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4 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
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36 msgid "<abbrev>\"freeculture\"</abbrev>"
39 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
40 #: freeculture.xml:24 freeculture.xml:180
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>New York</city>"
92 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
95 "<publisher> <publishername>The Penguin Press</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:69
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110 #: freeculture.xml:76
111 msgid "Creative Commons, Some rights reserved"
114 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
115 #: freeculture.xml:68
116 msgid "<placeholder type=\"inlinemediaobject\" id=\"0\"/>"
119 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
120 #: freeculture.xml:82
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:91
131 msgid "ABOUT THE AUTHOR"
134 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><para>
135 #: freeculture.xml:93
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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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
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178 #: freeculture.xml:112
180 " <placeholder type=\"mediaobject\" id=\"0\"/> <biblioid "
181 "class=\"isbn\">1-59420-006-8</biblioid> <biblioid "
182 "class=\"libraryofcongress\">2003063276</biblioid>"
185 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
186 #: freeculture.xml:142
187 msgid "You can buy a copy of this book by clicking on one of the links below:"
190 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
191 #: freeculture.xml:145
192 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.amazon.com/\">Amazon</ulink>"
195 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
196 #: freeculture.xml:146
197 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/\">B&N</ulink>"
200 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
201 #: freeculture.xml:147
202 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.penguin.com/\">Penguin</ulink>"
205 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
206 #: freeculture.xml:156
207 msgid "ALSO BY LAWRENCE LESSIG"
210 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
211 #: freeculture.xml:159
212 msgid "The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World"
215 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
216 #: freeculture.xml:162
217 msgid "Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace"
220 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
221 #: freeculture.xml:169
222 msgid "THE PENGUIN PRESS, NEW YORK"
225 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
226 #: freeculture.xml:176
230 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
231 #: freeculture.xml:186
232 msgid "LAWRENCE LESSIG"
235 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
236 #: freeculture.xml:192
238 "THE PENGUIN PRESS, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street "
242 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
243 #: freeculture.xml:196
244 msgid "Copyright © Lawrence Lessig. All rights reserved."
247 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
248 #: freeculture.xml:199
250 "Excerpt from an editorial titled <quote>The Coming of Copyright "
251 "Perpetuity,</quote> <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, January 16, "
252 "2003. Copyright © 2003 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with "
256 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
257 #: freeculture.xml:204
259 "Cartoon in <xref linkend=\"fig-1711\"/> by Paul Conrad, copyright Tribune "
260 "Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission."
263 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
264 #: freeculture.xml:208
266 "Diagram in <xref linkend=\"fig-1761\"/> courtesy of the office of FCC "
267 "Commissioner, Michael J. Copps."
270 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
271 #: freeculture.xml:212
272 msgid "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data"
275 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
276 #: freeculture.xml:215
278 "Lessig, Lawrence. Free culture : how big media uses technology and the law "
279 "to lock down culture and control creativity / Lawrence Lessig."
282 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
283 #: freeculture.xml:220
287 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
288 #: freeculture.xml:223
289 msgid "Includes index."
292 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
293 #: freeculture.xml:226
294 msgid "ISBN 1-59420-006-8 (hardcover)"
297 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
298 #: freeculture.xml:230
300 "1. Intellectual property—United States. 2. Mass media—United "
304 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
305 #: freeculture.xml:233
307 "3. Technological innovations—United States. 4. Art—United "
311 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
312 #: freeculture.xml:236
316 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
317 #: freeculture.xml:239
318 msgid "343.7309'9—dc22"
321 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
322 #: freeculture.xml:242
323 msgid "This book is printed on acid-free paper."
326 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
327 #: freeculture.xml:245
328 msgid "Printed in the United States of America"
331 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
332 #: freeculture.xml:248
333 msgid "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4"
336 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
337 #: freeculture.xml:251
338 msgid "Designed by Marysarah Quinn"
341 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
342 #: freeculture.xml:255
343 msgid "&translationblock;"
346 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
347 #: freeculture.xml:259
349 "Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this "
350 "publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval "
351 "system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, "
352 "photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission "
353 "of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book."
356 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
357 #: freeculture.xml:267
359 "The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or "
360 "via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and "
361 "punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and "
362 "do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted "
363 "materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated."
366 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
367 #: freeculture.xml:279
369 "To Eric Eldred—whose work first drew me to this cause, and for whom it "
373 #. type: Content of: <book><lot><title>
374 #: freeculture.xml:287
375 msgid "List of figures"
378 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><title>
379 #: freeculture.xml:349
383 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><indexterm><primary>
384 #: freeculture.xml:351
388 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
389 #: freeculture.xml:354
391 "At the end of his review of my first book, <citetitle>Code: And Other Laws "
392 "of Cyberspace</citetitle>, David Pogue, a brilliant writer and author of "
393 "countless technical and computer-related texts, wrote this:"
396 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
397 #: freeculture.xml:364
399 "David Pogue, <quote>Don't Just Chat, Do Something,</quote> <citetitle>New "
400 "York Times</citetitle>, 30 January 2000."
403 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
404 #: freeculture.xml:360
406 "Unlike actual law, Internet software has no capacity to punish. It doesn't "
407 "affect people who aren't online (and only a tiny minority of the world "
408 "population is). And if you don't like the Internet's system, you can always "
409 "flip off the modem.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
412 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
413 #: freeculture.xml:369
415 "Pogue was skeptical of the core argument of the book—that software, or "
416 "<quote>code,</quote> functioned as a kind of law—and his review "
417 "suggested the happy thought that if life in cyberspace got bad, we could "
418 "always <quote>drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome</quote>-like simply flip a "
419 "switch and be back home. Turn off the modem, unplug the computer, and any "
420 "troubles that exist in <emphasis>that</emphasis> space wouldn't "
421 "<quote>affect</quote> us anymore."
425 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
426 #: freeculture.xml:378
428 "Pogue might have been right in 1999—I'm skeptical, but maybe. But "
429 "even if he was right then, the point is not right now: <citetitle>Free "
430 "Culture</citetitle> is about the troubles the Internet causes even after the "
431 "modem is turned off. It is an argument about how the battles that now rage "
432 "regarding life on-line have fundamentally affected <quote>people who aren't "
433 "online.</quote> There is no switch that will insulate us from the Internet's "
437 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
438 #: freeculture.xml:389
440 "But unlike <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, the argument here is not much about "
441 "the Internet itself. It is instead about the consequence of the Internet to "
442 "a part of our tradition that is much more fundamental, and, as hard as this "
443 "is for a geek-wanna-be to admit, much more important."
446 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para><footnote><para>
447 #: freeculture.xml:401
449 "Richard M. Stallman, <citetitle>Free Software, Free Societies</citetitle> 57 "
450 "(Joshua Gay, ed. 2002)."
453 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
454 #: freeculture.xml:396
456 "That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages "
457 "that follow, we come from a tradition of <quote>free "
458 "culture</quote>—not <quote>free</quote> as in <quote>free beer</quote> "
459 "(to borrow a phrase from the founder of the free software "
460 "movement<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), but <quote>free</quote> "
461 "as in <quote>free speech,</quote> <quote>free markets,</quote> <quote>free "
462 "trade,</quote> <quote>free enterprise,</quote> <quote>free will,</quote> and "
463 "<quote>free elections.</quote> A free culture supports and protects creators "
464 "and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property "
465 "rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those rights, to "
466 "guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain <emphasis>as free as "
467 "possible</emphasis> from the control of the past. A free culture is not a "
468 "culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which "
469 "everything is free. The opposite of a free culture is a <quote>permission "
470 "culture</quote>—a culture in which creators get to create only with "
471 "the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past."
474 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
475 #: freeculture.xml:416
477 "If we understood this change, I believe we would resist it. Not "
478 "<quote>we</quote> on the Left or <quote>you</quote> on the Right, but we who "
479 "have no stake in the particular industries of culture that defined the "
480 "twentieth century. Whether you are on the Left or the Right, if you are in "
481 "this sense disinterested, then the story I tell here will trouble you. For "
482 "the changes I describe affect values that both sides of our political "
483 "culture deem fundamental."
486 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
487 #: freeculture.xml:424 freeculture.xml:12899
488 msgid "CodePink Women in Peace"
491 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
492 #: freeculture.xml:435 freeculture.xml:445 freeculture.xml:12912
493 msgid "Safire, William"
496 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
497 #: freeculture.xml:426
499 "We saw a glimpse of this bipartisan outrage in the early summer of 2003. As "
500 "the FCC considered changes in media ownership rules that would relax limits "
501 "on media concentration, an extraordinary coalition generated more than "
502 "700,000 letters to the FCC opposing the change. As William Safire described "
503 "marching <quote>uncomfortably alongside CodePink Women for Peace and the "
504 "National Rifle Association, between liberal Olympia Snowe and conservative "
505 "Ted Stevens,</quote> he formulated perhaps most simply just what was at "
506 "stake: the concentration of power. And as he asked, <placeholder "
507 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
510 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
511 #: freeculture.xml:443
513 "William Safire, <quote>The Great Media Gulp,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
514 "Times</citetitle>, 22 May 2003. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
517 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
518 #: freeculture.xml:439
520 "Does that sound unconservative? Not to me. The concentration of "
521 "power—political, corporate, media, cultural—should be anathema "
522 "to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby "
523 "encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the "
524 "greatest expression of democracy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
527 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
528 #: freeculture.xml:450
530 "This idea is an element of the argument of <citetitle>Free "
531 "Culture</citetitle>, though my focus is not just on the concentration of "
532 "power produced by concentrations in ownership, but more importantly, if "
533 "because less visibly, on the concentration of power produced by a radical "
534 "change in the effective scope of the law. The law is changing; that change "
535 "is altering the way our culture gets made; that change should worry "
536 "you—whether or not you care about the Internet, and whether you're on "
537 "Safire's left or on his right. The inspiration for the title and for much "
538 "of the argument of this book comes from the work of Richard Stallman and the "
539 "Free Software Foundation. Indeed, as I reread Stallman's own work, "
540 "especially the essays in <citetitle>Free Software, Free Society</citetitle>, "
541 "I realize that all of the theoretical insights I develop here are insights "
542 "Stallman described decades ago. One could thus well argue that this work is "
543 "<quote>merely</quote> derivative."
547 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
548 #: freeculture.xml:466
550 "I accept that criticism, if indeed it is a criticism. The work of a lawyer "
551 "is always derivative, and I mean to do nothing more in this book than to "
552 "remind a culture about a tradition that has always been its own. Like "
553 "Stallman, I defend that tradition on the basis of values. Like Stallman, I "
554 "believe those are the values of freedom. And like Stallman, I believe those "
555 "are values of our past that will need to be defended in our future. A free "
556 "culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the "
557 "path we are on right now. Like Stallman's arguments for free software, an "
558 "argument for free culture stumbles on a confusion that is hard to avoid, and "
559 "even harder to understand. A free culture is not a culture without property; "
560 "it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without "
561 "property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not "
562 "freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here."
565 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
566 #: freeculture.xml:484
568 "Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between "
569 "anarchy and control. A free culture, like a free market, is filled with "
570 "property. It is filled with rules of property and contract that get enforced "
571 "by the state. But just as a free market is perverted if its property becomes "
572 "feudal, so too can a free culture be queered by extremism in the property "
573 "rights that define it. That is what I fear about our culture today. It is "
574 "against that extremism that this book is written."
577 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
578 #: freeculture.xml:499
582 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
583 #: freeculture.xml:501
585 "On December 17, 1903, on a windy North Carolina beach for just shy of one "
586 "hundred seconds, the Wright brothers demonstrated that a heavier-than-air, "
587 "self-propelled vehicle could fly. The moment was electric and its importance "
588 "widely understood. Almost immediately, there was an explosion of interest in "
589 "this newfound technology of manned flight, and a gaggle of innovators began "
593 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
594 #: freeculture.xml:513
596 "St. George Tucker, <citetitle>Blackstone's Commentaries</citetitle> 3 (South "
597 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1969), 18."
600 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
601 #: freeculture.xml:509
603 "At the time the Wright brothers invented the airplane, American law held "
604 "that a property owner presumptively owned not just the surface of his land, "
605 "but all the land below, down to the center of the earth, and all the space "
606 "above, to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards.</quote><placeholder "
607 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> For many years, scholars had puzzled about how "
608 "best to interpret the idea that rights in land ran to the heavens. Did that "
609 "mean that you owned the stars? Could you prosecute geese for their willful "
610 "and regular trespass?"
613 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
614 #: freeculture.xml:522
616 "Then came airplanes, and for the first time, this principle of American "
617 "law—deep within the foundations of our tradition, and acknowledged by "
618 "the most important legal thinkers of our past—mattered. If my land "
619 "reaches to the heavens, what happens when United flies over my field? Do I "
620 "have the right to banish it from my property? Am I allowed to enter into an "
621 "exclusive license with Delta Airlines? Could we set up an auction to decide "
622 "how much these rights are worth?"
625 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
626 #: freeculture.xml:530 freeculture.xml:543 freeculture.xml:574 freeculture.xml:593 freeculture.xml:996 freeculture.xml:1013 freeculture.xml:1059 freeculture.xml:8899 freeculture.xml:12294 freeculture.xml:13003
627 msgid "Causby, Thomas Lee"
630 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
631 #: freeculture.xml:531 freeculture.xml:544 freeculture.xml:575 freeculture.xml:594 freeculture.xml:997 freeculture.xml:1014 freeculture.xml:1060 freeculture.xml:8900 freeculture.xml:12295 freeculture.xml:13004
632 msgid "Causby, Tinie"
635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
636 #: freeculture.xml:533
638 "In 1945, these questions became a federal case. When North Carolina farmers "
639 "Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby started losing chickens because of low-flying "
640 "military aircraft (the terrified chickens apparently flew into the barn "
641 "walls and died), the Causbys filed a lawsuit saying that the government was "
642 "trespassing on their land. The airplanes, of course, never touched the "
643 "surface of the Causbys' land. But if, as Blackstone, Kent, and Coke had "
644 "said, their land reached to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards,</quote> "
645 "then the government was trespassing on their property, and the Causbys "
649 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
650 #: freeculture.xml:546
652 "The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Causbys' case. Congress had declared "
653 "the airways public, but if one's property really extended to the heavens, "
654 "then Congress's declaration could well have been an unconstitutional "
655 "<quote>taking</quote> of property without compensation. The Court "
656 "acknowledged that <quote>it is ancient doctrine that common law ownership of "
657 "the land extended to the periphery of the universe.</quote> But Justice "
658 "Douglas had no patience for ancient doctrine. In a single paragraph, "
659 "hundreds of years of property law were erased. As he wrote for the Court,"
662 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
663 #: freeculture.xml:566
665 "United States v. Causby, U.S. 328 (1946): 256, 261. The Court did find that "
666 "there could be a <quote>taking</quote> if the government's use of its land "
667 "effectively destroyed the value of the Causbys' land. This example was "
668 "suggested to me by Keith Aoki's wonderful piece, <quote>(Intellectual) "
669 "Property and Sovereignty: Notes Toward a Cultural Geography of "
670 "Authorship,</quote> <citetitle>Stanford Law Review</citetitle> 48 (1996): "
671 "1293, 1333. See also Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Real Property</citetitle> "
672 "(Mineola, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1984), 1112–13. <placeholder "
673 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
677 #: freeculture.xml:557
679 "[The] doctrine has no place in the modern world. The air is a public "
680 "highway, as Congress has declared. Were that not true, every "
681 "transcontinental flight would subject the operator to countless trespass "
682 "suits. Common sense revolts at the idea. To recognize such private claims to "
683 "the airspace would clog these highways, seriously interfere with their "
684 "control and development in the public interest, and transfer into private "
685 "ownership that to which only the public has a just claim.<placeholder "
686 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
689 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
690 #: freeculture.xml:580
691 msgid "<quote>Common sense revolts at the idea.</quote>"
695 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
696 #: freeculture.xml:583
698 "This is how the law usually works. Not often this abruptly or impatiently, "
699 "but eventually, this is how it works. It was Douglas's style not to "
700 "dither. Other justices would have blathered on for pages to reach the "
701 "conclusion that Douglas holds in a single line: <quote>Common sense revolts "
702 "at the idea.</quote> But whether it takes pages or a few words, it is the "
703 "special genius of a common law system, as ours is, that the law adjusts to "
704 "the technologies of the time. And as it adjusts, it changes. Ideas that were "
705 "as solid as rock in one age crumble in another."
708 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
709 #: freeculture.xml:596
711 "Or at least, this is how things happen when there's no one powerful on the "
712 "other side of the change. The Causbys were just farmers. And though there "
713 "were no doubt many like them who were upset by the growing traffic in the "
714 "air (though one hopes not many chickens flew themselves into walls), the "
715 "Causbys of the world would find it very hard to unite and stop the idea, and "
716 "the technology, that the Wright brothers had birthed. The Wright brothers "
717 "spat airplanes into the technological meme pool; the idea then spread like a "
718 "virus in a chicken coop; farmers like the Causbys found themselves "
719 "surrounded by <quote>what seemed reasonable</quote> given the technology "
720 "that the Wrights had produced. They could stand on their farms, dead "
721 "chickens in hand, and shake their fists at these newfangled technologies all "
722 "they wanted. They could call their representatives or even file a "
723 "lawsuit. But in the end, the force of what seems <quote>obvious</quote> to "
724 "everyone else—the power of <quote>common sense</quote>—would "
725 "prevail. Their <quote>private interest</quote> would not be allowed to "
726 "defeat an obvious public gain."
729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
730 #: freeculture.xml:625
731 msgid "Bell, Alexander Graham"
734 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
735 #: freeculture.xml:626
736 msgid "Edison, Thomas"
739 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
740 #: freeculture.xml:627
741 msgid "Faraday, Michael"
744 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
745 #: freeculture.xml:614
747 "Edwin Howard Armstrong is one of America's forgotten inventor geniuses. He "
748 "came to the great American inventor scene just after the titans Thomas "
749 "Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. But his work in the area of radio "
750 "technology was perhaps the most important of any single inventor in the "
751 "first fifty years of radio. He was better educated than Michael Faraday, who "
752 "as a bookbinder's apprentice had discovered electric induction in 1831. But "
753 "he had the same intuition about how the world of radio worked, and on at "
754 "least three occasions, Armstrong invented profoundly important technologies "
755 "that advanced our understanding of radio. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
756 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
757 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
760 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
761 #: freeculture.xml:630
763 "On the day after Christmas, 1933, four patents were issued to Armstrong for "
764 "his most significant invention—FM radio. Until then, consumer radio "
765 "had been amplitude-modulated (AM) radio. The theorists of the day had said "
766 "that frequency-modulated (FM) radio could never work. They were right about "
767 "FM radio in a narrow band of spectrum. But Armstrong discovered that "
768 "frequency-modulated radio in a wide band of spectrum would deliver an "
769 "astonishing fidelity of sound, with much less transmitter power and static."
772 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
773 #: freeculture.xml:640
775 "On November 5, 1935, he demonstrated the technology at a meeting of the "
776 "Institute of Radio Engineers at the Empire State Building in New York "
777 "City. He tuned his radio dial across a range of AM stations, until the radio "
778 "locked on a broadcast that he had arranged from seventeen miles away. The "
779 "radio fell totally silent, as if dead, and then with a clarity no one else "
780 "in that room had ever heard from an electrical device, it produced the sound "
781 "of an announcer's voice: <quote>This is amateur station W2AG at Yonkers, New "
782 "York, operating on frequency modulation at two and a half meters.</quote>"
785 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
786 #: freeculture.xml:651
787 msgid "The audience was hearing something no one had thought possible:"
790 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
791 #: freeculture.xml:662
793 "Lawrence Lessing, <citetitle>Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard "
794 "Armstrong</citetitle> (Philadelphia: J. B. Lipincott Company, 1956), 209."
797 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
798 #: freeculture.xml:655
800 "A glass of water was poured before the microphone in Yonkers; it sounded "
801 "like a glass of water being poured. … A paper was crumpled and torn; "
802 "it sounded like paper and not like a crackling forest fire. … Sousa "
803 "marches were played from records and a piano solo and guitar number were "
804 "performed. … The music was projected with a live-ness rarely if ever "
805 "heard before from a radio <quote>music box.</quote><placeholder "
806 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
810 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
811 #: freeculture.xml:668
813 "As our own common sense tells us, Armstrong had discovered a vastly superior "
814 "radio technology. But at the time of his invention, Armstrong was working "
815 "for RCA. RCA was the dominant player in the then dominant AM radio "
816 "market. By 1935, there were a thousand radio stations across the United "
817 "States, but the stations in large cities were all owned by a handful of "
821 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
822 #: freeculture.xml:682 freeculture.xml:702
823 msgid "Sarnoff, David"
826 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
827 #: freeculture.xml:677
829 "RCA's president, David Sarnoff, a friend of Armstrong's, was eager that "
830 "Armstrong discover a way to remove static from AM radio. So Sarnoff was "
831 "quite excited when Armstrong told him he had a device that removed static "
832 "from <quote>radio.</quote> But when Armstrong demonstrated his invention, "
833 "Sarnoff was not pleased. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
836 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
837 #: freeculture.xml:689
839 "See <quote>Saints: The Heroes and Geniuses of the Electronic Era,</quote> "
840 "First Electronic Church of America, at www.webstationone.com/fecha, "
841 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #1</ulink>."
844 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
845 #: freeculture.xml:686
847 "I thought Armstrong would invent some kind of a filter to remove static from "
848 "our AM radio. I didn't think he'd start a revolution— start up a whole "
849 "damn new industry to compete with RCA.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
853 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
854 #: freeculture.xml:698
856 "Armstrong's invention threatened RCA's AM empire, so the company launched a "
857 "campaign to smother FM radio. While FM may have been a superior technology, "
858 "Sarnoff was a superior tactician. As one author described, <placeholder "
859 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
862 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
863 #: freeculture.xml:711
864 msgid "Lessing, 226."
867 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
868 #: freeculture.xml:706
870 "The forces for FM, largely engineering, could not overcome the weight of "
871 "strategy devised by the sales, patent, and legal offices to subdue this "
872 "threat to corporate position. For FM, if allowed to develop unrestrained, "
873 "posed … a complete reordering of radio power … and the "
874 "eventual overthrow of the carefully restricted AM system on which RCA had "
875 "grown to power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
879 #: freeculture.xml:716
881 "RCA at first kept the technology in house, insisting that further tests were "
882 "needed. When, after two years of testing, Armstrong grew impatient, RCA "
883 "began to use its power with the government to stall FM radio's deployment "
884 "generally. In 1936, RCA hired the former head of the FCC and assigned him "
885 "the task of assuring that the FCC assign spectrum in a way that would "
886 "castrate FM—principally by moving FM radio to a different band of "
887 "spectrum. At first, these efforts failed. But when Armstrong and the nation "
888 "were distracted by World War II, RCA's work began to be more "
889 "successful. Soon after the war ended, the FCC announced a set of policies "
890 "that would have one clear effect: FM radio would be crippled. As Lawrence "
891 "Lessing described it,"
894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
895 #: freeculture.xml:735
896 msgid "Lessing, 256."
899 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
900 #: freeculture.xml:731
902 "The series of body blows that FM radio received right after the war, in a "
903 "series of rulings manipulated through the FCC by the big radio interests, "
904 "were almost incredible in their force and deviousness.<placeholder "
905 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
908 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
909 #: freeculture.xml:739
913 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
914 #: freeculture.xml:741
916 "To make room in the spectrum for RCA's latest gamble, television, FM radio "
917 "users were to be moved to a totally new spectrum band. The power of FM radio "
918 "stations was also cut, meaning FM could no longer be used to beam programs "
919 "from one part of the country to another. (This change was strongly "
920 "supported by AT&T, because the loss of FM relaying stations would mean "
921 "radio stations would have to buy wired links from AT&T.) The spread of "
922 "FM radio was thus choked, at least temporarily."
925 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
926 #: freeculture.xml:751
928 "Armstrong resisted RCA's efforts. In response, RCA resisted Armstrong's "
929 "patents. After incorporating FM technology into the emerging standard for "
930 "television, RCA declared the patents invalid—baselessly, and almost "
931 "fifteen years after they were issued. It thus refused to pay him "
932 "royalties. For six years, Armstrong fought an expensive war of litigation to "
933 "defend the patents. Finally, just as the patents expired, RCA offered a "
934 "settlement so low that it would not even cover Armstrong's lawyers' "
935 "fees. Defeated, broken, and now broke, in 1954 Armstrong wrote a short note "
936 "to his wife and then stepped out of a thirteenth-story window to his death."
940 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
941 #: freeculture.xml:763
943 "This is how the law sometimes works. Not often this tragically, and rarely "
944 "with heroic drama, but sometimes, this is how it works. From the beginning, "
945 "government and government agencies have been subject to capture. They are "
946 "more likely captured when a powerful interest is threatened by either a "
947 "legal or technical change. That powerful interest too often exerts its "
948 "influence within the government to get the government to protect it. The "
949 "rhetoric of this protection is of course always public spirited; the reality "
950 "is something different. Ideas that were as solid as rock in one age, but "
951 "that, left to themselves, would crumble in another, are sustained through "
952 "this subtle corruption of our political process. RCA had what the Causbys "
953 "did not: the power to stifle the effect of technological change."
956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
957 #: freeculture.xml:785
959 "Amanda Lenhart, <quote>The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A New Look at "
960 "Internet Access and the Digital Divide,</quote> Pew Internet and American "
961 "Life Project, 15 April 2003: 6, available at <ulink "
962 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #2</ulink>."
965 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
966 #: freeculture.xml:779
968 "There's no single inventor of the Internet. Nor is there any good date upon "
969 "which to mark its birth. Yet in a very short time, the Internet has become "
970 "part of ordinary American life. According to the Pew Internet and American "
971 "Life Project, 58 percent of Americans had access to the Internet in 2002, up "
972 "from 49 percent two years before.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
973 "That number could well exceed two thirds of the nation by the end of 2004."
976 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
977 #: freeculture.xml:794
979 "As the Internet has been integrated into ordinary life, it has changed "
980 "things. Some of these changes are technical—the Internet has made "
981 "communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so "
982 "on. These technical changes are not the focus of this book. They are "
983 "important. They are not well understood. But they are the sort of thing that "
984 "would simply go away if we all just switched the Internet off. They don't "
985 "affect people who don't use the Internet, or at least they don't affect them "
986 "directly. They are the proper subject of a book about the Internet. But this "
987 "is not a book about the Internet."
990 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
991 #: freeculture.xml:805
993 "Instead, this book is about an effect of the Internet beyond the Internet "
994 "itself: an effect upon how culture is made. My claim is that the Internet "
995 "has induced an important and unrecognized change in that process. That "
996 "change will radically transform a tradition that is as old as the Republic "
997 "itself. Most, if they recognized this change, would reject it. Yet most "
998 "don't even see the change that the Internet has introduced."
1001 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1002 #: freeculture.xml:824
1003 msgid "Barlow, Joel"
1006 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1007 #: freeculture.xml:825
1008 msgid "Webster, Noah"
1011 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1012 #: freeculture.xml:814
1014 "We can glimpse a sense of this change by distinguishing between commercial "
1015 "and noncommercial culture, and by mapping the law's regulation of each. By "
1016 "<quote>commercial culture</quote> I mean that part of our culture that is "
1017 "produced and sold or produced to be sold. By <quote>noncommercial "
1018 "culture</quote> I mean all the rest. When old men sat around parks or on "
1019 "street corners telling stories that kids and others consumed, that was "
1020 "noncommercial culture. When Noah Webster published his "
1021 "<quote>Reader,</quote> or Joel Barlow his poetry, that was commercial "
1022 "culture. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
1023 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
1026 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1027 #: freeculture.xml:828
1029 "At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our "
1030 "tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated. Of course, if "
1031 "your stories were lewd, or if your song disturbed the peace, then the law "
1032 "might intervene. But the law was never directly concerned with the creation "
1033 "or spread of this form of culture, and it left this culture "
1034 "<quote>free.</quote> The ordinary ways in which ordinary individuals shared "
1035 "and transformed their culture—telling stories, reenacting scenes from "
1036 "plays or TV, participating in fan clubs, sharing music, making "
1037 "tapes—were left alone by the law."
1040 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1041 #: freeculture.xml:853 freeculture.xml:1881 freeculture.xml:1892
1042 msgid "Brandeis, Louis D."
1045 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1046 #: freeculture.xml:845
1048 "This is not the only purpose of copyright, though it is the overwhelmingly "
1049 "primary purpose of the copyright established in the federal constitution. "
1050 "State copyright law historically protected not just the commercial interest "
1051 "in publication, but also a privacy interest. By granting authors the "
1052 "exclusive right to first publication, state copyright law gave authors the "
1053 "power to control the spread of facts about them. See Samuel D. Warren and "
1054 "Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> Harvard Law Review 4 "
1055 "(1890): 193, 198–200. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1058 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1059 #: freeculture.xml:839
1061 "The focus of the law was on commercial creativity. At first slightly, then "
1062 "quite extensively, the law protected the incentives of creators by granting "
1063 "them exclusive rights to their creative work, so that they could sell those "
1064 "exclusive rights in a commercial marketplace.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
1065 "id=\"0\"/> This is also, of course, an important part of creativity and "
1066 "culture, and it has become an increasingly important part in America. But in "
1067 "no sense was it dominant within our tradition. It was instead just one part, "
1068 "a controlled part, balanced with the free."
1071 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1072 #: freeculture.xml:865 freeculture.xml:9441
1073 msgid "Litman, Jessica"
1076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1077 #: freeculture.xml:863
1079 "See Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (New York: "
1080 "Prometheus Books, 2001), ch. 13. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1084 #: freeculture.xml:861
1086 "This rough divide between the free and the controlled has now been "
1087 "erased.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Internet has set the "
1088 "stage for this erasure and, pushed by big media, the law has now affected "
1089 "it. For the first time in our tradition, the ordinary ways in which "
1090 "individuals create and share culture fall within the reach of the regulation "
1091 "of the law, which has expanded to draw within its control a vast amount of "
1092 "culture and creativity that it never reached before. The technology that "
1093 "preserved the balance of our history—between uses of our culture that "
1094 "were free and uses of our culture that were only upon permission—has "
1095 "been undone. The consequence is that we are less and less a free culture, "
1096 "more and more a permission culture."
1099 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1100 #: freeculture.xml:880
1102 "This change gets justified as necessary to protect commercial creativity. "
1103 "And indeed, protectionism is precisely its motivation. But the protectionism "
1104 "that justifies the changes that I will describe below is not the limited and "
1105 "balanced sort that has defined the law in the past. This is not a "
1106 "protectionism to protect artists. It is instead a protectionism to protect "
1107 "certain forms of business. Corporations threatened by the potential of the "
1108 "Internet to change the way both commercial and noncommercial culture are "
1109 "made and shared have united to induce lawmakers to use the law to protect "
1110 "them. It is the story of RCA and Armstrong; it is the dream of the Causbys."
1113 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1114 #: freeculture.xml:893
1116 "For the Internet has unleashed an extraordinary possibility for many to "
1117 "participate in the process of building and cultivating a culture that "
1118 "reaches far beyond local boundaries. That power has changed the marketplace "
1119 "for making and cultivating culture generally, and that change in turn "
1120 "threatens established content industries. The Internet is thus to the "
1121 "industries that built and distributed content in the twentieth century what "
1122 "FM radio was to AM radio, or what the truck was to the railroad industry of "
1123 "the nineteenth century: the beginning of the end, or at least a substantial "
1124 "transformation. Digital technologies, tied to the Internet, could produce a "
1125 "vastly more competitive and vibrant market for building and cultivating "
1126 "culture; that market could include a much wider and more diverse range of "
1127 "creators; those creators could produce and distribute a much more vibrant "
1128 "range of creativity; and depending upon a few important factors, those "
1129 "creators could earn more on average from this system than creators do "
1130 "today—all so long as the RCAs of our day don't use the law to protect "
1131 "themselves against this competition."
1134 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1135 #: freeculture.xml:912
1137 "Yet, as I argue in the pages that follow, that is precisely what is "
1138 "happening in our culture today. These modern-day equivalents of the early "
1139 "twentieth-century radio or nineteenth-century railroads are using their "
1140 "power to get the law to protect them against this new, more efficient, more "
1141 "vibrant technology for building culture. They are succeeding in their plan "
1142 "to remake the Internet before the Internet remakes them."
1145 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1146 #: freeculture.xml:929
1148 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Black Hawk Download: Moving Beyond Music, Pirates Use New "
1149 "Tools to Turn the Net into an Illicit Video Club,</quote> <citetitle>New "
1150 "York Times</citetitle>, 17 January 2002."
1153 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1154 #: freeculture.xml:921
1156 "It doesn't seem this way to many. The battles over copyright and the "
1157 "Internet seem remote to most. To the few who follow them, they seem mainly "
1158 "about a much simpler brace of questions—whether <quote>piracy</quote> "
1159 "will be permitted, and whether <quote>property</quote> will be "
1160 "protected. The <quote>war</quote> that has been waged against the "
1161 "technologies of the Internet—what Motion Picture Association of "
1162 "America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti calls his <quote>own terrorist "
1163 "war</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—has been framed "
1164 "as a battle about the rule of law and respect for property. To know which "
1165 "side to take in this war, most think that we need only decide whether we're "
1166 "for property or against it."
1169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1170 #: freeculture.xml:938
1172 "If those really were the choices, then I would be with Jack Valenti and the "
1173 "content industry. I, too, am a believer in property, and especially in the "
1174 "importance of what Mr. Valenti nicely calls <quote>creative "
1175 "property.</quote> I believe that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that "
1176 "the law, properly tuned, should punish <quote>piracy,</quote> whether on or "
1180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1181 #: freeculture.xml:946
1183 "But those simple beliefs mask a much more fundamental question and a much "
1184 "more dramatic change. My fear is that unless we come to see this change, the "
1185 "war to rid the world of Internet <quote>pirates</quote> will also rid our "
1186 "culture of values that have been integral to our tradition from the start."
1189 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1190 #: freeculture.xml:960 freeculture.xml:14274
1191 msgid "Netanel, Neil Weinstock"
1194 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1195 #: freeculture.xml:958
1197 "Neil W. Netanel, <quote>Copyright and a Democratic Civil Society,</quote> "
1198 "<citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 106 (1996): 283. <placeholder "
1199 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1202 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1203 #: freeculture.xml:952
1205 "These values built a tradition that, for at least the first 180 years of our "
1206 "Republic, guaranteed creators the right to build freely upon their past, and "
1207 "protected creators and innovators from either state or private control. The "
1208 "First Amendment protected creators against state control. And as Professor "
1209 "Neil Netanel powerfully argues,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1210 "copyright law, properly balanced, protected creators against private "
1211 "control. Our tradition was thus neither Soviet nor the tradition of "
1212 "patrons. It instead carved out a wide berth within which creators could "
1213 "cultivate and extend our culture."
1216 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1217 #: freeculture.xml:968
1219 "Yet the law's response to the Internet, when tied to changes in the "
1220 "technology of the Internet itself, has massively increased the effective "
1221 "regulation of creativity in America. To build upon or critique the culture "
1222 "around us one must ask, Oliver Twist–like, for permission first. "
1223 "Permission is, of course, often granted—but it is not often granted to "
1224 "the critical or the independent. We have built a kind of cultural nobility; "
1225 "those within the noble class live easily; those outside it don't. But it is "
1226 "nobility of any form that is alien to our tradition."
1229 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1230 #: freeculture.xml:980
1232 "The story that follows is about this war. Is it not about the "
1233 "<quote>centrality of technology</quote> to ordinary life. I don't believe in "
1234 "gods, digital or otherwise. Nor is it an effort to demonize any individual "
1235 "or group, for neither do I believe in a devil, corporate or otherwise. It is "
1236 "not a morality tale. Nor is it a call to jihad against an industry."
1239 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1240 #: freeculture.xml:988
1242 "It is instead an effort to understand a hopelessly destructive war inspired "
1243 "by the technologies of the Internet but reaching far beyond its code. And by "
1244 "understanding this battle, it is an effort to map peace. There is no good "
1245 "reason for the current struggle around Internet technologies to "
1246 "continue. There will be great harm to our tradition and culture if it is "
1247 "allowed to continue unchecked. We must come to understand the source of this "
1248 "war. We must resolve it soon."
1251 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1252 #: freeculture.xml:999
1254 "Like the Causbys' battle, this war is, in part, about "
1255 "<quote>property.</quote> The property of this war is not as tangible as the "
1256 "Causbys', and no innocent chicken has yet to lose its life. Yet the ideas "
1257 "surrounding this <quote>property</quote> are as obvious to most as the "
1258 "Causbys' claim about the sacredness of their farm was to them. We are the "
1259 "Causbys. Most of us take for granted the extraordinarily powerful claims "
1260 "that the owners of <quote>intellectual property</quote> now assert. Most of "
1261 "us, like the Causbys, treat these claims as obvious. And hence we, like the "
1262 "Causbys, object when a new technology interferes with this property. It is "
1263 "as plain to us as it was to them that the new technologies of the Internet "
1264 "are <quote>trespassing</quote> upon legitimate claims of "
1265 "<quote>property.</quote> It is as plain to us as it was to them that the law "
1266 "should intervene to stop this trespass."
1270 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1271 #: freeculture.xml:1016
1273 "And thus, when geeks and technologists defend their Armstrong or Wright "
1274 "brothers technology, most of us are simply unsympathetic. Common sense does "
1275 "not revolt. Unlike in the case of the unlucky Causbys, common sense is on "
1276 "the side of the property owners in this war. Unlike the lucky Wright "
1277 "brothers, the Internet has not inspired a revolution on its side."
1280 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1281 #: freeculture.xml:1026
1283 "My hope is to push this common sense along. I have become increasingly "
1284 "amazed by the power of this idea of intellectual property and, more "
1285 "importantly, its power to disable critical thought by policy makers and "
1286 "citizens. There has never been a time in our history when more of our "
1287 "<quote>culture</quote> was as <quote>owned</quote> as it is now. And yet "
1288 "there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the "
1289 "<emphasis>uses</emphasis> of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as "
1293 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1294 #: freeculture.xml:1036
1296 "The puzzle is, Why? Is it because we have come to understand a truth about "
1297 "the value and importance of absolute property over ideas and culture? Is it "
1298 "because we have discovered that our tradition of rejecting such an absolute "
1302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1303 #: freeculture.xml:1042
1305 "Or is it because the idea of absolute property over ideas and culture "
1306 "benefits the RCAs of our time and fits our own unreflective intuitions?"
1309 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1310 #: freeculture.xml:1046
1312 "Is the radical shift away from our tradition of free culture an instance of "
1313 "America correcting a mistake from its past, as we did after a bloody war "
1314 "with slavery, and as we are slowly doing with inequality? Or is the radical "
1315 "shift away from our tradition of free culture yet another example of a "
1316 "political system captured by a few powerful special interests?"
1319 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1320 #: freeculture.xml:1053
1322 "Does common sense lead to the extremes on this question because common sense "
1323 "actually believes in these extremes? Or does common sense stand silent in "
1324 "the face of these extremes because, as with Armstrong versus RCA, the more "
1325 "powerful side has ensured that it has the more powerful view?"
