constraint upon how an individual or group might behave."
9425 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9426 #: freeculture.xml:6541 freeculture.xml:6578 freeculture.xml:6630 freeculture.xml:6671 freeculture.xml:6694
9427 msgid "architecture, constraint effected through"
9430 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9431 #: freeculture.xml:6543
9433 "Finally, and for the moment, perhaps, most mysteriously, "
9434 "<quote>architecture</quote>—the physical world as one finds "
9435 "it—is a constraint on behavior. A fallen bridge might constrain your "
9436 "ability to get across a river. Railroad tracks might constrain the ability "
9437 "of a community to integrate its social life. As with the market, "
9438 "architecture does not effect its constraint through ex post "
9439 "punishments. Instead, also as with the market, architecture effects its "
9440 "constraint through simultaneous conditions. These conditions are imposed not "
9441 "by courts enforcing contracts, or by police punishing theft, but by nature, "
9442 "by <quote>architecture.</quote> If a 500-pound boulder blocks your way, it "
9443 "is the law of gravity that enforces this constraint. If a $500 airplane "
9444 "ticket stands between you and a flight to New York, it is the market that "
9445 "enforces this constraint."
9449 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9450 #: freeculture.xml:6564
9452 "So the first point about these four modalities of regulation is obvious: "
9453 "They interact. Restrictions imposed by one might be reinforced by "
9454 "another. Or restrictions imposed by one might be undermined by another."
9457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9458 #: freeculture.xml:6570
9460 "The second point follows directly: If we want to understand the effective "
9461 "freedom that anyone has at a given moment to do any particular thing, we "
9462 "have to consider how these four modalities interact. Whether or not there "
9463 "are other constraints (there may well be; my claim is not about "
9464 "comprehensiveness), these four are among the most significant, and any "
9465 "regulator (whether controlling or freeing) must consider how these four in "
9466 "particular interact."
9469 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9470 #: freeculture.xml:6581
9471 msgid "driving speed, constraints on"
9474 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9475 #: freeculture.xml:6582
9476 msgid "speeding, constraints on"
9479 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9480 #: freeculture.xml:6584
9482 "So, for example, consider the <quote>freedom</quote> to drive a car at a "
9483 "high speed. That freedom is in part restricted by laws: speed limits that "
9484 "say how fast you can drive in particular places at particular times. It is "
9485 "in part restricted by architecture: speed bumps, for example, slow most "
9486 "rational drivers; governors in buses, as another example, set the maximum "
9487 "rate at which the driver can drive. The freedom is in part restricted by the "
9488 "market: Fuel efficiency drops as speed increases, thus the price of gasoline "
9489 "indirectly constrains speed. And finally, the norms of a community may or "
9490 "may not constrain the freedom to speed. Drive at 50 mph by a school in your "
9491 "own neighborhood and you're likely to be punished by the neighbors. The same "
9492 "norm wouldn't be as effective in a different town, or at night."
9496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
9497 #: freeculture.xml:6602
9499 "By describing the way law affects the other three modalities, I don't mean "
9500 "to suggest that the other three don't affect law. Obviously, they do. Law's "
9501 "only distinction is that it alone speaks as if it has a right "
9502 "self-consciously to change the other three. The right of the other three is "
9503 "more timidly expressed. See Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>Code: And Other "
9504 "Laws of Cyberspace</citetitle> (New York: Basic Books, 1999): 90–95; "
9505 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>The New Chicago School,</quote> <citetitle>Journal "
9506 "of Legal Studies</citetitle>, June 1998."
9510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9511 #: freeculture.xml:6598
9513 "The final point about this simple model should also be fairly clear: While "
9514 "these four modalities are analytically independent, law has a special role "
9515 "in affecting the three.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The law, in "
9516 "other words, sometimes operates to increase or decrease the constraint of a "
9517 "particular modality. Thus, the law might be used to increase taxes on "
9518 "gasoline, so as to increase the incentives to drive more slowly. The law "
9519 "might be used to mandate more speed bumps, so as to increase the difficulty "
9520 "of driving rapidly. The law might be used to fund ads that stigmatize "
9521 "reckless driving. Or the law might be used to require that other laws be "
9522 "more strict—a federal requirement that states decrease the speed "
9523 "limit, for example—so as to decrease the attractiveness of fast "
9527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
9528 #: freeculture.xml:6626
9529 msgid "Law has a special role in affecting the three."
9532 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
9533 #: freeculture.xml:6627
9535 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1361.svg\" align=\"center\" "
9536 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
9539 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
9540 #: freeculture.xml:6669
9541 msgid "Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)"
9544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
9545 #: freeculture.xml:6670
9546 msgid "Commons, John R."
9549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
9550 #: freeculture.xml:6640
9552 "Some people object to this way of talking about <quote>liberty.</quote> They "
9553 "object because their focus when considering the constraints that exist at "
9554 "any particular moment are constraints imposed exclusively by the "
9555 "government. For instance, if a storm destroys a bridge, these people think "
9556 "it is meaningless to say that one's liberty has been restrained. A bridge "
9557 "has washed out, and it's harder to get from one place to another. To talk "
9558 "about this as a loss of freedom, they say, is to confuse the stuff of "
9559 "politics with the vagaries of ordinary life. I don't mean to deny the value "
9560 "in this narrower view, which depends upon the context of the inquiry. I do, "
9561 "however, mean to argue against any insistence that this narrower view is the "
9562 "only proper view of liberty. As I argued in <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, we "
9563 "come from a long tradition of political thought with a broader focus than "
9564 "the narrow question of what the government did when. John Stuart Mill "
9565 "defended freedom of speech, for example, from the tyranny of narrow minds, "
9566 "not from the fear of government prosecution; John Stuart Mill, <citetitle>On "
9567 "Liberty</citetitle> (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Co., 1978), 19. John "
9568 "R. Commons famously defended the economic freedom of labor from constraints "
9569 "imposed by the market; John R. Commons, <quote>The Right to Work,</quote> in "
9570 "Malcom Rutherford and Warren J. Samuels, eds., <citetitle>John R. Commons: "
9571 "Selected Essays</citetitle> (London: Routledge: 1997), 62. The Americans "
9572 "with Disabilities Act increases the liberty of people with physical "
9573 "disabilities by changing the architecture of certain public places, thereby "
9574 "making access to those places easier; 42 <citetitle>United States "
9575 "Code</citetitle>, section 12101 (2000). Each of these interventions to "
9576 "change existing conditions changes the liberty of a particular group. The "
9577 "effect of those interventions should be accounted for in order to understand "
9578 "the effective liberty that each of these groups might face. <placeholder "
9579 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
9580 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
9584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
9585 #: freeculture.xml:6632
9587 "These constraints can thus change, and they can be changed. To understand "
9588 "the effective protection of liberty or protection of property at any "
9589 "particular moment, we must track these changes over time. A restriction "
9590 "imposed by one modality might be erased by another. A freedom enabled by one "
9591 "modality might be displaced by another.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
9595 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9596 #: freeculture.xml:6677
9597 msgid "Why Hollywood Is Right"
9600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9601 #: freeculture.xml:6678 freeculture.xml:7051
9602 msgid "four regulatory modalities on"
9605 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9606 #: freeculture.xml:6680
9608 "The most obvious point that this model reveals is just why, or just how, "
9609 "Hollywood is right. The copyright warriors have rallied Congress and the "
9610 "courts to defend copyright. This model helps us see why that rallying makes "
9614 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9615 #: freeculture.xml:6686
9616 msgid "Let's say this is the picture of copyright's regulation before the Internet:"
9619 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9620 #: freeculture.xml:6690 freeculture.xml:7060
9621 msgid "Copyright's regulation before the Internet."
9625 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9626 #: freeculture.xml:6699
9628 "There is balance between law, norms, market, and architecture. The law "
9629 "limits the ability to copy and share content, by imposing penalties on those "
9630 "who copy and share content. Those penalties are reinforced by technologies "
9631 "that make it hard to copy and share content (architecture) and expensive to "
9632 "copy and share content (market). Finally, those penalties are mitigated by "
9633 "norms we all recognize—kids, for example, taping other kids' "
9634 "records. These uses of copyrighted material may well be infringement, but "
9635 "the norms of our society (before the Internet, at least) had no problem with "
9636 "this form of infringement."
9639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9640 #: freeculture.xml:6710
9641 msgid "copyright regulatory balance lost with"
9644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9645 #: freeculture.xml:6711
9646 msgid "regulatory balance lost in"
9649 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9650 #: freeculture.xml:6713
9654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9655 #: freeculture.xml:6715
9657 "Enter the Internet, or, more precisely, technologies such as MP3s and p2p "
9658 "sharing. Now the constraint of architecture changes dramatically, as does "
9659 "the constraint of the market. And as both the market and architecture relax "
9660 "the regulation of copyright, norms pile on. The happy balance (for the "
9661 "warriors, at least) of life before the Internet becomes an effective state "
9662 "of anarchy after the Internet."
9665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9666 #: freeculture.xml:6724 freeculture.xml:7568 freeculture.xml:7878
9670 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9671 #: freeculture.xml:6724
9672 msgid "established industries threatened by changes in"
9676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9677 #: freeculture.xml:6726
9679 "Thus the sense of, and justification for, the warriors' response. "
9680 "Technology has changed, the warriors say, and the effect of this change, "
9681 "when ramified through the market and norms, is that a balance of protection "
9682 "for the copyright owners' rights has been lost. This is Iraq after the fall "
9683 "of Saddam, but this time no government is justifying the looting that "
9687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9688 #: freeculture.xml:6736
9689 msgid "effective state of anarchy after the Internet."
9692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9693 #: freeculture.xml:6737
9695 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1381.svg\" align=\"center\" "
9696 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
9699 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9700 #: freeculture.xml:6740
9701 msgid "Commerce, U.S. Department of"
9704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9705 #: freeculture.xml:6741 freeculture.xml:9808
9706 msgid "as establishment protectionism"
9709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9710 #: freeculture.xml:6743
9712 "Neither this analysis nor the conclusions that follow are new to the "
9713 "warriors. Indeed, in a <quote>White Paper</quote> prepared by the Commerce "
9714 "Department (one heavily influenced by the copyright warriors) in 1995, this "
9715 "mix of regulatory modalities had already been identified and the strategy to "
9716 "respond already mapped. In response to the changes the Internet had "
9717 "effected, the White Paper argued (1) Congress should strengthen intellectual "
9718 "property law, (2) businesses should adopt innovative marketing techniques, "
9719 "(3) technologists should push to develop code to protect copyrighted "
9720 "material, and (4) educators should educate kids to better protect copyright."
9723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9724 #: freeculture.xml:6756 freeculture.xml:6896
9728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9729 #: freeculture.xml:6757
9730 msgid "steel industry"
9734 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9735 #: freeculture.xml:6759
9737 "This mixed strategy is just what copyright needed—if it was to "
9738 "preserve the particular balance that existed before the change induced by "
9739 "the Internet. And it's just what we should expect the content industry to "
9740 "push for. It is as American as apple pie to consider the happy life you have "
9741 "as an entitlement, and to look to the law to protect it if something comes "
9742 "along to change that happy life. Homeowners living in a flood plain have no "
9743 "hesitation appealing to the government to rebuild (and rebuild again) when a "
9744 "flood (architecture) wipes away their property (law). Farmers have no "
9745 "hesitation appealing to the government to bail them out when a virus "
9746 "(architecture) devastates their crop. Unions have no hesitation appealing to "
9747 "the government to bail them out when imports (market) wipe out the "
9748 "U.S. steel industry."
9751 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9752 #: freeculture.xml:6779
9754 "Thus, there's nothing wrong or surprising in the content industry's campaign "
9755 "to protect itself from the harmful consequences of a technological "
9756 "innovation. And I would be the last person to argue that the changing "
9757 "technology of the Internet has not had a profound effect on the content "
9758 "industry's way of doing business, or as John Seely Brown describes it, its "
9759 "<quote>architecture of revenue.</quote>"
9762 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9763 #: freeculture.xml:6792
9764 msgid "railroad industry"
9767 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9768 #: freeculture.xml:6793
9769 msgid "remote channel changers"
9773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9774 #: freeculture.xml:6803
9776 "See Geoffrey Smith, <quote>Film vs. Digital: Can Kodak Build a "
9777 "Bridge?</quote> BusinessWeek online, 2 August 1999, available at <ulink "
9778 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #23</ulink>. For a more recent "
9779 "analysis of Kodak's place in the market, see Chana R. Schoenberger, "
9780 "<quote>Can Kodak Make Up for Lost Moments?</quote> Forbes.com, 6 October "
9781 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
9785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9786 #: freeculture.xml:6795
9788 "But just because a particular interest asks for government support, it "
9789 "doesn't follow that support should be granted. And just because technology "
9790 "has weakened a particular way of doing business, it doesn't follow that the "
9791 "government should intervene to support that old way of doing "
9792 "business. Kodak, for example, has lost perhaps as much as 20 percent of "
9793 "their traditional film market to the emerging technologies of digital "
9794 "cameras.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Does anyone believe the "
9795 "government should ban digital cameras just to support Kodak? Highways have "
9796 "weakened the freight business for railroads. Does anyone think we should ban "
9797 "trucks from roads <emphasis>for the purpose of</emphasis> protecting the "
9798 "railroads? Closer to the subject of this book, remote channel changers have "
9799 "weakened the <quote>stickiness</quote> of television advertising (if a "
9800 "boring commercial comes on the TV, the remote makes it easy to surf), and it "
9801 "may well be that this change has weakened the television advertising "
9802 "market. But does anyone believe we should regulate remotes to reinforce "
9803 "commercial television? (Maybe by limiting them to function only once a "
9804 "second, or to switch to only ten channels within an hour?)"
9807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9808 #: freeculture.xml:6824
9809 msgid "free market, technological changes in"
9812 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
9813 #: freeculture.xml:6825 freeculture.xml:15499
9814 msgid "Brezhnev, Leonid"
9817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
9818 #: freeculture.xml:6828 freeculture.xml:13699
9822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9823 #: freeculture.xml:6829 freeculture.xml:7843
9824 msgid "market competition"
9828 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9829 #: freeculture.xml:6842
9831 "Fred Warshofsky, <citetitle>The Patent Wars</citetitle> (New York: Wiley, "
9832 "1994), 170–71."
9835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9836 #: freeculture.xml:6832
9838 "The obvious answer to these obviously rhetorical questions is no. In a free "
9839 "society, with a free market, supported by free enterprise and free trade, "
9840 "the government's role is not to support one way of doing business against "
9841 "others. Its role is not to pick winners and protect them against loss. If "
9842 "the government did this generally, then we would never have any progress. As "
9843 "Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wrote in 1991, in a memo criticizing software "
9844 "patents, <quote>established companies have an interest in excluding future "
9845 "competitors.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And relative "
9846 "to a startup, established companies also have the means. (Think RCA and FM "
9847 "radio.) A world in which competitors with new ideas must fight not only the "
9848 "market but also the government is a world in which competitors with new "
9849 "ideas will not succeed. It is a world of stasis and increasingly "
9850 "concentrated stagnation. It is the Soviet Union under Brezhnev."
9853 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9854 #: freeculture.xml:6853
9856 "Thus, while it is understandable for industries threatened with new "
9857 "technologies that change the way they do business to look to the government "
9858 "for protection, it is the special duty of policy makers to guarantee that "
9859 "that protection not become a deterrent to progress. It is the duty of policy "
9860 "makers, in other words, to assure that the changes they create, in response "
9861 "to the request of those hurt by changing technology, are changes that "
9862 "preserve the incentives and opportunities for innovation and change."
9865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9866 #: freeculture.xml:6864
9867 msgid "speech, freedom of"
9870 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9871 #: freeculture.xml:6864
9872 msgid "constitutional guarantee of"
9875 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9876 #: freeculture.xml:6866
9878 "In the context of laws regulating speech—which include, obviously, "
9879 "copyright law—that duty is even stronger. When the industry "
9880 "complaining about changing technologies is asking Congress to respond in a "
9881 "way that burdens speech and creativity, policy makers should be especially "
9882 "wary of the request. It is always a bad deal for the government to get into "
9883 "the business of regulating speech markets. The risks and dangers of that "
9884 "game are precisely why our framers created the First Amendment to our "
9885 "Constitution: <quote>Congress shall make no law … abridging the "
9886 "freedom of speech.</quote> So when Congress is being asked to pass laws that "
9887 "would <quote>abridge</quote> the freedom of speech, it should ask— "
9888 "carefully—whether such regulation is justified."
9892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9893 #: freeculture.xml:6882
9895 "My argument just now, however, has nothing to do with whether the changes "
9896 "that are being pushed by the copyright warriors are "
9897 "<quote>justified.</quote> My argument is about their effect. For before we "
9898 "get to the question of justification, a hard question that depends a great "
9899 "deal upon your values, we should first ask whether we understand the effect "
9900 "of the changes the content industry wants."
9903 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9904 #: freeculture.xml:6891
9905 msgid "Here's the metaphor that will capture the argument to follow."
9908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9909 #: freeculture.xml:6893
9910 msgid "Müller, Paul Hermann"
9913 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9914 #: freeculture.xml:6894
9918 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9919 #: freeculture.xml:6895
9920 msgid "insecticide, environmental consequences of"
9923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9924 #: freeculture.xml:6898
9926 "In 1873, the chemical DDT was first synthesized. In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul "
9927 "Hermann Müller won the Nobel Prize for his work demonstrating the "
9928 "insecticidal properties of DDT. By the 1950s, the insecticide was widely "
9929 "used around the world to kill disease-carrying pests. It was also used to "
9930 "increase farm production."
9933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9934 #: freeculture.xml:6905
9936 "No one doubts that killing disease-carrying pests or increasing crop "
9937 "production is a good thing. No one doubts that the work of Müller was "
9938 "important and valuable and probably saved lives, possibly millions."
9941 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9942 #: freeculture.xml:6909
9943 msgid "Carson, Rachel"
9946 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9947 #: freeculture.xml:6910
9948 msgid "Silent Spring (Carson)"
9951 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9952 #: freeculture.xml:6911
9953 msgid "environmentalism"
9956 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9957 #: freeculture.xml:6913
9959 "But in 1962, Rachel Carson published <citetitle>Silent Spring</citetitle>, "
9960 "which argued that DDT, whatever its primary benefits, was also having "
9961 "unintended environmental consequences. Birds were losing the ability to "
9962 "reproduce. Whole chains of the ecology were being destroyed."
9965 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9966 #: freeculture.xml:6919
9968 "No one set out to destroy the environment. Paul Müller certainly did not aim "
9969 "to harm any birds. But the effort to solve one set of problems produced "
9970 "another set which, in the view of some, was far worse than the problems that "
9971 "were originally attacked. Or more accurately, the problems DDT caused were "
9972 "worse than the problems it solved, at least when considering the other, more "
9973 "environmentally friendly ways to solve the problems that DDT was meant to "
9977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9978 #: freeculture.xml:6928
9979 msgid "Boyle, James"
9982 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
9983 #: freeculture.xml:6929
9984 msgid "innovative freedom balanced with fair compensation in"
9988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9989 #: freeculture.xml:6935
9991 "See, for example, James Boyle, <quote>A Politics of Intellectual Property: "
9992 "Environmentalism for the Net?</quote> <citetitle>Duke Law "
9993 "Journal</citetitle> 47 (1997): 87."
9997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9998 #: freeculture.xml:6931
10000 "It is to this image precisely that Duke University law professor James Boyle "
10001 "appeals when he argues that we need an <quote>environmentalism</quote> for "
10002 "culture.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His point, and the point I "
10003 "want to develop in the balance of this chapter, is not that the aims of "
10004 "copyright are flawed. Or that authors should not be paid for their work. Or "
10005 "that music should be given away <quote>for free.</quote> The point is that "
10006 "some of the ways in which we might protect authors will have unintended "
10007 "consequences for the cultural environment, much like DDT had for the natural "
10008 "environment. And just as criticism of DDT is not an endorsement of malaria "
10009 "or an attack on farmers, so, too, is criticism of one particular set of "
10010 "regulations protecting copyright not an endorsement of anarchy or an attack "
10011 "on authors. It is an environment of creativity that we seek, and we should "
10012 "be aware of our actions' effects on the environment."
10015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10016 #: freeculture.xml:6953
10018 "My argument, in the balance of this chapter, tries to map exactly this "
10019 "effect. No doubt the technology of the Internet has had a dramatic effect on "
10020 "the ability of copyright owners to protect their content. But there should "
10021 "also be little doubt that when you add together the changes in copyright law "
10022 "over time, plus the change in technology that the Internet is undergoing "
10023 "just now, the net effect of these changes will not be only that copyrighted "
10024 "work is effectively protected. Also, and generally missed, the net effect of "
10025 "this massive increase in protection will be devastating to the environment "
10029 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10030 #: freeculture.xml:6965
10032 "In a line: To kill a gnat, we are spraying DDT with consequences for free "
10033 "culture that will be far more devastating than that this gnat will be lost."
10036 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10037 #: freeculture.xml:6974
10041 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10042 #: freeculture.xml:6975
10043 msgid "on creative property"
10046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10047 #: freeculture.xml:6976 freeculture.xml:11464
10048 msgid "copyright purpose established in"
10051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10052 #: freeculture.xml:6977 freeculture.xml:11173
10053 msgid "Progress Clause of"
10056 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10057 #: freeculture.xml:6978 freeculture.xml:11465
10058 msgid "constitutional purpose of"
10061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10062 #: freeculture.xml:6980
10063 msgid "constitutional tradition on"
10066 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
10067 #: freeculture.xml:6981 freeculture.xml:11174
10068 msgid "Progress Clause"
10071 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10072 #: freeculture.xml:6984
10074 "America copied English copyright law. Actually, we copied and improved "
10075 "English copyright law. Our Constitution makes the purpose of <quote>creative "
10076 "property</quote> rights clear; its express limitations reinforce the English "
10077 "aim to avoid overly powerful publishers."
10080 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10081 #: freeculture.xml:6989
10082 msgid "in constitutional Progress Clause"
10085 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10086 #: freeculture.xml:6991
10088 "The power to establish <quote>creative property</quote> rights is granted to "
10089 "Congress in a way that, for our Constitution, at least, is very odd. Article "
10090 "I, section 8, clause 8 of our Constitution states that:"
10094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10095 #: freeculture.xml:6996
10097 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, "
10098 "by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right "
10099 "to their respective Writings and Discoveries. We can call this the "
10100 "<quote>Progress Clause,</quote> for notice what this clause does not say. It "
10101 "does not say Congress has the power to grant <quote>creative property "
10102 "rights.</quote> It says that Congress has the power <emphasis>to promote "
10103 "progress</emphasis>. The grant of power is its purpose, and its purpose is a "
10104 "public one, not the purpose of enriching publishers, nor even primarily the "
10105 "purpose of rewarding authors."
10108 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10109 #: freeculture.xml:7010
10110 msgid "history of American"
10113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10114 #: freeculture.xml:7012
10116 "The Progress Clause expressly limits the term of copyrights. As we saw in "
10117 "chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"founders\"/>, the "
10118 "English limited the term of copyright so as to assure that a few would not "
10119 "exercise disproportionate control over culture by exercising "
10120 "disproportionate control over publishing. We can assume the framers followed "
10121 "the English for a similar purpose. Indeed, unlike the English, the framers "
10122 "reinforced that objective, by requiring that copyrights extend <quote>to "
10123 "Authors</quote> only."
10126 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10127 #: freeculture.xml:7021
10128 msgid "Senate, U.S."
10131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10132 #: freeculture.xml:7022
10133 msgid "structural checks and balances of"
10136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10137 #: freeculture.xml:7023
10138 msgid "electoral college"
10141 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10142 #: freeculture.xml:7025
10144 "The design of the Progress Clause reflects something about the "
10145 "Constitution's design in general. To avoid a problem, the framers built "
10146 "structure. To prevent the concentrated power of publishers, they built a "
10147 "structure that kept copyrights away from publishers and kept them short. To "
10148 "prevent the concentrated power of a church, they banned the federal "
10149 "government from establishing a church. To prevent concentrating power in the "
10150 "federal government, they built structures to reinforce the power of the "
10151 "states—including the Senate, whose members were at the time selected "
10152 "by the states, and an electoral college, also selected by the states, to "
10153 "select the president. In each case, a <emphasis>structure</emphasis> built "
10154 "checks and balances into the constitutional frame, structured to prevent "
10155 "otherwise inevitable concentrations of power."
10158 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10159 #: freeculture.xml:7042
10161 "I doubt the framers would recognize the regulation we call "
10162 "<quote>copyright</quote> today. The scope of that regulation is far beyond "
10163 "anything they ever considered. To begin to understand what they did, we need "
10164 "to put our <quote>copyright</quote> in context: We need to see how it has "
10165 "changed in the 210 years since they first struck its design."
10169 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10170 #: freeculture.xml:7053
10172 "Some of these changes come from the law: some in light of changes in "
10173 "technology, and some in light of changes in technology given a particular "
10174 "concentration of market power. In terms of our model, we started here:"
10177 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10178 #: freeculture.xml:7064
10179 msgid "We will end here:"
10182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10183 #: freeculture.xml:7067
10184 msgid "<quote>Copyright</quote> today."
10187 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10188 #: freeculture.xml:7068
10190 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1442.svg\" align=\"center\" "
10191 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
10195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10196 #: freeculture.xml:7071
10197 msgid "Let me explain how."
10200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10201 #: freeculture.xml:7076
10202 msgid "Law: Duration"
10205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10206 #: freeculture.xml:7079 freeculture.xml:7371
10207 msgid "Copyright Act (1790)"
10210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10211 #: freeculture.xml:7080
10212 msgid "common law protections of"
10215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10216 #: freeculture.xml:7081
10217 msgid "balance of U.S. content in"
10220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10221 #: freeculture.xml:7097
10222 msgid "Crosskey, William W."
10225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10226 #: freeculture.xml:7091
10228 "William W. Crosskey, <citetitle>Politics and the Constitution in the History "
10229 "of the United States</citetitle> (London: Cambridge University Press, 1953), "
10230 "vol. 1, 485–86: <quote>extinguish[ing], by plain implication of `the "
10231 "supreme Law of the Land,' <emphasis>the perpetual rights which authors had, "
10232 "or were supposed by some to have, under the Common Law</emphasis></quote> "
10233 "(emphasis added). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10236 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10237 #: freeculture.xml:7083
10239 "When the first Congress enacted laws to protect creative property, it faced "
10240 "the same uncertainty about the status of creative property that the English "
10241 "had confronted in 1774. Many states had passed laws protecting creative "
10242 "property, and some believed that these laws simply supplemented common law "
10243 "rights that already protected creative authorship.<placeholder "
10244 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This meant that there was no guaranteed public "
10245 "domain in the United States in 1790. If copyrights were protected by the "
10246 "common law, then there was no simple way to know whether a work published in "
10247 "the United States was controlled or free. Just as in England, this lingering "
10248 "uncertainty would make it hard for publishers to rely upon a public domain "
10249 "to reprint and distribute works."
10252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10253 #: freeculture.xml:7107
10254 msgid "federal vs. state"
10257 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10258 #: freeculture.xml:7109
10260 "That uncertainty ended after Congress passed legislation granting "
10261 "copyrights. Because federal law overrides any contrary state law, federal "
10262 "protections for copyrighted works displaced any state law protections. Just "
10263 "as in England the Statute of Anne eventually meant that the copyrights for "
10264 "all English works expired, a federal statute meant that any state copyrights "
10268 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10269 #: freeculture.xml:7118
10271 "In 1790, Congress enacted the first copyright law. It created a federal "
10272 "copyright and secured that copyright for fourteen years. If the author was "
10273 "alive at the end of that fourteen years, then he could opt to renew the "
10274 "copyright for another fourteen years. If he did not renew the copyright, his "
10275 "work passed into the public domain."
10279 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10280 #: freeculture.xml:7134
10282 "Although 13,000 titles were published in the United States from 1790 to "
10283 "1799, only 556 copyright registrations were filed; John Tebbel, <citetitle>A "
10284 "History of Book Publishing in the United States</citetitle>, vol. 1, "
10285 "<citetitle>The Creation of an Industry, 1630–1865</citetitle> (New "
10286 "York: Bowker, 1972), 141. Of the 21,000 imprints recorded before 1790, only "
10287 "twelve were copyrighted under the 1790 act; William J. Maher, "
10288 "<citetitle>Copyright Term, Retrospective Extension and the Copyright Law of "
10289 "1790 in Historical Context</citetitle>, 7–10 (2002), available at "
10290 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #25</ulink>. Thus, the "
10291 "overwhelming majority of works fell immediately into the public domain. Even "
10292 "those works that were copyrighted fell into the public domain quickly, "
10293 "because the term of copyright was short. The initial term of copyright was "
10294 "fourteen years, with the option of renewal for an additional fourteen "
10295 "years. Copyright Act of May 31, 1790, §1, 1 stat. 124."
10298 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10299 #: freeculture.xml:7126
10301 "While there were many works created in the United States in the first ten "
10302 "years of the Republic, only 5 percent of the works were actually registered "
10303 "under the federal copyright regime. Of all the work created in the United "
10304 "States both before 1790 and from 1790 through 1800, 95 percent immediately "
10305 "passed into the public domain; the balance would pass into the pubic domain "
10306 "within twenty-eight years at most, and more likely within fourteen "
10307 "years.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10312 #: freeculture.xml:7152
10314 "This system of renewal was a crucial part of the American system of "
10315 "copyright. It assured that the maximum terms of copyright would be granted "
10316 "only for works where they were wanted. After the initial term of fourteen "
10317 "years, if it wasn't worth it to an author to renew his copyright, then it "
10318 "wasn't worth it to society to insist on the copyright, either."
10322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10323 #: freeculture.xml:7167
10325 "Few copyright holders ever chose to renew their copyrights. For instance, of "
10326 "the 25,006 copyrights registered in 1883, only 894 were renewed in 1910. For "
10327 "a year-by-year analysis of copyright renewal rates, see Barbara A. Ringer, "
10328 "<quote>Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Studies on "
10329 "Copyright</citetitle>, vol. 1 (New York: Practicing Law Institute, 1963), "
10330 "618. For a more recent and comprehensive analysis, see William M. Landes and "
10331 "Richard A. Posner, <quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> "
10332 "<citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 471, "
10333 "498–501, and accompanying figures."
10336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10337 #: freeculture.xml:7161
10339 "Fourteen years may not seem long to us, but for the vast majority of "
10340 "copyright owners at that time, it was long enough: Only a small minority of "
10341 "them renewed their copyright after fourteen years; the balance allowed their "
10342 "work to pass into the public domain.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
10347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10348 #: freeculture.xml:7185
10349 msgid "See Ringer, ch. 9, n. 2."
10352 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10353 #: freeculture.xml:7181
10355 "Even today, this structure would make sense. Most creative work has an "
10356 "actual commercial life of just a couple of years. Most books fall out of "
10357 "print after one year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When that "
10358 "happens, the used books are traded free of copyright regulation. Thus the "
10359 "books are no longer <emphasis>effectively</emphasis> controlled by "
10360 "copyright. The only practical commercial use of the books at that time is to "
10361 "sell the books as used books; that use—because it does not involve "
10362 "publication—is effectively free."
10365 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10366 #: freeculture.xml:7193 freeculture.xml:11111
10367 msgid "copyright terms extended by"
10370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10371 #: freeculture.xml:7194 freeculture.xml:11113
10372 msgid "term extensions in"
10375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10376 #: freeculture.xml:7196
10378 "In the first hundred years of the Republic, the term of copyright was "
10379 "changed once. In 1831, the term was increased from a maximum of 28 years to "
10380 "a maximum of 42 by increasing the initial term of copyright from 14 years to "
10381 "28 years. In the next fifty years of the Republic, the term increased once "
10382 "again. In 1909, Congress extended the renewal term of 14 years to 28 years, "
10383 "setting a maximum term of 56 years."
10386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
10387 #: freeculture.xml:7203 freeculture.xml:7238 freeculture.xml:11137 freeculture.xml:15417
10388 msgid "Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) (1998)"
10391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10392 #: freeculture.xml:7204 freeculture.xml:11117
10393 msgid "future patents vs. future copyrights in"
10396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10397 #: freeculture.xml:7206
10399 "Then, beginning in 1962, Congress started a practice that has defined "
10400 "copyright law since. Eleven times in the last forty years, Congress has "
10401 "extended the terms of existing copyrights; twice in those forty years, "
10402 "Congress extended the term of future copyrights. Initially, the extensions "
10403 "of existing copyrights were short, a mere one to two years. In 1976, "
10404 "Congress extended all existing copyrights by nineteen years. And in 1998, "
10405 "in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Congress extended the term "
10406 "of existing and future copyrights by twenty years."
10409 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
10410 #: freeculture.xml:7215 freeculture.xml:11116 freeculture.xml:11117 freeculture.xml:13204 freeculture.xml:13685
10414 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
10415 #: freeculture.xml:7215 freeculture.xml:11116
10416 msgid "in public domain"
10420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10421 #: freeculture.xml:7217
10423 "The effect of these extensions is simply to toll, or delay, the passing of "
10424 "works into the public domain. This latest extension means that the public "
10425 "domain will have been tolled for thirty-nine out of fifty-five years, or 70 "
10426 "percent of the time since 1962. Thus, in the twenty years after the Sonny "
10427 "Bono Act, while one million patents will pass into the public domain, zero "
10428 "copyrights will pass into the public domain by virtue of the expiration of a "
10432 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10433 #: freeculture.xml:7229
10435 "The effect of these extensions has been exacerbated by another, "
10436 "little-noticed change in the copyright law. Remember I said that the framers "
10437 "established a two-part copyright regime, requiring a copyright owner to "
10438 "renew his copyright after an initial term. The requirement of renewal meant "
10439 "that works that no longer needed copyright protection would pass more "
10440 "quickly into the public domain. The works remaining under protection would "
10441 "be those that had some continuing commercial value."
10444 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10445 #: freeculture.xml:7239
10446 msgid "of natural authors vs. corporations"
10449 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
10450 #: freeculture.xml:7240 freeculture.xml:13358
10451 msgid "corporations"
10454 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10455 #: freeculture.xml:7240
10456 msgid "copyright terms for"
10459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10460 #: freeculture.xml:7242
10462 "The United States abandoned this sensible system in 1976. For all works "
10463 "created after 1978, there was only one copyright term—the maximum "
10464 "term. For <quote>natural</quote> authors, that term was life plus fifty "
10465 "years. For corporations, the term was seventy-five years. Then, in 1992, "
10466 "Congress abandoned the renewal requirement for all works created before "
10467 "1978. All works still under copyright would be accorded the maximum term "
10468 "then available. After the Sonny Bono Act, that term was ninety-five years."
10471 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10472 #: freeculture.xml:7252
10474 "This change meant that American law no longer had an automatic way to assure "
10475 "that works that were no longer exploited passed into the public domain. And "
10476 "indeed, after these changes, it is unclear whether it is even possible to "
10477 "put works into the public domain. The public domain is orphaned by these "
10478 "changes in copyright law. Despite the requirement that terms be "
10479 "<quote>limited,</quote> we have no evidence that anything will limit them."
10483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10484 #: freeculture.xml:7271
10486 "These statistics are understated. Between the years 1910 and 1962 (the first "
10487 "year the renewal term was extended), the average term was never more than "
10488 "thirty-two years, and averaged thirty years. See Landes and Posner, "
10489 "<quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> loc. cit."
10492 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10493 #: freeculture.xml:7263
10495 "The effect of these changes on the average duration of copyright is "
10496 "dramatic. In 1973, more than 85 percent of copyright owners failed to renew "
10497 "their copyright. That meant that the average term of copyright in 1973 was "
10498 "just 32.2 years. Because of the elimination of the renewal requirement, the "
10499 "average term of copyright is now the maximum term. In thirty years, then, "
10500 "the average term has tripled, from 32.2 years to 95 years.<placeholder "
10501 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10504 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10505 #: freeculture.xml:7285
10509 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10510 #: freeculture.xml:7286 freeculture.xml:7505
10514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10515 #: freeculture.xml:7288
10517 "The <quote>scope</quote> of a copyright is the range of rights granted by "
10518 "the law. The scope of American copyright has changed dramatically. Those "
10519 "changes are not necessarily bad. But we should understand the extent of the "
10520 "changes if we're to keep this debate in context."
10523 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10524 #: freeculture.xml:7294
10525 msgid "historical shift in copyright coverage of"
10528 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10529 #: freeculture.xml:7296
10531 "In 1790, that scope was very narrow. Copyright covered only <quote>maps, "
10532 "charts, and books.</quote> That means it didn't cover, for example, music or "
10533 "architecture. More significantly, the right granted by a copyright gave the "
10534 "author the exclusive right to <quote>publish</quote> copyrighted works. That "
10535 "means someone else violated the copyright only if he republished the work "
10536 "without the copyright owner's permission. Finally, the right granted by a "
10537 "copyright was an exclusive right to that particular book. The right did not "
10538 "extend to what lawyers call <quote>derivative works.</quote> It would not, "
10539 "therefore, interfere with the right of someone other than the author to "
10540 "translate a copyrighted book, or to adapt the story to a different form "
10541 "(such as a drama based on a published book)."
10544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10545 #: freeculture.xml:7309
10547 "This, too, has changed dramatically. While the contours of copyright today "
10548 "are extremely hard to describe simply, in general terms, the right covers "
10549 "practically any creative work that is reduced to a tangible form. It covers "
10550 "music as well as architecture, drama as well as computer programs. It gives "
10551 "the copyright owner of that creative work not only the exclusive right to "
10552 "<quote>publish</quote> the work, but also the exclusive right of control "
10553 "over any <quote>copies</quote> of that work. And most significant for our "
10554 "purposes here, the right gives the copyright owner control over not only his "
10555 "or her particular work, but also any <quote>derivative work</quote> that "
10556 "might grow out of the original work. In this way, the right covers more "
10557 "creative work, protects the creative work more broadly, and protects works "
10558 "that are based in a significant way on the initial creative work."
10561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10562 #: freeculture.xml:7323
10566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10567 #: freeculture.xml:7324
10568 msgid "formalities"
10571 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10572 #: freeculture.xml:7325
10573 msgid "registration requirement of"
10577 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10578 #: freeculture.xml:7327
10580 "At the same time that the scope of copyright has expanded, procedural "
10581 "limitations on the right have been relaxed. I've already described the "
10582 "complete removal of the renewal requirement in 1992. In addition to the "
10583 "renewal requirement, for most of the history of American copyright law, "
10584 "there was a requirement that a work be registered before it could receive "
10585 "the protection of a copyright. There was also a requirement that any "
10586 "copyrighted work be marked either with that famous © or the word "
10587 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis>. And for most of the history of American "
10588 "copyright law, there was a requirement that works be deposited with the "
10589 "government before a copyright could be secured."
10592 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10593 #: freeculture.xml:7342
10595 "The reason for the registration requirement was the sensible understanding "
10596 "that for most works, no copyright was required. Again, in the first ten "
10597 "years of the Republic, 95 percent of works eligible for copyright were never "
10598 "copyrighted. Thus, the rule reflected the norm: Most works apparently didn't "
10599 "need copyright, so registration narrowed the regulation of the law to the "
10600 "few that did. The same reasoning justified the requirement that a work be "
10601 "marked as copyrighted—that way it was easy to know whether a copyright "
10602 "was being claimed. The requirement that works be deposited was to assure "
10603 "that after the copyright expired, there would be a copy of the work "
10604 "somewhere so that it could be copied by others without locating the original "
10608 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10609 #: freeculture.xml:7355
10613 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10614 #: freeculture.xml:7357
10616 "All of these <quote>formalities</quote> were abolished in the American "
10617 "system when we decided to follow European copyright law. There is no "
10618 "requirement that you register a work to get a copyright; the copyright now "
10619 "is automatic; the copyright exists whether or not you mark your work with a "
10620 "©; and the copyright exists whether or not you actually make a copy "
10621 "available for others to copy."
10624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10625 #: freeculture.xml:7368
10626 msgid "Consider a practical example to understand the scope of these differences."
10630 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10631 #: freeculture.xml:7380
10633 "See Thomas Bender and David Sampliner, <quote>Poets, Pirates, and the "
10634 "Creation of American Literature,</quote> 29 <citetitle>New York University "
10635 "Journal of International Law and Politics</citetitle> 255 (1997), and James "
10636 "Gilraeth, ed., Federal Copyright Records, 1790–1800 (U.S. G.P.O., "
10640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10641 #: freeculture.xml:7373
10643 "If, in 1790, you wrote a book and you were one of the 5 percent who actually "
10644 "copyrighted that book, then the copyright law protected you against another "
10645 "publisher's taking your book and republishing it without your "
10646 "permission. The aim of the act was to regulate publishers so as to prevent "
10647 "that kind of unfair competition. In 1790, there were 174 publishers in the "
10648 "United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Copyright Act "
10649 "was thus a tiny regulation of a tiny proportion of a tiny part of the "
10650 "creative market in the United States—publishers."
10654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10655 #: freeculture.xml:7395
10657 "The act left other creators totally unregulated. If I copied your poem by "
10658 "hand, over and over again, as a way to learn it by heart, my act was totally "
10659 "unregulated by the 1790 act. If I took your novel and made a play based upon "
10660 "it, or if I translated it or abridged it, none of those activities were "
10661 "regulated by the original copyright act. These creative activities remained "
10662 "free, while the activities of publishers were restrained."
10665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10666 #: freeculture.xml:7405
10668 "Today the story is very different: If you write a book, your book is "
10669 "automatically protected. Indeed, not just your book. Every e-mail, every "
10670 "note to your spouse, every doodle, <emphasis>every</emphasis> creative act "
10671 "that's reduced to a tangible form—all of this is automatically "
10672 "copyrighted. There is no need to register or mark your work. The protection "
10673 "follows the creation, not the steps you take to protect it."
10676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10677 #: freeculture.xml:7414
10679 "That protection gives you the right (subject to a narrow range of fair use "
10680 "exceptions) to control how others copy the work, whether they copy it to "
10681 "republish it or to share an excerpt."
10684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10685 #: freeculture.xml:7419
10687 "That much is the obvious part. Any system of copyright would control "
10688 "competing publishing. But there's a second part to the copyright of today "
10689 "that is not at all obvious. This is the protection of <quote>derivative "
10690 "rights.</quote> If you write a book, no one can make a movie out of your "
10691 "book without permission. No one can translate it without permission. "
10692 "CliffsNotes can't make an abridgment unless permission is granted. All of "
10693 "these derivative uses of your original work are controlled by the copyright "
10694 "holder. The copyright, in other words, is now not just an exclusive right to "
10695 "your writings, but an exclusive right to your writings and a large "
10696 "proportion of the writings inspired by them."
10699 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10700 #: freeculture.xml:7434
10702 "It is this derivative right that would seem most bizarre to our framers, "
10703 "though it has become second nature to us. Initially, this expansion was "
10704 "created to deal with obvious evasions of a narrower copyright. If I write a "
10705 "book, can you change one word and then claim a copyright in a new and "
10706 "different book? Obviously that would make a joke of the copyright, so the "
10707 "law was properly expanded to include those slight modifications as well as "
10708 "the verbatim original work."
10711 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10712 #: freeculture.xml:7456
10714 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>The Copyright Cage,</quote> <citetitle>Legal "
10715 "Affairs</citetitle>, July/August 2003, available at <ulink "
10716 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #26</ulink>. <placeholder "
10717 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10721 #: freeculture.xml:7446
10723 "In preventing that joke, the law created an astonishing power within a free "
10724 "culture—at least, it's astonishing when you understand that the law "
10725 "applies not just to the commercial publisher but to anyone with a "
10726 "computer. I understand the wrong in duplicating and selling someone else's "
10727 "work. But whatever <emphasis>that</emphasis> wrong is, transforming someone "
10728 "else's work is a different wrong. Some view transformation as no wrong at "
10729 "all—they believe that our law, as the framers penned it, should not "
10730 "protect derivative rights at all.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
10731 "Whether or not you go that far, it seems plain that whatever wrong is "
10732 "involved is fundamentally different from the wrong of direct piracy."
10735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10736 #: freeculture.xml:7478
10737 msgid "Rubenfeld, Jeb"
10740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10741 #: freeculture.xml:7471
10743 "Professor Rubenfeld has presented a powerful constitutional argument about "
10744 "the difference that copyright law should draw (from the perspective of the "
10745 "First Amendment) between mere <quote>copies</quote> and derivative "
10746 "works. See Jed Rubenfeld, <quote>The Freedom of Imagination: Copyright's "
10747 "Constitutionality,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 112 "
10748 "(2002): 1–60 (see especially pp. 53–59). <placeholder "
10749 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10752 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10753 #: freeculture.xml:7466
10755 "Yet copyright law treats these two different wrongs in the same way. I can "
10756 "go to court and get an injunction against your pirating my book. I can go to "
10757 "court and get an injunction against your transformative use of my "
10758 "book.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These two different uses of "
10759 "my creative work are treated the same."
10762 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10763 #: freeculture.xml:7486
10765 "This again may seem right to you. If I wrote a book, then why should you be "
10766 "able to write a movie that takes my story and makes money from it without "
10767 "paying me or crediting me? Or if Disney creates a creature called "
10768 "<quote>Mickey Mouse,</quote> why should you be able to make Mickey Mouse "
10769 "toys and be the one to trade on the value that Disney originally created?"
10772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10773 #: freeculture.xml:7494
10775 "These are good arguments, and, in general, my point is not that the "
10776 "derivative right is unjustified. My aim just now is much narrower: simply to "
10777 "make clear that this expansion is a significant change from the rights "
10778 "originally granted."
10781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10782 #: freeculture.xml:7503
10783 msgid "Law and Architecture: Reach"
10786 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10787 #: freeculture.xml:7504 freeculture.xml:7566 freeculture.xml:7779
10788 msgid "copies as core issue of"
10792 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10793 #: freeculture.xml:7512
10795 "This is a simplification of the law, but not much of one. The law certainly "
10796 "regulates more than <quote>copies</quote>—a public performance of a "
10797 "copyrighted song, for example, is regulated even though performance per se "
10798 "doesn't make a copy; 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section "
10799 "106(4). And it certainly sometimes doesn't regulate a <quote>copy</quote>; "
10800 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 112(a). But the "
10801 "presumption under the existing law (which regulates <quote>copies;</quote> "
10802 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 102) is that if there "
10803 "is a copy, there is a right."
10806 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10807 #: freeculture.xml:7507
10809 "Whereas originally the law regulated only publishers, the change in "
10810 "copyright's scope means that the law today regulates publishers, users, and "
10811 "authors. It regulates them because all three are capable of making copies, "
10812 "and the core of the regulation of copyright law is copies.<placeholder "
10813 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10817 #: freeculture.xml:7523
10818 msgid "other property rights vs."
10822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10823 #: freeculture.xml:7526
10825 "<quote>Copies.</quote> That certainly sounds like the obvious thing for "
10826 "<emphasis>copy</emphasis>right law to regulate. But as with Jack Valenti's "
10827 "argument at the start of this chapter, that <quote>creative property</quote> "
10828 "deserves the <quote>same rights</quote> as all other property, it is the "
10829 "<emphasis>obvious</emphasis> that we need to be most careful about. For "
10830 "while it may be obvious that in the world before the Internet, copies were "
10831 "the obvious trigger for copyright law, upon reflection, it should be obvious "
10832 "that in the world with the Internet, copies should <emphasis>not</emphasis> "
10833 "be the trigger for copyright law. More precisely, they should not "
10834 "<emphasis>always</emphasis> be the trigger for copyright law."
10838 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10839 #: freeculture.xml:7545
10841 "Thus, my argument is not that in each place that copyright law extends, we "
10842 "should repeal it. It is instead that we should have a good argument for its "
10843 "extending where it does, and should not determine its reach on the basis of "
10844 "arbitrary and automatic changes caused by technology."
10847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10848 #: freeculture.xml:7540
10850 "This is perhaps the central claim of this book, so let me take this very "
10851 "slowly so that the point is not easily missed. My claim is that the Internet "
10852 "should at least force us to rethink the conditions under which the law of "
10853 "copyright automatically applies,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
10854 "because it is clear that the current reach of copyright was never "
10855 "contemplated, much less chosen, by the legislators who enacted copyright "
10859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10860 #: freeculture.xml:7558
10862 "We can see this point abstractly by beginning with this largely empty "
10866 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10867 #: freeculture.xml:7562
10868 msgid "All potential uses of a book."
10871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10872 #: freeculture.xml:7563
10874 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1521.svg\" align=\"center\" "
10875 "width=\"40%\"></graphic>"
10878 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10879 #: freeculture.xml:7565
10880 msgid "three types of uses of"
10883 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10884 #: freeculture.xml:7567
10885 msgid "copyright applicability altered by technology of"
10888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10889 #: freeculture.xml:7568
10890 msgid "copyright intent altered by"
10894 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10895 #: freeculture.xml:7573
10897 "Think about a book in real space, and imagine this circle to represent all "
10898 "its potential <emphasis>uses</emphasis>. Most of these uses are unregulated "
10899 "by copyright law, because the uses don't create a copy. If you read a book, "
10900 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you give someone the book, "
10901 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you resell a book, that act "
10902 "is not regulated (copyright law expressly states that after the first sale "
10903 "of a book, the copyright owner can impose no further conditions on the "
10904 "disposition of the book). If you sleep on the book or use it to hold up a "
10905 "lamp or let your puppy chew it up, those acts are not regulated by copyright "
10906 "law, because those acts do not make a copy."
10909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10910 #: freeculture.xml:7586
10911 msgid "Examples of unregulated uses of a book."
10914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10915 #: freeculture.xml:7587
10917 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1531.png\" align=\"center\" "
10918 "width=\"40%\"></graphic>"
10921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10922 #: freeculture.xml:7590
10924 "Obviously, however, some uses of a copyrighted book are regulated by "
10925 "copyright law. Republishing the book, for example, makes a copy. It is "
10926 "therefore regulated by copyright law. Indeed, this particular use stands at "
10927 "the core of this circle of possible uses of a copyrighted work. It is the "
10928 "paradigmatic use properly regulated by copyright regulation (see diagram in "
10929 "<xref linkend=\"fig-1541\"/>)."
10932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10933 #: freeculture.xml:7602
10935 "Finally, there is a tiny sliver of otherwise regulated copying uses that "
10936 "remain unregulated because the law considers these <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
10939 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10940 #: freeculture.xml:7607
10942 "Republishing stands at the core of this circle of possible uses of a "
10943 "copyrighted work."
10946 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10947 #: freeculture.xml:7608
10949 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1541.svg\" align=\"center\" "
10950 "width=\"40%\"></graphic>"
10953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10954 #: freeculture.xml:7613
10956 "These are uses that themselves involve copying, but which the law treats as "
10957 "unregulated because public policy demands that they remain unregulated. You "
10958 "are free to quote from this book, even in a review that is quite negative, "
10959 "without my permission, even though that quoting makes a copy. That copy "
10960 "would ordinarily give the copyright owner the exclusive right to say whether "
10961 "the copy is allowed or not, but the law denies the owner any exclusive right "
10962 "over such <quote>fair uses</quote> for public policy (and possibly First "
10963 "Amendment) reasons."
10966 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10967 #: freeculture.xml:7623
10968 msgid "Unregulated copying considered <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
10971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10972 #: freeculture.xml:7624
10974 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1542.svg\" align=\"center\" "
10975 "width=\"40%\"></graphic>"
10978 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10979 #: freeculture.xml:7628
10981 "Uses that before were presumptively unregulated are now presumptively "
10985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10986 #: freeculture.xml:7629
10988 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1551.png\" align=\"center\" "
10989 "width=\"40%\"></graphic>"
10993 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10994 #: freeculture.xml:7634
10996 "In real space, then, the possible uses of a book are divided into three "
10997 "sorts: (1) unregulated uses, (2) regulated uses, and (3) regulated uses that "
10998 "are nonetheless deemed <quote>fair</quote> regardless of the copyright "
11002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11003 #: freeculture.xml:7639 freeculture.xml:7923 freeculture.xml:10187
11004 msgid "on Internet"
11007 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11008 #: freeculture.xml:7641 freeculture.xml:7718
11009 msgid "Internet burdens on"
11013 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11014 #: freeculture.xml:7646
11016 "I don't mean <quote>nature</quote> in the sense that it couldn't be "
11017 "different, but rather that its present instantiation entails a copy. Optical "
11018 "networks need not make copies of content they transmit, and a digital "
11019 "network could be designed to delete anything it copies so that the same "
11020 "number of copies remain."
11023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11024 #: freeculture.xml:7643
11026 "Enter the Internet—a distributed, digital network where every use of a "
11027 "copyrighted work produces a copy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
11028 "And because of this single, arbitrary feature of the design of a digital "
11029 "network, the scope of category 1 changes dramatically. Uses that before were "
11030 "presumptively unregulated are now presumptively regulated. No longer is "
11031 "there a set of presumptively unregulated uses that define a freedom "
11032 "associated with a copyrighted work. Instead, each use is now subject to the "
11033 "copyright, because each use also makes a copy—category 1 gets sucked "
11034 "into category 2. And those who would defend the unregulated uses of "
11035 "copyrighted work must look exclusively to category 3, fair uses, to bear the "
11036 "burden of this shift."