1329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1330 #: freeculture.xml:1062
1332 "I don't mean to be mysterious. My own views are resolved. I believe it was "
1333 "right for common sense to revolt against the extremism of the Causbys. I "
1334 "believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme "
1335 "claims made today on behalf of <quote>intellectual property.</quote> What "
1336 "the law demands today is increasingly as silly as a sheriff arresting an "
1337 "airplane for trespass. But the consequences of this silliness will be much "
1341 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1342 #: freeculture.xml:1072
1344 "The struggle that rages just now centers on two ideas: <quote>piracy</quote> "
1345 "and <quote>property.</quote> My aim in this book's next two parts is to "
1346 "explore these two ideas."
1349 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1350 #: freeculture.xml:1077
1352 "My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don't want to plunge you "
1353 "into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French "
1354 "theorists—however natural that is for the weird sort we academics have "
1355 "become. Instead I begin in each part with a collection of stories that set a "
1356 "context within which these apparently simple ideas can be more fully "
1360 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1361 #: freeculture.xml:1085
1363 "The two sections set up the core claim of this book: that while the Internet "
1364 "has indeed produced something fantastic and new, our government, pushed by "
1365 "big media to respond to this <quote>something new,</quote> is destroying "
1366 "something very old. Rather than understanding the changes the Internet might "
1367 "permit, and rather than taking time to let <quote>common sense</quote> "
1368 "resolve how best to respond, we are allowing those most threatened by the "
1369 "changes to use their power to change the law—and more importantly, to "
1370 "use their power to change something fundamental about who we have always "
1374 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1375 #: freeculture.xml:1096
1377 "We allow this, I believe, not because it is right, and not because most of "
1378 "us really believe in these changes. We allow it because the interests most "
1379 "threatened are among the most powerful players in our depressingly "
1380 "compromised process of making law. This book is the story of one more "
1381 "consequence of this form of corruption—a consequence to which most of "
1382 "us remain oblivious."
1385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
1386 #: freeculture.xml:1106
1387 msgid "<quote>PIRACY</quote>"
1390 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1391 #: freeculture.xml:1110 freeculture.xml:4766
1392 msgid "Mansfield, William Murray, Lord"
1395 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1396 #: freeculture.xml:1113
1398 "Since the inception of the law regulating creative property, there has been "
1399 "a war against <quote>piracy.</quote> The precise contours of this concept, "
1400 "<quote>piracy,</quote> are hard to sketch, but the animating injustice is "
1401 "easy to capture. As Lord Mansfield wrote in a case that extended the reach "
1402 "of English copyright law to include sheet music,"
1406 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1407 #: freeculture.xml:1125
1409 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
1410 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777) (Mansfield)."
1413 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1414 #: freeculture.xml:1121
1416 "A person may use the copy by playing it, but he has no right to rob the "
1417 "author of the profit, by multiplying copies and disposing of them for his "
1418 "own use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1422 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1423 #: freeculture.xml:1131
1425 "Today we are in the middle of another <quote>war</quote> against "
1426 "<quote>piracy.</quote> The Internet has provoked this war. The Internet "
1427 "makes possible the efficient spread of content. Peer-to-peer (p2p) file "
1428 "sharing is among the most efficient of the efficient technologies the "
1429 "Internet enables. Using distributed intelligence, p2p systems facilitate the "
1430 "easy spread of content in a way unimagined a generation ago."
1433 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1434 #: freeculture.xml:1140
1436 "This efficiency does not respect the traditional lines of copyright. The "
1437 "network doesn't discriminate between the sharing of copyrighted and "
1438 "uncopyrighted content. Thus has there been a vast amount of sharing of "
1439 "copyrighted content. That sharing in turn has excited the war, as copyright "
1440 "owners fear the sharing will <quote>rob the author of the profit.</quote>"
1443 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1444 #: freeculture.xml:1148
1446 "The warriors have turned to the courts, to the legislatures, and "
1447 "increasingly to technology to defend their <quote>property</quote> against "
1448 "this <quote>piracy.</quote> A generation of Americans, the warriors warn, is "
1449 "being raised to believe that <quote>property</quote> should be "
1450 "<quote>free.</quote> Forget tattoos, never mind body piercing—our kids "
1451 "are becoming <emphasis>thieves</emphasis>!"
1454 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1455 #: freeculture.xml:1156
1457 "There's no doubt that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that pirates "
1458 "should be punished. But before we summon the executioners, we should put "
1459 "this notion of <quote>piracy</quote> in some context. For as the concept is "
1460 "increasingly used, at its core is an extraordinary idea that is almost "
1464 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1465 #: freeculture.xml:1162
1466 msgid "The idea goes something like this:"
1469 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1470 #: freeculture.xml:1166
1472 "Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative "
1473 "work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take "
1474 "something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The "
1475 "taking of something of value from someone else without permission is "
1476 "wrong. It is a form of piracy."
1479 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1480 #: freeculture.xml:1174
1481 msgid "Dreyfuss, Rochelle"
1485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1486 #: freeculture.xml:1180
1488 "See Rochelle Dreyfuss, <quote>Expressive Genericity: Trademarks as Language "
1489 "in the Pepsi Generation,</quote> <citetitle>Notre Dame Law "
1490 "Review</citetitle> 65 (1990): 397."
1493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1494 #: freeculture.xml:1193 freeculture.xml:6868
1495 msgid "Zittrain, Jonathan"
1498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1499 #: freeculture.xml:1188
1501 "Lisa Bannon, <quote>The Birds May Sing, but Campers Can't Unless They Pay "
1502 "Up,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 21 August 1996, "
1503 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #3</ulink>; "
1504 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>Calling Off the Copyright War: In Battle of "
1505 "Property vs. Free Speech, No One Wins,</quote> <citetitle>Boston "
1506 "Globe</citetitle>, 24 November 2002. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
1510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1511 #: freeculture.xml:1176
1513 "This view runs deep within the current debates. It is what NYU law professor "
1514 "Rochelle Dreyfuss criticizes as the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1515 "theory of creative property<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1516 "—if there is value, then someone must have a right to that value. It "
1517 "is the perspective that led a composers' rights organization, ASCAP, to sue "
1518 "the Girl Scouts for failing to pay for the songs that girls sang around Girl "
1519 "Scout campfires.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> There was "
1520 "<quote>value</quote> (the songs) so there must have been a "
1521 "<quote>right</quote>—even against the Girl Scouts."
1524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1525 #: freeculture.xml:1198
1530 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1531 #: freeculture.xml:1200
1533 "This idea is certainly a possible understanding of how creative property "
1534 "should work. It might well be a possible design for a system of law "
1535 "protecting creative property. But the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1536 "theory of creative property has never been America's theory of creative "
1537 "property. It has never taken hold within our law."
1540 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1541 #: freeculture.xml:1208
1543 "Instead, in our tradition, intellectual property is an instrument. It sets "
1544 "the groundwork for a richly creative society but remains subservient to the "
1545 "value of creativity. The current debate has this turned around. We have "
1546 "become so concerned with protecting the instrument that we are losing sight "
1550 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1551 #: freeculture.xml:1215
1553 "The source of this confusion is a distinction that the law no longer takes "
1554 "care to draw—the distinction between republishing someone's work on "
1555 "the one hand and building upon or transforming that work on the "
1556 "other. Copyright law at its birth had only publishing as its concern; "
1557 "copyright law today regulates both."
1560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1561 #: freeculture.xml:1222
1563 "Before the technologies of the Internet, this conflation didn't matter all "
1564 "that much. The technologies of publishing were expensive; that meant the "
1565 "vast majority of publishing was commercial. Commercial entities could bear "
1566 "the burden of the law—even the burden of the Byzantine complexity that "
1567 "copyright law has become. It was just one more expense of doing business."
1570 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1571 #: freeculture.xml:1229 freeculture.xml:1260
1572 msgid "Florida, Richard"
1575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1576 #: freeculture.xml:1230 freeculture.xml:1261
1577 msgid "Rise of the Creative Class, The (Florida)"
1580 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1581 #: freeculture.xml:1252
1583 "In <citetitle>The Rise of the Creative Class</citetitle> (New York: Basic "
1584 "Books, 2002), Richard Florida documents a shift in the nature of labor "
1585 "toward a labor of creativity. His work, however, doesn't directly address "
1586 "the legal conditions under which that creativity is enabled or stifled. I "
1587 "certainly agree with him about the importance and significance of this "
1588 "change, but I also believe the conditions under which it will be enabled are "
1589 "much more tenuous. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
1590 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
1593 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1594 #: freeculture.xml:1232
1596 "But with the birth of the Internet, this natural limit to the reach of the "
1597 "law has disappeared. The law controls not just the creativity of commercial "
1598 "creators but effectively that of anyone. Although that expansion would not "
1599 "matter much if copyright law regulated only <quote>copying,</quote> when the "
1600 "law regulates as broadly and obscurely as it does, the extension matters a "
1601 "lot. The burden of this law now vastly outweighs any original "
1602 "benefit—certainly as it affects noncommercial creativity, and "
1603 "increasingly as it affects commercial creativity as well. Thus, as we'll see "
1604 "more clearly in the chapters below, the law's role is less and less to "
1605 "support creativity, and more and more to protect certain industries against "
1606 "competition. Just at the time digital technology could unleash an "
1607 "extraordinary range of commercial and noncommercial creativity, the law "
1608 "burdens this creativity with insanely complex and vague rules and with the "
1609 "threat of obscenely severe penalties. We may be seeing, as Richard Florida "
1610 "writes, the <quote>Rise of the Creative Class.</quote><placeholder "
1611 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Unfortunately, we are also seeing an "
1612 "extraordinary rise of regulation of this creative class."
1615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1616 #: freeculture.xml:1267
1618 "These burdens make no sense in our tradition. We should begin by "
1619 "understanding that tradition a bit more and by placing in their proper "
1620 "context the current battles about behavior labeled <quote>piracy.</quote>"
1623 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
1624 #: freeculture.xml:1275
1625 msgid "CHAPTER ONE: Creators"
1628 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1629 #: freeculture.xml:1277
1630 msgid "animated cartoons"
1633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1634 #: freeculture.xml:1280
1636 "In 1928, a cartoon character was born. An early Mickey Mouse made his debut "
1637 "in May of that year, in a silent flop called <citetitle>Plane "
1638 "Crazy</citetitle>. In November, in New York City's Colony Theater, in the "
1639 "first widely distributed cartoon synchronized with sound, "
1640 "<citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle> brought to life the character that "
1641 "would become Mickey Mouse."
1644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1645 #: freeculture.xml:1287
1647 "Synchronized sound had been introduced to film a year earlier in the movie "
1648 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle>. That success led Walt Disney to copy "
1649 "the technique and mix sound with cartoons. No one knew whether it would work "
1650 "or, if it did work, whether it would win an audience. But when Disney ran a "
1651 "test in the summer of 1928, the results were unambiguous. As Disney "
1652 "describes that first experiment,"
1656 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1657 #: freeculture.xml:1296
1659 "A couple of my boys could read music, and one of them could play a mouth "
1660 "organ. We put them in a room where they could not see the screen and "
1661 "arranged to pipe their sound into the room where our wives and friends were "
1662 "going to see the picture."
1665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1666 #: freeculture.xml:1303
1668 "The boys worked from a music and sound-effects score. After several false "
1669 "starts, sound and action got off with the gun. The mouth organist played the "
1670 "tune, the rest of us in the sound department bammed tin pans and blew slide "
1671 "whistles on the beat. The synchronization was pretty close."
1675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1676 #: freeculture.xml:1316
1678 "Leonard Maltin, <citetitle>Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated "
1679 "Cartoons</citetitle> (New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 34–35."
1682 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1683 #: freeculture.xml:1310
1685 "The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They "
1686 "responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion. I thought "
1687 "they were kidding me. So they put me in the audience and ran the action "
1688 "again. It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something "
1689 "new!<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1693 #: freeculture.xml:1325
1697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1698 #: freeculture.xml:1322
1700 "Disney's then partner, and one of animation's most extraordinary talents, Ub "
1701 "Iwerks, put it more strongly: <quote>I have never been so thrilled in my "
1702 "life. Nothing since has ever equaled it.</quote> <placeholder "
1703 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1707 #: freeculture.xml:1328
1709 "Disney had created something very new, based upon something relatively "
1710 "new. Synchronized sound brought life to a form of creativity that had "
1711 "rarely—except in Disney's hands—been anything more than filler "
1712 "for other films. Throughout animation's early history, it was Disney's "
1713 "invention that set the standard that others struggled to match. And quite "
1714 "often, Disney's great genius, his spark of creativity, was built upon the "
1718 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1719 #: freeculture.xml:1337
1721 "This much is familiar. What you might not know is that 1928 also marks "
1722 "another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to cartoon) "
1723 "genius created his last independently produced silent film. That genius was "
1724 "Buster Keaton. The film was <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>."
1727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1728 #: freeculture.xml:1343
1730 "Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in 1895. In the era of silent film, "
1731 "he had mastered using broad physical comedy as a way to spark uncontrollable "
1732 "laughter from his audience. <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. was a "
1733 "classic of this form, famous among film buffs for its incredible stunts. "
1734 "The film was classic Keaton—wildly popular and among the best of its "
1739 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1740 #: freeculture.xml:1357
1742 "I am grateful to David Gerstein and his careful history, described at <ulink "
1743 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #4</ulink>. According to Dave "
1744 "Smith of the Disney Archives, Disney paid royalties to use the music for "
1745 "five songs in <citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle>: <quote>Steamboat "
1746 "Bill,</quote> <quote>The Simpleton</quote> (Delille), <quote>Mischief "
1747 "Makers</quote> (Carbonara), <quote>Joyful Hurry No. 1</quote> (Baron), and "
1748 "<quote>Gawky Rube</quote> (Lakay). A sixth song, <quote>The Turkey in the "
1749 "Straw,</quote> was already in the public domain. Letter from David Smith to "
1750 "Harry Surden, 10 July 2003, on file with author."
1753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1754 #: freeculture.xml:1351
1756 "<citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. appeared before Disney's cartoon "
1757 "Steamboat Willie. The coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat "
1758 "Willie is a direct cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill,<placeholder "
1759 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and both are built upon a common song as a "
1760 "source. It is not just from the invention of synchronized sound in "
1761 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle> that we get <citetitle>Steamboat "
1762 "Willie</citetitle>. It is also from Buster Keaton's invention of Steamboat "
1763 "Bill, Jr., itself inspired by the song <quote>Steamboat Bill,</quote> that "
1764 "we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse."
1768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1769 #: freeculture.xml:1378
1771 "He was also a fan of the public domain. See Chris Sprigman, <quote>The Mouse "
1772 "that Ate the Public Domain,</quote> Findlaw, 5 March 2002, at <ulink "
1773 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #5</ulink>."
1776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1777 #: freeculture.xml:1374
1779 "This <quote>borrowing</quote> was nothing unique, either for Disney or for "
1780 "the industry. Disney was always parroting the feature-length mainstream "
1781 "films of his day.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> So did many "
1782 "others. Early cartoons are filled with knockoffs—slight variations on "
1783 "winning themes; retellings of ancient stories. The key to success was the "
1784 "brilliance of the differences. With Disney, it was sound that gave his "
1785 "animation its spark. Later, it was the quality of his work relative to the "
1786 "production-line cartoons with which he competed. Yet these additions were "
1787 "built upon a base that was borrowed. Disney added to the work of others "
1788 "before him, creating something new out of something just barely old."
1791 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1792 #: freeculture.xml:1393
1794 "Sometimes this borrowing was slight. Sometimes it was significant. Think "
1795 "about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. If you're as oblivious as I "
1796 "was, you're likely to think that these tales are happy, sweet stories, "
1797 "appropriate for any child at bedtime. In fact, the Grimm fairy tales are, "
1798 "well, for us, grim. It is a rare and perhaps overly ambitious parent who "
1799 "would dare to read these bloody, moralistic stories to his or her child, at "
1800 "bedtime or anytime."
1804 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1805 #: freeculture.xml:1402
1807 "Disney took these stories and retold them in a way that carried them into a "
1808 "new age. He animated the stories, with both characters and light. Without "
1809 "removing the elements of fear and danger altogether, he made funny what was "
1810 "dark and injected a genuine emotion of compassion where before there was "
1811 "fear. And not just with the work of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed, the catalog "
1812 "of Disney work drawing upon the work of others is astonishing when set "
1813 "together: <citetitle>Snow White</citetitle> (1937), "
1814 "<citetitle>Fantasia</citetitle> (1940), <citetitle>Pinocchio</citetitle> "
1815 "(1940), <citetitle>Dumbo</citetitle> (1941), <citetitle>Bambi</citetitle> "
1816 "(1942), <citetitle>Song of the South</citetitle> (1946), "
1817 "<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle> (1950), <citetitle>Alice in "
1818 "Wonderland</citetitle> (1951), <citetitle>Robin Hood</citetitle> (1952), "
1819 "<citetitle>Peter Pan</citetitle> (1953), <citetitle>Lady and the "
1820 "Tramp</citetitle> (1955), <citetitle>Mulan</citetitle> (1998), "
1821 "<citetitle>Sleeping Beauty</citetitle> (1959), <citetitle>101 "
1822 "Dalmatians</citetitle> (1961), <citetitle>The Sword in the Stone</citetitle> "
1823 "(1963), and <citetitle>The Jungle Book</citetitle> (1967)—not to "
1824 "mention a recent example that we should perhaps quickly forget, "
1825 "<citetitle>Treasure Planet</citetitle> (2003). In all of these cases, Disney "
1826 "(or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity from the culture around him, mixed that "
1827 "creativity with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into "
1828 "the soul of his culture. Rip, mix, and burn."
1831 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1832 #: freeculture.xml:1425
1834 "This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should remember and "
1835 "celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no creativity except "
1836 "this kind. We don't need to go that far to recognize its importance. We "
1837 "could call this <quote>Disney creativity,</quote> though that would be a bit "
1838 "misleading. It is, more precisely, <quote>Walt Disney "
1839 "creativity</quote>—a form of expression and genius that builds upon "
1840 "the culture around us and makes it something different."
1844 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1845 #: freeculture.xml:1439
1847 "Until 1976, copyright law granted an author the possibility of two terms: an "
1848 "initial term and a renewal term. I have calculated the "
1849 "<quote>average</quote> term by determining the weighted average of total "
1850 "registrations for any particular year, and the proportion renewing. Thus, if "
1851 "100 copyrights are registered in year 1, and only 15 are renewed, and the "
1852 "renewal term is 28 years, then the average term is 32.2 years. For the "
1853 "renewal data and other relevant data, see the Web site associated with this "
1854 "book, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
1858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1859 #: freeculture.xml:1433
1861 "In 1928, the culture that Disney was free to draw upon was relatively "
1862 "fresh. The public domain in 1928 was not very old and was therefore quite "
1863 "vibrant. The average term of copyright was just around thirty "
1864 "years—for that minority of creative work that was in fact "
1865 "copyrighted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That means that for "
1866 "thirty years, on average, the authors or copyright holders of a creative "
1867 "work had an <quote>exclusive right</quote> to control certain uses of the "
1868 "work. To use this copyrighted work in limited ways required the permission "
1869 "of the copyright owner."
1872 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1873 #: freeculture.xml:1456
1875 "At the end of a copyright term, a work passes into the public domain. No "
1876 "permission is then needed to draw upon or use that work. No permission and, "
1877 "hence, no lawyers. The public domain is a <quote>lawyer-free zone.</quote> "
1878 "Thus, most of the content from the nineteenth century was free for Disney to "
1879 "use and build upon in 1928. It was free for anyone— whether connected "
1880 "or not, whether rich or not, whether approved or not—to use and build "
1885 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1886 #: freeculture.xml:1465
1888 "This is the ways things always were—until quite recently. For most of "
1889 "our history, the public domain was just over the horizon. From until 1978, "
1890 "the average copyright term was never more than thirty-two years, meaning "
1891 "that most culture just a generation and a half old was free for anyone to "
1892 "build upon without the permission of anyone else. Today's equivalent would "
1893 "be for creative work from the 1960s and 1970s to now be free for the next "
1894 "Walt Disney to build upon without permission. Yet today, the public domain "
1895 "is presumptive only for content from before the Great Depression."
1898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1899 #: freeculture.xml:1478
1901 "Of course, Walt Disney had no monopoly on <quote>Walt Disney "
1902 "creativity.</quote> Nor does America. The norm of free culture has, until "
1903 "recently, and except within totalitarian nations, been broadly exploited and "
1907 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1908 #: freeculture.xml:1484
1910 "Consider, for example, a form of creativity that seems strange to many "
1911 "Americans but that is inescapable within Japanese culture: "
1912 "<citetitle>manga</citetitle>, or comics. The Japanese are fanatics about "
1913 "comics. Some 40 percent of publications are comics, and 30 percent of "
1914 "publication revenue derives from comics. They are everywhere in Japanese "
1915 "society, at every magazine stand, carried by a large proportion of commuters "
1916 "on Japan's extraordinary system of public transportation."
1919 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1920 #: freeculture.xml:1493
1922 "Americans tend to look down upon this form of culture. That's an "
1923 "unattractive characteristic of ours. We're likely to misunderstand much "
1924 "about manga, because few of us have ever read anything close to the stories "
1925 "that these <quote>graphic novels</quote> tell. For the Japanese, manga cover "
1926 "every aspect of social life. For us, comics are <quote>men in "
1927 "tights.</quote> And anyway, it's not as if the New York subways are filled "
1928 "with readers of Joyce or even Hemingway. People of different cultures "
1929 "distract themselves in different ways, the Japanese in this interestingly "
1933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1934 #: freeculture.xml:1504
1936 "But my purpose here is not to understand manga. It is to describe a variant "
1937 "on manga that from a lawyer's perspective is quite odd, but from a Disney "
1938 "perspective is quite familiar."
1942 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1943 #: freeculture.xml:1509
1945 "This is the phenomenon of <citetitle>doujinshi</citetitle>. Doujinshi are "
1946 "also comics, but they are a kind of copycat comic. A rich ethic governs the "
1947 "creation of doujinshi. It is not doujinshi if it is "
1948 "<emphasis>just</emphasis> a copy; the artist must make a contribution to the "
1949 "art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly. A "
1950 "doujinshi comic can thus take a mainstream comic and develop it "
1951 "differently—with a different story line. Or the comic can keep the "
1952 "character in character but change its look slightly. There is no formula for "
1953 "what makes the doujinshi sufficiently <quote>different.</quote> But they "
1954 "must be different if they are to be considered true doujinshi. Indeed, there "
1955 "are committees that review doujinshi for inclusion within shows and reject "
1956 "any copycat comic that is merely a copy."
1959 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1960 #: freeculture.xml:1524
1962 "These copycat comics are not a tiny part of the manga market. They are "
1963 "huge. More than 33,000 <quote>circles</quote> of creators from across Japan "
1964 "produce these bits of Walt Disney creativity. More than 450,000 Japanese "
1965 "come together twice a year, in the largest public gathering in the country, "
1966 "to exchange and sell them. This market exists in parallel to the mainstream "
1967 "commercial manga market. In some ways, it obviously competes with that "
1968 "market, but there is no sustained effort by those who control the commercial "
1969 "manga market to shut the doujinshi market down. It flourishes, despite the "
1970 "competition and despite the law."
1973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1974 #: freeculture.xml:1535
1976 "The most puzzling feature of the doujinshi market, for those trained in the "
1977 "law, at least, is that it is allowed to exist at all. Under Japanese "
1978 "copyright law, which in this respect (on paper) mirrors American copyright "
1979 "law, the doujinshi market is an illegal one. Doujinshi are plainly "
1980 "<quote>derivative works.</quote> There is no general practice by doujinshi "
1981 "artists of securing the permission of the manga creators. Instead, the "
1982 "practice is simply to take and modify the creations of others, as Walt "
1983 "Disney did with <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. Under both "
1984 "Japanese and American law, that <quote>taking</quote> without the permission "
1985 "of the original copyright owner is illegal. It is an infringement of the "
1986 "original copyright to make a copy or a derivative work without the original "
1987 "copyright owner's permission."
1990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1991 #: freeculture.xml:1549
1992 msgid "Winick, Judd"
1996 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1997 #: freeculture.xml:1562
1999 "For an excellent history, see Scott McCloud, <citetitle>Reinventing "
2000 "Comics</citetitle> (New York: Perennial, 2000)."
2003 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2004 #: freeculture.xml:1552
2006 "Yet this illegal market exists and indeed flourishes in Japan, and in the "
2007 "view of many, it is precisely because it exists that Japanese manga "
2008 "flourish. As American graphic novelist Judd Winick said to me, <quote>The "
2009 "early days of comics in America are very much like what's going on in Japan "
2010 "now. … American comics were born out of copying each other. … "
2011 "That's how [the artists] learn to draw—by going into comic books and "
2012 "not tracing them, but looking at them and copying them</quote> and building "
2013 "from them.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2016 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2017 #: freeculture.xml:1567
2019 "American comics now are quite different, Winick explains, in part because of "
2020 "the legal difficulty of adapting comics the way doujinshi are "
2021 "allowed. Speaking of Superman, Winick told me, <quote>there are these rules "
2022 "and you have to stick to them.</quote> There are things Superman "
2023 "<quote>cannot</quote> do. <quote>As a creator, it's frustrating having to "
2024 "stick to some parameters which are fifty years old.</quote>"
2028 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2029 #: freeculture.xml:1584
2031 "See Salil K. Mehra, <quote>Copyright and Comics in Japan: Does Law Explain "
2032 "Why All the Comics My Kid Watches Are Japanese Imports?</quote> "
2033 "<citetitle>Rutgers Law Review</citetitle> 55 (2002): 155, "
2034 "182. <quote>[T]here might be a collective economic rationality that would "
2035 "lead manga and anime artists to forgo bringing legal actions for "
2036 "infringement. One hypothesis is that all manga artists may be better off "
2037 "collectively if they set aside their individual self-interest and decide not "
2038 "to press their legal rights. This is essentially a prisoner's dilemma "
2042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2043 #: freeculture.xml:1576
2045 "The norm in Japan mitigates this legal difficulty. Some say it is precisely "
2046 "the benefit accruing to the Japanese manga market that explains the "
2047 "mitigation. Temple University law professor Salil Mehra, for example, "
2048 "hypothesizes that the manga market accepts these technical violations "
2049 "because they spur the manga market to be more wealthy and "
2050 "productive. Everyone would be worse off if doujinshi were banned, so the law "
2051 "does not ban doujinshi.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2055 #: freeculture.xml:1595
2057 "The problem with this story, however, as Mehra plainly acknowledges, is that "
2058 "the mechanism producing this laissez faire response is not clear. It may "
2059 "well be that the market as a whole is better off if doujinshi are permitted "
2060 "rather than banned, but that doesn't explain why individual copyright owners "
2061 "don't sue nonetheless. If the law has no general exception for doujinshi, "
2062 "and indeed in some cases individual manga artists have sued doujinshi "
2063 "artists, why is there not a more general pattern of blocking this "
2064 "<quote>free taking</quote> by the doujinshi culture?"
2067 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2068 #: freeculture.xml:1606
2070 "I spent four wonderful months in Japan, and I asked this question as often "
2071 "as I could. Perhaps the best account in the end was offered by a friend from "
2072 "a major Japanese law firm. <quote>We don't have enough lawyers,</quote> he "
2073 "told me one afternoon. There <quote>just aren't enough resources to "
2074 "prosecute cases like this.</quote>"
2078 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2079 #: freeculture.xml:1613
2081 "This is a theme to which we will return: that regulation by law is a "
2082 "function of both the words on the books and the costs of making those words "
2083 "have effect. For now, focus on the obvious question that is begged: Would "
2084 "Japan be better off with more lawyers? Would manga be richer if doujinshi "
2085 "artists were regularly prosecuted? Would the Japanese gain something "
2086 "important if they could end this practice of uncompensated sharing? Does "
2087 "piracy here hurt the victims of the piracy, or does it help them? Would "
2088 "lawyers fighting this piracy help their clients or hurt them? Let's pause "
2092 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2093 #: freeculture.xml:1626
2095 "If you're like I was a decade ago, or like most people are when they first "
2096 "start thinking about these issues, then just about now you should be puzzled "
2097 "about something you hadn't thought through before."
2100 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2101 #: freeculture.xml:1643 freeculture.xml:2841 freeculture.xml:4476 freeculture.xml:4697 freeculture.xml:7249 freeculture.xml:8363
2102 msgid "Vaidhyanathan, Siva"
2105 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2106 #: freeculture.xml:1636
2108 "The term <citetitle>intellectual property</citetitle> is of relatively "
2109 "recent origin. See Siva Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
2110 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 11 (New York: New York University Press, 2001). See "
2111 "also Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> (New York: "
2112 "Random House, 2001), 293 n. 26. The term accurately describes a set of "
2113 "<quote>property</quote> rights—copyright, patents, trademark, and "
2114 "trade-secret—but the nature of those rights is very different. "
2115 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2119 #: freeculture.xml:1631
2121 "We live in a world that celebrates <quote>property.</quote> I am one of "
2122 "those celebrants. I believe in the value of property in general, and I also "
2123 "believe in the value of that weird form of property that lawyers call "
2124 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2125 "id=\"0\"/> A large, diverse society cannot survive without property; a "
2126 "large, diverse, and modern society cannot flourish without intellectual "
2130 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2131 #: freeculture.xml:1650
2133 "But it takes just a second's reflection to realize that there is plenty of "
2134 "value out there that <quote>property</quote> doesn't capture. I don't mean "
2135 "<quote>money can't buy you love,</quote> but rather, value that is plainly "
2136 "part of a process of production, including commercial as well as "
2137 "noncommercial production. If Disney animators had stolen a set of pencils "
2138 "to draw Steamboat Willie, we'd have no hesitation in condemning that taking "
2139 "as wrong— even though trivial, even if unnoticed. Yet there was "
2140 "nothing wrong, at least under the law of the day, with Disney's taking from "
2141 "Buster Keaton or from the Brothers Grimm. There was nothing wrong with the "
2142 "taking from Keaton because Disney's use would have been considered "
2143 "<quote>fair.</quote> There was nothing wrong with the taking from the Grimms "
2144 "because the Grimms' work was in the public domain."
2148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2149 #: freeculture.xml:1665
2151 "Thus, even though the things that Disney took—or more generally, the "
2152 "things taken by anyone exercising Walt Disney creativity—are valuable, "
2153 "our tradition does not treat those takings as wrong. Some things remain free "
2154 "for the taking within a free culture, and that freedom is good."
2157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2158 #: freeculture.xml:1674
2160 "The same with the doujinshi culture. If a doujinshi artist broke into a "
2161 "publisher's office and ran off with a thousand copies of his latest "
2162 "work—or even one copy—without paying, we'd have no hesitation in "
2163 "saying the artist was wrong. In addition to having trespassed, he would have "
2164 "stolen something of value. The law bans that stealing in whatever form, "
2165 "whether large or small."
2168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2169 #: freeculture.xml:1682
2171 "Yet there is an obvious reluctance, even among Japanese lawyers, to say that "
2172 "the copycat comic artists are <quote>stealing.</quote> This form of Walt "
2173 "Disney creativity is seen as fair and right, even if lawyers in particular "
2174 "find it hard to say why."
2177 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2178 #: freeculture.xml:1688
2180 "It's the same with a thousand examples that appear everywhere once you begin "
2181 "to look. Scientists build upon the work of other scientists without asking "
2182 "or paying for the privilege. (<quote>Excuse me, Professor Einstein, but may "
2183 "I have permission to use your theory of relativity to show that you were "
2184 "wrong about quantum physics?</quote>) Acting companies perform adaptations "
2185 "of the works of Shakespeare without securing permission from anyone. (Does "
2186 "<emphasis>anyone</emphasis> believe Shakespeare would be better spread "
2187 "within our culture if there were a central Shakespeare rights clearinghouse "
2188 "that all productions of Shakespeare must appeal to first?) And Hollywood "
2189 "goes through cycles with a certain kind of movie: five asteroid films in the "
2190 "late 1990s; two volcano disaster films in 1997."
2194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2195 #: freeculture.xml:1702
2197 "Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the "
2198 "creativity that went before and that surrounds them now. That building is "
2199 "always and everywhere at least partially done without permission and without "
2200 "compensating the original creator. No society, free or controlled, has ever "
2201 "demanded that every use be paid for or that permission for Walt Disney "
2202 "creativity must always be sought. Instead, every society has left a certain "
2203 "bit of its culture free for the taking—free societies more fully than "
2204 "unfree, perhaps, but all societies to some degree."
2207 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2208 #: freeculture.xml:1713
2210 "The hard question is therefore not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> a culture is "
2211 "free. All cultures are free to some degree. The hard question instead is "
2212 "<quote><emphasis>How</emphasis> free is this culture?</quote> How much, and "
2213 "how broadly, is the culture free for others to take and build upon? Is that "
2214 "freedom limited to party members? To members of the royal family? To the top "
2215 "ten corporations on the New York Stock Exchange? Or is that freedom spread "
2216 "broadly? To artists generally, whether affiliated with the Met or not? To "
2217 "musicians generally, whether white or not? To filmmakers generally, whether "
2218 "affiliated with a studio or not?"
2221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2222 #: freeculture.xml:1725
2224 "Free cultures are cultures that leave a great deal open for others to build "
2225 "upon; unfree, or permission, cultures leave much less. Ours was a free "
2226 "culture. It is becoming much less so."
2229 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
2230 #: freeculture.xml:1733
2231 msgid "CHAPTER TWO: <quote>Mere Copyists</quote>"
2234 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2235 #: freeculture.xml:1735
2239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2240 #: freeculture.xml:1745
2241 msgid "Daguerre, Louis"
2244 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2245 #: freeculture.xml:1738
2247 "In 1839, Louis Daguerre invented the first practical technology for "
2248 "producing what we would call <quote>photographs.</quote> Appropriately "
2249 "enough, they were called <quote>daguerreotypes.</quote> The process was "
2250 "complicated and expensive, and the field was thus limited to professionals "
2251 "and a few zealous and wealthy amateurs. (There was even an American Daguerre "
2252 "Association that helped regulate the industry, as do all such associations, "
2253 "by keeping competition down so as to keep prices up.) <placeholder "
2254 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2257 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2258 #: freeculture.xml:1757
2259 msgid "Talbot, William"
2262 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2263 #: freeculture.xml:1748
2265 "Yet despite high prices, the demand for daguerreotypes was strong. This "
2266 "pushed inventors to find simpler and cheaper ways to make <quote>automatic "
2267 "pictures.</quote> William Talbot soon discovered a process for making "
2268 "<quote>negatives.</quote> But because the negatives were glass, and had to "
2269 "be kept wet, the process still remained expensive and cumbersome. In the "
2270 "1870s, dry plates were developed, making it easier to separate the taking of "
2271 "a picture from its developing. These were still plates of glass, and thus it "
2272 "was still not a process within reach of most amateurs. <placeholder "
2273 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2276 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2277 #: freeculture.xml:1760
2278 msgid "Eastman, George"
2282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2283 #: freeculture.xml:1763
2285 "The technological change that made mass photography possible didn't happen "
2286 "until 1888, and was the creation of a single man. George Eastman, himself an "
2287 "amateur photographer, was frustrated by the technology of photographs made "
2288 "with plates. In a flash of insight (so to speak), Eastman saw that if the "
2289 "film could be made to be flexible, it could be held on a single "
2290 "spindle. That roll could then be sent to a developer, driving the costs of "
2291 "photography down substantially. By lowering the costs, Eastman expected he "
2292 "could dramatically broaden the population of photographers."
2296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2297 #: freeculture.xml:1780
2299 "Reese V. Jenkins, <citetitle>Images and Enterprise</citetitle> (Baltimore: "
2300 "Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), 112."
2303 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2304 #: freeculture.xml:1782
2305 msgid "Kodak Primer, The (Eastman)"
2308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2309 #: freeculture.xml:1775
2311 "Eastman developed flexible, emulsion-coated paper film and placed rolls of "
2312 "it in small, simple cameras: the Kodak. The device was marketed on the basis "
2313 "of its simplicity. <quote>You press the button and we do the "
2314 "rest.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As he described in "
2315 "<citetitle>The Kodak Primer</citetitle>: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
2319 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2320 #: freeculture.xml:1799 freeculture.xml:1822
2324 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
2325 #: freeculture.xml:1797
2327 "Brian Coe, <citetitle>The Birth of Photography</citetitle> (New York: "
2328 "Taplinger Publishing, 1977), 53. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2332 #: freeculture.xml:1786
2334 "The principle of the Kodak system is the separation of the work that any "
2335 "person whomsoever can do in making a photograph, from the work that only an "
2336 "expert can do. … We furnish anybody, man, woman or child, who has "
2337 "sufficient intelligence to point a box straight and press a button, with an "
2338 "instrument which altogether removes from the practice of photography the "
2339 "necessity for exceptional facilities or, in fact, any special knowledge of "
2340 "the art. It can be employed without preliminary study, without a darkroom "
2341 "and without chemicals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2346 #: freeculture.xml:1815
2347 msgid "Jenkins, 177."
2351 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2352 #: freeculture.xml:1819
2353 msgid "Based on a chart in Jenkins, p. 178."
2356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2357 #: freeculture.xml:1804
2359 "For $25, anyone could make pictures. The camera came preloaded with film, "
2360 "and when it had been used, the camera was returned to an Eastman factory, "
2361 "where the film was developed. Over time, of course, the cost of the camera "
2362 "and the ease with which it could be used both improved. Roll film thus "
2363 "became the basis for the explosive growth of popular photography. Eastman's "
2364 "camera first went on sale in 1888; one year later, Kodak was printing more "
2365 "than six thousand negatives a day. From 1888 through 1909, while industrial "
2366 "production was rising by 4.7 percent, photographic equipment and material "
2367 "sales increased by 11 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
2368 "Eastman Kodak's sales during the same period experienced an average annual "
2369 "increase of over 17 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2373 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2374 #: freeculture.xml:1837
2378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2379 #: freeculture.xml:1826
2381 "The real significance of Eastman's invention, however, was not economic. It "
2382 "was social. Professional photography gave individuals a glimpse of places "
2383 "they would never otherwise see. Amateur photography gave them the ability to "
2384 "record their own lives in a way they had never been able to do before. As "
2385 "author Brian Coe notes, <quote>For the first time the snapshot album "
2386 "provided the man on the street with a permanent record of his family and its "
2387 "activities. … For the first time in history there exists an authentic "
2388 "visual record of the appearance and activities of the common man made "
2389 "without [literary] interpretation or bias.</quote><placeholder "
2390 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2393 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2394 #: freeculture.xml:1841
2396 "In this way, the Kodak camera and film were technologies of expression. The "
2397 "pencil or paintbrush was also a technology of expression, of course. But it "
2398 "took years of training before they could be deployed by amateurs in any "
2399 "useful or effective way. With the Kodak, expression was possible much sooner "
2400 "and more simply. The barrier to expression was lowered. Snobs would sneer at "
2401 "its <quote>quality</quote>; professionals would discount it as "
2402 "irrelevant. But watch a child study how best to frame a picture and you get "
2403 "a sense of the experience of creativity that the Kodak enabled. Democratic "
2404 "tools gave ordinary people a way to express themselves more easily than any "
2405 "tools could have before."