11040 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11041 #: freeculture.xml:7666
11043 "So let's be very specific to make this general point clear. Before the "
11044 "Internet, if you purchased a book and read it ten times, there would be no "
11045 "plausible <emphasis>copyright</emphasis>-related argument that the copyright "
11046 "owner could make to control that use of her book. Copyright law would have "
11047 "nothing to say about whether you read the book once, ten times, or every "
11048 "night before you went to bed. None of those instances of "
11049 "use—reading— could be regulated by copyright law because none of "
11050 "those uses produced a copy."
11053 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11054 #: freeculture.xml:7677
11058 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11059 #: freeculture.xml:7678
11060 msgid "technological developments and"
11063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11064 #: freeculture.xml:7680
11066 "But the same book as an e-book is effectively governed by a different set of "
11067 "rules. Now if the copyright owner says you may read the book only once or "
11068 "only once a month, then <emphasis>copyright law</emphasis> would aid the "
11069 "copyright owner in exercising this degree of control, because of the "
11070 "accidental feature of copyright law that triggers its application upon there "
11071 "being a copy. Now if you read the book ten times and the license says you "
11072 "may read it only five times, then whenever you read the book (or any portion "
11073 "of it) beyond the fifth time, you are making a copy of the book contrary to "
11074 "the copyright owner's wish."
11077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11078 #: freeculture.xml:7692
11080 "There are some people who think this makes perfect sense. My aim just now is "
11081 "not to argue about whether it makes sense or not. My aim is only to make "
11082 "clear the change. Once you see this point, a few other points also become "
11086 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11087 #: freeculture.xml:7698
11089 "First, making category 1 disappear is not anything any policy maker ever "
11090 "intended. Congress did not think through the collapse of the presumptively "
11091 "unregulated uses of copyrighted works. There is no evidence at all that "
11092 "policy makers had this idea in mind when they allowed our policy here to "
11093 "shift. Unregulated uses were an important part of free culture before the "
11097 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11098 #: freeculture.xml:7707
11100 "Second, this shift is especially troubling in the context of transformative "
11101 "uses of creative content. Again, we can all understand the wrong in "
11102 "commercial piracy. But the law now purports to regulate "
11103 "<emphasis>any</emphasis> transformation you make of creative work using a "
11104 "machine. <quote>Copy and paste</quote> and <quote>cut and paste</quote> "
11105 "become crimes. Tinkering with a story and releasing it to others exposes the "
11106 "tinkerer to at least a requirement of justification. However troubling the "
11107 "expansion with respect to copying a particular work, it is extraordinarily "
11108 "troubling with respect to transformative uses of creative work."
11111 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11112 #: freeculture.xml:7720
11113 msgid "fair use vs."
11117 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11118 #: freeculture.xml:7722
11120 "Third, this shift from category 1 to category 2 puts an extraordinary burden "
11121 "on category 3 (<quote>fair use</quote>) that fair use never before had to "
11122 "bear. If a copyright owner now tried to control how many times I could read "
11123 "a book on-line, the natural response would be to argue that this is a "
11124 "violation of my fair use rights. But there has never been any litigation "
11125 "about whether I have a fair use right to read, because before the Internet, "
11126 "reading did not trigger the application of copyright law and hence the need "
11127 "for a fair use defense. The right to read was effectively protected before "
11128 "because reading was not regulated."
11131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11132 #: freeculture.xml:7741
11134 "This point about fair use is totally ignored, even by advocates for free "
11135 "culture. We have been cornered into arguing that our rights depend upon fair "
11136 "use—never even addressing the earlier question about the expansion in "
11137 "effective regulation. A thin protection grounded in fair use makes sense "
11138 "when the vast majority of uses are <emphasis>unregulated</emphasis>. But "
11139 "when everything becomes presumptively regulated, then the protections of "
11140 "fair use are not enough."
11143 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11144 #: freeculture.xml:7757
11145 msgid "Video Pipeline"
11148 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
11149 #: freeculture.xml:7759 freeculture.xml:15314
11150 msgid "film industry"
11153 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11154 #: freeculture.xml:7759
11155 msgid "trailer advertisements of"
11158 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11159 #: freeculture.xml:7761
11161 "The case of Video Pipeline is a good example. Video Pipeline was in the "
11162 "business of making <quote>trailer</quote> advertisements for movies "
11163 "available to video stores. The video stores displayed the trailers as a way "
11164 "to sell videos. Video Pipeline got the trailers from the film distributors, "
11165 "put the trailers on tape, and sold the tapes to the retail stores."
11168 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
11169 #: freeculture.xml:7767 freeculture.xml:7842 freeculture.xml:14060
11173 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11174 #: freeculture.xml:7769
11176 "The company did this for about fifteen years. Then, in 1997, it began to "
11177 "think about the Internet as another way to distribute these previews. The "
11178 "idea was to expand their <quote>selling by sampling</quote> technique by "
11179 "giving on-line stores the same ability to enable <quote>browsing.</quote> "
11180 "Just as in a bookstore you can read a few pages of a book before you buy the "
11181 "book, so, too, you would be able to sample a bit from the movie on-line "
11182 "before you bought it."
11186 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11187 #: freeculture.xml:7782
11189 "In 1998, Video Pipeline informed Disney and other film distributors that it "
11190 "intended to distribute the trailers through the Internet (rather than "
11191 "sending the tapes) to distributors of their videos. Two years later, Disney "
11192 "told Video Pipeline to stop. The owner of Video Pipeline asked Disney to "
11193 "talk about the matter—he had built a business on distributing this "
11194 "content as a way to help sell Disney films; he had customers who depended "
11195 "upon his delivering this content. Disney would agree to talk only if Video "
11196 "Pipeline stopped the distribution immediately. Video Pipeline thought it "
11197 "was within their <quote>fair use</quote> rights to distribute the clips as "
11198 "they had. So they filed a lawsuit to ask the court to declare that these "
11199 "rights were in fact their rights."
11202 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11203 #: freeculture.xml:7799
11204 msgid "willful infringement findings in"
11207 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11208 #: freeculture.xml:7800
11209 msgid "willful infringement"
11212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11213 #: freeculture.xml:7802
11215 "Disney countersued—for $100 million in damages. Those damages were "
11216 "predicated upon a claim that Video Pipeline had <quote>willfully "
11217 "infringed</quote> on Disney's copyright. When a court makes a finding of "
11218 "willful infringement, it can award damages not on the basis of the actual "
11219 "harm to the copyright owner, but on the basis of an amount set in the "
11220 "statute. Because Video Pipeline had distributed seven hundred clips of "
11221 "Disney movies to enable video stores to sell copies of those movies, Disney "
11222 "was now suing Video Pipeline for $100 million."
11225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11226 #: freeculture.xml:7812
11228 "Disney has the right to control its property, of course. But the video "
11229 "stores that were selling Disney's films also had some sort of right to be "
11230 "able to sell the films that they had bought from Disney. Disney's claim in "
11231 "court was that the stores were allowed to sell the films and they were "
11232 "permitted to list the titles of the films they were selling, but they were "
11233 "not allowed to show clips of the films as a way of selling them without "
11234 "Disney's permission."
11237 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11238 #: freeculture.xml:7820
11239 msgid "first-sale doctrine"
11242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11243 #: freeculture.xml:7822
11245 "Now, you might think this is a close case, and I think the courts would "
11246 "consider it a close case. My point here is to map the change that gives "
11247 "Disney this power. Before the Internet, Disney couldn't really control how "
11248 "people got access to their content. Once a video was in the marketplace, the "
11249 "<quote>first-sale doctrine</quote> would free the seller to use the video as "
11250 "he wished, including showing portions of it in order to engender sales of "
11251 "the entire movie video. But with the Internet, it becomes possible for "
11252 "Disney to centralize control over access to this content. Because each use "
11253 "of the Internet produces a copy, use on the Internet becomes subject to the "
11254 "copyright owner's control. The technology expands the scope of effective "
11255 "control, because the technology builds a copy into every transaction."
11258 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11259 #: freeculture.xml:7841
11260 msgid "Barnes & Noble"
11264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11265 #: freeculture.xml:7846
11267 "No doubt, a potential is not yet an abuse, and so the potential for control "
11268 "is not yet the abuse of control. Barnes & Noble has the right to say you "
11269 "can't touch a book in their store; property law gives them that right. But "
11270 "the market effectively protects against that abuse. If Barnes & Noble "
11271 "banned browsing, then consumers would choose other bookstores. Competition "
11272 "protects against the extremes. And it may well be (my argument so far does "
11273 "not even question this) that competition would prevent any similar danger "
11274 "when it comes to copyright. Sure, publishers exercising the rights that "
11275 "authors have assigned to them might try to regulate how many times you read "
11276 "a book, or try to stop you from sharing the book with anyone. But in a "
11277 "competitive market such as the book market, the dangers of this happening "
11278 "are quite slight."
11281 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11282 #: freeculture.xml:7861
11284 "Again, my aim so far is simply to map the changes that this changed "
11285 "architecture enables. Enabling technology to enforce the control of "
11286 "copyright means that the control of copyright is no longer defined by "
11287 "balanced policy. The control of copyright is simply what private owners "
11288 "choose. In some contexts, at least, that fact is harmless. But in some "
11289 "contexts it is a recipe for disaster."
11292 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
11293 #: freeculture.xml:7870
11294 msgid "Architecture and Law: Force"
11297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11298 #: freeculture.xml:7872
11300 "The disappearance of unregulated uses would be change enough, but a second "
11301 "important change brought about by the Internet magnifies its "
11302 "significance. This second change does not affect the reach of copyright "
11303 "regulation; it affects how such regulation is enforced."
11306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11307 #: freeculture.xml:7877
11308 msgid "technology as automatic enforcer of"
11311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11312 #: freeculture.xml:7878
11313 msgid "copyright enforcement controlled by"
11316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11317 #: freeculture.xml:7880
11319 "In the world before digital technology, it was generally the law that "
11320 "controlled whether and how someone was regulated by copyright law. The law, "
11321 "meaning a court, meaning a judge: In the end, it was a human, trained in the "
11322 "tradition of the law and cognizant of the balances that tradition embraced, "
11323 "who said whether and how the law would restrict your freedom."
11326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11327 #: freeculture.xml:7887
11331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11332 #: freeculture.xml:7888 freeculture.xml:8059
11333 msgid "Marx Brothers"
11337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11338 #: freeculture.xml:7899
11340 "See David Lange, <quote>Recognizing the Public Domain,</quote> "
11341 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 44 (1981): "
11345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11346 #: freeculture.xml:7891
11348 "There's a famous story about a battle between the Marx Brothers and Warner "
11349 "Brothers. The Marxes intended to make a parody of "
11350 "<citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>. Warner Brothers objected. They wrote a "
11351 "nasty letter to the Marxes, warning them that there would be serious legal "
11352 "consequences if they went forward with their plan.<placeholder "
11353 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11357 #: freeculture.xml:7908
11359 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, "
11360 "<citetitle>Copyrights and Copywrongs</citetitle>, 1–3."
11363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11364 #: freeculture.xml:7904
11366 "This led the Marx Brothers to respond in kind. They warned Warner Brothers "
11367 "that the Marx Brothers <quote>were brothers long before you "
11368 "were.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Marx Brothers "
11369 "therefore owned the word <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>, and if Warner "
11370 "Brothers insisted on trying to control <citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>, "
11371 "then the Marx Brothers would insist on control over "
11372 "<citetitle>brothers</citetitle>."
11375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11376 #: freeculture.xml:7918
11378 "An absurd and hollow threat, of course, because Warner Brothers, like the "
11379 "Marx Brothers, knew that no court would ever enforce such a silly "
11380 "claim. This extremism was irrelevant to the real freedoms anyone (including "
11381 "Warner Brothers) enjoyed."
11384 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11385 #: freeculture.xml:7925
11387 "On the Internet, however, there is no check on silly rules, because on the "
11388 "Internet, increasingly, rules are enforced not by a human but by a machine: "
11389 "Increasingly, the rules of copyright law, as interpreted by the copyright "
11390 "owner, get built into the technology that delivers copyrighted content. It "
11391 "is code, rather than law, that rules. And the problem with code regulations "
11392 "is that, unlike law, code has no shame. Code would not get the humor of the "
11393 "Marx Brothers. The consequence of that is not at all funny."
11396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11397 #: freeculture.xml:7937
11398 msgid "Adobe eBook Reader"
11401 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11402 #: freeculture.xml:7939
11403 msgid "Consider the life of my Adobe eBook Reader."
11406 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11407 #: freeculture.xml:7942
11409 "An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook is not a "
11410 "book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the software that "
11411 "publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the technology, and the "
11412 "publisher delivers the content by using the technology."
11415 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11416 #: freeculture.xml:7949
11418 "In <xref linkend=\"fig-example-adobe-ebook-reader\"/> is a picture of an old "
11419 "version of my Adobe eBook Reader."
11423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11424 #: freeculture.xml:7953
11426 "As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this e-book "
11427 "library. Some of these books reproduce content that is in the public domain: "
11428 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, for example, is in the public domain. "
11429 "Some of them reproduce content that is not in the public domain: My own book "
11430 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> is not yet within the public "
11431 "domain. Consider <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> first. If you click on "
11432 "my e-book copy of <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, you'll see a fancy "
11433 "cover, and then a button at the bottom called Permissions."
11436 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11437 #: freeculture.xml:7966
11438 msgid "Picture of an old version of Adobe eBook Reader"
11441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11442 #: freeculture.xml:7967
11444 "<graphic fileref=\"images/example-adobe-ebook-reader.png\" align=\"center\" "
11445 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11448 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11449 #: freeculture.xml:7970
11451 "If you click on the Permissions button, you'll see a list of the permissions "
11452 "that the publisher purports to grant with this book."
11455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11456 #: freeculture.xml:7974
11457 msgid "List of the permissions that the publisher purports to grant."
11460 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11461 #: freeculture.xml:7975
11463 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1612.png\" align=\"center\" "
11464 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11469 #: freeculture.xml:7979
11471 "According to my eBook Reader, I have the permission to copy to the clipboard "
11472 "of the computer ten text selections every ten days. (So far, I've copied no "
11473 "text to the clipboard.) I also have the permission to print ten pages from "
11474 "the book every ten days. Lastly, I have the permission to use the Read Aloud "
11475 "button to hear <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> read aloud through the "
11479 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11480 #: freeculture.xml:7986
11484 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11485 #: freeculture.xml:7987
11486 msgid "<citetitle>Politics</citetitle>, (Aristotle)"
11489 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11490 #: freeculture.xml:7989
11492 "Here's the e-book for another work in the public domain (including the "
11493 "translation): Aristotle's <citetitle>Politics</citetitle>."
11496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11497 #: freeculture.xml:7993
11498 msgid "E-book of Aristotle's <quote>Politics</quote>"
11501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11502 #: freeculture.xml:7994
11504 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1621.png\" align=\"center\" "
11505 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11509 #: freeculture.xml:7997
11511 "According to its permissions, no printing or copying is permitted at "
11512 "all. But fortunately, you can use the Read Aloud button to hear the book."
11515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11516 #: freeculture.xml:8002
11517 msgid "List of the permissions for Aristotle's <quote>Politics</quote>."
11520 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11521 #: freeculture.xml:8003
11523 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1622.png\" align=\"center\" "
11524 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11528 #: freeculture.xml:8005 freeculture.xml:9858
11529 msgid "Future of Ideas, The (Lessig)"
11532 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11533 #: freeculture.xml:8006 freeculture.xml:9859 freeculture.xml:11175 freeculture.xml:11221 freeculture.xml:13514
11534 msgid "Lessig, Lawrence"
11537 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11538 #: freeculture.xml:8008
11540 "Finally (and most embarrassingly), here are the permissions for the original "
11541 "e-book version of my last book, <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>:"
11544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11545 #: freeculture.xml:8014
11546 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>The Future of Ideas</quote>."
11549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11550 #: freeculture.xml:8015
11552 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1631.png\" align=\"center\" "
11553 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11557 #: freeculture.xml:8018
11558 msgid "No copying, no printing, and don't you dare try to listen to this book!"
11562 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11563 #: freeculture.xml:8028
11565 "In principle, a contract might impose a requirement on me. I might, for "
11566 "example, buy a book from you that includes a contract that says I will read "
11567 "it only three times, or that I promise to read it three times. But that "
11568 "obligation (and the limits for creating that obligation) would come from the "
11569 "contract, not from copyright law, and the obligations of contract would not "
11570 "necessarily pass to anyone who subsequently acquired the book."
11573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11574 #: freeculture.xml:8021
11576 "Now, the Adobe eBook Reader calls these controls "
11577 "<quote>permissions</quote>— as if the publisher has the power to "
11578 "control how you use these works. For works under copyright, the copyright "
11579 "owner certainly does have the power—up to the limits of the copyright "
11580 "law. But for work not under copyright, there is no such copyright "
11581 "power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When my e-book of "
11582 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> says I have the permission to copy only "
11583 "ten text selections into the memory every ten days, what that really means "
11584 "is that the eBook Reader has enabled the publisher to control how I use the "
11585 "book on my computer, far beyond the control that the law would enable."
11588 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11589 #: freeculture.xml:8043
11591 "The control comes instead from the code—from the technology within "
11592 "which the e-book <quote>lives.</quote> Though the e-book says that these are "
11593 "permissions, they are not the sort of <quote>permissions</quote> that most "
11594 "of us deal with. When a teenager gets <quote>permission</quote> to stay out "
11595 "till midnight, she knows (unless she's Cinderella) that she can stay out "
11596 "till 2 A.M., but will suffer a punishment if she's caught. But when the "
11597 "Adobe eBook Reader says I have the permission to make ten copies of the text "
11598 "into the computer's memory, that means that after I've made ten copies, the "
11599 "computer will not make any more. The same with the printing restrictions: "
11600 "After ten pages, the eBook Reader will not print any more pages. It's the "
11601 "same with the silly restriction that says that you can't use the Read Aloud "
11602 "button to read my book aloud—it's not that the company will sue you if "
11603 "you do; instead, if you push the Read Aloud button with my book, the machine "
11604 "simply won't read aloud."
11608 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11609 #: freeculture.xml:8063
11611 "These are <emphasis>controls</emphasis>, not permissions. Imagine a world "
11612 "where the Marx Brothers sold word processing software that, when you tried "
11613 "to type <quote>Warner Brothers,</quote> erased <quote>Brothers</quote> from "
11617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11618 #: freeculture.xml:8069
11620 "This is the future of copyright law: not so much copyright "
11621 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> as copyright <emphasis>code</emphasis>. The "
11622 "controls over access to content will not be controls that are ratified by "
11623 "courts; the controls over access to content will be controls that are coded "
11624 "by programmers. And whereas the controls that are built into the law are "
11625 "always to be checked by a judge, the controls that are built into the "
11626 "technology have no similar built-in check."
11629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11630 #: freeculture.xml:8078
11632 "How significant is this? Isn't it always possible to get around the controls "
11633 "built into the technology? Software used to be sold with technologies that "
11634 "limited the ability of users to copy the software, but those were trivial "
11635 "protections to defeat. Why won't it be trivial to defeat these protections "
11639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11640 #: freeculture.xml:8085
11642 "We've only scratched the surface of this story. Return to the Adobe eBook "
11646 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11647 #: freeculture.xml:8088
11648 msgid "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)"
11651 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11652 #: freeculture.xml:8089
11653 msgid "e-book restrictions on"
11656 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11657 #: freeculture.xml:8091
11659 "Early in the life of the Adobe eBook Reader, Adobe suffered a public "
11660 "relations nightmare. Among the books that you could download for free on the "
11661 "Adobe site was a copy of <citetitle>Alice's Adventures in "
11662 "Wonderland</citetitle>. This wonderful book is in the public domain. Yet "
11663 "when you clicked on Permissions for that book, you got the following report:"
11666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
11667 #: freeculture.xml:8099
11668 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</quote>."
11671 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
11672 #: freeculture.xml:8101
11674 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1641.png\" align=\"center\" "
11675 "width=\"50%\"></graphic>"
11678 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11679 #: freeculture.xml:8105
11681 "Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to copy, "
11682 "not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the "
11683 "<quote>permissions</quote> indicated, not allowed to <quote>read "
11687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11688 #: freeculture.xml:8110
11690 "The public relations nightmare attached to that final permission. For the "
11691 "text did not say that you were not permitted to use the Read Aloud button; "
11692 "it said you did not have the permission to read the book aloud. That led "
11693 "some people to think that Adobe was restricting the right of parents, for "
11694 "example, to read the book to their children, which seemed, to say the least, "
11698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11699 #: freeculture.xml:8118
11701 "Adobe responded quickly that it was absurd to think that it was trying to "
11702 "restrict the right to read a book aloud. Obviously it was only restricting "
11703 "the ability to use the Read Aloud button to have the book read aloud. But "
11704 "the question Adobe never did answer is this: Would Adobe thus agree that a "
11705 "consumer was free to use software to hack around the restrictions built into "
11706 "the eBook Reader? If some company (call it Elcomsoft) developed a program to "
11707 "disable the technological protection built into an Adobe eBook so that a "
11708 "blind person, say, could use a computer to read the book aloud, would Adobe "
11709 "agree that such a use of an eBook Reader was fair? Adobe didn't answer "
11710 "because the answer, however absurd it might seem, is no."
11713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11714 #: freeculture.xml:8133
11716 "The point is not to blame Adobe. Indeed, Adobe is among the most innovative "
11717 "companies developing strategies to balance open access to content with "
11718 "incentives for companies to innovate. But Adobe's technology enables "
11719 "control, and Adobe has an incentive to defend this control. That incentive "
11720 "is understandable, yet what it creates is often crazy."
11723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11724 #: freeculture.xml:8143
11726 "To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite story "
11727 "of mine that makes the same point."
11730 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11731 #: freeculture.xml:8146 freeculture.xml:8290 freeculture.xml:8355 freeculture.xml:8463
11732 msgid "Aibo robotic dog"
11735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11736 #: freeculture.xml:8147 freeculture.xml:8291 freeculture.xml:8356 freeculture.xml:8464
11737 msgid "robotic dog"
11740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11741 #: freeculture.xml:8148 freeculture.xml:8292 freeculture.xml:8357 freeculture.xml:8465
11745 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11746 #: freeculture.xml:8148 freeculture.xml:8292 freeculture.xml:8357 freeculture.xml:8465
11747 msgid "Aibo robotic dog produced by"
11750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11751 #: freeculture.xml:8150
11753 "Consider the robotic dog made by Sony named <quote>Aibo.</quote> The Aibo "
11754 "learns tricks, cuddles, and follows you around. It eats only electricity and "
11755 "that doesn't leave that much of a mess (at least in your house)."
11759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11760 #: freeculture.xml:8155
11762 "The Aibo is expensive and popular. Fans from around the world have set up "
11763 "clubs to trade stories. One fan in particular set up a Web site to enable "
11764 "information about the Aibo dog to be shared. This fan set up aibopet.com "
11765 "(and aibohack.com, but that resolves to the same site), and on that site he "
11766 "provided information about how to teach an Aibo to do tricks in addition to "
11767 "the ones Sony had taught it."
11770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11771 #: freeculture.xml:8164
11773 "<quote>Teach</quote> here has a special meaning. Aibos are just cute "
11774 "computers. You teach a computer how to do something by programming it "
11775 "differently. So to say that aibopet.com was giving information about how to "
11776 "teach the dog to do new tricks is just to say that aibopet.com was giving "
11777 "information to users of the Aibo pet about how to hack their computer "
11778 "<quote>dog</quote> to make it do new tricks (thus, aibohack.com)."
11781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11782 #: freeculture.xml:8171
11786 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11787 #: freeculture.xml:8173
11789 "If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the word "
11790 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> has a particularly unfriendly "
11791 "connotation. Nonprogrammers hack bushes or weeds. Nonprogrammers in horror "
11792 "movies do even worse. But to programmers, or coders, as I call them, "
11793 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> is a much more positive "
11794 "term. <citetitle>Hack</citetitle> just means code that enables the program "
11795 "to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do. If you buy a "
11796 "new printer for an old computer, you might find the old computer doesn't "
11797 "run, or <quote>drive,</quote> the printer. If you discovered that, you'd "
11798 "later be happy to discover a hack on the Net by someone who has written a "
11799 "driver to enable the computer to drive the printer you just bought."
11802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11803 #: freeculture.xml:8187
11805 "Some hacks are easy. Some are unbelievably hard. Hackers as a community like "
11806 "to challenge themselves and others with increasingly difficult "
11807 "tasks. There's a certain respect that goes with the talent to hack "
11808 "well. There's a well-deserved respect that goes with the talent to hack "
11812 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11813 #: freeculture.xml:8194
11815 "The Aibo fan was displaying a bit of both when he hacked the program and "
11816 "offered to the world a bit of code that would enable the Aibo to dance "
11817 "jazz. The dog wasn't programmed to dance jazz. It was a clever bit of "
11818 "tinkering that turned the dog into a more talented creature than Sony had "
11823 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11824 #: freeculture.xml:8204
11826 "I've told this story in many contexts, both inside and outside the United "
11827 "States. Once I was asked by a puzzled member of the audience, is it "
11828 "permissible for a dog to dance jazz in the United States? We forget that "
11829 "stories about the backcountry still flow across much of the world. So let's "
11830 "just be clear before we continue: It's not a crime anywhere (anymore) to "
11831 "dance jazz. Nor is it a crime to teach your dog to dance jazz. Nor should it "
11832 "be a crime (though we don't have a lot to go on here) to teach your robot "
11833 "dog to dance jazz. Dancing jazz is a completely legal activity. One imagines "
11834 "that the owner of aibopet.com thought, <emphasis>What possible problem could "
11835 "there be with teaching a robot dog to dance?</emphasis>"
11838 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
11839 #: freeculture.xml:8219
11840 msgid "government case against"
11843 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11844 #: freeculture.xml:8221
11846 "Let's put the dog to sleep for a minute, and turn to a pony show— not "
11847 "literally a pony show, but rather a paper that a Princeton academic named Ed "
11848 "Felten prepared for a conference. This Princeton academic is well known and "
11849 "respected. He was hired by the government in the Microsoft case to test "
11850 "Microsoft's claims about what could and could not be done with its own "
11851 "code. In that trial, he demonstrated both his brilliance and his "
11852 "coolness. Under heavy badgering by Microsoft lawyers, Ed Felten stood his "
11853 "ground. He was not about to be bullied into being silent about something he "
11857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11858 #: freeculture.xml:8244 freeculture.xml:10813
11859 msgid "Electronic Frontier Foundation"
11862 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11863 #: freeculture.xml:8234
11865 "See Pamela Samuelson, <quote>Anticircumvention Rules: Threat to "
11866 "Science,</quote> <citetitle>Science</citetitle> 293 (2001): 2028; Brendan "
11867 "I. Koerner, <quote>Play Dead: Sony Muzzles the Techies Who Teach a Robot Dog "
11868 "New Tricks,</quote> <citetitle>American Prospect</citetitle>, January 2002; "
11869 "<quote>Court Dismisses Computer Scientists' Challenge to DMCA,</quote> "
11870 "<citetitle>Intellectual Property Litigation Reporter</citetitle>, 11 "
11871 "December 2001; Bill Holland, <quote>Copyright Act Raising Free-Speech "
11872 "Concerns,</quote> <citetitle>Billboard</citetitle>, May 2001; Janelle Brown, "
11873 "<quote>Is the RIAA Running Scared?</quote> Salon.com, April 2001; Electronic "
11874 "Frontier Foundation, <quote>Frequently Asked Questions about "
11875 "<citetitle>Felten and USENIX</citetitle> v. <citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> "
11876 "Legal Case,</quote> available at <ulink "
11877 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #27</ulink>. <placeholder "
11878 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11882 #: freeculture.xml:8232
11884 "But Felten's bravery was really tested in April 2001.<placeholder "
11885 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> He and a group of colleagues were working on a "
11886 "paper to be submitted at conference. The paper was intended to describe the "
11887 "weakness in an encryption system being developed by the Secure Digital Music "
11888 "Initiative as a technique to control the distribution of music."
11891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11892 #: freeculture.xml:8252
11894 "The SDMI coalition had as its goal a technology to enable content owners to "
11895 "exercise much better control over their content than the Internet, as it "
11896 "originally stood, granted them. Using encryption, SDMI hoped to develop a "
11897 "standard that would allow the content owner to say <quote>this music cannot "
11898 "be copied,</quote> and have a computer respect that command. The technology "
11899 "was to be part of a <quote>trusted system</quote> of control that would get "
11900 "content owners to trust the system of the Internet much more."
11903 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11904 #: freeculture.xml:8262
11906 "When SDMI thought it was close to a standard, it set up a competition. In "
11907 "exchange for providing contestants with the code to an SDMI-encrypted bit of "
11908 "content, contestants were to try to crack it and, if they did, report the "
11909 "problems to the consortium."
11913 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11914 #: freeculture.xml:8269
11916 "Felten and his team figured out the encryption system quickly. He and the "
11917 "team saw the weakness of this system as a type: Many encryption systems "
11918 "would suffer the same weakness, and Felten and his team thought it "
11919 "worthwhile to point this out to those who study encryption."
11922 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11923 #: freeculture.xml:8275
11925 "Let's review just what Felten was doing. Again, this is the United "
11926 "States. We have a principle of free speech. We have this principle not just "
11927 "because it is the law, but also because it is a really great idea. A "
11928 "strongly protected tradition of free speech is likely to encourage a wide "
11929 "range of criticism. That criticism is likely, in turn, to improve the "
11930 "systems or people or ideas criticized."
11933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11934 #: freeculture.xml:8283
11936 "What Felten and his colleagues were doing was publishing a paper describing "
11937 "the weakness in a technology. They were not spreading free music, or "
11938 "building and deploying this technology. The paper was an academic essay, "
11939 "unintelligible to most people. But it clearly showed the weakness in the "
11940 "SDMI system, and why SDMI would not, as presently constituted, succeed."
11943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11944 #: freeculture.xml:8294
11946 "What links these two, aibopet.com and Felten, is the letters they then "
11947 "received. Aibopet.com received a letter from Sony about the aibopet.com "
11948 "hack. Though a jazz-dancing dog is perfectly legal, Sony wrote:"
11951 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
11952 #: freeculture.xml:8301
11954 "Your site contains information providing the means to circumvent AIBO-ware's "
11955 "copy protection protocol constituting a violation of the anti-circumvention "
11956 "provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
11959 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11960 #: freeculture.xml:8310
11962 "And though an academic paper describing the weakness in a system of "
11963 "encryption should also be perfectly legal, Felten received a letter from an "
11964 "RIAA lawyer that read:"
11968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
11969 #: freeculture.xml:8316
11971 "Any disclosure of information gained from participating in the Public "
11972 "Challenge would be outside the scope of activities permitted by the "
11973 "Agreement and could subject you and your research team to actions under the "
11974 "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (<quote>DMCA</quote>)."
11977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11978 #: freeculture.xml:8324
11980 "In both cases, this weirdly Orwellian law was invoked to control the spread "
11981 "of information. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act made spreading such "
11982 "information an offense."
11985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11986 #: freeculture.xml:8329
11988 "The DMCA was enacted as a response to copyright owners' first fear about "
11989 "cyberspace. The fear was that copyright control was effectively dead; the "
11990 "response was to find technologies that might compensate. These new "
11991 "technologies would be copyright protection technologies— technologies "
11992 "to control the replication and distribution of copyrighted material. They "
11993 "were designed as <emphasis>code</emphasis> to modify the original "
11994 "<emphasis>code</emphasis> of the Internet, to reestablish some protection "
11995 "for copyright owners."
11998 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11999 #: freeculture.xml:8340
12001 "The DMCA was a bit of law intended to back up the protection of this code "
12002 "designed to protect copyrighted material. It was, we could say, "
12003 "<emphasis>legal code</emphasis> intended to buttress <emphasis>software "
12004 "code</emphasis> which itself was intended to support the <emphasis>legal "
12005 "code of copyright</emphasis>."
12008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12009 #: freeculture.xml:8347
12011 "But the DMCA was not designed merely to protect copyrighted works to the "
12012 "extent copyright law protected them. Its protection, that is, did not end at "
12013 "the line that copyright law drew. The DMCA regulated devices that were "
12014 "designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. It was designed to ban "
12015 "those devices, whether or not the use of the copyrighted material made "
12016 "possible by that circumvention would have been a copyright violation."
12020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12021 #: freeculture.xml:8359
12023 "Aibopet.com and Felten make the point. The Aibo hack circumvented a "
12024 "copyright protection system for the purpose of enabling the dog to dance "
12025 "jazz. That enablement no doubt involved the use of copyrighted material. But "
12026 "as aibopet.com's site was noncommercial, and the use did not enable "
12027 "subsequent copyright infringements, there's no doubt that aibopet.com's hack "
12028 "was fair use of Sony's copyrighted material. Yet fair use is not a defense "
12029 "to the DMCA. The question is not whether the use of the copyrighted material "
12030 "was a copyright violation. The question is whether a copyright protection "
12031 "system was circumvented."
12034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12035 #: freeculture.xml:8371
12037 "The threat against Felten was more attenuated, but it followed the same line "
12038 "of reasoning. By publishing a paper describing how a copyright protection "
12039 "system could be circumvented, the RIAA lawyer suggested, Felten himself was "
12040 "distributing a circumvention technology. Thus, even though he was not "
12041 "himself infringing anyone's copyright, his academic paper was enabling "
12042 "others to infringe others' copyright."
12045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12046 #: freeculture.xml:8378 freeculture.xml:8413
12047 msgid "Rogers, Fred"
12050 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12051 #: freeculture.xml:8389 freeculture.xml:8426 freeculture.xml:8452
12052 msgid "Conrad, Paul"
12055 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12056 #: freeculture.xml:8381
12058 "The bizarreness of these arguments is captured in a cartoon drawn in 1981 by "
12059 "Paul Conrad. At that time, a court in California had held that the VCR could "
12060 "be banned because it was a copyright-infringing technology: It enabled "
12061 "consumers to copy films without the permission of the copyright owner. No "
12062 "doubt there were uses of the technology that were legal: Fred Rogers, aka "
12063 "<quote><citetitle>Mr. Rogers</citetitle>,</quote> for example, had testified "
12064 "in that case that he wanted people to feel free to tape Mr. Rogers' "
12065 "Neighborhood. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12069 #: freeculture.xml:8408
12071 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <citetitle>Sony Corporation of "
12072 "America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>., "
12073 "464 U.S. 417, 455 fn. 27 (1984). Rogers never changed his view about the "
12074 "VCR. See James Lardner, <citetitle>Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, "
12075 "and the Onslaught of the VCR</citetitle> (New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), "
12076 "270–71. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12080 #: freeculture.xml:8393
12082 "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "
12083 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> at hours when some children cannot use it. I "
12084 "think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such "
12085 "programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with "
12086 "the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "
12087 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "
12088 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> because that's what I produce, that they then "
12089 "become much more active in the programming of their family's television "
12090 "life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My "
12091 "whole approach in broadcasting has always been <quote>You are an important "
12092 "person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.</quote> Maybe "
12093 "I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to "
12094 "be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is "
12095 "important.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12099 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12100 #: freeculture.xml:8419
12102 "Even though there were uses that were legal, because there were some uses "
12103 "that were illegal, the court held the companies producing the VCR "
12107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12108 #: freeculture.xml:8424
12110 "This led Conrad to draw the cartoon below, which we can adopt to the DMCA. "
12111 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12115 #: freeculture.xml:8429
12116 msgid "No argument I have can top this picture, but let me try to get close."
12119 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12120 #: freeculture.xml:8432
12122 "The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA target copyright circumvention "
12123 "technologies. Circumvention technologies can be used for different "
12124 "ends. They can be used, for example, to enable massive pirating of "
12125 "copyrighted material—a bad end. Or they can be used to enable the use "
12126 "of particular copyrighted materials in ways that would be considered fair "
12127 "use—a good end."
12130 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12131 #: freeculture.xml:8439
12136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12137 #: freeculture.xml:8441
12139 "A handgun can be used to shoot a police officer or a child. Most would agree "
12140 "such a use is bad. Or a handgun can be used for target practice or to "
12141 "protect against an intruder. At least some would say that such a use would "
12142 "be good. It, too, is a technology that has both good and bad uses."
12145 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
12146 #: freeculture.xml:8449
12147 msgid "VCR/handgun cartoon."
12150 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
12151 #: freeculture.xml:8450
12153 "<graphic fileref=\"images/1711.png\" align=\"center\" "
12154 "width=\"70%\"></graphic>"
12157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12158 #: freeculture.xml:8454
12160 "The obvious point of Conrad's cartoon is the weirdness of a world where guns "
12161 "are legal, despite the harm they can do, while VCRs (and circumvention "
12162 "technologies) are illegal. Flash: <emphasis>No one ever died from copyright "
12163 "circumvention</emphasis>. Yet the law bans circumvention technologies "
12164 "absolutely, despite the potential that they might do some good, but permits "
12165 "guns, despite the obvious and tragic harm they do."
12168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12169 #: freeculture.xml:8467
12171 "The Aibo and RIAA examples demonstrate how copyright owners are changing the "
12172 "balance that copyright law grants. Using code, copyright owners restrict "
12173 "fair use; using the DMCA, they punish those who would attempt to evade the "
12174 "restrictions on fair use that they impose through code. Technology becomes a "
12175 "means by which fair use can be erased; the law of the DMCA backs up that "
12179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12180 #: freeculture.xml:8475
12182 "This is how <emphasis>code</emphasis> becomes <emphasis>law</emphasis>. The "
12183 "controls built into the technology of copy and access protection become "
12184 "rules the violation of which is also a violation of the law. In this way, "
12185 "the code extends the law—increasing its regulation, even if the "
12186 "subject it regulates (activities that would otherwise plainly constitute "
12187 "fair use) is beyond the reach of the law. Code becomes law; code extends the "
12188 "law; code thus extends the control that copyright owners effect—at "
12189 "least for those copyright holders with the lawyers who can write the nasty "
12190 "letters that Felten and aibopet.com received."
12193 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12194 #: freeculture.xml:8487
12196 "There is one final aspect of the interaction between architecture and law "
12197 "that contributes to the force of copyright's regulation. This is the ease "
12198 "with which infringements of the law can be detected. For contrary to the "
12199 "rhetoric common at the birth of cyberspace that on the Internet, no one "
12200 "knows you're a dog, increasingly, given changing technologies deployed on "
12201 "the Internet, it is easy to find the dog who committed a legal wrong. The "
12202 "technologies of the Internet are open to snoops as well as sharers, and the "
12203 "snoops are increasingly good at tracking down the identity of those who "
12204 "violate the rules."
12208 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12209 #: freeculture.xml:8506
12211 "For an early and prescient analysis, see Rebecca Tushnet, <quote>Legal "
12212 "Fictions, Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law,</quote> "
12213 "<citetitle>Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal</citetitle> 17 "
12217 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12218 #: freeculture.xml:8500
12220 "For example, imagine you were part of a <citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> fan "
12221 "club. You gathered every month to share trivia, and maybe to enact a kind of "
12222 "fan fiction about the show. One person would play Spock, another, Captain "
12223 "Kirk. The characters would begin with a plot from a real story, then simply "
12224 "continue it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12227 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12228 #: freeculture.xml:8512
12230 "Before the Internet, this was, in effect, a totally unregulated activity. "
12231 "No matter what happened inside your club room, you would never be interfered "
12232 "with by the copyright police. You were free in that space to do as you "
12233 "wished with this part of our culture. You were allowed to build on it as you "
12234 "wished without fear of legal control."
12237 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12238 #: freeculture.xml:8520
12240 "But if you moved your club onto the Internet, and made it generally "
12241 "available for others to join, the story would be very different. Bots "
12242 "scouring the Net for trademark and copyright infringement would quickly find "
12243 "your site. Your posting of fan fiction, depending upon the ownership of the "
12244 "series that you're depicting, could well inspire a lawyer's threat. And "
12245 "ignoring the lawyer's threat would be extremely costly indeed. The law of "
12246 "copyright is extremely efficient. The penalties are severe, and the process "
12250 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12251 #: freeculture.xml:8530
12253 "This change in the effective force of the law is caused by a change in the "
12254 "ease with which the law can be enforced. That change too shifts the law's "
12255 "balance radically. It is as if your car transmitted the speed at which you "
12256 "traveled at every moment that you drove; that would be just one step before "
12257 "the state started issuing tickets based upon the data you transmitted. That "
12258 "is, in effect, what is happening here."
12261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
12262 #: freeculture.xml:8539
12263 msgid "Market: Concentration"
12267 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12268 #: freeculture.xml:8541
12270 "So copyright's duration has increased dramatically—tripled in the past "
12271 "thirty years. And copyright's scope has increased as well—from "
12272 "regulating only publishers to now regulating just about everyone. And "
12273 "copyright's reach has changed, as every action becomes a copy and hence "
12274 "presumptively regulated. And as technologists find better ways to control "
12275 "the use of content, and as copyright is increasingly enforced through "
12276 "technology, copyright's force changes, too. Misuse is easier to find and "
12277 "easier to control. This regulation of the creative process, which began as a "
12278 "tiny regulation governing a tiny part of the market for creative work, has "
12279 "become the single most important regulator of creativity there is. It is a "
12280 "massive expansion in the scope of the government's control over innovation "
12281 "and creativity; it would be totally unrecognizable to those who gave birth "
12282 "to copyright's control."
12285 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12286 #: freeculture.xml:8559
12288 "Still, in my view, all of these changes would not matter much if it weren't "
12289 "for one more change that we must also consider. This is a change that is in "
12290 "some sense the most familiar, though its significance and scope are not well "
12291 "understood. It is the one that creates precisely the reason to be concerned "
12292 "about all the other changes I have described."
12295 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12296 #: freeculture.xml:8566
12298 "This is the change in the concentration and integration of the media. In "
12299 "the past twenty years, the nature of media ownership has undergone a radical "
12300 "alteration, caused by changes in legal rules governing the media. Before "
12301 "this change happened, the different forms of media were owned by separate "
12302 "media companies. Now, the media is increasingly owned by only a few "
12303 "companies. Indeed, after the changes that the FCC announced in June 2003, "
12304 "most expect that within a few years, we will live in a world where just "
12305 "three companies control more than 85 percent of the media."
12308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12309 #: freeculture.xml:8577
12310 msgid "These changes are of two sorts: the scope of concentration, and its nature."
12313 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12314 #: freeculture.xml:8581
12318 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12319 #: freeculture.xml:8582 freeculture.xml:9968
12323 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12324 #: freeculture.xml:8583
12325 msgid "McCain, John"
12328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12329 #: freeculture.xml:8584 freeculture.xml:9975
12330 msgid "Universal Music Group"
12333 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12334 #: freeculture.xml:8585
12335 msgid "Warner Music Group"
12339 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12340 #: freeculture.xml:8591
12342 "FCC Oversight: Hearing Before the Senate Commerce, Science and "
12343 "Transportation Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (22 May 2003) (statement "
12344 "of Senator John McCain)."
12348 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12349 #: freeculture.xml:8598
12351 "Lynette Holloway, <quote>Despite a Marketing Blitz, CD Sales Continue to "
12352 "Slide,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 23 December 2002."
12356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12357 #: freeculture.xml:8604
12359 "Molly Ivins, <quote>Media Consolidation Must Be Stopped,</quote> "
12360 "<citetitle>Charleston Gazette</citetitle>, 31 May 2003."
12363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12364 #: freeculture.xml:8587
12366 "Changes in scope are the easier ones to describe. As Senator John McCain "
12367 "summarized the data produced in the FCC's review of media ownership, "
12368 "<quote>five companies control 85 percent of our media "
12369 "sources.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The five recording "
12370 "labels of Universal Music Group, BMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music "
12371 "Group, and EMI control 84.8 percent of the U.S. music market.<placeholder "
12372 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The <quote>five largest cable companies pipe "
12373 "programming to 74 percent of the cable subscribers "
12374 "nationwide.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
12378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12379 #: freeculture.xml:8609
12381 "The story with radio is even more dramatic. Before deregulation, the "
12382 "nation's largest radio broadcasting conglomerate owned fewer than "
12383 "seventy-five stations. Today <emphasis>one</emphasis> company owns more than "
12384 "1,200 stations. During that period of consolidation, the total number of "
12385 "radio owners dropped by 34 percent. Today, in most markets, the two largest "
12386 "broadcasters control 74 percent of that market's revenues. Overall, just "
12387 "four companies control 90 percent of the nation's radio advertising "
12391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12392 #: freeculture.xml:8621
12394 "Newspaper ownership is becoming more concentrated as well. Today, there are "
12395 "six hundred fewer daily newspapers in the United States than there were "
12396 "eighty years ago, and ten companies control half of the nation's "
12397 "circulation. There are twenty major newspaper publishers in the United "
12398 "States. The top ten film studios receive 99 percent of all film revenue. The "
12399 "ten largest cable companies account for 85 percent of all cable "
12400 "revenue. This is a market far from the free press the framers sought to "
12401 "protect. Indeed, it is a market that is quite well protected— by the "
12405 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12406 #: freeculture.xml:8631 freeculture.xml:8652
12407 msgid "Fallows, James"
12410 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12411 #: freeculture.xml:8633
12413 "Concentration in size alone is one thing. The more invidious change is in "
12414 "the nature of that concentration. As author James Fallows put it in a recent "
12415 "article about Rupert Murdoch,"
12418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12419 #: freeculture.xml:8650
12421 "James Fallows, <quote>The Age of Murdoch,</quote> <citetitle>Atlantic "
12422 "Monthly</citetitle> (September 2003): 89. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12426 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12427 #: freeculture.xml:8639
12429 "Murdoch's companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its "
12430 "integration. They supply content—Fox movies … Fox TV shows "
12431 "… Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They "
12432 "sell the content to the public and to advertisers—in newspapers, on "
12433 "the broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical "
12434 "distribution system through which the content reaches the "
12435 "customers. Murdoch's satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in "
12436 "Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV's largest single owner, that "
12437 "system will serve the same function in the United States.<placeholder "
12438 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12442 #: freeculture.xml:8657
12444 "The pattern with Murdoch is the pattern of modern media. Not just large "
12445 "companies owning many radio stations, but a few companies owning as many "
12446 "outlets of media as possible. A picture describes this pattern better than a "
12447 "thousand words could do:"
12450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
12451 #: freeculture.xml:8663
12452 msgid "Pattern of modern media ownership."
12455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
12456 #: freeculture.xml:8664
12458 "<graphic fileref=\"images/pattern-modern-media-ownership.png\" "
12459 "align=\"center\" width=\"90%\"></graphic>"
12463 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12464 #: freeculture.xml:8668
12466 "Does this concentration matter? Will it affect what is made, or what is "
12467 "distributed? Or is it merely a more efficient way to produce and distribute "
12471 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12472 #: freeculture.xml:8673
12474 "My view was that concentration wouldn't matter. I thought it was nothing "
12475 "more than a more efficient financial structure. But now, after reading and "
12476 "listening to a barrage of creators try to convince me to the contrary, I am "
12477 "beginning to change my mind."
12480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12481 #: freeculture.xml:8679
12483 "Here's a representative story that begins to suggest how this integration "
12487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12488 #: freeculture.xml:8682
12489 msgid "Lear, Norman"
12492 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12493 #: freeculture.xml:8684 freeculture.xml:8747
12494 msgid "All in the Family"
12497 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12498 #: freeculture.xml:8686
12500 "In 1969, Norman Lear created a pilot for <citetitle>All in the "
12501 "Family</citetitle>. He took the pilot to ABC. The network didn't like it. It "
12502 "was too edgy, they told Lear. Make it again. Lear made a second pilot, more "
12503 "edgy than the first. ABC was exasperated. You're missing the point, they "
12504 "told Lear. We wanted less edgy, not more."
12508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12509 #: freeculture.xml:8698
12511 "Leonard Hill, <quote>The Axis of Access,</quote> remarks before Weidenbaum "
12512 "Center Forum, <quote>Entertainment Economics: The Movie Industry,</quote> "
12513 "St. Louis, Missouri, 3 April 2003 (transcript of prepared remarks available "
12514 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #28</ulink>; for the "
12515 "Lear story, not included in the prepared remarks, see <ulink "
12516 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #29</ulink>)."
12519 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12520 #: freeculture.xml:8693
12522 "Rather than comply, Lear simply took the show elsewhere. CBS was happy to "
12523 "have the series; ABC could not stop Lear from walking. The copyrights that "
12524 "Lear held assured an independence from network control.<placeholder "
12525 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12530 #: freeculture.xml:8709
12532 "The network did not control those copyrights because the law forbade the "
12533 "networks from controlling the content they syndicated. The law required a "
12534 "separation between the networks and the content producers; that separation "
12535 "would guarantee Lear freedom. And as late as 1992, because of these rules, "
12536 "the vast majority of prime time television—75 percent of it—was "
12537 "<quote>independent</quote> of the networks."
12541 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12542 #: freeculture.xml:8728
12544 "NewsCorp./DirecTV Merger and Media Consolidation: Hearings on Media "
12545 "Ownership Before the Senate Commerce Committee, 108th Cong., 1st "
12546 "sess. (2003) (testimony of Gene Kimmelman on behalf of Consumers Union and "
12547 "the Consumer Federation of America), available at <ulink "
12548 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #30</ulink>. Kimmelman quotes "
12549 "Victoria Riskin, president of Writers Guild of America, West, in her Remarks "
12550 "at FCC En Banc Hearing, Richmond, Virginia, 27 February 2003."
12553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12554 #: freeculture.xml:8718
12556 "In 1994, the FCC abandoned the rules that required this independence. After "
12557 "that change, the networks quickly changed the balance. In 1985, there were "
12558 "twenty-five independent television production studios; in 2002, only five "
12559 "independent television studios remained. <quote>In 1992, only 15 percent of "
12560 "new series were produced for a network by a company it controlled. Last "
12561 "year, the percentage of shows produced by controlled companies more than "
12562 "quintupled to 77 percent.</quote> <quote>In 1992, 16 new series were "
12563 "produced independently of conglomerate control, last year there was "
12564 "one.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In 2002, 75 percent of "
12565 "prime time television was owned by the networks that ran it. <quote>In the "
12566 "ten-year period between 1992 and 2002, the number of prime time television "
12567 "hours per week produced by network studios increased over 200%, whereas the "
12568 "number of prime time television hours per week produced by independent "
12569 "studios decreased 63%.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
12572 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12573 #: freeculture.xml:8749
12575 "Today, another Norman Lear with another <citetitle>All in the "
12576 "Family</citetitle> would find that he had the choice either to make the show "
12577 "less edgy or to be fired: The content of any show developed for a network is "
12578 "increasingly owned by the network."
12581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12582 #: freeculture.xml:8754
12583 msgid "Diller, Barry"
12586 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12587 #: freeculture.xml:8755
12588 msgid "Moyers, Bill"
12591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12592 #: freeculture.xml:8757
12594 "While the number of channels has increased dramatically, the ownership of "
12595 "those channels has narrowed to an ever smaller and smaller few. As Barry "
12596 "Diller said to Bill Moyers,"
12600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12601 #: freeculture.xml:8772
12603 "<quote>Barry Diller Takes on Media Deregulation,</quote> <citetitle>Now with "
12604 "Bill Moyers</citetitle>, Bill Moyers, 25 April 2003, edited transcript "
12605 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #31</ulink>."
12608 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12609 #: freeculture.xml:8763
12611 "Well, if you have companies that produce, that finance, that air on their "
12612 "channel and then distribute worldwide everything that goes through their "
12613 "controlled distribution system, then what you get is fewer and fewer actual "
12614 "voices participating in the process. [We u]sed to have dozens and dozens of "
12615 "thriving independent production companies producing television programs. Now "
12616 "you have less than a handful.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12619 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12620 #: freeculture.xml:8779
12622 "This narrowing has an effect on what is produced. The product of such large "
12623 "and concentrated networks is increasingly homogenous. Increasingly "
12624 "safe. Increasingly sterile. The product of news shows from networks like "
12625 "this is increasingly tailored to the message the network wants to "
12626 "convey. This is not the communist party, though from the inside, it must "
12627 "feel a bit like the communist party. No one can question without risk of "
12628 "consequence—not necessarily banishment to Siberia, but punishment "
12629 "nonetheless. Independent, critical, different views are quashed. This is not "
12630 "the environment for a democracy."
12633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12634 #: freeculture.xml:8790
12635 msgid "Clark, Kim B."
12639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12640 #: freeculture.xml:8799
12642 "Clayton M. Christensen, <citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The "
12643 "Revolutionary National Bestseller that Changed the Way We Do "
12644 "Business</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, "
12645 "1997). Christensen acknowledges that the idea was first suggested by Dean "
12646 "Kim Clark. See Kim B. Clark, <quote>The Interaction of Design Hierarchies "
12647 "and Market Concepts in Technological Evolution,</quote> <citetitle>Research "
12648 "Policy</citetitle> 14 (1985): 235–51. For a more recent study, see "
12649 "Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan, <citetitle>Creative Destruction: Why "
12650 "Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market—and How to "
12651 "Successfully Transform Them</citetitle> (New York: Currency/Doubleday, "
12655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12656 #: freeculture.xml:8792
12658 "Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration "
12659 "affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the "
12660 "<quote>Innovator's Dilemma</quote>: the fact that large traditional firms "
12661 "find it rational to ignore new, breakthrough technologies that compete with "
12662 "their core business. The same analysis could help explain why large, "
12663 "traditional media companies would find it rational to ignore new cultural "
12664 "trends.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Lumbering giants not only "
12665 "don't, but should not, sprint. Yet if the field is only open to the giants, "
12666 "there will be far too little sprinting. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12670 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12671 #: freeculture.xml:8816
12673 "I don't think we know enough about the economics of the media market to say "
12674 "with certainty what concentration and integration will do. The efficiencies "
12675 "are important, and the effect on culture is hard to measure."
12678 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12679 #: freeculture.xml:8822
12681 "But there is a quintessentially obvious example that does strongly suggest "
12685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12686 #: freeculture.xml:8826
12688 "In addition to the copyright wars, we're in the middle of the drug "
12689 "wars. Government policy is strongly directed against the drug cartels; "
12690 "criminal and civil courts are filled with the consequences of this battle."
12694 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12695 #: freeculture.xml:8831
12697 "Let me hereby disqualify myself from any possible appointment to any "
12698 "position in government by saying I believe this war is a profound mistake. I "
12699 "am not pro drugs. Indeed, I come from a family once wrecked by "
12700 "drugs—though the drugs that wrecked my family were all quite legal. I "
12701 "believe this war is a profound mistake because the collateral damage from it "
12702 "is so great as to make waging the war insane. When you add together the "
12703 "burdens on the criminal justice system, the desperation of generations of "
12704 "kids whose only real economic opportunities are as drug warriors, the "
12705 "queering of constitutional protections because of the constant surveillance "
12706 "this war requires, and, most profoundly, the total destruction of the legal "
12707 "systems of many South American nations because of the power of the local "
12708 "drug cartels, I find it impossible to believe that the marginal benefit in "
12709 "reduced drug consumption by Americans could possibly outweigh these costs."
12712 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12713 #: freeculture.xml:8850
12715 "You may not be convinced. That's fine. We live in a democracy, and it is "
12716 "through votes that we are to choose policy. But to do that, we depend "
12717 "fundamentally upon the press to help inform Americans about these issues."
12720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12721 #: freeculture.xml:8858
12722 msgid "Nick and Norm anti-drug campaign"
12725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12726 #: freeculture.xml:8860
12728 "Beginning in 1998, the Office of National Drug Control Policy launched a "
12729 "media campaign as part of the <quote>war on drugs.</quote> The campaign "
12730 "produced scores of short film clips about issues related to illegal "
12731 "drugs. In one series (the Nick and Norm series) two men are in a bar, "
12732 "discussing the idea of legalizing drugs as a way to avoid some of the "
12733 "collateral damage from the war. One advances an argument in favor of drug "
12734 "legalization. The other responds in a powerful and effective way against the "
12735 "argument of the first. In the end, the first guy changes his mind (hey, it's "
12736 "television). The plug at the end is a damning attack on the pro-legalization "
12740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12741 #: freeculture.xml:8872
12743 "Fair enough. It's a good ad. Not terribly misleading. It delivers its "
12744 "message well. It's a fair and reasonable message."
12747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12748 #: freeculture.xml:8876
12750 "But let's say you think it is a wrong message, and you'd like to run a "
12751 "countercommercial. Say you want to run a series of ads that try to "
12752 "demonstrate the extraordinary collateral harm that comes from the drug "
12753 "war. Can you do it?"
12757 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12758 #: freeculture.xml:8882
12760 "Well, obviously, these ads cost lots of money. Assume you raise the "
12761 "money. Assume a group of concerned citizens donates all the money in the "
12762 "world to help you get your message out. Can you be sure your message will be "
12766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
12767 #: freeculture.xml:8890
12768 msgid "on television advertising bans"
12771 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
12772 #: freeculture.xml:8891
12773 msgid "controversy avoided by"
12776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12777 #: freeculture.xml:8904
12781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12782 #: freeculture.xml:8905
12783 msgid "Marijuana Policy Project"
12786 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12787 #: freeculture.xml:8906
12791 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12792 #: freeculture.xml:8907
12796 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12797 #: freeculture.xml:8908
12801 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12802 #: freeculture.xml:8903
12804 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12805 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
12806 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> "
12807 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12808 "id=\"6\"/> The Marijuana Policy Project, in February 2003, sought to place "
12809 "ads that directly responded to the Nick and Norm series on stations within "
12810 "the Washington, D.C., area. Comcast rejected the ads as <quote>against "
12811 "[their] policy.</quote> The local NBC affiliate, WRC, rejected the ads "
12812 "without reviewing them. The local ABC affiliate, WJOA, originally agreed to "
12813 "run the ads and accepted payment to do so, but later decided not to run the "
12814 "ads and returned the collected fees. Interview with Neal Levine, 15 October "
12815 "2003. These restrictions are, of course, not limited to drug policy. See, "
12816 "for example, Nat Ives, <quote>On the Issue of an Iraq War, Advocacy Ads Meet "
12817 "with Rejection from TV Networks,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
12818 "Times</citetitle>, 13 March 2003, C4. Outside of election-related air time "
12819 "there is very little that the FCC or the courts are willing to do to even "
12820 "the playing field. For a general overview, see Rhonda Brown, <quote>Ad Hoc "
12821 "Access: The Regulation of Editorial Advertising on Television and "
12822 "Radio,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law and Policy Review</citetitle> 6 (1988): "
12823 "449–79, and for a more recent summary of the stance of the FCC and the "
12824 "courts, see <citetitle>Radio-Television News Directors "
12825 "Association</citetitle> v. <citetitle>FCC</citetitle>, 184 F. 3d 872 "
12826 "(D.C. Cir. 1999). Municipal authorities exercise the same authority as the "
12827 "networks. In a recent example from San Francisco, the San Francisco transit "
12828 "authority rejected an ad that criticized its Muni diesel buses. Phillip "
12829 "Matier and Andrew Ross, <quote>Antidiesel Group Fuming After Muni Rejects "
12830 "Ad,</quote> SFGate.com, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
12831 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #32</ulink>. The ground was that "
12832 "the criticism was <quote>too controversial.</quote>"
12835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12836 #: freeculture.xml:8893
12838 "No. You cannot. Television stations have a general policy of avoiding "
12839 "<quote>controversial</quote> ads. Ads sponsored by the government are deemed "
12840 "uncontroversial; ads disagreeing with the government are controversial. "
12841 "This selectivity might be thought inconsistent with the First Amendment, but "
12842 "the Supreme Court has held that stations have the right to choose what they "
12843 "run. Thus, the major channels of commercial media will refuse one side of a "
12844 "crucial debate the opportunity to present its case. And the courts will "
12845 "defend the rights of the stations to be this biased.<placeholder "
12846 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12850 #: freeculture.xml:8942
12852 "I'd be happy to defend the networks' rights, as well—if we lived in a "
12853 "media market that was truly diverse. But concentration in the media throws "
12854 "that condition into doubt. If a handful of companies control access to the "
12855 "media, and that handful of companies gets to decide which political "
12856 "positions it will allow to be promoted on its channels, then in an obvious "
12857 "and important way, concentration matters. You might like the positions the "
12858 "handful of companies selects. But you should not like a world in which a "
12859 "mere few get to decide which issues the rest of us get to know about."
12862 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
12863 #: freeculture.xml:8955
12867 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12868 #: freeculture.xml:8957
12870 "There is something innocent and obvious about the claim of the copyright "
12871 "warriors that the government should <quote>protect my property.</quote> In "
12872 "the abstract, it is obviously true and, ordinarily, totally harmless. No "
12873 "sane sort who is not an anarchist could disagree."
12877 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12878 #: freeculture.xml:8963
12880 "But when we see how dramatically this <quote>property</quote> has "
12881 "changed— when we recognize how it might now interact with both "
12882 "technology and markets to mean that the effective constraint on the liberty "
12883 "to cultivate our culture is dramatically different—the claim begins to "
12884 "seem less innocent and obvious. Given (1) the power of technology to "
12885 "supplement the law's control, and (2) the power of concentrated markets to "
12886 "weaken the opportunity for dissent, if strictly enforcing the massively "
12887 "expanded <quote>property</quote> rights granted by copyright fundamentally "
12888 "changes the freedom within this culture to cultivate and build upon our "
12889 "past, then we have to ask whether this property should be redefined."
12892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12893 #: freeculture.xml:8979
12895 "Not starkly. Or absolutely. My point is not that we should abolish copyright "
12896 "or go back to the eighteenth century. That would be a total mistake, "
12897 "disastrous for the most important creative enterprises within our culture "
12901 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12902 #: freeculture.xml:8985
12904 "But there is a space between zero and one, Internet culture "
12905 "notwithstanding. And these massive shifts in the effective power of "
12906 "copyright regulation, tied to increased concentration of the content "
12907 "industry and resting in the hands of technology that will increasingly "
12908 "enable control over the use of culture, should drive us to consider whether "
12909 "another adjustment is called for. Not an adjustment that increases "
12910 "copyright's power. Not an adjustment that increases its term. Rather, an "
12911 "adjustment to restore the balance that has traditionally defined copyright's "
12912 "regulation—a weakening of that regulation, to strengthen creativity."
12915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12916 #: freeculture.xml:8997
12918 "Copyright law has not been a rock of Gibraltar. It's not a set of constant "
12919 "commitments that, for some mysterious reason, teenagers and geeks now "
12920 "flout. Instead, copyright power has grown dramatically in a short period of "
12921 "time, as the technologies of distribution and creation have changed and as "
12922 "lobbyists have pushed for more control by copyright holders. Changes in the "
12923 "past in response to changes in technology suggest that we may well need "
12924 "similar changes in the future. And these changes have to be "
12925 "<emphasis>reductions</emphasis> in the scope of copyright, in response to "
12926 "the extraordinary increase in control that technology and the market enable."
12930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12931 #: freeculture.xml:9009
12933 "For the single point that is lost in this war on pirates is a point that we "
12934 "see only after surveying the range of these changes. When you add together "
12935 "the effect of changing law, concentrated markets, and changing technology, "
12936 "together they produce an astonishing conclusion: <emphasis>Never in our "
12937 "history have fewer had a legal right to control more of the development of "
12938 "our culture than now</emphasis>."
12941 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12942 #: freeculture.xml:9033
12944 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Siva Vaidhyanathan captures a "
12945 "similar point in his <quote>four surrenders</quote> of copyright law in the "
12946 "digital age. See Vaidhyanathan, 159–60."
12949 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12950 #: freeculture.xml:9018
12952 "Not when copyrights were perpetual, for when copyrights were perpetual, they "
12953 "affected only that precise creative work. Not when only publishers had the "
12954 "tools to publish, for the market then was much more diverse. Not when there "
12955 "were only three television networks, for even then, newspapers, film "
12956 "studios, radio stations, and publishers were independent of the "
12957 "networks. <emphasis>Never</emphasis> has copyright protected such a wide "
12958 "range of rights, against as broad a range of actors, for a term that was "
12959 "remotely as long. This form of regulation—a tiny regulation of a tiny "
12960 "part of the creative energy of a nation at the founding—is now a "
12961 "massive regulation of the overall creative process. Law plus technology plus "
12962 "the market now interact to turn this historically benign regulation into the "
12963 "most significant regulation of culture that our free society has "
12964 "known.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12967 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12968 #: freeculture.xml:9039
12970 "<emphasis role='strong'>This has been</emphasis> a long chapter. Its point "
12971 "can now be briefly stated."
12974 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12975 #: freeculture.xml:9043
12977 "At the start of this book, I distinguished between commercial and "
12978 "noncommercial culture. In the course of this chapter, I have distinguished "
12979 "between copying a work and transforming it. We can now combine these two "
12980 "distinctions and draw a clear map of the changes that copyright law has "
12981 "undergone. In 1790, the law looked like this:"
12984 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
12985 #: freeculture.xml:9055 freeculture.xml:9092
12989 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
12990 #: freeculture.xml:9056 freeculture.xml:9093 freeculture.xml:9131 freeculture.xml:9163
12994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
12995 #: freeculture.xml:9061 freeculture.xml:9098 freeculture.xml:9136 freeculture.xml:9168
12999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
13000 #: freeculture.xml:9062 freeculture.xml:9099 freeculture.xml:9100 freeculture.xml:9137 freeculture.xml:9138 freeculture.xml:9169 freeculture.xml:9170 freeculture.xml:9174 freeculture.xml:9175
13004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
13005 #: freeculture.xml:9063 freeculture.xml:9067 freeculture.xml:9068 freeculture.xml:9104 freeculture.xml:9105 freeculture.xml:9143
13009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
13010 #: freeculture.xml:9066 freeculture.xml:9103 freeculture.xml:9141 freeculture.xml:9173
13011 msgid "Noncommercial"
13015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13016 #: freeculture.xml:9075
13018 "The act of publishing a map, chart, and book was regulated by copyright "
13019 "law. Nothing else was. Transformations were free. And as copyright attached "
13020 "only with registration, and only those who intended to benefit commercially "
13021 "would register, copying through publishing of noncommercial work was also "
13025 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13026 #: freeculture.xml:9084
13027 msgid "By the end of the nineteenth century, the law had changed to this:"
13030 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13031 #: freeculture.xml:9112
13033 "Derivative works were now regulated by copyright law—if published, "
13034 "which again, given the economics of publishing at the time, means if offered "
13035 "commercially. But noncommercial publishing and transformation were still "
13036 "essentially free."
13039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13040 #: freeculture.xml:9118
13042 "In 1909 the law changed to regulate copies, not publishing, and after this "
13043 "change, the scope of the law was tied to technology. As the technology of "
13044 "copying became more prevalent, the reach of the law expanded. Thus by 1975, "
13045 "as photocopying machines became more common, we could say the law began to "
13049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
13050 #: freeculture.xml:9130 freeculture.xml:9162
13054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
13055 #: freeculture.xml:9142
13056 msgid "© / Free"
13059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13060 #: freeculture.xml:9150
13062 "The law was interpreted to reach noncommercial copying through, say, copy "
13063 "machines, but still much of copying outside of the commercial market "
13064 "remained free. But the consequence of the emergence of digital technologies, "
13065 "especially in the context of a digital network, means that the law now looks "
13070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13071 #: freeculture.xml:9182
13073 "Every realm is governed by copyright law, whereas before most creativity was "
13074 "not. The law now regulates the full range of creativity— commercial or "
13075 "not, transformative or not—with the same rules designed to regulate "
13076 "commercial publishers."
13079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13080 #: freeculture.xml:9190
13082 "Obviously, copyright law is not the enemy. The enemy is regulation that does "
13083 "no good. So the question that we should be asking just now is whether "
13084 "extending the regulations of copyright law into each of these domains "
13085 "actually does any good."
13088 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13089 #: freeculture.xml:9196
13091 "I have no doubt that it does good in regulating commercial copying. But I "
13092 "also have no doubt that it does more harm than good when regulating (as it "
13093 "regulates just now) noncommercial copying and, especially, noncommercial "
13094 "transformation. And increasingly, for the reasons sketched especially in "
13095 "chapters <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/> and "
13096 "<xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"transformers\"/>, one "
13097 "might well wonder whether it does more harm than good for commercial "
13098 "transformation. More commercial transformative work would be created if "
13099 "derivative rights were more sharply restricted."
13102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13103 #: freeculture.xml:9214
13104 msgid "legal realist movement"
13107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13108 #: freeculture.xml:9214
13110 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> It was the single most important "
13111 "contribution of the legal realist movement to demonstrate that all property "
13112 "rights are always crafted to balance public and private interests. See "
13113 "Thomas C. Grey, <quote>The Disintegration of Property,</quote> in "
13114 "<citetitle>Nomos XXII: Property</citetitle>, J. Roland Pennock and John W. "
13115 "Chapman, eds. (New York: New York University Press, 1980)."
13118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13119 #: freeculture.xml:9208
13121 "The issue is therefore not simply whether copyright is property. Of course "
13122 "copyright is a kind of <quote>property,</quote> and of course, as with any "
13123 "property, the state ought to protect it. But first impressions "
13124 "notwithstanding, historically, this property right (as with all property "
13125 "rights<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>) has been crafted to "
13126 "balance the important need to give authors and artists incentives with the "
13127 "equally important need to assure access to creative work. This balance has "
13128 "always been struck in light of new technologies. And for almost half of our "
13129 "tradition, the <quote>copyright</quote> did not control <emphasis>at "
13130 "all</emphasis> the freedom of others to build upon or transform a creative "
13131 "work. American culture was born free, and for almost 180 years our country "
13132 "consistently protected a vibrant and rich free culture."
13136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13137 #: freeculture.xml:9233
13139 "We achieved that free culture because our law respected important limits on "
13140 "the scope of the interests protected by <quote>property.</quote> The very "
13141 "birth of <quote>copyright</quote> as a statutory right recognized those "
13142 "limits, by granting copyright owners protection for a limited time only (the "
13143 "story of chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
13144 "linkend=\"founders\"/>). The tradition of <quote>fair use</quote> is "
13145 "animated by a similar concern that is increasingly under strain as the costs "
13146 "of exercising any fair use right become unavoidably high (the story of "
13147 "chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
13148 "linkend=\"recorders\"/>). Adding statutory rights where markets might stifle "
13149 "innovation is another familiar limit on the property right that copyright is "
13150 "(chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
13151 "linkend=\"transformers\"/>). And granting archives and libraries a broad "
13152 "freedom to collect, claims of property notwithstanding, is a crucial part of "
13153 "guaranteeing the soul of a culture (chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
13154 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"collectors\"/>). Free cultures, like free markets, "
13155 "are built with property. But the nature of the property that builds a free "
13156 "culture is very different from the extremist vision that dominates the "
13160 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13161 #: freeculture.xml:9256
13163 "Free culture is increasingly the casualty in this war on piracy. In response "
13164 "to a real, if not yet quantified, threat that the technologies of the "
13165 "Internet present to twentieth-century business models for producing and "
13166 "distributing culture, the law and technology are being transformed in a way "
13167 "that will undermine our tradition of free culture. The property right that "
13168 "is copyright is no longer the balanced right that it was, or was intended to "
13169 "be. The property right that is copyright has become unbalanced, tilted "
13170 "toward an extreme. The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened "
13171 "in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check "
13175 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
13176 #: freeculture.xml:9273
13180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
13181 #: freeculture.xml:9277
13185 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
13186 #: freeculture.xml:9278
13190 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
13191 #: freeculture.xml:9279
13192 msgid "Wells, H. G."
13195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
13196 #: freeculture.xml:9280
13197 msgid "<quote>Country of the Blind, The</quote> (Wells)"
13201 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13202 #: freeculture.xml:9288
13204 "H. G. Wells, <quote>The Country of the Blind</quote> (1904, 1911). See "
13205 "H. G. Wells, <citetitle>The Country of the Blind and Other "
13206 "Stories</citetitle>, Michael Sherborne, ed. (New York: Oxford University "
13210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13211 #: freeculture.xml:9283
13213 "<emphasis role='strong'>In a well-known</emphasis> short story by "
13214 "H. G. Wells, a mountain climber named Nunez trips (literally, down an ice "
13215 "slope) into an unknown and isolated valley in the Peruvian "
13216 "Andes.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The valley is "
13217 "extraordinarily beautiful, with <quote>sweet water, pasture, an even "
13218 "climate, slopes of rich brown soil with tangles of a shrub that bore an "
13219 "excellent fruit.</quote> But the villagers are all blind. Nunez takes this "
13220 "as an opportunity. <quote>In the Country of the Blind,</quote> he tells "
13221 "himself, <quote>the One-Eyed Man is King.</quote> So he resolves to live "
13222 "with the villagers to explore life as a king."
13225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13226 #: freeculture.xml:9300
13228 "Things don't go quite as he planned. He tries to explain the idea of sight "
13229 "to the villagers. They don't understand. He tells them they are "
13230 "<quote>blind.</quote> They don't have the word "
13231 "<citetitle>blind</citetitle>. They think he's just thick. Indeed, as they "
13232 "increasingly notice the things he can't do (hear the sound of grass being "
13233 "stepped on, for example), they increasingly try to control him. He, in turn, "
13234 "becomes increasingly frustrated. <quote>`You don't understand,' he cried, in "
13235 "a voice that was meant to be great and resolute, and which broke. `You are "
13236 "blind and I can see. Leave me alone!'</quote>"
13240 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13241 #: freeculture.xml:9312
13243 "The villagers don't leave him alone. Nor do they see (so to speak) the "
13244 "virtue of his special power. Not even the ultimate target of his affection, "
13245 "a young woman who to him seems <quote>the most beautiful thing in the whole "
13246 "of creation,</quote> understands the beauty of sight. Nunez's description of "
13247 "what he sees <quote>seemed to her the most poetical of fancies, and she "
13248 "listened to his description of the stars and the mountains and her own sweet "
13249 "white-lit beauty as though it was a guilty indulgence.</quote> <quote>She "
13250 "did not believe,</quote> Wells tells us, and <quote>she could only half "
13251 "understand, but she was mysteriously delighted.</quote>"
13254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13255 #: freeculture.xml:9323
13257 "When Nunez announces his desire to marry his <quote>mysteriously "
13258 "delighted</quote> love, the father and the village object. <quote>You see, "
13259 "my dear,</quote> her father instructs, <quote>he's an idiot. He has "
13260 "delusions. He can't do anything right.</quote> They take Nunez to the "
13264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13265 #: freeculture.xml:9329
13267 "After a careful examination, the doctor gives his opinion. <quote>His brain "
13268 "is affected,</quote> he reports."
13271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13272 #: freeculture.xml:9333
13274 "<quote>What affects it?</quote> the father asks. <quote>Those queer things "
13275 "that are called the eyes … are diseased … in such a way as to "
13276 "affect his brain.</quote>"
13279 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13280 #: freeculture.xml:9338
13282 "The doctor continues: <quote>I think I may say with reasonable certainty "
13283 "that in order to cure him completely, all that we need to do is a simple and "
13284 "easy surgical operation—namely, to remove these irritant bodies [the "
13288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13289 #: freeculture.xml:9344
13291 "<quote>Thank Heaven for science!</quote> says the father to the doctor. They "
13292 "inform Nunez of this condition necessary for him to be allowed his bride. "
13293 "(You'll have to read the original to learn what happens in the end. I "
13294 "believe in free culture, but never in giving away the end of a story.)"
13298 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13299 #: freeculture.xml:9350
13301 "<emphasis role='strong'>It sometimes</emphasis> happens that the eggs of "
13302 "twins fuse in the mother's womb. That fusion produces a "
13303 "<quote>chimera.</quote> A chimera is a single creature with two sets of "
13304 "DNA. The DNA in the blood, for example, might be different from the DNA of "
13305 "the skin. This possibility is an underused plot for murder "
13306 "mysteries. <quote>But the DNA shows with 100 percent certainty that she was "
13307 "not the person whose blood was at the scene. …</quote>"
13310 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13311 #: freeculture.xml:9364
13313 "Before I had read about chimeras, I would have said they were impossible. A "
13314 "single person can't have two sets of DNA. The very idea of DNA is that it is "
13315 "the code of an individual. Yet in fact, not only can two individuals have "
13316 "the same set of DNA (identical twins), but one person can have two different "
13317 "sets of DNA (a chimera). Our understanding of a <quote>person</quote> should "
13318 "reflect this reality."
13321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13322 #: freeculture.xml:9372
13324 "The more I work to understand the current struggle over copyright and "
13325 "culture, which I've sometimes called unfairly, and sometimes not unfairly "
13326 "enough, <quote>the copyright wars,</quote> the more I think we're dealing "
13327 "with a chimera. For example, in the battle over the question <quote>What is "
13328 "p2p file sharing?</quote> both sides have it right, and both sides have it "
13329 "wrong. One side says, <quote>File sharing is just like two kids taping each "
13330 "others' records—the sort of thing we've been doing for the last thirty "
13331 "years without any question at all.</quote> That's true, at least in "
13332 "part. When I tell my best friend to try out a new CD that I've bought, but "
13333 "rather than just send the CD, I point him to my p2p server, that is, in all "
13334 "relevant respects, just like what every executive in every recording company "
13335 "no doubt did as a kid: sharing music."
13338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13339 #: freeculture.xml:9386
13341 "But the description is also false in part. For when my p2p server is on a "
13342 "p2p network through which anyone can get access to my music, then sure, my "
13343 "friends can get access, but it stretches the meaning of "
13344 "<quote>friends</quote> beyond recognition to say <quote>my ten thousand best "
13345 "friends</quote> can get access. Whether or not sharing my music with my best "
13346 "friend is what <quote>we have always been allowed to do,</quote> we have not "
13347 "always been allowed to share music with <quote>our ten thousand best "
13351 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13352 #: freeculture.xml:9395
13354 "Likewise, when the other side says, <quote>File sharing is just like walking "
13355 "into a Tower Records and taking a CD off the shelf and walking out with "
13356 "it,</quote> that's true, at least in part. If, after Lyle Lovett (finally) "
13357 "releases a new album, rather than buying it, I go to Kazaa and find a free "
13358 "copy to take, that is very much like stealing a copy from Tower. "
13359 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13364 #: freeculture.xml:9406
13366 "But it is not quite stealing from Tower. After all, when I take a CD from "
13367 "Tower Records, Tower has one less CD to sell. And when I take a CD from "
13368 "Tower Records, I get a bit of plastic and a cover, and something to show on "
13369 "my shelves. (And, while we're at it, we could also note that when I take a "
13370 "CD from Tower Records, the maximum fine that might be imposed on me, under "
13371 "California law, at least, is $1,000. According to the RIAA, by contrast, if "
13372 "I download a ten-song CD, I'm liable for $1,500,000 in damages.)"
13375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13376 #: freeculture.xml:9416
13378 "The point is not that it is as neither side describes. The point is that it "
13379 "is both—both as the RIAA describes it and as Kazaa describes it. It is "
13380 "a chimera. And rather than simply denying what the other side asserts, we "
13381 "need to begin to think about how we should respond to this chimera. What "
13382 "rules should govern it?"
13385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13386 #: freeculture.xml:9432 freeculture.xml:9719 freeculture.xml:10814
13387 msgid "ISPs (Internet service providers), user identities revealed by"
13390 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13391 #: freeculture.xml:9463
13392 msgid "Conyers, John, Jr."
13395 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13396 #: freeculture.xml:9464 freeculture.xml:10211
13397 msgid "Berman, Howard L."
13400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13401 #: freeculture.xml:9432
13403 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> For an excellent summary, see the "
13404 "report prepared by GartnerG2 and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society "
13405 "at Harvard Law School, <quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster "
13406 "World,</quote> 27 June 2003, available at <ulink "
13407 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #33</ulink>. Reps. John Conyers "
13408 "Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) have introduced a bill that "
13409 "would treat unauthorized on-line copying as a felony offense with "
13410 "punishments ranging as high as five years imprisonment; see Jon Healey, "
13411 "<quote>House Bill Aims to Up Stakes on Piracy,</quote> <citetitle>Los "
13412 "Angeles Times</citetitle>, 17 July 2003, available at <ulink "
13413 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #34</ulink>. Civil penalties are "
13414 "currently set at $150,000 per copied song. For a recent (and unsuccessful) "
13415 "legal challenge to the RIAA's demand that an ISP reveal the identity of a "
13416 "user accused of sharing more than 600 songs through a family computer, see "
13417 "<citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Verizon Internet Services (In "
13418 "re. Verizon Internet Services)</citetitle>, 240 F. Supp. 2d 24 "
13419 "(D.D.C. 2003). Such a user could face liability ranging as high as $90 "
13420 "million. Such astronomical figures furnish the RIAA with a powerful arsenal "
13421 "in its prosecution of file sharers. Settlements ranging from $12,000 to "
13422 "$17,500 for four students accused of heavy file sharing on university "
13423 "networks must have seemed a mere pittance next to the $98 billion the RIAA "
13424 "could seek should the matter proceed to court. See Elizabeth Young, "
13425 "<quote>Downloading Could Lead to Fines,</quote> redandblack.com, August "
13426 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
13427 "#35</ulink>. For an example of the RIAA's targeting of student file sharing, "
13428 "and of the subpoenas issued to universities to reveal student file-sharer "
13429 "identities, see James Collins, <quote>RIAA Steps Up Bid to Force BC, MIT to "
13430 "Name Students,</quote> <citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 8 August 2003, "
13431 "D3, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
13432 "#36</ulink>. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
13433 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
13436 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13437 #: freeculture.xml:9423
13439 "We could respond by simply pretending that it is not a chimera. We could, "
13440 "with the RIAA, decide that every act of file sharing should be a felony. We "
13441 "could prosecute families for millions of dollars in damages just because "
13442 "file sharing occurred on a family computer. And we can get universities to "
13443 "monitor all computer traffic to make sure that no computer is used to commit "
13444 "this crime. These responses might be extreme, but each of them has either "
13445 "been proposed or actually implemented.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13449 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13450 #: freeculture.xml:9470
13452 "Alternatively, we could respond to file sharing the way many kids act as "
13453 "though we've responded. We could totally legalize it. Let there be no "
13454 "copyright liability, either civil or criminal, for making copyrighted "
13455 "content available on the Net. Make file sharing like gossip: regulated, if "
13456 "at all, by social norms but not by law."
13459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13460 #: freeculture.xml:9477
13462 "Either response is possible. I think either would be a mistake. Rather than "
13463 "embrace one of these two extremes, we should embrace something that "
13464 "recognizes the truth in both. And while I end this book with a sketch of a "
13465 "system that does just that, my aim in the next chapter is to show just how "
13466 "awful it would be for us to adopt the zero-tolerance extreme. I believe "
13467 "<emphasis>either</emphasis> extreme would be worse than a reasonable "
13468 "alternative. But I believe the zero-tolerance solution would be the worse "
13469 "of the two extremes."
13473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13474 #: freeculture.xml:9489
13476 "Yet zero tolerance is increasingly our government's policy. In the middle of "
13477 "the chaos that the Internet has created, an extraordinary land grab is "
13478 "occurring. The law and technology are being shifted to give content holders "
13479 "a kind of control over our culture that they have never had before. And in "
13480 "this extremism, many an opportunity for new innovation and new creativity "
13484 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13485 #: freeculture.xml:9497
13487 "I'm not talking about the opportunities for kids to <quote>steal</quote> "
13488 "music. My focus instead is the commercial and cultural innovation that this "
13489 "war will also kill. We have never seen the power to innovate spread so "
13490 "broadly among our citizens, and we have just begun to see the innovation "
13491 "that this power will unleash. Yet the Internet has already seen the passing "
13492 "of one cycle of innovation around technologies to distribute content. The "
13493 "law is responsible for this passing. As the vice president for global public "
13494 "policy at one of these new innovators, eMusic.com, put it when criticizing "
13495 "the DMCA's added protection for copyrighted material,"
13498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
13499 #: freeculture.xml:9510
13501 "eMusic opposes music piracy. We are a distributor of copyrighted material, "
13502 "and we want to protect those rights."
13505 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
13506 #: freeculture.xml:9514
13508 "But building a technology fortress that locks in the clout of the major "
13509 "labels is by no means the only way to protect copyright interests, nor is it "
13510 "necessarily the best. It is simply too early to answer that question. Market "
13511 "forces operating naturally may very well produce a totally different "
13516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
13517 #: freeculture.xml:9531
13519 "WIPO and the DMCA One Year Later: Assessing Consumer Access to Digital "
13520 "Entertainment on the Internet and Other Media: Hearing Before the "
13521 "Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, House "
13522 "Committee on Commerce, 106th Cong. 29 (1999) (statement of Peter Harter, "
13523 "vice president, Global Public Policy and Standards, EMusic.com), available "
13524 "in LEXIS, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony File."
13527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
13528 #: freeculture.xml:9521
13530 "This is a critical point. The choices that industry sectors make with "
13531 "respect to these systems will in many ways directly shape the market for "
13532 "digital media and the manner in which digital media are distributed. This in "
13533 "turn will directly influence the options that are available to consumers, "
13534 "both in terms of the ease with which they will be able to access digital "
13535 "media and the equipment that they will require to do so. Poor choices made "
13536 "this early in the game will retard the growth of this market, hurting "
13537 "everyone's interests.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13540 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13541 #: freeculture.xml:9545 freeculture.xml:9919
13542 msgid "Vivendi Universal"
13545 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13546 #: freeculture.xml:9542
13548 "In April 2001, eMusic.com was purchased by Vivendi Universal, one of "
13549 "<quote>the major labels.</quote> Its position on these matters has now "
13550 "changed. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13554 #: freeculture.xml:9548
13556 "Reversing our tradition of tolerance now will not merely quash piracy. It "
13557 "will sacrifice values that are important to this culture, and will kill "
13558 "opportunities that could be extraordinarily valuable."
13561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
13562 #: freeculture.xml:9556
13566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13567 #: freeculture.xml:9558
13569 "<emphasis role='strong'>To fight</emphasis> <quote>piracy,</quote> to "
13570 "protect <quote>property,</quote> the content industry has launched a "
13571 "war. Lobbying and lots of campaign contributions have now brought the "
13572 "government into this war. As with any war, this one will have both direct "
13573 "and collateral damage. As with any war of prohibition, these damages will be "
13574 "suffered most by our own people."
13577 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13578 #: freeculture.xml:9566
13580 "My aim so far has been to describe the consequences of this war, in "
13581 "particular, the consequences for <quote>free culture.</quote> But my aim now "
13582 "is to extend this description of consequences into an argument. Is this war "
13586 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13587 #: freeculture.xml:9572
13589 "In my view, it is not. There is no good reason why this time, for the first "
13590 "time, the law should defend the old against the new, just when the power of "
13591 "the property called <quote>intellectual property</quote> is at its greatest "
13595 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13596 #: freeculture.xml:9580
13598 "Yet <quote>common sense</quote> does not see it this way. Common sense is "
13599 "still on the side of the Causbys and the content industry. The extreme "
13600 "claims of control in the name of property still resonate; the uncritical "
13601 "rejection of <quote>piracy</quote> still has play."
13605 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13606 #: freeculture.xml:9588
13608 "There will be many consequences of continuing this war. I want to describe "
13609 "just three. All three might be said to be unintended. I am quite confident "
13610 "the third is unintended. I'm less sure about the first two. The first two "
13611 "protect modern RCAs, but there is no Howard Armstrong in the wings to fight "
13612 "today's monopolists of culture."
13615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
13616 #: freeculture.xml:9595
13617 msgid "Constraining Creators"
13620 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13621 #: freeculture.xml:9597
13623 "In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. "
13624 "These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share "
13625 "content. Capturing and sharing content, of course, is what humans have done "
13626 "since the dawn of man. It is how we learn and communicate. But capturing and "
13627 "sharing through digital technology is different. The fidelity and power are "
13628 "different. You could send an e-mail telling someone about a joke you saw on "
13629 "Comedy Central, or you could send the clip. You could write an essay about "
13630 "the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to "
13631 "hate, or you could make a short film that puts statement against "
13632 "statement. You could write a poem to express your love, or you could weave "
13633 "together a string—a mash-up— of songs from your favorite artists "
13634 "in a collage and make it available on the Net."
13637 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13638 #: freeculture.xml:9612
13640 "This digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> is in part an extension of "
13641 "the capturing and sharing that has always been integral to our culture, and "
13642 "in part it is something new. It is continuous with the Kodak, but it "
13643 "explodes the boundaries of Kodak-like technologies. The technology of "
13644 "digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> promises a world of "
13645 "extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly "
13646 "shared. And as that creativity is applied to democracy, it will enable a "
13647 "broad range of citizens to use technology to express and criticize and "
13648 "contribute to the culture all around."
13652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13653 #: freeculture.xml:9623
13655 "Technology has thus given us an opportunity to do something with culture "
13656 "that has only ever been possible for individuals in small groups, isolated "
13657 "from others. Think about an old man telling a story to a collection of "
13658 "neighbors in a small town. Now imagine that same storytelling extended "
13659 "across the globe."
13662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13663 #: freeculture.xml:9633
13665 "Yet all this is possible only if the activity is presumptively legal. In the "
13666 "current regime of legal regulation, it is not. Forget file sharing for a "
13667 "moment. Think about your favorite amazing sites on the Net. Web sites that "
13668 "offer plot summaries from forgotten television shows; sites that catalog "
13669 "cartoons from the 1960s; sites that mix images and sound to criticize "
13670 "politicians or businesses; sites that gather newspaper articles on remote "
13671 "topics of science or culture. There is a vast amount of creative work spread "
13672 "across the Internet. But as the law is currently crafted, this work is "
13673 "presumptively illegal."
13676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13677 #: freeculture.xml:9643 freeculture.xml:9667
13681 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13682 #: freeculture.xml:9646
13683 msgid "doctors malpractice claims against"
13686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13687 #: freeculture.xml:9662
13689 "See Lynne W. Jeter, <citetitle>Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at "
13690 "WorldCom</citetitle> (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 176, 204; "
13691 "for details of the settlement, see MCI press release, <quote>MCI Wins "
13692 "U.S. District Court Approval for SEC Settlement</quote> (7 July 2003), "
13693 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #37</ulink>. "
13694 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13698 #: freeculture.xml:9683
13699 msgid "Bush, George W."
13702 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13703 #: freeculture.xml:9674
13705 "The bill, modeled after California's tort reform model, was passed in the "
13706 "House of Representatives but defeated in a Senate vote in July 2003. For an "
13707 "overview, see Tanya Albert, <quote>Measure Stalls in Senate: `We'll Be "
13708 "Back,' Say Tort Reformers,</quote> amednews.com, 28 July 2003, available at "
13709 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #38</ulink>, and "
13710 "<quote>Senate Turns Back Malpractice Caps,</quote> CBSNews.com, 9 July 2003, "
13711 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
13712 "#39</ulink>. President Bush has continued to urge tort reform in recent "
13713 "months. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13716 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13717 #: freeculture.xml:9649
13719 "That presumption will increasingly chill creativity, as the examples of "
13720 "extreme penalties for vague infringements continue to proliferate. It is "
13721 "impossible to get a clear sense of what's allowed and what's not, and at the "
13722 "same time, the penalties for crossing the line are astonishingly harsh. The "
13723 "four students who were threatened by the RIAA (Jesse Jordan of chapter <xref "
13724 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"catalogs\"/> was just one) were "
13725 "threatened with a $98 billion lawsuit for building search engines that "
13726 "permitted songs to be copied. Yet World-Com—which defrauded investors "
13727 "of $11 billion, resulting in a loss to investors in market capitalization of "
13728 "over $200 billion—received a fine of a mere $750 million.<placeholder "
13729 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And under legislation being pushed in Congress "
13730 "right now, a doctor who negligently removes the wrong leg in an operation "
13731 "would be liable for no more than $250,000 in damages for pain and "
13732 "suffering.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Can common sense "
13733 "recognize the absurdity in a world where the maximum fine for downloading "
13734 "two songs off the Internet is more than the fine for a doctor's negligently "
13735 "butchering a patient?"
13738 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13739 #: freeculture.xml:9689
13740 msgid "art, underground"
13744 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13745 #: freeculture.xml:9710
13747 "See Danit Lidor, <quote>Artists Just Wanna Be Free,</quote> "
13748 "<citetitle>Wired</citetitle>, 7 July 2003, available at <ulink "
13749 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #40</ulink>. For an overview of "
13750 "the exhibition, see <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
13754 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13755 #: freeculture.xml:9691
13757 "The consequence of this legal uncertainty, tied to these extremely high "
13758 "penalties, is that an extraordinary amount of creativity will either never "
13759 "be exercised, or never be exercised in the open. We drive this creative "
13760 "process underground by branding the modern-day Walt Disneys "
13761 "<quote>pirates.</quote> We make it impossible for businesses to rely upon a "
13762 "public domain, because the boundaries of the public domain are designed to "
13763 "be unclear. It never pays to do anything except pay for the right to create, "
13764 "and hence only those who can pay are allowed to create. As was the case in "
13765 "the Soviet Union, though for very different reasons, we will begin to see a "
13766 "world of underground art—not because the message is necessarily "
13767 "political, or because the subject is controversial, but because the very act "
13768 "of creating the art is legally fraught. Already, exhibits of <quote>illegal "
13769 "art</quote> tour the United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
13770 "In what does their <quote>illegality</quote> consist? In the act of mixing "
13771 "the culture around us with an expression that is critical or reflective."
13774 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13775 #: freeculture.xml:9721
13777 "Part of the reason for this fear of illegality has to do with the changing "
13778 "law. I described that change in detail in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
13779 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>. But an even bigger part has to do "
13780 "with the increasing ease with which infractions can be tracked. As users of "
13781 "file-sharing systems discovered in 2002, it is a trivial matter for "
13782 "copyright owners to get courts to order Internet service providers to reveal "
13783 "who has what content. It is as if your cassette tape player transmitted a "
13784 "list of the songs that you played in the privacy of your own home that "
13785 "anyone could tune into for whatever reason they chose."
13788 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13789 #: freeculture.xml:9734
13791 "Never in our history has a painter had to worry about whether his painting "
13792 "infringed on someone else's work; but the modern-day painter, using the "
13793 "tools of Photoshop, sharing content on the Web, must worry all the "
13794 "time. Images are all around, but the only safe images to use in the act of "
13795 "creation are those purchased from Corbis or another image farm. And in "
13796 "purchasing, censoring happens. There is a free market in pencils; we needn't "
13797 "worry about its effect on creativity. But there is a highly regulated, "
13798 "monopolized market in cultural icons; the right to cultivate and transform "
13799 "them is not similarly free."
13802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13803 #: freeculture.xml:9745
13805 "Lawyers rarely see this because lawyers are rarely empirical. As I described "
13806 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/>, "
13807 "in response to the story about documentary filmmaker Jon Else, I have been "
13808 "lectured again and again by lawyers who insist Else's use was fair use, and "
13809 "hence I am wrong to say that the law regulates such a use."
13813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13814 #: freeculture.xml:9756
13816 "But fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend "
13817 "your right to create. And as lawyers love to forget, our system for "
13818 "defending rights such as fair use is astonishingly bad—in practically "
13819 "every context, but especially here. It costs too much, it delivers too "
13820 "slowly, and what it delivers often has little connection to the justice "
13821 "underlying the claim. The legal system may be tolerable for the very rich. "
13822 "For everyone else, it is an embarrassment to a tradition that prides itself "
13823 "on the rule of law."
13826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13827 #: freeculture.xml:9766
13829 "Judges and lawyers can tell themselves that fair use provides adequate "
13830 "<quote>breathing room</quote> between regulation by the law and the access "
13831 "the law should allow. But it is a measure of how out of touch our legal "
13832 "system has become that anyone actually believes this. The rules that "
13833 "publishers impose upon writers, the rules that film distributors impose upon "
13834 "filmmakers, the rules that newspapers impose upon journalists— these "
13835 "are the real laws governing creativity. And these rules have little "
13836 "relationship to the <quote>law</quote> with which judges comfort themselves."
13839 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13840 #: freeculture.xml:9777
13842 "For in a world that threatens $150,000 for a single willful infringement of "
13843 "a copyright, and which demands tens of thousands of dollars to even defend "
13844 "against a copyright infringement claim, and which would never return to the "
13845 "wrongfully accused defendant anything of the costs she suffered to defend "
13846 "her right to speak—in that world, the astonishingly broad regulations "
13847 "that pass under the name <quote>copyright</quote> silence speech and "
13848 "creativity. And in that world, it takes a studied blindness for people to "
13849 "continue to believe they live in a culture that is free."
13852 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13853 #: freeculture.xml:9788
13854 msgid "As Jed Horovitz, the businessman behind Video Pipeline, said to me,"
13858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13859 #: freeculture.xml:9792
13861 "We're losing [creative] opportunities right and left. Creative people are "
13862 "being forced not to express themselves. Thoughts are not being "
13863 "expressed. And while a lot of stuff may [still] be created, it still won't "
13864 "get distributed. Even if the stuff gets made … you're not going to "
13865 "get it distributed in the mainstream media unless you've got a little note "
13866 "from a lawyer saying, <quote>This has been cleared.</quote> You're not even "
13867 "going to get it on PBS without that kind of permission. That's the point at "
13868 "which they control it."
13871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
13872 #: freeculture.xml:9805
13873 msgid "Constraining Innovators"
13876 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
13877 #: freeculture.xml:9806
13878 msgid "innovation hampered by"
13881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
13882 #: freeculture.xml:9807
13883 msgid "industry establishment opposed to"
13886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13887 #: freeculture.xml:9810
13889 "The story of the last section was a crunchy-lefty story—creativity "
13890 "quashed, artists who can't speak, yada yada yada. Maybe that doesn't get you "
13891 "going. Maybe you think there's enough weird art out there, and enough "
13892 "expression that is critical of what seems to be just about everything. And "
13893 "if you think that, you might think there's little in this story to worry "
13897 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13898 #: freeculture.xml:9819
13900 "But there's an aspect of this story that is not lefty in any sense. Indeed, "
13901 "it is an aspect that could be written by the most extreme promarket "
13902 "ideologue. And if you're one of these sorts (and a special one at that, "
13903 "<xref xrefstyle=\"select: pagenumber\" linkend=\"innovators\"/> pages into a "
13904 "book like this), then you can see this other aspect by substituting "
13905 "<quote>free market</quote> every place I've spoken of <quote>free "
13906 "culture.</quote> The point is the same, even if the interests affecting "
13907 "culture are more fundamental."
13910 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13911 #: freeculture.xml:9830
13913 "The charge I've been making about the regulation of culture is the same "
13914 "charge free marketers make about regulating markets. Everyone, of course, "
13915 "concedes that some regulation of markets is necessary—at a minimum, we "
13916 "need rules of property and contract, and courts to enforce both. Likewise, "
13917 "in this culture debate, everyone concedes that at least some framework of "
13918 "copyright is also required. But both perspectives vehemently insist that "
13919 "just because some regulation is good, it doesn't follow that more regulation "
13920 "is better. And both perspectives are constantly attuned to the ways in which "
13921 "regulation simply enables the powerful industries of today to protect "
13922 "themselves against the competitors of tomorrow."
13925 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13926 #: freeculture.xml:9843 freeculture.xml:9964 freeculture.xml:9970
13927 msgid "Barry, Hank"
13930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13931 #: freeculture.xml:9844 freeculture.xml:9976
13932 msgid "venture capitalists"
13936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13937 #: freeculture.xml:9846
13939 "This is the single most dramatic effect of the shift in regulatory strategy "
13940 "that I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
13941 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>. The consequence of this massive threat of "
13942 "liability tied to the murky boundaries of copyright law is that innovators "
13943 "who want to innovate in this space can safely innovate only if they have the "
13944 "sign-off from last generation's dominant industries. That lesson has been "
13945 "taught through a series of cases that were designed and executed to teach "
13946 "venture capitalists a lesson. That lesson—what former Napster CEO Hank "
13947 "Barry calls a <quote>nuclear pall</quote> that has fallen over the "
13948 "Valley—has been learned."
13951 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13952 #: freeculture.xml:9861
13954 "Consider one example to make the point, a story whose beginning I told in "
13955 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> and which has progressed in a way "
13956 "that even I (pessimist extraordinaire) would never have predicted."
13959 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13960 #: freeculture.xml:9865
13964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13965 #: freeculture.xml:9866
13969 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13970 #: freeculture.xml:9867
13971 msgid "Roberts, Michael"
13974 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13975 #: freeculture.xml:9869
13977 "In 1997, Michael Roberts launched a company called MP3.com. MP3.com was "
13978 "keen to remake the music business. Their goal was not just to facilitate new "
13979 "ways to get access to content. Their goal was also to facilitate new ways to "
13980 "create content. Unlike the major labels, MP3.com offered creators a venue to "
13981 "distribute their creativity, without demanding an exclusive engagement from "
13985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
13986 #: freeculture.xml:9877
13987 msgid "preference data on"
13990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13991 #: freeculture.xml:9879
13993 "To make this system work, however, MP3.com needed a reliable way to "
13994 "recommend music to its users. The idea behind this alternative was to "
13995 "leverage the revealed preferences of music listeners to recommend new "
13996 "artists. If you like Lyle Lovett, you're likely to enjoy Bonnie Raitt. And "
14000 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14001 #: freeculture.xml:9886
14003 "This idea required a simple way to gather data about user preferences. "
14004 "MP3.com came up with an extraordinarily clever way to gather this preference "
14005 "data. In January 2000, the company launched a service called "
14006 "my.mp3.com. Using software provided by MP3.com, a user would sign into an "
14007 "account and then insert into her computer a CD. The software would identify "
14008 "the CD, and then give the user access to that content. So, for example, if "
14009 "you inserted a CD by Jill Sobule, then wherever you were—at work or at "
14010 "home—you could get access to that music once you signed into your "
14011 "account. The system was therefore a kind of music-lockbox."
14015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14016 #: freeculture.xml:9898
14018 "No doubt some could use this system to illegally copy content. But that "
14019 "opportunity existed with or without MP3.com. The aim of the my.mp3.com "
14020 "service was to give users access to their own content, and as a by-product, "
14021 "by seeing the content they already owned, to discover the kind of content "
14025 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14026 #: freeculture.xml:9908
14028 "To make this system function, however, MP3.com needed to copy 50,000 CDs to "
14029 "a server. (In principle, it could have been the user who uploaded the music, "
14030 "but that would have taken a great deal of time, and would have produced a "
14031 "product of questionable quality.) It therefore purchased 50,000 CDs from a "
14032 "store, and started the process of making copies of those CDs. Again, it "
14033 "would not serve the content from those copies to anyone except those who "
14034 "authenticated that they had a copy of the CD they wanted to access. So while "
14035 "this was 50,000 copies, it was 50,000 copies directed at giving customers "
14036 "something they had already bought."
14039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14040 #: freeculture.xml:9920 freeculture.xml:9965
14041 msgid "distribution technology targeted in"
14044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14045 #: freeculture.xml:9925
14046 msgid "outsize penalties of"
14049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14050 #: freeculture.xml:9927
14052 "Nine days after MP3.com launched its service, the five major labels, headed "
14053 "by the RIAA, brought a lawsuit against MP3.com. MP3.com settled with four of "
14054 "the five. Nine months later, a federal judge found MP3.com to have been "
14055 "guilty of willful infringement with respect to the fifth. Applying the law "
14056 "as it is, the judge imposed a fine against MP3.com of $118 million. MP3.com "
14057 "then settled with the remaining plaintiff, Vivendi Universal, paying over "
14058 "$54 million. Vivendi purchased MP3.com just about a year later."
14061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14062 #: freeculture.xml:9937
14063 msgid "That part of the story I have told before. Now consider its conclusion."
14066 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14067 #: freeculture.xml:9940
14069 "After Vivendi purchased MP3.com, Vivendi turned around and filed a "
14070 "malpractice lawsuit against the lawyers who had advised it that they had a "
14071 "good faith claim that the service they wanted to offer would be considered "
14072 "legal under copyright law. This lawsuit alleged that it should have been "
14073 "obvious that the courts would find this behavior illegal; therefore, this "
14074 "lawsuit sought to punish any lawyer who had dared to suggest that the law "
14075 "was less restrictive than the labels demanded."
14079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14080 #: freeculture.xml:9951
14082 "The clear purpose of this lawsuit (which was settled for an unspecified "
14083 "amount shortly after the story was no longer covered in the press) was to "
14084 "send an unequivocal message to lawyers advising clients in this space: It is "
14085 "not just your clients who might suffer if the content industry directs its "
14086 "guns against them. It is also you. So those of you who believe the law "
14087 "should be less restrictive should realize that such a view of the law will "
14088 "cost you and your firm dearly."
14091 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14092 #: freeculture.xml:9966
14096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14097 #: freeculture.xml:9967
14098 msgid "cars, MP3 sound systems in"
14101 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14102 #: freeculture.xml:9969
14103 msgid "Hummer, John"
14106 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14107 #: freeculture.xml:9971
14108 msgid "Hummer Winblad"
14111 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14112 #: freeculture.xml:9972
14113 msgid "MP3 players"
14116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14117 #: freeculture.xml:9973
14118 msgid "venture capital for"
14121 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14122 #: freeculture.xml:9974 freeculture.xml:10020
14123 msgid "Needleman, Rafe"
14127 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14128 #: freeculture.xml:9984
14130 "See Joseph Menn, <quote>Universal, EMI Sue Napster Investor,</quote> "
14131 "<citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 23 April 2003. For a parallel "
14132 "argument about the effects on innovation in the distribution of music, see "
14133 "Janelle Brown, <quote>The Music Revolution Will Not Be Digitized,</quote> "
14134 "Salon.com, 1 June 2001, available at <ulink "
14135 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #42</ulink>. See also Jon "
14136 "Healey, <quote>Online Music Services Besieged,</quote> <citetitle>Los "
14137 "Angeles Times</citetitle>, 28 May 2001."