2409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2410 #: freeculture.xml:1863
2412 "For illustrative cases, see, for example, <citetitle>Pavesich</citetitle> "
2413 "v. <citetitle>N.E. Life Ins. Co</citetitle>., 50 S.E. 68 (Ga. 1905); "
2414 "<citetitle>Foster-Milburn Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Chinn</citetitle>, "
2415 "123090 S.W. 364, 366 (Ky. 1909); <citetitle>Corliss</citetitle> "
2416 "v. <citetitle>Walker</citetitle>, 64 F. 280 (Mass. Dist. Ct. 1894)."
2419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2420 #: freeculture.xml:1854
2422 "What was required for this technology to flourish? Obviously, Eastman's "
2423 "genius was an important part. But also important was the legal environment "
2424 "within which Eastman's invention grew. For early in the history of "
2425 "photography, there was a series of judicial decisions that could well have "
2426 "changed the course of photography substantially. Courts were asked whether "
2427 "the photographer, amateur or professional, required permission before he "
2428 "could capture and print whatever image he wanted. Their answer was "
2429 "no.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2433 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2434 #: freeculture.xml:1871
2436 "The arguments in favor of requiring permission will sound surprisingly "
2437 "familiar. The photographer was <quote>taking</quote> something from the "
2438 "person or building whose photograph he shot—pirating something of "
2439 "value. Some even thought he was taking the target's soul. Just as Disney was "
2440 "not free to take the pencils that his animators used to draw Mickey, so, "
2441 "too, should these photographers not be free to take images that they thought "
2445 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2446 #: freeculture.xml:1893
2447 msgid "Warren, Samuel D."
2450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2451 #: freeculture.xml:1890
2453 "Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> "
2454 "<citetitle>Harvard Law Review</citetitle> 4 (1890): 193. <placeholder "
2455 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
2458 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2459 #: freeculture.xml:1883
2461 "On the other side was an argument that should be familiar, as well. Sure, "
2462 "there may be something of value being used. But citizens should have the "
2463 "right to capture at least those images that stand in public view. (Louis "
2464 "Brandeis, who would become a Supreme Court Justice, thought the rule should "
2465 "be different for images from private spaces.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2466 "id=\"0\"/>) It may be that this means that the photographer gets something "
2467 "for nothing. Just as Disney could take inspiration from <citetitle>Steamboat "
2468 "Bill, Jr</citetitle>. or the Brothers Grimm, the photographer should be free "
2469 "to capture an image without compensating the source."
2473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2474 #: freeculture.xml:1910
2476 "See Melville B. Nimmer, <quote>The Right of Publicity,</quote> "
2477 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 19 (1954): 203; William "
2478 "L. Prosser, <quote>Privacy,</quote> <citetitle>California Law "
2479 "Review</citetitle> 48 (1960) 398–407; <citetitle>White</citetitle> "
2480 "v. <citetitle>Samsung Electronics America, Inc</citetitle>., 971 F. 2d 1395 "
2481 "(9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 951 (1993)."
2484 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2485 #: freeculture.xml:1900
2487 "Fortunately for Mr. Eastman, and for photography in general, these early "
2488 "decisions went in favor of the pirates. In general, no permission would be "
2489 "required before an image could be captured and shared with others. Instead, "
2490 "permission was presumed. Freedom was the default. (The law would eventually "
2491 "craft an exception for famous people: commercial photographers who snap "
2492 "pictures of famous people for commercial purposes have more restrictions "
2493 "than the rest of us. But in the ordinary case, the image can be captured "
2494 "without clearing the rights to do the capturing.<placeholder "
2495 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>)"
2498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2499 #: freeculture.xml:1918
2501 "We can only speculate about how photography would have developed had the law "
2502 "gone the other way. If the presumption had been against the photographer, "
2503 "then the photographer would have had to demonstrate permission. Perhaps "
2504 "Eastman Kodak would have had to demonstrate permission, too, before it "
2505 "developed the film upon which images were captured. After all, if permission "
2506 "were not granted, then Eastman Kodak would be benefiting from the "
2507 "<quote>theft</quote> committed by the photographer. Just as Napster "
2508 "benefited from the copyright infringements committed by Napster users, Kodak "
2509 "would be benefiting from the <quote>image-right</quote> infringement of its "
2510 "photographers. We could imagine the law then requiring that some form of "
2511 "permission be demonstrated before a company developed pictures. We could "
2512 "imagine a system developing to demonstrate that permission."
2516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2517 #: freeculture.xml:1935
2519 "But though we could imagine this system of permission, it would be very hard "
2520 "to see how photography could have flourished as it did if the requirement "
2521 "for permission had been built into the rules that govern it. Photography "
2522 "would have existed. It would have grown in importance over "
2523 "time. Professionals would have continued to use the technology as they "
2524 "did—since professionals could have more easily borne the burdens of "
2525 "the permission system. But the spread of photography to ordinary people "
2526 "would not have occurred. Nothing like that growth would have been "
2527 "realized. And certainly, nothing like that growth in a democratic technology "
2528 "of expression would have been realized. If you drive through San "
2529 "Francisco's Presidio, you might see two gaudy yellow school buses painted "
2530 "over with colorful and striking images, and the logo <quote>Just "
2531 "Think!</quote> in place of the name of a school. But there's little that's "
2532 "<quote>just</quote> cerebral in the projects that these busses enable. "
2533 "These buses are filled with technologies that teach kids to tinker with "
2534 "film. Not the film of Eastman. Not even the film of your VCR. Rather the "
2535 "<quote>film</quote> of digital cameras. Just Think! is a project that "
2536 "enables kids to make films, as a way to understand and critique the filmed "
2537 "culture that they find all around them. Each year, these busses travel to "
2538 "more than thirty schools and enable three hundred to five hundred children "
2539 "to learn something about media by doing something with media. By doing, "
2540 "they think. By tinkering, they learn."
2544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2545 #: freeculture.xml:1968
2547 "H. Edward Goldberg, <quote>Essential Presentation Tools: Hardware and "
2548 "Software You Need to Create Digital Multimedia Presentations,</quote> "
2549 "cadalyst, February 2002, available at <ulink "
2550 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #7</ulink>."
2553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2554 #: freeculture.xml:1962
2556 "These buses are not cheap, but the technology they carry is increasingly "
2557 "so. The cost of a high-quality digital video system has fallen "
2558 "dramatically. As one analyst puts it, <quote>Five years ago, a good "
2559 "real-time digital video editing system cost $25,000. Today you can get "
2560 "professional quality for $595.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2561 "id=\"0\"/> These buses are filled with technology that would have cost "
2562 "hundreds of thousands just ten years ago. And it is now feasible to imagine "
2563 "not just buses like this, but classrooms across the country where kids are "
2564 "learning more and more of something teachers call <quote>media "
2568 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2569 #: freeculture.xml:1985
2570 msgid "Yanofsky, Dave"
2573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2574 #: freeculture.xml:1980
2576 "<quote>Media literacy,</quote> as Dave Yanofsky, the executive director of "
2577 "Just Think!, puts it, <quote>is the ability … to understand, analyze, "
2578 "and deconstruct media images. Its aim is to make [kids] literate about the "
2579 "way media works, the way it's constructed, the way it's delivered, and the "
2580 "way people access it.</quote> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2583 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2584 #: freeculture.xml:1988
2586 "This may seem like an odd way to think about <quote>literacy.</quote> For "
2587 "most people, literacy is about reading and writing. Faulkner and Hemingway "
2588 "and noticing split infinitives are the things that <quote>literate</quote> "
2589 "people know about."
2593 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2594 #: freeculture.xml:1998
2596 "Judith Van Evra, <citetitle>Television and Child Development</citetitle> "
2597 "(Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990); <quote>Findings on "
2598 "Family and TV Study,</quote> <citetitle>Denver Post</citetitle>, 25 May "
2602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2603 #: freeculture.xml:1994
2605 "Maybe. But in a world where children see on average 390 hours of television "
2606 "commercials per year, or between 20,000 and 45,000 commercials "
2607 "generally,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it is increasingly "
2608 "important to understand the <quote>grammar</quote> of media. For just as "
2609 "there is a grammar for the written word, so, too, is there one for "
2610 "media. And just as kids learn how to write by writing lots of terrible "
2611 "prose, kids learn how to write media by constructing lots of (at least at "
2612 "first) terrible media."
2615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2616 #: freeculture.xml:2009
2618 "A growing field of academics and activists sees this form of literacy as "
2619 "crucial to the next generation of culture. For though anyone who has written "
2620 "understands how difficult writing is—how difficult it is to sequence "
2621 "the story, to keep a reader's attention, to craft language to be "
2622 "understandable—few of us have any real sense of how difficult media "
2623 "is. Or more fundamentally, few of us have a sense of how media works, how it "
2624 "holds an audience or leads it through a story, how it triggers emotion or "
2628 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2629 #: freeculture.xml:2019
2631 "It took filmmaking a generation before it could do these things well. But "
2632 "even then, the knowledge was in the filming, not in writing about the "
2633 "film. The skill came from experiencing the making of a film, not from "
2634 "reading a book about it. One learns to write by writing and then reflecting "
2635 "upon what one has written. One learns to write with images by making them "
2636 "and then reflecting upon what one has created."
2639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2640 #: freeculture.xml:2026
2641 msgid "Crichton, Michael"
2644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2645 #: freeculture.xml:2040 freeculture.xml:2100 freeculture.xml:2107 freeculture.xml:2544
2646 msgid "Barish, Stephanie"
2649 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2650 #: freeculture.xml:2041
2651 msgid "Daley, Elizabeth"
2654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2655 #: freeculture.xml:2038
2657 "Interview with Elizabeth Daley and Stephanie Barish, 13 December 2002. "
2658 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
2663 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2664 #: freeculture.xml:2052
2666 "See Scott Steinberg, <quote>Crichton Gets Medieval on PCs,</quote> E!online, "
2667 "4 November 2000, available at <ulink "
2668 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #8</ulink>; "
2669 "<quote>Timeline,</quote> 22 November 2000, available at <ulink "
2670 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #9</ulink>."
2673 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2674 #: freeculture.xml:2028
2676 "This grammar has changed as media has changed. When it was just film, as "
2677 "Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the University of Southern "
2678 "California's Annenberg Center for Communication and dean of the USC School "
2679 "of Cinema-Television, explained to me, the grammar was about <quote>the "
2680 "placement of objects, color, … rhythm, pacing, and "
2681 "texture.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But as computers "
2682 "open up an interactive space where a story is <quote>played</quote> as well "
2683 "as experienced, that grammar changes. The simple control of narrative is "
2684 "lost, and so other techniques are necessary. Author Michael Crichton had "
2685 "mastered the narrative of science fiction. But when he tried to design a "
2686 "computer game based on one of his works, it was a new craft he had to "
2687 "learn. How to lead people through a game without their feeling they have "
2688 "been led was not obvious, even to a wildly successful author.<placeholder "
2689 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2693 #: freeculture.xml:2059
2694 msgid "computer games"
2697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2698 #: freeculture.xml:2061
2700 "This skill is precisely the craft a filmmaker learns. As Daley describes, "
2701 "<quote>people are very surprised about how they are led through a film. [I]t "
2702 "is perfectly constructed to keep you from seeing it, so you have no idea. If "
2703 "a filmmaker succeeds you do not know how you were led.</quote> If you know "
2704 "you were led through a film, the film has failed."
2707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2708 #: freeculture.xml:2068
2710 "Yet the push for an expanded literacy—one that goes beyond text to "
2711 "include audio and visual elements—is not about making better film "
2712 "directors. The aim is not to improve the profession of filmmaking at all. "
2713 "Instead, as Daley explained,"
2716 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2717 #: freeculture.xml:2075
2719 "From my perspective, probably the most important digital divide is not "
2720 "access to a box. It's the ability to be empowered with the language that "
2721 "that box works in. Otherwise only a very few people can write with this "
2722 "language, and all the rest of us are reduced to being read-only."
2725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2726 #: freeculture.xml:2083
2728 "<quote>Read-only.</quote> Passive recipients of culture produced elsewhere. "
2729 "Couch potatoes. Consumers. This is the world of media from the twentieth "
2733 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2734 #: freeculture.xml:2099
2735 msgid "Interview with Daley and Barish. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2739 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
2740 #: freeculture.xml:2104 freeculture.xml:3845 freeculture.xml:4885 freeculture.xml:8087
2744 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2745 #: freeculture.xml:2088
2747 "The twenty-first century could be different. This is the crucial point: It "
2748 "could be both read and write. Or at least reading and better understanding "
2749 "the craft of writing. Or best, reading and understanding the tools that "
2750 "enable the writing to lead or mislead. The aim of any literacy, and this "
2751 "literacy in particular, is to <quote>empower people to choose the "
2752 "appropriate language for what they need to create or "
2753 "express.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It is to enable "
2754 "students <quote>to communicate in the language of the twenty-first "
2755 "century.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2758 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2759 #: freeculture.xml:2109
2761 "As with any language, this language comes more easily to some than to "
2762 "others. It doesn't necessarily come more easily to those who excel in "
2763 "written language. Daley and Stephanie Barish, director of the Institute for "
2764 "Multimedia Literacy at the Annenberg Center, describe one particularly "
2765 "poignant example of a project they ran in a high school. The high school "
2766 "was a very poor inner-city Los Angeles school. In all the traditional "
2767 "measures of success, this school was a failure. But Daley and Barish ran a "
2768 "program that gave kids an opportunity to use film to express meaning about "
2769 "something the students know something about—gun violence."
2772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2773 #: freeculture.xml:2121
2775 "The class was held on Friday afternoons, and it created a relatively new "
2776 "problem for the school. While the challenge in most classes was getting the "
2777 "kids to come, the challenge in this class was keeping them away. The "
2778 "<quote>kids were showing up at 6 A.M. and leaving at 5 at night,</quote> "
2779 "said Barish. They were working harder than in any other class to do what "
2780 "education should be about—learning how to express themselves."
2783 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2784 #: freeculture.xml:2129
2786 "Using whatever <quote>free web stuff they could find,</quote> and relatively "
2787 "simple tools to enable the kids to mix <quote>image, sound, and "
2788 "text,</quote> Barish said this class produced a series of projects that "
2789 "showed something about gun violence that few would otherwise "
2790 "understand. This was an issue close to the lives of these students. The "
2791 "project <quote>gave them a tool and empowered them to be able to both "
2792 "understand it and talk about it,</quote> Barish explained. That tool "
2793 "succeeded in creating expression—far more successfully and powerfully "
2794 "than could have been created using only text. <quote>If you had said to "
2795 "these students, `you have to do it in text,' they would've just thrown their "
2796 "hands up and gone and done something else,</quote> Barish described, in "
2797 "part, no doubt, because expressing themselves in text is not something these "
2798 "students can do well. Yet neither is text a form in which "
2799 "<emphasis>these</emphasis> ideas can be expressed well. The power of this "
2800 "message depended upon its connection to this form of expression."
2804 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2805 #: freeculture.xml:2148
2807 "<quote>But isn't education about teaching kids to write?</quote> I asked. In "
2808 "part, of course, it is. But why are we teaching kids to write? Education, "
2809 "Daley explained, is about giving students a way of <quote>constructing "
2810 "meaning.</quote> To say that that means just writing is like saying teaching "
2811 "writing is only about teaching kids how to spell. Text is one part—and "
2812 "increasingly, not the most powerful part—of constructing meaning. As "
2813 "Daley explained in the most moving part of our interview,"
2816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2817 #: freeculture.xml:2159
2819 "What you want is to give these students ways of constructing meaning. If all "
2820 "you give them is text, they're not going to do it. Because they can't. You "
2821 "know, you've got Johnny who can look at a video, he can play a video game, "
2822 "he can do graffiti all over your walls, he can take your car apart, and he "
2823 "can do all sorts of other things. He just can't read your text. So Johnny "
2824 "comes to school and you say, <quote>Johnny, you're illiterate. Nothing you "
2825 "can do matters.</quote> Well, Johnny then has two choices: He can dismiss "
2826 "you or he [can] dismiss himself. If his ego is healthy at all, he's going to "
2827 "dismiss you. [But i]nstead, if you say, <quote>Well, with all these things "
2828 "that you can do, let's talk about this issue. Play for me music that you "
2829 "think reflects that, or show me images that you think reflect that, or draw "
2830 "for me something that reflects that.</quote> Not by giving a kid a video "
2831 "camera and … saying, <quote>Let's go have fun with the video camera "
2832 "and make a little movie.</quote> But instead, really help you take these "
2833 "elements that you understand, that are your language, and construct meaning "
2834 "about the topic.…"
2837 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2838 #: freeculture.xml:2178
2840 "That empowers enormously. And then what happens, of course, is eventually, "
2841 "as it has happened in all these classes, they bump up against the fact, "
2842 "<quote>I need to explain this and I really need to write something.</quote> "
2843 "And as one of the teachers told Stephanie, they would rewrite a paragraph 5, "
2844 "6, 7, 8 times, till they got it right."
2848 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2849 #: freeculture.xml:2185
2851 "Because they needed to. There was a reason for doing it. They needed to say "
2852 "something, as opposed to just jumping through your hoops. They actually "
2853 "needed to use a language that they didn't speak very well. But they had come "
2854 "to understand that they had a lot of power with this language."
2857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2858 #: freeculture.xml:2196
2860 "When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, another into the "
2861 "Pentagon, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania field, all media around the world "
2862 "shifted to this news. Every moment of just about every day for that week, "
2863 "and for weeks after, television in particular, and media generally, retold "
2864 "the story of the events we had just witnessed. The telling was a retelling, "
2865 "because we had seen the events that were described. The genius of this awful "
2866 "act of terrorism was that the delayed second attack was perfectly timed to "
2867 "assure that the whole world would be watching."
2870 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2871 #: freeculture.xml:2207
2873 "These retellings had an increasingly familiar feel. There was music scored "
2874 "for the intermissions, and fancy graphics that flashed across the "
2875 "screen. There was a formula to interviews. There was <quote>balance,</quote> "
2876 "and seriousness. This was news choreographed in the way we have increasingly "
2877 "come to expect it, <quote>news as entertainment,</quote> even if the "
2878 "entertainment is tragedy."
2881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2882 #: freeculture.xml:2214 freeculture.xml:8026 freeculture.xml:8262
2886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2887 #: freeculture.xml:2215
2891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2892 #: freeculture.xml:2217
2894 "But in addition to this produced news about the <quote>tragedy of September "
2895 "11,</quote> those of us tied to the Internet came to see a very different "
2896 "production as well. The Internet was filled with accounts of the same "
2897 "events. Yet these Internet accounts had a very different flavor. Some people "
2898 "constructed photo pages that captured images from around the world and "
2899 "presented them as slide shows with text. Some offered open letters. There "
2900 "were sound recordings. There was anger and frustration. There were attempts "
2901 "to provide context. There was, in short, an extraordinary worldwide barn "
2902 "raising, in the sense Mike Godwin uses the term in his book <citetitle>Cyber "
2903 "Rights</citetitle>, around a news event that had captured the attention of "
2904 "the world. There was ABC and CBS, but there was also the Internet."
2908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2909 #: freeculture.xml:2231
2911 "I don't mean simply to praise the Internet—though I do think the "
2912 "people who supported this form of speech should be praised. I mean instead "
2913 "to point to a significance in this form of speech. For like a Kodak, the "
2914 "Internet enables people to capture images. And like in a movie by a student "
2915 "on the <quote>Just Think!</quote> bus, the visual images could be mixed with "
2919 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2920 #: freeculture.xml:2241
2922 "But unlike any technology for simply capturing images, the Internet allows "
2923 "these creations to be shared with an extraordinary number of people, "
2924 "practically instantaneously. This is something new in our "
2925 "tradition—not just that culture can be captured mechanically, and "
2926 "obviously not just that events are commented upon critically, but that this "
2927 "mix of captured images, sound, and commentary can be widely spread "
2928 "practically instantaneously."
2931 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2932 #: freeculture.xml:2250
2934 "September 11 was not an aberration. It was a beginning. Around the same "
2935 "time, a form of communication that has grown dramatically was just beginning "
2936 "to come into public consciousness: the Web-log, or blog. The blog is a kind "
2937 "of public diary, and within some cultures, such as in Japan, it functions "
2938 "very much like a diary. In those cultures, it records private facts in a "
2939 "public way—it's a kind of electronic <citetitle>Jerry "
2940 "Springer</citetitle>, available anywhere in the world."
2943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2944 #: freeculture.xml:2259
2946 "But in the United States, blogs have taken on a very different character. "
2947 "There are some who use the space simply to talk about their private "
2948 "life. But there are many who use the space to engage in public "
2949 "discourse. Discussing matters of public import, criticizing others who are "
2950 "mistaken in their views, criticizing politicians about the decisions they "
2951 "make, offering solutions to problems we all see: blogs create the sense of a "
2952 "virtual public meeting, but one in which we don't all hope to be there at "
2953 "the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked. The "
2954 "best of the blog entries are relatively short; they point directly to words "
2955 "used by others, criticizing with or adding to them. They are arguably the "
2956 "most important form of unchoreographed public discourse that we have."
2960 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2961 #: freeculture.xml:2273
2963 "That's a strong statement. Yet it says as much about our democracy as it "
2964 "does about blogs. This is the part of America that is most difficult for "
2965 "those of us who love America to accept: Our democracy has atrophied. Of "
2966 "course we have elections, and most of the time the courts allow those "
2967 "elections to count. A relatively small number of people vote in those "
2968 "elections. The cycle of these elections has become totally professionalized "
2969 "and routinized. Most of us think this is democracy."
2973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2974 #: freeculture.xml:2299
2976 "See, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville, <citetitle>Democracy in "
2977 "America</citetitle>, bk. 1, trans. Henry Reeve (New York: Bantam Books, "
2981 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2982 #: freeculture.xml:2284
2984 "But democracy has never just been about elections. Democracy means rule by "
2985 "the people, but rule means something more than mere elections. In our "
2986 "tradition, it also means control through reasoned discourse. This was the "
2987 "idea that captured the imagination of Alexis de Tocqueville, the "
2988 "nineteenth-century French lawyer who wrote the most important account of "
2989 "early <quote>Democracy in America.</quote> It wasn't popular elections that "
2990 "fascinated him—it was the jury, an institution that gave ordinary "
2991 "people the right to choose life or death for other citizens. And most "
2992 "fascinating for him was that the jury didn't just vote about the outcome "
2993 "they would impose. They deliberated. Members argued about the "
2994 "<quote>right</quote> result; they tried to persuade each other of the "
2995 "<quote>right</quote> result, and in criminal cases at least, they had to "
2996 "agree upon a unanimous result for the process to come to an end.<placeholder "
2997 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
3001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3002 #: freeculture.xml:2308
3004 "Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, <quote>Deliberation Day,</quote> "
3005 "<citetitle>Journal of Political Philosophy</citetitle> 10 (2) (2002): 129."
3008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3009 #: freeculture.xml:2304
3011 "Yet even this institution flags in American life today. And in its place, "
3012 "there is no systematic effort to enable citizen deliberation. Some are "
3013 "pushing to create just such an institution.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3014 "id=\"0\"/> And in some towns in New England, something close to deliberation "
3015 "remains. But for most of us for most of the time, there is no time or place "
3016 "for <quote>democratic deliberation</quote> to occur."
3020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3021 #: freeculture.xml:2323
3023 "Cass Sunstein, <citetitle>Republic.com</citetitle> (Princeton: Princeton "
3024 "University Press, 2001), 65–80, 175, 182, 183, 192."
3027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3028 #: freeculture.xml:2316
3030 "More bizarrely, there is generally not even permission for it to occur. We, "
3031 "the most powerful democracy in the world, have developed a strong norm "
3032 "against talking about politics. It's fine to talk about politics with people "
3033 "you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you "
3034 "disagree with. Political discourse becomes isolated, and isolated discourse "
3035 "becomes more extreme.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We say what "
3036 "our friends want to hear, and hear very little beyond what our friends say."
3040 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3041 #: freeculture.xml:2329
3043 "Enter the blog. The blog's very architecture solves one part of this "
3044 "problem. People post when they want to post, and people read when they want "
3045 "to read. The most difficult time is synchronous time. Technologies that "
3046 "enable asynchronous communication, such as e-mail, increase the opportunity "
3047 "for communication. Blogs allow for public discourse without the public ever "
3048 "needing to gather in a single public place."
3051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3052 #: freeculture.xml:2340
3054 "But beyond architecture, blogs also have solved the problem of "
3055 "norms. There's no norm (yet) in blog space not to talk about politics. "
3056 "Indeed, the space is filled with political speech, on both the right and the "
3057 "left. Some of the most popular sites are conservative or libertarian, but "
3058 "there are many of all political stripes. And even blogs that are not "
3059 "political cover political issues when the occasion merits."
3062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
3063 #: freeculture.xml:2352
3064 msgid "Dean, Howard"
3067 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3068 #: freeculture.xml:2348
3070 "The significance of these blogs is tiny now, though not so tiny. The name "
3071 "Howard Dean may well have faded from the 2004 presidential race but for "
3072 "blogs. Yet even if the number of readers is small, the reading is having an "
3073 "effect. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3078 #: freeculture.xml:2366
3080 "Noah Shachtman, <quote>With Incessant Postings, a Pundit Stirs the "
3081 "Pot,</quote> New York Times, 16 January 2003, G5."
3084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
3085 #: freeculture.xml:2369
3089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3090 #: freeculture.xml:2355
3092 "One direct effect is on stories that had a different life cycle in the "
3093 "mainstream media. The Trent Lott affair is an example. When Lott "
3094 "<quote>misspoke</quote> at a party for Senator Strom Thurmond, essentially "
3095 "praising Thurmond's segregationist policies, he calculated correctly that "
3096 "this story would disappear from the mainstream press within forty-eight "
3097 "hours. It did. But he didn't calculate its life cycle in blog space. The "
3098 "bloggers kept researching the story. Over time, more and more instances of "
3099 "the same <quote>misspeaking</quote> emerged. Finally, the story broke back "
3100 "into the mainstream press. In the end, Lott was forced to resign as senate "
3101 "majority leader.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
3102 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
3105 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3106 #: freeculture.xml:2372
3108 "This different cycle is possible because the same commercial pressures don't "
3109 "exist with blogs as with other ventures. Television and newspapers are "
3110 "commercial entities. They must work to keep attention. If they lose "
3111 "readers, they lose revenue. Like sharks, they must move on."
3114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3115 #: freeculture.xml:2379
3117 "But bloggers don't have a similar constraint. They can obsess, they can "
3118 "focus, they can get serious. If a particular blogger writes a particularly "
3119 "interesting story, more and more people link to that story. And as the "
3120 "number of links to a particular story increases, it rises in the ranks of "
3121 "stories. People read what is popular; what is popular has been selected by a "
3122 "very democratic process of peer-generated rankings."
3125 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3126 #: freeculture.xml:2388
3131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3132 #: freeculture.xml:2391
3134 "There's a second way, as well, in which blogs have a different cycle from "
3135 "the mainstream press. As Dave Winer, one of the fathers of this movement and "
3136 "a software author for many decades, told me, another difference is the "
3137 "absence of a financial <quote>conflict of interest.</quote> <quote>I think "
3138 "you have to take the conflict of interest</quote> out of journalism, Winer "
3139 "told me. <quote>An amateur journalist simply doesn't have a conflict of "
3140 "interest, or the conflict of interest is so easily disclosed that you know "
3141 "you can sort of get it out of the way.</quote>"
3144 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3145 #: freeculture.xml:2401 freeculture.xml:2454
3150 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3151 #: freeculture.xml:2409
3152 msgid "Telephone interview with David Winer, 16 April 2003."
3155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3156 #: freeculture.xml:2403
3158 "These conflicts become more important as media becomes more concentrated "
3159 "(more on this below). A concentrated media can hide more from the public "
3160 "than an unconcentrated media can—as CNN admitted it did after the Iraq "
3161 "war because it was afraid of the consequences to its own "
3162 "employees.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It also needs to sustain "
3163 "a more coherent account. (In the middle of the Iraq war, I read a post on "
3164 "the Internet from someone who was at that time listening to a satellite "
3165 "uplink with a reporter in Iraq. The New York headquarters was telling the "
3166 "reporter over and over that her account of the war was too bleak: She needed "
3167 "to offer a more optimistic story. When she told New York that wasn't "
3168 "warranted, they told her that <emphasis>they</emphasis> were writing "
3169 "<quote>the story.</quote>)"
3173 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3174 #: freeculture.xml:2427
3176 "John Schwartz, <quote>Loss of the Shuttle: The Internet; A Wealth of "
3177 "Information Online,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 2 "
3178 "February 2003, A28; Staci D. Kramer, <quote>Shuttle Disaster Coverage Mixed, "
3179 "but Strong Overall,</quote> Online Journalism Review, 2 February 2003, "
3180 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #10</ulink>."
3183 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3184 #: freeculture.xml:2419
3186 "Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the "
3187 "debate—<quote>amateur</quote> not in the sense of inexperienced, but "
3188 "in the sense of an Olympic athlete, meaning not paid by anyone to give their "
3189 "reports. It allows for a much broader range of input into a story, as "
3190 "reporting on the Columbia disaster revealed, when hundreds from across the "
3191 "southwest United States turned to the Internet to retell what they had "
3192 "seen.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And it drives readers to read "
3193 "across the range of accounts and <quote>triangulate,</quote> as Winer puts "
3194 "it, the truth. Blogs, Winer says, are <quote>communicating directly with our "
3195 "constituency, and the middle man is out of it</quote>—with all the "
3196 "benefits, and costs, that might entail."
3199 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3200 #: freeculture.xml:2446
3202 "See Michael Falcone, <quote>Does an Editor's Pencil Ruin a Web Log?</quote> "
3203 "<citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 29 September 2003, C4. (<quote>Not "
3204 "all news organizations have been as accepting of employees who blog. Kevin "
3205 "Sites, a CNN correspondent in Iraq who started a blog about his reporting of "
3206 "the war on March 9, stopped posting 12 days later at his bosses' "
3207 "request. Last year Steve Olafson, a <citetitle>Houston Chronicle</citetitle> "
3208 "reporter, was fired for keeping a personal Web log, published under a "
3209 "pseudonym, that dealt with some of the issues and people he was "
3210 "covering.</quote>) <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3214 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3215 #: freeculture.xml:2439
3217 "Winer is optimistic about the future of journalism infected with "
3218 "blogs. <quote>It's going to become an essential skill,</quote> Winer "
3219 "predicts, for public figures and increasingly for private figures as "
3220 "well. It's not clear that <quote>journalism</quote> is happy about "
3221 "this—some journalists have been told to curtail their "
3222 "blogging.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is clear that we "
3223 "are still in transition. <quote>A lot of what we are doing now is warm-up "
3224 "exercises,</quote> Winer told me. There is a lot that must mature before "
3225 "this space has its mature effect. And as the inclusion of content in this "
3226 "space is the least infringing use of the Internet (meaning infringing on "
3227 "copyright), Winer said, <quote>we will be the last thing that gets shut "
3231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3232 #: freeculture.xml:2466
3234 "This speech affects democracy. Winer thinks that happens because <quote>you "
3235 "don't have to work for somebody who controls, [for] a gatekeeper.</quote> "
3236 "That is true. But it affects democracy in another way as well. As more and "
3237 "more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will "
3238 "change the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and "
3239 "misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be "
3240 "criticized by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has "
3241 "been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore "
3242 "when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and "
3243 "criticism improves democracy. Today there are probably a couple of million "
3244 "blogs where such writing happens. When there are ten million, there will be "
3245 "something extraordinary to report."
3248 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3249 #: freeculture.xml:2482
3250 msgid "Brown, John Seely"
3253 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3254 #: freeculture.xml:2485
3256 "John Seely Brown is the chief scientist of the Xerox Corporation. His work, "
3257 "as his Web site describes it, is <quote>human learning and … the "
3258 "creation of knowledge ecologies for creating … innovation.</quote>"
3261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3262 #: freeculture.xml:2490
3264 "Brown thus looks at these technologies of digital creativity a bit "
3265 "differently from the perspectives I've sketched so far. I'm sure he would be "
3266 "excited about any technology that might improve democracy. But his real "
3267 "excitement comes from how these technologies affect learning."
3271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3272 #: freeculture.xml:2497
3274 "As Brown believes, we learn by tinkering. When <quote>a lot of us grew "
3275 "up,</quote> he explains, that tinkering was done <quote>on motorcycle "
3276 "engines, lawnmower engines, automobiles, radios, and so on.</quote> But "
3277 "digital technologies enable a different kind of tinkering—with "
3278 "abstract ideas though in concrete form. The kids at Just Think! not only "
3279 "think about how a commercial portrays a politician; using digital "
3280 "technology, they can take the commercial apart and manipulate it, tinker "
3281 "with it to see how it does what it does. Digital technologies launch a kind "
3282 "of bricolage, or <quote>free collage,</quote> as Brown calls it. Many get to "
3283 "add to or transform the tinkering of many others."
3286 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3287 #: freeculture.xml:2510
3289 "The best large-scale example of this kind of tinkering so far is free "
3290 "software or open-source software (FS/OSS). FS/OSS is software whose source "
3291 "code is shared. Anyone can download the technology that makes a FS/OSS "
3292 "program run. And anyone eager to learn how a particular bit of FS/OSS "
3293 "technology works can tinker with the code."
3296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3297 #: freeculture.xml:2517
3299 "This opportunity creates a <quote>completely new kind of learning "
3300 "platform,</quote> as Brown describes. <quote>As soon as you start doing "
3301 "that, you … unleash a free collage on the community, so that other "
3302 "people can start looking at your code, tinkering with it, trying it out, "
3303 "seeing if they can improve it.</quote> Each effort is a kind of "
3304 "apprenticeship. <quote>Open source becomes a major apprenticeship "
3308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3309 #: freeculture.xml:2525
3311 "In this process, <quote>the concrete things you tinker with are abstract. "
3312 "They are code.</quote> Kids are <quote>shifting to the ability to tinker in "
3313 "the abstract, and this tinkering is no longer an isolated activity that "
3314 "you're doing in your garage. You are tinkering with a community "
3315 "platform. … You are tinkering with other people's stuff. The more you "
3316 "tinker the more you improve.</quote> The more you improve, the more you "
3320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3321 #: freeculture.xml:2534
3323 "This same thing happens with content, too. And it happens in the same "
3324 "collaborative way when that content is part of the Web. As Brown puts it, "
3325 "<quote>the Web [is] the first medium that truly honors multiple forms of "
3326 "intelligence.</quote> Earlier technologies, such as the typewriter or word "
3327 "processors, helped amplify text. But the Web amplifies much more than "
3328 "text. <quote>The Web … says if you are musical, if you are artistic, "
3329 "if you are visual, if you are interested in film … [then] there is a "
3330 "lot you can start to do on this medium. [It] can now amplify and honor these "
3331 "multiple forms of intelligence.</quote>"
3335 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3336 #: freeculture.xml:2546
3338 "Brown is talking about what Elizabeth Daley, Stephanie Barish, and Just "
3339 "Think! teach: that this tinkering with culture teaches as well as "
3340 "creates. It develops talents differently, and it builds a different kind of "
3344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3345 #: freeculture.xml:2554
3347 "Yet the freedom to tinker with these objects is not guaranteed. Indeed, as "
3348 "we'll see through the course of this book, that freedom is increasingly "
3349 "highly contested. While there's no doubt that your father had the right to "
3350 "tinker with the car engine, there's great doubt that your child will have "
3351 "the right to tinker with the images she finds all around. The law and, "
3352 "increasingly, technology interfere with a freedom that technology, and "
3353 "curiosity, would otherwise ensure."
3357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3358 #: freeculture.xml:2570
3360 "See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, <quote>Technological "
3361 "Access Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship,</quote> "
3362 "<citetitle>Communications of the Association for Computer "
3363 "Machinery</citetitle> 43 (2000): 9."
3366 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3367 #: freeculture.xml:2563
3369 "These restrictions have become the focus of researchers and scholars. "
3370 "Professor Ed Felten of Princeton (whom we'll see more of in chapter <xref "
3371 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>) has developed a "
3372 "powerful argument in favor of the <quote>right to tinker</quote> as it "
3373 "applies to computer science and to knowledge in general.<placeholder "
3374 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But Brown's concern is earlier, or younger, or "
3375 "more fundamental. It is about the learning that kids can do, or can't do, "
3376 "because of the law."
3379 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3380 #: freeculture.xml:2578
3382 "<quote>This is where education in the twenty-first century is going,</quote> "
3383 "Brown explains. We need to <quote>understand how kids who grow up digital "
3384 "think and want to learn.</quote>"
3387 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3388 #: freeculture.xml:2583
3390 "<quote>Yet,</quote> as Brown continued, and as the balance of this book will "
3391 "evince, <quote>we are building a legal system that completely suppresses the "
3392 "natural tendencies of today's digital kids. … We're building an "
3393 "architecture that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal system "
3394 "that closes down that part of the brain.</quote>"
3397 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3398 #: freeculture.xml:2591
3400 "We're building a technology that takes the magic of Kodak, mixes moving "
3401 "images and sound, and adds a space for commentary and an opportunity to "
3402 "spread that creativity everywhere. But we're building the law to close down "
3406 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3407 #: freeculture.xml:2597
3409 "<quote>No way to run a culture,</quote> as Brewster Kahle, whom we'll meet "
3410 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"collectors\"/>, "
3411 "quipped to me in a rare moment of despondence."
3414 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
3415 #: freeculture.xml:2604
3416 msgid "CHAPTER THREE: Catalogs"
3419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3420 #: freeculture.xml:2605
3424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3425 #: freeculture.xml:2605 freeculture.xml:2607
3426 msgid "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)"
3429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3430 #: freeculture.xml:2610
3432 "In the fall of 2002, Jesse Jordan of Oceanside, New York, enrolled as a "
3433 "freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. His major "
3434 "at RPI was information technology. Though he is not a programmer, in October "
3435 "Jesse decided to begin to tinker with search engine technology that was "
3436 "available on the RPI network."
3439 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3440 #: freeculture.xml:2617
3442 "RPI is one of America's foremost technological research institutions. It "
3443 "offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and engineering to "
3444 "information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five thousand "
3445 "undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high school "
3446 "class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience to imagine "
3447 "and then build, a generation for the network age."
3450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3451 #: freeculture.xml:2625
3453 "RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration to one "
3454 "another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything available on the "
3455 "RPI network is available on the Internet. But the network is designed to "
3456 "enable students to get access to the Internet, as well as more intimate "
3457 "access to other members of the RPI community."
3461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3462 #: freeculture.xml:2632
3464 "Search engines are a measure of a network's intimacy. Google brought the "
3465 "Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically improving the quality of "
3466 "search on the network. Specialty search engines can do this even better. The "
3467 "idea of <quote>intranet</quote> search engines, search engines that search "
3468 "within the network of a particular institution, is to provide users of that "
3469 "institution with better access to material from that institution. "
3470 "Businesses do this all the time, enabling employees to have access to "
3471 "material that people outside the business can't get. Universities do it as "
3475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3476 #: freeculture.xml:2644
3478 "These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. Microsoft, for "
3479 "example, has a network file system that makes it very easy for search "
3480 "engines tuned to that network to query the system for information about the "
3481 "publicly (within that network) available content. Jesse's search engine was "
3482 "built to take advantage of this technology. It used Microsoft's network file "
3483 "system to build an index of all the files available within the RPI network."