14140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14141 #: freeculture.xml:9978
14143 "This strategy is not just limited to the lawyers. In April 2003, Universal "
14144 "and EMI brought a lawsuit against Hummer Winblad, the venture capital firm "
14145 "(VC) that had funded Napster at a certain stage of its development, its "
14146 "cofounder (John Hummer), and general partner (Hank Barry).<placeholder "
14147 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The claim here, as well, was that the VC should "
14148 "have recognized the right of the content industry to control how the "
14149 "industry should develop. They should be held personally liable for funding a "
14150 "company whose business turned out to be beyond the law. Here again, the aim "
14151 "of the lawsuit is transparent: Any VC now recognizes that if you fund a "
14152 "company whose business is not approved of by the dinosaurs, you are at risk "
14153 "not just in the marketplace, but in the courtroom as well. Your investment "
14154 "buys you not only a company, it also buys you a lawsuit. So extreme has the "
14155 "environment become that even car manufacturers are afraid of technologies "
14156 "that touch content. In an article in <citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, "
14157 "Rafe Needleman describes a discussion with BMW:"
14160 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
14161 #: freeculture.xml:10016
14163 "Rafe Needleman, <quote>Driving in Cars with MP3s,</quote> "
14164 "<citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
14165 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #43</ulink>. I am grateful to "
14166 "Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli for this example. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
14171 #: freeculture.xml:10007
14173 "I asked why, with all the storage capacity and computer power in the car, "
14174 "there was no way to play MP3 files. I was told that BMW engineers in Germany "
14175 "had rigged a new vehicle to play MP3s via the car's built-in sound system, "
14176 "but that the company's marketing and legal departments weren't comfortable "
14177 "with pushing this forward for release stateside. Even today, no new cars are "
14178 "sold in the United States with bona fide MP3 players. … <placeholder "
14179 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14183 #: freeculture.xml:10028
14185 "This is the world of the mafia—filled with <quote>your money or your "
14186 "life</quote> offers, governed in the end not by courts but by the threats "
14187 "that the law empowers copyright holders to exercise. It is a system that "
14188 "will obviously and necessarily stifle new innovation. It is hard enough to "
14189 "start a company. It is impossibly hard if that company is constantly "
14190 "threatened by litigation."
14194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14195 #: freeculture.xml:10038
14197 "The point is not that businesses should have a right to start illegal "
14198 "enterprises. The point is the definition of <quote>illegal.</quote> The law "
14199 "is a mess of uncertainty. We have no good way to know how it should apply to "
14200 "new technologies. Yet by reversing our tradition of judicial deference, and "
14201 "by embracing the astonishingly high penalties that copyright law imposes, "
14202 "that uncertainty now yields a reality which is far more conservative than is "
14203 "right. If the law imposed the death penalty for parking tickets, we'd not "
14204 "only have fewer parking tickets, we'd also have much less driving. The same "
14205 "principle applies to innovation. If innovation is constantly checked by this "
14206 "uncertain and unlimited liability, we will have much less vibrant innovation "
14207 "and much less creativity."
14210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14211 #: freeculture.xml:10053
14213 "The point is directly parallel to the crunchy-lefty point about fair "
14214 "use. Whatever the <quote>real</quote> law is, realism about the effect of "
14215 "law in both contexts is the same. This wildly punitive system of regulation "
14216 "will systematically stifle creativity and innovation. It will protect some "
14217 "industries and some creators, but it will harm industry and creativity "
14218 "generally. Free market and free culture depend upon vibrant competition. "
14219 "Yet the effect of the law today is to stifle just this kind of competition. "
14220 "The effect is to produce an overregulated culture, just as the effect of too "
14221 "much control in the market is to produce an overregulated-regulated market."
14225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14226 #: freeculture.xml:10065
14228 "The building of a permission culture, rather than a free culture, is the "
14229 "first important way in which the changes I have described will burden "
14230 "innovation. A permission culture means a lawyer's culture—a culture in "
14231 "which the ability to create requires a call to your lawyer. Again, I am not "
14232 "antilawyer, at least when they're kept in their proper place. I am certainly "
14233 "not antilaw. But our profession has lost the sense of its limits. And "
14234 "leaders in our profession have lost an appreciation of the high costs that "
14235 "our profession imposes upon others. The inefficiency of the law is an "
14236 "embarrassment to our tradition. And while I believe our profession should "
14237 "therefore do everything it can to make the law more efficient, it should at "
14238 "least do everything it can to limit the reach of the law where the law is "
14239 "not doing any good. The transaction costs buried within a permission culture "
14240 "are enough to bury a wide range of creativity. Someone needs to do a lot of "
14241 "justifying to justify that result."
14244 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14245 #: freeculture.xml:10084
14247 "<emphasis role='strong'>The uncertainty</emphasis> of the law is one burden "
14248 "on innovation. There is a second burden that operates more directly. This is "
14249 "the effort by many in the content industry to use the law to directly "
14250 "regulate the technology of the Internet so that it better protects their "
14254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14255 #: freeculture.xml:10091
14257 "The motivation for this response is obvious. The Internet enables the "
14258 "efficient spread of content. That efficiency is a feature of the Internet's "
14259 "design. But from the perspective of the content industry, this feature is a "
14260 "<quote>bug.</quote> The efficient spread of content means that content "
14261 "distributors have a harder time controlling the distribution of content. "
14262 "One obvious response to this efficiency is thus to make the Internet less "
14263 "efficient. If the Internet enables <quote>piracy,</quote> then, this "
14264 "response says, we should break the kneecaps of the Internet."
14268 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14269 #: freeculture.xml:10106
14271 "<quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> "
14272 "GartnerG2 and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law "
14273 "School (2003), 33–35, available at <ulink "
14274 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>."
14278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14279 #: freeculture.xml:10119
14280 msgid "GartnerG2, 26–27."
14283 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14284 #: freeculture.xml:10102
14286 "The examples of this form of legislation are many. At the urging of the "
14287 "content industry, some in Congress have threatened legislation that would "
14288 "require computers to determine whether the content they access is protected "
14289 "or not, and to disable the spread of protected content.<placeholder "
14290 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Congress has already launched proceedings to "
14291 "explore a mandatory <quote>broadcast flag</quote> that would be required on "
14292 "any device capable of transmitting digital video (i.e., a computer), and "
14293 "that would disable the copying of any content that is marked with a "
14294 "broadcast flag. Other members of Congress have proposed immunizing content "
14295 "providers from liability for technology they might deploy that would hunt "
14296 "down copyright violators and disable their machines.<placeholder "
14297 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
14301 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14302 #: freeculture.xml:10123
14304 "In one sense, these solutions seem sensible. If the problem is the code, why "
14305 "not regulate the code to remove the problem. But any regulation of technical "
14306 "infrastructure will always be tuned to the particular technology of the "
14307 "day. It will impose significant burdens and costs on the technology, but "
14308 "will likely be eclipsed by advances around exactly those requirements."
14311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14312 #: freeculture.xml:10132 freeculture.xml:12042
14317 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14318 #: freeculture.xml:10138
14320 "See David McGuire, <quote>Tech Execs Square Off Over Piracy,</quote> "
14321 "Newsbytes, February 2002 (Entertainment)."
14324 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14325 #: freeculture.xml:10134
14327 "In March 2002, a broad coalition of technology companies, led by Intel, "
14328 "tried to get Congress to see the harm that such legislation would "
14329 "impose.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Their argument was "
14330 "obviously not that copyright should not be protected. Instead, they argued, "
14331 "any protection should not do more harm than good."
14334 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14335 #: freeculture.xml:10146
14337 "<emphasis role='strong'>There is one</emphasis> more obvious way in which "
14338 "this war has harmed innovation—again, a story that will be quite "
14339 "familiar to the free market crowd."
14342 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14343 #: freeculture.xml:10151
14345 "Copyright may be property, but like all property, it is also a form of "
14346 "regulation. It is a regulation that benefits some and harms others. When "
14347 "done right, it benefits creators and harms leeches. When done wrong, it is "
14348 "regulation the powerful use to defeat competitors."
14351 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14352 #: freeculture.xml:10169
14353 msgid "Digital Copyright (Litman)"
14356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14357 #: freeculture.xml:10167
14359 "Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (Amherst, N.Y.: "
14360 "Prometheus Books, 2001). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
14361 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14365 #: freeculture.xml:10161
14367 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
14368 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, despite this feature of copyright as regulation, "
14369 "and subject to important qualifications outlined by Jessica Litman in her "
14370 "book <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle>,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14371 "id=\"0\"/> overall this history of copyright is not bad. As chapter <xref "
14372 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/> details, when new "
14373 "technologies have come along, Congress has struck a balance to assure that "
14374 "the new is protected from the old. Compulsory, or statutory, licenses have "
14375 "been one part of that strategy. Free use (as in the case of the VCR) has "
14379 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14380 #: freeculture.xml:10180
14382 "But that pattern of deference to new technologies has now changed with the "
14383 "rise of the Internet. Rather than striking a balance between the claims of a "
14384 "new technology and the legitimate rights of content creators, both the "
14385 "courts and Congress have imposed legal restrictions that will have the "
14386 "effect of smothering the new to benefit the old."
14389 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14390 #: freeculture.xml:10186
14394 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14395 #: freeculture.xml:10191
14396 msgid "Grokster, Ltd."
14399 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14400 #: freeculture.xml:10191
14402 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> The only circuit court exception "
14403 "is found in <citetitle>Recording Industry Association of America "
14404 "(RIAA)</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Diamond Multimedia Systems</citetitle>, 180 "
14405 "F. 3d 1072 (9th Cir. 1999). There the court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit "
14406 "reasoned that makers of a portable MP3 player were not liable for "
14407 "contributory copyright infringement for a device that is unable to record or "
14408 "redistribute music (a device whose only copying function is to render "
14409 "portable a music file already stored on a user's hard drive). At the "
14410 "district court level, the only exception is found in "
14411 "<citetitle>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, "
14412 "Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Grokster, Ltd</citetitle>., 259 F. Supp. 2d "
14413 "1029 (C.D. Cal., 2003), where the court found the link between the "
14414 "distributor and any given user's conduct too attenuated to make the "
14415 "distributor liable for contributory or vicarious infringement liability."
14418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14419 #: freeculture.xml:10210
14420 msgid "Tauzin, Billy"
14423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14424 #: freeculture.xml:10212
14425 msgid "Hollings, Fritz"
14428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14429 #: freeculture.xml:10210
14431 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14432 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
14433 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> For example, in July 2002, Representative "
14434 "Howard Berman introduced the Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211), "
14435 "which would immunize copyright holders from liability for damage done to "
14436 "computers when the copyright holders use technology to stop copyright "
14437 "infringement. In August 2002, Representative Billy Tauzin introduced a bill "
14438 "to mandate that technologies capable of rebroadcasting digital copies of "
14439 "films broadcast on TV (i.e., computers) respect a <quote>broadcast "
14440 "flag</quote> that would disable copying of that content. And in March of the "
14441 "same year, Senator Fritz Hollings introduced the Consumer Broadband and "
14442 "Digital Television Promotion Act, which mandated copyright protection "
14443 "technology in all digital media devices. See GartnerG2, <quote>Copyright and "
14444 "Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> 27 June 2003, 33–34, "
14445 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>."
14448 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14449 #: freeculture.xml:10189
14451 "The response by the courts has been fairly universal.<placeholder "
14452 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It has been mirrored in the responses "
14453 "threatened and actually implemented by Congress. I won't catalog all of "
14454 "those responses here.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> But there is "
14455 "one example that captures the flavor of them all. This is the story of the "
14456 "demise of Internet radio."
14460 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14461 #: freeculture.xml:10237
14463 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
14464 "linkend=\"pirates\"/>, when a radio station plays a song, the recording "
14465 "artist doesn't get paid for that <quote>radio performance</quote> unless he "
14466 "or she is also the composer. So, for example if Marilyn Monroe had recorded "
14467 "a version of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote>—to memorialize her famous "
14468 "performance before President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden— then "
14469 "whenever that recording was played on the radio, the current copyright "
14470 "owners of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> would get some money, whereas "
14471 "Marilyn Monroe would not."
14474 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14475 #: freeculture.xml:10248
14477 "The reasoning behind this balance struck by Congress makes some sense. The "
14478 "justification was that radio was a kind of advertising. The recording artist "
14479 "thus benefited because by playing her music, the radio station was making it "
14480 "more likely that her records would be purchased. Thus, the recording artist "
14481 "got something, even if only indirectly. Probably this reasoning had less to "
14482 "do with the result than with the power of radio stations: Their lobbyists "
14483 "were quite good at stopping any efforts to get Congress to require "
14484 "compensation to the recording artists."
14487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14488 #: freeculture.xml:10259
14490 "Enter Internet radio. Like regular radio, Internet radio is a technology to "
14491 "stream content from a broadcaster to a listener. The broadcast travels "
14492 "across the Internet, not across the ether of radio spectrum. Thus, I can "
14493 "<quote>tune in</quote> to an Internet radio station in Berlin while sitting "
14494 "in San Francisco, even though there's no way for me to tune in to a regular "
14495 "radio station much beyond the San Francisco metropolitan area."
14498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14499 #: freeculture.xml:10268
14501 "This feature of the architecture of Internet radio means that there are "
14502 "potentially an unlimited number of radio stations that a user could tune in "
14503 "to using her computer, whereas under the existing architecture for broadcast "
14504 "radio, there is an obvious limit to the number of broadcasters and clear "
14505 "broadcast frequencies. Internet radio could therefore be more competitive "
14506 "than regular radio; it could provide a wider range of selections. And "
14507 "because the potential audience for Internet radio is the whole world, niche "
14508 "stations could easily develop and market their content to a relatively large "
14509 "number of users worldwide. According to some estimates, more than eighty "
14510 "million users worldwide have tuned in to this new form of radio."
14514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14515 #: freeculture.xml:10284
14517 "Internet radio is thus to radio what FM was to AM. It is an improvement "
14518 "potentially vastly more significant than the FM improvement over AM, since "
14519 "not only is the technology better, so, too, is the competition. Indeed, "
14520 "there is a direct parallel between the fight to establish FM radio and the "
14521 "fight to protect Internet radio. As one author describes Howard Armstrong's "
14522 "struggle to enable FM radio,"
14526 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
14527 #: freeculture.xml:10308
14528 msgid "Lessing, 239."
14531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
14532 #: freeculture.xml:10294
14534 "An almost unlimited number of FM stations was possible in the shortwaves, "
14535 "thus ending the unnatural restrictions imposed on radio in the crowded "
14536 "longwaves. If FM were freely developed, the number of stations would be "
14537 "limited only by economics and competition rather than by technical "
14538 "restrictions. … Armstrong likened the situation that had grown up in "
14539 "radio to that following the invention of the printing press, when "
14540 "governments and ruling interests attempted to control this new instrument of "
14541 "mass communications by imposing restrictive licenses on it. This tyranny was "
14542 "broken only when it became possible for men freely to acquire printing "
14543 "presses and freely to run them. FM in this sense was as great an invention "
14544 "as the printing presses, for it gave radio the opportunity to strike off its "
14545 "shackles.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14550 #: freeculture.xml:10318
14551 msgid "Ibid., 229."
14554 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14555 #: freeculture.xml:10313
14557 "This potential for FM radio was never realized—not because Armstrong "
14558 "was wrong about the technology, but because he underestimated the power of "
14559 "<quote>vested interests, habits, customs and legislation</quote><placeholder "
14560 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> to retard the growth of this competing "
14564 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14565 #: freeculture.xml:10323
14567 "Now the very same claim could be made about Internet radio. For again, there "
14568 "is no technical limitation that could restrict the number of Internet radio "
14569 "stations. The only restrictions on Internet radio are those imposed by the "
14570 "law. Copyright law is one such law. So the first question we should ask is, "
14571 "what copyright rules would govern Internet radio?"
14574 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14575 #: freeculture.xml:10332
14579 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14580 #: freeculture.xml:10336
14581 msgid "Internet radio hampered by"
14584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
14585 #: freeculture.xml:10337 freeculture.xml:10490
14586 msgid "on Internet radio fees"
14590 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14591 #: freeculture.xml:10340
14593 "But here the power of the lobbyists is reversed. Internet radio is a new "
14594 "industry. The recording artists, on the other hand, have a very powerful "
14595 "lobby, the RIAA. Thus when Congress considered the phenomenon of Internet "
14596 "radio in 1995, the lobbyists had primed Congress to adopt a different rule "
14597 "for Internet radio than the rule that applies to terrestrial radio. While "
14598 "terrestrial radio does not have to pay our hypothetical Marilyn Monroe when "
14599 "it plays her hypothetical recording of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> on the "
14600 "air, <emphasis>Internet radio does</emphasis>. Not only is the law not "
14601 "neutral toward Internet radio—the law actually burdens Internet radio "
14602 "more than it burdens terrestrial radio."
14605 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
14606 #: freeculture.xml:10379
14607 msgid "CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel)"
14610 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14611 #: freeculture.xml:10362
14613 "This example was derived from fees set by the original Copyright Arbitration "
14614 "Royalty Panel (CARP) proceedings, and is drawn from an example offered by "
14615 "Professor William Fisher. Conference Proceedings, iLaw (Stanford), 3 July "
14616 "2003, on file with author. Professors Fisher and Zittrain submitted "
14617 "testimony in the CARP proceeding that was ultimately rejected. See Jonathan "
14618 "Zittrain, Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral "
14619 "Recordings, Docket No. 2000-9, CARP DTRA 1 and 2, available at <ulink "
14620 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #45</ulink>. For an excellent "
14621 "analysis making a similar point, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>Copyright as "
14622 "Entry Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution,</quote> <citetitle>Antitrust "
14623 "Bulletin</citetitle> (Summer/Fall 2002): 461: <quote>This was not confusion, "
14624 "these are just old-fashioned entry barriers. Analog radio stations are "
14625 "protected from digital entrants, reducing entry in radio and diversity. Yes, "
14626 "this is done in the name of getting royalties to copyright holders, but, "
14627 "absent the play of powerful interests, that could have been done in a "
14628 "media-neutral way.</quote> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
14629 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14633 #: freeculture.xml:10355
14635 "This financial burden is not slight. As Harvard law professor William Fisher "
14636 "estimates, if an Internet radio station distributed adfree popular music to "
14637 "(on average) ten thousand listeners, twenty-four hours a day, the total "
14638 "artist fees that radio station would owe would be over $1 million a "
14639 "year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A regular radio station "
14640 "broadcasting the same content would pay no equivalent fee."
14643 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14644 #: freeculture.xml:10391
14646 "The burden is not financial only. Under the original rules that were "
14647 "proposed, an Internet radio station (but not a terrestrial radio station) "
14648 "would have to collect the following data from <emphasis>every listening "
14649 "transaction</emphasis>:"
14652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14653 #: freeculture.xml:10399
14654 msgid "name of the service;"
14657 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14658 #: freeculture.xml:10402
14659 msgid "channel of the program (AM/FM stations use station ID);"
14662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14663 #: freeculture.xml:10405
14664 msgid "type of program (archived/looped/live);"
14667 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14668 #: freeculture.xml:10408
14669 msgid "date of transmission;"
14672 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14673 #: freeculture.xml:10411
14674 msgid "time of transmission;"
14677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14678 #: freeculture.xml:10414
14679 msgid "time zone of origination of transmission;"
14682 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14683 #: freeculture.xml:10417
14684 msgid "numeric designation of the place of the sound recording within the program;"
14687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14688 #: freeculture.xml:10420
14689 msgid "duration of transmission (to nearest second);"
14692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14693 #: freeculture.xml:10423
14694 msgid "sound recording title;"
14697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14698 #: freeculture.xml:10426
14699 msgid "ISRC code of the recording;"
14702 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14703 #: freeculture.xml:10429
14705 "release year of the album per copyright notice and in the case of "
14706 "compilation albums, the release year of the album and copy- right date of "
14710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14711 #: freeculture.xml:10432
14712 msgid "featured recording artist;"
14715 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14716 #: freeculture.xml:10435
14717 msgid "retail album title;"
14720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14721 #: freeculture.xml:10438
14722 msgid "recording label;"
14725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14726 #: freeculture.xml:10441
14727 msgid "UPC code of the retail album;"
14730 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14731 #: freeculture.xml:10444
14732 msgid "catalog number;"
14735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14736 #: freeculture.xml:10447
14737 msgid "copyright owner information;"
14740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14741 #: freeculture.xml:10450
14742 msgid "musical genre of the channel or program (station format);"
14745 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14746 #: freeculture.xml:10453
14747 msgid "name of the service or entity;"
14750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14751 #: freeculture.xml:10456
14752 msgid "channel or program;"
14755 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14756 #: freeculture.xml:10459
14757 msgid "date and time that the user logged in (in the user's time zone);"
14760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14761 #: freeculture.xml:10462
14762 msgid "date and time that the user logged out (in the user's time zone);"
14765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14766 #: freeculture.xml:10465
14767 msgid "time zone where the signal was received (user);"
14770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14771 #: freeculture.xml:10468
14772 msgid "unique user identifier;"
14775 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
14776 #: freeculture.xml:10471
14777 msgid "the country in which the user received the transmissions."
14780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14781 #: freeculture.xml:10476
14783 "The Librarian of Congress eventually suspended these reporting requirements, "
14784 "pending further study. And he also changed the original rates set by the "
14785 "arbitration panel charged with setting rates. But the basic difference "
14786 "between Internet radio and terrestrial radio remains: Internet radio has to "
14787 "pay a <emphasis>type of copyright fee</emphasis> that terrestrial radio does "
14791 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14792 #: freeculture.xml:10484
14794 "Why? What justifies this difference? Was there any study of the economic "
14795 "consequences from Internet radio that would justify these differences? Was "
14796 "the motive to protect artists against piracy?"
14799 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
14800 #: freeculture.xml:10488 freeculture.xml:15293
14801 msgid "Real Networks"
14804 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14805 #: freeculture.xml:10494
14807 "In a rare bit of candor, one RIAA expert admitted what seemed obvious to "
14808 "everyone at the time. As Alex Alben, vice president for Public Policy at "
14809 "Real Networks, told me,"
14813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
14814 #: freeculture.xml:10500
14816 "The RIAA, which was representing the record labels, presented some testimony "
14817 "about what they thought a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller, and "
14818 "it was much higher. It was ten times higher than what radio stations pay to "
14819 "perform the same songs for the same period of time. And so the attorneys "
14820 "representing the webcasters asked the RIAA, … <quote>How do you come "
14821 "up with a rate that's so much higher? Why is it worth more than radio? "
14822 "Because here we have hundreds of thousands of webcasters who want to pay, "
14823 "and that should establish the market rate, and if you set the rate so high, "
14824 "you're going to drive the small webcasters out of business. …</quote>"
14827 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
14828 #: freeculture.xml:10516
14830 "And the RIAA experts said, <quote>Well, we don't really model this as an "
14831 "industry with thousands of webcasters, <emphasis>we think it should be an "
14832 "industry with, you know, five or seven big players who can pay a high rate "
14833 "and it's a stable, predictable market</emphasis>.</quote> (Emphasis added.)"
14836 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14837 #: freeculture.xml:10528
14839 "Translation: The aim is to use the law to eliminate competition, so that "
14840 "this platform of potentially immense competition, which would cause the "
14841 "diversity and range of content available to explode, would not cause pain to "
14842 "the dinosaurs of old. There is no one, on either the right or the left, who "
14843 "should endorse this use of the law. And yet there is practically no one, on "
14844 "either the right or the left, who is doing anything effective to prevent it."
14847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
14848 #: freeculture.xml:10544
14849 msgid "Corrupting Citizens"
14852 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14853 #: freeculture.xml:10546
14855 "Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives "
14856 "dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity "
14857 "for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables."
14860 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14861 #: freeculture.xml:10552
14863 "In addition to these important harms, there is one more that was important "
14864 "to our forebears, but seems forgotten today. Overregulation corrupts "
14865 "citizens and weakens the rule of law."
14869 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14870 #: freeculture.xml:10561
14872 "Mike Graziano and Lee Rainie, <quote>The Music Downloading Deluge,</quote> "
14873 "Pew Internet and American Life Project (24 April 2001), available at <ulink "
14874 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #46</ulink>. The Pew Internet "
14875 "and American Life Project reported that 37 million Americans had downloaded "
14876 "music files from the Internet by early 2001."
14880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14881 #: freeculture.xml:10557
14883 "The war that is being waged today is a war of prohibition. As with every war "
14884 "of prohibition, it is targeted against the behavior of a very large number "
14885 "of citizens. According to <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, 43 "
14886 "million Americans downloaded music in May 2002.<placeholder "
14887 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> According to the RIAA, the behavior of those 43 "
14888 "million Americans is a felony. We thus have a set of rules that transform 20 "
14889 "percent of America into criminals. As the RIAA launches lawsuits against not "
14890 "only the Napsters and Kazaas of the world, but against students building "
14891 "search engines, and increasingly against ordinary users downloading content, "
14892 "the technologies for sharing will advance to further protect and hide "
14893 "illegal use. It is an arms race or a civil war, with the extremes of one "
14894 "side inviting a more extreme response by the other."
14898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14899 #: freeculture.xml:10595
14901 "Alex Pham, <quote>The Labels Strike Back: N.Y. Girl Settles RIAA "
14902 "Case,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, "
14906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14907 #: freeculture.xml:10582
14909 "The content industry's tactics exploit the failings of the American legal "
14910 "system. When the RIAA brought suit against Jesse Jordan, it knew that in "
14911 "Jordan it had found a scapegoat, not a defendant. The threat of having to "
14912 "pay either all the money in the world in damages ($15,000,000) or almost all "
14913 "the money in the world to defend against paying all the money in the world "
14914 "in damages ($250,000 in legal fees) led Jordan to choose to pay all the "
14915 "money he had in the world ($12,000) to make the suit go away. The same "
14916 "strategy animates the RIAA's suits against individual users. In September "
14917 "2003, the RIAA sued 261 individuals—including a twelve-year-old girl "
14918 "living in public housing and a seventy-year-old man who had no idea what "
14919 "file sharing was.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As these "
14920 "scapegoats discovered, it will always cost more to defend against these "
14921 "suits than it would cost to simply settle. (The twelve year old, for "
14922 "example, like Jesse Jordan, paid her life savings of $2,000 to settle the "
14923 "case.) Our law is an awful system for defending rights. It is an "
14924 "embarrassment to our tradition. And the consequence of our law as it is, is "
14925 "that those with the power can use the law to quash any rights they oppose."
14928 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14929 #: freeculture.xml:10606
14930 msgid "alcohol prohibition"
14934 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14935 #: freeculture.xml:10618
14937 "Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel, <quote>Alcohol Consumption During "
14938 "Prohibition,</quote> <citetitle>American Economic Review</citetitle> 81, "
14939 "no. 2 (1991): 242."
14943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14944 #: freeculture.xml:10626
14946 "National Drug Control Policy: Hearing Before the House Government Reform "
14947 "Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (5 March 2003) (statement of John "
14948 "P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy)."
14952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
14953 #: freeculture.xml:10636
14955 "See James Andreoni, Brian Erard, and Jonathon Feinstein, <quote>Tax "
14956 "Compliance,</quote> <citetitle>Journal of Economic Literature</citetitle> 36 "
14957 "(1998): 818 (survey of compliance literature)."
14960 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14961 #: freeculture.xml:10608
14963 "Wars of prohibition are nothing new in America. This one is just something "
14964 "more extreme than anything we've seen before. We experimented with alcohol "
14965 "prohibition, at a time when the per capita consumption of alcohol was 1.5 "
14966 "gallons per capita per year. The war against drinking initially reduced that "
14967 "consumption to just 30 percent of its preprohibition levels, but by the end "
14968 "of prohibition, consumption was up to 70 percent of the preprohibition "
14969 "level. Americans were drinking just about as much, but now, a vast number "
14970 "were criminals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We have launched a "
14971 "war on drugs aimed at reducing the consumption of regulated narcotics that 7 "
14972 "percent (or 16 million) Americans now use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14973 "id=\"1\"/> That is a drop from the high (so to speak) in 1979 of 14 percent "
14974 "of the population. We regulate automobiles to the point where the vast "
14975 "majority of Americans violate the law every day. We run such a complex tax "
14976 "system that a majority of cash businesses regularly cheat.<placeholder "
14977 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> We pride ourselves on our <quote>free "
14978 "society,</quote> but an endless array of ordinary behavior is regulated "
14979 "within our society. And as a result, a huge proportion of Americans "
14980 "regularly violate at least some law."
14983 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
14984 #: freeculture.xml:10644
14985 msgid "law schools"
14988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
14989 #: freeculture.xml:10646
14991 "This state of affairs is not without consequence. It is a particularly "
14992 "salient issue for teachers like me, whose job it is to teach law students "
14993 "about the importance of <quote>ethics.</quote> As my colleague Charlie "
14994 "Nesson told a class at Stanford, each year law schools admit thousands of "
14995 "students who have illegally downloaded music, illegally consumed alcohol and "
14996 "sometimes drugs, illegally worked without paying taxes, illegally driven "
14997 "cars. These are kids for whom behaving illegally is increasingly the "
14998 "norm. And then we, as law professors, are supposed to teach them how to "
14999 "behave ethically—how to say no to bribes, or keep client funds "
15000 "separate, or honor a demand to disclose a document that will mean that your "
15001 "case is over. Generations of Americans—more significantly in some "
15002 "parts of America than in others, but still, everywhere in America "
15003 "today—can't live their lives both normally and legally, since "
15004 "<quote>normally</quote> entails a certain degree of illegality."
15007 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15008 #: freeculture.xml:10663
15010 "The response to this general illegality is either to enforce the law more "
15011 "severely or to change the law. We, as a society, have to learn how to make "
15012 "that choice more rationally. Whether a law makes sense depends, in part, at "
15013 "least, upon whether the costs of the law, both intended and collateral, "
15014 "outweigh the benefits. If the costs, intended and collateral, do outweigh "
15015 "the benefits, then the law ought to be changed. Alternatively, if the costs "
15016 "of the existing system are much greater than the costs of an alternative, "
15017 "then we have a good reason to consider the alternative."
15021 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15022 #: freeculture.xml:10676
15024 "My point is not the idiotic one: Just because people violate a law, we "
15025 "should therefore repeal it. Obviously, we could reduce murder statistics "
15026 "dramatically by legalizing murder on Wednesdays and Fridays. But that "
15027 "wouldn't make any sense, since murder is wrong every day of the week. A "
15028 "society is right to ban murder always and everywhere."
15031 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15032 #: freeculture.xml:10683
15034 "My point is instead one that democracies understood for generations, but "
15035 "that we recently have learned to forget. The rule of law depends upon people "
15036 "obeying the law. The more often, and more repeatedly, we as citizens "
15037 "experience violating the law, the less we respect the law. Obviously, in "
15038 "most cases, the important issue is the law, not respect for the law. I don't "
15039 "care whether the rapist respects the law or not; I want to catch and "
15040 "incarcerate the rapist. But I do care whether my students respect the "
15041 "law. And I do care if the rules of law sow increasing disrespect because of "
15042 "the extreme of regulation they impose. Twenty million Americans have come "
15043 "of age since the Internet introduced this different idea of "
15044 "<quote>sharing.</quote> We need to be able to call these twenty million "
15045 "Americans <quote>citizens,</quote> not <quote>felons.</quote>"
15048 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15049 #: freeculture.xml:10697
15051 "When at least forty-three million citizens download content from the "
15052 "Internet, and when they use tools to combine that content in ways "
15053 "unauthorized by copyright holders, the first question we should be asking is "
15054 "not how best to involve the FBI. The first question should be whether this "
15055 "particular prohibition is really necessary in order to achieve the proper "
15056 "ends that copyright law serves. Is there another way to assure that artists "
15057 "get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? "
15058 "Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure that artists get paid "
15059 "without transforming America into a nation of felons?"
15062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15063 #: freeculture.xml:10709
15064 msgid "This abstract point can be made more clear with a particular example."
15068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15069 #: freeculture.xml:10712
15071 "We all own CDs. Many of us still own phonograph records. These pieces of "
15072 "plastic encode music that in a certain sense we have bought. The law "
15073 "protects our right to buy and sell that plastic: It is not a copyright "
15074 "infringement for me to sell all my classical records at a used record store "
15075 "and buy jazz records to replace them. That <quote>use</quote> of the "
15076 "recordings is free."
15079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15080 #: freeculture.xml:10723
15082 "But as the MP3 craze has demonstrated, there is another use of phonograph "
15083 "records that is effectively free. Because these recordings were made without "
15084 "copy-protection technologies, I am <quote>free</quote> to copy, or "
15085 "<quote>rip,</quote> music from my records onto a computer hard disk. Indeed, "
15086 "Apple Corporation went so far as to suggest that <quote>freedom</quote> was "
15087 "a right: In a series of commercials, Apple endorsed the <quote>Rip, Mix, "
15088 "Burn</quote> capacities of digital technologies."
15091 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
15092 #: freeculture.xml:10731
15096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
15097 #: freeculture.xml:10732
15098 msgid "mix technology and"
15101 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15102 #: freeculture.xml:10734
15104 "This <quote>use</quote> of my records is certainly valuable. I have begun a "
15105 "large process at home of ripping all of my and my wife's CDs, and storing "
15106 "them in one archive. Then, using Apple's iTunes, or a wonderful program "
15107 "called Andromeda, we can build different play lists of our music: Bach, "
15108 "Baroque, Love Songs, Love Songs of Significant Others—the potential is "
15109 "endless. And by reducing the costs of mixing play lists, these technologies "
15110 "help build a creativity with play lists that is itself independently "
15111 "valuable. Compilations of songs are creative and meaningful in their own "
15115 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15116 #: freeculture.xml:10745
15118 "This use is enabled by unprotected media—either CDs or records. But "
15119 "unprotected media also enable file sharing. File sharing threatens (or so "
15120 "the content industry believes) the ability of creators to earn a fair return "
15121 "from their creativity. And thus, many are beginning to experiment with "
15122 "technologies to eliminate unprotected media. These technologies, for "
15123 "example, would enable CDs that could not be ripped. Or they might enable spy "
15124 "programs to identify ripped content on people's machines."
15128 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15129 #: freeculture.xml:10755
15131 "If these technologies took off, then the building of large archives of your "
15132 "own music would become quite difficult. You might hang in hacker circles, "
15133 "and get technology to disable the technologies that protect the "
15134 "content. Trading in those technologies is illegal, but maybe that doesn't "
15135 "bother you much. In any case, for the vast majority of people, these "
15136 "protection technologies would effectively destroy the archiving use of "
15137 "CDs. The technology, in other words, would force us all back to the world "
15138 "where we either listened to music by manipulating pieces of plastic or were "
15139 "part of a massively complex <quote>digital rights management</quote> system."
15142 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15143 #: freeculture.xml:10770
15145 "If the only way to assure that artists get paid were the elimination of the "
15146 "ability to freely move content, then these technologies to interfere with "
15147 "the freedom to move content would be justifiable. But what if there were "
15148 "another way to assure that artists are paid, without locking down any "
15149 "content? What if, in other words, a different system could assure "
15150 "compensation to artists while also preserving the freedom to move content "
15154 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15155 #: freeculture.xml:10779
15157 "My point just now is not to prove that there is such a system. I offer a "
15158 "version of such a system in the last chapter of this book. For now, the only "
15159 "point is the relatively uncontroversial one: If a different system achieved "
15160 "the same legitimate objectives that the existing copyright system achieved, "
15161 "but left consumers and creators much more free, then we'd have a very good "
15162 "reason to pursue this alternative—namely, freedom. The choice, in "
15163 "other words, would not be between property and piracy; the choice would be "
15164 "between different property systems and the freedoms each allowed."
15167 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15168 #: freeculture.xml:10790
15170 "I believe there is a way to assure that artists are paid without turning "
15171 "forty-three million Americans into felons. But the salient feature of this "
15172 "alternative is that it would lead to a very different market for producing "
15173 "and distributing creativity. The dominant few, who today control the vast "
15174 "majority of the distribution of content in the world, would no longer "
15175 "exercise this extreme of control. Rather, they would go the way of the "
15176 "horse-drawn buggy."
15179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15180 #: freeculture.xml:10799
15182 "Except that this generation's buggy manufacturers have already saddled "
15183 "Congress, and are riding the law to protect themselves against this new form "
15184 "of competition. For them the choice is between fortythree million Americans "
15185 "as criminals and their own survival."
15189 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15190 #: freeculture.xml:10805
15192 "It is understandable why they choose as they do. It is not understandable "
15193 "why we as a democracy continue to choose as we do. Jack Valenti is charming; "
15194 "but not so charming as to justify giving up a tradition as deep and "
15195 "important as our tradition of free culture."
15198 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15199 #: freeculture.xml:10816
15201 "<emphasis role='strong'>There's one more</emphasis> aspect to this "
15202 "corruption that is particularly important to civil liberties, and follows "
15203 "directly from any war of prohibition. As Electronic Frontier Foundation "
15204 "attorney Fred von Lohmann describes, this is the <quote>collateral "
15205 "damage</quote> that <quote>arises whenever you turn a very large percentage "
15206 "of the population into criminals.</quote> This is the collateral damage to "
15207 "civil liberties generally."
15210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
15211 #: freeculture.xml:10824 freeculture.xml:10924
15212 msgid "von Lohmann, Fred"
15215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15216 #: freeculture.xml:10826
15218 "<quote>If you can treat someone as a putative lawbreaker,</quote> von "
15219 "Lohmann explains,"
15222 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
15223 #: freeculture.xml:10831
15225 "then all of a sudden a lot of basic civil liberty protections evaporate to "
15226 "one degree or another. … If you're a copyright infringer, how can you "
15227 "hope to have any privacy rights? If you're a copyright infringer, how can "
15228 "you hope to be secure against seizures of your computer? How can you hope to "
15229 "continue to receive Internet access? … Our sensibilities change as "
15230 "soon as we think, <quote>Oh, well, but that person's a criminal, a "
15231 "lawbreaker.</quote> Well, what this campaign against file sharing has done "
15232 "is turn a remarkable percentage of the American Internet-using population "
15233 "into <quote>lawbreakers.</quote>"
15236 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15237 #: freeculture.xml:10843
15239 "And the consequence of this transformation of the American public into "
15240 "criminals is that it becomes trivial, as a matter of due process, to "
15241 "effectively erase much of the privacy most would presume."
15244 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15245 #: freeculture.xml:10848
15247 "Users of the Internet began to see this generally in 2003 as the RIAA "
15248 "launched its campaign to force Internet service providers to turn over the "
15249 "names of customers who the RIAA believed were violating copyright "
15250 "law. Verizon fought that demand and lost. With a simple request to a judge, "
15251 "and without any notice to the customer at all, the identity of an Internet "
15252 "user is revealed."
15256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
15257 #: freeculture.xml:10866
15259 "See Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single "
15260 "Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> "
15261 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, E1; Chris Cobbs, "
15262 "<quote>Worried Parents Pull Plug on File `Stealing'; With the Music Industry "
15263 "Cracking Down on File Swapping, Parents are Yanking Software from Home PCs "
15264 "to Avoid Being Sued,</quote> <citetitle>Orlando Sentinel "
15265 "Tribune</citetitle>, 30 August 2003, C1; Jefferson Graham, <quote>Recording "
15266 "Industry Sues Parents,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 15 "
15267 "September 2003, 4D; John Schwartz, <quote>She Says She's No Music Pirate. No "
15268 "Snoop Fan, Either,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 25 "
15269 "September 2003, C1; Margo Varadi, <quote>Is Brianna a Criminal?</quote> "
15270 "<citetitle>Toronto Star</citetitle>, 18 September 2003, P7."
15273 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15274 #: freeculture.xml:10857
15276 "The RIAA then expanded this campaign, by announcing a general strategy to "
15277 "sue individual users of the Internet who are alleged to have downloaded "
15278 "copyrighted music from file-sharing systems. But as we've seen, the "
15279 "potential damages from these suits are astronomical: If a family's computer "
15280 "is used to download a single CD's worth of music, the family could be liable "
15281 "for $2 million in damages. That didn't stop the RIAA from suing a number of "
15282 "these families, just as they had sued Jesse Jordan.<placeholder "
15283 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
15287 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
15288 #: freeculture.xml:10884
15290 "See <quote>Revealed: How RIAA Tracks Downloaders: Music Industry Discloses "
15291 "Some Methods Used,</quote> CNN.com, available at <ulink "
15292 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #47</ulink>."
15295 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15296 #: freeculture.xml:10880
15298 "Even this understates the espionage that is being waged by the RIAA. A "
15299 "report from CNN late last summer described a strategy the RIAA had adopted "
15300 "to track Napster users.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Using a "
15301 "sophisticated hashing algorithm, the RIAA took what is in effect a "
15302 "fingerprint of every song in the Napster catalog. Any copy of one of those "
15303 "MP3s will have the same <quote>fingerprint.</quote>"
15307 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
15308 #: freeculture.xml:10905
15310 "See Jeff Adler, <quote>Cambridge: On Campus, Pirates Are Not "
15311 "Penitent,</quote> <citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 18 May 2003, City "
15312 "Weekly, 1; Frank Ahrens, <quote>Four Students Sued over Music Sites; "
15313 "Industry Group Targets File Sharing at Colleges,</quote> "
15314 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 4 April 2003, E1; Elizabeth "
15315 "Armstrong, <quote>Students `Rip, Mix, Burn' at Their Own Risk,</quote> "
15316 "<citetitle>Christian Science Monitor</citetitle>, 2 September 2003, 20; "
15317 "Robert Becker and Angela Rozas, <quote>Music Pirate Hunt Turns to Loyola; "
15318 "Two Students Names Are Handed Over; Lawsuit Possible,</quote> "
15319 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 16 July 2003, 1C; Beth Cox, "
15320 "<quote>RIAA Trains Antipiracy Guns on Universities,</quote> "
15321 "<citetitle>Internet News</citetitle>, 30 January 2003, available at <ulink "
15322 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #48</ulink>; Benny Evangelista, "
15323 "<quote>Download Warning 101: Freshman Orientation This Fall to Include "
15324 "Record Industry Warnings Against File Sharing,</quote> <citetitle>San "
15325 "Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 11 August 2003, E11; <quote>Raid, Letters "
15326 "Are Weapons at Universities,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 26 "
15327 "September 2000, 3D."
15330 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15331 #: freeculture.xml:10893
15333 "So imagine the following not-implausible scenario: Imagine a friend gives a "
15334 "CD to your daughter—a collection of songs just like the cassettes you "
15335 "used to make as a kid. You don't know, and neither does your daughter, where "
15336 "these songs came from. But she copies these songs onto her computer. She "
15337 "then takes her computer to college and connects it to a college network, and "
15338 "if the college network is <quote>cooperating</quote> with the RIAA's "
15339 "espionage, and she hasn't properly protected her content from the network "
15340 "(do you know how to do that yourself ?), then the RIAA will be able to "
15341 "identify your daughter as a <quote>criminal.</quote> And under the rules "
15342 "that universities are beginning to deploy,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
15343 "id=\"0\"/> your daughter can lose the right to use the university's computer "
15344 "network. She can, in some cases, be expelled."
15348 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15349 #: freeculture.xml:10926
15351 "Now, of course, she'll have the right to defend herself. You can hire a "
15352 "lawyer for her (at $300 per hour, if you're lucky), and she can plead that "
15353 "she didn't know anything about the source of the songs or that they came "
15354 "from Napster. And it may well be that the university believes her. But the "
15355 "university might not believe her. It might treat this "
15356 "<quote>contraband</quote> as presumptive of guilt. And as any number of "
15357 "college students have already learned, our presumptions about innocence "
15358 "disappear in the middle of wars of prohibition. This war is no different. "
15359 "Says von Lohmann,"
15362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
15363 #: freeculture.xml:10941
15365 "So when we're talking about numbers like forty to sixty million Americans "
15366 "that are essentially copyright infringers, you create a situation where the "
15367 "civil liberties of those people are very much in peril in a general "
15368 "matter. [I don't] think [there is any] analog where you could randomly "
15369 "choose any person off the street and be confident that they were committing "
15370 "an unlawful act that could put them on the hook for potential felony "
15371 "liability or hundreds of millions of dollars of civil liability. Certainly "
15372 "we all speed, but speeding isn't the kind of an act for which we routinely "
15373 "forfeit civil liberties. Some people use drugs, and I think that's the "
15374 "closest analog, [but] many have noted that the war against drugs has eroded "
15375 "all of our civil liberties because it's treated so many Americans as "
15376 "criminals. Well, I think it's fair to say that file sharing is an order of "
15377 "magnitude larger number of Americans than drug use. … If forty to "
15378 "sixty million Americans have become lawbreakers, then we're really on a "
15379 "slippery slope to lose a lot of civil liberties for all forty to sixty "
15383 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
15384 #: freeculture.xml:10961
15386 "When forty to sixty million Americans are considered "
15387 "<quote>criminals</quote> under the law, and when the law could achieve the "
15388 "same objective— securing rights to authors—without these "
15389 "millions being considered <quote>criminals,</quote> who is the villain? "
15390 "Americans or the law? Which is American, a constant war on our own people or "
15391 "a concerted effort through our democracy to change our law?"
15394 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
15395 #: freeculture.xml:10974
15399 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15400 #: freeculture.xml:10979
15402 "<emphasis role='strong'>So here's</emphasis> the picture: You're standing at "
15403 "the side of the road. Your car is on fire. You are angry and upset because "
15404 "in part you helped start the fire. Now you don't know how to put it "
15405 "out. Next to you is a bucket, filled with gasoline. Obviously, gasoline "
15406 "won't put the fire out."
15409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15410 #: freeculture.xml:10986
15412 "As you ponder the mess, someone else comes along. In a panic, she grabs the "
15413 "bucket. Before you have a chance to tell her to stop—or before she "
15414 "understands just why she should stop—the bucket is in the air. The "
15415 "gasoline is about to hit the blazing car. And the fire that gasoline will "
15416 "ignite is about to ignite everything around."
15419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15420 #: freeculture.xml:10994
15422 "<emphasis role='strong'>A war</emphasis> about copyright rages all "
15423 "around—and we're all focusing on the wrong thing. No doubt, current "
15424 "technologies threaten existing businesses. No doubt they may threaten "
15425 "artists. But technologies change. The industry and technologists have "
15426 "plenty of ways to use technology to protect themselves against the current "
15427 "threats of the Internet. This is a fire that if let alone would burn itself "
15432 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15433 #: freeculture.xml:11004
15435 "Yet policy makers are not willing to leave this fire to itself. Primed with "
15436 "plenty of lobbyists' money, they are keen to intervene to eliminate the "
15437 "problem they perceive. But the problem they perceive is not the real threat "
15438 "this culture faces. For while we watch this small fire in the corner, there "
15439 "is a massive change in the way culture is made that is happening all around."
15442 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15443 #: freeculture.xml:11012
15445 "Somehow we have to find a way to turn attention to this more important and "
15446 "fundamental issue. Somehow we have to find a way to avoid pouring gasoline "
15450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15451 #: freeculture.xml:11017
15453 "We have not found that way yet. Instead, we seem trapped in a simpler, "
15454 "binary view. However much many people push to frame this debate more "
15455 "broadly, it is the simple, binary view that remains. We rubberneck to look "
15456 "at the fire when we should be keeping our eyes on the road."
15459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
15460 #: freeculture.xml:11023
15462 "This challenge has been my life these last few years. It has also been my "
15463 "failure. In the two chapters that follow, I describe one small brace of "
15464 "efforts, so far failed, to find a way to refocus this debate. We must "
15465 "understand these failures if we're to understand what success will require."
15468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
15469 #: freeculture.xml:11033
15473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15474 #: freeculture.xml:11034
15475 msgid "Eldred, Eric"
15478 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15479 #: freeculture.xml:11035
15480 msgid "Hawthorne, Nathaniel"
15483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15484 #: freeculture.xml:11037
15486 "<emphasis role='strong'>In 1995</emphasis>, a father was frustrated that his "
15487 "daughters didn't seem to like Hawthorne. No doubt there was more than one "
15488 "such father, but at least one did something about it. Eric Eldred, a retired "
15489 "computer programmer living in New Hampshire, decided to put Hawthorne on the "
15490 "Web. An electronic version, Eldred thought, with links to pictures and "
15491 "explanatory text, would make this nineteenth-century author's work come "
15495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15496 #: freeculture.xml:11045
15497 msgid "of public-domain literature"
15500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15501 #: freeculture.xml:11046
15502 msgid "library of works derived from"
15505 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15506 #: freeculture.xml:11048
15508 "It didn't work—at least for his daughters. They didn't find Hawthorne "
15509 "any more interesting than before. But Eldred's experiment gave birth to a "
15510 "hobby, and his hobby begat a cause: Eldred would build a library of public "
15511 "domain works by scanning these works and making them available for free."
15515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15516 #: freeculture.xml:11057
15518 "Eldred's library was not simply a copy of certain public domain works, "
15519 "though even a copy would have been of great value to people across the world "
15520 "who can't get access to printed versions of these works. Instead, Eldred was "
15521 "producing derivative works from these public domain works. Just as Disney "
15522 "turned Grimm into stories more accessible to the twentieth century, Eldred "
15523 "transformed Hawthorne, and many others, into a form more "
15524 "accessible—technically accessible—today."
15527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15528 #: freeculture.xml:11067
15529 msgid "Scarlet Letter, The (Hawthorne)"
15532 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15533 #: freeculture.xml:11069
15535 "Eldred's freedom to do this with Hawthorne's work grew from the same source "
15536 "as Disney's. Hawthorne's <citetitle>Scarlet Letter</citetitle> had passed "
15537 "into the public domain in 1907. It was free for anyone to take without the "
15538 "permission of the Hawthorne estate or anyone else. Some, such as Dover Press "
15539 "and Penguin Classics, take works from the public domain and produce printed "
15540 "editions, which they sell in bookstores across the country. Others, such as "
15541 "Disney, take these stories and turn them into animated cartoons, sometimes "
15542 "successfully (<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle>), sometimes not "
15543 "(<citetitle>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</citetitle>, <citetitle>Treasure "
15544 "Planet</citetitle>). These are all commercial publications of public domain "
15548 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15549 #: freeculture.xml:11094 freeculture.xml:12141
15550 msgid "pornography"
15553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15554 #: freeculture.xml:11094
15556 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> There's a parallel here with "
15557 "pornography that is a bit hard to describe, but it's a strong one. One "
15558 "phenomenon that the Internet created was a world of noncommercial "
15559 "pornographers—people who were distributing porn but were not making "
15560 "money directly or indirectly from that distribution. Such a class didn't "
15561 "exist before the Internet came into being because the costs of distributing "
15562 "porn were so high. Yet this new class of distributors got special attention "
15563 "in the Supreme Court, when the Court struck down the Communications Decency "
15564 "Act of 1996. It was partly because of the burden on noncommercial speakers "
15565 "that the statute was found to exceed Congress's power. The same point could "
15566 "have been made about noncommercial publishers after the advent of the "
15567 "Internet. The Eric Eldreds of the world before the Internet were extremely "
15568 "few. Yet one would think it at least as important to protect the Eldreds of "
15569 "the world as to protect noncommercial pornographers."
15572 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15573 #: freeculture.xml:11083
15575 "The Internet created the possibility of noncommercial publications of public "
15576 "domain works. Eldred's is just one example. There are literally thousands of "
15577 "others. Hundreds of thousands from across the world have discovered this "
15578 "platform of expression and now use it to share works that are, by law, free "
15579 "for the taking. This has produced what we might call the "
15580 "<quote>noncommercial publishing industry,</quote> which before the Internet "
15581 "was limited to people with large egos or with political or social "
15582 "causes. But with the Internet, it includes a wide range of individuals and "
15583 "groups dedicated to spreading culture generally.<placeholder "
15584 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
15587 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15588 #: freeculture.xml:11114
15589 msgid "Frost, Robert"
15592 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15593 #: freeculture.xml:11115
15594 msgid "New Hampshire (Frost)"
15597 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15598 #: freeculture.xml:11119
15600 "As I said, Eldred lives in New Hampshire. In 1998, Robert Frost's collection "
15601 "of poems <citetitle>New Hampshire</citetitle> was slated to pass into the "
15602 "public domain. Eldred wanted to post that collection in his free public "
15603 "library. But Congress got in the way. As I described in chapter <xref "
15604 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, in 1998, for the "
15605 "eleventh time in forty years, Congress extended the terms of existing "
15606 "copyrights—this time by twenty years. Eldred would not be free to add "
15607 "any works more recent than 1923 to his collection until 2019. Indeed, no "
15608 "copyrighted work would pass into the public domain until that year (and not "
15609 "even then, if Congress extends the term again). By contrast, in the same "
15610 "period, more than 1 million patents will pass into the public domain."
15613 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
15614 #: freeculture.xml:11134 freeculture.xml:11146
15618 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
15619 #: freeculture.xml:11135 freeculture.xml:11147
15620 msgid "Bono, Sonny"
15623 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15624 #: freeculture.xml:11146
15626 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15627 "id=\"1\"/> The full text is: <quote>Sonny [Bono] wanted the term of "
15628 "copyright protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a "
15629 "change would violate the Constitution. I invite all of you to work with me "
15630 "to strengthen our copyright laws in all of the ways available to us. As you "
15631 "know, there is also Jack Valenti's proposal for a term to last forever less "
15632 "one day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress,</quote> 144 "
15633 "Cong. Rec. H9946, 9951-2 (October 7, 1998)."