3486 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3487 #: freeculture.xml:2653
3489 "Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. Indeed, "
3490 "his engine was a simple modification of engines that others had built. His "
3491 "single most important improvement over those engines was to fix a bug within "
3492 "the Microsoft file-sharing system that could cause a user's computer to "
3493 "crash. With the engines that existed before, if you tried to access a file "
3494 "through a Windows browser that was on a computer that was off-line, your "
3495 "computer could crash. Jesse modified the system a bit to fix that problem, "
3496 "by adding a button that a user could click to see if the machine holding the "
3497 "file was still on-line."
3500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3501 #: freeculture.xml:2665
3503 "Jesse's engine went on-line in late October. Over the following six months, "
3504 "he continued to tweak it to improve its functionality. By March, the system "
3505 "was functioning quite well. Jesse had more than one million files in his "
3506 "directory, including every type of content that might be on users' "
3511 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3512 #: freeculture.xml:2672
3514 "Thus the index his search engine produced included pictures, which students "
3515 "could use to put on their own Web sites; copies of notes or research; copies "
3516 "of information pamphlets; movie clips that students might have created; "
3517 "university brochures—basically anything that users of the RPI network "
3518 "made available in a public folder of their computer."
3521 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3522 #: freeculture.xml:2681
3524 "But the index also included music files. In fact, one quarter of the files "
3525 "that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that means, of "
3526 "course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this point is "
3527 "absolutely clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to put music files "
3528 "in their public folders. He did nothing to target the search engine to these "
3529 "files. He was a kid tinkering with a Google-like technology at a university "
3530 "where he was studying information science, and hence, tinkering was the "
3531 "aim. Unlike Google, or Microsoft, for that matter, he made no money from "
3532 "this tinkering; he was not connected to any business that would make any "
3533 "money from this experiment. He was a kid tinkering with technology in an "
3534 "environment where tinkering with technology was precisely what he was "
3538 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3539 #: freeculture.xml:2696
3541 "On April 3, 2003, Jesse was contacted by the dean of students at RPI. The "
3542 "dean informed Jesse that the Recording Industry Association of America, the "
3543 "RIAA, would be filing a lawsuit against him and three other students whom he "
3544 "didn't even know, two of them at other universities. A few hours later, "
3545 "Jesse was served with papers from the suit. As he read these papers and "
3546 "watched the news reports about them, he was increasingly astonished."
3549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3550 #: freeculture.xml:2705
3552 "<quote>It was absurd,</quote> he told me. <quote>I don't think I did "
3553 "anything wrong. … I don't think there's anything wrong with the "
3554 "search engine that I ran or … what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't "
3555 "modified it in any way that promoted or enhanced the work of pirates. I just "
3556 "modified the search engine in a way that would make it easier to "
3557 "use</quote>—again, a <emphasis>search engine</emphasis>, which Jesse "
3558 "had not himself built, using the Windows filesharing system, which Jesse had "
3559 "not himself built, to enable members of the RPI community to get access to "
3560 "content, which Jesse had not himself created or posted, and the vast "
3561 "majority of which had nothing to do with music."
3565 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3566 #: freeculture.xml:2718
3568 "But the RIAA branded Jesse a pirate. They claimed he operated a network and "
3569 "had therefore <quote>willfully</quote> violated copyright laws. They "
3570 "demanded that he pay them the damages for his wrong. For cases of "
3571 "<quote>willful infringement,</quote> the Copyright Act specifies something "
3572 "lawyers call <quote>statutory damages.</quote> These damages permit a "
3573 "copyright owner to claim $150,000 per infringement. As the RIAA alleged more "
3574 "than one hundred specific copyright infringements, they therefore demanded "
3575 "that Jesse pay them at least $15,000,000."
3579 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3580 #: freeculture.xml:2741
3582 "Tim Goral, <quote>Recording Industry Goes After Campus P-2-P Networks: Suit "
3583 "Alleges $97.8 Billion in Damages,</quote> <citetitle>Professional Media "
3584 "Group LCC</citetitle> 6 (2003): 5, available at 2003 WL 55179443."
3587 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3588 #: freeculture.xml:2729
3590 "Similar lawsuits were brought against three other students: one other "
3591 "student at RPI, one at Michigan Technical University, and one at "
3592 "Princeton. Their situations were similar to Jesse's. Though each case was "
3593 "different in detail, the bottom line in each was exactly the same: huge "
3594 "demands for <quote>damages</quote> that the RIAA claimed it was entitled "
3595 "to. If you added up the claims, these four lawsuits were asking courts in "
3596 "the United States to award the plaintiffs close to $100 "
3597 "<emphasis>billion</emphasis>—six times the <emphasis>total</emphasis> "
3598 "profit of the film industry in 2001.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3603 #: freeculture.xml:2748
3605 "Jesse called his parents. They were supportive but a bit frightened. An "
3606 "uncle was a lawyer. He began negotiations with the RIAA. They demanded to "
3607 "know how much money Jesse had. Jesse had saved $12,000 from summer jobs and "
3608 "other employment. They demanded $12,000 to dismiss the case."
3611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3612 #: freeculture.xml:2755
3614 "The RIAA wanted Jesse to admit to doing something wrong. He refused. They "
3615 "wanted him to agree to an injunction that would essentially make it "
3616 "impossible for him to work in many fields of technology for the rest of his "
3617 "life. He refused. They made him understand that this process of being sued "
3618 "was not going to be pleasant. (As Jesse's father recounted to me, the chief "
3619 "lawyer on the case, Matt Oppenheimer, told Jesse, <quote>You don't want to "
3620 "pay another visit to a dentist like me.</quote>) And throughout, the RIAA "
3621 "insisted it would not settle the case until it took every penny Jesse had "
3626 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3627 #: freeculture.xml:2766
3629 "Jesse's family was outraged at these claims. They wanted to fight. But "
3630 "Jesse's uncle worked to educate the family about the nature of the American "
3631 "legal system. Jesse could fight the RIAA. He might even win. But the cost of "
3632 "fighting a lawsuit like this, Jesse was told, would be at least $250,000. If "
3633 "he won, he would not recover that money. If he won, he would have a piece of "
3634 "paper saying he had won, and a piece of paper saying he and his family were "
3638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3639 #: freeculture.xml:2776
3641 "So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at winning, or "
3642 "$12,000 and a settlement."
3646 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3647 #: freeculture.xml:2788
3649 "Occupational Employment Survey, U.S. Dept. of Labor (2001) "
3650 "(27–2042—Musicians and Singers). See also National Endowment for "
3651 "the Arts, <citetitle>More Than One in a Blue Moon</citetitle> (2000)."
3655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3656 #: freeculture.xml:2796
3658 "Douglas Lichtman makes a related point in <quote>KaZaA and "
3659 "Punishment,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 10 September "
3663 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3664 #: freeculture.xml:2780
3666 "The recording industry insists this is a matter of law and morality. Let's "
3667 "put the law aside for a moment and think about the morality. Where is the "
3668 "morality in a lawsuit like this? What is the virtue in scapegoatism? The "
3669 "RIAA is an extraordinarily powerful lobby. The president of the RIAA is "
3670 "reported to make more than $1 million a year. Artists, on the other hand, "
3671 "are not well paid. The average recording artist makes $45,900.<placeholder "
3672 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There are plenty of ways for the RIAA to affect "
3673 "and direct policy. So where is the morality in taking money from a student "
3674 "for running a search engine?<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3678 #: freeculture.xml:2801
3680 "On June 23, Jesse wired his savings to the lawyer working for the RIAA. The "
3681 "case against him was then dismissed. And with this, this kid who had "
3682 "tinkered a computer into a $15 million lawsuit became an activist:"
3685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3686 #: freeculture.xml:2808
3688 "I was definitely not an activist [before]. I never really meant to be an "
3689 "activist. … [But] I've been pushed into this. In no way did I ever "
3690 "foresee anything like this, but I think it's just completely absurd what the "
3694 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3695 #: freeculture.xml:2815
3697 "Jesse's parents betray a certain pride in their reluctant activist. As his "
3698 "father told me, Jesse <quote>considers himself very conservative, and so do "
3699 "I. … He's not a tree hugger. … I think it's bizarre that they "
3700 "would pick on him. But he wants to let people know that they're sending the "
3701 "wrong message. And he wants to correct the record.</quote>"
3704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
3705 #: freeculture.xml:2824
3706 msgid "CHAPTER FOUR: <quote>Pirates</quote>"
3709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3710 #: freeculture.xml:2826
3712 "If <quote>piracy</quote> means using the creative property of others without "
3713 "their permission—if <quote>if value, then right</quote> is "
3714 "true—then the history of the content industry is a history of "
3715 "piracy. Every important sector of <quote>big media</quote> today—film, "
3716 "records, radio, and cable TV—was born of a kind of piracy so "
3717 "defined. The consistent story is how last generation's pirates join this "
3718 "generation's country club—until now."
3721 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
3722 #: freeculture.xml:2834
3726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3727 #: freeculture.xml:2838
3729 "I am grateful to Peter DiMauro for pointing me to this extraordinary "
3730 "history. See also Siva Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
3731 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 87–93, which details Edison's "
3732 "<quote>adventures</quote> with copyright and patent. <placeholder "
3733 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3738 #: freeculture.xml:2836
3740 "The film industry of Hollywood was built by fleeing pirates.<placeholder "
3741 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Creators and directors migrated from the East "
3742 "Coast to California in the early twentieth century in part to escape "
3743 "controls that patents granted the inventor of filmmaking, Thomas "
3744 "Edison. These controls were exercised through a monopoly "
3745 "<quote>trust,</quote> the Motion Pictures Patents Company, and were based on "
3746 "Thomas Edison's creative property—patents. Edison formed the MPPC to "
3747 "exercise the rights this creative property gave him, and the MPPC was "
3748 "serious about the control it demanded."
3751 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3752 #: freeculture.xml:2854
3753 msgid "As one commentator tells one part of the story,"
3756 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3757 #: freeculture.xml:2858
3759 "A January 1909 deadline was set for all companies to comply with the "
3760 "license. By February, unlicensed outlaws, who referred to themselves as "
3761 "independents protested the trust and carried on business without submitting "
3762 "to the Edison monopoly. In the summer of 1909 the independent movement was "
3763 "in full-swing, with producers and theater owners using illegal equipment and "
3764 "imported film stock to create their own underground market."
3768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3769 #: freeculture.xml:2878
3771 "J. A. Aberdeen, <citetitle>Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent "
3772 "Motion Picture Producers</citetitle> (Cobblestone Entertainment, 2000) and "
3773 "expanded texts posted at <quote>The Edison Movie Monopoly: The Motion "
3774 "Picture Patents Company vs. the Independent Outlaws,</quote> available at "
3775 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #11</ulink>. For a "
3776 "discussion of the economic motive behind both these limits and the limits "
3777 "imposed by Victor on phonographs, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison "
3778 "to the Broadcast Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the "
3779 "Propertization of Copyright</quote> (September 2002), University of Chicago "
3780 "Law School, James M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, Working Paper "
3784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
3785 #: freeculture.xml:2889
3786 msgid "Fox, William"
3789 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
3790 #: freeculture.xml:2890
3791 msgid "General Film Company"
3794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3795 #: freeculture.xml:2891 freeculture.xml:3144 freeculture.xml:4250 freeculture.xml:9634
3796 msgid "Picker, Randal C."
3799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3800 #: freeculture.xml:2867
3802 "With the country experiencing a tremendous expansion in the number of "
3803 "nickelodeons, the Patents Company reacted to the independent movement by "
3804 "forming a strong-arm subsidiary known as the General Film Company to block "
3805 "the entry of non-licensed independents. With coercive tactics that have "
3806 "become legendary, General Film confiscated unlicensed equipment, "
3807 "discontinued product supply to theaters which showed unlicensed films, and "
3808 "effectively monopolized distribution with the acquisition of all U.S. film "
3809 "exchanges, except for the one owned by the independent William Fox who "
3810 "defied the Trust even after his license was revoked.<placeholder "
3811 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
3812 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3818 #: freeculture.xml:2901
3820 "Marc Wanamaker, <quote>The First Studios,</quote> <citetitle>The Silents "
3821 "Majority</citetitle>, archived at <ulink "
3822 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #12</ulink>."
3825 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3826 #: freeculture.xml:2895
3828 "The Napsters of those days, the <quote>independents,</quote> were companies "
3829 "like Fox. And no less than today, these independents were vigorously "
3830 "resisted. <quote>Shooting was disrupted by machinery stolen, and "
3831 "`accidents' resulting in loss of negatives, equipment, buildings and "
3832 "sometimes life and limb frequently occurred.</quote><placeholder "
3833 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That led the independents to flee the East "
3834 "Coast. California was remote enough from Edison's reach that filmmakers "
3835 "there could pirate his inventions without fear of the law. And the leaders "
3836 "of Hollywood filmmaking, Fox most prominently, did just that."
3840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3841 #: freeculture.xml:2911
3843 "Of course, California grew quickly, and the effective enforcement of federal "
3844 "law eventually spread west. But because patents grant the patent holder a "
3845 "truly <quote>limited</quote> monopoly (just seventeen years at that time), "
3846 "by the time enough federal marshals appeared, the patents had expired. A new "
3847 "industry had been born, in part from the piracy of Edison's creative "
3851 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
3852 #: freeculture.xml:2922
3853 msgid "Recorded Music"
3856 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3857 #: freeculture.xml:2924
3859 "The record industry was born of another kind of piracy, though to see how "
3860 "requires a bit of detail about the way the law regulates music."
3863 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3864 #: freeculture.xml:2928
3865 msgid "Fourneaux, Henri"
3868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3869 #: freeculture.xml:2930
3870 msgid "Russel, Phil"
3873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3874 #: freeculture.xml:2932
3876 "At the time that Edison and Henri Fourneaux invented machines for "
3877 "reproducing music (Edison the phonograph, Fourneaux the player piano), the "
3878 "law gave composers the exclusive right to control copies of their music and "
3879 "the exclusive right to control public performances of their music. In other "
3880 "words, in 1900, if I wanted a copy of Phil Russel's 1899 hit <quote>Happy "
3881 "Mose,</quote> the law said I would have to pay for the right to get a copy "
3882 "of the musical score, and I would also have to pay for the right to perform "
3886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
3887 #: freeculture.xml:2941 freeculture.xml:3089
3891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3892 #: freeculture.xml:2943
3894 "But what if I wanted to record <quote>Happy Mose,</quote> using Edison's "
3895 "phonograph or Fourneaux's player piano? Here the law stumbled. It was clear "
3896 "enough that I would have to buy any copy of the musical score that I "
3897 "performed in making this recording. And it was clear enough that I would "
3898 "have to pay for any public performance of the work I was recording. But it "
3899 "wasn't totally clear that I would have to pay for a <quote>public "
3900 "performance</quote> if I recorded the song in my own house (even today, you "
3901 "don't owe the Beatles anything if you sing their songs in the shower), or if "
3902 "I recorded the song from memory (copies in your brain are "
3903 "not—yet— regulated by copyright law). So if I simply sang the "
3904 "song into a recording device in the privacy of my own home, it wasn't clear "
3905 "that I owed the composer anything. And more importantly, it wasn't clear "
3906 "whether I owed the composer anything if I then made copies of those "
3907 "recordings. Because of this gap in the law, then, I could effectively "
3908 "pirate someone else's song without paying its composer anything."
3911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3912 #: freeculture.xml:2966 freeculture.xml:2983
3913 msgid "Kittredge, Alfred"
3916 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3917 #: freeculture.xml:2962
3919 "The composers (and publishers) were none too happy about this capacity to "
3920 "pirate. As South Dakota senator Alfred Kittredge put it, <placeholder "
3921 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3925 #: freeculture.xml:2977
3927 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright: Hearings on S. 6330 "
3928 "and H.R. 19853 Before the ( Joint) Committees on Patents, 59th Cong. 59, 1st "
3929 "sess. (1906) (statement of Senator Alfred B. Kittredge, of South Dakota, "
3930 "chairman), reprinted in <citetitle>Legislative History of the Copyright "
3931 "Act</citetitle>, E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South "
3932 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1976). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3937 #: freeculture.xml:2970
3939 "Imagine the injustice of the thing. A composer writes a song or an opera. A "
3940 "publisher buys at great expense the rights to the same and copyrights "
3941 "it. Along come the phonographic companies and companies who cut music rolls "
3942 "and deliberately steal the work of the brain of the composer and publisher "
3943 "without any regard for [their] rights.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3948 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3949 #: freeculture.xml:2992
3951 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 223 (statement of "
3952 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
3956 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3957 #: freeculture.xml:2998
3959 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 226 (statement of "
3960 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
3964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3965 #: freeculture.xml:3005
3967 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 23 (statement of "
3968 "John Philip Sousa, composer)."
3971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3972 #: freeculture.xml:2988
3974 "The innovators who developed the technology to record other people's works "
3975 "were <quote>sponging upon the toil, the work, the talent, and genius of "
3976 "American composers,</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and the "
3977 "<quote>music publishing industry</quote> was thereby <quote>at the complete "
3978 "mercy of this one pirate.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
3979 "As John Philip Sousa put it, in as direct a way as possible, <quote>When "
3980 "they make money out of my pieces, I want a share of it.</quote><placeholder "
3981 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
3985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3986 #: freeculture.xml:3018
3988 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 283–84 "
3989 "(statement of Albert Walker, representative of the Auto-Music Perforating "
3990 "Company of New York)."
3994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3995 #: freeculture.xml:3029
3997 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 376 (prepared "
3998 "memorandum of Philip Mauro, general patent counsel of the American "
3999 "Graphophone Company Association)."
4002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4003 #: freeculture.xml:3033
4004 msgid "American Graphophone Company"
4007 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4008 #: freeculture.xml:3010
4010 "These arguments have familiar echoes in the wars of our day. So, too, do the "
4011 "arguments on the other side. The innovators who developed the player piano "
4012 "argued that <quote>it is perfectly demonstrable that the introduction of "
4013 "automatic music players has not deprived any composer of anything he had "
4014 "before their introduction.</quote> Rather, the machines increased the sales "
4015 "of sheet music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In any case, the "
4016 "innovators argued, the job of Congress was <quote>to consider first the "
4017 "interest of [the public], whom they represent, and whose servants they "
4018 "are.</quote> <quote>All talk about `theft,'</quote> the general counsel of "
4019 "the American Graphophone Company wrote, <quote>is the merest claptrap, for "
4020 "there exists no property in ideas musical, literary or artistic, except as "
4021 "defined by statute.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
4022 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
4026 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4027 #: freeculture.xml:3036
4029 "The law soon resolved this battle in favor of the composer "
4030 "<emphasis>and</emphasis> the recording artist. Congress amended the law to "
4031 "make sure that composers would be paid for the <quote>mechanical "
4032 "reproductions</quote> of their music. But rather than simply granting the "
4033 "composer complete control over the right to make mechanical reproductions, "
4034 "Congress gave recording artists a right to record the music, at a price set "
4035 "by Congress, once the composer allowed it to be recorded once. This is the "
4036 "part of copyright law that makes cover songs possible. Once a composer "
4037 "authorizes a recording of his song, others are free to record the same song, "
4038 "so long as they pay the original composer a fee set by the law."
4041 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4042 #: freeculture.xml:3051
4044 "American law ordinarily calls this a <quote>compulsory license,</quote> but "
4045 "I will refer to it as a <quote>statutory license.</quote> A statutory "
4046 "license is a license whose key terms are set by law. After Congress's "
4047 "amendment of the Copyright Act in 1909, record companies were free to "
4048 "distribute copies of recordings so long as they paid the composer (or "
4049 "copyright holder) the fee set by the statute."
4052 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4053 #: freeculture.xml:3066 freeculture.xml:13943
4054 msgid "Grisham, John"
4057 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4058 #: freeculture.xml:3059
4060 "This is an exception within the law of copyright. When John Grisham writes a "
4061 "novel, a publisher is free to publish that novel only if Grisham gives the "
4062 "publisher permission. Grisham, in turn, is free to charge whatever he wants "
4063 "for that permission. The price to publish Grisham is thus set by Grisham, "
4064 "and copyright law ordinarily says you have no permission to use Grisham's "
4065 "work except with permission of Grisham. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4071 #: freeculture.xml:3083
4073 "Copyright Law Revision: Hearings on S. 2499, S. 2900, H.R. 243, and "
4074 "H.R. 11794 Before the ( Joint) Committee on Patents, 60th Cong., 1st sess., "
4075 "217 (1908) (statement of Senator Reed Smoot, chairman), reprinted in "
4076 "<citetitle>Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act</citetitle>, "
4077 "E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman "
4081 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4082 #: freeculture.xml:3069
4084 "But the law governing recordings gives recording artists less. And thus, in "
4085 "effect, the law <emphasis>subsidizes</emphasis> the recording industry "
4086 "through a kind of piracy—by giving recording artists a weaker right "
4087 "than it otherwise gives creative authors. The Beatles have less control over "
4088 "their creative work than Grisham does. And the beneficiaries of this less "
4089 "control are the recording industry and the public. The recording industry "
4090 "gets something of value for less than it otherwise would pay; the public "
4091 "gets access to a much wider range of musical creativity. Indeed, Congress "
4092 "was quite explicit about its reasons for granting this right. Its fear was "
4093 "the monopoly power of rights holders, and that that power would stifle "
4094 "follow-on creativity.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4095 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4098 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4099 #: freeculture.xml:3092
4101 "While the recording industry has been quite coy about this recently, "
4102 "historically it has been quite a supporter of the statutory license for "
4103 "records. As a 1967 report from the House Committee on the Judiciary relates,"
4107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4108 #: freeculture.xml:3114
4110 "Copyright Law Revision: Report to Accompany H.R. 2512, House Committee on "
4111 "the Judiciary, 90th Cong., 1st sess., House Document no. 83, (8 March "
4112 "1967). I am grateful to Glenn Brown for drawing my attention to this report."
4115 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4116 #: freeculture.xml:3099
4118 "the record producers argued vigorously that the compulsory license system "
4119 "must be retained. They asserted that the record industry is a "
4120 "half-billion-dollar business of great economic importance in the United "
4121 "States and throughout the world; records today are the principal means of "
4122 "disseminating music, and this creates special problems, since performers "
4123 "need unhampered access to musical material on nondiscriminatory "
4124 "terms. Historically, the record producers pointed out, there were no "
4125 "recording rights before 1909 and the 1909 statute adopted the compulsory "
4126 "license as a deliberate anti-monopoly condition on the grant of these "
4127 "rights. They argue that the result has been an outpouring of recorded music, "
4128 "with the public being given lower prices, improved quality, and a greater "
4129 "choice.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4132 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4133 #: freeculture.xml:3121
4135 "By limiting the rights musicians have, by partially pirating their creative "
4136 "work, the record producers, and the public, benefit."
4139 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4140 #: freeculture.xml:3126 freeculture.xml:4215
4144 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4145 #: freeculture.xml:3128
4146 msgid "Radio was also born of piracy."
4149 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4150 #: freeculture.xml:3143
4151 msgid "Hand, Learned"
4154 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4155 #: freeculture.xml:3134
4157 "See 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, sections 106 and 110. At "
4158 "the beginning, record companies printed <quote>Not Licensed for Radio "
4159 "Broadcast</quote> and other messages purporting to restrict the ability to "
4160 "play a record on a radio station. Judge Learned Hand rejected the argument "
4161 "that a warning attached to a record might restrict the rights of the radio "
4162 "station. See <citetitle>RCA Manufacturing "
4163 "Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Whiteman</citetitle>, 114 F. 2d 86 (2nd "
4164 "Cir. 1940). See also Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison to the Broadcast "
4165 "Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the Propertization of "
4166 "Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> "
4167 "70 (2003): 281. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4168 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4172 #: freeculture.xml:3131
4174 "When a radio station plays a record on the air, that constitutes a "
4175 "<quote>public performance</quote> of the composer's work.<placeholder "
4176 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As I described above, the law gives the "
4177 "composer (or copyright holder) an exclusive right to public performances of "
4178 "his work. The radio station thus owes the composer money for that "
4182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4183 #: freeculture.xml:3161 freeculture.xml:8725 freeculture.xml:9183 freeculture.xml:12109
4184 msgid "Lovett, Lyle"
4188 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4189 #: freeculture.xml:3151
4191 "But when the radio station plays a record, it is not only performing a copy "
4192 "of the <emphasis>composer's</emphasis> work. The radio station is also "
4193 "performing a copy of the <emphasis>recording artist's</emphasis> work. It's "
4194 "one thing to have <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> sung on the radio by the "
4195 "local children's choir; it's quite another to have it sung by the Rolling "
4196 "Stones or Lyle Lovett. The recording artist is adding to the value of the "
4197 "composition performed on the radio station. And if the law were perfectly "
4198 "consistent, the radio station would have to pay the recording artist for his "
4199 "work, just as it pays the composer of the music for his work. <placeholder "
4200 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4203 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4204 #: freeculture.xml:3166
4206 "But it doesn't. Under the law governing radio performances, the radio "
4207 "station does not have to pay the recording artist. The radio station need "
4208 "only pay the composer. The radio station thus gets a bit of something for "
4209 "nothing. It gets to perform the recording artist's work for free, even if it "
4210 "must pay the composer something for the privilege of playing the song."
4213 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4214 #: freeculture.xml:3174 freeculture.xml:3677 freeculture.xml:6055
4218 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4219 #: freeculture.xml:3177
4221 "This difference can be huge. Imagine you compose a piece of music. Imagine "
4222 "it is your first. You own the exclusive right to authorize public "
4223 "performances of that music. So if Madonna wants to sing your song in public, "
4224 "she has to get your permission."
4227 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4228 #: freeculture.xml:3183
4230 "Imagine she does sing your song, and imagine she likes it a lot. She then "
4231 "decides to make a recording of your song, and it becomes a top hit. Under "
4232 "our law, every time a radio station plays your song, you get some money. But "
4233 "Madonna gets nothing, save the indirect effect on the sale of her CDs. The "
4234 "public performance of her recording is not a <quote>protected</quote> "
4235 "right. The radio station thus gets to <emphasis>pirate</emphasis> the value "
4236 "of Madonna's work without paying her anything."
4239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4240 #: freeculture.xml:3194
4242 "No doubt, one might argue that, on balance, the recording artists "
4243 "benefit. On average, the promotion they get is worth more than the "
4244 "performance rights they give up. Maybe. But even if so, the law ordinarily "
4245 "gives the creator the right to make this choice. By making the choice for "
4246 "him or her, the law gives the radio station the right to take something for "
4250 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4251 #: freeculture.xml:3203 freeculture.xml:4221
4255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4256 #: freeculture.xml:3206
4257 msgid "Cable TV was also born of a kind of piracy."
4261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4262 #: freeculture.xml:3209
4264 "When cable entrepreneurs first started wiring communities with cable "
4265 "television in 1948, most refused to pay broadcasters for the content that "
4266 "they echoed to their customers. Even when the cable companies started "
4267 "selling access to television broadcasts, they refused to pay for what they "
4268 "sold. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more "
4269 "egregiously than anything Napster ever did— Napster never charged for "
4270 "the content it enabled others to give away."
4273 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4274 #: freeculture.xml:3219
4275 msgid "Anello, Douglas"
4278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4279 #: freeculture.xml:3220
4280 msgid "Burdick, Quentin"
4283 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4284 #: freeculture.xml:3221 freeculture.xml:3232
4285 msgid "Hyde, Rosel H."
4288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4289 #: freeculture.xml:3227
4291 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV: Hearing on S. 1006 Before the "
4292 "Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Senate Committee "
4293 "on the Judiciary, 89th Cong., 2nd sess., 78 (1966) (statement of Rosel "
4294 "H. Hyde, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission). <placeholder "
4295 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4299 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4300 #: freeculture.xml:3239
4302 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 116 (statement of Douglas A. Anello, "
4303 "general counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters)."
4306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4307 #: freeculture.xml:3223
4309 "Broadcasters and copyright owners were quick to attack this theft. Rosel "
4310 "Hyde, chairman of the FCC, viewed the practice as a kind of <quote>unfair "
4311 "and potentially destructive competition.</quote><placeholder "
4312 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There may have been a <quote>public "
4313 "interest</quote> in spreading the reach of cable TV, but as Douglas Anello, "
4314 "general counsel to the National Association of Broadcasters, asked Senator "
4315 "Quentin Burdick during testimony, <quote>Does public interest dictate that "
4316 "you use somebody else's property?</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4317 "id=\"1\"/> As another broadcaster put it,"
4321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4322 #: freeculture.xml:3250
4324 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 126 (statement of Ernest W. Jennes, "
4325 "general counsel of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, Inc.)."
4328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4329 #: freeculture.xml:3246
4331 "The extraordinary thing about the CATV business is that it is the only "
4332 "business I know of where the product that is being sold is not paid "
4333 "for.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4337 #: freeculture.xml:3256
4338 msgid "Again, the demand of the copyright holders seemed reasonable enough:"
4342 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4343 #: freeculture.xml:3265
4345 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 169 (joint statement of Arthur B. Krim, "
4346 "president of United Artists Corp., and John Sinn, president of United "
4347 "Artists Television, Inc.)."
4350 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4351 #: freeculture.xml:3260
4353 "All we are asking for is a very simple thing, that people who now take our "
4354 "property for nothing pay for it. We are trying to stop piracy and I don't "
4355 "think there is any lesser word to describe it. I think there are harsher "
4356 "words which would fit it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4360 #: freeculture.xml:3271 freeculture.xml:3279
4361 msgid "Heston, Charlton"
4364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4365 #: freeculture.xml:3277
4367 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 209 (statement of Charlton Heston, "
4368 "president of the Screen Actors Guild). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4372 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4373 #: freeculture.xml:3273
4375 "These were <quote>free-ride[rs],</quote> Screen Actor's Guild president "
4376 "Charlton Heston said, who were <quote>depriving actors of "
4377 "compensation.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4380 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4381 #: freeculture.xml:3284
4383 "But again, there was another side to the debate. As Assistant Attorney "
4384 "General Edwin Zimmerman put it,"
4387 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
4388 #: freeculture.xml:3300 freeculture.xml:3302
4389 msgid "Zimmerman, Edwin"
4392 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4393 #: freeculture.xml:3298
4395 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 216 (statement of Edwin M. Zimmerman, "
4396 "acting assistant attorney general). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4401 #: freeculture.xml:3289
4403 "Our point here is that unlike the problem of whether you have any copyright "
4404 "protection at all, the problem here is whether copyright holders who are "
4405 "already compensated, who already have a monopoly, should be permitted to "
4406 "extend that monopoly. … The question here is how much compensation "
4407 "they should have and how far back they should carry their right to "
4408 "compensation.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4409 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4412 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4413 #: freeculture.xml:3306
4415 "Copyright owners took the cable companies to court. Twice the Supreme Court "
4416 "held that the cable companies owed the copyright owners nothing."
4419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4420 #: freeculture.xml:3310
4422 "It took Congress almost thirty years before it resolved the question of "
4423 "whether cable companies had to pay for the content they "
4424 "<quote>pirated.</quote> In the end, Congress resolved this question in the "
4425 "same way that it resolved the question about record players and player "
4426 "pianos. Yes, cable companies would have to pay for the content that they "
4427 "broadcast; but the price they would have to pay was not set by the copyright "
4428 "owner. The price was set by law, so that the broadcasters couldn't exercise "
4429 "veto power over the emerging technologies of cable. Cable companies thus "
4430 "built their empire in part upon a <quote>piracy</quote> of the value created "
4431 "by broadcasters' content."
4435 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4436 #: freeculture.xml:3327
4438 "See, for example, National Music Publisher's Association, <citetitle>The "
4439 "Engine of Free Expression: Copyright on the Internet—The Myth of Free "
4440 "Information</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
4441 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #13</ulink>. <quote>The threat of "
4442 "piracy—the use of someone else's creative work without permission or "
4443 "compensation—has grown with the Internet.</quote>"
4446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4447 #: freeculture.xml:3322
4449 "These separate stories sing a common theme. If <quote>piracy</quote> means "
4450 "using value from someone else's creative property without permission from "
4451 "that creator—as it is increasingly described today<placeholder "
4452 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> — then <emphasis>every</emphasis> "
4453 "industry affected by copyright today is the product and beneficiary of a "
4454 "certain kind of piracy. Film, records, radio, cable TV. … The list is "
4455 "long and could well be expanded. Every generation welcomes the pirates from "
4456 "the last. Every generation—until now."
4459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
4460 #: freeculture.xml:3344
4461 msgid "CHAPTER FIVE: <quote>Piracy</quote>"
4464 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4465 #: freeculture.xml:3346
4467 "There is piracy of copyrighted material. Lots of it. This piracy comes in "
4468 "many forms. The most significant is commercial piracy, the unauthorized "
4469 "taking of other people's content within a commercial context. Despite the "
4470 "many justifications that are offered in its defense, this taking is "
4471 "wrong. No one should condone it, and the law should stop it."
4475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4476 #: freeculture.xml:3354
4478 "But as well as copy-shop piracy, there is another kind of "
4479 "<quote>taking</quote> that is more directly related to the Internet. That "
4480 "taking, too, seems wrong to many, and it is wrong much of the time. Before "
4481 "we paint this taking <quote>piracy,</quote> however, we should understand "
4482 "its nature a bit more. For the harm of this taking is significantly more "
4483 "ambiguous than outright copying, and the law should account for that "
4484 "ambiguity, as it has so often done in the past."
4487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4488 #: freeculture.xml:3364
4493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4494 #: freeculture.xml:3372
4496 "See IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), "
4497 "<citetitle>The Recording Industry Commercial Piracy Report 2003</citetitle>, "
4498 "July 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4499 "#14</ulink>. See also Ben Hunt, <quote>Companies Warned on Music Piracy "
4500 "Risk,</quote> <citetitle>Financial Times</citetitle>, 14 February 2003, 11."
4503 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4504 #: freeculture.xml:3366
4506 "All across the world, but especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, there are "
4507 "businesses that do nothing but take others people's copyrighted content, "
4508 "copy it, and sell it—all without the permission of a copyright "
4509 "owner. The recording industry estimates that it loses about $4.6 billion "
4510 "every year to physical piracy<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> (that "
4511 "works out to one in three CDs sold worldwide). The MPAA estimates that it "
4512 "loses $3 billion annually worldwide to piracy."
4515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4516 #: freeculture.xml:3382
4518 "This is piracy plain and simple. Nothing in the argument of this book, nor "
4519 "in the argument that most people make when talking about the subject of this "
4520 "book, should draw into doubt this simple point: This piracy is wrong."
4523 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4524 #: freeculture.xml:3388
4526 "Which is not to say that excuses and justifications couldn't be made for "
4527 "it. We could, for example, remind ourselves that for the first one hundred "
4528 "years of the American Republic, America did not honor foreign copyrights. We "
4529 "were born, in this sense, a pirate nation. It might therefore seem "
4530 "hypocritical for us to insist so strongly that other developing nations "
4531 "treat as wrong what we, for the first hundred years of our existence, "
4535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4536 #: freeculture.xml:3397
4538 "That excuse isn't terribly strong. Technically, our law did not ban the "
4539 "taking of foreign works. It explicitly limited itself to American "
4540 "works. Thus the American publishers who published foreign works without the "
4541 "permission of foreign authors were not violating any rule. The copy shops "
4542 "in Asia, by contrast, are violating Asian law. Asian law does protect "
4543 "foreign copyrights, and the actions of the copy shops violate that law. So "
4544 "the wrong of piracy that they engage in is not just a moral wrong, but a "
4545 "legal wrong, and not just an internationally legal wrong, but a locally "
4546 "legal wrong as well."
4549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4550 #: freeculture.xml:3408
4552 "True, these local rules have, in effect, been imposed upon these "
4553 "countries. No country can be part of the world economy and choose <beginpage "
4554 "pagenum=\"77\"/> not to protect copyright internationally. We may have been "
4555 "born a pirate nation, but we will not allow any other nation to have a "
4556 "similar childhood."
4559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4560 #: freeculture.xml:3436
4561 msgid "agricultural patents"
4564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4565 #: freeculture.xml:3437 freeculture.xml:12389 freeculture.xml:12823 freeculture.xml:12830
4566 msgid "Drahos, Peter"
4569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4570 #: freeculture.xml:3421
4572 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: "
4573 "<citetitle>Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New "
4574 "Press, 2003), 10–13, 209. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual "
4575 "Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement obligates member nations to create "
4576 "administrative and enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property rights, "
4577 "a costly proposition for developing countries. Additionally, patent rights "
4578 "may lead to higher prices for staple industries such as agriculture. Critics "
4579 "of TRIPS question the disparity between burdens imposed upon developing "
4580 "countries and benefits conferred to industrialized nations. TRIPS does "
4581 "permit governments to use patents for public, noncommercial uses without "
4582 "first obtaining the patent holder's permission. Developing nations may be "
4583 "able to use this to gain the benefits of foreign patents at lower "
4584 "prices. This is a promising strategy for developing nations within the TRIPS "
4585 "framework. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4586 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4590 #: freeculture.xml:3416
4592 "If a country is to be treated as a sovereign, however, then its laws are its "
4593 "laws regardless of their source. The international law under which these "
4594 "nations live gives them some opportunities to escape the burden of "
4595 "intellectual property law.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In my "
4596 "view, more developing nations should take advantage of that opportunity, but "
4597 "when they don't, then their laws should be respected. And under the laws of "
4598 "these nations, this piracy is wrong."
4601 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4602 #: freeculture.xml:3457 freeculture.xml:3724 freeculture.xml:14475
4603 msgid "Liebowitz, Stan"
4606 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4607 #: freeculture.xml:3450
4609 "For an analysis of the economic impact of copying technology, see Stan "
4610 "Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle> (New York: "
4611 "Amacom, 2002), 144–90. <quote>In some instances … the impact of "
4612 "piracy on the copyright holder's ability to appropriate the value of the "
4613 "work will be negligible. One obvious instance is the case where the "
4614 "individual engaging in pirating would not have purchased an original even if "
4615 "pirating were not an option.</quote> Ibid., 149. <placeholder "
4616 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4619 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4620 #: freeculture.xml:3444
4622 "Alternatively, we could try to excuse this piracy by noting that in any "
4623 "case, it does no harm to the industry. The Chinese who get access to "
4624 "American CDs at 50 cents a copy are not people who would have bought those "
4625 "American CDs at $15 a copy. So no one really has any less money than they "
4626 "otherwise would have had.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4630 #: freeculture.xml:3461
4632 "This is often true (though I have friends who have purchased many thousands "
4633 "of pirated DVDs who certainly have enough money to pay for the content they "
4634 "have taken), and it does mitigate to some degree the harm caused by such "
4635 "taking. Extremists in this debate love to say, <quote>You wouldn't go into "
4636 "Barnes & Noble and take a book off of the shelf without paying; why "
4637 "should it be any different with on-line music?</quote> The difference is, of "
4638 "course, that when you take a book from Barnes & Noble, it has one less "
4639 "book to sell. By contrast, when you take an MP3 from a computer network, "
4640 "there is not one less CD that can be sold. The physics of piracy of the "
4641 "intangible are different from the physics of piracy of the tangible."