15636 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15637 #: freeculture.xml:11141
15639 "This was the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), enacted in "
15640 "memory of the congressman and former musician Sonny Bono, who, his widow, "
15641 "Mary Bono, says, believed that <quote>copyrights should be "
15642 "forever.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
15645 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15646 #: freeculture.xml:11158
15647 msgid "felony punishment for infringement of"
15650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15651 #: freeculture.xml:11159
15652 msgid "NET (No Electronic Theft) Act (1998)"
15655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15656 #: freeculture.xml:11160
15657 msgid "No Electronic Theft (NET) Act (1998)"
15660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15661 #: freeculture.xml:11161
15662 msgid "felony punishments for"
15665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15666 #: freeculture.xml:11163
15668 "Eldred decided to fight this law. He first resolved to fight it through "
15669 "civil disobedience. In a series of interviews, Eldred announced that he "
15670 "would publish as planned, CTEA notwithstanding. But because of a second law "
15671 "passed in 1998, the NET (No Electronic Theft) Act, his act of publishing "
15672 "would make Eldred a felon—whether or not anyone complained. This was a "
15673 "dangerous strategy for a disabled programmer to undertake."
15676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15677 #: freeculture.xml:11172 freeculture.xml:12109
15678 msgid "constitutional powers of"
15681 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
15682 #: freeculture.xml:11175 freeculture.xml:11221
15683 msgid "Eldred case involvement of"
15686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15687 #: freeculture.xml:11177
15689 "It was here that I became involved in Eldred's battle. I was a "
15690 "constitutional scholar whose first passion was constitutional "
15691 "interpretation. And though constitutional law courses never focus upon the "
15692 "Progress Clause of the Constitution, it had always struck me as importantly "
15693 "different. As you know, the Constitution says,"
15696 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15697 #: freeculture.xml:11188
15699 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science … by "
15700 "securing for limited Times to Authors … exclusive Right to their "
15701 "… Writings. …"
15704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15705 #: freeculture.xml:11195
15707 "As I've described, this clause is unique within the power-granting clause of "
15708 "Article I, section 8 of our Constitution. Every other clause granting power "
15709 "to Congress simply says Congress has the power to do something—for "
15710 "example, to regulate <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> or "
15711 "<quote>declare War.</quote> But here, the <quote>something</quote> is "
15712 "something quite specific—to <quote>promote … "
15713 "Progress</quote>—through means that are also specific— by "
15714 "<quote>securing</quote> <quote>exclusive Rights</quote> (i.e., copyrights) "
15715 "<quote>for limited Times.</quote>"
15718 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15719 #: freeculture.xml:11207 freeculture.xml:12703
15720 msgid "Jaszi, Peter"
15724 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15725 #: freeculture.xml:11209
15727 "In the past forty years, Congress has gotten into the practice of extending "
15728 "existing terms of copyright protection. What puzzled me about this was, if "
15729 "Congress has the power to extend existing terms, then the Constitution's "
15730 "requirement that terms be <quote>limited</quote> will have no practical "
15731 "effect. If every time a copyright is about to expire, Congress has the power "
15732 "to extend its term, then Congress can achieve what the Constitution plainly "
15733 "forbids—perpetual terms <quote>on the installment plan,</quote> as "
15734 "Professor Peter Jaszi so nicely put it."
15737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15738 #: freeculture.xml:11223
15740 "As an academic, my first response was to hit the books. I remember sitting "
15741 "late at the office, scouring on-line databases for any serious consideration "
15742 "of the question. No one had ever challenged Congress's practice of extending "
15743 "existing terms. That failure may in part be why Congress seemed so "
15744 "untroubled in its habit. That, and the fact that the practice had become so "
15745 "lucrative for Congress. Congress knows that copyright owners will be willing "
15746 "to pay a great deal of money to see their copyright terms extended. And so "
15747 "Congress is quite happy to keep this gravy train going."
15750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15751 #: freeculture.xml:11234
15753 "For this is the core of the corruption in our present system of "
15754 "government. <quote>Corruption</quote> not in the sense that representatives "
15755 "are bribed. Rather, <quote>corruption</quote> in the sense that the system "
15756 "induces the beneficiaries of Congress's acts to raise and give money to "
15757 "Congress to induce it to act. There's only so much time; there's only so "
15758 "much Congress can do. Why not limit its actions to those things it must "
15759 "do—and those things that pay? Extending copyright terms pays."
15762 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15763 #: freeculture.xml:11243
15765 "If that's not obvious to you, consider the following: Say you're one of the "
15766 "very few lucky copyright owners whose copyright continues to make money one "
15767 "hundred years after it was created. The Estate of Robert Frost is a good "
15768 "example. Frost died in 1963. His poetry continues to be extraordinarily "
15769 "valuable. Thus the Robert Frost estate benefits greatly from any extension "
15770 "of copyright, since no publisher would pay the estate any money if the poems "
15771 "Frost wrote could be published by anyone for free."
15774 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15775 #: freeculture.xml:11253
15777 "So imagine the Robert Frost estate is earning $100,000 a year from three of "
15778 "Frost's poems. And imagine the copyright for those poems is about to "
15779 "expire. You sit on the board of the Robert Frost estate. Your financial "
15780 "adviser comes to your board meeting with a very grim report:"
15784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15785 #: freeculture.xml:11260
15787 "<quote>Next year,</quote> the adviser announces, <quote>our copyrights in "
15788 "works A, B, and C will expire. That means that after next year, we will no "
15789 "longer be receiving the annual royalty check of $100,000 from the publishers "
15790 "of those works.</quote>"
15793 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15794 #: freeculture.xml:11268
15796 "<quote>There's a proposal in Congress, however,</quote> she continues, "
15797 "<quote>that could change this. A few congressmen are floating a bill to "
15798 "extend the terms of copyright by twenty years. That bill would be "
15799 "extraordinarily valuable to us. So we should hope this bill passes.</quote>"
15802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15803 #: freeculture.xml:11274
15805 "<quote>Hope?</quote> a fellow board member says. <quote>Can't we be doing "
15806 "something about it?</quote>"
15809 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15810 #: freeculture.xml:11278
15812 "<quote>Well, obviously, yes,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>We could "
15813 "contribute to the campaigns of a number of representatives to try to assure "
15814 "that they support the bill.</quote>"
15817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15818 #: freeculture.xml:11283
15820 "You hate politics. You hate contributing to campaigns. So you want to know "
15821 "whether this disgusting practice is worth it. <quote>How much would we get "
15822 "if this extension were passed?</quote> you ask the adviser. <quote>How much "
15823 "is it worth?</quote>"
15826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15827 #: freeculture.xml:11289
15829 "<quote>Well,</quote> the adviser says, <quote>if you're confident that you "
15830 "will continue to get at least $100,000 a year from these copyrights, and you "
15831 "use the `discount rate' that we use to evaluate estate investments (6 "
15832 "percent), then this law would be worth $1,146,000 to the estate.</quote>"
15835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15836 #: freeculture.xml:11295
15838 "You're a bit shocked by the number, but you quickly come to the correct "
15842 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15843 #: freeculture.xml:11299
15845 "<quote>So you're saying it would be worth it for us to pay more than "
15846 "$1,000,000 in campaign contributions if we were confident those "
15847 "contributions would assure that the bill was passed?</quote>"
15850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15851 #: freeculture.xml:11305
15853 "<quote>Absolutely,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>It is worth it to "
15854 "you to contribute up to the `present value' of the income you expect from "
15855 "these copyrights. Which for us means over $1,000,000.</quote>"
15859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15860 #: freeculture.xml:11311
15862 "You quickly get the point—you as the member of the board and, I trust, "
15863 "you the reader. Each time copyrights are about to expire, every beneficiary "
15864 "in the position of the Robert Frost estate faces the same choice: If they "
15865 "can contribute to get a law passed to extend copyrights, they will benefit "
15866 "greatly from that extension. And so each time copyrights are about to "
15867 "expire, there is a massive amount of lobbying to get the copyright term "
15871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15872 #: freeculture.xml:11322
15874 "Thus a congressional perpetual motion machine: So long as legislation can be "
15875 "bought (albeit indirectly), there will be all the incentive in the world to "
15876 "buy further extensions of copyright."
15880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15881 #: freeculture.xml:11334
15883 "Associated Press, <quote>Disney Lobbying for Copyright Extension No Mickey "
15884 "Mouse Effort; Congress OKs Bill Granting Creators 20 More Years,</quote> "
15885 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 17 October 1998, 22."
15889 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15890 #: freeculture.xml:11341
15892 "See Nick Brown, <quote>Fair Use No More?: Copyright in the Information "
15893 "Age,</quote> available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
15898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15899 #: freeculture.xml:11349
15901 "Alan K. Ota, <quote>Disney in Washington: The Mouse That Roars,</quote> "
15902 "<citetitle>Congressional Quarterly This Week</citetitle>, 8 August 1990, "
15903 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #50</ulink>."
15906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15907 #: freeculture.xml:11327
15909 "In the lobbying that led to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term "
15910 "Extension Act, this <quote>theory</quote> about incentives was proved "
15911 "real. Ten of the thirteen original sponsors of the act in the House received "
15912 "the maximum contribution from Disney's political action committee; in the "
15913 "Senate, eight of the twelve sponsors received contributions.<placeholder "
15914 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The RIAA and the MPAA are estimated to have "
15915 "spent over $1.5 million lobbying in the 1998 election cycle. They paid out "
15916 "more than $200,000 in campaign contributions.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
15917 "id=\"1\"/> Disney is estimated to have contributed more than $800,000 to "
15918 "reelection campaigns in the cycle.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
15921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15922 #: freeculture.xml:11356
15924 "<emphasis role='strong'>Constitutional law</emphasis> is not oblivious to "
15925 "the obvious. Or at least, it need not be. So when I was considering Eldred's "
15926 "complaint, this reality about the never-ending incentives to increase the "
15927 "copyright term was central to my thinking. In my view, a pragmatic court "
15928 "committed to interpreting and applying the Constitution of our framers would "
15929 "see that if Congress has the power to extend existing terms, then there "
15930 "would be no effective constitutional requirement that terms be "
15931 "<quote>limited.</quote> If they could extend it once, they would extend it "
15932 "again and again and again."
15936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15937 #: freeculture.xml:11371
15939 "It was also my judgment that <emphasis>this</emphasis> Supreme Court would "
15940 "not allow Congress to extend existing terms. As anyone close to the Supreme "
15941 "Court's work knows, this Court has increasingly restricted the power of "
15942 "Congress when it has viewed Congress's actions as exceeding the power "
15943 "granted to it by the Constitution. Among constitutional scholars, the most "
15944 "famous example of this trend was the Supreme Court's decision in 1995 to "
15945 "strike down a law that banned the possession of guns near schools."
15948 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15949 #: freeculture.xml:11384
15951 "Since 1937, the Supreme Court had interpreted Congress's granted powers very "
15952 "broadly; so, while the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate "
15953 "only <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> (aka <quote>interstate "
15954 "commerce</quote>), the Supreme Court had interpreted that power to include "
15955 "the power to regulate any activity that merely affected interstate commerce."
15958 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15959 #: freeculture.xml:11394
15961 "As the economy grew, this standard increasingly meant that there was no "
15962 "limit to Congress's power to regulate, since just about every activity, when "
15963 "considered on a national scale, affects interstate commerce. A Constitution "
15964 "designed to limit Congress's power was instead interpreted to impose no "
15968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15969 #: freeculture.xml:11400 freeculture.xml:12190
15970 msgid "Rehnquist, William H."
15973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15974 #: freeculture.xml:11402
15976 "The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Rehnquist's command, changed that in "
15977 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The "
15978 "government had argued that possessing guns near schools affected interstate "
15979 "commerce. Guns near schools increase crime, crime lowers property values, "
15980 "and so on. In the oral argument, the Chief Justice asked the government "
15981 "whether there was any activity that would not affect interstate commerce "
15982 "under the reasoning the government advanced. The government said there was "
15983 "not; if Congress says an activity affects interstate commerce, then that "
15984 "activity affects interstate commerce. The Supreme Court, the government "
15985 "said, was not in the position to second-guess Congress."
15989 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15990 #: freeculture.xml:11417
15992 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>, 514 "
15993 "U.S. 549, 564 (1995)."
15997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15998 #: freeculture.xml:11424
16000 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>, 529 "
16004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16005 #: freeculture.xml:11415
16007 "<quote>We pause to consider the implications of the government's "
16008 "arguments,</quote> the Chief Justice wrote.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16009 "id=\"0\"/> If anything Congress says is interstate commerce must therefore "
16010 "be considered interstate commerce, then there would be no limit to "
16011 "Congress's power. The decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> was "
16012 "reaffirmed five years later in <citetitle>United States</citetitle> "
16013 "v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
16017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16018 #: freeculture.xml:11431
16020 "If it is a principle about enumerated powers, then the principle carries "
16021 "from one enumerated power to another. The animating point in the context of "
16022 "the Commerce Clause was that the interpretation offered by the government "
16023 "would allow the government unending power to regulate commerce—the "
16024 "limitation to interstate commerce notwithstanding. The same point is true in "
16025 "the context of the Copyright Clause. Here, too, the government's "
16026 "interpretation would allow the government unending power to regulate "
16027 "copyrights—the limitation to <quote>limited times</quote> "
16032 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16033 #: freeculture.xml:11428
16035 "If a principle were at work here, then it should apply to the Progress "
16036 "Clause as much as the Commerce Clause.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16037 "id=\"0\"/> And if it is applied to the Progress Clause, the principle should "
16038 "yield the conclusion that Congress can't extend an existing term. If "
16039 "Congress could extend an existing term, then there would be no "
16040 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power over terms, though the "
16041 "Constitution expressly states that there is such a limit. Thus, the same "
16042 "principle applied to the power to grant copyrights should entail that "
16043 "Congress is not allowed to extend the term of existing copyrights."
16046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16047 #: freeculture.xml:11452
16049 "<emphasis>If</emphasis>, that is, the principle announced in "
16050 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for a principle. Many believed the "
16051 "decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for politics—a "
16052 "conservative Supreme Court, which believed in states' rights, using its "
16053 "power over Congress to advance its own personal political preferences. But I "
16054 "rejected that view of the Supreme Court's decision. Indeed, shortly after "
16055 "the decision, I wrote an article demonstrating the <quote>fidelity</quote> "
16056 "in such an interpretation of the Constitution. The idea that the Supreme "
16057 "Court decides cases based upon its politics struck me as extraordinarily "
16058 "boring. I was not going to devote my life to teaching constitutional law if "
16059 "these nine Justices were going to be petty politicians."
16062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16063 #: freeculture.xml:11469
16065 "<emphasis role='strong'>Now let's pause</emphasis> for a moment to make sure "
16066 "we understand what the argument in <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was not "
16067 "about. By insisting on the Constitution's limits to copyright, obviously "
16068 "Eldred was not endorsing piracy. Indeed, in an obvious sense, he was "
16069 "fighting a kind of piracy—piracy of the public domain. When Robert "
16070 "Frost wrote his work and when Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, the maximum "
16071 "copyright term was just fifty-six years. Because of interim changes, Frost "
16072 "and Disney had already enjoyed a seventy-five-year monopoly for their "
16073 "work. They had gotten the benefit of the bargain that the Constitution "
16074 "envisions: In exchange for a monopoly protected for fifty-six years, they "
16075 "created new work. But now these entities were using their "
16076 "power—expressed through the power of lobbyists' money—to get "
16077 "another twenty-year dollop of monopoly. That twenty-year dollop would be "
16078 "taken from the public domain. Eric Eldred was fighting a piracy that affects "
16082 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16083 #: freeculture.xml:11486
16084 msgid "Nashville Songwriters Association"
16088 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16089 #: freeculture.xml:11494
16091 "Brief of the Nashville Songwriters Association, "
16092 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. "
16093 "186 (2003) (No. 01-618), n.10, available at <ulink "
16094 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #51</ulink>."
16097 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16098 #: freeculture.xml:11488
16100 "Some people view the public domain with contempt. In their brief before the "
16101 "Supreme Court, the Nashville Songwriters Association wrote that the public "
16102 "domain is nothing more than <quote>legal piracy.</quote><placeholder "
16103 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is not piracy when the law allows it; "
16104 "and in our constitutional system, our law requires it. Some may not like the "
16105 "Constitution's requirements, but that doesn't make the Constitution a "
16106 "pirate's charter."
16109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16110 #: freeculture.xml:11504
16112 "As we've seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a "
16113 "way to assure that copyright holders do not too heavily influence the "
16114 "development and distribution of our culture. Yet, as Eric Eldred discovered, "
16115 "we have set up a system that assures that copyright terms will be repeatedly "
16116 "extended, and extended, and extended. We have created the perfect storm for "
16117 "the public domain. Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long "
16118 "as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again."
16121 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16122 #: freeculture.xml:11516
16124 "<emphasis role='strong'>It is valuable</emphasis> copyrights that are "
16125 "responsible for terms being extended. Mickey Mouse and <quote>Rhapsody in "
16126 "Blue.</quote> These works are too valuable for copyright owners to "
16127 "ignore. But the real harm to our society from copyright extensions is not "
16128 "that Mickey Mouse remains Disney's. Forget Mickey Mouse. Forget Robert "
16129 "Frost. Forget all the works from the 1920s and 1930s that have continuing "
16130 "commercial value. The real harm of term extension comes not from these "
16131 "famous works. The real harm is to the works that are not famous, not "
16132 "commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result."
16136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16137 #: freeculture.xml:11534
16139 "The figure of 2 percent is an extrapolation from the study by the "
16140 "Congressional Research Service, in light of the estimated renewal "
16141 "ranges. See Brief of Petitioners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
16142 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 7, available at <ulink "
16143 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #52</ulink>."
16146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16147 #: freeculture.xml:11528
16149 "If you look at the work created in the first twenty years (1923 to 1942) "
16150 "affected by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, 2 percent of that "
16151 "work has any continuing commercial value. It was the copyright holders for "
16152 "that 2 percent who pushed the CTEA through. But the law and its effect were "
16153 "not limited to that 2 percent. The law extended the terms of copyright "
16154 "generally.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16158 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16159 #: freeculture.xml:11543
16161 "Think practically about the consequence of this extension—practically, "
16162 "as a businessperson, and not as a lawyer eager for more legal work. In 1930, "
16163 "10,047 books were published. In 2000, 174 of those books were still in "
16164 "print. Let's say you were Brewster Kahle, and you wanted to make available "
16165 "to the world in your iArchive project the remaining 9,873. What would you "
16169 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16170 #: freeculture.xml:11556
16172 "Well, first, you'd have to determine which of the 9,873 books were still "
16173 "under copyright. That requires going to a library (these data are not "
16174 "on-line) and paging through tomes of books, cross-checking the titles and "
16175 "authors of the 9,873 books with the copyright registration and renewal "
16176 "records for works published in 1930. That will produce a list of books still "
16180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16181 #: freeculture.xml:11564
16183 "Then for the books still under copyright, you would need to locate the "
16184 "current copyright owners. How would you do that?"
16187 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16188 #: freeculture.xml:11568
16190 "Most people think that there must be a list of these copyright owners "
16191 "somewhere. Practical people think this way. How could there be thousands and "
16192 "thousands of government monopolies without there being at least a list?"
16195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16196 #: freeculture.xml:11575
16198 "But there is no list. There may be a name from 1930, and then in 1959, of "
16199 "the person who registered the copyright. But just think practically about "
16200 "how impossibly difficult it would be to track down thousands of such "
16201 "records—especially since the person who registered is not necessarily "
16202 "the current owner. And we're just talking about 1930!"
16205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16206 #: freeculture.xml:11584
16208 "<quote>But there isn't a list of who owns property generally,</quote> the "
16209 "apologists for the system respond. <quote>Why should there be a list of "
16210 "copyright owners?</quote>"
16213 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16214 #: freeculture.xml:11589
16216 "Well, actually, if you think about it, there <emphasis>are</emphasis> plenty "
16217 "of lists of who owns what property. Think about deeds on houses, or titles "
16218 "to cars. And where there isn't a list, the code of real space is pretty "
16219 "good at suggesting who the owner of a bit of property is. (A swing set in "
16220 "your backyard is probably yours.) So formally or informally, we have a "
16221 "pretty good way to know who owns what tangible property."
16225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16226 #: freeculture.xml:11598
16228 "So: You walk down a street and see a house. You can know who owns the house "
16229 "by looking it up in the courthouse registry. If you see a car, there is "
16230 "ordinarily a license plate that will link the owner to the car. If you see a "
16231 "bunch of children's toys sitting on the front lawn of a house, it's fairly "
16232 "easy to determine who owns the toys. And if you happen to see a baseball "
16233 "lying in a gutter on the side of the road, look around for a second for some "
16234 "kids playing ball. If you don't see any kids, then okay: Here's a bit of "
16235 "property whose owner we can't easily determine. It is the exception that "
16236 "proves the rule: that we ordinarily know quite well who owns what property."
16239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16240 #: freeculture.xml:11613
16242 "Compare this story to intangible property. You go into a library. The "
16243 "library owns the books. But who owns the copyrights? As I've already "
16244 "described, there's no list of copyright owners. There are authors' names, of "
16245 "course, but their copyrights could have been assigned, or passed down in an "
16246 "estate like Grandma's old jewelry. To know who owns what, you would have to "
16247 "hire a private detective. The bottom line: The owner cannot easily be "
16248 "located. And in a regime like ours, in which it is a felony to use such "
16249 "property without the property owner's permission, the property isn't going "
16253 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16254 #: freeculture.xml:11625
16256 "The consequence with respect to old books is that they won't be digitized, "
16257 "and hence will simply rot away on shelves. But the consequence for other "
16258 "creative works is much more dire."
16261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16262 #: freeculture.xml:11630
16263 msgid "Agee, Michael"
16266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16267 #: freeculture.xml:11631 freeculture.xml:12066
16268 msgid "Hal Roach Studios"
16271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16272 #: freeculture.xml:11632
16273 msgid "Laurel and Hardy Films"
16276 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16277 #: freeculture.xml:11633
16278 msgid "Lucky Dog, The"
16282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16283 #: freeculture.xml:11646
16285 "See David G. Savage, <quote>High Court Scene of Showdown on Copyright "
16286 "Law,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 6 October 2002; David "
16287 "Streitfeld, <quote>Classic Movies, Songs, Books at Stake; Supreme Court "
16288 "Hears Arguments Today on Striking Down Copyright Extension,</quote> "
16289 "<citetitle>Orlando Sentinel Tribune</citetitle>, 9 October 2002."
16292 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16293 #: freeculture.xml:11635
16295 "Consider the story of Michael Agee, chairman of Hal Roach Studios, which "
16296 "owns the copyrights for the Laurel and Hardy films. Agee is a direct "
16297 "beneficiary of the Bono Act. The Laurel and Hardy films were made between "
16298 "1921 and 1951. Only one of these films, <citetitle>The Lucky "
16299 "Dog</citetitle>, is currently out of copyright. But for the CTEA, films made "
16300 "after 1923 would have begun entering the public domain. Because Agee "
16301 "controls the exclusive rights for these popular films, he makes a great deal "
16302 "of money. According to one estimate, <quote>Roach has sold about 60,000 "
16303 "videocassettes and 50,000 DVDs of the duo's silent "
16304 "films.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16307 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16308 #: freeculture.xml:11653
16310 "Yet Agee opposed the CTEA. His reasons demonstrate a rare virtue in this "
16311 "culture: selflessness. He argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that "
16312 "the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act will, if left standing, destroy "
16313 "a whole generation of American film."
16317 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16318 #: freeculture.xml:11659
16320 "His argument is straightforward. A tiny fraction of this work has any "
16321 "continuing commercial value. The rest—to the extent it survives at "
16322 "all—sits in vaults gathering dust. It may be that some of this work "
16323 "not now commercially valuable will be deemed to be valuable by the owners of "
16324 "the vaults. For this to occur, however, the commercial benefit from the work "
16325 "must exceed the costs of making the work available for distribution."
16329 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16330 #: freeculture.xml:11677
16332 "Brief of Hal Roach Studios and Michael Agee as Amicus Curiae Supporting the "
16333 "Petitoners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
16334 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01- 618), "
16335 "12. See also Brief of Amicus Curiae filed on behalf of Petitioners by the "
16336 "Internet Archive, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
16337 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
16338 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #53</ulink>."
16341 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16342 #: freeculture.xml:11670
16344 "We can't know the benefits, but we do know a lot about the costs. For most "
16345 "of the history of film, the costs of restoring film were very high; digital "
16346 "technology has lowered these costs substantially. While it cost more than "
16347 "$10,000 to restore a ninety-minute black-and-white film in 1993, it can now "
16348 "cost as little as $100 to digitize one hour of 8 mm film.<placeholder "
16349 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16352 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16353 #: freeculture.xml:11687
16355 "Restoration technology is not the only cost, nor the most important. "
16356 "Lawyers, too, are a cost, and increasingly, a very important one. In "
16357 "addition to preserving the film, a distributor needs to secure the rights. "
16358 "And to secure the rights for a film that is under copyright, you need to "
16359 "locate the copyright owner."
16362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16363 #: freeculture.xml:11695
16365 "Or more accurately, <emphasis>owners</emphasis>. As we've seen, there isn't "
16366 "only a single copyright associated with a film; there are many. There isn't "
16367 "a single person whom you can contact about those copyrights; there are as "
16368 "many as can hold the rights, which turns out to be an extremely large "
16369 "number. Thus the costs of clearing the rights to these films is "
16370 "exceptionally high."
16373 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16374 #: freeculture.xml:11703
16376 "<quote>But can't you just restore the film, distribute it, and then pay the "
16377 "copyright owner when she shows up?</quote> Sure, if you want to commit a "
16378 "felony. And even if you're not worried about committing a felony, when she "
16379 "does show up, she'll have the right to sue you for all the profits you have "
16380 "made. So, if you're successful, you can be fairly confident you'll be "
16381 "getting a call from someone's lawyer. And if you're not successful, you "
16382 "won't make enough to cover the costs of your own lawyer. Either way, you "
16383 "have to talk to a lawyer. And as is too often the case, saying you have to "
16384 "talk to a lawyer is the same as saying you won't make any money."
16388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16389 #: freeculture.xml:11714
16391 "For some films, the benefit of releasing the film may well exceed these "
16392 "costs. But for the vast majority of them, there is no way the benefit would "
16393 "outweigh the legal costs. Thus, for the vast majority of old films, Agee "
16394 "argued, the film will not be restored and distributed until the copyright "
16398 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16399 #: freeculture.xml:11725
16401 "But by the time the copyright for these films expires, the film will have "
16402 "expired. These films were produced on nitrate-based stock, and nitrate stock "
16403 "dissolves over time. They will be gone, and the metal canisters in which "
16404 "they are now stored will be filled with nothing more than dust."
16407 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16408 #: freeculture.xml:11733
16410 "<emphasis role='strong'>Of all the</emphasis> creative work produced by "
16411 "humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value. For that "
16412 "tiny fraction, the copyright is a crucially important legal device. For that "
16413 "tiny fraction, the copyright creates incentives to produce and distribute "
16414 "the creative work. For that tiny fraction, the copyright acts as an "
16415 "<quote>engine of free expression.</quote>"
16418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16419 #: freeculture.xml:11741
16421 "But even for that tiny fraction, the actual time during which the creative "
16422 "work has a commercial life is extremely short. As I've indicated, most books "
16423 "go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and "
16424 "film. Commercial culture is sharklike. It must keep moving. And when a "
16425 "creative work falls out of favor with the commercial distributors, the "
16426 "commercial life ends."
16429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16430 #: freeculture.xml:11751
16432 "Yet that doesn't mean the life of the creative work ends. We don't keep "
16433 "libraries of books in order to compete with Barnes & Noble, and we don't "
16434 "have archives of films because we expect people to choose between spending "
16435 "Friday night watching new movies and spending Friday night watching a 1930 "
16436 "news documentary. The noncommercial life of culture is important and "
16437 "valuable—for entertainment but also, and more importantly, for "
16438 "knowledge. To understand who we are, and where we came from, and how we have "
16439 "made the mistakes that we have, we need to have access to this history."
16443 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16444 #: freeculture.xml:11764
16446 "Copyrights in this context do not drive an engine of free expression. In "
16447 "this context, there is no need for an exclusive right. Copyrights in this "
16448 "context do no good."
16451 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16452 #: freeculture.xml:11771
16454 "Yet, for most of our history, they also did little harm. For most of our "
16455 "history, when a work ended its commercial life, there was no "
16456 "<emphasis>copyright-related use</emphasis> that would be inhibited by an "
16457 "exclusive right. When a book went out of print, you could not buy it from a "
16458 "publisher. But you could still buy it from a used book store, and when a "
16459 "used book store sells it, in America, at least, there is no need to pay the "
16460 "copyright owner anything. Thus, the ordinary use of a book after its "
16461 "commercial life ended was a use that was independent of copyright law."
16464 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16465 #: freeculture.xml:11782
16467 "The same was effectively true of film. Because the costs of restoring a "
16468 "film—the real economic costs, not the lawyer costs—were so high, "
16469 "it was never at all feasible to preserve or restore film. Like the remains "
16470 "of a great dinner, when it's over, it's over. Once a film passed out of its "
16471 "commercial life, it may have been archived for a bit, but that was the end "
16472 "of its life so long as the market didn't have more to offer."
16475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16476 #: freeculture.xml:11791
16478 "In other words, though copyright has been relatively short for most of our "
16479 "history, long copyrights wouldn't have mattered for the works that lost "
16480 "their commercial value. Long copyrights for these works would not have "
16481 "interfered with anything."
16484 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16485 #: freeculture.xml:11797
16486 msgid "But this situation has now changed."
16489 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16490 #: freeculture.xml:11801
16492 "One crucially important consequence of the emergence of digital technologies "
16493 "is to enable the archive that Brewster Kahle dreams of. Digital "
16494 "technologies now make it possible to preserve and give access to all sorts "
16495 "of knowledge. Once a book goes out of print, we can now imagine digitizing "
16496 "it and making it available to everyone, forever. Once a film goes out of "
16497 "distribution, we could digitize it and make it available to everyone, "
16498 "forever. Digital technologies give new life to copyrighted material after it "
16499 "passes out of its commercial life. It is now possible to preserve and assure "
16500 "universal access to this knowledge and culture, whereas before it was not."
16504 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16505 #: freeculture.xml:11814
16507 "And now copyright law does get in the way. Every step of producing this "
16508 "digital archive of our culture infringes on the exclusive right of "
16509 "copyright. To digitize a book is to copy it. To do that requires permission "
16510 "of the copyright owner. The same with music, film, or any other aspect of "
16511 "our culture protected by copyright. The effort to make these things "
16512 "available to history, or to researchers, or to those who just want to "
16513 "explore, is now inhibited by a set of rules that were written for a "
16514 "radically different context."
16517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16518 #: freeculture.xml:11824
16520 "Here is the core of the harm that comes from extending terms: Now that "
16521 "technology enables us to rebuild the library of Alexandria, the law gets in "
16522 "the way. And it doesn't get in the way for any useful "
16523 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis> purpose, for the purpose of copyright is to "
16524 "enable the commercial market that spreads culture. No, we are talking about "
16525 "culture after it has lived its commercial life. In this context, copyright "
16526 "is serving no purpose <emphasis>at all</emphasis> related to the spread of "
16527 "knowledge. In this context, copyright is not an engine of free "
16528 "expression. Copyright is a brake."
16531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16532 #: freeculture.xml:11835
16534 "You may well ask, <quote>But if digital technologies lower the costs for "
16535 "Brewster Kahle, then they will lower the costs for Random House, too. So "
16536 "won't Random House do as well as Brewster Kahle in spreading culture "
16540 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16541 #: freeculture.xml:11841
16543 "Maybe. Someday. But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that "
16544 "publishers would be as complete as libraries. If Barnes & Noble offered "
16545 "to lend books from its stores for a low price, would that eliminate the need "
16546 "for libraries? Only if you think that the only role of a library is to serve "
16547 "what <quote>the market</quote> would demand. But if you think the role of a "
16548 "library is bigger than this—if you think its role is to archive "
16549 "culture, whether there's a demand for any particular bit of that culture or "
16550 "not—then we can't count on the commercial market to do our library "
16555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16556 #: freeculture.xml:11865
16558 "Jason Schultz, <quote>The Myth of the 1976 Copyright `Chaos' Theory,</quote> "
16559 "20 December 2002, available at <ulink "
16560 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #54</ulink>."
16563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16564 #: freeculture.xml:11853
16566 "I would be the first to agree that it should do as much as it can: We should "
16567 "rely upon the market as much as possible to spread and enable culture. My "
16568 "message is absolutely not antimarket. But where we see the market is not "
16569 "doing the job, then we should allow nonmarket forces the freedom to fill the "
16570 "gaps. As one researcher calculated for American culture, 94 percent of the "
16571 "films, books, and music produced between 1923 and 1946 is not commercially "
16572 "available. However much you love the commercial market, if access is a "
16573 "value, then 6 percent is a failure to provide that value.<placeholder "
16574 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16577 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16578 #: freeculture.xml:11872
16580 "<emphasis role='strong'>In January 1999</emphasis>, we filed a lawsuit on "
16581 "Eric Eldred's behalf in federal district court in Washington, D.C., asking "
16582 "the court to declare the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act "
16583 "unconstitutional. The two central claims that we made were (1) that "
16584 "extending existing terms violated the Constitution's <quote>limited "
16585 "Times</quote> requirement, and (2) that extending terms by another twenty "
16586 "years violated the First Amendment."
16589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16590 #: freeculture.xml:11881
16592 "The district court dismissed our claims without even hearing an argument. A "
16593 "panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also dismissed our "
16594 "claims, though after hearing an extensive argument. But that decision at "
16595 "least had a dissent, by one of the most conservative judges on that "
16596 "court. That dissent gave our claims life."
16599 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16600 #: freeculture.xml:11888
16602 "Judge David Sentelle said the CTEA violated the requirement that copyrights "
16603 "be for <quote>limited Times</quote> only. His argument was as elegant as it "
16604 "was simple: If Congress can extend existing terms, then there is no "
16605 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power under the Copyright "
16606 "Clause. The power to extend existing terms means Congress is not required to "
16607 "grant terms that are <quote>limited.</quote> Thus, Judge Sentelle argued, "
16608 "the court had to interpret the term <quote>limited Times</quote> to give it "
16609 "meaning. And the best interpretation, Judge Sentelle argued, would be to "
16610 "deny Congress the power to extend existing terms."
16613 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16614 #: freeculture.xml:11899
16616 "We asked the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as a whole to hear the "
16617 "case. Cases are ordinarily heard in panels of three, except for important "
16618 "cases or cases that raise issues specific to the circuit as a whole, where "
16619 "the court will sit <quote>en banc</quote> to hear the case."
16622 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16623 #: freeculture.xml:11904
16624 msgid "Tatel, David"
16628 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16629 #: freeculture.xml:11906
16631 "The Court of Appeals rejected our request to hear the case en banc. This "
16632 "time, Judge Sentelle was joined by the most liberal member of the "
16633 "D.C. Circuit, Judge David Tatel. Both the most conservative and the most "
16634 "liberal judges in the D.C. Circuit believed Congress had overstepped its "
16638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16639 #: freeculture.xml:11915
16641 "It was here that most expected Eldred v. Ashcroft would die, for the Supreme "
16642 "Court rarely reviews any decision by a court of appeals. (It hears about one "
16643 "hundred cases a year, out of more than five thousand appeals.) And it "
16644 "practically never reviews a decision that upholds a statute when no other "
16645 "court has yet reviewed the statute."
16648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16649 #: freeculture.xml:11922
16651 "But in February 2002, the Supreme Court surprised the world by granting our "
16652 "petition to review the D.C. Circuit opinion. Argument was set for October of "
16653 "2002. The summer would be spent writing briefs and preparing for argument."
16656 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16657 #: freeculture.xml:11928
16659 "<emphasis role='strong'>It is over</emphasis> a year later as I write these "
16660 "words. It is still astonishingly hard. If you know anything at all about "
16661 "this story, you know that we lost the appeal. And if you know something more "
16662 "than just the minimum, you probably think there was no way this case could "
16663 "have been won. After our defeat, I received literally thousands of missives "
16664 "by well-wishers and supporters, thanking me for my work on behalf of this "
16665 "noble but doomed cause. And none from this pile was more significant to me "
16666 "than the e-mail from my client, Eric Eldred."
16669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16670 #: freeculture.xml:11939
16672 "But my client and these friends were wrong. This case could have been "
16673 "won. It should have been won. And no matter how hard I try to retell this "
16674 "story to myself, I can never escape believing that my own mistake lost it."
16677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16678 #: freeculture.xml:11944 freeculture.xml:11958
16679 msgid "Steward, Geoffrey"
16683 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16684 #: freeculture.xml:11946
16686 "<emphasis role='strong'>The mistake</emphasis> was made early, though it "
16687 "became obvious only at the very end. Our case had been supported from the "
16688 "very beginning by an extraordinary lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, and by the law "
16689 "firm he had moved to, Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue. Jones Day took a great "
16690 "deal of heat from its copyright-protectionist clients for supporting "
16691 "us. They ignored this pressure (something that few law firms today would "
16692 "ever do), and throughout the case, they gave it everything they could."
16695 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16696 #: freeculture.xml:11956 freeculture.xml:12319 freeculture.xml:12335 freeculture.xml:12432 freeculture.xml:12652 freeculture.xml:12683 freeculture.xml:12781
16700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16701 #: freeculture.xml:11957
16702 msgid "Bromberg, Dan"
16705 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16706 #: freeculture.xml:11960
16708 "There were three key lawyers on the case from Jones Day. Geoff Stewart was "
16709 "the first, but then Dan Bromberg and Don Ayer became quite "
16710 "involved. Bromberg and Ayer in particular had a common view about how this "
16711 "case would be won: We would only win, they repeatedly told me, if we could "
16712 "make the issue seem <quote>important</quote> to the Supreme Court. It had to "
16713 "seem as if dramatic harm were being done to free speech and free culture; "
16714 "otherwise, they would never vote against <quote>the most powerful media "
16715 "companies in the world.</quote>"
16718 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16719 #: freeculture.xml:11970
16721 "I hate this view of the law. Of course I thought the Sonny Bono Act was a "
16722 "dramatic harm to free speech and free culture. Of course I still think it "
16723 "is. But the idea that the Supreme Court decides the law based on how "
16724 "important they believe the issues are is just wrong. It might be "
16725 "<quote>right</quote> as in <quote>true,</quote> I thought, but it is "
16726 "<quote>wrong</quote> as in <quote>it just shouldn't be that way.</quote> As "
16727 "I believed that any faithful interpretation of what the framers of our "
16728 "Constitution did would yield the conclusion that the CTEA was "
16729 "unconstitutional, and as I believed that any faithful interpretation of what "
16730 "the First Amendment means would yield the conclusion that the power to "
16731 "extend existing copyright terms is unconstitutional, I was not persuaded "
16732 "that we had to sell our case like soap. Just as a law that bans the "
16733 "swastika is unconstitutional not because the Court likes Nazis but because "
16734 "such a law would violate the Constitution, so too, in my view, would the "
16735 "Court decide whether Congress's law was constitutional based on the "
16736 "Constitution, not based on whether they liked the values that the framers "
16737 "put in the Constitution."
16740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16741 #: freeculture.xml:11991
16743 "In any case, I thought, the Court must already see the danger and the harm "
16744 "caused by this sort of law. Why else would they grant review? There was no "
16745 "reason to hear the case in the Supreme Court if they weren't convinced that "
16746 "this regulation was harmful. So in my view, we didn't need to persuade them "
16747 "that this law was bad, we needed to show why it was unconstitutional."
16751 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16752 #: freeculture.xml:11999
16754 "There was one way, however, in which I felt politics would matter and in "
16755 "which I thought a response was appropriate. I was convinced that the Court "
16756 "would not hear our arguments if it thought these were just the arguments of "
16757 "a group of lefty loons. This Supreme Court was not about to launch into a "
16758 "new field of judicial review if it seemed that this field of review was "
16759 "simply the preference of a small political minority. Although my focus in "
16760 "the case was not to demonstrate how bad the Sonny Bono Act was but to "
16761 "demonstrate that it was unconstitutional, my hope was to make this argument "
16762 "against a background of briefs that covered the full range of political "
16763 "views. To show that this claim against the CTEA was grounded in "
16764 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> and not politics, then, we tried to gather the "
16765 "widest range of credible critics—credible not because they were rich "
16766 "and famous, but because they, in the aggregate, demonstrated that this law "
16767 "was unconstitutional regardless of one's politics."
16770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16771 #: freeculture.xml:12017 freeculture.xml:12044
16772 msgid "Eagle Forum"
16775 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16776 #: freeculture.xml:12018
16777 msgid "Schlafly, Phyllis"
16780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16781 #: freeculture.xml:12020
16783 "The first step happened all by itself. Phyllis Schlafly's organization, "
16784 "Eagle Forum, had been an opponent of the CTEA from the very beginning. "
16785 "Mrs. Schlafly viewed the CTEA as a sellout by Congress. In November 1998, "
16786 "she wrote a stinging editorial attacking the Republican Congress for "
16787 "allowing the law to pass. As she wrote, <quote>Do you sometimes wonder why "
16788 "bills that create a financial windfall to narrow special interests slide "
16789 "easily through the intricate legislative process, while bills that benefit "
16790 "the general public seem to get bogged down?</quote> The answer, as the "
16791 "editorial documented, was the power of money. Schlafly enumerated Disney's "
16792 "contributions to the key players on the committees. It was money, not "
16793 "justice, that gave Mickey Mouse twenty more years in Disney's control, "
16797 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16798 #: freeculture.xml:12034
16800 "In the Court of Appeals, Eagle Forum was eager to file a brief supporting "
16801 "our position. Their brief made the argument that became the core claim in "
16802 "the Supreme Court: If Congress can extend the term of existing copyrights, "
16803 "there is no limit to Congress's power to set terms. That strong "
16804 "conservative argument persuaded a strong conservative judge, Judge Sentelle."
16808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16809 #: freeculture.xml:12046
16811 "In the Supreme Court, the briefs on our side were about as diverse as it "
16812 "gets. They included an extraordinary historical brief by the Free Software "
16813 "Foundation (home of the GNU project that made GNU/Linux possible). They "
16814 "included a powerful brief about the costs of uncertainty by Intel. There "
16815 "were two law professors' briefs, one by copyright scholars and one by First "
16816 "Amendment scholars. There was an exhaustive and uncontroverted brief by the "
16817 "world's experts in the history of the Progress Clause. And of course, there "
16818 "was a new brief by Eagle Forum, repeating and strengthening its arguments."
16821 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16822 #: freeculture.xml:12058
16823 msgid "American Association of Law Libraries"
16826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16827 #: freeculture.xml:12059
16828 msgid "National Writers Union"
16831 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16832 #: freeculture.xml:12061
16834 "Those briefs framed a legal argument. Then to support the legal argument, "
16835 "there were a number of powerful briefs by libraries and archives, including "
16836 "the Internet Archive, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the "
16837 "National Writers Union."
16840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16841 #: freeculture.xml:12068
16843 "But two briefs captured the policy argument best. One made the argument I've "
16844 "already described: A brief by Hal Roach Studios argued that unless the law "
16845 "was struck, a whole generation of American film would disappear. The other "
16846 "made the economic argument absolutely clear."
16849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16850 #: freeculture.xml:12074
16851 msgid "Akerlof, George"
16854 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16855 #: freeculture.xml:12075
16856 msgid "Arrow, Kenneth"
16859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16860 #: freeculture.xml:12076
16861 msgid "Buchanan, James"
16864 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16865 #: freeculture.xml:12077
16866 msgid "Coase, Ronald"
16869 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16870 #: freeculture.xml:12078
16871 msgid "Friedman, Milton"
16874 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16875 #: freeculture.xml:12080
16877 "This economists' brief was signed by seventeen economists, including five "
16878 "Nobel Prize winners, including Ronald Coase, James Buchanan, Milton "
16879 "Friedman, Kenneth Arrow, and George Akerlof. The economists, as the list of "
16880 "Nobel winners demonstrates, spanned the political spectrum. Their "
16881 "conclusions were powerful: There was no plausible claim that extending the "
16882 "terms of existing copyrights would do anything to increase incentives to "
16883 "create. Such extensions were nothing more than "
16884 "<quote>rent-seeking</quote>—the fancy term economists use to describe "
16885 "special-interest legislation gone wild."
16888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16889 #: freeculture.xml:12090 freeculture.xml:12108 freeculture.xml:12321 freeculture.xml:12684
16890 msgid "Fried, Charles"
16893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16894 #: freeculture.xml:12091
16895 msgid "Morrison, Alan"
16898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16899 #: freeculture.xml:12092
16900 msgid "Public Citizen"
16903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16904 #: freeculture.xml:12093 freeculture.xml:12320 freeculture.xml:13469
16905 msgid "Reagan, Ronald"
16909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16910 #: freeculture.xml:12095
16912 "The same effort at balance was reflected in the legal team we gathered to "
16913 "write our briefs in the case. The Jones Day lawyers had been with us from "
16914 "the start. But when the case got to the Supreme Court, we added three "
16915 "lawyers to help us frame this argument to this Court: Alan Morrison, a "
16916 "lawyer from Public Citizen, a Washington group that had made constitutional "
16917 "history with a series of seminal victories in the Supreme Court defending "
16918 "individual rights; my colleague and dean, Kathleen Sullivan, who had argued "
16919 "many cases in the Court, and who had advised us early on about a First "
16920 "Amendment strategy; and finally, former solicitor general Charles Fried."
16923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
16924 #: freeculture.xml:12110
16925 msgid "Commerce Clause of"
16928 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16929 #: freeculture.xml:12112
16931 "Fried was a special victory for our side. Every other former solicitor "
16932 "general was hired by the other side to defend Congress's power to give media "
16933 "companies the special favor of extended copyright terms. Fried was the only "
16934 "one who turned down that lucrative assignment to stand up for something he "
16935 "believed in. He had been Ronald Reagan's chief lawyer in the Supreme "
16936 "Court. He had helped craft the line of cases that limited Congress's power "
16937 "in the context of the Commerce Clause. And while he had argued many "
16938 "positions in the Supreme Court that I personally disagreed with, his joining "
16939 "the cause was a vote of confidence in our argument."
16942 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16943 #: freeculture.xml:12124
16945 "The government, in defending the statute, had its collection of friends, as "
16946 "well. Significantly, however, none of these <quote>friends</quote> included "
16947 "historians or economists. The briefs on the other side of the case were "
16948 "written exclusively by major media companies, congressmen, and copyright "
16952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16953 #: freeculture.xml:12131
16955 "The media companies were not surprising. They had the most to gain from the "
16956 "law. The congressmen were not surprising either—they were defending "
16957 "their power and, indirectly, the gravy train of contributions such power "
16958 "induced. And of course it was not surprising that the copyright holders "
16959 "would defend the idea that they should continue to have the right to control "
16960 "who did what with content they wanted to control."
16963 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16964 #: freeculture.xml:12139
16965 msgid "Gershwin, George"
16968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16969 #: freeculture.xml:12140
16970 msgid "Porgy and Bess"
16974 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16975 #: freeculture.xml:12150
16977 "Brief of Amici Dr. Seuss Enterprise et al., <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
16978 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. (2003) (No. 01-618), 19."
16982 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16983 #: freeculture.xml:12158
16985 "Dinitia Smith, <quote>Immortal Words, Immortal Royalties? Even Mickey Mouse "
16986 "Joins the Fray,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 28 March "
16991 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16992 #: freeculture.xml:12143
16994 "Dr. Seuss's representatives, for example, argued that it was better for the "
16995 "Dr. Seuss estate to control what happened to Dr. Seuss's work— better "
16996 "than allowing it to fall into the public domain—because if this "
16997 "creativity were in the public domain, then people could use it to "
16998 "<quote>glorify drugs or to create pornography.</quote><placeholder "
16999 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That was also the motive of the Gershwin "
17000 "estate, which defended its <quote>protection</quote> of the work of George "
17001 "Gershwin. They refuse, for example, to license <citetitle>Porgy and "
17002 "Bess</citetitle> to anyone who refuses to use African Americans in the "
17003 "cast.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> That's their view of how this "
17004 "part of American culture should be controlled, and they wanted this law to "
17005 "help them effect that control."
17008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17009 #: freeculture.xml:12167
17011 "This argument made clear a theme that is rarely noticed in this debate. "
17012 "When Congress decides to extend the term of existing copyrights, Congress is "
17013 "making a choice about which speakers it will favor. Famous and beloved "
17014 "copyright owners, such as the Gershwin estate and Dr. Seuss, come to "
17015 "Congress and say, <quote>Give us twenty years to control the speech about "
17016 "these icons of American culture. We'll do better with them than anyone "
17017 "else.</quote> Congress of course likes to reward the popular and famous by "
17018 "giving them what they want. But when Congress gives people an exclusive "
17019 "right to speak in a certain way, that's just what the First Amendment is "
17020 "traditionally meant to block."
17023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17024 #: freeculture.xml:12179
17026 "We argued as much in a final brief. Not only would upholding the CTEA mean "
17027 "that there was no limit to the power of Congress to extend "
17028 "copyrights—extensions that would further concentrate the market; it "
17029 "would also mean that there was no limit to Congress's power to play "
17030 "favorites, through copyright, with who has the right to speak."
17033 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17034 #: freeculture.xml:12186
17036 "<emphasis role='strong'>Between February</emphasis> and October, there was "
17037 "little I did beyond preparing for this case. Early on, as I said, I set the "
17041 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17042 #: freeculture.xml:12191 freeculture.xml:12377
17043 msgid "O'Connor, Sandra Day"
17046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17047 #: freeculture.xml:12193
17049 "The Supreme Court was divided into two important camps. One camp we called "
17050 "<quote>the Conservatives.</quote> The other we called <quote>the "
17051 "Rest.</quote> The Conservatives included Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice "
17052 "O'Connor, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas. These five "
17053 "had been the most consistent in limiting Congress's power. They were the "
17054 "five who had supported the <citetitle>Lopez/Morrison</citetitle> line of "
17055 "cases that said that an enumerated power had to be interpreted to assure "
17056 "that Congress's powers had limits."
17059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17060 #: freeculture.xml:12202 freeculture.xml:12227 freeculture.xml:12579 freeculture.xml:12591
17061 msgid "Breyer, Stephen"
17064 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17065 #: freeculture.xml:12203 freeculture.xml:12543
17066 msgid "Ginsburg, Ruth Bader"
17070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17071 #: freeculture.xml:12205
17073 "The Rest were the four Justices who had strongly opposed limits on "
17074 "Congress's power. These four—Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice "
17075 "Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer—had repeatedly argued that the "
17076 "Constitution gives Congress broad discretion to decide how best to implement "
17077 "its powers. In case after case, these justices had argued that the Court's "
17078 "role should be one of deference. Though the votes of these four justices "
17079 "were the votes that I personally had most consistently agreed with, they "
17080 "were also the votes that we were least likely to get."
17083 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17084 #: freeculture.xml:12217
17086 "In particular, the least likely was Justice Ginsburg's. In addition to her "
17087 "general view about deference to Congress (except where issues of gender are "
17088 "involved), she had been particularly deferential in the context of "
17089 "intellectual property protections. She and her daughter (an excellent and "
17090 "well-known intellectual property scholar) were cut from the same "
17091 "intellectual property cloth. We expected she would agree with the writings "
17092 "of her daughter: that Congress had the power in this context to do as it "
17093 "wished, even if what Congress wished made little sense."
17096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17097 #: freeculture.xml:12229
17099 "Close behind Justice Ginsburg were two justices whom we also viewed as "
17100 "unlikely allies, though possible surprises. Justice Souter strongly favored "
17101 "deference to Congress, as did Justice Breyer. But both were also very "
17102 "sensitive to free speech concerns. And as we strongly believed, there was a "
17103 "very important free speech argument against these retrospective extensions."
17106 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17107 #: freeculture.xml:12238
17109 "The only vote we could be confident about was that of Justice "
17110 "Stevens. History will record Justice Stevens as one of the greatest judges "
17111 "on this Court. His votes are consistently eclectic, which just means that no "
17112 "simple ideology explains where he will stand. But he had consistently argued "
17113 "for limits in the context of intellectual property generally. We were fairly "
17114 "confident he would recognize limits here."
17117 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17118 #: freeculture.xml:12246
17120 "This analysis of <quote>the Rest</quote> showed most clearly where our focus "
17121 "had to be: on the Conservatives. To win this case, we had to crack open "
17122 "these five and get at least a majority to go our way. Thus, the single "
17123 "overriding argument that animated our claim rested on the Conservatives' "
17124 "most important jurisprudential innovation—the argument that Judge "
17125 "Sentelle had relied upon in the Court of Appeals, that Congress's power must "
17126 "be interpreted so that its enumerated powers have limits."