4645 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4646 #: freeculture.xml:3474
4648 "This argument is still very weak. However, although copyright is a property "
4649 "right of a very special sort, it <emphasis>is</emphasis> a property "
4650 "right. Like all property rights, the copyright gives the owner the right to "
4651 "decide the terms under which content is shared. If the copyright owner "
4652 "doesn't want to sell, she doesn't have to. There are exceptions: important "
4653 "statutory licenses that apply to copyrighted content regardless of the wish "
4654 "of the copyright owner. Those licenses give people the right to "
4655 "<quote>take</quote> copyrighted content whether or not the copyright owner "
4656 "wants to sell. But where the law does not give people the right to take "
4657 "content, it is wrong to take that content even if the wrong does no harm. If "
4658 "we have a property system, and that system is properly balanced to the "
4659 "technology of a time, then it is wrong to take property without the "
4660 "permission of a property owner. That is exactly what <quote>property</quote> "
4664 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4665 #: freeculture.xml:3503 freeculture.xml:3531 freeculture.xml:11234 freeculture.xml:12704 freeculture.xml:13256
4666 msgid "GNU/Linux operating system"
4669 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4670 #: freeculture.xml:3504 freeculture.xml:3534 freeculture.xml:11236 freeculture.xml:12705 freeculture.xml:13257
4671 msgid "Linux operating system"
4674 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4675 #: freeculture.xml:3506
4679 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><secondary>
4680 #: freeculture.xml:3507
4681 msgid "Windows operating system of"
4684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4685 #: freeculture.xml:3509
4689 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4690 #: freeculture.xml:3492
4692 "Finally, we could try to excuse this piracy with the argument that the "
4693 "piracy actually helps the copyright owner. When the Chinese "
4694 "<quote>steal</quote> Windows, that makes the Chinese dependent on "
4695 "Microsoft. Microsoft loses the value of the software that was taken. But it "
4696 "gains users who are used to life in the Microsoft world. Over time, as the "
4697 "nation grows more wealthy, more and more people will buy software rather "
4698 "than steal it. And hence over time, because that buying will benefit "
4699 "Microsoft, Microsoft benefits from the piracy. If instead of pirating "
4700 "Microsoft Windows, the Chinese used the free GNU/Linux operating system, "
4701 "then these Chinese users would not eventually be buying Microsoft. Without "
4702 "piracy, then, Microsoft would lose. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4703 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
4704 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
4707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4708 #: freeculture.xml:3512
4710 "This argument, too, is somewhat true. The addiction strategy is a good "
4711 "one. Many businesses practice it. Some thrive because of it. Law students, "
4712 "for example, are given free access to the two largest legal databases. The "
4713 "companies marketing both hope the students will become so used to their "
4714 "service that they will want to use it and not the other when they become "
4715 "lawyers (and must pay high subscription fees)."
4718 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4719 #: freeculture.xml:3532
4720 msgid "Internet Explorer"
4723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4724 #: freeculture.xml:3533
4728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4729 #: freeculture.xml:3520
4731 "Still, the argument is not terribly persuasive. We don't give the alcoholic "
4732 "a defense when he steals his first beer, merely because that will make it "
4733 "more likely that he will buy the next three. Instead, we ordinarily allow "
4734 "businesses to decide for themselves when it is best to give their product "
4735 "away. If Microsoft fears the competition of GNU/Linux, then Microsoft can "
4736 "give its product away, as it did, for example, with Internet Explorer to "
4737 "fight Netscape. A property right means giving the property owner the right "
4738 "to say who gets access to what—at least ordinarily. And if the law "
4739 "properly balances the rights of the copyright owner with the rights of "
4740 "access, then violating the law is still wrong. <placeholder "
4741 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
4742 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4748 #: freeculture.xml:3538
4750 "Thus, while I understand the pull of these justifications for piracy, and I "
4751 "certainly see the motivation, in my view, in the end, these efforts at "
4752 "justifying commercial piracy simply don't cut it. This kind of piracy is "
4753 "rampant and just plain wrong. It doesn't transform the content it steals; it "
4754 "doesn't transform the market it competes in. It merely gives someone access "
4755 "to something that the law says he should not have. Nothing has changed to "
4756 "draw that law into doubt. This form of piracy is flat out wrong."
4759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4760 #: freeculture.xml:3548
4762 "But as the examples from the four chapters that introduced this part "
4763 "suggest, even if some piracy is plainly wrong, not all <quote>piracy</quote> "
4764 "is. Or at least, not all <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong if that term is "
4765 "understood in the way it is increasingly used today. Many kinds of "
4766 "<quote>piracy</quote> are useful and productive, to produce either new "
4767 "content or new ways of doing business. Neither our tradition nor any "
4768 "tradition has ever banned all <quote>piracy</quote> in that sense of the "
4772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4773 #: freeculture.xml:3557
4775 "This doesn't mean that there are no questions raised by the latest piracy "
4776 "concern, peer-to-peer file sharing. But it does mean that we need to "
4777 "understand the harm in peer-to-peer sharing a bit more before we condemn it "
4778 "to the gallows with the charge of piracy."
4781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4782 #: freeculture.xml:3563
4784 "For (1) like the original Hollywood, p2p sharing escapes an overly "
4785 "controlling industry; and (2) like the original recording industry, it "
4786 "simply exploits a new way to distribute content; but (3) unlike cable TV, no "
4787 "one is selling the content that is shared on p2p services."
4790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4791 #: freeculture.xml:3569
4793 "These differences distinguish p2p sharing from true piracy. They should push "
4794 "us to find a way to protect artists while enabling this sharing to survive."
4797 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4798 #: freeculture.xml:3575
4803 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4804 #: freeculture.xml:3580
4806 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
4807 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777)."
4811 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4812 #: freeculture.xml:3577
4814 "The key to the <quote>piracy</quote> that the law aims to quash is a use "
4815 "that <quote>rob[s] the author of [his] profit.</quote><placeholder "
4816 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This means we must determine whether and how "
4817 "much p2p sharing harms before we know how strongly the law should seek to "
4818 "either prevent it or find an alternative to assure the author of his profit."
4821 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4822 #: freeculture.xml:3603 freeculture.xml:8156
4823 msgid "Christensen, Clayton M."
4826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4827 #: freeculture.xml:3594
4829 "See Clayton M. Christensen, <citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The "
4830 "Revolutionary National Bestseller That Changed the Way We Do "
4831 "Business</citetitle> (New York: HarperBusiness, 2000). Professor Christensen "
4832 "examines why companies that give rise to and dominate a product area are "
4833 "frequently unable to come up with the most creative, paradigm-shifting uses "
4834 "for their own products. This job usually falls to outside innovators, who "
4835 "reassemble existing technology in inventive ways. For a discussion of "
4836 "Christensen's ideas, see Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>Future</citetitle>, "
4837 "89–92, 139. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4841 #: freeculture.xml:3606
4842 msgid "Fanning, Shawn"
4845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4846 #: freeculture.xml:3589
4848 "Peer-to-peer sharing was made famous by Napster. But the inventors of the "
4849 "Napster technology had not made any major technological innovations. Like "
4850 "every great advance in innovation on the Internet (and, arguably, off the "
4851 "Internet as well<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), Shawn Fanning "
4852 "and crew had simply put together components that had been developed "
4853 "independently. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4858 #: freeculture.xml:3614
4860 "See Carolyn Lochhead, <quote>Silicon Valley Dream, Hollywood "
4861 "Nightmare,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 "
4862 "September 2002, A1; <quote>Rock 'n' Roll Suicide,</quote> <citetitle>New "
4863 "Scientist</citetitle>, 6 July 2002, 42; Benny Evangelista, <quote>Napster "
4864 "Names CEO, Secures New Financing,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
4865 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 23 May 2003, C1; <quote>Napster's Wake-Up "
4866 "Call,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 24 June 2000, 23; John "
4867 "Naughton, <quote>Hollywood at War with the Internet</quote> (London) "
4868 "<citetitle>Times</citetitle>, 26 July 2002, 18."
4871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4872 #: freeculture.xml:3609
4874 "The result was spontaneous combustion. Launched in July 1999, Napster "
4875 "amassed over 10 million users within nine months. After eighteen months, "
4876 "there were close to 80 million registered users of the system.<placeholder "
4877 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Courts quickly shut Napster down, but other "
4878 "services emerged to take its place. (Kazaa is currently the most popular p2p "
4879 "service. It boasts over 100 million members.) These services' systems are "
4880 "different architecturally, though not very different in function: Each "
4881 "enables users to make content available to any number of other users. With a "
4882 "p2p system, you can share your favorite songs with your best friend— "
4883 "or your 20,000 best friends."
4887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4888 #: freeculture.xml:3636
4890 "See Ipsos-Insight, <citetitle>TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Online Music "
4891 "Distribution</citetitle> (September 2002), reporting that 28 percent of "
4892 "Americans aged twelve and older have downloaded music off of the Internet "
4893 "and 30 percent have listened to digital music files stored on their "
4898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4899 #: freeculture.xml:3645
4901 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Industry Offers a Carrot in Online Music Fight,</quote> "
4902 "<citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 6 June 2003, A1."
4905 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4906 #: freeculture.xml:3630
4908 "According to a number of estimates, a huge proportion of Americans have "
4909 "tasted file-sharing technology. A study by Ipsos-Insight in September 2002 "
4910 "estimated that 60 million Americans had downloaded music—28 percent of "
4911 "Americans older than 12.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A survey "
4912 "by the NPD group quoted in <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> "
4913 "estimated that 43 million citizens used file-sharing networks to exchange "
4914 "content in May 2003.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The vast "
4915 "majority of these are not kids. Whatever the actual figure, a massive "
4916 "quantity of content is being <quote>taken</quote> on these networks. The "
4917 "ease and inexpensiveness of file-sharing networks have inspired millions to "
4918 "enjoy music in a way that they hadn't before."
4921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4922 #: freeculture.xml:3654
4924 "Some of this enjoying involves copyright infringement. Some of it does "
4925 "not. And even among the part that is technically copyright infringement, "
4926 "calculating the actual harm to copyright owners is more complicated than one "
4927 "might think. So consider—a bit more carefully than the polarized "
4928 "voices around this debate usually do—the kinds of sharing that file "
4929 "sharing enables, and the kinds of harm it entails."
4933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4934 #: freeculture.xml:3664
4936 "File sharers share different kinds of content. We can divide these different "
4937 "kinds into four types."
4940 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4941 #: freeculture.xml:3670
4943 "There are some who use sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
4944 "content. Thus, when a new Madonna CD is released, rather than buying the CD, "
4945 "these users simply take it. We might quibble about whether everyone who "
4946 "takes it would actually have bought it if sharing didn't make it available "
4947 "for free. Most probably wouldn't have, but clearly there are some who "
4948 "would. The latter are the target of category A: users who download instead "
4949 "of purchasing. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4954 #: freeculture.xml:3681
4956 "There are some who use sharing networks to sample music before purchasing "
4957 "it. Thus, a friend sends another friend an MP3 of an artist he's not heard "
4958 "of. The other friend then buys CDs by that artist. This is a kind of "
4959 "targeted advertising, quite likely to succeed. If the friend recommending "
4960 "the album gains nothing from a bad recommendation, then one could expect "
4961 "that the recommendations will actually be quite good. The net effect of this "
4962 "sharing could increase the quantity of music purchased."
4966 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4967 #: freeculture.xml:3692
4969 "There are many who use sharing networks to get access to copyrighted content "
4970 "that is no longer sold or that they would not have purchased because the "
4971 "transaction costs off the Net are too high. This use of sharing networks is "
4972 "among the most rewarding for many. Songs that were part of your childhood "
4973 "but have long vanished from the marketplace magically appear again on the "
4974 "network. (One friend told me that when she discovered Napster, she spent a "
4975 "solid weekend <quote>recalling</quote> old songs. She was astonished at the "
4976 "range and mix of content that was available.) For content not sold, this is "
4977 "still technically a violation of copyright, though because the copyright "
4978 "owner is not selling the content anymore, the economic harm is "
4979 "zero—the same harm that occurs when I sell my collection of 1960s "
4980 "45-rpm records to a local collector."
4985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4986 #: freeculture.xml:3709
4988 "Finally, there are many who use sharing networks to get access to content "
4989 "that is not copyrighted or that the copyright owner wants to give away."
4992 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4993 #: freeculture.xml:3715
4994 msgid "How do these different types of sharing balance out?"
4997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4998 #: freeculture.xml:3723
5000 "See Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle>, "
5001 "148–49. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5005 #: freeculture.xml:3718
5007 "Let's start with some simple but important points. From the perspective of "
5008 "the law, only type D sharing is clearly legal. From the perspective of "
5009 "economics, only type A sharing is clearly harmful.<placeholder "
5010 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Type B sharing is illegal but plainly "
5011 "beneficial. Type C sharing is illegal, yet good for society (since more "
5012 "exposure to music is good) and harmless to the artist (since the work is "
5013 "not otherwise available). So how sharing matters on balance is a hard "
5014 "question to answer—and certainly much more difficult than the current "
5015 "rhetoric around the issue suggests."
5018 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5019 #: freeculture.xml:3734
5021 "Whether on balance sharing is harmful depends importantly on how harmful "
5022 "type A sharing is. Just as Edison complained about Hollywood, composers "
5023 "complained about piano rolls, recording artists complained about radio, and "
5024 "broadcasters complained about cable TV, the music industry complains that "
5025 "type A sharing is a kind of <quote>theft</quote> that is "
5026 "<quote>devastating</quote> the industry."
5030 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5031 #: freeculture.xml:3749
5033 "See Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, <citetitle>Technology Evolution and the "
5034 "Music Industry's Business Model Crisis</citetitle> (2003), 3. This report "
5035 "describes the music industry's effort to stigmatize the budding practice of "
5036 "cassette taping in the 1970s, including an advertising campaign featuring a "
5037 "cassette-shape skull and the caption <quote>Home taping is killing "
5038 "music.</quote> At the time digital audio tape became a threat, the Office of "
5039 "Technical Assessment conducted a survey of consumer behavior. In 1988, 40 "
5040 "percent of consumers older than ten had taped music to a cassette "
5041 "format. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, "
5042 "<citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying: Technology Challenges the "
5043 "Law</citetitle>, OTA-CIT-422 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing "
5044 "Office, October 1989), 145–56."
5047 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5048 #: freeculture.xml:3742
5050 "While the numbers do suggest that sharing is harmful, how harmful is harder "
5051 "to reckon. It has long been the recording industry's practice to blame "
5052 "technology for any drop in sales. The history of cassette recording is a "
5053 "good example. As a study by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young put it, "
5054 "<quote>Rather than exploiting this new, popular technology, the labels "
5055 "fought it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The labels "
5056 "claimed that every album taped was an album unsold, and when record sales "
5057 "fell by 11.4 percent in 1981, the industry claimed that its point was "
5058 "proved. Technology was the problem, and banning or regulating technology was "
5063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5064 #: freeculture.xml:3775
5065 msgid "U.S. Congress, <citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying</citetitle>, 4."
5068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5069 #: freeculture.xml:3767
5071 "Yet soon thereafter, and before Congress was given an opportunity to enact "
5072 "regulation, MTV was launched, and the industry had a record "
5073 "turnaround. <quote>In the end,</quote> Cap Gemini concludes, <quote>the "
5074 "`crisis' … was not the fault of the tapers—who did not [stop "
5075 "after MTV came into being]—but had to a large extent resulted from "
5076 "stagnation in musical innovation at the major labels.</quote><placeholder "
5077 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5080 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5081 #: freeculture.xml:3779
5083 "But just because the industry was wrong before does not mean it is wrong "
5084 "today. To evaluate the real threat that p2p sharing presents to the industry "
5085 "in particular, and society in general—or at least the society that "
5086 "inherits the tradition that gave us the film industry, the record industry, "
5087 "the radio industry, cable TV, and the VCR—the question is not simply "
5088 "whether type A sharing is harmful. The question is also "
5089 "<emphasis>how</emphasis> harmful type A sharing is, and how beneficial the "
5090 "other types of sharing are."
5093 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5094 #: freeculture.xml:3789
5096 "We start to answer this question by focusing on the net harm, from the "
5097 "standpoint of the industry as a whole, that sharing networks cause. The "
5098 "<quote>net harm</quote> to the industry as a whole is the amount by which "
5099 "type A sharing exceeds type B. If the record companies sold more records "
5100 "through sampling than they lost through substitution, then sharing networks "
5101 "would actually benefit music companies on balance. They would therefore have "
5102 "little <emphasis>static</emphasis> reason to resist them."
5105 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5106 #: freeculture.xml:3800
5108 "Could that be true? Could the industry as a whole be gaining because of file "
5109 "sharing? Odd as that might sound, the data about CD sales actually suggest "
5110 "it might be close."
5114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5115 #: freeculture.xml:3809
5117 "See Recording Industry Association of America, <citetitle>2002 Yearend "
5118 "Statistics</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
5119 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #15</ulink>. A later report "
5120 "indicates even greater losses. See Recording Industry Association of "
5121 "America, <citetitle>Some Facts About Music Piracy</citetitle>, 25 June 2003, "
5122 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #16</ulink>: "
5123 "<quote>In the past four years, unit shipments of recorded music have fallen "
5124 "by 26 percent from 1.16 billion units in to 860 million units in 2002 in the "
5125 "United States (based on units shipped). In terms of sales, revenues are "
5126 "down 14 percent, from $14.6 billion in to $12.6 billion last year (based on "
5127 "U.S. dollar value of shipments). The music industry worldwide has gone from "
5128 "a $39 billion industry in 2000 down to a $32 billion industry in 2002 (based "
5129 "on U.S. dollar value of shipments).</quote>"
5132 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5133 #: freeculture.xml:3836
5137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5138 #: freeculture.xml:3833
5140 "Jane Black, <quote>Big Music's Broken Record,</quote> BusinessWeek online, "
5141 "13 February 2003, available at <ulink "
5142 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #17</ulink>. <placeholder "
5143 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5147 #: freeculture.xml:3805
5149 "In 2002, the RIAA reported that CD sales had fallen by 8.9 percent, from 882 "
5150 "million to 803 million units; revenues fell 6.7 percent.<placeholder "
5151 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This confirms a trend over the past few "
5152 "years. The RIAA blames Internet piracy for the trend, though there are many "
5153 "other causes that could account for this drop. SoundScan, for example, "
5154 "reports a more than 20 percent drop in the number of CDs released since "
5155 "1999. That no doubt accounts for some of the decrease in sales. Rising "
5156 "prices could account for at least some of the loss. <quote>From 1999 to "
5157 "2001, the average price of a CD rose 7.2 percent, from $13.04 to "
5158 "$14.19.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Competition from "
5159 "other forms of media could also account for some of the decline. As Jane "
5160 "Black of <citetitle>BusinessWeek</citetitle> notes, <quote>The soundtrack to "
5161 "the film <citetitle>High Fidelity</citetitle> has a list price of "
5162 "$18.98. You could get the whole movie [on DVD] for "
5163 "$19.99.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
5167 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5168 #: freeculture.xml:3851
5170 "But let's assume the RIAA is right, and all of the decline in CD sales is "
5171 "because of Internet sharing. Here's the rub: In the same period that the "
5172 "RIAA estimates that 803 million CDs were sold, the RIAA estimates that 2.1 "
5173 "billion CDs were downloaded for free. Thus, although 2.6 times the total "
5174 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, sales revenue fell by just 6.7 "
5178 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5179 #: freeculture.xml:3859
5181 "There are too many different things happening at the same time to explain "
5182 "these numbers definitively, but one conclusion is unavoidable: The recording "
5183 "industry constantly asks, <quote>What's the difference between downloading a "
5184 "song and stealing a CD?</quote>—but their own numbers reveal the "
5185 "difference. If I steal a CD, then there is one less CD to sell. Every taking "
5186 "is a lost sale. But on the basis of the numbers the RIAA provides, it is "
5187 "absolutely clear that the same is not true of downloads. If every download "
5188 "were a lost sale—if every use of Kazaa <quote>rob[bed] the author of "
5189 "[his] profit</quote>—then the industry would have suffered a 100 "
5190 "percent drop in sales last year, not a 7 percent drop. If 2.6 times the "
5191 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, and yet sales revenue dropped "
5192 "by just 6.7 percent, then there is a huge difference between "
5193 "<quote>downloading a song and stealing a CD.</quote>"
5196 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5197 #: freeculture.xml:3874
5199 "These are the harms—alleged and perhaps exaggerated but, let's assume, "
5200 "real. What of the benefits? File sharing may impose costs on the recording "
5201 "industry. What value does it produce in addition to these costs?"
5205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5206 #: freeculture.xml:3886
5208 "By one estimate, 75 percent of the music released by the major labels is no "
5209 "longer in print. See Online Entertainment and Copyright Law—Coming "
5210 "Soon to a Digital Device Near You: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on "
5211 "the Judiciary, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (3 April 2001) (prepared statement of "
5212 "the Future of Music Coalition), available at <ulink "
5213 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #18</ulink>."
5216 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5217 #: freeculture.xml:3880
5219 "One benefit is type C sharing—making available content that is "
5220 "technically still under copyright but is no longer commercially available. "
5221 "This is not a small category of content. There are millions of tracks that "
5222 "are no longer commercially available.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5223 "id=\"0\"/> And while it's conceivable that some of this content is not "
5224 "available because the artist producing the content doesn't want it to be "
5225 "made available, the vast majority of it is unavailable solely because the "
5226 "publisher or the distributor has decided it no longer makes economic sense "
5227 "<emphasis>to the company</emphasis> to make it available."
5231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5232 #: freeculture.xml:3906
5234 "While there are not good estimates of the number of used record stores in "
5235 "existence, in 2002, there were 7,198 used book dealers in the United States, "
5236 "an increase of 20 percent since 1993. See Book Hunter Press, <citetitle>The "
5237 "Quiet Revolution: The Expansion of the Used Book Market</citetitle> (2002), "
5238 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
5239 "#19</ulink>. Used records accounted for $260 million in sales in 2002. See "
5240 "National Association of Recording Merchandisers, <quote>2002 Annual Survey "
5241 "Results,</quote> available at <ulink "
5242 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #20</ulink>."
5245 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5246 #: freeculture.xml:3900
5248 "In real space—long before the Internet—the market had a simple "
5249 "response to this problem: used book and record stores. There are thousands "
5250 "of used book and used record stores in America today.<placeholder "
5251 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These stores buy content from owners, then sell "
5252 "the content they buy. And under American copyright law, when they buy and "
5253 "sell this content, <emphasis>even if the content is still under "
5254 "copyright</emphasis>, the copyright owner doesn't get a dime. Used book and "
5255 "record stores are commercial entities; their owners make money from the "
5256 "content they sell; but as with cable companies before statutory licensing, "
5257 "they don't have to pay the copyright owner for the content they sell."
5260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5261 #: freeculture.xml:3926
5262 msgid "Bernstein, Leonard"
5265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5266 #: freeculture.xml:3928
5268 "Type C sharing, then, is very much like used book stores or used record "
5269 "stores. It is different, of course, because the person making the content "
5270 "available isn't making money from making the content available. It is also "
5271 "different, of course, because in real space, when I sell a record, I don't "
5272 "have it anymore, while in cyberspace, when someone shares my 1949 recording "
5273 "of Bernstein's <quote>Two Love Songs,</quote> I still have it. That "
5274 "difference would matter economically if the owner of the copyright were "
5275 "selling the record in competition to my sharing. But we're talking about the "
5276 "class of content that is not currently commercially available. The Internet "
5277 "is making it available, through cooperative sharing, without competing with "
5281 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5282 #: freeculture.xml:3941
5284 "It may well be, all things considered, that it would be better if the "
5285 "copyright owner got something from this trade. But just because it may well "
5286 "be better, it doesn't follow that it would be good to ban used book "
5287 "stores. Or put differently, if you think that type C sharing should be "
5288 "stopped, do you think that libraries and used book stores should be shut as "
5293 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5294 #: freeculture.xml:3949
5296 "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, file-sharing networks enable type D "
5297 "sharing to occur—the sharing of content that copyright owners want to "
5298 "have shared or for which there is no continuing copyright. This sharing "
5299 "clearly benefits authors and society. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow, "
5300 "for example, released his first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
5301 "Kingdom</citetitle>, both free on-line and in bookstores on the same "
5302 "day. His (and his publisher's) thinking was that the on-line distribution "
5303 "would be a great advertisement for the <quote>real</quote> book. People "
5304 "would read part on-line, and then decide whether they liked the book or "
5305 "not. If they liked it, they would be more likely to buy it. Doctorow's "
5306 "content is type D content. If sharing networks enable his work to be spread, "
5307 "then both he and society are better off. (Actually, much better off: It is a "
5311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5312 #: freeculture.xml:3966
5314 "Likewise for work in the public domain: This sharing benefits society with "
5315 "no legal harm to authors at all. If efforts to solve the problem of type A "
5316 "sharing destroy the opportunity for type D sharing, then we lose something "
5317 "important in order to protect type A content."
5320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5321 #: freeculture.xml:3972
5323 "The point throughout is this: While the recording industry understandably "
5324 "says, <quote>This is how much we've lost,</quote> we must also ask, "
5325 "<quote>How much has society gained from p2p sharing? What are the "
5326 "efficiencies? What is the content that otherwise would be "
5327 "unavailable?</quote>"
5330 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5331 #: freeculture.xml:3979
5333 "For unlike the piracy I described in the first section of this chapter, much "
5334 "of the <quote>piracy</quote> that file sharing enables is plainly legal and "
5335 "good. And like the piracy I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
5336 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"pirates\"/>, much of this piracy is motivated by a "
5337 "new way of spreading content caused by changes in the technology of "
5338 "distribution. Thus, consistent with the tradition that gave us Hollywood, "
5339 "radio, the recording industry, and cable TV, the question we should be "
5340 "asking about file sharing is how best to preserve its benefits while "
5341 "minimizing (to the extent possible) the wrongful harm it causes artists. The "
5342 "question is one of balance. The law should seek that balance, and that "
5343 "balance will be found only with time."
5346 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5347 #: freeculture.xml:3993
5349 "<quote>But isn't the war just a war against illegal sharing? Isn't the "
5350 "target just what you call type A sharing?</quote>"
5354 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5355 #: freeculture.xml:4010
5357 "See Transcript of Proceedings, In Re: Napster Copyright Litigation at 34- 35 "
5358 "(N.D. Cal., 11 July 2001), nos. MDL-00-1369 MHP, C 99-5183 MHP, available at "
5359 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #21</ulink>. For an "
5360 "account of the litigation and its toll on Napster, see Joseph Menn, "
5361 "<citetitle>All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's "
5362 "Napster</citetitle> (New York: Crown Business, 2003), 269–82."
5365 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5366 #: freeculture.xml:3997
5368 "You would think. And we should hope. But so far, it is not. The effect of "
5369 "the war purportedly on type A sharing alone has been felt far beyond that "
5370 "one class of sharing. That much is obvious from the Napster case "
5371 "itself. When Napster told the district court that it had developed a "
5372 "technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing "
5373 "material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not "
5374 "good enough. Napster had to push the infringements <quote>down to "
5375 "zero.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5379 #: freeculture.xml:4021
5381 "If 99.4 percent is not good enough, then this is a war on file-sharing "
5382 "technologies, not a war on copyright infringement. There is no way to assure "
5383 "that a p2p system is used 100 percent of the time in compliance with the "
5384 "law, any more than there is a way to assure that 100 percent of VCRs or 100 "
5385 "percent of Xerox machines or 100 percent of handguns are used in compliance "
5386 "with the law. Zero tolerance means zero p2p. The court's ruling means that "
5387 "we as a society must lose the benefits of p2p, even for the totally legal "
5388 "and beneficial uses they serve, simply to assure that there are zero "
5389 "copyright infringements caused by p2p."
5392 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5393 #: freeculture.xml:4032
5395 "Zero tolerance has not been our history. It has not produced the content "
5396 "industry that we know today. The history of American law has been a process "
5397 "of balance. As new technologies changed the way content was distributed, the "
5398 "law adjusted, after some time, to the new technology. In this adjustment, "
5399 "the law sought to ensure the legitimate rights of creators while protecting "
5400 "innovation. Sometimes this has meant more rights for creators. Sometimes "
5404 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5405 #: freeculture.xml:4041
5407 "So, as we've seen, when <quote>mechanical reproduction</quote> threatened "
5408 "the interests of composers, Congress balanced the rights of composers "
5409 "against the interests of the recording industry. It granted rights to "
5410 "composers, but also to the recording artists: Composers were to be paid, but "
5411 "at a price set by Congress. But when radio started broadcasting the "
5412 "recordings made by these recording artists, and they complained to Congress "
5413 "that their <quote>creative property</quote> was not being respected (since "
5414 "the radio station did not have to pay them for the creativity it broadcast), "
5415 "Congress rejected their claim. An indirect benefit was enough."
5418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5419 #: freeculture.xml:4053
5421 "Cable TV followed the pattern of record albums. When the courts rejected the "
5422 "claim that cable broadcasters had to pay for the content they rebroadcast, "
5423 "Congress responded by giving broadcasters a right to compensation, but at a "
5424 "level set by the law. It likewise gave cable companies the right to the "
5425 "content, so long as they paid the statutory price."
5429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5430 #: freeculture.xml:4063
5432 "This compromise, like the compromise affecting records and player pianos, "
5433 "served two important goals—indeed, the two central goals of any "
5434 "copyright legislation. First, the law assured that new innovators would have "
5435 "the freedom to develop new ways to deliver content. Second, the law assured "
5436 "that copyright holders would be paid for the content that was "
5437 "distributed. One fear was that if Congress simply required cable TV to pay "
5438 "copyright holders whatever they demanded for their content, then copyright "
5439 "holders associated with broadcasters would use their power to stifle this "
5440 "new technology, cable. But if Congress had permitted cable to use "
5441 "broadcasters' content for free, then it would have unfairly subsidized "
5442 "cable. Thus Congress chose a path that would assure "
5443 "<emphasis>compensation</emphasis> without giving the past (broadcasters) "
5444 "control over the future (cable)."
5447 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5448 #: freeculture.xml:4078
5452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5453 #: freeculture.xml:4080
5455 "In the same year that Congress struck this balance, two major producers and "
5456 "distributors of film content filed a lawsuit against another technology, the "
5457 "video tape recorder (VTR, or as we refer to them today, VCRs) that Sony had "
5458 "produced, the Betamax. Disney's and Universal's claim against Sony was "
5459 "relatively simple: Sony produced a device, Disney and Universal claimed, "
5460 "that enabled consumers to engage in copyright infringement. Because the "
5461 "device that Sony built had a <quote>record</quote> button, the device could "
5462 "be used to record copyrighted movies and shows. Sony was therefore "
5463 "benefiting from the copyright infringement of its customers. It should "
5464 "therefore, Disney and Universal claimed, be partially liable for that "
5469 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5470 #: freeculture.xml:4093
5472 "There was something to Disney's and Universal's claim. Sony did decide to "
5473 "design its machine to make it very simple to record television shows. It "
5474 "could have built the machine to block or inhibit any direct copying from a "
5475 "television broadcast. Or possibly, it could have built the machine to copy "
5476 "only if there were a special <quote>copy me</quote> signal on the line. It "
5477 "was clear that there were many television shows that did not grant anyone "
5478 "permission to copy. Indeed, if anyone had asked, no doubt the majority of "
5479 "shows would not have authorized copying. And in the face of this obvious "
5480 "preference, Sony could have designed its system to minimize the opportunity "
5481 "for copyright infringement. It did not, and for that, Disney and Universal "
5482 "wanted to hold it responsible for the architecture it chose."
5486 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5487 #: freeculture.xml:4115
5489 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders): Hearing on S. 1758 "
5490 "Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., "
5491 "459 (1982) (testimony of Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association "
5492 "of America, Inc.)."
5496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5497 #: freeculture.xml:4127
5498 msgid "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 475."
5502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5503 #: freeculture.xml:4132
5505 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
5506 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 480 F. Supp. 429, (C.D. Cal., 1979)."
5510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5511 #: freeculture.xml:4143
5513 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 485 (testimony of Jack "
5517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5518 #: freeculture.xml:4108
5520 "MPAA president Jack Valenti became the studios' most vocal champion. Valenti "
5521 "called VCRs <quote>tapeworms.</quote> He warned, <quote>When there are 20, "
5522 "30, 40 million of these VCRs in the land, we will be invaded by millions of "
5523 "`tapeworms,' eating away at the very heart and essence of the most precious "
5524 "asset the copyright owner has, his copyright.</quote><placeholder "
5525 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <quote>One does not have to be trained in "
5526 "sophisticated marketing and creative judgment,</quote> he told Congress, "
5527 "<quote>to understand the devastation on the after-theater marketplace caused "
5528 "by the hundreds of millions of tapings that will adversely impact on the "
5529 "future of the creative community in this country. It is simply a question of "
5530 "basic economics and plain common sense.</quote><placeholder "
5531 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Indeed, as surveys would later show, percent of "
5532 "VCR owners had movie libraries of ten videos or more<placeholder "
5533 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> — a use the Court would later hold was "
5534 "not <quote>fair.</quote> By <quote>allowing VCR owners to copy freely by the "
5535 "means of an exemption from copyright infringementwithout creating a "
5536 "mechanism to compensate copyrightowners,</quote> Valenti testified, Congress "
5537 "would <quote>take from the owners the very essence of their property: the "
5538 "exclusive right to control who may use their work, that is, who may copy it "
5539 "and thereby profit from its reproduction.</quote><placeholder "
5540 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"3\"/>"
5544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5545 #: freeculture.xml:4160
5547 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
5548 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 659 F. 2d 963 (9th Cir. 1981)."
5551 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5552 #: freeculture.xml:4163
5553 msgid "Kozinski, Alex"
5556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5557 #: freeculture.xml:4148
5559 "It took eight years for this case to be resolved by the Supreme Court. In "
5560 "the interim, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hollywood in "
5561 "its jurisdiction—leading Judge Alex Kozinski, who sits on that court, "
5562 "refers to it as the <quote>Hollywood Circuit</quote>—held that Sony "
5563 "would be liable for the copyright infringement made possible by its "
5564 "machines. Under the Ninth Circuit's rule, this totally familiar "
5565 "technology—which Jack Valenti had called <quote>the Boston Strangler "
5566 "of the American film industry</quote> (worse yet, it was a "
5567 "<emphasis>Japanese</emphasis> Boston Strangler of the American film "
5568 "industry)—was an illegal technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5569 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5574 #: freeculture.xml:4166
5576 "But the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit. And in "
5577 "its reversal, the Court clearly articulated its understanding of when and "
5578 "whether courts should intervene in such disputes. As the Court wrote,"
5582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5583 #: freeculture.xml:4185
5585 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
5586 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, 431 (1984)."
5589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
5590 #: freeculture.xml:4175
5592 "Sound policy, as well as history, supports our consistent deference to "
5593 "Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for "
5594 "copyrighted materials. Congress has the constitutional authority and the "
5595 "institutional ability to accommodate fully the varied permutations of "
5596 "competing interests that are inevitably implicated by such new "
5597 "technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5601 #: freeculture.xml:4190
5603 "Congress was asked to respond to the Supreme Court's decision. But as with "
5604 "the plea of recording artists about radio broadcasts, Congress ignored the "
5605 "request. Congress was convinced that American film got enough, this "
5606 "<quote>taking</quote> notwithstanding. If we put these cases together, a "
5610 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5611 #: freeculture.xml:4201
5615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5616 #: freeculture.xml:4202
5617 msgid "WHOSE VALUE WAS <quote>PIRATED</quote>"
5620 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5621 #: freeculture.xml:4203
5622 msgid "RESPONSE OF THE COURTS"
5625 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5626 #: freeculture.xml:4204
5627 msgid "RESPONSE OF CONGRESS"
5630 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5631 #: freeculture.xml:4209
5635 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5636 #: freeculture.xml:4210
5640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5641 #: freeculture.xml:4211 freeculture.xml:4223 freeculture.xml:4229
5642 msgid "No protection"
5645 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5646 #: freeculture.xml:4212 freeculture.xml:4224
5647 msgid "Statutory license"
5650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5651 #: freeculture.xml:4216
5652 msgid "Recording artists"
5655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5656 #: freeculture.xml:4217
5660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5661 #: freeculture.xml:4218 freeculture.xml:4230
5665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5666 #: freeculture.xml:4222
5667 msgid "Broadcasters"
5670 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5671 #: freeculture.xml:4227
5675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5676 #: freeculture.xml:4228
5677 msgid "Film creators"
5680 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5681 #: freeculture.xml:4240
5683 "These are the most important instances in our history, but there are other "
5684 "cases as well. The technology of digital audio tape (DAT), for example, was "
5685 "regulated by Congress to minimize the risk of piracy. The remedy Congress "
5686 "imposed did burden DAT producers, by taxing tape sales and controlling the "
5687 "technology of DAT. See Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (Title 17 of the "
5688 "<citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>), Pub. L. No. 102-563, 106 Stat. "
5689 "4237, codified at 17 U.S.C. §1001. Again, however, this regulation did not "
5690 "eliminate the opportunity for free riding in the sense I've described. See "
5691 "Lessig, <citetitle>Future</citetitle>, 71. See also Picker, <quote>From "
5692 "Edison to the Broadcast Flag,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law "
5693 "Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 293–96. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5698 #: freeculture.xml:4237
5700 "In each case throughout our history, a new technology changed the way "
5701 "content was distributed.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In each "
5702 "case, throughout our history, that change meant that someone got a "
5703 "<quote>free ride</quote> on someone else's work."
5707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5708 #: freeculture.xml:4257
5710 "In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these cases did either the courts or "
5711 "Congress eliminate all free riding. In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these "
5712 "cases did the courts or Congress insist that the law should assure that the "
5713 "copyright holder get all the value that his copyright created. In every "
5714 "case, the copyright owners complained of <quote>piracy.</quote> In every "
5715 "case, Congress acted to recognize some of the legitimacy in the behavior of "
5716 "the <quote>pirates.</quote> In each case, Congress allowed some new "
5717 "technology to benefit from content made before. It balanced the interests at "
5721 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5722 #: freeculture.xml:4269
5724 "When you think across these examples, and the other examples that make up "
5725 "the first four chapters of this section, this balance makes sense. Was Walt "
5726 "Disney a pirate? Would doujinshi be better if creators had to ask "
5727 "permission? Should tools that enable others to capture and spread images as "
5728 "a way to cultivate or criticize our culture be better regulated? Is it "
5729 "really right that building a search engine should expose you to $15 million "
5730 "in damages? Would it have been better if Edison had controlled film? Should "
5731 "every cover band have to hire a lawyer to get permission to record a song?"
5735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5736 #: freeculture.xml:4286
5738 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
5739 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, (1984)."