17130 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17131 #: freeculture.xml:12256
17133 "This then was the core of our strategy—a strategy for which I am "
17134 "responsible. We would get the Court to see that just as with the "
17135 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, under the government's argument here, "
17136 "Congress would always have unlimited power to extend existing terms. If "
17137 "anything was plain about Congress's power under the Progress Clause, it was "
17138 "that this power was supposed to be <quote>limited.</quote> Our aim would be "
17139 "to get the Court to reconcile <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> with "
17140 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>: If Congress's power to regulate commerce was "
17141 "limited, then so, too, must Congress's power to regulate copyright be "
17145 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17146 #: freeculture.xml:12270
17148 "<emphasis role='strong'>The argument</emphasis> on the government's side "
17149 "came down to this: Congress has done it before. It should be allowed to do "
17150 "it again. The government claimed that from the very beginning, Congress has "
17151 "been extending the term of existing copyrights. So, the government argued, "
17152 "the Court should not now say that practice is unconstitutional."
17155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17156 #: freeculture.xml:12278
17158 "There was some truth to the government's claim, but not much. We certainly "
17159 "agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in 1831 and in 1909. And of "
17160 "course, in 1962, Congress began extending existing terms "
17161 "regularly—eleven times in forty years."
17164 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17165 #: freeculture.xml:12285
17167 "But this <quote>consistency</quote> should be kept in perspective. Congress "
17168 "extended existing terms once in the first hundred years of the Republic. It "
17169 "then extended existing terms once again in the next fifty. Those rare "
17170 "extensions are in contrast to the now regular practice of extending existing "
17171 "terms. Whatever restraint Congress had had in the past, that restraint was "
17172 "now gone. Congress was now in a cycle of extensions; there was no reason to "
17173 "expect that cycle would end. This Court had not hesitated to intervene where "
17174 "Congress was in a similar cycle of extension. There was no reason it "
17175 "couldn't intervene here."
17179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17180 #: freeculture.xml:12300
17182 "<emphasis role='strong'>Oral argument</emphasis> was scheduled for the first "
17183 "week in October. I arrived in D.C. two weeks before the argument. During "
17184 "those two weeks, I was repeatedly <quote>mooted</quote> by lawyers who had "
17185 "volunteered to help in the case. Such <quote>moots</quote> are basically "
17186 "practice rounds, where wannabe justices fire questions at wannabe winners."
17189 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17190 #: freeculture.xml:12310
17192 "I was convinced that to win, I had to keep the Court focused on a single "
17193 "point: that if this extension is permitted, then there is no limit to the "
17194 "power to set terms. Going with the government would mean that terms would be "
17195 "effectively unlimited; going with us would give Congress a clear line to "
17196 "follow: Don't extend existing terms. The moots were an effective practice; I "
17197 "found ways to take every question back to this central idea."
17200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17201 #: freeculture.xml:12323
17203 "One moot was before the lawyers at Jones Day. Don Ayer was the skeptic. He "
17204 "had served in the Reagan Justice Department with Solicitor General Charles "
17205 "Fried. He had argued many cases before the Supreme Court. And in his review "
17206 "of the moot, he let his concern speak:"
17209 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17210 #: freeculture.xml:12329
17212 "<quote>I'm just afraid that unless they really see the harm, they won't be "
17213 "willing to upset this practice that the government says has been a "
17214 "consistent practice for two hundred years. You have to make them see the "
17215 "harm—passionately get them to see the harm. For if they don't see "
17216 "that, then we haven't any chance of winning.</quote>"
17219 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17220 #: freeculture.xml:12337
17222 "He may have argued many cases before this Court, I thought, but he didn't "
17223 "understand its soul. As a clerk, I had seen the Justices do the right "
17224 "thing—not because of politics but because it was right. As a law "
17225 "professor, I had spent my life teaching my students that this Court does the "
17226 "right thing—not because of politics but because it is right. As I "
17227 "listened to Ayer's plea for passion in pressing politics, I understood his "
17228 "point, and I rejected it. Our argument was right. That was enough. Let the "
17229 "politicians learn to see that it was also good."
17233 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17234 #: freeculture.xml:12347
17236 "<emphasis role='strong'>The night before</emphasis> the argument, a line of "
17237 "people began to form in front of the Supreme Court. The case had become a "
17238 "focus of the press and of the movement to free culture. Hundreds stood in "
17239 "line for the chance to see the proceedings. Scores spent the night on the "
17240 "Supreme Court steps so that they would be assured a seat."
17243 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17244 #: freeculture.xml:12357
17246 "Not everyone has to wait in line. People who know the Justices can ask for "
17247 "seats they control. (I asked Justice Scalia's chambers for seats for my "
17248 "parents, for example.) Members of the Supreme Court bar can get a seat in a "
17249 "special section reserved for them. And senators and congressmen have a "
17250 "special place where they get to sit, too. And finally, of course, the press "
17251 "has a gallery, as do clerks working for the Justices on the Court. As we "
17252 "entered that morning, there was no place that was not taken. This was an "
17253 "argument about intellectual property law, yet the halls were filled. As I "
17254 "walked in to take my seat at the front of the Court, I saw my parents "
17255 "sitting on the left. As I sat down at the table, I saw Jack Valenti sitting "
17256 "in the special section ordinarily reserved for family of the Justices."
17259 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17260 #: freeculture.xml:12372
17262 "When the Chief Justice called me to begin my argument, I began where I "
17263 "intended to stay: on the question of the limits on Congress's power. This "
17264 "was a case about enumerated powers, I said, and whether those enumerated "
17265 "powers had any limit."
17268 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17269 #: freeculture.xml:12379
17271 "Justice O'Connor stopped me within one minute of my opening. The history "
17272 "was bothering her."
17275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17276 #: freeculture.xml:12384
17278 "justice o'connor: Congress has extended the term so often through the years, "
17279 "and if you are right, don't we run the risk of upsetting previous extensions "
17280 "of time? I mean, this seems to be a practice that began with the very first "
17284 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17285 #: freeculture.xml:12391
17287 "She was quite willing to concede <quote>that this flies directly in the face "
17288 "of what the framers had in mind.</quote> But my response again and again was "
17289 "to emphasize limits on Congress's power."
17293 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17294 #: freeculture.xml:12397
17296 "mr. lessig: Well, if it flies in the face of what the framers had in mind, "
17297 "then the question is, is there a way of interpreting their words that gives "
17298 "effect to what they had in mind, and the answer is yes."
17301 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17302 #: freeculture.xml:12405
17304 "There were two points in this argument when I should have seen where the "
17305 "Court was going. The first was a question by Justice Kennedy, who observed,"
17308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17309 #: freeculture.xml:12411
17311 "justice kennedy: Well, I suppose implicit in the argument that the '76 act, "
17312 "too, should have been declared void, and that we might leave it alone "
17313 "because of the disruption, is that for all these years the act has impeded "
17314 "progress in science and the useful arts. I just don't see any empirical "
17315 "evidence for that."
17318 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17319 #: freeculture.xml:12419
17321 "Here follows my clear mistake. Like a professor correcting a student, I "
17325 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17326 #: freeculture.xml:12425
17328 "mr. lessig: Justice, we are not making an empirical claim at all. Nothing "
17329 "in our Copyright Clause claim hangs upon the empirical assertion about "
17330 "impeding progress. Our only argument is this is a structural limit necessary "
17331 "to assure that what would be an effectively perpetual term not be permitted "
17332 "under the copyright laws."
17335 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17336 #: freeculture.xml:12434
17338 "That was a correct answer, but it wasn't the right answer. The right answer "
17339 "was instead that there was an obvious and profound harm. Any number of "
17340 "briefs had been written about it. He wanted to hear it. And here was the "
17341 "place Don Ayer's advice should have mattered. This was a softball; my answer "
17342 "was a swing and a miss."
17345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17346 #: freeculture.xml:12441
17348 "The second came from the Chief, for whom the whole case had been "
17349 "crafted. For the Chief Justice had crafted the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
17350 "ruling, and we hoped that he would see this case as its second cousin."
17354 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17355 #: freeculture.xml:12446
17357 "It was clear a second into his question that he wasn't at all sympathetic. "
17358 "To him, we were a bunch of anarchists. As he asked:"
17361 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17362 #: freeculture.xml:12453
17364 "chief justice: Well, but you want more than that. You want the right to copy "
17365 "verbatim other people's books, don't you?"
17368 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17369 #: freeculture.xml:12457
17371 "mr. lessig: We want the right to copy verbatim works that should be in the "
17372 "public domain and would be in the public domain but for a statute that "
17373 "cannot be justified under ordinary First Amendment analysis or under a "
17374 "proper reading of the limits built into the Copyright Clause."
17377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17378 #: freeculture.xml:12465
17379 msgid "Olson, Theodore B."
17382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17383 #: freeculture.xml:12467
17385 "Things went better for us when the government gave its argument; for now the "
17386 "Court picked up on the core of our claim. As Justice Scalia asked Solicitor "
17390 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17391 #: freeculture.xml:12473
17393 "justice scalia: You say that the functional equivalent of an unlimited time "
17394 "would be a violation [of the Constitution], but that's precisely the "
17395 "argument that's being made by petitioners here, that a limited time which is "
17396 "extendable is the functional equivalent of an unlimited time."
17399 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17400 #: freeculture.xml:12481
17402 "When Olson was finished, it was my turn to give a closing rebuttal. Olson's "
17403 "flailing had revived my anger. But my anger still was directed to the "
17404 "academic, not the practical. The government was arguing as if this were the "
17405 "first case ever to consider limits on Congress's Copyright and Patent Clause "
17406 "power. Ever the professor and not the advocate, I closed by pointing out the "
17407 "long history of the Court imposing limits on Congress's power in the name of "
17408 "the Copyright and Patent Clause— indeed, the very first case striking "
17409 "a law of Congress as exceeding a specific enumerated power was based upon "
17410 "the Copyright and Patent Clause. All true. But it wasn't going to move the "
17411 "Court to my side."
17415 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17416 #: freeculture.xml:12494
17418 "<emphasis role='strong'>As I left</emphasis> the court that day, I knew "
17419 "there were a hundred points I wished I could remake. There were a hundred "
17420 "questions I wished I had answered differently. But one way of thinking about "
17421 "this case left me optimistic."
17424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17425 #: freeculture.xml:12503
17427 "The government had been asked over and over again, what is the limit? Over "
17428 "and over again, it had answered there is no limit. This was precisely the "
17429 "answer I wanted the Court to hear. For I could not imagine how the Court "
17430 "could understand that the government believed Congress's power was unlimited "
17431 "under the terms of the Copyright Clause, and sustain the government's "
17432 "argument. The solicitor general had made my argument for me. No matter how "
17433 "often I tried, I could not understand how the Court could find that "
17434 "Congress's power under the Commerce Clause was limited, but under the "
17435 "Copyright Clause, unlimited. In those rare moments when I let myself believe "
17436 "that we may have prevailed, it was because I felt this Court—in "
17437 "particular, the Conservatives—would feel itself constrained by the "
17438 "rule of law that it had established elsewhere."
17441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17442 #: freeculture.xml:12518
17444 "<emphasis role='strong'>The morning</emphasis> of January 15, 2003, I was "
17445 "five minutes late to the office and missed the 7:00 A.M. call from the "
17446 "Supreme Court clerk. Listening to the message, I could tell in an instant "
17447 "that she had bad news to report.The Supreme Court had affirmed the decision "
17448 "of the Court of Appeals. Seven justices had voted in the majority. There "
17449 "were two dissents."
17452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17453 #: freeculture.xml:12526
17455 "A few seconds later, the opinions arrived by e-mail. I took the phone off "
17456 "the hook, posted an announcement to our blog, and sat down to see where I "
17457 "had been wrong in my reasoning."
17460 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17461 #: freeculture.xml:12531
17463 "My <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. Here was a case that pitted all the money "
17464 "in the world against <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. And here was the last "
17465 "naïve law professor, scouring the pages, looking for reasoning."
17468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17469 #: freeculture.xml:12537
17471 "I first scoured the opinion, looking for how the Court would distinguish the "
17472 "principle in this case from the principle in "
17473 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The argument was nowhere to be found. The case "
17474 "was not even cited. The argument that was the core argument of our case did "
17475 "not even appear in the Court's opinion."
17479 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17480 #: freeculture.xml:12547
17482 "Justice Ginsburg simply ignored the enumerated powers argument. Consistent "
17483 "with her view that Congress's power was not limited generally, she had found "
17484 "Congress's power not limited here."
17487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17488 #: freeculture.xml:12552
17490 "Her opinion was perfectly reasonable—for her, and for Justice "
17491 "Souter. Neither believes in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. It would be too "
17492 "much to expect them to write an opinion that recognized, much less "
17493 "explained, the doctrine they had worked so hard to defeat."
17496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17497 #: freeculture.xml:12558
17499 "But as I realized what had happened, I couldn't quite believe what I was "
17500 "reading. I had said there was no way this Court could reconcile limited "
17501 "powers with the Commerce Clause and unlimited powers with the Progress "
17502 "Clause. It had never even occurred to me that they could reconcile the two "
17503 "simply <emphasis>by not addressing the argument</emphasis>. There was no "
17504 "inconsistency because they would not talk about the two together. There was "
17505 "therefore no principle that followed from the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
17506 "case: In that context, Congress's power would be limited, but in this "
17507 "context it would not."
17510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17511 #: freeculture.xml:12569
17513 "Yet by what right did they get to choose which of the framers' values they "
17514 "would respect? By what right did they—the silent five—get to "
17515 "select the part of the Constitution they would enforce based on the values "
17516 "they thought important? We were right back to the argument that I said I "
17517 "hated at the start: I had failed to convince them that the issue here was "
17518 "important, and I had failed to recognize that however much I might hate a "
17519 "system in which the Court gets to pick the constitutional values that it "
17520 "will respect, that is the system we have."
17523 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17524 #: freeculture.xml:12581
17526 "Justices Breyer and Stevens wrote very strong dissents. Stevens's opinion "
17527 "was crafted internal to the law: He argued that the tradition of "
17528 "intellectual property law should not support this unjustified extension of "
17529 "terms. He based his argument on a parallel analysis that had governed in the "
17530 "context of patents (so had we). But the rest of the Court discounted the "
17531 "parallel—without explaining how the very same words in the Progress "
17532 "Clause could come to mean totally different things depending upon whether "
17533 "the words were about patents or copyrights. The Court let Justice Stevens's "
17534 "charge go unanswered."
17538 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17539 #: freeculture.xml:12594
17541 "Justice Breyer's opinion, perhaps the best opinion he has ever written, was "
17542 "external to the Constitution. He argued that the term of copyrights has "
17543 "become so long as to be effectively unlimited. We had said that under the "
17544 "current term, a copyright gave an author 99.8 percent of the value of a "
17545 "perpetual term. Breyer said we were wrong, that the actual number was "
17546 "99.9997 percent of a perpetual term. Either way, the point was clear: If the "
17547 "Constitution said a term had to be <quote>limited,</quote> and the existing "
17548 "term was so long as to be effectively unlimited, then it was "
17549 "unconstitutional."
17552 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17553 #: freeculture.xml:12605
17555 "These two justices understood all the arguments we had made. But because "
17556 "neither believed in the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, neither was "
17557 "willing to push it as a reason to reject this extension. The case was "
17558 "decided without anyone having addressed the argument that we had carried "
17559 "from Judge Sentelle. It was <citetitle>Hamlet</citetitle> without the "
17563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17564 #: freeculture.xml:12612
17566 "<emphasis role='strong'>Defeat brings depression</emphasis>. They say it is "
17567 "a sign of health when depression gives way to anger. My anger came quickly, "
17568 "but it didn't cure the depression. This anger was of two sorts."
17571 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17572 #: freeculture.xml:12617
17573 msgid "originalism"
17576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17577 #: freeculture.xml:12619
17579 "It was first anger with the five <quote>Conservatives.</quote> It would have "
17580 "been one thing for them to have explained why the principle of "
17581 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> didn't apply in this case. That wouldn't have "
17582 "been a very convincing argument, I don't believe, having read it made by "
17583 "others, and having tried to make it myself. But it at least would have been "
17584 "an act of integrity. These justices in particular have repeatedly said that "
17585 "the proper mode of interpreting the Constitution is "
17586 "<quote>originalism</quote>—to first understand the framers' text, "
17587 "interpreted in their context, in light of the structure of the "
17588 "Constitution. That method had produced <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> and many "
17589 "other <quote>originalist</quote> rulings. Where was their "
17590 "<quote>originalism</quote> now?"
17594 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17595 #: freeculture.xml:12632
17597 "Here, they had joined an opinion that never once tried to explain what the "
17598 "framers had meant by crafting the Progress Clause as they did; they joined "
17599 "an opinion that never once tried to explain how the structure of that clause "
17600 "would affect the interpretation of Congress's power. And they joined an "
17601 "opinion that didn't even try to explain why this grant of power could be "
17602 "unlimited, whereas the Commerce Clause would be limited. In short, they had "
17603 "joined an opinion that did not apply to, and was inconsistent with, their "
17604 "own method for interpreting the Constitution. This opinion may well have "
17605 "yielded a result that they liked. It did not produce a reason that was "
17606 "consistent with their own principles."
17609 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17610 #: freeculture.xml:12647
17612 "My anger with the Conservatives quickly yielded to anger with myself. For I "
17613 "had let a view of the law that I liked interfere with a view of the law as "
17617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17618 #: freeculture.xml:12654
17620 "Most lawyers, and most law professors, have little patience for idealism "
17621 "about courts in general and this Supreme Court in particular. Most have a "
17622 "much more pragmatic view. When Don Ayer said that this case would be won "
17623 "based on whether I could convince the Justices that the framers' values were "
17624 "important, I fought the idea, because I didn't want to believe that that is "
17625 "how this Court decides. I insisted on arguing this case as if it were a "
17626 "simple application of a set of principles. I had an argument that followed "
17627 "in logic. I didn't need to waste my time showing it should also follow in "
17632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17633 #: freeculture.xml:12665
17635 "As I read back over the transcript from that argument in October, I can see "
17636 "a hundred places where the answers could have taken the conversation in "
17637 "different directions, where the truth about the harm that this unchecked "
17638 "power will cause could have been made clear to this Court. Justice Kennedy "
17639 "in good faith wanted to be shown. I, idiotically, corrected his "
17640 "question. Justice Souter in good faith wanted to be shown the First "
17641 "Amendment harms. I, like a math teacher, reframed the question to make the "
17642 "logical point. I had shown them how they could strike this law of Congress "
17643 "if they wanted to. There were a hundred places where I could have helped "
17644 "them want to, yet my stubbornness, my refusal to give in, stopped me. I have "
17645 "stood before hundreds of audiences trying to persuade; I have used passion "
17646 "in that effort to persuade; but I refused to stand before this audience and "
17647 "try to persuade with the passion I had used elsewhere. It was not the basis "
17648 "on which a court should decide the issue."
17651 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17652 #: freeculture.xml:12686
17654 "Would it have been different if I had argued it differently? Would it have "
17655 "been different if Don Ayer had argued it? Or Charles Fried? Or Kathleen "
17659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17660 #: freeculture.xml:12691
17662 "My friends huddled around me to insist it would not. The Court was not "
17663 "ready, my friends insisted. This was a loss that was destined. It would take "
17664 "a great deal more to show our society why our framers were right. And when "
17665 "we do that, we will be able to show that Court."
17668 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17669 #: freeculture.xml:12697
17671 "Maybe, but I doubt it. These Justices have no financial interest in doing "
17672 "anything except the right thing. They are not lobbied. They have little "
17673 "reason to resist doing right. I can't help but think that if I had stepped "
17674 "down from this pretty picture of dispassionate justice, I could have "
17678 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17679 #: freeculture.xml:12705
17681 "And even if I couldn't, then that doesn't excuse what happened in "
17682 "January. For at the start of this case, one of America's leading "
17683 "intellectual property professors stated publicly that my bringing this case "
17684 "was a mistake. <quote>The Court is not ready,</quote> Peter Jaszi said; this "
17685 "issue should not be raised until it is."
17688 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17689 #: freeculture.xml:12712
17691 "After the argument and after the decision, Peter said to me, and publicly, "
17692 "that he was wrong. But if indeed that Court could not have been persuaded, "
17693 "then that is all the evidence that's needed to know that here again Peter "
17694 "was right. Either I was not ready to argue this case in a way that would do "
17695 "some good or they were not ready to hear this case in a way that would do "
17696 "some good. Either way, the decision to bring this case—a decision I "
17697 "had made four years before—was wrong."
17701 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17702 #: freeculture.xml:12721
17704 "<emphasis role='strong'>While the reaction</emphasis> to the Sonny Bono Act "
17705 "itself was almost unanimously negative, the reaction to the Court's decision "
17706 "was mixed. No one, at least in the press, tried to say that extending the "
17707 "term of copyright was a good idea. We had won that battle over ideas. Where "
17708 "the decision was praised, it was praised by papers that had been skeptical "
17709 "of the Court's activism in other cases. Deference was a good thing, even if "
17710 "it left standing a silly law. But where the decision was attacked, it was "
17711 "attacked because it left standing a silly and harmful law. <citetitle>The "
17712 "New York Times</citetitle> wrote in its editorial,"
17715 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
17716 #: freeculture.xml:12736
17718 "In effect, the Supreme Court's decision makes it likely that we are seeing "
17719 "the beginning of the end of public domain and the birth of copyright "
17720 "perpetuity. The public domain has been a grand experiment, one that should "
17721 "not be allowed to die. The ability to draw freely on the entire creative "
17722 "output of humanity is one of the reasons we live in a time of such fruitful "
17723 "creative ferment."
17726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><indexterm><primary>
17727 #: freeculture.xml:12750 freeculture.xml:12755
17728 msgid "Bolling, Ruben"
17731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17732 #: freeculture.xml:12745
17734 "The best responses were in the cartoons. There was a gaggle of hilarious "
17735 "images—of Mickey in jail and the like. The best, from my view of the "
17736 "case, was Ruben Bolling's, reproduced in <xref linkend=\"fig-18\"/>. The "
17737 "<quote>powerful and wealthy</quote> line is a bit unfair. But the punch in "
17738 "the face felt exactly like that. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17741 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
17742 #: freeculture.xml:12753
17743 msgid "Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon"
17746 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
17747 #: freeculture.xml:12754
17749 "<graphic fileref=\"images/tom-the-dancing-bug.png\" align=\"center\" "
17750 "width=\"100%\"></graphic> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17754 #: freeculture.xml:12758
17756 "The image that will always stick in my head is that evoked by the quote from "
17757 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>. That <quote>grand "
17758 "experiment</quote> we call the <quote>public domain</quote> is over? When I "
17759 "can make light of it, I think, <quote>Honey, I shrunk the "
17760 "Constitution.</quote> But I can rarely make light of it. We had in our "
17761 "Constitution a commitment to free culture. In the case that I fathered, the "
17762 "Supreme Court effectively renounced that commitment. A better lawyer would "
17763 "have made them see differently."
17766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
17767 #: freeculture.xml:12769
17771 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17772 #: freeculture.xml:12771
17774 "<emphasis role='strong'>The day</emphasis> <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was "
17775 "decided, fate would have it that I was to travel to Washington, D.C. (The "
17776 "day the rehearing petition in <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was "
17777 "denied—meaning the case was really finally over—fate would have "
17778 "it that I was giving a speech to technologists at Disney World.) This was a "
17779 "particularly long flight to my least favorite city. The drive into the city "
17780 "from Dulles was delayed because of traffic, so I opened up my computer and "
17781 "wrote an op-ed piece."
17784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17785 #: freeculture.xml:12783
17787 "It was an act of contrition. During the whole of the flight from San "
17788 "Francisco to Washington, I had heard over and over again in my head the same "
17789 "advice from Don Ayer: You need to make them see why it is important. And "
17790 "alternating with that command was the question of Justice Kennedy: "
17791 "<quote>For all these years the act has impeded progress in science and the "
17792 "useful arts. I just don't see any empirical evidence for that.</quote> And "
17793 "so, having failed in the argument of constitutional principle, finally, I "
17794 "turned to an argument of politics."
17798 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17799 #: freeculture.xml:12793
17801 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> published the piece. In it, I "
17802 "proposed a simple fix: Fifty years after a work has been published, the "
17803 "copyright owner would be required to register the work and pay a small "
17804 "fee. If he paid the fee, he got the benefit of the full term of "
17805 "copyright. If he did not, the work passed into the public domain."
17808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17809 #: freeculture.xml:12801
17811 "We called this the Eldred Act, but that was just to give it a name. Eric "
17812 "Eldred was kind enough to let his name be used once again, but as he said "
17813 "early on, it won't get passed unless it has another name."
17816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17817 #: freeculture.xml:12806
17819 "Or another two names. For depending upon your perspective, this is either "
17820 "the <quote>Public Domain Enhancement Act</quote> or the <quote>Copyright "
17821 "Term Deregulation Act.</quote> Either way, the essence of the idea is clear "
17822 "and obvious: Remove copyright where it is doing nothing except blocking "
17823 "access and the spread of knowledge. Leave it for as long as Congress allows "
17824 "for those works where its worth is at least $1. But for everything else, let "
17828 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17829 #: freeculture.xml:12814 freeculture.xml:13015
17830 msgid "Forbes, Steve"
17833 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17834 #: freeculture.xml:12816
17836 "The reaction to this idea was amazingly strong. Steve Forbes endorsed it in "
17837 "an editorial. I received an avalanche of e-mail and letters expressing "
17838 "support. When you focus the issue on lost creativity, people can see the "
17839 "copyright system makes no sense. As a good Republican might say, here "
17840 "government regulation is simply getting in the way of innovation and "
17841 "creativity. And as a good Democrat might say, here the government is "
17842 "blocking access and the spread of knowledge for no good reason. Indeed, "
17843 "there is no real difference between Democrats and Republicans on this "
17844 "issue. Anyone can recognize the stupid harm of the present system."
17847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17848 #: freeculture.xml:12828
17850 "Indeed, many recognized the obvious benefit of the registration "
17851 "requirement. For one of the hardest things about the current system for "
17852 "people who want to license content is that there is no obvious place to look "
17853 "for the current copyright owners. Since registration is not required, since "
17854 "marking content is not required, since no formality at all is required, it "
17855 "is often impossibly hard to locate copyright owners to ask permission to use "
17856 "or license their work. This system would lower these costs, by establishing "
17857 "at least one registry where copyright owners could be identified."
17860 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17861 #: freeculture.xml:12838
17862 msgid "Berlin Act (1908)"
17865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17866 #: freeculture.xml:12839 freeculture.xml:12880
17867 msgid "Berne Convention (1908)"
17870 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
17871 #: freeculture.xml:12847
17872 msgid "German copyright law"
17875 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17876 #: freeculture.xml:12847
17878 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> Until the 1908 Berlin Act of the "
17879 "Berne Convention, national copyright legislation sometimes made protection "
17880 "depend upon compliance with formalities such as registration, deposit, and "
17881 "affixation of notice of the author's claim of copyright. However, starting "
17882 "with the 1908 act, every text of the Convention has provided that <quote>the "
17883 "enjoyment and the exercise</quote> of rights guaranteed by the Convention "
17884 "<quote>shall not be subject to any formality.</quote> The prohibition "
17885 "against formalities is presently embodied in Article 5(2) of the Paris Text "
17886 "of the Berne Convention. Many countries continue to impose some form of "
17887 "deposit or registration requirement, albeit not as a condition of "
17888 "copyright. French law, for example, requires the deposit of copies of works "
17889 "in national repositories, principally the National Museum. Copies of books "
17890 "published in the United Kingdom must be deposited in the British "
17891 "Library. The German Copyright Act provides for a Registrar of Authors where "
17892 "the author's true name can be filed in the case of anonymous or pseudonymous "
17893 "works. Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>International Intellectual Property Law, "
17894 "Cases and Materials</citetitle> (New York: Foundation Press, 2001), "
17898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17899 #: freeculture.xml:12842
17901 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
17902 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, formalities in copyright law were removed in 1976, "
17903 "when Congress followed the Europeans by abandoning any formal requirement "
17904 "before a copyright is granted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
17905 "Europeans are said to view copyright as a <quote>natural right.</quote> "
17906 "Natural rights don't need forms to exist. Traditions, like the "
17907 "Anglo-American tradition that required copyright owners to follow form if "
17908 "their rights were to be protected, did not, the Europeans thought, properly "
17909 "respect the dignity of the author. My right as a creator turns on my "
17910 "creativity, not upon the special favor of the government."
17913 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17914 #: freeculture.xml:12874
17916 "That's great rhetoric. It sounds wonderfully romantic. But it is absurd "
17917 "copyright policy. It is absurd especially for authors, because a world "
17918 "without formalities harms the creator. The ability to spread <quote>Walt "
17919 "Disney creativity</quote> is destroyed when there is no simple way to know "
17920 "what's protected and what's not."
17923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17924 #: freeculture.xml:12882
17926 "The fight against formalities achieved its first real victory in Berlin in "
17927 "1908. International copyright lawyers amended the Berne Convention in 1908, "
17928 "to require copyright terms of life plus fifty years, as well as the "
17929 "abolition of copyright formalities. The formalities were hated because the "
17930 "stories of inadvertent loss were increasingly common. It was as if a Charles "
17931 "Dickens character ran all copyright offices, and the failure to dot an "
17932 "<citetitle>i</citetitle> or cross a <citetitle>t</citetitle> resulted in the "
17933 "loss of widows' only income."
17936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17937 #: freeculture.xml:12892
17939 "These complaints were real and sensible. And the strictness of the "
17940 "formalities, especially in the United States, was absurd. The law should "
17941 "always have ways of forgiving innocent mistakes. There is no reason "
17942 "copyright law couldn't, as well. Rather than abandoning formalities totally, "
17943 "the response in Berlin should have been to embrace a more equitable system "
17947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17948 #: freeculture.xml:12900
17950 "Even that would have been resisted, however, because registration in the "
17951 "nineteenth and twentieth centuries was still expensive. It was also a "
17952 "hassle. The abolishment of formalities promised not only to save the "
17953 "starving widows, but also to lighten an unnecessary regulatory burden "
17954 "imposed upon creators."
17958 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17959 #: freeculture.xml:12908
17961 "In addition to the practical complaint of authors in 1908, there was a moral "
17962 "claim as well. There was no reason that creative property should be a "
17963 "second-class form of property. If a carpenter builds a table, his rights "
17964 "over the table don't depend upon filing a form with the government. He has "
17965 "a property right over the table <quote>naturally,</quote> and he can assert "
17966 "that right against anyone who would steal the table, whether or not he has "
17967 "informed the government of his ownership of the table."
17970 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17971 #: freeculture.xml:12920
17973 "This argument is correct, but its implications are misleading. For the "
17974 "argument in favor of formalities does not depend upon creative property "
17975 "being second-class property. The argument in favor of formalities turns upon "
17976 "the special problems that creative property presents. The law of "
17977 "formalities responds to the special physics of creative property, to assure "
17978 "that it can be efficiently and fairly spread."
17981 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
17982 #: freeculture.xml:12929
17984 "No one thinks, for example, that land is second-class property just because "
17985 "you have to register a deed with a court if your sale of land is to be "
17986 "effective. And few would think a car is second-class property just because "
17987 "you must register the car with the state and tag it with a license. In both "
17988 "of those cases, everyone sees that there is an important reason to secure "
17989 "registration—both because it makes the markets more efficient and "
17990 "because it better secures the rights of the owner. Without a registration "
17991 "system for land, landowners would perpetually have to guard their "
17992 "property. With registration, they can simply point the police to a "
17993 "deed. Without a registration system for cars, auto theft would be much "
17994 "easier. With a registration system, the thief has a high burden to sell a "
17995 "stolen car. A slight burden is placed on the property owner, but those "
17996 "burdens produce a much better system of protection for property generally."
17999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18000 #: freeculture.xml:12945
18002 "It is similarly special physics that makes formalities important in "
18003 "copyright law. Unlike a carpenter's table, there's nothing in nature that "
18004 "makes it relatively obvious who might own a particular bit of creative "
18005 "property. A recording of Lyle Lovett's latest album can exist in a billion "
18006 "places without anything necessarily linking it back to a particular "
18007 "owner. And like a car, there's no way to buy and sell creative property with "
18008 "confidence unless there is some simple way to authenticate who is the author "
18009 "and what rights he has. Simple transactions are destroyed in a world without "
18010 "formalities. Complex, expensive, <emphasis>lawyer</emphasis> transactions "
18011 "take their place. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18014 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18015 #: freeculture.xml:12960
18017 "This was the understanding of the problem with the Sonny Bono Act that we "
18018 "tried to demonstrate to the Court. This was the part it didn't "
18019 "<quote>get.</quote> Because we live in a system without formalities, there "
18020 "is no way easily to build upon or use culture from our past. If copyright "
18021 "terms were, as Justice Story said they would be, <quote>short,</quote> then "
18022 "this wouldn't matter much. For fourteen years, under the framers' system, a "
18023 "work would be presumptively controlled. After fourteen years, it would be "
18024 "presumptively uncontrolled."
18027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18028 #: freeculture.xml:12970
18030 "But now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to "
18031 "know what is protected and what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious "
18032 "burden on the creative process. If the only way a library can offer an "
18033 "Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear the rights "
18034 "to every image and sound, then the copyright system is burdening creativity "
18035 "in a way that has never been seen before <emphasis>because there are no "
18036 "formalities</emphasis>."
18039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18040 #: freeculture.xml:12979
18042 "The Eldred Act was designed to respond to exactly this problem. If it is "
18043 "worth $1 to you, then register your work and you can get the longer "
18044 "term. Others will know how to contact you and, therefore, how to get your "
18045 "permission if they want to use your work. And you will get the benefit of an "
18046 "extended copyright term."
18049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18050 #: freeculture.xml:12986
18052 "If it isn't worth it to you to register to get the benefit of an extended "
18053 "term, then it shouldn't be worth it for the government to defend your "
18054 "monopoly over that work either. The work should pass into the public domain "
18055 "where anyone can copy it, or build archives with it, or create a movie based "
18056 "on it. It should become free if it is not worth $1 to you."
18059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18060 #: freeculture.xml:12993
18062 "Some worry about the burden on authors. Won't the burden of registering the "
18063 "work mean that the $1 is really misleading? Isn't the hassle worth more than "
18064 "$1? Isn't that the real problem with registration?"
18068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18069 #: freeculture.xml:12999
18071 "It is. The hassle is terrible. The system that exists now is awful. I "
18072 "completely agree that the Copyright Office has done a terrible job (no doubt "
18073 "because they are terribly funded) in enabling simple and cheap "
18074 "registrations. Any real solution to the problem of formalities must address "
18075 "the real problem of <emphasis>governments</emphasis> standing at the core of "
18076 "any system of formalities. In this book, I offer such a solution. That "
18077 "solution essentially remakes the Copyright Office. For now, assume it was "
18078 "Amazon that ran the registration system. Assume it was one-click "
18079 "registration. The Eldred Act would propose a simple, one-click registration "
18080 "fifty years after a work was published. Based upon historical data, that "
18081 "system would move up to 98 percent of commercial work, commercial work that "
18082 "no longer had a commercial life, into the public domain within fifty "
18083 "years. What do you think?"
18086 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18087 #: freeculture.xml:13017
18089 "<emphasis role='strong'>When Steve Forbes</emphasis> endorsed the idea, some "
18090 "in Washington began to pay attention. Many people contacted me pointing to "
18091 "representatives who might be willing to introduce the Eldred Act. And I had "
18092 "a few who directly suggested that they might be willing to take the first "
18096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18097 #: freeculture.xml:13023
18098 msgid "Lofgren, Zoe"
18101 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18102 #: freeculture.xml:13025
18104 "One representative, Zoe Lofgren of California, went so far as to get the "
18105 "bill drafted. The draft solved any problem with international law. It "
18106 "imposed the simplest requirement upon copyright owners possible. In May "
18107 "2003, it looked as if the bill would be introduced. On May 16, I posted on "
18108 "the Eldred Act blog, <quote>we are close.</quote> There was a general "
18109 "reaction in the blog community that something good might happen here."
18112 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18113 #: freeculture.xml:13034
18115 "But at this stage, the lobbyists began to intervene. Jack Valenti and the "
18116 "MPAA general counsel came to the congresswoman's office to give the view of "
18117 "the MPAA. Aided by his lawyer, as Valenti told me, Valenti informed the "
18118 "congresswoman that the MPAA would oppose the Eldred Act. The reasons are "
18119 "embarrassingly thin. More importantly, their thinness shows something clear "
18120 "about what this debate is really about."
18124 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18125 #: freeculture.xml:13042
18127 "The MPAA argued first that Congress had <quote>firmly rejected the central "
18128 "concept in the proposed bill</quote>—that copyrights be renewed. That "
18129 "was true, but irrelevant, as Congress's <quote>firm rejection</quote> had "
18130 "occurred long before the Internet made subsequent uses much more likely. "
18131 "Second, they argued that the proposal would harm poor copyright "
18132 "owners—apparently those who could not afford the $1 fee. Third, they "
18133 "argued that Congress had determined that extending a copyright term would "
18134 "encourage restoration work. Maybe in the case of the small percentage of "
18135 "work covered by copyright law that is still commercially valuable, but again "
18136 "this was irrelevant, as the proposal would not cut off the extended term "
18137 "unless the $1 fee was not paid. Fourth, the MPAA argued that the bill would "
18138 "impose <quote>enormous</quote> costs, since a registration system is not "
18139 "free. True enough, but those costs are certainly less than the costs of "
18140 "clearing the rights for a copyright whose owner is not known. Fifth, they "
18141 "worried about the risks if the copyright to a story underlying a film were "
18142 "to pass into the public domain. But what risk is that? If it is in the "
18143 "public domain, then the film is a valid derivative use."
18146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18147 #: freeculture.xml:13063
18149 "Finally, the MPAA argued that existing law enabled copyright owners to do "
18150 "this if they wanted. But the whole point is that there are thousands of "
18151 "copyright owners who don't even know they have a copyright to give. Whether "
18152 "they are free to give away their copyright or not—a controversial "
18153 "claim in any case—unless they know about a copyright, they're not "
18157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18158 #: freeculture.xml:13071
18160 "<emphasis role='strong'>At the beginning</emphasis> of this book, I told two "
18161 "stories about the law reacting to changes in technology. In the one, common "
18162 "sense prevailed. In the other, common sense was delayed. The difference "
18163 "between the two stories was the power of the opposition—the power of "
18164 "the side that fought to defend the status quo. In both cases, a new "
18165 "technology threatened old interests. But in only one case did those "
18166 "interest's have the power to protect themselves against this new competitive "
18170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18171 #: freeculture.xml:13081
18173 "I used these two cases as a way to frame the war that this book has been "
18174 "about. For here, too, a new technology is forcing the law to react. And "
18175 "here, too, we should ask, is the law following or resisting common sense? If "
18176 "common sense supports the law, what explains this common sense?"
18180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18181 #: freeculture.xml:13090
18183 "When the issue is piracy, it is right for the law to back the copyright "
18184 "owners. The commercial piracy that I described is wrong and harmful, and the "
18185 "law should work to eliminate it. When the issue is p2p sharing, it is easy "
18186 "to understand why the law backs the owners still: Much of this sharing is "
18187 "wrong, even if much is harmless. When the issue is copyright terms for the "
18188 "Mickey Mouses of the world, it is possible still to understand why the law "
18189 "favors Hollywood: Most people don't recognize the reasons for limiting "
18190 "copyright terms; it is thus still possible to see good faith within the "
18194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18195 #: freeculture.xml:13100
18196 msgid "Kelly, Kevin"
18199 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18200 #: freeculture.xml:13102
18202 "But when the copyright owners oppose a proposal such as the Eldred Act, "
18203 "then, finally, there is an example that lays bare the naked selfinterest "
18204 "driving this war. This act would free an extraordinary range of content that "
18205 "is otherwise unused. It wouldn't interfere with any copyright owner's desire "
18206 "to exercise continued control over his content. It would simply liberate "
18207 "what Kevin Kelly calls the <quote>Dark Content</quote> that fills archives "
18208 "around the world. So when the warriors oppose a change like this, we should "
18209 "ask one simple question:"
18212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18213 #: freeculture.xml:13112
18214 msgid "What does this industry really want?"
18217 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18218 #: freeculture.xml:13115
18220 "With very little effort, the warriors could protect their content. So the "
18221 "effort to block something like the Eldred Act is not really about protecting "
18222 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> content. The effort to block the Eldred Act is an "
18223 "effort to assure that nothing more passes into the public domain. It is "
18224 "another step to assure that the public domain will never compete, that there "
18225 "will be no use of content that is not commercially controlled, and that "
18226 "there will be no commercial use of content that doesn't require "
18227 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> permission first."
18230 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18231 #: freeculture.xml:13126
18233 "The opposition to the Eldred Act reveals how extreme the other side is. The "
18234 "most powerful and sexy and well loved of lobbies really has as its aim not "
18235 "the protection of <quote>property</quote> but the rejection of a tradition. "
18236 "Their aim is not simply to protect what is theirs. <emphasis>Their aim is to "
18237 "assure that all there is is what is theirs</emphasis>."
18241 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18242 #: freeculture.xml:13134
18244 "It is not hard to understand why the warriors take this view. It is not hard "
18245 "to see why it would benefit them if the competition of the public domain "
18246 "tied to the Internet could somehow be quashed. Just as RCA feared the "
18247 "competition of FM, they fear the competition of a public domain connected to "
18248 "a public that now has the means to create with it and to share its own "
18252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18253 #: freeculture.xml:13146
18255 "What is hard to understand is why the public takes this view. It is as if "
18256 "the law made airplanes trespassers. The MPAA stands with the Causbys and "
18257 "demands that their remote and useless property rights be respected, so that "
18258 "these remote and forgotten copyright holders might block the progress of "
18262 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
18263 #: freeculture.xml:13153
18265 "All this seems to follow easily from this untroubled acceptance of the "
18266 "<quote>property</quote> in intellectual property. Common sense supports it, "
18267 "and so long as it does, the assaults will rain down upon the technologies of "
18268 "the Internet. The consequence will be an increasing <quote>permission "
18269 "society.</quote> The past can be cultivated only if you can identify the "
18270 "owner and gain permission to build upon his work. The future will be "
18271 "controlled by this dead (and often unfindable) hand of the past."
18274 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
18275 #: freeculture.xml:13165
18279 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18280 #: freeculture.xml:13166
18281 msgid "Africa, medications for HIV patients in"
18284 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18285 #: freeculture.xml:13167
18286 msgid "AIDS medications"
18289 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18290 #: freeculture.xml:13168
18291 msgid "antiretroviral drugs"
18294 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18295 #: freeculture.xml:13169
18296 msgid "developing countries, foreign patent costs in"
18299 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18300 #: freeculture.xml:13170 freeculture.xml:13683
18304 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18305 #: freeculture.xml:13170 freeculture.xml:13683
18306 msgid "pharmaceutical"
18309 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18310 #: freeculture.xml:13171
18311 msgid "HIV/AIDS therapies"
18314 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18315 #: freeculture.xml:13173
18317 "<emphasis role='strong'>There are more</emphasis> than 35 million people "
18318 "with the AIDS virus worldwide. Twenty-five million of them live in "
18319 "sub-Saharan Africa. Seventeen million have already died. Seventeen million "
18320 "Africans is proportional percentage-wise to seven million Americans. More "
18321 "importantly, it is seventeen million Africans."
18324 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18325 #: freeculture.xml:13180
18327 "There is no cure for AIDS, but there are drugs to slow its progression. "
18328 "These antiretroviral therapies are still experimental, but they have already "
18329 "had a dramatic effect. In the United States, AIDS patients who regularly "
18330 "take a cocktail of these drugs increase their life expectancy by ten to "
18331 "twenty years. For some, the drugs make the disease almost invisible."
18335 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18336 #: freeculture.xml:13195
18338 "Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, <quote>Final Report: Integrating "
18339 "Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy</quote> (London, 2002), "
18340 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
18341 "#55</ulink>. According to a World Health Organization press release issued 9 "
18342 "July 2002, only 230,000 of the 6 million who need drugs in the developing "
18343 "world receive them—and half of them are in Brazil."
18346 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18347 #: freeculture.xml:13188
18349 "These drugs are expensive. When they were first introduced in the United "
18350 "States, they cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per person per year. Today, "
18351 "some cost $25,000 per year. At these prices, of course, no African nation "
18352 "can afford the drugs for the vast majority of its population: $15,000 is "
18353 "thirty times the per capita gross national product of Zimbabwe. At these "
18354 "prices, the drugs are totally unavailable.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
18358 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18359 #: freeculture.xml:13204 freeculture.xml:13685
18360 msgid "on pharmaceuticals"
18363 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18364 #: freeculture.xml:13205
18365 msgid "pharmaceutical patents"
18369 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18370 #: freeculture.xml:13208
18372 "These prices are not high because the ingredients of the drugs are "
18373 "expensive. These prices are high because the drugs are protected by "
18374 "patents. The drug companies that produced these life-saving mixes enjoy at "
18375 "least a twenty-year monopoly for their inventions. They use that monopoly "
18376 "power to extract the most they can from the market. That power is in turn "
18377 "used to keep the prices high."
18380 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18381 #: freeculture.xml:13216
18383 "There are many who are skeptical of patents, especially drug patents. I am "
18384 "not. Indeed, of all the areas of research that might be supported by "
18385 "patents, drug research is, in my view, the clearest case where patents are "
18386 "needed. The patent gives the drug company some assurance that if it is "
18387 "successful in inventing a new drug to treat a disease, it will be able to "
18388 "earn back its investment and more. This is socially an extremely valuable "
18389 "incentive. I am the last person who would argue that the law should abolish "
18390 "it, at least without other changes."
18393 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18394 #: freeculture.xml:13227
18396 "But it is one thing to support patents, even drug patents. It is another "
18397 "thing to determine how best to deal with a crisis. And as African leaders "
18398 "began to recognize the devastation that AIDS was bringing, they started "
18399 "looking for ways to import HIV treatments at costs significantly below the "
18403 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18404 #: freeculture.xml:13233
18405 msgid "international law"
18408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18409 #: freeculture.xml:13234
18410 msgid "parallel importation"
18413 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18414 #: freeculture.xml:13235
18415 msgid "South Africa, Republic of, pharmaceutical imports by"
18418 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18419 #: freeculture.xml:13248 freeculture.xml:13741
18420 msgid "Braithwaite, John"
18423 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18424 #: freeculture.xml:13246
18426 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism: "
18427 "Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New Press, 2003), "
18428 "37. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
18429 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
18432 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18433 #: freeculture.xml:13237
18435 "In 1997, South Africa tried one tack. It passed a law to allow the "
18436 "importation of patented medicines that had been produced or sold in another "
18437 "nation's market with the consent of the patent owner. For example, if the "
18438 "drug was sold in India, it could be imported into Africa from India. This is "
18439 "called <quote>parallel importation,</quote> and it is generally permitted "
18440 "under international trade law and is specifically permitted within the "
18441 "European Union.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18445 #: freeculture.xml:13252
18446 msgid "United States Trade Representative (USTR)"
18450 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18451 #: freeculture.xml:13260
18453 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
18454 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
18455 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
18456 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 14, available at <ulink "
18457 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #56</ulink>. For a firsthand "
18458 "account of the struggle over South Africa, see Hearing Before the "
18459 "Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, House "
18460 "Committee on Government Reform, H. Rep., 1st sess., Ser. No. 106-126 (22 "
18461 "July 1999), 150–57 (statement of James Love)."
18465 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18466 #: freeculture.xml:13287
18468 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
18469 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
18470 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
18471 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 15."
18474 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18475 #: freeculture.xml:13254
18477 "However, the United States government opposed the bill. Indeed, more than "
18478 "opposed. As the International Intellectual Property Association "
18479 "characterized it, <quote>The U.S. government pressured South Africa … "
18480 "not to permit compulsory licensing or parallel imports.</quote><placeholder "
18481 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Through the Office of the United States Trade "
18482 "Representative, the government asked South Africa to change the "
18483 "law—and to add pressure to that request, in 1998, the USTR listed "
18484 "South Africa for possible trade sanctions. That same year, more than forty "
18485 "pharmaceutical companies began proceedings in the South African courts to "
18486 "challenge the government's actions. The United States was then joined by "
18487 "other governments from the EU. Their claim, and the claim of the "
18488 "pharmaceutical companies, was that South Africa was violating its "
18489 "obligations under international law by discriminating against a particular "
18490 "kind of patent— pharmaceutical patents. The demand of these "
18491 "governments, with the United States in the lead, was that South Africa "
18492 "respect these patents as it respects any other patent, regardless of any "
18493 "effect on the treatment of AIDS within South Africa.<placeholder "
18494 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
18497 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18498 #: freeculture.xml:13294
18500 "We should place the intervention by the United States in context. No doubt "
18501 "patents are not the most important reason that Africans don't have access to "
18502 "drugs. Poverty and the total absence of an effective health care "
18503 "infrastructure matter more. But whether patents are the most important "
18504 "reason or not, the price of drugs has an effect on their demand, and patents "
18505 "affect price. And so, whether massive or marginal, there was an effect from "
18506 "our government's intervention to stop the flow of medications into Africa."
18509 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18510 #: freeculture.xml:13304
18512 "By stopping the flow of HIV treatment into Africa, the United States "
18513 "government was not saving drugs for United States citizens. This is not "
18514 "like wheat (if they eat it, we can't); instead, the flow that the United "
18515 "States intervened to stop was, in effect, a flow of knowledge: information "
18516 "about how to take chemicals that exist within Africa, and turn those "
18517 "chemicals into drugs that would save 15 to 30 million lives."
18520 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18521 #: freeculture.xml:13312
18523 "Nor was the intervention by the United States going to protect the profits "
18524 "of United States drug companies—at least, not substantially. It was "
18525 "not as if these countries were in the position to buy the drugs for the "
18526 "prices the drug companies were charging. Again, the Africans are wildly too "
18527 "poor to afford these drugs at the offered prices. Stopping the parallel "
18528 "import of these drugs would not substantially increase the sales by "
18534 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18535 #: freeculture.xml:13327
18537 "See Sabin Russell, <quote>New Crusade to Lower AIDS Drug Costs: Africa's "
18538 "Needs at Odds with Firms' Profit Motive,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
18539 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 May 1999, A1, available at <ulink "
18540 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #57</ulink> (<quote>compulsory "
18541 "licenses and gray markets pose a threat to the entire system of intellectual "
18542 "property protection</quote>); Robert Weissman, <quote>AIDS and Developing "
18543 "Countries: Democratizing Access to Essential Medicines,</quote> "
18544 "<citetitle>Foreign Policy in Focus</citetitle> 4:23 (August 1999), available "
18545 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #58</ulink> (describing "
18546 "U.S. policy); John A. Harrelson, <quote>TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents, and "
18547 "the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual "
18548 "Property Rights and Compassion, a Synopsis,</quote> <citetitle>Widener Law "
18549 "Symposium Journal</citetitle> (Spring 2001): 175."
18552 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18553 #: freeculture.xml:13321
18555 "Instead, the argument in favor of restricting this flow of information, "
18556 "which was needed to save the lives of millions, was an argument about the "
18557 "sanctity of property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It was "
18558 "because <quote>intellectual property</quote> would be violated that these "
18559 "drugs should not flow into Africa. It was a principle about the importance "
18560 "of <quote>intellectual property</quote> that led these government actors to "
18561 "intervene against the South African response to AIDS."
18564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18565 #: freeculture.xml:13349
18567 "Now just step back for a moment. There will be a time thirty years from now "
18568 "when our children look back at us and ask, how could we have let this "
18569 "happen? How could we allow a policy to be pursued whose direct cost would be "
18570 "to speed the death of 15 to 30 million Africans, and whose only real benefit "
18571 "would be to uphold the <quote>sanctity</quote> of an idea? What possible "
18572 "justification could there ever be for a policy that results in so many "
18573 "deaths? What exactly is the insanity that would allow so many to die for "
18574 "such an abstraction?"
18577 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18578 #: freeculture.xml:13358
18579 msgid "in pharmaceutical industry"
18582 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18583 #: freeculture.xml:13360
18585 "Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their "
18586 "managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push a "
18587 "certain patent policy not because of ideals, but because it is the policy "
18588 "that makes them the most money. And it only makes them the most money "
18589 "because of a certain corruption within our political system— a "
18590 "corruption the drug companies are certainly not responsible for."
18593 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18594 #: freeculture.xml:13368
18596 "The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. For the drug "
18597 "companies would love—they say, and I believe them—to sell their "
18598 "drugs as cheaply as they can to countries in Africa and elsewhere. There "
18599 "are issues they'd have to resolve to make sure the drugs didn't get back "
18600 "into the United States, but those are mere problems of technology. They "
18601 "could be overcome."
18604 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18605 #: freeculture.xml:13375
18606 msgid "of drug patents"
18610 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18611 #: freeculture.xml:13377
18613 "A different problem, however, could not be overcome. This is the fear of the "
18614 "grandstanding politician who would call the presidents of the drug companies "
18615 "before a Senate or House hearing, and ask, <quote>How is it you can sell "
18616 "this HIV drug in Africa for only $1 a pill, but the same drug would cost an "
18617 "American $1,500?</quote> Because there is no <quote>sound bite</quote> "
18618 "answer to that question, its effect would be to induce regulation of prices "
18619 "in America. The drug companies thus avoid this spiral by avoiding the first "
18620 "step. They reinforce the idea that property should be sacred. They adopt a "
18621 "rational strategy in an irrational context, with the unintended consequence "
18622 "that perhaps millions die. And that rational strategy thus becomes framed in "
18623 "terms of this ideal—the sanctity of an idea called <quote>intellectual "
18624 "property.</quote>"
18627 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18628 #: freeculture.xml:13399
18630 "So when the common sense of your child confronts you, what will you say? "
18631 "When the common sense of a generation finally revolts against what we have "
18632 "done, how will we justify what we have done? What is the argument?"