5742 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5743 #: freeculture.xml:4281
5745 "We could answer yes to each of these questions, but our tradition has "
5746 "answered no. In our tradition, as the Supreme Court has stated, copyright "
5747 "<quote>has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all "
5748 "possible uses of his work.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
5749 "Instead, the particular uses that the law regulates have been defined by "
5750 "balancing the good that comes from granting an exclusive right against the "
5751 "burdens such an exclusive right creates. And this balancing has historically "
5752 "been done <emphasis>after</emphasis> a technology has matured, or settled "
5753 "into the mix of technologies that facilitate the distribution of content."
5756 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5757 #: freeculture.xml:4297
5759 "We should be doing the same thing today. The technology of the Internet is "
5760 "changing quickly. The way people connect to the Internet (wires "
5761 "vs. wireless) is changing very quickly. No doubt the network should not "
5762 "become a tool for <quote>stealing</quote> from artists. But neither should "
5763 "the law become a tool to entrench one particular way in which artists (or "
5764 "more accurately, distributors) get paid. As I describe in some detail in the "
5765 "last chapter of this book, we should be securing income to artists while we "
5766 "allow the market to secure the most efficient way to promote and distribute "
5767 "content. This will require changes in the law, at least in the "
5768 "interim. These changes should be designed to balance the protection of the "
5769 "law against the strong public interest that innovation continue."
5773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5774 #: freeculture.xml:4321
5776 "John Schwartz, <quote>New Economy: The Attack on Peer-to-Peer Software "
5777 "Echoes Past Efforts,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 22 "
5778 "September 2003, C3."
5781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5782 #: freeculture.xml:4313
5784 "This is especially true when a new technology enables a vastly superior mode "
5785 "of distribution. And this p2p has done. P2p technologies can be ideally "
5786 "efficient in moving content across a widely diverse network. Left to "
5787 "develop, they could make the network vastly more efficient. Yet these "
5788 "<quote>potential public benefits,</quote> as John Schwartz writes in "
5789 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, <quote>could be delayed in the "
5790 "P2P fight.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Yet when anyone "
5791 "begins to talk about <quote>balance,</quote> the copyright warriors raise a "
5792 "different argument. <quote>All this hand waving about balance and "
5793 "incentives,</quote> they say, <quote>misses a fundamental point. Our "
5794 "content,</quote> the warriors insist, <quote>is our "
5795 "<emphasis>property</emphasis>. Why should we wait for Congress to "
5796 "`rebalance' our property rights? Do you have to wait before calling the "
5797 "police when your car has been stolen? And why should Congress deliberate at "
5798 "all about the merits of this theft? Do we ask whether the car thief had a "
5799 "good use for the car before we arrest him?</quote>"
5802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5803 #: freeculture.xml:4335
5805 "<quote>It is <emphasis>our property</emphasis>,</quote> the warriors "
5806 "insist. <quote>And it should be protected just as any other property is "
5807 "protected.</quote>"
5810 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
5811 #: freeculture.xml:4344
5812 msgid "<quote>PROPERTY</quote>"
5816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5817 #: freeculture.xml:4349
5819 "The copyright warriors are right: A copyright is a kind of property. It can "
5820 "be owned and sold, and the law protects against its theft. Ordinarily, the "
5821 "copyright owner gets to hold out for any price he wants. Markets reckon the "
5822 "supply and demand that partially determine the price she can get."
5825 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5826 #: freeculture.xml:4356
5828 "But in ordinary language, to call a copyright a <quote>property</quote> "
5829 "right is a bit misleading, for the property of copyright is an odd kind of "
5830 "property. Indeed, the very idea of property in any idea or any expression "
5831 "is very odd. I understand what I am taking when I take the picnic table you "
5832 "put in your backyard. I am taking a thing, the picnic table, and after I "
5833 "take it, you don't have it. But what am I taking when I take the good "
5834 "<emphasis>idea</emphasis> you had to put a picnic table in the "
5835 "backyard—by, for example, going to Sears, buying a table, and putting "
5836 "it in my backyard? What is the thing I am taking then?"
5840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
5841 #: freeculture.xml:4381
5843 "Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson (13 August 1813) in "
5844 "<citetitle>The Writings of Thomas Jefferson</citetitle>, vol. 6 (Andrew "
5845 "A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds., 1903), 330, 333–34."
5848 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5849 #: freeculture.xml:4368
5851 "The point is not just about the thingness of picnic tables versus ideas, "
5852 "though that's an important difference. The point instead is that in the "
5853 "ordinary case—indeed, in practically every case except for a narrow "
5854 "range of exceptions—ideas released to the world are free. I don't take "
5855 "anything from you when I copy the way you dress—though I might seem "
5856 "weird if I did it every day, and especially weird if you are a "
5857 "woman. Instead, as Thomas Jefferson said (and as is especially true when I "
5858 "copy the way someone else dresses), <quote>He who receives an idea from me, "
5859 "receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his "
5860 "taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.</quote><placeholder "
5861 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5864 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5865 #: freeculture.xml:4387
5867 "The exceptions to free use are ideas and expressions within the reach of the "
5868 "law of patent and copyright, and a few other domains that I won't discuss "
5869 "here. Here the law says you can't take my idea or expression without my "
5870 "permission: The law turns the intangible into property."
5874 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
5875 #: freeculture.xml:4400
5877 "As the legal realists taught American law, all property rights are "
5878 "intangible. A property right is simply a right that an individual has "
5879 "against the world to do or not do certain things that may or may not attach "
5880 "to a physical object. The right itself is intangible, even if the object to "
5881 "which it is (metaphorically) attached is tangible. See Adam Mossoff, "
5882 "<quote>What Is Property? Putting the Pieces Back Together,</quote> "
5883 "<citetitle>Arizona Law Review</citetitle> 45 (2003): 373, 429 n. 241."
5886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5887 #: freeculture.xml:4395
5889 "But how, and to what extent, and in what form—the details, in other "
5890 "words—matter. To get a good sense of how this practice of turning the "
5891 "intangible into property emerged, we need to place this "
5892 "<quote>property</quote> in its proper context.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5896 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5897 #: freeculture.xml:4410
5899 "My strategy in doing this will be the same as my strategy in the preceding "
5900 "part. I offer four stories to help put the idea of <quote>copyright material "
5901 "is property</quote> in context. Where did the idea come from? What are its "
5902 "limits? How does it function in practice? After these stories, the "
5903 "significance of this true statement—<quote>copyright material is "
5904 "property</quote>— will be a bit more clear, and its implications will "
5905 "be revealed as quite different from the implications that the copyright "
5906 "warriors would have us draw."
5909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
5910 #: freeculture.xml:4423
5911 msgid "CHAPTER SIX: Founders"
5914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
5915 #: freeculture.xml:4424
5919 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5920 #: freeculture.xml:4426
5922 "William Shakespeare wrote <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> in "
5923 "1595. The play was first published in 1597. It was the eleventh major play "
5924 "that Shakespeare had written. He would continue to write plays through 1613, "
5925 "and the plays that he wrote have continued to define Anglo-American culture "
5926 "ever since. So deeply have the works of a sixteenth-century writer seeped "
5927 "into our culture that we often don't even recognize their source. I once "
5928 "overheard someone commenting on Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Henry V: "
5929 "<quote>I liked it, but Shakespeare is so full of clichés.</quote>"
5933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
5934 #: freeculture.xml:4441
5936 "Jacob Tonson is typically remembered for his associations with prominent "
5937 "eighteenth-century literary figures, especially John Dryden, and for his "
5938 "handsome <quote>definitive editions</quote> of classic works. In addition to "
5939 "<citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle>, he published an astonishing array "
5940 "of works that still remain at the heart of the English canon, including "
5941 "collected works of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Milton, and John "
5942 "Dryden. See Keith Walker, <quote>Jacob Tonson, Bookseller,</quote> "
5943 "<citetitle>American Scholar</citetitle> 61:3 (1992): 424–31."
5947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
5948 #: freeculture.xml:4452
5950 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <citetitle>Copyright in Historical "
5951 "Perspective</citetitle> (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1968), "
5956 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5957 #: freeculture.xml:4437
5959 "In 1774, almost 180 years after <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> was "
5960 "written, the <quote>copy-right</quote> for the work was still thought by "
5961 "many to be the exclusive right of a single London publisher, Jacob "
5962 "Tonson.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Tonson was the most "
5963 "prominent of a small group of publishers called the Conger<placeholder "
5964 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> who controlled bookselling in England during "
5965 "the eighteenth century. The Conger claimed a perpetual right to control the "
5966 "<quote>copy</quote> of books that they had acquired from authors. That "
5967 "perpetual right meant that no one else could publish copies of a book to "
5968 "which they held the copyright. Prices of the classics were thus kept high; "
5969 "competition to produce better or cheaper editions was eliminated."
5972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
5973 #: freeculture.xml:4474
5975 "As Siva Vaidhyanathan nicely argues, it is erroneous to call this a "
5976 "<quote>copyright law.</quote> See Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
5977 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 40. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5980 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5981 #: freeculture.xml:4465
5983 "Now, there's something puzzling about the year 1774 to anyone who knows a "
5984 "little about copyright law. The better-known year in the history of "
5985 "copyright is 1710, the year that the British Parliament adopted the first "
5986 "<quote>copyright</quote> act. Known as the Statute of Anne, the act stated "
5987 "that all published works would get a copyright term of fourteen years, "
5988 "renewable once if the author was alive, and that all works already published "
5989 "by 1710 would get a single term of twenty-one additional years.<placeholder "
5990 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Under this law, <citetitle>Romeo and "
5991 "Juliet</citetitle> should have been free in 1731. So why was there any issue "
5992 "about it still being under Tonson's control in 1774?"
5995 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
5996 #: freeculture.xml:4491
5997 msgid "Licensing Act (1662)"
6000 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6001 #: freeculture.xml:4482
6003 "The reason is that the English hadn't yet agreed on what a "
6004 "<quote>copyright</quote> was—indeed, no one had. At the time the "
6005 "English passed the Statute of Anne, there was no other legislation governing "
6006 "copyrights. The last law regulating publishers, the Licensing Act of 1662, "
6007 "had expired in 1695. That law gave publishers a monopoly over publishing, as "
6008 "a way to make it easier for the Crown to control what was published. But "
6009 "after it expired, there was no positive law that said that the publishers, "
6010 "or <quote>Stationers,</quote> had an exclusive right to print books. "
6011 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6014 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6015 #: freeculture.xml:4494
6017 "There was no <emphasis>positive</emphasis> law, but that didn't mean that "
6018 "there was no law. The Anglo-American legal tradition looks to both the words "
6019 "of legislatures and the words of judges to know the rules that are to govern "
6020 "how people are to behave. We call the words from legislatures "
6021 "<quote>positive law.</quote> We call the words from judges <quote>common "
6022 "law.</quote> The common law sets the background against which legislatures "
6023 "legislate; the legislature, ordinarily, can trump that background only if it "
6024 "passes a law to displace it. And so the real question after the licensing "
6025 "statutes had expired was whether the common law protected a copyright, "
6026 "independent of any positive law."
6030 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6031 #: freeculture.xml:4506
6033 "This question was important to the publishers, or "
6034 "<quote>booksellers,</quote> as they were called, because there was growing "
6035 "competition from foreign publishers. The Scottish, in particular, were "
6036 "increasingly publishing and exporting books to England. That competition "
6037 "reduced the profits of the Conger, which reacted by demanding that "
6038 "Parliament pass a law to again give them exclusive control over "
6039 "publishing. That demand ultimately resulted in the Statute of Anne."
6042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6043 #: freeculture.xml:4518
6045 "The Statute of Anne granted the author or <quote>proprietor</quote> of a "
6046 "book an exclusive right to print that book. In an important limitation, "
6047 "however, and to the horror of the booksellers, the law gave the bookseller "
6048 "that right for a limited term. At the end of that term, the copyright "
6049 "<quote>expired,</quote> and the work would then be free and could be "
6050 "published by anyone. Or so the legislature is thought to have believed."
6053 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6054 #: freeculture.xml:4527
6056 "Now, the thing to puzzle about for a moment is this: Why would Parliament "
6057 "limit the exclusive right? Not why would they limit it to the particular "
6058 "limit they set, but why would they limit the right <emphasis>at "
6062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6063 #: freeculture.xml:4533
6065 "For the booksellers, and the authors whom they represented, had a very "
6066 "strong claim. Take <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> as an example: "
6067 "That play was written by Shakespeare. It was his genius that brought it into "
6068 "the world. He didn't take anybody's property when he created this play "
6069 "(that's a controversial claim, but never mind), and by his creating this "
6070 "play, he didn't make it any harder for others to craft a play. So why is it "
6071 "that the law would ever allow someone else to come along and take "
6072 "Shakespeare's play without his, or his estate's, permission? What reason is "
6073 "there to allow someone else to <quote>steal</quote> Shakespeare's work?"
6076 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6077 #: freeculture.xml:4544
6079 "The answer comes in two parts. We first need to see something special about "
6080 "the notion of <quote>copyright</quote> that existed at the time of the "
6081 "Statute of Anne. Second, we have to see something important about "
6082 "<quote>booksellers.</quote>"
6086 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6087 #: freeculture.xml:4550
6089 "First, about copyright. In the last three hundred years, we have come to "
6090 "apply the concept of <quote>copyright</quote> ever more broadly. But in "
6091 "1710, it wasn't so much a concept as it was a very particular right. The "
6092 "copyright was born as a very specific set of restrictions: It forbade others "
6093 "from reprinting a book. In 1710, the <quote>copy-right</quote> was a right "
6094 "to use a particular machine to replicate a particular work. It did not go "
6095 "beyond that very narrow right. It did not control any more generally how a "
6096 "work could be <emphasis>used</emphasis>. Today the right includes a large "
6097 "collection of restrictions on the freedom of others: It grants the author "
6098 "the exclusive right to copy, the exclusive right to distribute, the "
6099 "exclusive right to perform, and so on."
6102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6103 #: freeculture.xml:4565
6105 "So, for example, even if the copyright to Shakespeare's works were "
6106 "perpetual, all that would have meant under the original meaning of the term "
6107 "was that no one could reprint Shakespeare's work without the permission of "
6108 "the Shakespeare estate. It would not have controlled anything, for example, "
6109 "about how the work could be performed, whether the work could be translated, "
6110 "or whether Kenneth Branagh would be allowed to make his films. The "
6111 "<quote>copy-right</quote> was only an exclusive right to print—no "
6112 "less, of course, but also no more."
6115 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6116 #: freeculture.xml:4574
6117 msgid "Henry VIII, King of England"
6120 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6121 #: freeculture.xml:4576
6123 "Even that limited right was viewed with skepticism by the British. They had "
6124 "had a long and ugly experience with <quote>exclusive rights,</quote> "
6125 "especially <quote>exclusive rights</quote> granted by the Crown. The English "
6126 "had fought a civil war in part about the Crown's practice of handing out "
6127 "monopolies—especially monopolies for works that already existed. King "
6128 "Henry VIII granted a patent to print the Bible and a monopoly to Darcy to "
6129 "print playing cards. The English Parliament began to fight back against this "
6130 "power of the Crown. In 1656, it passed the Statute of Monopolies, limiting "
6131 "monopolies to patents for new inventions. And by 1710, Parliament was eager "
6132 "to deal with the growing monopoly in publishing."
6135 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6136 #: freeculture.xml:4589
6138 "Thus the <quote>copy-right,</quote> when viewed as a monopoly right, was "
6139 "naturally viewed as a right that should be limited. (However convincing the "
6140 "claim that <quote>it's my property, and I should have it forever,</quote> "
6141 "try sounding convincing when uttering, <quote>It's my monopoly, and I should "
6142 "have it forever.</quote>) The state would protect the exclusive right, but "
6143 "only so long as it benefited society. The British saw the harms from "
6144 "specialinterest favors; they passed a law to stop them."
6148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6149 #: freeculture.xml:4613
6151 "Philip Wittenberg, <citetitle>The Protection and Marketing of Literary "
6152 "Property</citetitle> (New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1937), 31."
6155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6156 #: freeculture.xml:4598
6158 "Second, about booksellers. It wasn't just that the copyright was a "
6159 "monopoly. It was also that it was a monopoly held by the booksellers. "
6160 "Booksellers sound quaint and harmless to us. They were not viewed as "
6161 "harmless in seventeenth-century England. Members of the Conger were "
6162 "increasingly seen as monopolists of the worst kind—tools of the "
6163 "Crown's repression, selling the liberty of England to guarantee themselves a "
6164 "monopoly profit. The attacks against these monopolists were harsh: Milton "
6165 "described them as <quote>old patentees and monopolizers in the trade of "
6166 "book-selling</quote>; they were <quote>men who do not therefore labour in an "
6167 "honest profession to which learning is indetted.</quote><placeholder "
6168 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6172 #: freeculture.xml:4618
6174 "Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread of "
6175 "knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment was "
6176 "teaching the importance of education and knowledge spread generally. The "
6177 "idea that knowledge should be free was a hallmark of the time, and these "
6178 "powerful commercial interests were interfering with that idea."
6181 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6182 #: freeculture.xml:4626
6184 "To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition among "
6185 "booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the wealth of "
6186 "valuable books. Parliament therefore limited the term of copyrights, and "
6187 "thereby guaranteed that valuable books would become open to any publisher to "
6188 "publish after a limited time. Thus the setting of the term for existing "
6189 "works to just twenty-one years was a compromise to fight the power of the "
6190 "booksellers. The limitation on terms was an indirect way to assure "
6191 "competition among publishers, and thus the construction and spread of "
6195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6196 #: freeculture.xml:4638
6198 "When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were getting "
6199 "anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and like every "
6200 "competitor, they didn't like them. At first booksellers simply ignored the "
6201 "Statute of Anne, continuing to insist on the perpetual right to control "
6202 "publication. But in 1735 and 1737, they tried to persuade Parliament to "
6203 "extend their terms. Twenty-one years was not enough, they said; they needed "
6207 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6208 #: freeculture.xml:4647
6210 "Parliament rejected their requests. As one pamphleteer put it, in words that "
6215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
6216 #: freeculture.xml:4662
6218 "A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Bill now depending in the "
6219 "House of Commons, for making more effectual an Act in the Eighth Year of the "
6220 "Reign of Queen Anne, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by "
6221 "Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such "
6222 "Copies, during the Times therein mentioned (London, 1735), in Brief Amici "
6223 "Curiae of Tyler T. Ochoa et al., 8, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
6224 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01-618)."
6227 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6228 #: freeculture.xml:4652
6230 "I see no Reason for granting a further Term now, which will not hold as well "
6231 "for granting it again and again, as often as the Old ones Expire; so that "
6232 "should this Bill pass, it will in Effect be establishing a perpetual "
6233 "Monopoly, a Thing deservedly odious in the Eye of the Law; it will be a "
6234 "great Cramp to Trade, a Discouragement to Learning, no Benefit to the "
6235 "Authors, but a general Tax on the Publick; and all this only to increase the "
6236 "private Gain of the Booksellers.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6240 #: freeculture.xml:4673
6242 "Having failed in Parliament, the publishers turned to the courts in a series "
6243 "of cases. Their argument was simple and direct: The Statute of Anne gave "
6244 "authors certain protections through positive law, but those protections were "
6245 "not intended as replacements for the common law. Instead, they were "
6246 "intended simply to supplement the common law. Under common law, it was "
6247 "already wrong to take another person's creative <quote>property</quote> and "
6248 "use it without his permission. The Statute of Anne, the booksellers argued, "
6249 "didn't change that. Therefore, just because the protections of the Statute "
6250 "of Anne expired, that didn't mean the protections of the common law expired: "
6251 "Under the common law they had the right to ban the publication of a book, "
6252 "even if its Statute of Anne copyright had expired. This, they argued, was "
6253 "the only way to protect authors."
6256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6257 #: freeculture.xml:4694
6259 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <quote>Free Speech, Copyright, and Fair Use,</quote> "
6260 "<citetitle>Vanderbilt Law Review</citetitle> 40 (1987): 28. For a "
6261 "wonderfully compelling account, see Vaidhyanathan, 37–48. "
6262 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6266 #: freeculture.xml:4688
6268 "This was a clever argument, and one that had the support of some of the "
6269 "leading jurists of the day. It also displayed extraordinary chutzpah. Until "
6270 "then, as law professor Raymond Patterson has put it, <quote>The publishers "
6271 "… had as much concern for authors as a cattle rancher has for "
6272 "cattle.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The bookseller "
6273 "didn't care squat for the rights of the author. His concern was the "
6274 "monopoly profit that the author's work gave."
6278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6279 #: freeculture.xml:4707
6281 "For a compelling account, see David Saunders, <citetitle>Authorship and "
6282 "Copyright</citetitle> (London: Routledge, 1992), 62–69."
6285 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6286 #: freeculture.xml:4703
6288 "The booksellers' argument was not accepted without a fight. The hero of "
6289 "this fight was a Scottish bookseller named Alexander Donaldson.<placeholder "
6290 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6293 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6294 #: freeculture.xml:4719 freeculture.xml:14566
6298 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6299 #: freeculture.xml:4717
6301 "Mark Rose, <citetitle>Authors and Owners</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard "
6302 "University Press, 1993), 92. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6307 #: freeculture.xml:4728
6311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6312 #: freeculture.xml:4730
6313 msgid "Boswell, James"
6316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6317 #: freeculture.xml:4731
6318 msgid "Erskine, Andrew"
6321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6322 #: freeculture.xml:4712
6324 "Donaldson was an outsider to the London Conger. He began his career in "
6325 "Edinburgh in 1750. The focus of his business was inexpensive reprints "
6326 "<quote>of standard works whose copyright term had expired,</quote> at least "
6327 "under the Statute of Anne.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
6328 "Donaldson's publishing house prospered and became <quote>something of a "
6329 "center for literary Scotsmen.</quote> <quote>[A]mong them,</quote> Professor "
6330 "Mark Rose writes, was <quote>the young James Boswell who, together with his "
6331 "friend Andrew Erskine, published an anthology of contemporary Scottish poems "
6332 "with Donaldson.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
6333 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6339 #: freeculture.xml:4740
6341 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <citetitle>Copyright in Historical "
6342 "Perspective</citetitle>, 167 (quoting Borwell)."
6345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6346 #: freeculture.xml:4734
6348 "When the London booksellers tried to shut down Donaldson's shop in Scotland, "
6349 "he responded by moving his shop to London, where he sold inexpensive "
6350 "editions <quote>of the most popular English books, in defiance of the "
6351 "supposed common law right of Literary Property.</quote><placeholder "
6352 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His books undercut the Conger prices by 30 to "
6353 "50 percent, and he rested his right to compete upon the ground that, under "
6354 "the Statute of Anne, the works he was selling had passed out of protection."
6357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6358 #: freeculture.xml:4748
6360 "The London booksellers quickly brought suit to block <quote>piracy</quote> "
6361 "like Donaldson's. A number of actions were successful against the "
6362 "<quote>pirates,</quote> the most important early victory being "
6363 "<citetitle>Millar</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Taylor</citetitle>."
6367 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6368 #: freeculture.xml:4760
6370 "Howard B. Abrams, <quote>The Historic Foundation of American Copyright Law: "
6371 "Exploding the Myth of Common Law Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Wayne Law "
6372 "Review</citetitle> 29 (1983): 1152."
6375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6376 #: freeculture.xml:4753
6378 "Millar was a bookseller who in 1729 had purchased the rights to James "
6379 "Thomson's poem <quote>The Seasons.</quote> Millar complied with the "
6380 "requirements of the Statute of Anne, and therefore received the full "
6381 "protection of the statute. After the term of copyright ended, Robert Taylor "
6382 "began printing a competing volume. Millar sued, claiming a perpetual common "
6383 "law right, the Statute of Anne notwithstanding.<placeholder "
6384 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6387 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6388 #: freeculture.xml:4769
6390 "Astonishingly to modern lawyers, one of the greatest judges in English "
6391 "history, Lord Mansfield, agreed with the booksellers. Whatever protection "
6392 "the Statute of Anne gave booksellers, it did not, he held, extinguish any "
6393 "common law right. The question was whether the common law would protect the "
6394 "author against subsequent <quote>pirates.</quote> Mansfield's answer was "
6395 "yes: The common law would bar Taylor from reprinting Thomson's poem without "
6396 "Millar's permission. That common law rule thus effectively gave the "
6397 "booksellers a perpetual right to control the publication of any book "
6402 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6403 #: freeculture.xml:4780
6405 "Considered as a matter of abstract justice—reasoning as if justice "
6406 "were just a matter of logical deduction from first "
6407 "principles—Mansfield's conclusion might make some sense. But what it "
6408 "ignored was the larger issue that Parliament had struggled with in 1710: How "
6409 "best to limit the monopoly power of publishers? Parliament's strategy was to "
6410 "offer a term for existing works that was long enough to buy peace in 1710, "
6411 "but short enough to assure that culture would pass into competition within a "
6412 "reasonable period of time. Within twenty-one years, Parliament believed, "
6413 "Britain would mature from the controlled culture that the Crown coveted to "
6414 "the free culture that we inherited."
6417 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6418 #: freeculture.xml:4795
6420 "The fight to defend the limits of the Statute of Anne was not to end there, "
6421 "however, and it is here that Donaldson enters the mix."
6424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6425 #: freeculture.xml:4798
6426 msgid "Beckett, Thomas"
6430 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6431 #: freeculture.xml:4804
6432 msgid "Ibid., 1156."
6435 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6436 #: freeculture.xml:4800
6438 "Millar died soon after his victory, so his case was not appealed. His estate "
6439 "sold Thomson's poems to a syndicate of printers that included Thomas "
6440 "Beckett.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Donaldson then released an "
6441 "unauthorized edition of Thomson's works. Beckett, on the strength of the "
6442 "decision in <citetitle>Millar</citetitle>, got an injunction against "
6443 "Donaldson. Donaldson appealed the case to the House of Lords, which "
6444 "functioned much like our own Supreme Court. In February of 1774, that body "
6445 "had the chance to interpret the meaning of Parliament's limits from sixty "
6449 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6450 #: freeculture.xml:4814
6452 "As few legal cases ever do, <citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> "
6453 "v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle> drew an enormous amount of attention "
6454 "throughout Britain. Donaldson's lawyers argued that whatever rights may have "
6455 "existed under the common law, the Statute of Anne terminated those "
6456 "rights. After passage of the Statute of Anne, the only legal protection for "
6457 "an exclusive right to control publication came from that statute. Thus, they "
6458 "argued, after the term specified in the Statute of Anne expired, works that "
6459 "had been protected by the statute were no longer protected."
6462 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6463 #: freeculture.xml:4824
6465 "The House of Lords was an odd institution. Legal questions were presented to "
6466 "the House and voted upon first by the <quote>law lords,</quote> members of "
6467 "special legal distinction who functioned much like the Justices in our "
6468 "Supreme Court. Then, after the law lords voted, the House of Lords generally "
6473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6474 #: freeculture.xml:4831
6476 "The reports about the law lords' votes are mixed. On some counts, it looks "
6477 "as if perpetual copyright prevailed. But there is no ambiguity about how the "
6478 "House of Lords voted as whole. By a two-to-one majority (22 to 11) they "
6479 "voted to reject the idea of perpetual copyrights. Whatever one's "
6480 "understanding of the common law, now a copyright was fixed for a limited "
6481 "time, after which the work protected by copyright passed into the public "
6485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6486 #: freeculture.xml:4849
6487 msgid "Bacon, Francis"
6490 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6491 #: freeculture.xml:4850
6492 msgid "Bunyan, John"
6495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6496 #: freeculture.xml:4851
6497 msgid "Johnson, Samuel"
6500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6501 #: freeculture.xml:4852
6502 msgid "Milton, John"
6505 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6506 #: freeculture.xml:4853
6507 msgid "Shakespeare, William"
6510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6511 #: freeculture.xml:4841
6513 "<quote>The public domain.</quote> Before the case of "
6514 "<citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle>, there "
6515 "was no clear idea of a public domain in England. Before 1774, there was a "
6516 "strong argument that common law copyrights were perpetual. After 1774, the "
6517 "public domain was born. For the first time in Anglo-American history, the "
6518 "legal control over creative works expired, and the greatest works in English "
6519 "history—including those of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Johnson, and "
6520 "Bunyan—were free of legal restraint. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6521 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
6522 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> "
6523 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/>"
6527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6528 #: freeculture.xml:4866
6532 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6533 #: freeculture.xml:4856
6535 "It is hard for us to imagine, but this decision by the House of Lords fueled "
6536 "an extraordinarily popular and political reaction. In Scotland, where most "
6537 "of the <quote>pirate publishers</quote> did their work, people celebrated "
6538 "the decision in the streets. As the <citetitle>Edinburgh "
6539 "Advertiser</citetitle> reported, <quote>No private cause has so much "
6540 "engrossed the attention of the public, and none has been tried before the "
6541 "House of Lords in the decision of which so many individuals were "
6542 "interested.</quote> <quote>Great rejoicing in Edinburgh upon victory over "
6543 "literary property: bonfires and illuminations.</quote><placeholder "
6544 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6547 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6548 #: freeculture.xml:4870
6550 "In London, however, at least among publishers, the reaction was equally "
6551 "strong in the opposite direction. The <citetitle>Morning "
6552 "Chronicle</citetitle> reported:"
6555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6556 #: freeculture.xml:4876
6558 "By the above decision … near 200,000 pounds worth of what was "
6559 "honestly purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought property "
6560 "is now reduced to nothing. The Booksellers of London and Westminster, many "
6561 "of whom sold estates and houses to purchase Copy-right, are in a manner "
6562 "ruined, and those who after many years industry thought they had acquired a "
6563 "competency to provide for their families now find themselves without a "
6564 "shilling to devise to their successors.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6570 #: freeculture.xml:4891
6572 "<quote>Ruined</quote> is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is not an "
6573 "exaggeration to say that the change was profound. The decision of the House "
6574 "of Lords meant that the booksellers could no longer control how culture in "
6575 "England would grow and develop. Culture in England was thereafter "
6576 "<emphasis>free</emphasis>. Not in the sense that copyrights would not be "
6577 "respected, for of course, for a limited time after a work was published, the "
6578 "bookseller had an exclusive right to control the publication of that "
6579 "book. And not in the sense that books could be stolen, for even after a "
6580 "copyright expired, you still had to buy the book from someone. But "
6581 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> in the sense that the culture and its growth would "
6582 "no longer be controlled by a small group of publishers. As every free market "
6583 "does, this free market of free culture would grow as the consumers and "
6584 "producers chose. English culture would develop as the many English readers "
6585 "chose to let it develop— chose in the books they bought and wrote; "
6586 "chose in the memes they repeated and endorsed. Chose in a "
6587 "<emphasis>competitive context</emphasis>, not a context in which the choices "
6588 "about what culture is available to people and how they get access to it are "
6589 "made by the few despite the wishes of the many."
6592 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6593 #: freeculture.xml:4912
6595 "At least, this was the rule in a world where the Parliament is antimonopoly, "
6596 "resistant to the protectionist pleas of publishers. In a world where the "
6597 "Parliament is more pliant, free culture would be less protected."
6600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
6601 #: freeculture.xml:4920
6602 msgid "CHAPTER SEVEN: Recorders"
6605 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6606 #: freeculture.xml:4922
6608 "Jon Else is a filmmaker. He is best known for his documentaries and has been "
6609 "very successful in spreading his art. He is also a teacher, and as a teacher "
6610 "myself, I envy the loyalty and admiration that his students feel for him. (I "
6611 "met, by accident, two of his students at a dinner party. He was their god.)"
6614 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6615 #: freeculture.xml:4929
6617 "Else worked on a documentary that I was involved in. At a break, he told me "
6618 "a story about the freedom to create with film in America today."
6621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6622 #: freeculture.xml:4940 freeculture.xml:5009
6623 msgid "San Francisco Opera"
6626 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6627 #: freeculture.xml:4934
6629 "In 1990, Else was working on a documentary about Wagner's Ring Cycle. The "
6630 "focus was stagehands at the San Francisco Opera. Stagehands are a "
6631 "particularly funny and colorful element of an opera. During a show, they "
6632 "hang out below the stage in the grips' lounge and in the lighting loft. They "
6633 "make a perfect contrast to the art on the stage. <placeholder "
6634 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6639 #: freeculture.xml:4943
6641 "During one of the performances, Else was shooting some stagehands playing "
6642 "checkers. In one corner of the room was a television set. Playing on the "
6643 "television set, while the stagehands played checkers and the opera company "
6644 "played Wagner, was <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. As Else judged it, "
6645 "this touch of cartoon helped capture the flavor of what was special about "
6649 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6650 #: freeculture.xml:4952
6652 "Years later, when he finally got funding to complete the film, Else "
6653 "attempted to clear the rights for those few seconds of <citetitle>The "
6654 "Simpsons</citetitle>. For of course, those few seconds are copyrighted; and "
6655 "of course, to use copyrighted material you need the permission of the "
6656 "copyright owner, unless <quote>fair use</quote> or some other privilege "
6660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6661 #: freeculture.xml:4964 freeculture.xml:4972
6662 msgid "Gracie Films"
6665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6666 #: freeculture.xml:4959
6668 "Else called <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> creator Matt Groening's office "
6669 "to get permission. Groening approved the shot. The shot was a "
6670 "four-and-a-halfsecond image on a tiny television set in the corner of the "
6671 "room. How could it hurt? Groening was happy to have it in the film, but he "
6672 "told Else to contact Gracie Films, the company that produces the program. "
6673 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6677 #: freeculture.xml:4967
6679 "Gracie Films was okay with it, too, but they, like Groening, wanted to be "
6680 "careful. So they told Else to contact Fox, Gracie's parent company. Else "
6681 "called Fox and told them about the clip in the corner of the one room shot "
6682 "of the film. Matt Groening had already given permission, Else said. He was "
6683 "just confirming the permission with Fox. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6688 #: freeculture.xml:4975
6690 "Then, as Else told me, <quote>two things happened. First we discovered "
6691 "… that Matt Groening doesn't own his own creation—or at least "
6692 "that someone [at Fox] believes he doesn't own his own creation.</quote> And "
6693 "second, Fox <quote>wanted ten thousand dollars as a licensing fee for us to "
6694 "use this four-point-five seconds of … entirely unsolicited "
6695 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> which was in the corner of the shot.</quote>"
6698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6699 #: freeculture.xml:4983
6701 "Else was certain there was a mistake. He worked his way up to someone he "
6702 "thought was a vice president for licensing, Rebecca Herrera. He explained "
6703 "to her, <quote>There must be some mistake here. … We're asking for "
6704 "your educational rate on this.</quote> That was the educational rate, "
6705 "Herrera told Else. A day or so later, Else called again to confirm what he "
6710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6711 #: freeculture.xml:4991
6713 "<quote>I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight,</quote> he told "
6714 "me. <quote>Yes, you have your facts straight,</quote> she said. It would "
6715 "cost $10,000 to use the clip of <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle> in the "
6716 "corner of a shot in a documentary film about Wagner's Ring Cycle. And then, "
6717 "astonishingly, Herrera told Else, <quote>And if you quote me, I'll turn you "
6718 "over to our attorneys.</quote> As an assistant to Herrera told Else later "
6719 "on, <quote>They don't give a shit. They just want the money.</quote>"
6722 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6723 #: freeculture.xml:5010
6724 msgid "Day After Trinity, The"
6727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6728 #: freeculture.xml:5003
6730 "Else didn't have the money to buy the right to replay what was playing on "
6731 "the television backstage at the San Francisco Opera. To reproduce this "
6732 "reality was beyond the documentary filmmaker's budget. At the very last "
6733 "minute before the film was to be released, Else digitally replaced the shot "
6734 "with a clip from another film that he had worked on, <citetitle>The Day "
6735 "After Trinity</citetitle>, from ten years before. <placeholder "
6736 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
6739 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6740 #: freeculture.xml:5013
6742 "There's no doubt that someone, whether Matt Groening or Fox, owns the "
6743 "copyright to <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. That copyright is their "
6744 "property. To use that copyrighted material thus sometimes requires the "
6745 "permission of the copyright owner. If the use that Else wanted to make of "
6746 "the <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> copyright were one of the uses "
6747 "restricted by the law, then he would need to get the permission of the "
6748 "copyright owner before he could use the work in that way. And in a free "
6749 "market, it is the owner of the copyright who gets to set the price for any "
6750 "use that the law says the owner gets to control."
6753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6754 #: freeculture.xml:5024
6756 "For example, <quote>public performance</quote> is a use of <citetitle>The "
6757 "Simpsons</citetitle> that the copyright owner gets to control. If you take a "
6758 "selection of favorite episodes, rent a movie theater, and charge for tickets "
6759 "to come see <quote>My Favorite <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>,</quote> then "
6760 "you need to get permission from the copyright owner. And the copyright owner "
6761 "(rightly, in my view) can charge whatever she wants—$10 or "
6762 "$1,000,000. That's her right, as set by the law."
6766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6767 #: freeculture.xml:5036
6769 "For an excellent argument that such use is <quote>fair use,</quote> but that "
6770 "lawyers don't permit recognition that it is <quote>fair use,</quote> see "
6771 "Richard A. Posner with William F. Patry, <quote>Fair Use and Statutory "
6772 "Reform in the Wake of <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle></quote> (draft on file "
6773 "with author), University of Chicago Law School, 5 August 2003."
6776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6777 #: freeculture.xml:5033
6779 "But when lawyers hear this story about Jon Else and Fox, their first thought "
6780 "is <quote>fair use.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Else's "
6781 "use of just 4.5 seconds of an indirect shot of a "
6782 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> episode is clearly a fair use of "
6783 "<citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>—and fair use does not require the "
6784 "permission of anyone."
6788 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6789 #: freeculture.xml:5048
6791 "So I asked Else why he didn't just rely upon <quote>fair use.</quote> Here's "
6795 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6796 #: freeculture.xml:5052
6798 "The <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> fiasco was for me a great lesson in the "
6799 "gulf between what lawyers find irrelevant in some abstract sense, and what "
6800 "is crushingly relevant in practice to those of us actually trying to make "
6801 "and broadcast documentaries. I never had any doubt that it was "
6802 "<quote>clearly fair use</quote> in an absolute legal sense. But I couldn't "
6803 "rely on the concept in any concrete way. Here's why:"
6807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6808 #: freeculture.xml:5062
6810 "Before our films can be broadcast, the network requires that we buy Errors "
6811 "and Omissions insurance. The carriers require a detailed <quote>visual cue "
6812 "sheet</quote> listing the source and licensing status of each shot in the "
6813 "film. They take a dim view of <quote>fair use,</quote> and a claim of "
6814 "<quote>fair use</quote> can grind the application process to a halt."
6817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para><indexterm><primary>
6818 #: freeculture.xml:5079
6819 msgid "Lucas, George"
6822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6823 #: freeculture.xml:5070
6825 "I probably never should have asked Matt Groening in the first place. But I "
6826 "knew (at least from folklore) that Fox had a history of tracking down and "
6827 "stopping unlicensed <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> usage, just as George "
6828 "Lucas had a very high profile litigating <citetitle>Star Wars</citetitle> "
6829 "usage. So I decided to play by the book, thinking that we would be granted "
6830 "free or cheap license to four seconds of <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>. As "
6831 "a documentary producer working to exhaustion on a shoestring, the last thing "
6832 "I wanted was to risk legal trouble, even nuisance legal trouble, and even to "
6833 "defend a principle. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6838 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6839 #: freeculture.xml:5083
6841 "I did, in fact, speak with one of your colleagues at Stanford Law School "
6842 "… who confirmed that it was fair use. He also confirmed that Fox "
6843 "would <quote>depose and litigate you to within an inch of your life,</quote> "
6844 "regardless of the merits of my claim. He made clear that it would boil down "
6845 "to who had the bigger legal department and the deeper pockets, me or them."
6849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6850 #: freeculture.xml:5093
6852 "The question of fair use usually comes up at the end of the project, when we "
6853 "are up against a release deadline and out of money."
6856 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6857 #: freeculture.xml:5100
6859 "In theory, fair use means you need no permission. The theory therefore "
6860 "supports free culture and insulates against a permission culture. But in "
6861 "practice, fair use functions very differently. The fuzzy lines of the law, "
6862 "tied to the extraordinary liability if lines are crossed, means that the "
6863 "effective fair use for many types of creators is slight. The law has the "
6864 "right aim; practice has defeated the aim."
6867 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6868 #: freeculture.xml:5108
6870 "This practice shows just how far the law has come from its "
6871 "eighteenth-century roots. The law was born as a shield to protect "
6872 "publishers' profits against the unfair competition of a pirate. It has "
6873 "matured into a sword that interferes with any use, transformative or not."
6876 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
6877 #: freeculture.xml:5117
6878 msgid "CHAPTER EIGHT: Transformers"
6881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6882 #: freeculture.xml:5118
6886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
6887 #: freeculture.xml:5119 freeculture.xml:5127 freeculture.xml:5138 freeculture.xml:5153 freeculture.xml:5162 freeculture.xml:5167 freeculture.xml:5219 freeculture.xml:5235 freeculture.xml:5258 freeculture.xml:5321 freeculture.xml:9737
6891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6892 #: freeculture.xml:5121
6894 "In 1993, Alex Alben was a lawyer working at Starwave, Inc. Starwave was an "
6895 "innovative company founded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen to develop "
6896 "digital entertainment. Long before the Internet became popular, Starwave "
6897 "began investing in new technology for delivering entertainment in "
6898 "anticipation of the power of networks."
6901 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6902 #: freeculture.xml:5129
6904 "Alben had a special interest in new technology. He was intrigued by the "
6905 "emerging market for CD-ROM technology—not to distribute film, but to "
6906 "do things with film that otherwise would be very difficult. In 1993, he "
6907 "launched an initiative to develop a product to build retrospectives on the "
6908 "work of particular actors. The first actor chosen was Clint Eastwood. The "
6909 "idea was to showcase all of the work of Eastwood, with clips from his films "
6910 "and interviews with figures important to his career."
6913 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6914 #: freeculture.xml:5140
6916 "At that time, Eastwood had made more than fifty films, as an actor and as a "
6917 "director. Alben began with a series of interviews with Eastwood, asking him "
6918 "about his career. Because Starwave produced those interviews, it was free to "
6919 "include them on the CD."
6923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6924 #: freeculture.xml:5147
6926 "That alone would not have made a very interesting product, so Starwave "
6927 "wanted to add content from the movies in Eastwood's career: posters, "
6928 "scripts, and other material relating to the films Eastwood made. Most of his "
6929 "career was spent at Warner Brothers, and so it was relatively easy to get "
6930 "permission for that content."
6933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6934 #: freeculture.xml:5155
6936 "Then Alben and his team decided to include actual film clips. <quote>Our "
6937 "goal was that we were going to have a clip from every one of Eastwood's "
6938 "films,</quote> Alben told me. It was here that the problem arose. <quote>No "
6939 "one had ever really done this before,</quote> Alben explained. <quote>No one "
6940 "had ever tried to do this in the context of an artistic look at an actor's "
6944 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6945 #: freeculture.xml:5164
6947 "Alben brought the idea to Michael Slade, the CEO of Starwave. Slade asked, "
6948 "<quote>Well, what will it take?</quote>"
6951 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
6952 #: freeculture.xml:5180
6956 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><secondary>
6957 #: freeculture.xml:5181
6958 msgid "publicity rights on images of"
6961 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6962 #: freeculture.xml:5175
6964 "Technically, the rights that Alben had to clear were mainly those of "
6965 "publicity—rights an artist has to control the commercial exploitation "
6966 "of his image. But these rights, too, burden <quote>Rip, Mix, Burn</quote> "
6967 "creativity, as this chapter evinces. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6972 #: freeculture.xml:5169
6974 "Alben replied, <quote>Well, we're going to have to clear rights from "
6975 "everyone who appears in these films, and the music and everything else that "
6976 "we want to use in these film clips.</quote> Slade said, <quote>Great! Go for "
6977 "it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6980 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6981 #: freeculture.xml:5186
6983 "The problem was that neither Alben nor Slade had any idea what clearing "
6984 "those rights would mean. Every actor in each of the films could have a claim "
6985 "to royalties for the reuse of that film. But CD- ROMs had not been specified "
6986 "in the contracts for the actors, so there was no clear way to know just what "
6987 "Starwave was to do."
6990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6991 #: freeculture.xml:5193
6993 "I asked Alben how he dealt with the problem. With an obvious pride in his "
6994 "resourcefulness that obscured the obvious bizarreness of his tale, Alben "
6995 "recounted just what they did:"
6998 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6999 #: freeculture.xml:5199
7001 "So we very mechanically went about looking up the film clips. We made some "
7002 "artistic decisions about what film clips to include—of course we were "
7003 "going to use the <quote>Make my day</quote> clip from <citetitle>Dirty "
7004 "Harry</citetitle>. But you then need to get the guy on the ground who's "
7005 "wiggling under the gun and you need to get his permission. And then you "
7006 "have to decide what you are going to pay him."
7010 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7011 #: freeculture.xml:5208
7013 "We decided that it would be fair if we offered them the dayplayer rate for "
7014 "the right to reuse that performance. We're talking about a clip of less than "
7015 "a minute, but to reuse that performance in the CD-ROM the rate at the time "
7016 "was about $600. So we had to identify the people—some of them were "
7017 "hard to identify because in Eastwood movies you can't tell who's the guy "
7018 "crashing through the glass—is it the actor or is it the stuntman? And "
7019 "then we just, we put together a team, my assistant and some others, and we "
7020 "just started calling people."
7023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7024 #: freeculture.xml:5221
7026 "Some actors were glad to help—Donald Sutherland, for example, followed "
7027 "up himself to be sure that the rights had been cleared. Others were "
7028 "dumbfounded at their good fortune. Alben would ask, <quote>Hey, can I pay "
7029 "you $600 or maybe if you were in two films, you know, $1,200?</quote> And "
7030 "they would say, <quote>Are you for real? Hey, I'd love to get "
7031 "$1,200.</quote> And some of course were a bit difficult (estranged ex-wives, "
7032 "in particular). But eventually, Alben and his team had cleared the rights to "
7033 "this retrospective CD-ROM on Clint Eastwood's career."
7036 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7037 #: freeculture.xml:5232
7039 "It was one <emphasis>year</emphasis> later—<quote>and even then we "
7040 "weren't sure whether we were totally in the clear.</quote>"
7043 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7044 #: freeculture.xml:5237
7046 "Alben is proud of his work. The project was the first of its kind and the "
7047 "only time he knew of that a team had undertaken such a massive project for "
7048 "the purpose of releasing a retrospective."
7051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7052 #: freeculture.xml:5243
7054 "Everyone thought it would be too hard. Everyone just threw up their hands "
7055 "and said, <quote>Oh, my gosh, a film, it's so many copyrights, there's the "
7056 "music, there's the screenplay, there's the director, there's the "
7057 "actors.</quote> But we just broke it down. We just put it into its "
7058 "constituent parts and said, <quote>Okay, there's this many actors, this many "
7059 "directors, … this many musicians,</quote> and we just went at it very "
7060 "systematically and cleared the rights."
7064 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7065 #: freeculture.xml:5255
7067 "And no doubt, the product itself was exceptionally good. Eastwood loved it, "
7068 "and it sold very well."
7071 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7072 #: freeculture.xml:5259
7073 msgid "Drucker, Peter"
7077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7078 #: freeculture.xml:5267
7080 "U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management, "
7081 "<citetitle>Seven Steps to Performance-Based Services "
7082 "Acquisition</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
7083 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #22</ulink>."
7086 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7087 #: freeculture.xml:5261
7089 "But I pressed Alben about how weird it seems that it would have to take a "
7090 "year's work simply to clear rights. No doubt Alben had done this "
7091 "efficiently, but as Peter Drucker has famously quipped, <quote>There is "
7092 "nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at "
7093 "all.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Did it make sense, I "
7094 "asked Alben, that this is the way a new work has to be made?"
7097 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7098 #: freeculture.xml:5275
7100 "For, as he acknowledged, <quote>very few … have the time and "
7101 "resources, and the will to do this,</quote> and thus, very few such works "
7102 "would ever be made. Does it make sense, I asked him, from the standpoint of "
7103 "what anybody really thought they were ever giving rights for originally, "
7104 "that you would have to go clear rights for these kinds of clips?"
7107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7108 #: freeculture.xml:5283
7110 "I don't think so. When an actor renders a performance in a movie, he or she "
7111 "gets paid very well. … And then when 30 seconds of that performance "
7112 "is used in a new product that is a retrospective of somebody's career, I "
7113 "don't think that that person … should be compensated for that."
7116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7117 #: freeculture.xml:5291
7119 "Or at least, is this <emphasis>how</emphasis> the artist should be "
7120 "compensated? Would it make sense, I asked, for there to be some kind of "
7121 "statutory license that someone could pay and be free to make derivative use "
7122 "of clips like this? Did it really make sense that a follow-on creator would "
7123 "have to track down every artist, actor, director, musician, and get explicit "
7124 "permission from each? Wouldn't a lot more be created if the legal part of "
7125 "the creative process could be made to be more clean?"
7129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7130 #: freeculture.xml:5302
7132 "Absolutely. I think that if there were some fair-licensing "
7133 "mechanism—where you weren't subject to hold-ups and you weren't "
7134 "subject to estranged former spouses—you'd see a lot more of this work, "
7135 "because it wouldn't be so daunting to try to put together a retrospective of "
7136 "someone's career and meaningfully illustrate it with lots of media from that "
7137 "person's career. You'd build in a cost as the producer of one of these "
7138 "things. You'd build in a cost of paying X dollars to the talent that "
7139 "performed. But it would be a known cost. That's the thing that trips "
7140 "everybody up and makes this kind of product hard to get off the ground. If "
7141 "you knew I have a hundred minutes of film in this product and it's going to "
7142 "cost me X, then you build your budget around it, and you can get investments "
7143 "and everything else that you need to produce it. But if you say, <quote>Oh, "
7144 "I want a hundred minutes of something and I have no idea what it's going to "
7145 "cost me, and a certain number of people are going to hold me up for "
7146 "money,</quote> then it becomes difficult to put one of these things "
7150 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7151 #: freeculture.xml:5323
7153 "Alben worked for a big company. His company was backed by some of the "
7154 "richest investors in the world. He therefore had authority and access that "
7155 "the average Web designer would not have. So if it took him a year, how long "
7156 "would it take someone else? And how much creativity is never made just "
7157 "because the costs of clearing the rights are so high? These costs are the "
7158 "burdens of a kind of regulation. Put on a Republican hat for a moment, and "
7159 "get angry for a bit. The government defines the scope of these rights, and "
7160 "the scope defined determines how much it's going to cost to negotiate "
7161 "them. (Remember the idea that land runs to the heavens, and imagine the "
7162 "pilot purchasing flythrough rights as he negotiates to fly from Los Angeles "
7163 "to San Francisco.) These rights might well have once made sense; but as "
7164 "circumstances change, they make no sense at all. Or at least, a "
7165 "well-trained, regulationminimizing Republican should look at the rights and "
7166 "ask, <quote>Does this still make sense?</quote>"
7170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7171 #: freeculture.xml:5340
7173 "I've seen the flash of recognition when people get this point, but only a "
7174 "few times. The first was at a conference of federal judges in California. "
7175 "The judges were gathered to discuss the emerging topic of cyber-law. I was "
7176 "asked to be on the panel. Harvey Saferstein, a well-respected lawyer from an "
7177 "L.A. firm, introduced the panel with a video that he and a friend, Robert "
7178 "Fairbank, had produced."
7181 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7182 #: freeculture.xml:5350
7184 "The video was a brilliant collage of film from every period in the twentieth "
7185 "century, all framed around the idea of a <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> "
7186 "episode. The execution was perfect, down to the sixty-minute stopwatch. The "
7187 "judges loved every minute of it."
7190 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7191 #: freeculture.xml:5355
7192 msgid "Nimmer, David"
7195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7196 #: freeculture.xml:5357
7198 "When the lights came up, I looked over to my copanelist, David Nimmer, "
7199 "perhaps the leading copyright scholar and practitioner in the nation. He had "
7200 "an astonished look on his face, as he peered across the room of over 250 "
7201 "well-entertained judges. Taking an ominous tone, he began his talk with a "
7202 "question: <quote>Do you know how many federal laws were just violated in "
7203 "this room?</quote>"
7206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7207 #: freeculture.xml:5364
7208 msgid "Boies, David"
7211 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7212 #: freeculture.xml:5366
7214 "For of course, the two brilliantly talented creators who made this film "
7215 "hadn't done what Alben did. They hadn't spent a year clearing the rights to "
7216 "these clips; technically, what they had done violated the law. Of course, "
7217 "it wasn't as if they or anyone were going to be prosecuted for this "
7218 "violation (the presence of 250 judges and a gaggle of federal marshals "
7219 "notwithstanding). But Nimmer was making an important point: A year before "
7220 "anyone would have heard of the word Napster, and two years before another "
7221 "member of our panel, David Boies, would defend Napster before the Ninth "
7222 "Circuit Court of Appeals, Nimmer was trying to get the judges to see that "
7223 "the law would not be friendly to the capacities that this technology would "
7224 "enable. Technology means you can now do amazing things easily; but you "
7225 "couldn't easily do them legally."
7228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7229 #: freeculture.xml:5381
7231 "We live in a <quote>cut and paste</quote> culture enabled by "
7232 "technology. Anyone building a presentation knows the extraordinary freedom "
7233 "that the cut and paste architecture of the Internet created—in a "
7234 "second you can find just about any image you want; in another second, you "
7235 "can have it planted in your presentation."
7238 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7239 #: freeculture.xml:5397
7243 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7244 #: freeculture.xml:5388
7246 "But presentations are just a tiny beginning. Using the Internet and its "
7247 "archives, musicians are able to string together mixes of sound never before "
7248 "imagined; filmmakers are able to build movies out of clips on computers "
7249 "around the world. An extraordinary site in Sweden takes images of "
7250 "politicians and blends them with music to create biting political "
7251 "commentary. A site called Camp Chaos has produced some of the most biting "
7252 "criticism of the record industry that there is through the mixing of Flash! "
7253 "and music. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
7256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7257 #: freeculture.xml:5400
7259 "All of these creations are technically illegal. Even if the creators wanted "
7260 "to be <quote>legal,</quote> the cost of complying with the law is impossibly "
7261 "high. Therefore, for the law-abiding sorts, a wealth of creativity is never "
7262 "made. And for that part that is made, if it doesn't follow the clearance "
7263 "rules, it doesn't get released."
7266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7267 #: freeculture.xml:5407
7269 "To some, these stories suggest a solution: Let's alter the mix of rights so "
7270 "that people are free to build upon our culture. Free to add or mix as they "
7271 "see fit. We could even make this change without necessarily requiring that "
7272 "the <quote>free</quote> use be free as in <quote>free beer.</quote> Instead, "
7273 "the system could simply make it easy for follow-on creators to compensate "
7274 "artists without requiring an army of lawyers to come along: a rule, for "
7275 "example, that says <quote>the royalty owed the copyright owner of an "
7276 "unregistered work for the derivative reuse of his work will be a flat 1 "
7277 "percent of net revenues, to be held in escrow for the copyright "
7278 "owner.</quote> Under this rule, the copyright owner could benefit from some "
7279 "royalty, but he would not have the benefit of a full property right (meaning "
7280 "the right to name his own price) unless he registers the work."
7283 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7284 #: freeculture.xml:5422
7286 "Who could possibly object to this? And what reason would there be for "
7287 "objecting? We're talking about work that is not now being made; which if "
7288 "made, under this plan, would produce new income for artists. What reason "
7289 "would anyone have to oppose it?"
7293 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7294 #: freeculture.xml:5428
7296 "In February 2003, DreamWorks studios announced an agreement with Mike Myers, "
7297 "the comic genius of <citetitle>Saturday Night Live</citetitle> and Austin "
7298 "Powers. According to the announcement, Myers and Dream-Works would work "
7299 "together to form a <quote>unique filmmaking pact.</quote> Under the "
7300 "agreement, DreamWorks <quote>will acquire the rights to existing motion "
7301 "picture hits and classics, write new storylines and—with the use of "
7302 "stateof-the-art digital technology—insert Myers and other actors into "
7303 "the film, thereby creating an entirely new piece of entertainment.</quote>"
7306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7307 #: freeculture.xml:5440
7309 "The announcement called this <quote>film sampling.</quote> As Myers "
7310 "explained, <quote>Film Sampling is an exciting way to put an original spin "
7311 "on existing films and allow audiences to see old movies in a new light. Rap "
7312 "artists have been doing this for years with music and now we are able to "
7313 "take that same concept and apply it to film.</quote> Steven Spielberg is "
7314 "quoted as saying, <quote>If anyone can create a way to bring old films to "
7315 "new audiences, it is Mike.</quote>"
7318 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7319 #: freeculture.xml:5449
7321 "Spielberg is right. Film sampling by Myers will be brilliant. But if you "
7322 "don't think about it, you might miss the truly astonishing point about this "
7323 "announcement. As the vast majority of our film heritage remains under "
7324 "copyright, the real meaning of the DreamWorks announcement is just this: It "
7325 "is Mike Myers and only Mike Myers who is free to sample. Any general freedom "
7326 "to build upon the film archive of our culture, a freedom in other contexts "
7327 "presumed for us all, is now a privilege reserved for the funny and "
7328 "famous—and presumably rich."
7331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7332 #: freeculture.xml:5459
7334 "This privilege becomes reserved for two sorts of reasons. The first "
7335 "continues the story of the last chapter: the vagueness of <quote>fair "
7336 "use.</quote> Much of <quote>sampling</quote> should be considered "
7337 "<quote>fair use.</quote> But few would rely upon so weak a doctrine to "
7338 "create. That leads to the second reason that the privilege is reserved for "
7339 "the few: The costs of negotiating the legal rights for the creative reuse of "
7340 "content are astronomically high. These costs mirror the costs with fair "
7341 "use: You either pay a lawyer to defend your fair use rights or pay a lawyer "
7342 "to track down permissions so you don't have to rely upon fair use "
7343 "rights. Either way, the creative process is a process of paying "
7344 "lawyers—again a privilege, or perhaps a curse, reserved for the few."
7347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7348 #: freeculture.xml:5474
7349 msgid "CHAPTER NINE: Collectors"
7352 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7353 #: freeculture.xml:5476
7355 "In April 1996, millions of <quote>bots</quote>—computer codes designed "
7356 "to <quote>spider,</quote> or automatically search the Internet and copy "
7357 "content—began running across the Net. Page by page, these bots copied "
7358 "Internet-based information onto a small set of computers located in a "
7359 "basement in San Francisco's Presidio. Once the bots finished the whole of "
7360 "the Internet, they started again. Over and over again, once every two "
7361 "months, these bits of code took copies of the Internet and stored them."
7364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7365 #: freeculture.xml:5485
7367 "By October 2001, the bots had collected more than five years of copies. And "
7368 "at a small announcement in Berkeley, California, the archive that these "
7369 "copies created, the Internet Archive, was opened to the world. Using a "
7370 "technology called <quote>the Way Back Machine,</quote> you could enter a Web "
7371 "page, and see all of its copies going back to 1996, as well as when those "
7375 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7376 #: freeculture.xml:5493
7378 "This is the thing about the Internet that Orwell would have appreciated. In "
7379 "the dystopia described in <citetitle>1984</citetitle>, old newspapers were "
7380 "constantly updated to assure that the current view of the world, approved of "
7381 "by the government, was not contradicted by previous news reports."
7385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7386 #: freeculture.xml:5501
7388 "Thousands of workers constantly reedited the past, meaning there was no way "
7389 "ever to know whether the story you were reading today was the story that was "
7390 "printed on the date published on the paper."
7393 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7394 #: freeculture.xml:5506
7396 "It's the same with the Internet. If you go to a Web page today, there's no "
7397 "way for you to know whether the content you are reading is the same as the "
7398 "content you read before. The page may seem the same, but the content could "
7399 "easily be different. The Internet is Orwell's library—constantly "
7400 "updated, without any reliable memory."
7404 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7405 #: freeculture.xml:5519
7407 "The temptations remain, however. Brewster Kahle reports that the White House "
7408 "changes its own press releases without notice. A May 13, 2003, press release "
7409 "stated, <quote>Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.</quote> That was later "
7410 "changed, without notice, to <quote>Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have "
7411 "Ended.</quote> E-mail from Brewster Kahle, 1 December 2003."
7414 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7415 #: freeculture.xml:5513
7417 "Until the Way Back Machine, at least. With the Way Back Machine, and the "
7418 "Internet Archive underlying it, you can see what the Internet was. You have "
7419 "the power to see what you remember. More importantly, perhaps, you also have "
7420 "the power to find what you don't remember and what others might prefer you "
7421 "forget.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7425 #: freeculture.xml:5527
7427 "We take it for granted that we can go back to see what we remember "
7428 "reading. Think about newspapers. If you wanted to study the reaction of your "
7429 "hometown newspaper to the race riots in Watts in 1965, or to Bull Connor's "
7430 "water cannon in 1963, you could go to your public library and look at the "
7431 "newspapers. Those papers probably exist on microfiche. If you're lucky, they "
7432 "exist in paper, too. Either way, you are free, using a library, to go back "
7433 "and remember—not just what it is convenient to remember, but remember "
7434 "something close to the truth."
7437 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7438 #: freeculture.xml:5538
7440 "It is said that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat "
7441 "it. That's not quite correct. We <emphasis>all</emphasis> forget "
7442 "history. The key is whether we have a way to go back to rediscover what we "
7443 "forget. More directly, the key is whether an objective past can keep us "
7444 "honest. Libraries help do that, by collecting content and keeping it, for "
7445 "schoolchildren, for researchers, for grandma. A free society presumes this "
7450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7451 #: freeculture.xml:5547
7453 "The Internet was an exception to this presumption. Until the Internet "
7454 "Archive, there was no way to go back. The Internet was the quintessentially "
7455 "transitory medium. And yet, as it becomes more important in forming and "
7456 "reforming society, it becomes more and more important to maintain in some "
7457 "historical form. It's just bizarre to think that we have scads of archives "
7458 "of newspapers from tiny towns around the world, yet there is but one copy of "
7459 "the Internet—the one kept by the Internet Archive."
7462 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7463 #: freeculture.xml:5558
7465 "Brewster Kahle is the founder of the Internet Archive. He was a very "
7466 "successful Internet entrepreneur after he was a successful computer "
7467 "researcher. In the 1990s, Kahle decided he had had enough business "
7468 "success. It was time to become a different kind of success. So he launched "
7469 "a series of projects designed to archive human knowledge. The Internet "
7470 "Archive was just the first of the projects of this Andrew Carnegie of the "
7471 "Internet. By December of 2002, the archive had over 10 billion pages, and it "
7472 "was growing at about a billion pages a month."
7475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7476 #: freeculture.xml:5568
7478 "The Way Back Machine is the largest archive of human knowledge in human "
7479 "history. At the end of 2002, it held <quote>two hundred and thirty terabytes "
7480 "of material</quote>—and was <quote>ten times larger than the Library "
7481 "of Congress.</quote> And this was just the first of the archives that Kahle "
7482 "set out to build. In addition to the Internet Archive, Kahle has been "
7483 "constructing the Television Archive. Television, it turns out, is even more "
7484 "ephemeral than the Internet. While much of twentieth-century culture was "
7485 "constructed through television, only a tiny proportion of that culture is "
7486 "available for anyone to see today. Three hours of news are recorded each "
7487 "evening by Vanderbilt University—thanks to a specific exemption in the "
7488 "copyright law. That content is indexed, and is available to scholars for a "
7489 "very low fee. <quote>But other than that, [television] is almost "
7490 "unavailable,</quote> Kahle told me. <quote>If you were Barbara Walters you "
7491 "could get access to [the archives], but if you are just a graduate "
7492 "student?</quote> As Kahle put it,"
7495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
7496 #: freeculture.xml:5585
7501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7502 #: freeculture.xml:5587
7504 "Do you remember when Dan Quayle was interacting with Murphy Brown? Remember "
7505 "that back and forth surreal experience of a politician interacting with a "
7506 "fictional television character? If you were a graduate student wanting to "
7507 "study that, and you wanted to get those original back and forth exchanges "
7508 "between the two, the <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> episode that came out "
7509 "after it … it would be almost impossible. … Those materials "
7510 "are almost unfindable. …"
7513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7514 #: freeculture.xml:5599
7516 "Why is that? Why is it that the part of our culture that is recorded in "
7517 "newspapers remains perpetually accessible, while the part that is recorded "
7518 "on videotape is not? How is it that we've created a world where researchers "
7519 "trying to understand the effect of media on nineteenthcentury America will "
7520 "have an easier time than researchers trying to understand the effect of "
7521 "media on twentieth-century America?"
7524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7525 #: freeculture.xml:5607
7527 "In part, this is because of the law. Early in American copyright law, "
7528 "copyright owners were required to deposit copies of their work in "
7529 "libraries. These copies were intended both to facilitate the spread of "
7530 "knowledge and to assure that a copy of the work would be around once the "
7531 "copyright expired, so that others might access and copy the work."
7535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7536 #: freeculture.xml:5624
7538 "Doug Herrick, <quote>Toward a National Film Collection: Motion Pictures at "
7539 "the Library of Congress,</quote> <citetitle>Film Library "
7540 "Quarterly</citetitle> 13 nos. 2–3 (1980): 5; Anthony Slide, "
7541 "<citetitle>Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United "
7542 "States</citetitle> ( Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1992), 36."
7545 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7546 #: freeculture.xml:5615
7548 "These rules applied to film as well. But in 1915, the Library of Congress "
7549 "made an exception for film. Film could be copyrighted so long as such "
7550 "deposits were made. But the filmmaker was then allowed to borrow back the "
7551 "deposits—for an unlimited time at no cost. In 1915 alone, there were "
7552 "more than 5,475 films deposited and <quote>borrowed back.</quote> Thus, when "
7553 "the copyrights to films expire, there is no copy held by any library. The "
7554 "copy exists—if it exists at all—in the library archive of the "
7555 "film company.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7558 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7559 #: freeculture.xml:5632
7561 "The same is generally true about television. Television broadcasts were "
7562 "originally not copyrighted—there was no way to capture the broadcasts, "
7563 "so there was no fear of <quote>theft.</quote> But as technology enabled "
7564 "capturing, broadcasters relied increasingly upon the law. The law required "
7565 "they make a copy of each broadcast for the work to be "
7566 "<quote>copyrighted.</quote> But those copies were simply kept by the "
7567 "broadcasters. No library had any right to them; the government didn't demand "
7568 "them. The content of this part of American culture is practically invisible "
7569 "to anyone who would look."
7573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7574 #: freeculture.xml:5643
7576 "Kahle was eager to correct this. Before September 11, 2001, he and his "
7577 "allies had started capturing television. They selected twenty stations from "
7578 "around the world and hit the Record button. After September 11, Kahle, "
7579 "working with dozens of others, selected twenty stations from around the "
7580 "world and, beginning October 11, 2001, made their coverage during the week "
7581 "of September 11 available free on-line. Anyone could see how news reports "
7582 "from around the world covered the events of that day."
7585 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7586 #: freeculture.xml:5670
7587 msgid "Movie Archive"
7590 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7591 #: freeculture.xml:5654
7593 "Kahle had the same idea with film. Working with Rick Prelinger, whose "
7594 "archive of film includes close to 45,000 <quote>ephemeral films</quote> "
7595 "(meaning films other than Hollywood movies, films that were never "
7596 "copyrighted), Kahle established the Movie Archive. Prelinger let Kahle "
7597 "digitize 1,300 films in this archive and post those films on the Internet to "
7598 "be downloaded for free. Prelinger's is a for-profit company. It sells copies "
7599 "of these films as stock footage. What he has discovered is that after he "
7600 "made a significant chunk available for free, his stock footage sales went up "
7601 "dramatically. People could easily find the material they wanted to use. Some "
7602 "downloaded that material and made films on their own. Others purchased "
7603 "copies to enable other films to be made. Either way, the archive enabled "
7604 "access to this important part of our culture. Want to see a copy of the "
7605 "<quote>Duck and Cover</quote> film that instructed children how to save "
7606 "themselves in the middle of nuclear attack? Go to archive.org, and you can "
7607 "download the film in a few minutes—for free. <placeholder "
7608 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
7611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7612 #: freeculture.xml:5673
7614 "Here again, Kahle is providing access to a part of our culture that we "
7615 "otherwise could not get easily, if at all. It is yet another part of what "
7616 "defines the twentieth century that we have lost to history. The law doesn't "
7617 "require these copies to be kept by anyone, or to be deposited in an archive "
7618 "by anyone. Therefore, there is no simple way to find them."
7621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7622 #: freeculture.xml:5681
7624 "The key here is access, not price. Kahle wants to enable free access to this "
7625 "content, but he also wants to enable others to sell access to it. His aim is "
7626 "to ensure competition in access to this important part of our culture. Not "
7627 "during the commercial life of a bit of creative property, but during a "
7628 "second life that all creative property has—a noncommercial life."
7632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7633 #: freeculture.xml:5689
7635 "For here is an idea that we should more clearly recognize. Every bit of "
7636 "creative property goes through different <quote>lives.</quote> In its first "
7637 "life, if the creator is lucky, the content is sold. In such cases the "
7638 "commercial market is successful for the creator. The vast majority of "
7639 "creative property doesn't enjoy such success, but some clearly does. For "
7640 "that content, commercial life is extremely important. Without this "
7641 "commercial market, there would be, many argue, much less creativity."
7644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7645 #: freeculture.xml:5701
7647 "After the commercial life of creative property has ended, our tradition has "
7648 "always supported a second life as well. A newspaper delivers the news every "
7649 "day to the doorsteps of America. The very next day, it is used to wrap fish "
7650 "or to fill boxes with fragile gifts or to build an archive of knowledge "
7651 "about our history. In this second life, the content can continue to inform "
7652 "even if that information is no longer sold."
7656 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7657 #: freeculture.xml:5713
7659 "Dave Barns, <quote>Fledgling Career in Antique Books: Woodstock Landlord, "
7660 "Bar Owner Starts a New Chapter by Adopting Business,</quote> "
7661 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 5 September 1997, at Metro Lake "
7662 "1L. Of books published between 1927 and 1946, only 2.2 percent were in print "
7663 "in 2002. R. Anthony Reese, <quote>The First Sale Doctrine in the Era of "
7664 "Digital Networks,</quote> <citetitle>Boston College Law Review</citetitle> "
7665 "44 (2003): 593 n. 51."
7668 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7669 #: freeculture.xml:5710
7671 "The same has always been true about books. A book goes out of print very "
7672 "quickly (the average today is after about a year<placeholder "
7673 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>). After it is out of print, it can be sold in "
7674 "used book stores without the copyright owner getting anything and stored in "
7675 "libraries, where many get to read the book, also for free. Used book stores "
7676 "and libraries are thus the second life of a book. That second life is "
7677 "extremely important to the spread and stability of culture."
7680 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7681 #: freeculture.xml:5727
7683 "Yet increasingly, any assumption about a stable second life for creative "
7684 "property does not hold true with the most important components of popular "
7685 "culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For "
7686 "these—television, movies, music, radio, the Internet—there is no "
7687 "guarantee of a second life. For these sorts of culture, it is as if we've "
7688 "replaced libraries with Barnes & Noble superstores. With this culture, "
7689 "what's accessible is nothing but what a certain limited market demands. "
7690 "Beyond that, culture disappears."
7694 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7695 #: freeculture.xml:5738
7697 "For most of the twentieth century, it was economics that made this so. It "
7698 "would have been insanely expensive to collect and make accessible all "
7699 "television and film and music: The cost of analog copies is extraordinarily "
7700 "high. So even though the law in principle would have restricted the ability "
7701 "of a Brewster Kahle to copy culture generally, the real restriction was "
7702 "economics. The market made it impossibly difficult to do anything about this "
7703 "ephemeral culture; the law had little practical effect."
7706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7707 #: freeculture.xml:5750
7709 "Perhaps the single most important feature of the digital revolution is that "
7710 "for the first time since the Library of Alexandria, it is feasible to "
7711 "imagine constructing archives that hold all culture produced or distributed "
7712 "publicly. Technology makes it possible to imagine an archive of all books "
7713 "published, and increasingly makes it possible to imagine an archive of all "
7714 "moving images and sound."
7717 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7718 #: freeculture.xml:5758
7720 "The scale of this potential archive is something we've never imagined "
7721 "before. The Brewster Kahles of our history have dreamed about it; but we are "
7722 "for the first time at a point where that dream is possible. As Kahle "
7726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7727 #: freeculture.xml:5765
7729 "It looks like there's about two to three million recordings of music. "
7730 "Ever. There are about a hundred thousand theatrical releases of movies, "
7731 "… and about one to two million movies [distributed] during the "
7732 "twentieth century. There are about twenty-six million different titles of "
7733 "books. All of these would fit on computers that would fit in this room and "
7734 "be able to be afforded by a small company. So we're at a turning point in "
7735 "our history. Universal access is the goal. And the opportunity of leading a "
7736 "different life, based on this, is … thrilling. It could be one of the "
7737 "things humankind would be most proud of. Up there with the Library of "
7738 "Alexandria, putting a man on the moon, and the invention of the printing "
7743 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7744 #: freeculture.xml:5779
7746 "Kahle is not the only librarian. The Internet Archive is not the only "
7747 "archive. But Kahle and the Internet Archive suggest what the future of "
7748 "libraries or archives could be. <emphasis>When</emphasis> the commercial "
7749 "life of creative property ends, I don't know. But it does. And whenever it "
7750 "does, Kahle and his archive hint at a world where this knowledge, and "
7751 "culture, remains perpetually available. Some will draw upon it to understand "
7752 "it; some to criticize it. Some will use it, as Walt Disney did, to re-create "
7753 "the past for the future. These technologies promise something that had "
7754 "become unimaginable for much of our past—a future "
7755 "<emphasis>for</emphasis> our past. The technology of digital arts could make "
7756 "the dream of the Library of Alexandria real again."
7759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7760 #: freeculture.xml:5794
7762 "Technologists have thus removed the economic costs of building such an "
7763 "archive. But lawyers' costs remain. For as much as we might like to call "
7764 "these <quote>archives,</quote> as warm as the idea of a "
7765 "<quote>library</quote> might seem, the <quote>content</quote> that is "
7766 "collected in these digital spaces is also someone's <quote>property.</quote> "
7767 "And the law of property restricts the freedoms that Kahle and others would "
7771 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7772 #: freeculture.xml:5804
7773 msgid "CHAPTER TEN: <quote>Property</quote>"
7776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7777 #: freeculture.xml:5813
7778 msgid "Johnson, Lyndon"
7781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
7782 #: freeculture.xml:5814 freeculture.xml:9509
7783 msgid "Kennedy, John F."
7786 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7787 #: freeculture.xml:5806
7789 "Jack Valenti has been the president of the Motion Picture Association of "
7790 "America since 1966. He first came to Washington, D.C., with Lyndon Johnson's "
7791 "administration—literally. The famous picture of Johnson's swearing-in "
7792 "on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy has Valenti in "
7793 "the background. In his almost forty years of running the MPAA, Valenti has "
7794 "established himself as perhaps the most prominent and effective lobbyist in "
7795 "Washington. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
7796 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
7799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7800 #: freeculture.xml:5827
7801 msgid "Disney, Inc."
7804 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7805 #: freeculture.xml:5828
7806 msgid "Sony Pictures Entertainment"
7809 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7810 #: freeculture.xml:5829
7814 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7815 #: freeculture.xml:5830
7816 msgid "Paramount Pictures"
7819 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7820 #: freeculture.xml:5831
7821 msgid "Twentieth Century Fox"
7824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7825 #: freeculture.xml:5832
7826 msgid "Universal Pictures"
7829 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
7830 #: freeculture.xml:5833 freeculture.xml:7227
7831 msgid "Warner Brothers"
7834 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7835 #: freeculture.xml:5817
7837 "The MPAA is the American branch of the international Motion Picture "
7838 "Association. It was formed in 1922 as a trade association whose goal was to "
7839 "defend American movies against increasing domestic criticism. The "
7840 "organization now represents not only filmmakers but producers and "
7841 "distributors of entertainment for television, video, and cable. Its board is "
7842 "made up of the chairmen and presidents of the seven major producers and "
7843 "distributors of motion picture and television programs in the United States: "
7844 "Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth "
7845 "Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Brothers. <placeholder "
7846 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
7847 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7848 "id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> <placeholder "
7849 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"6\"/>"
7853 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7854 #: freeculture.xml:5837
7856 "Valenti is only the third president of the MPAA. No president before him has "
7857 "had as much influence over that organization, or over Washington. As a "
7858 "Texan, Valenti has mastered the single most important political skill of a "
7859 "Southerner—the ability to appear simple and slow while hiding a "
7860 "lightning-fast intellect. To this day, Valenti plays the simple, humble "
7861 "man. But this Harvard MBA, and author of four books, who finished high "
7862 "school at the age of fifteen and flew more than fifty combat missions in "
7863 "World War II, is no Mr. Smith. When Valenti went to Washington, he mastered "
7864 "the city in a quintessentially Washingtonian way."
7867 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7868 #: freeculture.xml:5849
7870 "In defending artistic liberty and the freedom of speech that our culture "
7871 "depends upon, the MPAA has done important good. In crafting the MPAA rating "
7872 "system, it has probably avoided a great deal of speech-regulating harm. But "
7873 "there is an aspect to the organization's mission that is both the most "
7874 "radical and the most important. This is the organization's effort, "
7875 "epitomized in Valenti's every act, to redefine the meaning of "
7876 "<quote>creative property.</quote>"
7879 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7880 #: freeculture.xml:5858
7881 msgid "In 1982, Valenti's testimony to Congress captured the strategy perfectly:"
7885 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
7886 #: freeculture.xml:5872
7888 "Home Recording of Copyrighted Works: Hearings on H.R. 4783, H.R. 4794, "
7889 "H.R. 4808, H.R. 5250, H.R. 5488, and H.R. 5705 Before the Subcommittee on "
7890 "Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice of the Committee "
7891 "on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, 97th Cong., 2nd "
7892 "sess. (1982): 65 (testimony of Jack Valenti)."