18635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18636 #: freeculture.xml:13405
18638 "A sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly support the patent "
18639 "system without having to reach everyone everywhere in exactly the same "
18640 "way. Just as a sensible copyright policy could endorse and strongly support "
18641 "a copyright system without having to regulate the spread of culture "
18642 "perfectly and forever, a sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly "
18643 "support a patent system without having to block the spread of drugs to a "
18644 "country not rich enough to afford market prices in any case. A sensible "
18645 "policy, in other words, could be a balanced policy. For most of our history, "
18646 "both copyright and patent policies were balanced in just this sense."
18649 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18650 #: freeculture.xml:13420
18652 "But we as a culture have lost this sense of balance. We have lost the "
18653 "critical eye that helps us see the difference between truth and extremism. "
18654 "A certain property fundamentalism, having no connection to our tradition, "
18655 "now reigns in this culture—bizarrely, and with consequences more grave "
18656 "to the spread of ideas and culture than almost any other single policy "
18657 "decision that we as a democracy will make."
18661 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18662 #: freeculture.xml:13429
18664 "<emphasis role='strong'>A simple idea</emphasis> blinds us, and under the "
18665 "cover of darkness, much happens that most of us would reject if any of us "
18666 "looked. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in ideas that we "
18667 "don't even notice how monstrous it is to deny ideas to a people who are "
18668 "dying without them. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in "
18669 "culture that we don't even question when the control of that property "
18670 "removes our ability, as a people, to develop our culture "
18671 "democratically. Blindness becomes our common sense. And the challenge for "
18672 "anyone who would reclaim the right to cultivate our culture is to find a way "
18673 "to make this common sense open its eyes."
18676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18677 #: freeculture.xml:13443
18679 "So far, common sense sleeps. There is no revolt. Common sense does not yet "
18680 "see what there could be to revolt about. The extremism that now dominates "
18681 "this debate fits with ideas that seem natural, and that fit is reinforced by "
18682 "the RCAs of our day. They wage a frantic war to fight <quote>piracy,</quote> "
18683 "and devastate a culture for creativity. They defend the idea of "
18684 "<quote>creative property,</quote> while transforming real creators into "
18685 "modern-day sharecroppers. They are insulted by the idea that rights should "
18686 "be balanced, even though each of the major players in this content war was "
18687 "itself a beneficiary of a more balanced ideal. The hypocrisy reeks. Yet in a "
18688 "city like Washington, hypocrisy is not even noticed. Powerful lobbies, "
18689 "complex issues, and MTV attention spans produce the <quote>perfect "
18690 "storm</quote> for free culture."
18693 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18694 #: freeculture.xml:13456 freeculture.xml:14226
18695 msgid "academic journals"
18698 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18699 #: freeculture.xml:13457 freeculture.xml:13470
18700 msgid "biomedical research"
18703 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18704 #: freeculture.xml:13458 freeculture.xml:13628
18705 msgid "international organization on issues of"
18708 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18709 #: freeculture.xml:13460 freeculture.xml:13577 freeculture.xml:14145
18713 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18714 #: freeculture.xml:13461 freeculture.xml:14292
18715 msgid "PLoS (Public Library of Science)"
18718 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18719 #: freeculture.xml:13462 freeculture.xml:14293
18720 msgid "Public Library of Science (PLoS)"
18723 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18724 #: freeculture.xml:13463
18725 msgid "public projects in"
18728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18729 #: freeculture.xml:13464
18730 msgid "single nucleotied polymorphisms (SNPs)"
18733 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18734 #: freeculture.xml:13465
18735 msgid "Wellcome Trust"
18738 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18739 #: freeculture.xml:13466 freeculture.xml:13629
18740 msgid "World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)"
18743 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18744 #: freeculture.xml:13467
18745 msgid "World Wide Web"
18748 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18749 #: freeculture.xml:13468
18750 msgid "Global Positioning System"
18754 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18755 #: freeculture.xml:13475
18757 "Jonathan Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> "
18758 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, August 2003, E1, available at <ulink "
18759 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #59</ulink>; William New, "
18760 "<quote>Global Group's Shift on `Open Source' Meeting Spurs Stir,</quote> "
18761 "<citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 August 2003, "
18762 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #60</ulink>; "
18763 "William New, <quote>U.S. Official Opposes `Open Source' Talks at "
18764 "WIPO,</quote> <citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 "
18765 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
18770 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18771 #: freeculture.xml:13472
18773 "<emphasis role='strong'>In August 2003</emphasis>, a fight broke out in the "
18774 "United States about a decision by the World Intellectual Property "
18775 "Organization to cancel a meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
18776 "At the request of a wide range of interests, WIPO had decided to hold a "
18777 "meeting to discuss <quote>open and collaborative projects to create public "
18778 "goods.</quote> These are projects that have been successful in producing "
18779 "public goods without relying exclusively upon a proprietary use of "
18780 "intellectual property. Examples include the Internet and the World Wide Web, "
18781 "both of which were developed on the basis of protocols in the public "
18782 "domain. It included an emerging trend to support open academic journals, "
18783 "including the Public Library of Science project that I describe in chapter "
18784 "<xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"c-afterword\"/>. It "
18785 "included a project to develop single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which "
18786 "are thought to have great significance in biomedical research. (That "
18787 "nonprofit project comprised a consortium of the Wellcome Trust and "
18788 "pharmaceutical and technological companies, including Amersham Biosciences, "
18789 "AstraZeneca, Aventis, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffmann-La Roche, "
18790 "Glaxo-SmithKline, IBM, Motorola, Novartis, Pfizer, and Searle.) It included "
18791 "the Global Positioning System, which Ronald Reagan set free in the early "
18792 "1980s. And it included <quote>open source and free software.</quote>"
18795 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18796 #: freeculture.xml:13508
18798 "The aim of the meeting was to consider this wide range of projects from one "
18799 "common perspective: that none of these projects relied upon intellectual "
18800 "property extremism. Instead, in all of them, intellectual property was "
18801 "balanced by agreements to keep access open or to impose limitations on the "
18802 "way in which proprietary claims might be used."
18805 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18806 #: freeculture.xml:13514
18807 msgid "in international debate on intellectual property"
18811 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18812 #: freeculture.xml:13517
18814 "I should disclose that I was one of the people who asked WIPO for the "
18818 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18819 #: freeculture.xml:13516
18821 "From the perspective of this book, then, the conference was "
18822 "ideal.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The projects within its "
18823 "scope included both commercial and noncommercial work. They primarily "
18824 "involved science, but from many perspectives. And WIPO was an ideal venue "
18825 "for this discussion, since WIPO is the preeminent international body dealing "
18826 "with intellectual property issues."
18829 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18830 #: freeculture.xml:13526 freeculture.xml:13682
18831 msgid "World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)"
18835 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18836 #: freeculture.xml:13528
18838 "Indeed, I was once publicly scolded for not recognizing this fact about "
18839 "WIPO. In February 2003, I delivered a keynote address to a preparatory "
18840 "conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At a "
18841 "press conference before the address, I was asked what I would say. I "
18842 "responded that I would be talking a little about the importance of balance "
18843 "in intellectual property for the development of an information society. The "
18844 "moderator for the event then promptly interrupted to inform me and the "
18845 "assembled reporters that no question about intellectual property would be "
18846 "discussed by WSIS, since those questions were the exclusive domain of "
18847 "WIPO. In the talk that I had prepared, I had actually made the issue of "
18848 "intellectual property relatively minor. But after this astonishing "
18849 "statement, I made intellectual property the sole focus of my talk. There was "
18850 "no way to talk about an <quote>Information Society</quote> unless one also "
18851 "talked about the range of information and culture that would be free. My "
18852 "talk did not make my immoderate moderator very happy. And she was no doubt "
18853 "correct that the scope of intellectual property protections was ordinarily "
18854 "the stuff of WIPO. But in my view, there couldn't be too much of a "
18855 "conversation about how much intellectual property is needed, since in my "
18856 "view, the very idea of balance in intellectual property had been lost."
18859 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18860 #: freeculture.xml:13552
18862 "So whether or not WSIS can discuss balance in intellectual property, I had "
18863 "thought it was taken for granted that WIPO could and should. And thus the "
18864 "meeting about <quote>open and collaborative projects to create public "
18865 "goods</quote> seemed perfectly appropriate within the WIPO agenda."
18868 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18869 #: freeculture.xml:13561 freeculture.xml:15291
18870 msgid "Apple Corporation"
18873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18874 #: freeculture.xml:13562
18875 msgid "on free software"
18878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18879 #: freeculture.xml:13564
18881 "But there is one project within that list that is highly controversial, at "
18882 "least among lobbyists. That project is <quote>open source and free "
18883 "software.</quote> Microsoft in particular is wary of discussion of the "
18884 "subject. From its perspective, a conference to discuss open source and free "
18885 "software would be like a conference to discuss Apple's operating "
18886 "system. Both open source and free software compete with Microsoft's "
18887 "software. And internationally, many governments have begun to explore "
18888 "requirements that they use open source or free software, rather than "
18889 "<quote>proprietary software,</quote> for their own internal uses."
18892 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18893 #: freeculture.xml:13574
18894 msgid "<quote>copyleft</quote> licenses"
18898 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18899 #: freeculture.xml:13590
18901 "Microsoft's position about free and open source software is more "
18902 "sophisticated. As it has repeatedly asserted, it has no problem with "
18903 "<quote>open source</quote> software or software in the public "
18904 "domain. Microsoft's principal opposition is to <quote>free software</quote> "
18905 "licensed under a <quote>copyleft</quote> license, meaning a license that "
18906 "requires the licensee to adopt the same terms on any derivative work. See "
18907 "Bradford L. Smith, <quote>The Future of Software: Enabling the Marketplace "
18908 "to Decide,</quote> <citetitle>Government Policy Toward Open Source "
18909 "Software</citetitle> (Washington, D.C.: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for "
18910 "Regulatory Studies, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy "
18911 "Research, 2002), 69, available at <ulink "
18912 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #62</ulink>. See also Craig "
18913 "Mundie, Microsoft senior vice president, <citetitle>The Commercial Software "
18914 "Model</citetitle>, discussion at New York University Stern School of "
18915 "Business (3 May 2001), available at <ulink "
18916 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #63</ulink>."
18919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18920 #: freeculture.xml:13579
18922 "I don't mean to enter that debate here. It is important only to make clear "
18923 "that the distinction is not between commercial and noncommercial "
18924 "software. There are many important companies that depend fundamentally upon "
18925 "open source and free software, IBM being the most prominent. IBM is "
18926 "increasingly shifting its focus to the GNU/Linux operating system, the most "
18927 "famous bit of <quote>free software</quote>—and IBM is emphatically a "
18928 "commercial entity. Thus, to support <quote>open source and free "
18929 "software</quote> is not to oppose commercial entities. It is, instead, to "
18930 "support a mode of software development that is different from "
18931 "Microsoft's.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18934 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18935 #: freeculture.xml:13608
18936 msgid "General Public License (GPL)"
18939 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18940 #: freeculture.xml:13609
18941 msgid "GPL (General Public License)"
18945 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18946 #: freeculture.xml:13611
18948 "More important for our purposes, to support <quote>open source and free "
18949 "software</quote> is not to oppose copyright. <quote>Open source and free "
18950 "software</quote> is not software in the public domain. Instead, like "
18951 "Microsoft's software, the copyright owners of free and open source software "
18952 "insist quite strongly that the terms of their software license be respected "
18953 "by adopters of free and open source software. The terms of that license are "
18954 "no doubt different from the terms of a proprietary software license. Free "
18955 "software licensed under the General Public License (GPL), for example, "
18956 "requires that the source code for the software be made available by anyone "
18957 "who modifies and redistributes the software. But that requirement is "
18958 "effective only if copyright governs software. If copyright did not govern "
18959 "software, then free software could not impose the same kind of requirements "
18960 "on its adopters. It thus depends upon copyright law just as Microsoft does."
18963 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
18964 #: freeculture.xml:13630
18965 msgid "Krim, Jonathan"
18968 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
18969 #: freeculture.xml:13631
18970 msgid "WIPO meeting opposed by"
18974 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
18975 #: freeculture.xml:13641
18977 "Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> available at <ulink "
18978 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #64</ulink>."
18981 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18982 #: freeculture.xml:13633
18984 "It is therefore understandable that as a proprietary software developer, "
18985 "Microsoft would oppose this WIPO meeting, and understandable that it would "
18986 "use its lobbyists to get the United States government to oppose it, as "
18987 "well. And indeed, that is just what was reported to have happened. According "
18988 "to Jonathan Krim of the <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, Microsoft's "
18989 "lobbyists succeeded in getting the United States government to veto the "
18990 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And without U.S. backing, "
18991 "the meeting was canceled."
18994 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18995 #: freeculture.xml:13647
18997 "I don't blame Microsoft for doing what it can to advance its own interests, "
18998 "consistent with the law. And lobbying governments is plainly consistent with "
18999 "the law. There was nothing surprising about its lobbying here, and nothing "
19000 "terribly surprising about the most powerful software producer in the United "
19001 "States having succeeded in its lobbying efforts."
19004 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19005 #: freeculture.xml:13655 freeculture.xml:13713
19006 msgid "Boland, Lois"
19009 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19010 #: freeculture.xml:13657
19012 "What was surprising was the United States government's reason for opposing "
19013 "the meeting. Again, as reported by Krim, Lois Boland, acting director of "
19014 "international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, explained "
19015 "that <quote>open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which "
19016 "is to promote intellectual-property rights.</quote> She is quoted as saying, "
19017 "<quote>To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such "
19018 "rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO.</quote>"
19021 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19022 #: freeculture.xml:13668
19023 msgid "These statements are astonishing on a number of levels."
19026 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19027 #: freeculture.xml:13673
19029 "First, they are just flat wrong. As I described, most open source and free "
19030 "software relies fundamentally upon the intellectual property right called "
19031 "<quote>copyright</quote>. Without it, restrictions imposed by those "
19032 "licenses wouldn't work. Thus, to say it <quote>runs counter</quote> to the "
19033 "mission of promoting intellectual property rights reveals an extraordinary "
19034 "gap in understanding—the sort of mistake that is excusable in a "
19035 "first-year law student, but an embarrassment from a high government official "
19036 "dealing with intellectual property issues."
19039 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19040 #: freeculture.xml:13684
19041 msgid "generic drugs"
19044 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19045 #: freeculture.xml:13687
19047 "Second, who ever said that WIPO's exclusive aim was to "
19048 "<quote>promote</quote> intellectual property maximally? As I had been "
19049 "scolded at the preparatory conference of WSIS, WIPO is to consider not only "
19050 "how best to protect intellectual property, but also what the best balance of "
19051 "intellectual property is. As every economist and lawyer knows, the hard "
19052 "question in intellectual property law is to find that balance. But that "
19053 "there should be limits is, I had thought, uncontested. One wants to ask "
19054 "Ms. Boland, are generic drugs (drugs based on drugs whose patent has "
19055 "expired) contrary to the WIPO mission? Does the public domain weaken "
19056 "intellectual property? Would it have been better if the protocols of the "
19057 "Internet had been patented?"
19060 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19061 #: freeculture.xml:13701
19063 "Third, even if one believed that the purpose of WIPO was to maximize "
19064 "intellectual property rights, in our tradition, intellectual property rights "
19065 "are held by individuals and corporations. They get to decide what to do with "
19066 "those rights because, again, they are <emphasis>their</emphasis> rights. If "
19067 "they want to <quote>waive</quote> or <quote>disclaim</quote> their rights, "
19068 "that is, within our tradition, totally appropriate. When Bill Gates gives "
19069 "away more than $20 billion to do good in the world, that is not inconsistent "
19070 "with the objectives of the property system. That is, on the contrary, just "
19071 "what a property system is supposed to be about: giving individuals the right "
19072 "to decide what to do with <emphasis>their</emphasis> property."
19076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19077 #: freeculture.xml:13715
19079 "When Ms. Boland says that there is something wrong with a meeting "
19080 "<quote>which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights,</quote> "
19081 "she's saying that WIPO has an interest in interfering with the choices of "
19082 "the individuals who own intellectual property rights. That somehow, WIPO's "
19083 "objective should be to stop an individual from <quote>waiving</quote> or "
19084 "<quote>disclaiming</quote> an intellectual property right. That the interest "
19085 "of WIPO is not just that intellectual property rights be maximized, but that "
19086 "they also should be exercised in the most extreme and restrictive way "
19090 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19091 #: freeculture.xml:13726
19092 msgid "feudal system"
19095 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
19096 #: freeculture.xml:13727
19097 msgid "feudal system of"
19100 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19101 #: freeculture.xml:13729
19103 "There is a history of just such a property system that is well known in the "
19104 "Anglo-American tradition. It is called <quote>feudalism.</quote> Under "
19105 "feudalism, not only was property held by a relatively small number of "
19106 "individuals and entities. And not only were the rights that ran with that "
19107 "property powerful and extensive. But the feudal system had a strong interest "
19108 "in assuring that property holders within that system not weaken feudalism by "
19109 "liberating people or property within their control to the free "
19110 "market. Feudalism depended upon maximum control and concentration. It fought "
19111 "any freedom that might interfere with that control."
19114 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19115 #: freeculture.xml:13746
19117 "See Drahos with Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism</citetitle>, "
19118 "210–20. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
19121 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19122 #: freeculture.xml:13743
19124 "As Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite relate, this is precisely the choice we "
19125 "are now making about intellectual property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
19126 "id=\"0\"/> We will have an information society. That much is certain. Our "
19127 "only choice now is whether that information society will be "
19128 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> or <emphasis>feudal</emphasis>. The trend is "
19129 "toward the feudal."
19132 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19133 #: freeculture.xml:13757
19135 "When this battle broke, I blogged it. A spirited debate within the comment "
19136 "section ensued. Ms. Boland had a number of supporters who tried to show why "
19137 "her comments made sense. But there was one comment that was particularly "
19138 "depressing for me. An anonymous poster wrote,"
19142 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
19143 #: freeculture.xml:13766
19145 "George, you misunderstand Lessig: He's only talking about the world as it "
19146 "should be (<quote>the goal of WIPO, and the goal of any government, should "
19147 "be to promote the right balance of intellectual property rights, not simply "
19148 "to promote intellectual property rights</quote>), not as it is. If we were "
19149 "talking about the world as it is, then of course Boland didn't say anything "
19150 "wrong. But in the world as Lessig would have it, then of course she "
19151 "did. Always pay attention to the distinction between Lessig's world and "
19155 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19156 #: freeculture.xml:13778
19158 "I missed the irony the first time I read it. I read it quickly and thought "
19159 "the poster was supporting the idea that seeking balance was what our "
19160 "government should be doing. (Of course, my criticism of Ms. Boland was not "
19161 "about whether she was seeking balance or not; my criticism was that her "
19162 "comments betrayed a first-year law student's mistake. I have no illusion "
19163 "about the extremism of our government, whether Republican or Democrat. My "
19164 "only illusion apparently is about whether our government should speak the "
19168 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19169 #: freeculture.xml:13789
19171 "Obviously, however, the poster was not supporting that idea. Instead, the "
19172 "poster was ridiculing the very idea that in the real world, the "
19173 "<quote>goal</quote> of a government should be <quote>to promote the right "
19174 "balance</quote> of intellectual property. That was obviously silly to "
19175 "him. And it obviously betrayed, he believed, my own silly "
19176 "utopianism. <quote>Typical for an academic,</quote> the poster might well "
19180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19181 #: freeculture.xml:13797
19183 "I understand criticism of academic utopianism. I think utopianism is silly, "
19184 "too, and I'd be the first to poke fun at the absurdly unrealistic ideals of "
19185 "academics throughout history (and not just in our own country's history)."
19188 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19189 #: freeculture.xml:13803
19191 "But when it has become silly to suppose that the role of our government "
19192 "should be to <quote>seek balance,</quote> then count me with the silly, for "
19193 "that means that this has become quite serious indeed. If it should be "
19194 "obvious to everyone that the government does not seek balance, that the "
19195 "government is simply the tool of the most powerful lobbyists, that the idea "
19196 "of holding the government to a different standard is absurd, that the idea "
19197 "of demanding of the government that it speak truth and not lies is just "
19198 "naïve, then who have we, the most powerful democracy in the world, "
19203 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19204 #: freeculture.xml:13814
19206 "It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the "
19207 "truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be something "
19208 "more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It might be crazy "
19209 "to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has been part of our "
19210 "tradition for most of our history—free culture."
19213 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19214 #: freeculture.xml:13822
19215 msgid "If this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon."
19218 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19219 #: freeculture.xml:13826
19220 msgid "Turner, Ted"
19223 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19224 #: freeculture.xml:13828
19226 "<emphasis role='strong'>There are moments</emphasis> of hope in this "
19227 "struggle. And moments that surprise. When the FCC was considering relaxing "
19228 "ownership rules, which would thereby further increase the concentration in "
19229 "media ownership, an extraordinary bipartisan coalition formed to fight this "
19230 "change. For perhaps the first time in history, interests as diverse as the "
19231 "NRA, the ACLU, Moveon.org, William Safire, Ted Turner, and CodePink Women "
19232 "for Peace organized to oppose this change in FCC policy. An astonishing "
19233 "700,000 letters were sent to the FCC, demanding more hearings and a "
19234 "different result."
19237 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19238 #: freeculture.xml:13839
19240 "This activism did not stop the FCC, but soon after, a broad coalition in the "
19241 "Senate voted to reverse the FCC decision. The hostile hearings leading up to "
19242 "that vote revealed just how powerful this movement had become. There was no "
19243 "substantial support for the FCC's decision, and there was broad and "
19244 "sustained support for fighting further concentration in the media."
19247 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19248 #: freeculture.xml:13847
19250 "But even this movement misses an important piece of the puzzle. Largeness "
19251 "as such is not bad. Freedom is not threatened just because some become very "
19252 "rich, or because there are only a handful of big players. The poor quality "
19253 "of Big Macs or Quarter Pounders does not mean that you can't get a good "
19254 "hamburger from somewhere else."
19257 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19258 #: freeculture.xml:13854
19260 "The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but "
19261 "instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in "
19262 "copyright, produces. It is not just that there are a few powerful companies "
19263 "that control an ever expanding slice of the media. It is that this "
19264 "concentration can call upon an equally bloated range of "
19265 "rights—property rights of a historically extreme form—that makes "
19266 "their bigness bad."
19269 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19270 #: freeculture.xml:13864
19272 "It is therefore significant that so many would rally to demand competition "
19273 "and increased diversity. Still, if the rally is understood as being about "
19274 "bigness alone, it is not terribly surprising. We Americans have a long "
19275 "history of fighting <quote>big,</quote> wisely or not. That we could be "
19276 "motivated to fight <quote>big</quote> again is not something new."
19279 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19280 #: freeculture.xml:13871
19282 "It would be something new, and something very important, if an equal number "
19283 "could be rallied to fight the increasing extremism built within the idea of "
19284 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote> Not because balance is alien to our "
19285 "tradition; indeed, as I've argued, balance is our tradition. But because the "
19286 "muscle to think critically about the scope of anything called "
19287 "<quote>property</quote> is not well exercised within this tradition anymore."
19290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19291 #: freeculture.xml:13879
19293 "If we were Achilles, this would be our heel. This would be the place of our "
19297 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19298 #: freeculture.xml:13882
19303 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19304 #: freeculture.xml:13888
19306 "John Borland, <quote>RIAA Sues 261 File Swappers,</quote> CNET News.com, "
19307 "September 2003, available at <ulink "
19308 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #65</ulink>; Paul R. La Monica, "
19309 "<quote>Music Industry Sues Swappers,</quote> CNN/Money, 8 September 2003, "
19310 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #66</ulink>; "
19311 "Soni Sangha and Phyllis Furman with Robert Gearty, <quote>Sued for a Song, "
19312 "N.Y.C. 12-Yr-Old Among 261 Cited as Sharers,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
19313 "Daily News</citetitle>, 9 September 2003, 3; Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's "
19314 "Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl "
19315 "in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 "
19316 "September 2003, E1; Katie Dean, <quote>Schoolgirl Settles with RIAA,</quote> "
19317 "<citetitle>Wired News</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, available at <ulink "
19318 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #67</ulink>."
19322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19323 #: freeculture.xml:13906
19325 "Jon Wiederhorn, <quote>Eminem Gets Sued … by a Little Old "
19326 "Lady,</quote> mtv.com, 17 September 2003, available at <ulink "
19327 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #68</ulink>."
19332 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19333 #: freeculture.xml:13913
19335 "Kenji Hall, Associated Press, <quote>Japanese Book May Be Inspiration for "
19336 "Dylan Songs,</quote> Kansascity.com, 9 July 2003, available at <ulink "
19337 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #69</ulink>."
19340 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19341 #: freeculture.xml:13884
19343 "<emphasis role='strong'>As I write</emphasis> these final words, the news is "
19344 "filled with stories about the RIAA lawsuits against almost three hundred "
19345 "individuals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Eminem has just been "
19346 "sued for <quote>sampling</quote> someone else's music.<placeholder "
19347 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The story about Bob Dylan "
19348 "<quote>stealing</quote> from a Japanese author has just finished making the "
19349 "rounds.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> An insider from "
19350 "Hollywood—who insists he must remain anonymous—reports <quote>an "
19351 "amazing conversation with these studio guys. They've got extraordinary [old] "
19352 "content that they'd love to use but can't because they can't begin to clear "
19353 "the rights. They've got scores of kids who could do amazing things with the "
19354 "content, but it would take scores of lawyers to clean it first.</quote> "
19355 "Congressmen are talking about deputizing computer viruses to bring down "
19356 "computers thought to violate the law. Universities are threatening expulsion "
19357 "for kids who use a computer to share content."
19360 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19361 #: freeculture.xml:13930
19365 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19366 #: freeculture.xml:13931
19367 msgid "Brazil, free culture in"
19370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19371 #: freeculture.xml:13932 freeculture.xml:14323
19372 msgid "Creative Commons"
19375 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
19376 #: freeculture.xml:13933
19377 msgid "Gil, Gilberto"
19380 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
19381 #: freeculture.xml:13934
19382 msgid "public creative archive in"
19386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19387 #: freeculture.xml:13939
19389 "<quote>BBC Plans to Open Up Its Archive to the Public,</quote> BBC press "
19390 "release, 24 August 2003, available at <ulink "
19391 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #70</ulink>."
19395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
19396 #: freeculture.xml:13948
19398 "<quote>Creative Commons and Brazil,</quote> Creative Commons Weblog, 6 "
19399 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
19404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19405 #: freeculture.xml:13936
19407 "Yet on the other side of the Atlantic, the BBC has just announced that it "
19408 "will build a <quote>Creative Archive,</quote> from which British citizens "
19409 "can download BBC content, and rip, mix, and burn it.<placeholder "
19410 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And in Brazil, the culture minister, Gilberto "
19411 "Gil, himself a folk hero of Brazilian music, has joined with Creative "
19412 "Commons to release content and free licenses in that Latin American "
19413 "country.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> I've told a dark "
19414 "story. The truth is more mixed. A technology has given us a new "
19415 "freedom. Slowly, some begin to understand that this freedom need not mean "
19416 "anarchy. We can carry a free culture into the twenty-first century, without "
19417 "artists losing and without the potential of digital technology being "
19418 "destroyed. It will take some thought, and more importantly, it will take "
19419 "some will to transform the RCAs of our day into the Causbys."
19423 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19424 #: freeculture.xml:13962
19426 "Common sense must revolt. It must act to free culture. Soon, if this "
19427 "potential is ever to be realized."
19430 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
19431 #: freeculture.xml:13970
19436 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19437 #: freeculture.xml:13974
19439 "<emphasis role='strong'>At least some</emphasis> who have read this far will "
19440 "agree with me that something must be done to change where we are "
19441 "heading. The balance of this book maps what might be done."
19444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19445 #: freeculture.xml:13979
19447 "I divide this map into two parts: that which anyone can do now, and that "
19448 "which requires the help of lawmakers. If there is one lesson that we can "
19449 "draw from the history of remaking common sense, it is that it requires "
19450 "remaking how many people think about the very same issue."
19453 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19454 #: freeculture.xml:13985
19456 "That means this movement must begin in the streets. It must recruit a "
19457 "significant number of parents, teachers, librarians, creators, authors, "
19458 "musicians, filmmakers, scientists—all to tell this story in their own "
19459 "words, and to tell their neighbors why this battle is so important."
19462 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19463 #: freeculture.xml:13992
19465 "Once this movement has its effect in the streets, it has some hope of having "
19466 "an effect in Washington. We are still a democracy. What people think "
19467 "matters. Not as much as it should, at least when an RCA stands opposed, but "
19468 "still, it matters. And thus, in the second part below, I sketch changes that "
19469 "Congress could make to better secure a free culture."
19472 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
19473 #: freeculture.xml:14001
19477 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
19478 #: freeculture.xml:14003
19480 "<emphasis role='strong'>Common sense</emphasis> is with the copyright "
19481 "warriors because the debate so far has been framed at the extremes—as "
19482 "a grand either/or: either property or anarchy, either total control or "
19483 "artists won't be paid. If that really is the choice, then the warriors "
19487 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
19488 #: freeculture.xml:14010
19490 "The mistake here is the error of the excluded middle. There are extremes in "
19491 "this debate, but the extremes are not all that there is. There are those who "
19492 "believe in maximal copyright—<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote>— "
19493 "and those who reject copyright—<quote>No Rights Reserved.</quote> The "
19494 "<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe that you should ask "
19495 "permission before you <quote>use</quote> a copyrighted work in any way. The "
19496 "<quote>No Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe you should be able to do "
19497 "with content as you wish, regardless of whether you have permission or not."
19500 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
19501 #: freeculture.xml:14020
19502 msgid "initial free character of"
19506 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
19507 #: freeculture.xml:14022
19509 "When the Internet was first born, its initial architecture effectively "
19510 "tilted in the <quote>no rights reserved</quote> direction. Content could be "
19511 "copied perfectly and cheaply; rights could not easily be controlled. Thus, "
19512 "regardless of anyone's desire, the effective regime of copyright under the "
19513 "original design of the Internet was <quote>no rights reserved.</quote> "
19514 "Content was <quote>taken</quote> regardless of the rights. Any rights were "
19515 "effectively unprotected."
19518 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
19519 #: freeculture.xml:14034
19521 "This initial character produced a reaction (opposite, but not quite equal) "
19522 "by copyright owners. That reaction has been the topic of this book. Through "
19523 "legislation, litigation, and changes to the network's design, copyright "
19524 "holders have been able to change the essential character of the environment "
19525 "of the original Internet. If the original architecture made the effective "
19526 "default <quote>no rights reserved,</quote> the future architecture will make "
19527 "the effective default <quote>all rights reserved.</quote> The architecture "
19528 "and law that surround the Internet's design will increasingly produce an "
19529 "environment where all use of content requires permission. The <quote>cut "
19530 "and paste</quote> world that defines the Internet today will become a "
19531 "<quote>get permission to cut and paste</quote> world that is a creator's "
19535 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
19536 #: freeculture.xml:14050
19538 "What's needed is a way to say something in the middle—neither "
19539 "<quote>all rights reserved</quote> nor <quote>no rights reserved</quote> but "
19540 "<quote>some rights reserved</quote>— and thus a way to respect "
19541 "copyrights but enable creators to free content as they see fit. In other "
19542 "words, we need a way to restore a set of freedoms that we could just take "
19543 "for granted before."
19546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
19547 #: freeculture.xml:14058
19548 msgid "Rebuilding Freedoms Previously Presumed: Examples"
19551 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19552 #: freeculture.xml:14059
19553 msgid "restoration efforts on previous aspects of"
19556 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19557 #: freeculture.xml:14061
19558 msgid "privacy rights"
19561 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19562 #: freeculture.xml:14063
19564 "If you step back from the battle I've been describing here, you will "
19565 "recognize this problem from other contexts. Think about privacy. Before the "
19566 "Internet, most of us didn't have to worry much about data about our lives "
19567 "that we broadcast to the world. If you walked into a bookstore and browsed "
19568 "through some of the works of Karl Marx, you didn't need to worry about "
19569 "explaining your browsing habits to your neighbors or boss. The "
19570 "<quote>privacy</quote> of your browsing habits was assured."
19573 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19574 #: freeculture.xml:14073
19575 msgid "What made it assured?"
19578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19579 #: freeculture.xml:14077
19581 "Well, if we think in terms of the modalities I described in chapter <xref "
19582 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, your privacy was "
19583 "assured because of an inefficient architecture for gathering data and hence "
19584 "a market constraint (cost) on anyone who wanted to gather that data. If you "
19585 "were a suspected spy for North Korea, working for the CIA, no doubt your "
19586 "privacy would not be assured. But that's because the CIA would (we hope) "
19587 "find it valuable enough to spend the thousands required to track you. But "
19588 "for most of us (again, we can hope), spying doesn't pay. The highly "
19589 "inefficient architecture of real space means we all enjoy a fairly robust "
19590 "amount of privacy. That privacy is guaranteed to us by friction. Not by law "
19591 "(there is no law protecting <quote>privacy</quote> in public places), and in "
19592 "many places, not by norms (snooping and gossip are just fun), but instead, "
19593 "by the costs that friction imposes on anyone who would want to spy."
19596 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19597 #: freeculture.xml:14092
19601 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19602 #: freeculture.xml:14093
19603 msgid "cookies, Internet"
19606 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19607 #: freeculture.xml:14094
19608 msgid "privacy protection on"
19611 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19612 #: freeculture.xml:14096
19614 "Enter the Internet, where the cost of tracking browsing in particular has "
19615 "become quite tiny. If you're a customer at Amazon, then as you browse the "
19616 "pages, Amazon collects the data about what you've looked at. You know this "
19617 "because at the side of the page, there's a list of <quote>recently "
19618 "viewed</quote> pages. Now, because of the architecture of the Net and the "
19619 "function of cookies on the Net, it is easier to collect the data than "
19620 "not. The friction has disappeared, and hence any <quote>privacy</quote> "
19621 "protected by the friction disappears, too."
19624 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19625 #: freeculture.xml:14105
19626 msgid "privacy rights in use of"
19629 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19630 #: freeculture.xml:14107
19632 "Amazon, of course, is not the problem. But we might begin to worry about "
19633 "libraries. If you're one of those crazy lefties who thinks that people "
19634 "should have the <quote>right</quote> to browse in a library without the "
19635 "government knowing which books you look at (I'm one of those lefties, too), "
19636 "then this change in the technology of monitoring might concern you. If it "
19637 "becomes simple to gather and sort who does what in electronic spaces, then "
19638 "the friction-induced privacy of yesterday disappears."
19642 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19643 #: freeculture.xml:14125
19645 "See, for example, Marc Rotenberg, <quote>Fair Information Practices and the "
19646 "Architecture of Privacy (What Larry Doesn't Get),</quote> "
19647 "<citetitle>Stanford Technology Law Review</citetitle> 1 (2001): "
19648 "par. 6–18, available at <ulink "
19649 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink> (describing examples "
19650 "in which technology defines privacy policy). See also Jeffrey Rosen, "
19651 "<citetitle>The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious "
19652 "Age</citetitle> (New York: Random House, 2004) (mapping tradeoffs between "
19653 "technology and privacy)."
19657 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19658 #: freeculture.xml:14119
19660 "It is this reality that explains the push of many to define "
19661 "<quote>privacy</quote> on the Internet. It is the recognition that "
19662 "technology can remove what friction before gave us that leads many to push "
19663 "for laws to do what friction did.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
19664 "And whether you're in favor of those laws or not, it is the pattern that is "
19665 "important here. We must take affirmative steps to secure a kind of freedom "
19666 "that was passively provided before. A change in technology now forces those "
19667 "who believe in privacy to affirmatively act where, before, privacy was given "
19671 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19672 #: freeculture.xml:14144
19673 msgid "Data General"
19676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19677 #: freeculture.xml:14148
19679 "A similar story could be told about the birth of the free software "
19680 "movement. When computers with software were first made available "
19681 "commercially, the software—both the source code and the "
19682 "binaries— was free. You couldn't run a program written for a Data "
19683 "General machine on an IBM machine, so Data General and IBM didn't care much "
19684 "about controlling their software."
19687 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19688 #: freeculture.xml:14155
19689 msgid "Stallman, Richard"
19692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19693 #: freeculture.xml:14157
19695 "That was the world Richard Stallman was born into, and while he was a "
19696 "researcher at MIT, he grew to love the community that developed when one was "
19697 "free to explore and tinker with the software that ran on machines. Being a "
19698 "smart sort himself, and a talented programmer, Stallman grew to depend upon "
19699 "the freedom to add to or modify other people's work."
19702 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19703 #: freeculture.xml:14165
19705 "In an academic setting, at least, that's not a terribly radical idea. In a "
19706 "math department, anyone would be free to tinker with a proof that someone "
19707 "offered. If you thought you had a better way to prove a theorem, you could "
19708 "take what someone else did and change it. In a classics department, if you "
19709 "believed a colleague's translation of a recently discovered text was flawed, "
19710 "you were free to improve it. Thus, to Stallman, it seemed obvious that you "
19711 "should be free to tinker with and improve the code that ran a machine. This, "
19712 "too, was knowledge. Why shouldn't it be open for criticism like anything "
19716 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19717 #: freeculture.xml:14176
19718 msgid "proprietary code"
19721 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19722 #: freeculture.xml:14178
19724 "No one answered that question. Instead, the architecture of revenue for "
19725 "computing changed. As it became possible to import programs from one system "
19726 "to another, it became economically attractive (at least in the view of some) "
19727 "to hide the code of your program. So, too, as companies started selling "
19728 "peripherals for mainframe systems. If I could just take your printer driver "
19729 "and copy it, then that would make it easier for me to sell a printer to the "
19730 "market than it was for you."
19734 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19735 #: freeculture.xml:14187
19737 "Thus, the practice of proprietary code began to spread, and by the early "
19738 "1980s, Stallman found himself surrounded by proprietary code. The world of "
19739 "free software had been erased by a change in the economics of computing. And "
19740 "as he believed, if he did nothing about it, then the freedom to change and "
19741 "share software would be fundamentally weakened."
19744 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19745 #: freeculture.xml:14196
19746 msgid "Torvalds, Linus"
19749 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19750 #: freeculture.xml:14198
19752 "Therefore, in 1984, Stallman began a project to build a free operating "
19753 "system, so that at least a strain of free software would survive. That was "
19754 "the birth of the GNU project, into which Linus Torvalds's "
19755 "<quote>Linux</quote> kernel was added to produce the GNU/Linux operating "
19756 "system. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
19757 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
19760 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19761 #: freeculture.xml:14206
19763 "Stallman's technique was to use copyright law to build a world of software "
19764 "that must be kept free. Software licensed under the Free Software "
19765 "Foundation's GPL cannot be modified and distributed unless the source code "
19766 "for that software is made available as well. Thus, anyone building upon "
19767 "GPL'd software would have to make their buildings free as well. This would "
19768 "assure, Stallman believed, that an ecology of code would develop that "
19769 "remained free for others to build upon. His fundamental goal was freedom; "
19770 "innovative creative code was a byproduct."
19773 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19774 #: freeculture.xml:14217
19776 "Stallman was thus doing for software what privacy advocates now do for "
19777 "privacy. He was seeking a way to rebuild a kind of freedom that was taken "
19778 "for granted before. Through the affirmative use of licenses that bind "
19779 "copyrighted code, Stallman was affirmatively reclaiming a space where free "
19780 "software would survive. He was actively protecting what before had been "
19781 "passively guaranteed."
19784 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19785 #: freeculture.xml:14227
19786 msgid "scientific journals"
19789 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19790 #: freeculture.xml:14229
19792 "Finally, consider a very recent example that more directly resonates with "
19793 "the story of this book. This is the shift in the way academic and scientific "
19794 "journals are produced."
19797 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19798 #: freeculture.xml:14233
19799 msgid "Lexis and Westlaw"
19802 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19803 #: freeculture.xml:14235 freeculture.xml:14271
19804 msgid "journals in"
19807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19808 #: freeculture.xml:14236
19809 msgid "access to opinions of"
19813 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19814 #: freeculture.xml:14238
19816 "As digital technologies develop, it is becoming obvious to many that "
19817 "printing thousands of copies of journals every month and sending them to "
19818 "libraries is perhaps not the most efficient way to distribute "
19819 "knowledge. Instead, journals are increasingly becoming electronic, and "
19820 "libraries and their users are given access to these electronic journals "
19821 "through password-protected sites. Something similar to this has been "
19822 "happening in law for almost thirty years: Lexis and Westlaw have had "
19823 "electronic versions of case reports available to subscribers to their "
19824 "service. Although a Supreme Court opinion is not copyrighted, and anyone is "
19825 "free to go to a library and read it, Lexis and Westlaw are also free to "
19826 "charge users for the privilege of gaining access to that Supreme Court "
19827 "opinion through their respective services."
19830 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19831 #: freeculture.xml:14253
19832 msgid "access fees for material in"
19835 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
19836 #: freeculture.xml:14254
19837 msgid "license system for rebuilding of"
19840 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19841 #: freeculture.xml:14256
19843 "There's nothing wrong in general with this, and indeed, the ability to "
19844 "charge for access to even public domain materials is a good incentive for "
19845 "people to develop new and innovative ways to spread knowledge. The law has "
19846 "agreed, which is why Lexis and Westlaw have been allowed to flourish. And if "
19847 "there's nothing wrong with selling the public domain, then there could be "
19848 "nothing wrong, in principle, with selling access to material that is not in "
19849 "the public domain."
19852 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19853 #: freeculture.xml:14267
19855 "But what if the only way to get access to social and scientific data was "
19856 "through proprietary services? What if no one had the ability to browse this "
19857 "data except by paying for a subscription?"
19860 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19861 #: freeculture.xml:14273
19863 "As many are beginning to notice, this is increasingly the reality with "
19864 "scientific journals. When these journals were distributed in paper form, "
19865 "libraries could make the journals available to anyone who had access to the "
19866 "library. Thus, patients with cancer could become cancer experts because the "
19867 "library gave them access. Or patients trying to understand the risks of a "
19868 "certain treatment could research those risks by reading all available "
19869 "articles about that treatment. This freedom was therefore a function of the "
19870 "institution of libraries (norms) and the technology of paper journals "
19871 "(architecture)—namely, that it was very hard to control access to a "
19875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19876 #: freeculture.xml:14285
19878 "As journals become electronic, however, the publishers are demanding that "
19879 "libraries not give the general public access to the journals. This means "
19880 "that the freedoms provided by print journals in public libraries begin to "
19881 "disappear. Thus, as with privacy and with software, a changing technology "
19882 "and market shrink a freedom taken for granted before."
19886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19887 #: freeculture.xml:14295
19889 "This shrinking freedom has led many to take affirmative steps to restore the "
19890 "freedom that has been lost. The Public Library of Science (PLoS), for "
19891 "example, is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making scientific research "
19892 "available to anyone with a Web connection. Authors of scientific work submit "
19893 "that work to the Public Library of Science. That work is then subject to "
19894 "peer review. If accepted, the work is then deposited in a public, electronic "
19895 "archive and made permanently available for free. PLoS also sells a print "
19896 "version of its work, but the copyright for the print journal does not "
19897 "inhibit the right of anyone to redistribute the work for free."
19900 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19901 #: freeculture.xml:14309
19903 "This is one of many such efforts to restore a freedom taken for granted "
19904 "before, but now threatened by changing technology and markets. There's no "
19905 "doubt that this alternative competes with the traditional publishers and "
19906 "their efforts to make money from the exclusive distribution of content. But "
19907 "competition in our tradition is presumptively a good—especially when "
19908 "it helps spread knowledge and science."
19911 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
19912 #: freeculture.xml:14322
19913 msgid "Rebuilding Free Culture: One Idea"
19916 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19917 #: freeculture.xml:14325
19919 "The same strategy could be applied to culture, as a response to the "
19920 "increasing control effected through law and technology."
19923 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19924 #: freeculture.xml:14328
19925 msgid "Stanford University"
19928 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19929 #: freeculture.xml:14330
19931 "Enter the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation "
19932 "established in Massachusetts, but with its home at Stanford University. Its "
19933 "aim is to build a layer of <emphasis>reasonable</emphasis> copyright on top "
19934 "of the extremes that now reign. It does this by making it easy for people to "
19935 "build upon other people's work, by making it simple for creators to express "
19936 "the freedom for others to take and build upon their work. Simple tags, tied "
19937 "to human-readable descriptions, tied to bulletproof licenses, make this "
19942 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19943 #: freeculture.xml:14341
19945 "<emphasis>Simple</emphasis>—which means without a middleman, or "
19946 "without a lawyer. By developing a free set of licenses that people can "
19947 "attach to their content, Creative Commons aims to mark a range of content "
19948 "that can easily, and reliably, be built upon. These tags are then linked to "
19949 "machine-readable versions of the license that enable computers automatically "
19950 "to identify content that can easily be shared. These three expressions "
19951 "together—a legal license, a human-readable description, and "
19952 "machine-readable tags—constitute a Creative Commons license. A "
19953 "Creative Commons license constitutes a grant of freedom to anyone who "
19954 "accesses the license, and more importantly, an expression of the ideal that "
19955 "the person associated with the license believes in something different than "
19956 "the <quote>All</quote> or <quote>No</quote> extremes. Content is marked with "
19957 "the CC mark, which does not mean that copyright is waived, but that certain "
19958 "freedoms are given."
19961 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19962 #: freeculture.xml:14359
19964 "These freedoms are beyond the freedoms promised by fair use. Their precise "
19965 "contours depend upon the choices the creator makes. The creator can choose a "
19966 "license that permits any use, so long as attribution is given. She can "
19967 "choose a license that permits only noncommercial use. She can choose a "
19968 "license that permits any use so long as the same freedoms are given to other "
19969 "uses (<quote>share and share alike</quote>). Or any use so long as no "
19970 "derivative use is made. Or any use at all within developing nations. Or any "
19971 "sampling use, so long as full copies are not made. Or lastly, any "
19975 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19976 #: freeculture.xml:14370
19978 "These choices thus establish a range of freedoms beyond the default of "
19979 "copyright law. They also enable freedoms that go beyond traditional fair "
19980 "use. And most importantly, they express these freedoms in a way that "
19981 "subsequent users can use and rely upon without the need to hire a "
19982 "lawyer. Creative Commons thus aims to build a layer of content, governed by "
19983 "a layer of reasonable copyright law, that others can build upon. Voluntary "
19984 "choice of individuals and creators will make this content available. And "
19985 "that content will in turn enable us to rebuild a public domain."
19988 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
19989 #: freeculture.xml:14380
19990 msgid "Garlick, Mia"
19994 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19995 #: freeculture.xml:14382
19997 "This is just one project among many within the Creative Commons. And of "
19998 "course, Creative Commons is not the only organization pursuing such "
19999 "freedoms. But the point that distinguishes the Creative Commons from many is "
20000 "that we are not interested only in talking about a public domain or in "
20001 "getting legislators to help build a public domain. Our aim is to build a "
20002 "movement of consumers and producers of content (<quote>content "
20003 "conducers,</quote> as attorney Mia Garlick calls them) who help build the "
20004 "public domain and, by their work, demonstrate the importance of the public "
20005 "domain to other creativity."
20008 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20009 #: freeculture.xml:14395
20011 "The aim is not to fight the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts. The "
20012 "aim is to complement them. The problems that the law creates for us as a "
20013 "culture are produced by insane and unintended consequences of laws written "
20014 "centuries ago, applied to a technology that only Jefferson could have "
20015 "imagined. The rules may well have made sense against a background of "
20016 "technologies from centuries ago, but they do not make sense against the "
20017 "background of digital technologies. New rules—with different freedoms, "
20018 "expressed in ways so that humans without lawyers can use them—are "
20019 "needed. Creative Commons gives people a way effectively to begin to build "
20023 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20024 #: freeculture.xml:14408
20026 "Why would creators participate in giving up total control? Some participate "
20027 "to better spread their content. Cory Doctorow, for example, is a science "
20028 "fiction author. His first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
20029 "Kingdom</citetitle>, was released on-line and for free, under a Creative "
20030 "Commons license, on the same day that it went on sale in bookstores."
20033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20034 #: freeculture.xml:14415
20036 "Why would a publisher ever agree to this? I suspect his publisher reasoned "
20037 "like this: There are two groups of people out there: (1) those who will buy "
20038 "Cory's book whether or not it's on the Internet, and (2) those who may never "
20039 "hear of Cory's book, if it isn't made available for free on the "
20040 "Internet. Some part of (1) will download Cory's book instead of buying "
20041 "it. Call them bad-(1)s. Some part of (2) will download Cory's book, like "
20042 "it, and then decide to buy it. Call them (2)-goods. If there are more "
20043 "(2)-goods than bad-(1)s, the strategy of releasing Cory's book free on-line "
20044 "will probably <emphasis>increase</emphasis> sales of Cory's book."
20047 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20048 #: freeculture.xml:14427
20050 "Indeed, the experience of his publisher clearly supports that conclusion. "
20051 "The book's first printing was exhausted months before the publisher had "
20052 "expected. This first novel of a science fiction author was a total success."
20055 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20056 #: freeculture.xml:14432
20057 msgid "Free for All (Wayner)"
20060 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20061 #: freeculture.xml:14433
20062 msgid "Wayner, Peter"
20066 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20067 #: freeculture.xml:14435
20069 "The idea that free content might increase the value of nonfree content was "
20070 "confirmed by the experience of another author. Peter Wayner, who wrote a "
20071 "book about the free software movement titled <citetitle>Free for "
20072 "All</citetitle>, made an electronic version of his book free on-line under a "
20073 "Creative Commons license after the book went out of print. He then monitored "
20074 "used book store prices for the book. As predicted, as the number of "
20075 "downloads increased, the used book price for his book increased, as well."
20078 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20079 #: freeculture.xml:14446
20080 msgid "Public Enemy"
20083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20084 #: freeculture.xml:14447
20088 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20089 #: freeculture.xml:14448
20090 msgid "Leaphart, Walter"
20094 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20095 #: freeculture.xml:14465
20097 "<citetitle>Willful Infringement: A Report from the Front Lines of the Real "
20098 "Culture Wars</citetitle> (2003), produced by Jed Horovitz, directed by Greg "
20099 "Hittelman, a Fiat Lucre production, available at <ulink "
20100 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink>."
20103 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20104 #: freeculture.xml:14450
20106 "These are examples of using the Commons to better spread proprietary "
20107 "content. I believe that is a wonderful and common use of the Commons. There "
20108 "are others who use Creative Commons licenses for other reasons. Many who use "
20109 "the <quote>sampling license</quote> do so because anything else would be "
20110 "hypocritical. The sampling license says that others are free, for commercial "
20111 "or noncommercial purposes, to sample content from the licensed work; they "
20112 "are just not free to make full copies of the licensed work available to "
20113 "others. This is consistent with their own art—they, too, sample from "
20114 "others. Because the <emphasis>legal</emphasis> costs of sampling are so high "
20115 "(Walter Leaphart, manager of the rap group Public Enemy, which was born "
20116 "sampling the music of others, has stated that he does not "
20117 "<quote>allow</quote> Public Enemy to sample anymore, because the legal costs "
20118 "are so high<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), these artists release "
20119 "into the creative environment content that others can build upon, so that "
20120 "their form of creativity might grow."
20123 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20124 #: freeculture.xml:14474
20126 "Finally, there are many who mark their content with a Creative Commons "
20127 "license just because they want to express to others the importance of "
20128 "balance in this debate. If you just go along with the system as it is, you "
20129 "are effectively saying you believe in the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> "
20130 "model. Good for you, but many do not. Many believe that however appropriate "
20131 "that rule is for Hollywood and freaks, it is not an appropriate description "
20132 "of how most creators view the rights associated with their content. The "
20133 "Creative Commons license expresses this notion of <quote>Some Rights "
20134 "Reserved,</quote> and gives many the chance to say it to others."
20138 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20139 #: freeculture.xml:14486
20141 "In the first six months of the Creative Commons experiment, over 1 million "
20142 "objects were licensed with these free-culture licenses. The next step is "
20143 "partnerships with middleware content providers to help them build into their "
20144 "technologies simple ways for users to mark their content with Creative "
20145 "Commons freedoms. Then the next step is to watch and celebrate creators who "
20146 "build content based upon content set free."
20149 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20150 #: freeculture.xml:14496
20152 "These are first steps to rebuilding a public domain. They are not mere "
20153 "arguments; they are action. Building a public domain is the first step to "
20154 "showing people how important that domain is to creativity and "
20155 "innovation. Creative Commons relies upon voluntary steps to achieve this "
20156 "rebuilding. They will lead to a world in which more than voluntary steps are "
20160 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20161 #: freeculture.xml:14504
20163 "Creative Commons is just one example of voluntary efforts by individuals and "
20164 "creators to change the mix of rights that now govern the creative field. The "
20165 "project does not compete with copyright; it complements it. Its aim is not "
20166 "to defeat the rights of authors, but to make it easier for authors and "
20167 "creators to exercise their rights more flexibly and cheaply. That "
20168 "difference, we believe, will enable creativity to spread more easily."
20171 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
20172 #: freeculture.xml:14518
20176 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
20177 #: freeculture.xml:14520
20179 "<emphasis role='strong'>We will</emphasis> not reclaim a free culture by "
20180 "individual action alone. It will also take important reforms of laws. We "
20181 "have a long way to go before the politicians will listen to these ideas and "
20182 "implement these reforms. But that also means that we have time to build "
20183 "awareness around the changes that we need."
20186 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
20187 #: freeculture.xml:14527
20189 "In this chapter, I outline five kinds of changes: four that are general, and "
20190 "one that's specific to the most heated battle of the day, music. Each is a "
20191 "step, not an end. But any of these steps would carry us a long way to our "
20195 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
20196 #: freeculture.xml:14534
20197 msgid "1. More Formalities"
20200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20201 #: freeculture.xml:14536
20203 "If you buy a house, you have to record the sale in a deed. If you buy land "
20204 "upon which to build a house, you have to record the purchase in a deed. If "
20205 "you buy a car, you get a bill of sale and register the car. If you buy an "
20206 "airplane ticket, it has your name on it."
20210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20211 #: freeculture.xml:14543
20213 "These are all formalities associated with property. They are requirements "
20214 "that we all must bear if we want our property to be protected."
20217 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20218 #: freeculture.xml:14548
20220 "In contrast, under current copyright law, you automatically get a copyright, "
20221 "regardless of whether you comply with any formality. You don't have to "
20222 "register. You don't even have to mark your content. The default is control, "
20223 "and <quote>formalities</quote> are banished."
20226 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20227 #: freeculture.xml:14554
20231 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20232 #: freeculture.xml:14557
20234 "As I suggested in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
20235 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, the motivation to abolish formalities was a good "
20236 "one. In the world before digital technologies, formalities imposed a burden "
20237 "on copyright holders without much benefit. Thus, it was progress when the "
20238 "law relaxed the formal requirements that a copyright owner must bear to "
20239 "protect and secure his work. Those formalities were getting in the way."
20242 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20243 #: freeculture.xml:14566
20245 "But the Internet changes all this. Formalities today need not be a "
20246 "burden. Rather, the world without formalities is the world that burdens "
20247 "creativity. Today, there is no simple way to know who owns what, or with "
20248 "whom one must deal in order to use or build upon the creative work of "
20249 "others. There are no records, there is no system to trace— there is no "
20250 "simple way to know how to get permission. Yet given the massive increase in "
20251 "the scope of copyright's rule, getting permission is a necessary step for "
20252 "any work that builds upon our past. And thus, the <emphasis>lack</emphasis> "
20253 "of formalities forces many into silence where they otherwise could speak."
20257 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20258 #: freeculture.xml:14580
20260 "The proposal I am advancing here would apply to American works only. "
20261 "Obviously, I believe it would be beneficial for the same idea to be adopted "
20262 "by other countries as well."
20265 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20266 #: freeculture.xml:14578
20268 "The law should therefore change this requirement<placeholder "
20269 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—but it should not change it by going back "
20270 "to the old, broken system. We should require formalities, but we should "
20271 "establish a system that will create the incentives to minimize the burden of "
20272 "these formalities."
20275 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20276 #: freeculture.xml:14588
20278 "The important formalities are three: marking copyrighted work, registering "
20279 "copyrights, and renewing the claim to copyright. Traditionally, the first of "
20280 "these three was something the copyright owner did; the second two were "
20281 "something the government did. But a revised system of formalities would "
20282 "banish the government from the process, except for the sole purpose of "
20283 "approving standards developed by others."
20286 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
20287 #: freeculture.xml:14600
20288 msgid "REGISTRATION AND RENEWAL"
20291 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20292 #: freeculture.xml:14602
20294 "Under the old system, a copyright owner had to file a registration with the "
20295 "Copyright Office to register or renew a copyright. When filing that "
20296 "registration, the copyright owner paid a fee. As with most government "
20297 "agencies, the Copyright Office had little incentive to minimize the burden "
20298 "of registration; it also had little incentive to minimize the fee. And as "
20299 "the Copyright Office is not a main target of government policymaking, the "
20300 "office has historically been terribly underfunded. Thus, when people who "
20301 "know something about the process hear this idea about formalities, their "
20302 "first reaction is panic—nothing could be worse than forcing people to "
20303 "deal with the mess that is the Copyright Office."
20306 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20307 #: freeculture.xml:14615
20309 "Yet it is always astonishing to me that we, who come from a tradition of "
20310 "extraordinary innovation in governmental design, can no longer think "
20311 "innovatively about how governmental functions can be designed. Just because "
20312 "there is a public purpose to a government role, it doesn't follow that the "
20313 "government must actually administer the role. Instead, we should be creating "
20314 "incentives for private parties to serve the public, subject to standards "
20315 "that the government sets."
20318 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20319 #: freeculture.xml:14624
20321 "In the context of registration, one obvious model is the Internet. There "
20322 "are at least 32 million Web sites registered around the world. Domain name "
20323 "owners for these Web sites have to pay a fee to keep their registration "
20324 "alive. In the main top-level domains (.com, .org, .net), there is a central "
20325 "registry. The actual registrations are, however, performed by many competing "
20326 "registrars. That competition drives the cost of registering down, and more "
20327 "importantly, it drives the ease with which registration occurs up."
20331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20332 #: freeculture.xml:14634
20334 "We should adopt a similar model for the registration and renewal of "
20335 "copyrights. The Copyright Office may well serve as the central registry, but "
20336 "it should not be in the registrar business. Instead, it should establish a "
20337 "database, and a set of standards for registrars. It should approve "
20338 "registrars that meet its standards. Those registrars would then compete with "
20339 "one another to deliver the cheapest and simplest systems for registering and "
20340 "renewing copyrights. That competition would substantially lower the burden "
20341 "of this formality—while producing a database of registrations that "
20342 "would facilitate the licensing of content."
20345 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
20346 #: freeculture.xml:14649
20350 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20351 #: freeculture.xml:14651
20353 "It used to be that the failure to include a copyright notice on a creative "
20354 "work meant that the copyright was forfeited. That was a harsh punishment for "
20355 "failing to comply with a regulatory rule—akin to imposing the death "
20356 "penalty for a parking ticket in the world of creative rights. Here again, "
20357 "there is no reason that a marking requirement needs to be enforced in this "
20358 "way. And more importantly, there is no reason a marking requirement needs to "
20359 "be enforced uniformly across all media."
20362 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20363 #: freeculture.xml:14661
20365 "The aim of marking is to signal to the public that this work is copyrighted "
20366 "and that the author wants to enforce his rights. The mark also makes it easy "
20367 "to locate a copyright owner to secure permission to use the work."
20370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20371 #: freeculture.xml:14667
20373 "One of the problems the copyright system confronted early on was that "
20374 "different copyrighted works had to be differently marked. It wasn't clear "
20375 "how or where a statue was to be marked, or a record, or a film. A new "
20376 "marking requirement could solve these problems by recognizing the "
20377 "differences in media, and by allowing the system of marking to evolve as "
20378 "technologies enable it to. The system could enable a special signal from the "
20379 "failure to mark—not the loss of the copyright, but the loss of the "
20380 "right to punish someone for failing to get permission first."
20384 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20385 #: freeculture.xml:14684
20387 "There would be a complication with derivative works that I have not solved "
20388 "here. In my view, the law of derivatives creates a more complicated system "
20389 "than is justified by the marginal incentive it creates."
20393 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20394 #: freeculture.xml:14677
20396 "Let's start with the last point. If a copyright owner allows his work to be "
20397 "published without a copyright notice, the consequence of that failure need "
20398 "not be that the copyright is lost. The consequence could instead be that "
20399 "anyone has the right to use this work, until the copyright owner complains "
20400 "and demonstrates that it is his work and he doesn't give "
20401 "permission.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The meaning of an "
20402 "unmarked work would therefore be <quote>use unless someone "
20403 "complains.</quote> If someone does complain, then the obligation would be to "
20404 "stop using the work in any new work from then on though no penalty would "
20405 "attach for existing uses. This would create a strong incentive for "
20406 "copyright owners to mark their work."
20409 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20410 #: freeculture.xml:14697
20412 "That in turn raises the question about how work should best be marked. Here "
20413 "again, the system needs to adjust as the technologies evolve. The best way "
20414 "to ensure that the system evolves is to limit the Copyright Office's role to "
20415 "that of approving standards for marking content that have been crafted "
20419 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
20420 #: freeculture.xml:14703
20421 msgid "copyright marking of"
20424 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20425 #: freeculture.xml:14705
20427 "For example, if a recording industry association devises a method for "
20428 "marking CDs, it would propose that to the Copyright Office. The Copyright "
20429 "Office would hold a hearing, at which other proposals could be made. The "
20430 "Copyright Office would then select the proposal that it judged preferable, "
20431 "and it would base that choice <emphasis>solely</emphasis> upon the "
20432 "consideration of which method could best be integrated into the registration "
20433 "and renewal system. We would not count on the government to innovate; but we "
20434 "would count on the government to keep the product of innovation in line with "
20435 "its other important functions."
20438 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20439 #: freeculture.xml:14717
20441 "Finally, marking content clearly would simplify registration requirements. "
20442 "If photographs were marked by author and year, there would be little reason "
20443 "not to allow a photographer to reregister, for example, all photographs "
20444 "taken in a particular year in one quick step. The aim of the formality is "
20445 "not to burden the creator; the system itself should be kept as simple as "
20449 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20450 #: freeculture.xml:14725
20452 "The objective of formalities is to make things clear. The existing system "
20453 "does nothing to make things clear. Indeed, it seems designed to make things "
20457 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
20458 #: freeculture.xml:14730
20460 "If formalities such as registration were reinstated, one of the most "
20461 "difficult aspects of relying upon the public domain would be removed. It "
20462 "would be simple to identify what content is presumptively free; it would be "
20463 "simple to identify who controls the rights for a particular kind of content; "
20464 "it would be simple to assert those rights, and to renew that assertion at "
20465 "the appropriate time."
20468 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
20469 #: freeculture.xml:14742
20470 msgid "2. Shorter Terms"
20473 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20474 #: freeculture.xml:14744
20476 "The term of copyright has gone from fourteen years to ninety-five years for "
20477 "corporate authors, and life of the author plus seventy years for natural "
20482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20483 #: freeculture.xml:14757
20485 "<quote>A Radical Rethink,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 366:8308 "
20486 "(25 January 2003): 15, available at <ulink "
20487 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #74</ulink>."
20490 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20491 #: freeculture.xml:14749
20493 "In <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>, I proposed a "
20494 "seventy-five-year term, granted in five-year increments with a requirement "
20495 "of renewal every five years. That seemed radical enough at the time. But "
20496 "after we lost <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
20497 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, the proposals became even more "
20498 "radical. <citetitle>The Economist</citetitle> endorsed a proposal for a "
20499 "fourteen-year copyright term.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
20500 "Others have proposed tying the term to the term for patents."
20503 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20504 #: freeculture.xml:14764
20506 "I agree with those who believe that we need a radical change in copyright's "
20507 "term. But whether fourteen years or seventy-five, there are four principles "
20508 "that are important to keep in mind about copyright terms."
20512 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20513 #: freeculture.xml:14772
20515 "<emphasis>Keep it short:</emphasis> The term should be as long as necessary "
20516 "to give incentives to create, but no longer. If it were tied to very strong "
20517 "protections for authors (so authors were able to reclaim rights from "
20518 "publishers), rights to the same work (not derivative works) might be "
20519 "extended further. The key is not to tie the work up with legal regulations "
20520 "when it no longer benefits an author."
20525 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20526 #: freeculture.xml:14781
20528 "<emphasis>Keep it simple:</emphasis> The line between the public domain and "
20529 "protected content must be kept clear. Lawyers like the fuzziness of "
20530 "<quote>fair use,</quote> and the distinction between <quote>ideas</quote> "
20531 "and <quote>expression.</quote> That kind of law gives them lots of work. But "
20532 "our framers had a simpler idea in mind: protected versus unprotected. The "
20533 "value of short terms is that there is little need to build exceptions into "
20534 "copyright when the term itself is kept short. A clear and active "
20535 "<quote>lawyer-free zone</quote> makes the complexities of <quote>fair "
20536 "use</quote> and <quote>idea/expression</quote> less necessary to navigate."
20539 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><indexterm><primary>
20540 #: freeculture.xml:14793
20541 msgid "veterans' pensions"
20545 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para><footnote><para>
20546 #: freeculture.xml:14804
20548 "Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran's Application for Compensation "
20549 "and/or Pension, VA Form 21-526 (OMB Approved No. 2900-0001), available at "
20550 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #75</ulink>."
20553 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20554 #: freeculture.xml:14796
20556 "<emphasis>Keep it alive:</emphasis> Copyright should have to be renewed. "
20557 "Especially if the maximum term is long, the copyright owner should be "
20558 "required to signal periodically that he wants the protection continued. This "
20559 "need not be an onerous burden, but there is no reason this monopoly "
20560 "protection has to be granted for free. On average, it takes ninety minutes "
20561 "for a veteran to apply for a pension.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
20562 "id=\"0\"/> If we make veterans suffer that burden, I don't see why we "
20563 "couldn't require authors to spend ten minutes every fifty years to file a "
20568 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20569 #: freeculture.xml:14815
20571 "<emphasis>Keep it prospective:</emphasis> Whatever the term of copyright "
20572 "should be, the clearest lesson that economists teach is that a term once "
20573 "given should not be extended. It might have been a mistake in 1923 for the "
20574 "law to offer authors only a fifty-six-year term. I don't think so, but it's "
20575 "possible. If it was a mistake, then the consequence was that we got fewer "
20576 "authors to create in 1923 than we otherwise would have. But we can't correct "
20577 "that mistake today by increasing the term. No matter what we do today, we "
20578 "will not increase the number of authors who wrote in 1923. Of course, we can "
20579 "increase the reward that those who write now get (or alternatively, increase "
20580 "the copyright burden that smothers many works that are today invisible). But "
20581 "increasing their reward will not increase their creativity in 1923. What's "
20582 "not done is not done, and there's nothing we can do about that now."
20585 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20586 #: freeculture.xml:14831
20588 "These changes together should produce an <emphasis>average</emphasis> "
20589 "copyright term that is much shorter than the current term. Until 1976, the "
20590 "average term was just 32.2 years. We should be aiming for the same."
20593 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20594 #: freeculture.xml:14837
20596 "No doubt the extremists will call these ideas <quote>radical.</quote> (After "
20597 "all, I call them <quote>extremists.</quote>) But again, the term I "
20598 "recommended was longer than the term under Richard Nixon. How "
20599 "<quote>radical</quote> can it be to ask for a more generous copyright law "
20600 "than Richard Nixon presided over?"
20603 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
20604 #: freeculture.xml:14847
20605 msgid "3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use"
20608 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20609 #: freeculture.xml:14851
20611 "As I observed at the beginning of this book, property law originally granted "
20612 "property owners the right to control their property from the ground to the "
20613 "heavens. The airplane came along. The scope of property rights quickly "
20614 "changed. There was no fuss, no constitutional challenge. It made no sense "
20615 "anymore to grant that much control, given the emergence of that new "
20619 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20620 #: freeculture.xml:14859
20622 "Our Constitution gives Congress the power to give authors <quote>exclusive "
20623 "right</quote> to <quote>their writings.</quote> Congress has given authors "
20624 "an exclusive right to <quote>their writings</quote> plus any derivative "
20625 "writings (made by others) that are sufficiently close to the author's "
20626 "original work. Thus, if I write a book, and you base a movie on that book, I "
20627 "have the power to deny you the right to release that movie, even though that "
20628 "movie is not <quote>my writing.</quote>"
20631 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20632 #: freeculture.xml:14867
20633 msgid "Kaplan, Benjamin"
20637 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20638 #: freeculture.xml:14873
20640 "Benjamin Kaplan, <citetitle>An Unhurried View of Copyright</citetitle> (New "
20641 "York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 32."
20644 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20645 #: freeculture.xml:14869
20647 "Congress granted the beginnings of this right in 1870, when it expanded the "
20648 "exclusive right of copyright to include a right to control translations and "
20649 "dramatizations of a work.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
20650 "courts have expanded it slowly through judicial interpretation ever "
20651 "since. This expansion has been commented upon by one of the law's greatest "
20652 "judges, Judge Benjamin Kaplan."
20656 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
20657 #: freeculture.xml:14886
20661 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para>
20662 #: freeculture.xml:14882
20664 "So inured have we become to the extension of the monopoly to a large range "
20665 "of so-called derivative works, that we no longer sense the oddity of "
20666 "accepting such an enlargement of copyright while yet intoning the "
20667 "abracadabra of idea and expression.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
20670 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20671 #: freeculture.xml:14891
20673 "I think it's time to recognize that there are airplanes in this field and "
20674 "the expansiveness of these rights of derivative use no longer make "
20675 "sense. More precisely, they don't make sense for the period of time that a "
20676 "copyright runs. And they don't make sense as an amorphous grant. Consider "
20677 "each limitation in turn."
20680 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20681 #: freeculture.xml:14898
20683 "<emphasis>Term:</emphasis> If Congress wants to grant a derivative right, "
20684 "then that right should be for a much shorter term. It makes sense to protect "
20685 "John Grisham's right to sell the movie rights to his latest novel (or at "
20686 "least I'm willing to assume it does); but it does not make sense for that "
20687 "right to run for the same term as the underlying copyright. The derivative "
20688 "right could be important in inducing creativity; it is not important long "
20689 "after the creative work is done. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
20692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20693 #: freeculture.xml:14911
20695 "<emphasis>Scope:</emphasis> Likewise should the scope of derivative rights "
20696 "be narrowed. Again, there are some cases in which derivative rights are "
20697 "important. Those should be specified. But the law should draw clear lines "
20698 "around regulated and unregulated uses of copyrighted material. When all "
20699 "<quote>reuse</quote> of creative material was within the control of "
20700 "businesses, perhaps it made sense to require lawyers to negotiate the "
20701 "lines. It no longer makes sense for lawyers to negotiate the lines. Think "
20702 "about all the creative possibilities that digital technologies enable; now "
20703 "imagine pouring molasses into the machines. That's what this general "
20704 "requirement of permission does to the creative process. Smothers it."
20707 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20708 #: freeculture.xml:14925
20710 "This was the point that Alben made when describing the making of the Clint "
20711 "Eastwood CD. While it makes sense to require negotiation for foreseeable "
20712 "derivative rights—turning a book into a movie, or a poem into a "
20713 "musical score—it doesn't make sense to require negotiation for the "
20714 "unforeseeable. Here, a statutory right would make much more sense."
20717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
20718 #: freeculture.xml:14941
20719 msgid "Goldstein, Paul"
20722 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20723 #: freeculture.xml:14939
20725 "Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the "
20726 "Celestial Jukebox</citetitle> (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), "
20727 "187–216. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
20730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20731 #: freeculture.xml:14933
20733 "In each of these cases, the law should mark the uses that are protected, and "
20734 "the presumption should be that other uses are not protected. This is the "
20735 "reverse of the recommendation of my colleague Paul Goldstein.<placeholder "
20736 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His view is that the law should be written so "
20737 "that expanded protections follow expanded uses."
20740 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20741 #: freeculture.xml:14947
20743 "Goldstein's analysis would make perfect sense if the cost of the legal "
20744 "system were small. But as we are currently seeing in the context of the "
20745 "Internet, the uncertainty about the scope of protection, and the incentives "
20746 "to protect existing architectures of revenue, combined with a strong "
20747 "copyright, weaken the process of innovation."
20751 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20752 #: freeculture.xml:14954
20754 "The law could remedy this problem either by removing protection beyond the "
20755 "part explicitly drawn or by granting reuse rights upon certain statutory "
20756 "conditions. Either way, the effect would be to free a great deal of culture "
20757 "to others to cultivate. And under a statutory rights regime, that reuse "
20758 "would earn artists more income."
20761 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
20762 #: freeculture.xml:14964
20763 msgid "4. Liberate the Music—Again"
20766 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20767 #: freeculture.xml:14966
20769 "The battle that got this whole war going was about music, so it wouldn't be "
20770 "fair to end this book without addressing the issue that is, to most people, "
20771 "most pressing—music. There is no other policy issue that better "
20772 "teaches the lessons of this book than the battles around the sharing of "
20776 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20777 #: freeculture.xml:14973
20779 "The appeal of file-sharing music was the crack cocaine of the Internet's "
20780 "growth. It drove demand for access to the Internet more powerfully than any "
20781 "other single application. It was the Internet's killer app—possibly in "
20782 "two senses of that word. It no doubt was the application that drove demand "
20783 "for bandwidth. It may well be the application that drives demand for "
20784 "regulations that in the end kill innovation on the network."
20787 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20788 #: freeculture.xml:14982
20790 "The aim of copyright, with respect to content in general and music in "
20791 "particular, is to create the incentives for music to be composed, performed, "
20792 "and, most importantly, spread. The law does this by giving an exclusive "
20793 "right to a composer to control public performances of his work, and to a "
20794 "performing artist to control copies of her performance."
20797 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20798 #: freeculture.xml:14989
20800 "File-sharing networks complicate this model by enabling the spread of "
20801 "content for which the performer has not been paid. But of course, that's not "
20802 "all the file-sharing networks do. As I described in chapter <xref "
20803 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"piracy\"/>, they enable four "
20804 "different kinds of sharing:"
20808 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20809 #: freeculture.xml:14998
20811 "There are some who are using sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
20816 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20817 #: freeculture.xml:15003
20819 "There are also some who are using sharing networks to sample, on the way to "
20825 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20826 #: freeculture.xml:15009
20828 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
20829 "that is no longer sold but is still under copyright or that would have been "
20830 "too cumbersome to buy off the Net."
20834 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
20835 #: freeculture.xml:15015
20837 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
20838 "that is not copyrighted or to get access that the copyright owner plainly "
20842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20843 #: freeculture.xml:15023
20845 "Any reform of the law needs to keep these different uses in focus. It must "
20846 "avoid burdening type D even if it aims to eliminate type A. The eagerness "
20847 "with which the law aims to eliminate type A, moreover, should depend upon "
20848 "the magnitude of type B. As with VCRs, if the net effect of sharing is "
20849 "actually not very harmful, the need for regulation is significantly "
20853 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20854 #: freeculture.xml:15031
20856 "As I said in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
20857 "linkend=\"piracy\"/>, the actual harm caused by sharing is controversial. "
20858 "For the purposes of this chapter, however, I assume the harm is real. I "
20859 "assume, in other words, that type A sharing is significantly greater than "
20860 "type B, and is the dominant use of sharing networks."
20863 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20864 #: freeculture.xml:15039
20866 "Nonetheless, there is a crucial fact about the current technological context "
20867 "that we must keep in mind if we are to understand how the law should "
20871 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20872 #: freeculture.xml:15044
20874 "Today, file sharing is addictive. In ten years, it won't be. It is addictive "
20875 "today because it is the easiest way to gain access to a broad range of "
20876 "content. It won't be the easiest way to get access to a broad range of "
20877 "content in ten years. Today, access to the Internet is cumbersome and "
20878 "slow—we in the United States are lucky to have broadband service at "
20879 "1.5 MBs, and very rarely do we get service at that speed both up and "
20880 "down. Although wireless access is growing, most of us still get access "
20881 "across wires. Most only gain access through a machine with a keyboard. The "
20882 "idea of the always on, always connected Internet is mainly just an idea."
20886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20887 #: freeculture.xml:15056
20889 "But it will become a reality, and that means the way we get access to the "
20890 "Internet today is a technology in transition. Policy makers should not make "
20891 "policy on the basis of technology in transition. They should make policy on "
20892 "the basis of where the technology is going. The question should not be, how "
20893 "should the law regulate sharing in this world? The question should be, what "
20894 "law will we require when the network becomes the network it is clearly "
20895 "becoming? That network is one in which every machine with electricity is "
20896 "essentially on the Net; where everywhere you are—except maybe the "
20897 "desert or the Rockies—you can instantaneously be connected to the "
20898 "Internet. Imagine the Internet as ubiquitous as the best cell-phone service, "
20899 "where with the flip of a device, you are connected."
20902 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
20903 #: freeculture.xml:15070
20904 msgid "cell phones, music streamed over"
20908 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
20909 #: freeculture.xml:15090
20911 "See, for example, <quote>Music Media Watch,</quote> The J@pan "
20912 "Inc. Newsletter, 3 April 2002, available at <ulink "
20913 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #76</ulink>."
20916 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20917 #: freeculture.xml:15072
20919 "In that world, it will be extremely easy to connect to services that give "
20920 "you access to content on the fly—such as Internet radio, content that "
20921 "is streamed to the user when the user demands. Here, then, is the critical "
20922 "point: When it is <emphasis>extremely</emphasis> easy to connect to services "
20923 "that give access to content, it will be <emphasis>easier</emphasis> to "
20924 "connect to services that give you access to content than it will be to "
20925 "download and store content <emphasis>on the many devices you will have for "
20926 "playing content</emphasis>. It will be easier, in other words, to subscribe "
20927 "than it will be to be a database manager, as everyone in the "
20928 "download-sharing world of Napster-like technologies essentially is. Content "
20929 "services will compete with content sharing, even if the services charge "
20930 "money for the content they give access to. Already cell-phone services in "
20931 "Japan offer music (for a fee) streamed over cell phones (enhanced with plugs "
20932 "for headphones). The Japanese are paying for this content even though "
20933 "<quote>free</quote> content is available in the form of MP3s across the "
20934 "Web.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
20938 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20939 #: freeculture.xml:15097
20941 "This point about the future is meant to suggest a perspective on the "
20942 "present: It is emphatically temporary. The <quote>problem</quote> with file "
20943 "sharing—to the extent there is a real problem—is a problem that "
20944 "will increasingly disappear as it becomes easier to connect to the "
20945 "Internet. And thus it is an extraordinary mistake for policy makers today "
20946 "to be <quote>solving</quote> this problem in light of a technology that will "
20947 "be gone tomorrow. The question should not be how to regulate the Internet "
20948 "to eliminate file sharing (the Net will evolve that problem away). The "
20949 "question instead should be how to assure that artists get paid, during this "
20950 "transition between twentieth-century models for doing business and "
20951 "twenty-first-century technologies."
20954 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20955 #: freeculture.xml:15113
20957 "The answer begins with recognizing that there are different "
20958 "<quote>problems</quote> here to solve. Let's start with type D "
20959 "content—uncopyrighted content or copyrighted content that the artist "
20960 "wants shared. The <quote>problem</quote> with this content is to make sure "
20961 "that the technology that would enable this kind of sharing is not rendered "
20962 "illegal. You can think of it this way: Pay phones are used to deliver ransom "
20963 "demands, no doubt. But there are many who need to use pay phones who have "
20964 "nothing to do with ransoms. It would be wrong to ban pay phones in order to "
20965 "eliminate kidnapping."
20968 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20969 #: freeculture.xml:15124
20971 "Type C content raises a different <quote>problem.</quote> This is content "
20972 "that was, at one time, published and is no longer available. It may be "
20973 "unavailable because the artist is no longer valuable enough for the record "
20974 "label he signed with to carry his work. Or it may be unavailable because the "
20975 "work is forgotten. Either way, the aim of the law should be to facilitate "
20976 "the access to this content, ideally in a way that returns something to the "
20980 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20981 #: freeculture.xml:15135
20983 "Again, the model here is the used book store. Once a book goes out of print, "
20984 "it may still be available in libraries and used book stores. But libraries "
20985 "and used book stores don't pay the copyright owner when someone reads or "
20986 "buys an out-of-print book. That makes total sense, of course, since any "
20987 "other system would be so burdensome as to eliminate the possibility of used "
20988 "book stores' existing. But from the author's perspective, this "
20989 "<quote>sharing</quote> of his content without his being compensated is less "
20993 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
20994 #: freeculture.xml:15145
20996 "The model of used book stores suggests that the law could simply deem "
20997 "out-of-print music fair game. If the publisher does not make copies of the "
20998 "music available for sale, then commercial and noncommercial providers would "
20999 "be free, under this rule, to <quote>share</quote> that content, even though "
21000 "the sharing involved making a copy. The copy here would be incidental to the "
21001 "trade; in a context where commercial publishing has ended, trading music "
21002 "should be as free as trading books."
21006 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21007 #: freeculture.xml:15156
21009 "Alternatively, the law could create a statutory license that would ensure "
21010 "that artists get something from the trade of their work. For example, if the "
21011 "law set a low statutory rate for the commercial sharing of content that was "
21012 "not offered for sale by a commercial publisher, and if that rate were "
21013 "automatically transferred to a trust for the benefit of the artist, then "
21014 "businesses could develop around the idea of trading this content, and "
21015 "artists would benefit from this trade."
21018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21019 #: freeculture.xml:15166
21021 "This system would also create an incentive for publishers to keep works "
21022 "available commercially. Works that are available commercially would not be "
21023 "subject to this license. Thus, publishers could protect the right to charge "
21024 "whatever they want for content if they kept the work commercially "
21025 "available. But if they don't keep it available, and instead, the computer "
21026 "hard disks of fans around the world keep it alive, then any royalty owed for "
21027 "such copying should be much less than the amount owed a commercial "
21031 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21032 #: freeculture.xml:15176
21034 "The hard case is content of types A and B, and again, this case is hard only "
21035 "because the extent of the problem will change over time, as the technologies "
21036 "for gaining access to content change. The law's solution should be as "
21037 "flexible as the problem is, understanding that we are in the middle of a "
21038 "radical transformation in the technology for delivering and accessing "
21042 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21043 #: freeculture.xml:15184
21045 "So here's a solution that will at first seem very strange to both sides in "
21046 "this war, but which upon reflection, I suggest, should make some sense."
21049 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21050 #: freeculture.xml:15188
21052 "Stripped of the rhetoric about the sanctity of property, the basic claim of "
21053 "the content industry is this: A new technology (the Internet) has harmed a "
21054 "set of rights that secure copyright. If those rights are to be protected, "
21055 "then the content industry should be compensated for that harm. Just as the "
21056 "technology of tobacco harmed the health of millions of Americans, or the "
21057 "technology of asbestos caused grave illness to thousands of miners, so, too, "
21058 "has the technology of digital networks harmed the interests of the content "
21063 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21064 #: freeculture.xml:15199
21066 "I love the Internet, and so I don't like likening it to tobacco or "
21067 "asbestos. But the analogy is a fair one from the perspective of the law. "
21068 "And it suggests a fair response: Rather than seeking to destroy the "
21069 "Internet, or the p2p technologies that are currently harming content "
21070 "providers on the Internet, we should find a relatively simple way to "
21071 "compensate those who are harmed."
21074 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
21075 #: freeculture.xml:15206 freeculture.xml:15248
21076 msgid "Promises to Keep (Fisher)"
21079 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
21080 #: freeculture.xml:15246
21081 msgid "Fisher, William"
21084 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
21085 #: freeculture.xml:15212
21087 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> William Fisher, "
21088 "<citetitle>Digital Music: Problems and Possibilities</citetitle> (last "
21089 "revised: 10 October 2000), available at <ulink "
21090 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #77</ulink>; William Fisher, "
21091 "<citetitle>Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of "
21092 "Entertainment</citetitle> (forthcoming) (Stanford: Stanford University "
21093 "Press, 2004), ch. 6, available at <ulink "
21094 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #78</ulink>. Professor Netanel "
21095 "has proposed a related idea that would exempt noncommercial sharing from the "
21096 "reach of copyright and would establish compensation to artists to balance "
21097 "any loss. See Neil Weinstock Netanel, <quote>Impose a Noncommercial Use Levy "
21098 "to Allow Free P2P File Sharing,</quote> available at <ulink "
21099 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #79</ulink>. For other proposals, "
21100 "see Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Who's Holding Back Broadband?</quote> "
21101 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 8 January 2002, A17; Philip "
21102 "S. Corwin on behalf of Sharman Networks, A Letter to Senator Joseph "
21103 "R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 26 "
21104 "February 2002, available at <ulink "
21105 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #80</ulink>; Serguei Osokine, "
21106 "<citetitle>A Quick Case for Intellectual Property Use Fee "
21107 "(IPUF)</citetitle>, 3 March 2002, available at <ulink "
21108 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #81</ulink>; Jefferson Graham, "
21109 "<quote>Kazaa, Verizon Propose to Pay Artists Directly,</quote> "
21110 "<citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 13 May 2002, available at <ulink "
21111 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #82</ulink>; Steven M. Cherry, "
21112 "<quote>Getting Copyright Right,</quote> IEEE Spectrum Online, 1 July 2002, "
21113 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #83</ulink>; "
21114 "Declan McCullagh, <quote>Verizon's Copyright Campaign,</quote> CNET "
21115 "News.com, 27 August 2002, available at <ulink "
21116 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #84</ulink>. Fisher's proposal "
21117 "is very similar to Richard Stallman's proposal for DAT. Unlike Fisher's, "
21118 "Stallman's proposal would not pay artists directly proportionally, though "
21119 "more popular artists would get more than the less popular. As is typical "
21120 "with Stallman, his proposal predates the current debate by about a "
21121 "decade. See <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #85</ulink>. "
21122 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
21123 "id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
21126 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21127 #: freeculture.xml:15208
21129 "The idea would be a modification of a proposal that has been floated by "
21130 "Harvard law professor William Fisher.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
21131 "id=\"0\"/> Fisher suggests a very clever way around the current impasse of "
21132 "the Internet. Under his plan, all content capable of digital transmission "
21133 "would (1) be marked with a digital watermark (don't worry about how easy it "
21134 "is to evade these marks; as you'll see, there's no incentive to evade "
21135 "them). Once the content is marked, then entrepreneurs would develop (2) "
21136 "systems to monitor how many items of each content were distributed. On the "
21137 "basis of those numbers, then (3) artists would be compensated. The "
21138 "compensation would be paid for by (4) an appropriate tax."
21141 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21142 #: freeculture.xml:15262
21144 "Fisher's proposal is careful and comprehensive. It raises a million "
21145 "questions, most of which he answers well in his upcoming book, "
21146 "<citetitle>Promises to Keep</citetitle>. The modification that I would make "
21147 "is relatively simple: Fisher imagines his proposal replacing the existing "
21148 "copyright system. I imagine it complementing the existing system. The aim "
21149 "of the proposal would be to facilitate compensation to the extent that harm "
21150 "could be shown. This compensation would be temporary, aimed at facilitating "
21151 "a transition between regimes. And it would require renewal after a period of "
21152 "years. If it continues to make sense to facilitate free exchange of content, "
21153 "supported through a taxation system, then it can be continued. If this form "
21154 "of protection is no longer necessary, then the system could lapse into the "
21155 "old system of controlling access."
21159 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21160 #: freeculture.xml:15279
21162 "Fisher would balk at the idea of allowing the system to lapse. His aim is "
21163 "not just to ensure that artists are paid, but also to ensure that the system "
21164 "supports the widest range of <quote>semiotic democracy</quote> possible. But "
21165 "the aims of semiotic democracy would be satisfied if the other changes I "
21166 "described were accomplished—in particular, the limits on derivative "
21167 "uses. A system that simply charges for access would not greatly burden "
21168 "semiotic democracy if there were few limitations on what one was allowed to "
21169 "do with the content itself."
21172 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
21173 #: freeculture.xml:15292
21177 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
21178 #: freeculture.xml:15294
21182 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21183 #: freeculture.xml:15296
21185 "No doubt it would be difficult to calculate the proper measure of "
21186 "<quote>harm</quote> to an industry. But the difficulty of making that "
21187 "calculation would be outweighed by the benefit of facilitating "
21188 "innovation. This background system to compensate would also not need to "
21189 "interfere with innovative proposals such as Apple's MusicStore. As experts "
21190 "predicted when Apple launched the MusicStore, it could beat "
21191 "<quote>free</quote> by being easier than free is. This has proven correct: "
21192 "Apple has sold millions of songs at even the very high price of 99 cents a "
21193 "song. (At 99 cents, the cost is the equivalent of a per-song CD price, "
21194 "though the labels have none of the costs of a CD to pay.) Apple's move was "
21195 "countered by Real Networks, offering music at just 79 cents a song. And no "
21196 "doubt there will be a great deal of competition to offer and sell music "
21200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
21201 #: freeculture.xml:15311
21202 msgid "cable vs. broadcast"
21205 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
21206 #: freeculture.xml:15314
21207 msgid "luxury theatres vs. video piracy in"
21210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21211 #: freeculture.xml:15316
21213 "This competition has already occurred against the background of "
21214 "<quote>free</quote> music from p2p systems. As the sellers of cable "
21215 "television have known for thirty years, and the sellers of bottled water for "
21216 "much more than that, there is nothing impossible at all about "
21217 "<quote>competing with free.</quote> Indeed, if anything, the competition "
21218 "spurs the competitors to offer new and better products. This is precisely "
21219 "what the competitive market was to be about. Thus in Singapore, though "
21220 "piracy is rampant, movie theaters are often luxurious—with "
21221 "<quote>first class</quote> seats, and meals served while you watch a "
21222 "movie—as they struggle and succeed in finding ways to compete with "
21223 "<quote>free.</quote>"
21226 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21227 #: freeculture.xml:15328
21229 "This regime of competition, with a backstop to assure that artists don't "
21230 "lose, would facilitate a great deal of innovation in the delivery of "
21231 "content. That competition would continue to shrink type A sharing. It would "
21232 "inspire an extraordinary range of new innovators—ones who would have a "
21233 "right to the content, and would no longer fear the uncertain and "
21234 "barbarically severe punishments of the law."
21237 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21238 #: freeculture.xml:15337
21239 msgid "In summary, then, my proposal is this:"
21243 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21244 #: freeculture.xml:15342
21246 "The Internet is in transition. We should not be regulating a technology in "
21247 "transition. We should instead be regulating to minimize the harm to "
21248 "interests affected by this technological change, while enabling, and "
21249 "encouraging, the most efficient technology we can create."
21252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21253 #: freeculture.xml:15349
21254 msgid "We can minimize that harm while maximizing the benefit to innovation by"
21258 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
21259 #: freeculture.xml:15355
21260 msgid "guaranteeing the right to engage in type D sharing;"
21264 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
21265 #: freeculture.xml:15359
21267 "permitting noncommercial type C sharing without liability, and commercial "
21268 "type C sharing at a low and fixed rate set by statute;"
21272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
21273 #: freeculture.xml:15365
21275 "while in this transition, taxing and compensating for type A sharing, to the "
21276 "extent actual harm is demonstrated."
21279 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21280 #: freeculture.xml:15370
21282 "But what if <quote>piracy</quote> doesn't disappear? What if there is a "
21283 "competitive market providing content at a low cost, but a significant number "
21284 "of consumers continue to <quote>take</quote> content for nothing? Should the "
21285 "law do something then?"
21288 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21289 #: freeculture.xml:15376
21291 "Yes, it should. But, again, what it should do depends upon how the facts "
21292 "develop. These changes may not eliminate type A sharing. But the real issue "
21293 "is not whether it eliminates sharing in the abstract. The real issue is its "
21294 "effect on the market. Is it better (a) to have a technology that is 95 "
21295 "percent secure and produces a market of size <citetitle>x</citetitle>, or "
21296 "(b) to have a technology that is 50 percent secure but produces a market of "
21297 "five times <citetitle>x</citetitle>? Less secure might produce more "
21298 "unauthorized sharing, but it is likely to also produce a much bigger market "
21299 "in authorized sharing. The most important thing is to assure artists' "
21300 "compensation without breaking the Internet. Once that's assured, then it may "
21301 "well be appropriate to find ways to track down the petty pirates."
21305 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21306 #: freeculture.xml:15390
21308 "But we're a long way away from whittling the problem down to this subset of "
21309 "type A sharers. And our focus until we're there should not be on finding "
21310 "ways to break the Internet. Our focus until we're there should be on how to "
21311 "make sure the artists are paid, while protecting the space for innovation "
21312 "and creativity that the Internet is."
21315 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
21316 #: freeculture.xml:15401
21317 msgid "5. Fire Lots of Lawyers"
21320 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21321 #: freeculture.xml:15403
21323 "I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living. I believe in the law. I believe "
21324 "in the law of copyright. Indeed, I have devoted my life to working in law, "
21325 "not because there are big bucks at the end but because there are ideals at "
21326 "the end that I would love to live."
21329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21330 #: freeculture.xml:15409
21332 "Yet much of this book has been a criticism of lawyers, or the role lawyers "
21333 "have played in this debate. The law speaks to ideals, but it is my view that "
21334 "our profession has become too attuned to the client. And in a world where "
21335 "the rich clients have one strong view, the unwillingness of the profession "
21336 "to question or counter that one strong view queers the law."
21339 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
21340 #: freeculture.xml:15416
21341 msgid "Nimmer, Melville"
21344 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
21345 #: freeculture.xml:15417
21346 msgid "Supreme Court challenge of"
21350 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
21351 #: freeculture.xml:15428
21353 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Copyright's First Amendment</quote> (Melville "
21354 "B. Nimmer Memorial Lecture), <citetitle>UCLA Law Review</citetitle> 48 "
21355 "(2001): 1057, 1069–70."
21358 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21359 #: freeculture.xml:15419
21361 "The evidence of this bending is compelling. I'm attacked as a "
21362 "<quote>radical</quote> by many within the profession, yet the positions that "
21363 "I am advocating are precisely the positions of some of the most moderate and "
21364 "significant figures in the history of this branch of the law. Many, for "
21365 "example, thought crazy the challenge that we brought to the Copyright Term "
21366 "Extension Act. Yet just thirty years ago, the dominant scholar and "
21367 "practitioner in the field of copyright, Melville Nimmer, thought it "
21368 "obvious.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
21371 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21372 #: freeculture.xml:15434
21374 "However, my criticism of the role that lawyers have played in this debate is "
21375 "not just about a professional bias. It is more importantly about our failure "
21376 "to actually reckon the costs of the law."
21379 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
21380 #: freeculture.xml:15444
21382 "A good example is the work of Professor Stan Liebowitz. Liebowitz is to be "
21383 "commended for his careful review of data about infringement, leading him to "
21384 "question his own publicly stated position—twice. He initially "
21385 "predicted that downloading would substantially harm the industry. He then "
21386 "revised his view in light of the data, and he has since revised his view "
21387 "again. Compare Stan J. Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network "
21388 "Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace</citetitle> (New "
21389 "York: Amacom, 2002), (reviewing his original view but expressing skepticism) "
21390 "with Stan J. Liebowitz, <quote>Will MP3s Annihilate the Record "
21391 "Industry?</quote> working paper, June 2003, available at <ulink "
21392 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #86</ulink>. Liebowitz's careful "
21393 "analysis is extremely valuable in estimating the effect of file-sharing "
21394 "technology. In my view, however, he underestimates the costs of the legal "
21395 "system. See, for example, <citetitle>Rethinking</citetitle>, 174–76. "
21396 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
21399 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21400 #: freeculture.xml:15439
21402 "Economists are supposed to be good at reckoning costs and benefits. But "
21403 "more often than not, economists, with no clue about how the legal system "
21404 "actually functions, simply assume that the transaction costs of the legal "
21405 "system are slight.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> They see a "
21406 "system that has been around for hundreds of years, and they assume it works "
21407 "the way their elementary school civics class taught them it works."
21411 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21412 #: freeculture.xml:15468
21414 "But the legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for "
21415 "anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the system is "
21416 "corrupt. I don't think our legal system (at the federal level, at least) is "
21417 "at all corrupt. I mean simply because the costs of our legal system are so "
21418 "astonishingly high that justice can practically never be done."
21421 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21422 #: freeculture.xml:15476
21424 "These costs distort free culture in many ways. A lawyer's time is billed at "
21425 "the largest firms at more than $400 per hour. How much time should such a "
21426 "lawyer spend reading cases carefully, or researching obscure strands of "
21427 "authority? The answer is the increasing reality: very little. The law "
21428 "depended upon the careful articulation and development of doctrine, but the "
21429 "careful articulation and development of legal doctrine depends upon careful "
21430 "work. Yet that careful work costs too much, except in the most high-profile "
21431 "and costly cases."
21434 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21435 #: freeculture.xml:15486
21437 "The costliness and clumsiness and randomness of this system mock our "
21438 "tradition. And lawyers, as well as academics, should consider it their duty "
21439 "to change the way the law works—or better, to change the law so that "
21440 "it works. It is wrong that the system works well only for the top 1 percent "
21441 "of the clients. It could be made radically more efficient, and inexpensive, "
21442 "and hence radically more just."
21445 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21446 #: freeculture.xml:15494
21448 "But until that reform is complete, we as a society should keep the law away "
21449 "from areas that we know it will only harm. And that is precisely what the "
21450 "law will too often do if too much of our culture is left to its review."
21453 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21454 #: freeculture.xml:15501
21456 "Think about the amazing things your kid could do or make with digital "
21457 "technology—the film, the music, the Web page, the blog. Or think about "
21458 "the amazing things your community could facilitate with digital "
21459 "technology—a wiki, a barn raising, activism to change something. "
21460 "Think about all those creative things, and then imagine cold molasses poured "
21461 "onto the machines. This is what any regime that requires permission "
21462 "produces. Again, this is the reality of Brezhnev's Russia."
21466 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21467 #: freeculture.xml:15510
21469 "The law should regulate in certain areas of culture—but it should "
21470 "regulate culture only where that regulation does good. Yet lawyers rarely "
21471 "test their power, or the power they promote, against this simple pragmatic "
21472 "question: <quote>Will it do good?</quote> When challenged about the "
21473 "expanding reach of the law, the lawyer answers, <quote>Why not?</quote>"
21476 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
21477 #: freeculture.xml:15519
21479 "We should ask, <quote>Why?</quote> Show me why your regulation of culture is "
21480 "needed. Show me how it does good. And until you can show me both, keep your "
21484 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
21485 #: freeculture.xml:15528
21489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21490 #: freeculture.xml:15530
21492 "Throughout this text, there are references to links on the World Wide "
21493 "Web. As anyone who has tried to use the Web knows, these links can be highly "
21494 "unstable. I have tried to remedy the instability by redirecting readers to "
21495 "the original source through the Web site associated with this book. For each "
21496 "link below, you can go to http://free-culture.cc/notes and locate the "
21497 "original source by clicking on the number after the # sign. If the original "
21498 "link remains alive, you will be redirected to that link. If the original "
21499 "link has disappeared, you will be redirected to an appropriate reference for "
21503 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
21504 #: freeculture.xml:15549
21505 msgid "ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"
21508 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21509 #: freeculture.xml:15551
21511 "This book is the product of a long and as yet unsuccessful struggle that "
21512 "began when I read of Eric Eldred's war to keep books free. Eldred's work "
21513 "helped launch a movement, the free culture movement, and it is to him that "
21514 "this book is dedicated."
21517 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21518 #: freeculture.xml:15558
21520 "I received guidance in various places from friends and academics, including "
21521 "Glenn Brown, Peter DiCola, Jennifer Mnookin, Richard Posner, Mark Rose, and "
21522 "Kathleen Sullivan. And I received correction and guidance from many amazing "
21523 "students at Stanford Law School and Stanford University. They included "
21524 "Andrew B. Coan, John Eden, James P. Fellers, Christopher Guzelian, Erica "
21525 "Goldberg, Robert Hallman, Andrew Harris, Matthew Kahn, Brian Link, Ohad "
21526 "Mayblum, Alina Ng, and Erica Platt. I am particularly grateful to Catherine "
21527 "Crump and Harry Surden, who helped direct their research, and to Laura "
21528 "Lynch, who brilliantly managed the army that they assembled, and provided "
21529 "her own critical eye on much of this."
21533 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21534 #: freeculture.xml:15571
21536 "Yuko Noguchi helped me to understand the laws of Japan as well as its "
21537 "culture. I am thankful to her, and to the many in Japan who helped me "
21538 "prepare this book: Joi Ito, Takayuki Matsutani, Naoto Misaki, Michihiro "
21539 "Sasaki, Hiromichi Tanaka, Hiroo Yamagata, and Yoshihiro Yonezawa. I am "
21540 "thankful as well as to Professor Nobuhiro Nakayama, and the Tokyo University "
21541 "Business Law Center, for giving me the chance to spend time in Japan, and to "
21542 "Tadashi Shiraishi and Kiyokazu Yamagami for their generous help while I was "
21546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21547 #: freeculture.xml:15582
21549 "These are the traditional sorts of help that academics regularly draw "
21550 "upon. But in addition to them, the Internet has made it possible to receive "
21551 "advice and correction from many whom I have never even met. Among those who "
21552 "have responded with extremely helpful advice to requests on my blog about "
21553 "the book are Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, David Gerstein, and Peter DiMauro, as "
21554 "well as a long list of those who had specific ideas about ways to develop my "
21555 "argument. They included Richard Bondi, Steven Cherry, David Coe, Nik "
21556 "Cubrilovic, Bob Devine, Charles Eicher, Thomas Guida, Elihu M. Gerson, "
21557 "Jeremy Hunsinger, Vaughn Iverson, John Karabaic, Jeff Keltner, James "
21558 "Lindenschmidt, K. L. Mann, Mark Manning, Nora McCauley, Jeffrey McHugh, Evan "
21559 "McMullen, Fred Norton, John Pormann, Pedro A. D. Rezende, Shabbir Safdar, "
21560 "Saul Schleimer, Clay Shirky, Adam Shostack, Kragen Sitaker, Chris Smith, "
21561 "Bruce Steinberg, Andrzej Jan Taramina, Sean Walsh, Matt Wasserman, Miljenko "
21562 "Williams, <quote>Wink,</quote> Roger Wood, <quote>Ximmbo da Jazz,</quote> "
21563 "and Richard Yanco. (I apologize if I have missed anyone; with computers come "
21564 "glitches, and a crash of my e-mail system meant I lost a bunch of great "
21568 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21569 #: freeculture.xml:15602
21571 "Richard Stallman and Michael Carroll each read the whole book in draft, and "
21572 "each provided extremely helpful correction and advice. Michael helped me to "
21573 "see more clearly the significance of the regulation of derivitive works. And "
21574 "Richard corrected an embarrassingly large number of errors. While my work is "
21575 "in part inspired by Stallman's, he does not agree with me in important "
21576 "places throughout this book."
21579 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
21580 #: freeculture.xml:15611
21582 "Finally, and forever, I am thankful to Bettina, who has always insisted that "
21583 "there would be unending happiness away from these battles, and who has "
21584 "always been right. This slow learner is, as ever, grateful for her perpetual "
21585 "patience and love."
21588 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21589 #: freeculture.xml:15623
21591 "Free culture: How big media uses technology and the law to lock down culture "
21592 "and control creativity / Lawrence Lessig."
21595 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21596 #: freeculture.xml:15627
21597 msgid "Copyright © Lawrence Lessig. Some rights reserved."
21600 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21601 #: freeculture.xml:15630
21603 "This version of <citetitle>Free Culture</citetitle> is licensed under a "
21604 "Creative Commons license. This license permits non-commercial use of this "
21605 "work, so long as attribution is given. For more information about the "
21606 "license visit <ulink "
21607 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/\">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/</ulink>"
21610 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21611 #: freeculture.xml:15637
21613 "This digital book was published by Petter Reinholdtsen in 2015. The "
21614 "original hardcover paper book was published in 2004 by The Penguin Press."
21617 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21618 #: freeculture.xml:15642
21620 "Excerpt from an editorial titled <quote>The Coming of Copyright "
21621 "Perpetuity,</quote> <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, January 16, "
21622 "2003. Copyright © 2003 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with "
21626 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21627 #: freeculture.xml:15648
21629 "Cartoon in <xref linkend=\"fig-1711-vcr-handgun-cartoonfig\"/> by Paul "
21630 "Conrad, copyright Tribune Media Services, Inc. All rights "
21631 "reserved. Reprinted with permission."
21634 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21635 #: freeculture.xml:15653
21637 "Diagram in <xref linkend=\"fig-1761-pattern-modern-media-ownership\"/> "
21638 "courtesy of the office of FCC Commissioner, Michael J. Copps."
21641 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21642 #: freeculture.xml:15658
21644 "The source of this version of the book is written using DocBook notation and "
21645 "the other formats are derived from the DocBook source. The DocBook source "
21646 "is based on a DocBook XML version created by Hans Schou, and extended by "
21647 "Petter Reinholdtsen with formatting and index references. The source files "
21648 "for this book are available from <ulink "
21649 "url=\"https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/free-culture-lessig\"/>."
21652 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21653 #: freeculture.xml:15667
21654 msgid "&translationblock;"
21657 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21658 #: freeculture.xml:15671
21659 msgid "Includes index."
21662 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
21663 #: freeculture.xml:15675
21665 "Classifications: (Dewey) 306.4 306.40973 306.46 341.7582 343.7309/9, (UDK) "
21666 "347.78 (US Lib. of Congress) KF2979.L47 2004 (ACM CRCS) K.4.1"
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21670 #: freeculture.xml:15691
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21676 msgid "Format / MIME-type"
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21681 msgid "978-82-92812-XX-Y"
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