7895 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7896 #: freeculture.xml:5863
7898 "No matter the lengthy arguments made, no matter the charges and the "
7899 "counter-charges, no matter the tumult and the shouting, reasonable men and "
7900 "women will keep returning to the fundamental issue, the central theme which "
7901 "animates this entire debate: <emphasis>Creative property owners must be "
7902 "accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other property "
7903 "owners in the nation</emphasis>. That is the issue. That is the "
7904 "question. And that is the rostrum on which this entire hearing and the "
7905 "debates to follow must rest.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7910 #: freeculture.xml:5882
7912 "The strategy of this rhetoric, like the strategy of most of Valenti's "
7913 "rhetoric, is brilliant and simple and brilliant because simple. The "
7914 "<quote>central theme</quote> to which <quote>reasonable men and "
7915 "women</quote> will return is this: <quote>Creative property owners must be "
7916 "accorded the same rights and protections resident in all other property "
7917 "owners in the nation.</quote> There are no second-class citizens, Valenti "
7918 "might have continued. There should be no second-class property owners."
7921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7922 #: freeculture.xml:5893
7924 "This claim has an obvious and powerful intuitive pull. It is stated with "
7925 "such clarity as to make the idea as obvious as the notion that we use "
7926 "elections to pick presidents. But in fact, there is no more extreme a claim "
7927 "made by <emphasis>anyone</emphasis> who is serious in this debate than this "
7928 "claim of Valenti's. Jack Valenti, however sweet and however brilliant, is "
7929 "perhaps the nation's foremost extremist when it comes to the nature and "
7930 "scope of <quote>creative property.</quote> His views have "
7931 "<emphasis>no</emphasis> reasonable connection to our actual legal tradition, "
7932 "even if the subtle pull of his Texan charm has slowly redefined that "
7933 "tradition, at least in Washington."
7937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7938 #: freeculture.xml:5908
7940 "Lawyers speak of <quote>property</quote> not as an absolute thing, but as a "
7941 "bundle of rights that are sometimes associated with a particular "
7942 "object. Thus, my <quote>property right</quote> to my car gives me the right "
7943 "to exclusive use, but not the right to drive at 150 miles an hour. For the "
7944 "best effort to connect the ordinary meaning of <quote>property</quote> to "
7945 "<quote>lawyer talk,</quote> see Bruce Ackerman, <citetitle>Private Property "
7946 "and the Constitution</citetitle> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), "
7950 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7951 #: freeculture.xml:5905
7953 "While <quote>creative property</quote> is certainly <quote>property</quote> "
7954 "in a nerdy and precise sense that lawyers are trained to "
7955 "understand,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it has never been the "
7956 "case, nor should it be, that <quote>creative property owners</quote> have "
7957 "been <quote>accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other "
7958 "property owners.</quote> Indeed, if creative property owners were given the "
7959 "same rights as all other property owners, that would effect a radical, and "
7960 "radically undesirable, change in our tradition."
7963 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7964 #: freeculture.xml:5923
7966 "Valenti knows this. But he speaks for an industry that cares squat for our "
7967 "tradition and the values it represents. He speaks for an industry that is "
7968 "instead fighting to restore the tradition that the British overturned in "
7969 "1710. In the world that Valenti's changes would create, a powerful few would "
7970 "exercise powerful control over how our creative culture would develop."
7974 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7975 #: freeculture.xml:5931
7977 "I have two purposes in this chapter. The first is to convince you that, "
7978 "historically, Valenti's claim is absolutely wrong. The second is to convince "
7979 "you that it would be terribly wrong for us to reject our history. We have "
7980 "always treated rights in creative property differently from the rights "
7981 "resident in all other property owners. They have never been the same. And "
7982 "they should never be the same, because, however counterintuitive this may "
7983 "seem, to make them the same would be to fundamentally weaken the opportunity "
7984 "for new creators to create. Creativity depends upon the owners of "
7985 "creativity having less than perfect control."
7988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7989 #: freeculture.xml:5946
7991 "Organizations such as the MPAA, whose board includes the most powerful of "
7992 "the old guard, have little interest, their rhetoric notwithstanding, in "
7993 "assuring that the new can displace them. No organization does. No person "
7994 "does. (Ask me about tenure, for example.) But what's good for the MPAA is "
7995 "not necessarily good for America. A society that defends the ideals of free "
7996 "culture must preserve precisely the opportunity for new creativity to "
7997 "threaten the old. To get just a hint that there is something fundamentally "
7998 "wrong in Valenti's argument, we need look no further than the United States "
7999 "Constitution itself."
8002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8003 #: freeculture.xml:5958
8005 "The framers of our Constitution loved <quote>property.</quote> Indeed, so "
8006 "strongly did they love property that they built into the Constitution an "
8007 "important requirement. If the government takes your property—if it "
8008 "condemns your house, or acquires a slice of land from your farm—it is "
8009 "required, under the Fifth Amendment's <quote>Takings Clause,</quote> to pay "
8010 "you <quote>just compensation</quote> for that taking. The Constitution thus "
8011 "guarantees that property is, in a certain sense, sacred. It cannot "
8012 "<emphasis>ever</emphasis> be taken from the property owner unless the "
8013 "government pays for the privilege."
8017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8018 #: freeculture.xml:5969
8020 "Yet the very same Constitution speaks very differently about what Valenti "
8021 "calls <quote>creative property.</quote> In the clause granting Congress the "
8022 "power to create <quote>creative property,</quote> the Constitution "
8023 "<emphasis>requires</emphasis> that after a <quote>limited time,</quote> "
8024 "Congress take back the rights that it has granted and set the "
8025 "<quote>creative property</quote> free to the public domain. Yet when "
8026 "Congress does this, when the expiration of a copyright term "
8027 "<quote>takes</quote> your copyright and turns it over to the public domain, "
8028 "Congress does not have any obligation to pay <quote>just "
8029 "compensation</quote> for this <quote>taking.</quote> Instead, the same "
8030 "Constitution that requires compensation for your land requires that you lose "
8031 "your <quote>creative property</quote> right without any compensation at all."
8034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8035 #: freeculture.xml:5984
8037 "The Constitution thus on its face states that these two forms of property "
8038 "are not to be accorded the same rights. They are plainly to be treated "
8039 "differently. Valenti is therefore not just asking for a change in our "
8040 "tradition when he argues that creative-property owners should be accorded "
8041 "the same rights as every other property-right owner. He is effectively "
8042 "arguing for a change in our Constitution itself."
8045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8046 #: freeculture.xml:5993
8048 "Arguing for a change in our Constitution is not necessarily wrong. There "
8049 "was much in our original Constitution that was plainly wrong. The "
8050 "Constitution of 1789 entrenched slavery; it left senators to be appointed "
8051 "rather than elected; it made it possible for the electoral college to "
8052 "produce a tie between the president and his own vice president (as it did in "
8053 "1800). The framers were no doubt extraordinary, but I would be the first to "
8054 "admit that they made big mistakes. We have since rejected some of those "
8055 "mistakes; no doubt there could be others that we should reject as well. So "
8056 "my argument is not simply that because Jefferson did it, we should, too."
8059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8060 #: freeculture.xml:6005
8062 "Instead, my argument is that because Jefferson did it, we should at least "
8063 "try to understand <emphasis>why</emphasis>. Why did the framers, fanatical "
8064 "property types that they were, reject the claim that creative property be "
8065 "given the same rights as all other property? Why did they require that for "
8066 "creative property there must be a public domain?"
8069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8070 #: freeculture.xml:6013
8072 "To answer this question, we need to get some perspective on the history of "
8073 "these <quote>creative property</quote> rights, and the control that they "
8074 "enabled. Once we see clearly how differently these rights have been "
8075 "defined, we will be in a better position to ask the question that should be "
8076 "at the core of this war: Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> creative property "
8077 "should be protected, but how. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> we will "
8078 "enforce the rights the law gives to creative-property owners, but what the "
8079 "particular mix of rights ought to be. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> "
8080 "artists should be paid, but whether institutions designed to assure that "
8081 "artists get paid need also control how culture develops."
8085 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8086 #: freeculture.xml:6028
8088 "To answer these questions, we need a more general way to talk about how "
8089 "property is protected. More precisely, we need a more general way than the "
8090 "narrow language of the law allows. In <citetitle>Code and Other Laws of "
8091 "Cyberspace</citetitle>, I used a simple model to capture this more general "
8092 "perspective. For any particular right or regulation, this model asks how "
8093 "four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken the "
8094 "right or regulation. I represented it with this diagram:"
8097 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
8098 #: freeculture.xml:6037
8100 "How four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken "
8101 "the right or regulation."
8104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8105 #: freeculture.xml:6038 freeculture.xml:6215 freeculture.xml:6518
8106 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1331.png\"></graphic>"
8109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8110 #: freeculture.xml:6041
8112 "At the center of this picture is a regulated dot: the individual or group "
8113 "that is the target of regulation, or the holder of a right. (In each case "
8114 "throughout, we can describe this either as regulation or as a right. For "
8115 "simplicity's sake, I will speak only of regulations.) The ovals represent "
8116 "four ways in which the individual or group might be regulated— either "
8117 "constrained or, alternatively, enabled. Law is the most obvious constraint "
8118 "(to lawyers, at least). It constrains by threatening punishments after the "
8119 "fact if the rules set in advance are violated. So if, for example, you "
8120 "willfully infringe Madonna's copyright by copying a song from her latest CD "
8121 "and posting it on the Web, you can be punished with a $150,000 fine. The "
8122 "fine is an ex post punishment for violating an ex ante rule. It is imposed "
8123 "by the state. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8126 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8127 #: freeculture.xml:6058
8129 "Norms are a different kind of constraint. They, too, punish an individual "
8130 "for violating a rule. But the punishment of a norm is imposed by a "
8131 "community, not (or not only) by the state. There may be no law against "
8132 "spitting, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished if you spit on the "
8133 "ground while standing in line at a movie. The punishment might not be harsh, "
8134 "though depending upon the community, it could easily be more harsh than many "
8135 "of the punishments imposed by the state. The mark of the difference is not "
8136 "the severity of the rule, but the source of the enforcement."
8139 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8140 #: freeculture.xml:6069
8142 "The market is a third type of constraint. Its constraint is effected through "
8143 "conditions: You can do X if you pay Y; you'll be paid M if you do N. These "
8144 "constraints are obviously not independent of law or norms—it is "
8145 "property law that defines what must be bought if it is to be taken legally; "
8146 "it is norms that say what is appropriately sold. But given a set of norms, "
8147 "and a background of property and contract law, the market imposes a "
8148 "simultaneous constraint upon how an individual or group might behave."
8151 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8152 #: freeculture.xml:6079
8154 "Finally, and for the moment, perhaps, most mysteriously, "
8155 "<quote>architecture</quote>—the physical world as one finds "
8156 "it—is a constraint on behavior. A fallen bridge might constrain your "
8157 "ability to get across a river. Railroad tracks might constrain the ability "
8158 "of a community to integrate its social life. As with the market, "
8159 "architecture does not effect its constraint through ex post "
8160 "punishments. Instead, also as with the market, architecture effects its "
8161 "constraint through simultaneous conditions. These conditions are imposed not "
8162 "by courts enforcing contracts, or by police punishing theft, but by nature, "
8163 "by <quote>architecture.</quote> If a 500-pound boulder blocks your way, it "
8164 "is the law of gravity that enforces this constraint. If a $500 airplane "
8165 "ticket stands between you and a flight to New York, it is the market that "
8166 "enforces this constraint."
8170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8171 #: freeculture.xml:6096
8173 "So the first point about these four modalities of regulation is obvious: "
8174 "They interact. Restrictions imposed by one might be reinforced by "
8175 "another. Or restrictions imposed by one might be undermined by another."
8178 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8179 #: freeculture.xml:6102
8181 "The second point follows directly: If we want to understand the effective "
8182 "freedom that anyone has at a given moment to do any particular thing, we "
8183 "have to consider how these four modalities interact. Whether or not there "
8184 "are other constraints (there may well be; my claim is not about "
8185 "comprehensiveness), these four are among the most significant, and any "
8186 "regulator (whether controlling or freeing) must consider how these four in "
8187 "particular interact."
8190 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8191 #: freeculture.xml:6111
8192 msgid "driving speed, constraints on"
8195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8196 #: freeculture.xml:6114
8198 "So, for example, consider the <quote>freedom</quote> to drive a car at a "
8199 "high speed. That freedom is in part restricted by laws: speed limits that "
8200 "say how fast you can drive in particular places at particular times. It is "
8201 "in part restricted by architecture: speed bumps, for example, slow most "
8202 "rational drivers; governors in buses, as another example, set the maximum "
8203 "rate at which the driver can drive. The freedom is in part restricted by the "
8204 "market: Fuel efficiency drops as speed increases, thus the price of gasoline "
8205 "indirectly constrains speed. And finally, the norms of a community may or "
8206 "may not constrain the freedom to speed. Drive at 50 mph by a school in your "
8207 "own neighborhood and you're likely to be punished by the neighbors. The same "
8208 "norm wouldn't be as effective in a different town, or at night."
8212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8213 #: freeculture.xml:6132
8215 "By describing the way law affects the other three modalities, I don't mean "
8216 "to suggest that the other three don't affect law. Obviously, they do. Law's "
8217 "only distinction is that it alone speaks as if it has a right "
8218 "self-consciously to change the other three. The right of the other three is "
8219 "more timidly expressed. See Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>Code: And Other "
8220 "Laws of Cyberspace</citetitle> (New York: Basic Books, 1999): 90–95; "
8221 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>The New Chicago School,</quote> <citetitle>Journal "
8222 "of Legal Studies</citetitle>, June 1998."
8226 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8227 #: freeculture.xml:6128
8229 "The final point about this simple model should also be fairly clear: While "
8230 "these four modalities are analytically independent, law has a special role "
8231 "in affecting the three.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The law, in "
8232 "other words, sometimes operates to increase or decrease the constraint of a "
8233 "particular modality. Thus, the law might be used to increase taxes on "
8234 "gasoline, so as to increase the incentives to drive more slowly. The law "
8235 "might be used to mandate more speed bumps, so as to increase the difficulty "
8236 "of driving rapidly. The law might be used to fund ads that stigmatize "
8237 "reckless driving. Or the law might be used to require that other laws be "
8238 "more strict—a federal requirement that states decrease the speed "
8239 "limit, for example—so as to decrease the attractiveness of fast "
8243 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
8244 #: freeculture.xml:6156
8245 msgid "Law has a special role in affecting the three."
8248 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
8249 #: freeculture.xml:6157
8250 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1361.png\"></graphic>"
8253 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8254 #: freeculture.xml:6197
8255 msgid "Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)"
8258 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8259 #: freeculture.xml:6198
8260 msgid "Commons, John R."
8263 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8264 #: freeculture.xml:6168
8266 "Some people object to this way of talking about <quote>liberty.</quote> They "
8267 "object because their focus when considering the constraints that exist at "
8268 "any particular moment are constraints imposed exclusively by the "
8269 "government. For instance, if a storm destroys a bridge, these people think "
8270 "it is meaningless to say that one's liberty has been restrained. A bridge "
8271 "has washed out, and it's harder to get from one place to another. To talk "
8272 "about this as a loss of freedom, they say, is to confuse the stuff of "
8273 "politics with the vagaries of ordinary life. I don't mean to deny the value "
8274 "in this narrower view, which depends upon the context of the inquiry. I do, "
8275 "however, mean to argue against any insistence that this narrower view is the "
8276 "only proper view of liberty. As I argued in <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, we "
8277 "come from a long tradition of political thought with a broader focus than "
8278 "the narrow question of what the government did when. John Stuart Mill "
8279 "defended freedom of speech, for example, from the tyranny of narrow minds, "
8280 "not from the fear of government prosecution; John Stuart Mill, <citetitle>On "
8281 "Liberty</citetitle> (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Co., 1978), 19. John "
8282 "R. Commons famously defended the economic freedom of labor from constraints "
8283 "imposed by the market; John R. Commons, <quote>The Right to Work,</quote> in "
8284 "Malcom Rutherford and Warren J. Samuels, eds., <citetitle>John R. Commons: "
8285 "Selected Essays</citetitle> (London: Routledge: 1997), 62. The Americans "
8286 "with Disabilities Act increases the liberty of people with physical "
8287 "disabilities by changing the architecture of certain public places, thereby "
8288 "making access to those places easier; 42 <citetitle>United States "
8289 "Code</citetitle>, section 12101 (2000). Each of these interventions to "
8290 "change existing conditions changes the liberty of a particular group. The "
8291 "effect of those interventions should be accounted for in order to understand "
8292 "the effective liberty that each of these groups might face. <placeholder "
8293 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8297 #: freeculture.xml:6160
8299 "These constraints can thus change, and they can be changed. To understand "
8300 "the effective protection of liberty or protection of property at any "
8301 "particular moment, we must track these changes over time. A restriction "
8302 "imposed by one modality might be erased by another. A freedom enabled by one "
8303 "modality might be displaced by another.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
8307 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8308 #: freeculture.xml:6202
8309 msgid "Why Hollywood Is Right"
8312 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8313 #: freeculture.xml:6204
8315 "The most obvious point that this model reveals is just why, or just how, "
8316 "Hollywood is right. The copyright warriors have rallied Congress and the "
8317 "courts to defend copyright. This model helps us see why that rallying makes "
8321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8322 #: freeculture.xml:6210
8323 msgid "Let's say this is the picture of copyright's regulation before the Internet:"
8326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8327 #: freeculture.xml:6214 freeculture.xml:6517
8328 msgid "Copyright's regulation before the Internet."
8332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8333 #: freeculture.xml:6219
8335 "There is balance between law, norms, market, and architecture. The law "
8336 "limits the ability to copy and share content, by imposing penalties on those "
8337 "who copy and share content. Those penalties are reinforced by technologies "
8338 "that make it hard to copy and share content (architecture) and expensive to "
8339 "copy and share content (market). Finally, those penalties are mitigated by "
8340 "norms we all recognize—kids, for example, taping other kids' "
8341 "records. These uses of copyrighted material may well be infringement, but "
8342 "the norms of our society (before the Internet, at least) had no problem with "
8343 "this form of infringement."
8346 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8347 #: freeculture.xml:6231
8349 "Enter the Internet, or, more precisely, technologies such as MP3s and p2p "
8350 "sharing. Now the constraint of architecture changes dramatically, as does "
8351 "the constraint of the market. And as both the market and architecture relax "
8352 "the regulation of copyright, norms pile on. The happy balance (for the "
8353 "warriors, at least) of life before the Internet becomes an effective state "
8354 "of anarchy after the Internet."
8358 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8359 #: freeculture.xml:6239
8361 "Thus the sense of, and justification for, the warriors' response. "
8362 "Technology has changed, the warriors say, and the effect of this change, "
8363 "when ramified through the market and norms, is that a balance of protection "
8364 "for the copyright owners' rights has been lost. This is Iraq after the fall "
8365 "of Saddam, but this time no government is justifying the looting that "
8369 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8370 #: freeculture.xml:6249
8371 msgid "effective state of anarchy after the Internet."
8374 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8375 #: freeculture.xml:6250
8376 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1381.png\"></graphic>"
8379 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8380 #: freeculture.xml:6253
8382 "Neither this analysis nor the conclusions that follow are new to the "
8383 "warriors. Indeed, in a <quote>White Paper</quote> prepared by the Commerce "
8384 "Department (one heavily influenced by the copyright warriors) in 1995, this "
8385 "mix of regulatory modalities had already been identified and the strategy to "
8386 "respond already mapped. In response to the changes the Internet had "
8387 "effected, the White Paper argued (1) Congress should strengthen intellectual "
8388 "property law, (2) businesses should adopt innovative marketing techniques, "
8389 "(3) technologists should push to develop code to protect copyrighted "
8390 "material, and (4) educators should educate kids to better protect copyright."
8394 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8395 #: freeculture.xml:6265
8397 "This mixed strategy is just what copyright needed—if it was to "
8398 "preserve the particular balance that existed before the change induced by "
8399 "the Internet. And it's just what we should expect the content industry to "
8400 "push for. It is as American as apple pie to consider the happy life you have "
8401 "as an entitlement, and to look to the law to protect it if something comes "
8402 "along to change that happy life. Homeowners living in a flood plain have no "
8403 "hesitation appealing to the government to rebuild (and rebuild again) when a "
8404 "flood (architecture) wipes away their property (law). Farmers have no "
8405 "hesitation appealing to the government to bail them out when a virus "
8406 "(architecture) devastates their crop. Unions have no hesitation appealing to "
8407 "the government to bail them out when imports (market) wipe out the "
8408 "U.S. steel industry."
8411 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8412 #: freeculture.xml:6282
8414 "Thus, there's nothing wrong or surprising in the content industry's campaign "
8415 "to protect itself from the harmful consequences of a technological "
8416 "innovation. And I would be the last person to argue that the changing "
8417 "technology of the Internet has not had a profound effect on the content "
8418 "industry's way of doing business, or as John Seely Brown describes it, its "
8419 "<quote>architecture of revenue.</quote>"
8422 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8423 #: freeculture.xml:6289
8424 msgid "railroad industry"
8428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8429 #: freeculture.xml:6299
8431 "See Geoffrey Smith, <quote>Film vs. Digital: Can Kodak Build a "
8432 "Bridge?</quote> BusinessWeek online, 2 August 1999, available at <ulink "
8433 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #23</ulink>. For a more recent "
8434 "analysis of Kodak's place in the market, see Chana R. Schoenberger, "
8435 "<quote>Can Kodak Make Up for Lost Moments?</quote> Forbes.com, 6 October "
8436 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
8440 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8441 #: freeculture.xml:6291
8443 "But just because a particular interest asks for government support, it "
8444 "doesn't follow that support should be granted. And just because technology "
8445 "has weakened a particular way of doing business, it doesn't follow that the "
8446 "government should intervene to support that old way of doing "
8447 "business. Kodak, for example, has lost perhaps as much as 20 percent of "
8448 "their traditional film market to the emerging technologies of digital "
8449 "cameras.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Does anyone believe the "
8450 "government should ban digital cameras just to support Kodak? Highways have "
8451 "weakened the freight business for railroads. Does anyone think we should ban "
8452 "trucks from roads <emphasis>for the purpose of</emphasis> protecting the "
8453 "railroads? Closer to the subject of this book, remote channel changers have "
8454 "weakened the <quote>stickiness</quote> of television advertising (if a "
8455 "boring commercial comes on the TV, the remote makes it easy to surf ), and "
8456 "it may well be that this change has weakened the television advertising "
8457 "market. But does anyone believe we should regulate remotes to reinforce "
8458 "commercial television? (Maybe by limiting them to function only once a "
8459 "second, or to switch to only ten channels within an hour?)"
8463 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8464 #: freeculture.xml:6331
8466 "Fred Warshofsky, <citetitle>The Patent Wars</citetitle> (New York: Wiley, "
8467 "1994), 170–71."
8470 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8471 #: freeculture.xml:6340 freeculture.xml:12797
8475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8476 #: freeculture.xml:6321
8478 "The obvious answer to these obviously rhetorical questions is no. In a free "
8479 "society, with a free market, supported by free enterprise and free trade, "
8480 "the government's role is not to support one way of doing business against "
8481 "others. Its role is not to pick winners and protect them against loss. If "
8482 "the government did this generally, then we would never have any progress. As "
8483 "Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wrote in 1991, in a memo criticizing software "
8484 "patents, <quote>established companies have an interest in excluding future "
8485 "competitors.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And relative "
8486 "to a startup, established companies also have the means. (Think RCA and FM "
8487 "radio.) A world in which competitors with new ideas must fight not only the "
8488 "market but also the government is a world in which competitors with new "
8489 "ideas will not succeed. It is a world of stasis and increasingly "
8490 "concentrated stagnation. It is the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. "
8491 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8494 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8495 #: freeculture.xml:6343
8497 "Thus, while it is understandable for industries threatened with new "
8498 "technologies that change the way they do business to look to the government "
8499 "for protection, it is the special duty of policy makers to guarantee that "
8500 "that protection not become a deterrent to progress. It is the duty of policy "
8501 "makers, in other words, to assure that the changes they create, in response "
8502 "to the request of those hurt by changing technology, are changes that "
8503 "preserve the incentives and opportunities for innovation and change."
8506 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8507 #: freeculture.xml:6353
8509 "In the context of laws regulating speech—which include, obviously, "
8510 "copyright law—that duty is even stronger. When the industry "
8511 "complaining about changing technologies is asking Congress to respond in a "
8512 "way that burdens speech and creativity, policy makers should be especially "
8513 "wary of the request. It is always a bad deal for the government to get into "
8514 "the business of regulating speech markets. The risks and dangers of that "
8515 "game are precisely why our framers created the First Amendment to our "
8516 "Constitution: <quote>Congress shall make no law … abridging the "
8517 "freedom of speech.</quote> So when Congress is being asked to pass laws that "
8518 "would <quote>abridge</quote> the freedom of speech, it should ask— "
8519 "carefully—whether such regulation is justified."
8523 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8524 #: freeculture.xml:6367
8526 "My argument just now, however, has nothing to do with whether the changes "
8527 "that are being pushed by the copyright warriors are "
8528 "<quote>justified.</quote> My argument is about their effect. For before we "
8529 "get to the question of justification, a hard question that depends a great "
8530 "deal upon your values, we should first ask whether we understand the effect "
8531 "of the changes the content industry wants."
8534 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8535 #: freeculture.xml:6376
8536 msgid "Here's the metaphor that will capture the argument to follow."
8539 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8540 #: freeculture.xml:6379
8544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
8545 #: freeculture.xml:6387
8546 msgid "Müller, Paul Hermann"
8549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8550 #: freeculture.xml:6382
8552 "In 1873, the chemical DDT was first synthesized. In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul "
8553 "Hermann Müller won the Nobel Prize for his work demonstrating the "
8554 "insecticidal properties of DDT. By the 1950s, the insecticide was widely "
8555 "used around the world to kill disease-carrying pests. It was also used to "
8556 "increase farm production. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8560 #: freeculture.xml:6390
8562 "No one doubts that killing disease-carrying pests or increasing crop "
8563 "production is a good thing. No one doubts that the work of Müller was "
8564 "important and valuable and probably saved lives, possibly millions."
8567 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
8568 #: freeculture.xml:6394 freeculture.xml:6400
8569 msgid "Carson, Rachel"
8572 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
8573 #: freeculture.xml:6401
8574 msgid "Silent Sprint (Carson)"
8577 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8578 #: freeculture.xml:6396
8580 "But in 1962, Rachel Carson published <citetitle>Silent Spring</citetitle>, "
8581 "which argued that DDT, whatever its primary benefits, was also having "
8582 "unintended environmental consequences. Birds were losing the ability to "
8583 "reproduce. Whole chains of the ecology were being destroyed. <placeholder "
8584 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8587 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8588 #: freeculture.xml:6404
8590 "No one set out to destroy the environment. Paul Müller certainly did not aim "
8591 "to harm any birds. But the effort to solve one set of problems produced "
8592 "another set which, in the view of some, was far worse than the problems that "
8593 "were originally attacked. Or more accurately, the problems DDT caused were "
8594 "worse than the problems it solved, at least when considering the other, more "
8595 "environmentally friendly ways to solve the problems that DDT was meant to "
8600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8601 #: freeculture.xml:6417
8603 "See, for example, James Boyle, <quote>A Politics of Intellectual Property: "
8604 "Environmentalism for the Net?</quote> <citetitle>Duke Law "
8605 "Journal</citetitle> 47 (1997): 87."
8609 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8610 #: freeculture.xml:6413
8612 "It is to this image precisely that Duke University law professor James Boyle "
8613 "appeals when he argues that we need an <quote>environmentalism</quote> for "
8614 "culture.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His point, and the point I "
8615 "want to develop in the balance of this chapter, is not that the aims of "
8616 "copyright are flawed. Or that authors should not be paid for their work. Or "
8617 "that music should be given away <quote>for free.</quote> The point is that "
8618 "some of the ways in which we might protect authors will have unintended "
8619 "consequences for the cultural environment, much like DDT had for the natural "
8620 "environment. And just as criticism of DDT is not an endorsement of malaria "
8621 "or an attack on farmers, so, too, is criticism of one particular set of "
8622 "regulations protecting copyright not an endorsement of anarchy or an attack "
8623 "on authors. It is an environment of creativity that we seek, and we should "
8624 "be aware of our actions' effects on the environment."
8627 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8628 #: freeculture.xml:6434
8630 "My argument, in the balance of this chapter, tries to map exactly this "
8631 "effect. No doubt the technology of the Internet has had a dramatic effect on "
8632 "the ability of copyright owners to protect their content. But there should "
8633 "also be little doubt that when you add together the changes in copyright law "
8634 "over time, plus the change in technology that the Internet is undergoing "
8635 "just now, the net effect of these changes will not be only that copyrighted "
8636 "work is effectively protected. Also, and generally missed, the net effect of "
8637 "this massive increase in protection will be devastating to the environment "
8641 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8642 #: freeculture.xml:6445
8644 "In a line: To kill a gnat, we are spraying DDT with consequences for free "
8645 "culture that will be far more devastating than that this gnat will be lost."
8648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8649 #: freeculture.xml:6452
8653 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8654 #: freeculture.xml:6454
8656 "America copied English copyright law. Actually, we copied and improved "
8657 "English copyright law. Our Constitution makes the purpose of <quote>creative "
8658 "property</quote> rights clear; its express limitations reinforce the English "
8659 "aim to avoid overly powerful publishers."
8662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8663 #: freeculture.xml:6460
8665 "The power to establish <quote>creative property</quote> rights is granted to "
8666 "Congress in a way that, for our Constitution, at least, is very odd. Article "
8667 "I, section 8, clause 8 of our Constitution states that:"
8671 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8672 #: freeculture.xml:6465
8674 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, "
8675 "by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right "
8676 "to their respective Writings and Discoveries. We can call this the "
8677 "<quote>Progress Clause,</quote> for notice what this clause does not say. It "
8678 "does not say Congress has the power to grant <quote>creative property "
8679 "rights.</quote> It says that Congress has the power <emphasis>to promote "
8680 "progress</emphasis>. The grant of power is its purpose, and its purpose is a "
8681 "public one, not the purpose of enriching publishers, nor even primarily the "
8682 "purpose of rewarding authors."
8685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8686 #: freeculture.xml:6478
8688 "The Progress Clause expressly limits the term of copyrights. As we saw in "
8689 "chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"founders\"/>, the "
8690 "English limited the term of copyright so as to assure that a few would not "
8691 "exercise disproportionate control over culture by exercising "
8692 "disproportionate control over publishing. We can assume the framers followed "
8693 "the English for a similar purpose. Indeed, unlike the English, the framers "
8694 "reinforced that objective, by requiring that copyrights extend <quote>to "
8695 "Authors</quote> only."
8698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8699 #: freeculture.xml:6488
8701 "The design of the Progress Clause reflects something about the "
8702 "Constitution's design in general. To avoid a problem, the framers built "
8703 "structure. To prevent the concentrated power of publishers, they built a "
8704 "structure that kept copyrights away from publishers and kept them short. To "
8705 "prevent the concentrated power of a church, they banned the federal "
8706 "government from establishing a church. To prevent concentrating power in the "
8707 "federal government, they built structures to reinforce the power of the "
8708 "states—including the Senate, whose members were at the time selected "
8709 "by the states, and an electoral college, also selected by the states, to "
8710 "select the president. In each case, a <emphasis>structure</emphasis> built "
8711 "checks and balances into the constitutional frame, structured to prevent "
8712 "otherwise inevitable concentrations of power."
8715 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8716 #: freeculture.xml:6503
8718 "I doubt the framers would recognize the regulation we call "
8719 "<quote>copyright</quote> today. The scope of that regulation is far beyond "
8720 "anything they ever considered. To begin to understand what they did, we need "
8721 "to put our <quote>copyright</quote> in context: We need to see how it has "
8722 "changed in the 210 years since they first struck its design."
8726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8727 #: freeculture.xml:6510
8729 "Some of these changes come from the law: some in light of changes in "
8730 "technology, and some in light of changes in technology given a particular "
8731 "concentration of market power. In terms of our model, we started here:"
8734 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8735 #: freeculture.xml:6521
8736 msgid "We will end here:"
8739 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8740 #: freeculture.xml:6524
8741 msgid "<quote>Copyright</quote> today."
8744 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8745 #: freeculture.xml:6525
8746 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1442.png\"></graphic>"
8750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8751 #: freeculture.xml:6528
8752 msgid "Let me explain how."
8755 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8756 #: freeculture.xml:6533
8757 msgid "Law: Duration"
8760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8761 #: freeculture.xml:6549
8762 msgid "Crosskey, William W."
8765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8766 #: freeculture.xml:6543
8768 "William W. Crosskey, <citetitle>Politics and the Constitution in the History "
8769 "of the United States</citetitle> (London: Cambridge University Press, 1953), "
8770 "vol. 1, 485–86: <quote>extinguish[ing], by plain implication of `the "
8771 "supreme Law of the Land,' <emphasis>the perpetual rights which authors had, "
8772 "or were supposed by some to have, under the Common Law</emphasis></quote> "
8773 "(emphasis added). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8777 #: freeculture.xml:6535
8779 "When the first Congress enacted laws to protect creative property, it faced "
8780 "the same uncertainty about the status of creative property that the English "
8781 "had confronted in 1774. Many states had passed laws protecting creative "
8782 "property, and some believed that these laws simply supplemented common law "
8783 "rights that already protected creative authorship.<placeholder "
8784 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This meant that there was no guaranteed public "
8785 "domain in the United States in 1790. If copyrights were protected by the "
8786 "common law, then there was no simple way to know whether a work published in "
8787 "the United States was controlled or free. Just as in England, this lingering "
8788 "uncertainty would make it hard for publishers to rely upon a public domain "
8789 "to reprint and distribute works."
8792 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8793 #: freeculture.xml:6559
8795 "That uncertainty ended after Congress passed legislation granting "
8796 "copyrights. Because federal law overrides any contrary state law, federal "
8797 "protections for copyrighted works displaced any state law protections. Just "
8798 "as in England the Statute of Anne eventually meant that the copyrights for "
8799 "all English works expired, a federal statute meant that any state copyrights "
8803 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8804 #: freeculture.xml:6567
8806 "In 1790, Congress enacted the first copyright law. It created a federal "
8807 "copyright and secured that copyright for fourteen years. If the author was "
8808 "alive at the end of that fourteen years, then he could opt to renew the "
8809 "copyright for another fourteen years. If he did not renew the copyright, his "
8810 "work passed into the public domain."
8814 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8815 #: freeculture.xml:6582
8817 "Although 13,000 titles were published in the United States from 1790 to "
8818 "1799, only 556 copyright registrations were filed; John Tebbel, <citetitle>A "
8819 "History of Book Publishing in the United States</citetitle>, vol. 1, "
8820 "<citetitle>The Creation of an Industry, 1630–1865</citetitle> (New "
8821 "York: Bowker, 1972), 141. Of the 21,000 imprints recorded before 1790, only "
8822 "twelve were copyrighted under the 1790 act; William J. Maher, "
8823 "<citetitle>Copyright Term, Retrospective Extension and the Copyright Law of "
8824 "1790 in Historical Context</citetitle>, 7–10 (2002), available at "
8825 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #25</ulink>. Thus, the "
8826 "overwhelming majority of works fell immediately into the public domain. Even "
8827 "those works that were copyrighted fell into the public domain quickly, "
8828 "because the term of copyright was short. The initial term of copyright was "
8829 "fourteen years, with the option of renewal for an additional fourteen "
8830 "years. Copyright Act of May 31, 1790, §1, 1 stat. 124."
8833 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8834 #: freeculture.xml:6574
8836 "While there were many works created in the United States in the first ten "
8837 "years of the Republic, only 5 percent of the works were actually registered "
8838 "under the federal copyright regime. Of all the work created in the United "
8839 "States both before 1790 and from 1790 through 1800, 95 percent immediately "
8840 "passed into the public domain; the balance would pass into the pubic domain "
8841 "within twenty-eight years at most, and more likely within fourteen "
8842 "years.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8847 #: freeculture.xml:6598
8849 "This system of renewal was a crucial part of the American system of "
8850 "copyright. It assured that the maximum terms of copyright would be granted "
8851 "only for works where they were wanted. After the initial term of fourteen "
8852 "years, if it wasn't worth it to an author to renew his copyright, then it "
8853 "wasn't worth it to society to insist on the copyright, either."
8857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8858 #: freeculture.xml:6613
8860 "Few copyright holders ever chose to renew their copyrights. For instance, of "
8861 "the 25,006 copyrights registered in 1883, only 894 were renewed in 1910. For "
8862 "a year-by-year analysis of copyright renewal rates, see Barbara A. Ringer, "
8863 "<quote>Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Studies on "
8864 "Copyright</citetitle>, vol. 1 (New York: Practicing Law Institute, 1963), "
8865 "618. For a more recent and comprehensive analysis, see William M. Landes and "
8866 "Richard A. Posner, <quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> "
8867 "<citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 471, "
8868 "498–501, and accompanying figures."
8871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8872 #: freeculture.xml:6607
8874 "Fourteen years may not seem long to us, but for the vast majority of "
8875 "copyright owners at that time, it was long enough: Only a small minority of "
8876 "them renewed their copyright after fourteen years; the balance allowed their "
8877 "work to pass into the public domain.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
8882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8883 #: freeculture.xml:6628
8884 msgid "See Ringer, ch. 9, n. 2."
8887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8888 #: freeculture.xml:6624
8890 "Even today, this structure would make sense. Most creative work has an "
8891 "actual commercial life of just a couple of years. Most books fall out of "
8892 "print after one year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When that "
8893 "happens, the used books are traded free of copyright regulation. Thus the "
8894 "books are no longer <emphasis>effectively</emphasis> controlled by "
8895 "copyright. The only practical commercial use of the books at that time is to "
8896 "sell the books as used books; that use—because it does not involve "
8897 "publication—is effectively free."
8900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8901 #: freeculture.xml:6636
8903 "In the first hundred years of the Republic, the term of copyright was "
8904 "changed once. In 1831, the term was increased from a maximum of 28 years to "
8905 "a maximum of 42 by increasing the initial term of copyright from 14 years to "
8906 "28 years. In the next fifty years of the Republic, the term increased once "
8907 "again. In 1909, Congress extended the renewal term of 14 years to 28 years, "
8908 "setting a maximum term of 56 years."
8911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8912 #: freeculture.xml:6644
8914 "Then, beginning in 1962, Congress started a practice that has defined "
8915 "copyright law since. Eleven times in the last forty years, Congress has "
8916 "extended the terms of existing copyrights; twice in those forty years, "
8917 "Congress extended the term of future copyrights. Initially, the extensions "
8918 "of existing copyrights were short, a mere one to two years. In 1976, "
8919 "Congress extended all existing copyrights by nineteen years. And in 1998, "
8920 "in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Congress extended the term "
8921 "of existing and future copyrights by twenty years."
8925 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8926 #: freeculture.xml:6654
8928 "The effect of these extensions is simply to toll, or delay, the passing of "
8929 "works into the public domain. This latest extension means that the public "
8930 "domain will have been tolled for thirty-nine out of fifty-five years, or 70 "
8931 "percent of the time since 1962. Thus, in the twenty years after the Sonny "
8932 "Bono Act, while one million patents will pass into the public domain, zero "
8933 "copyrights will pass into the public domain by virtue of the expiration of a "
8937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8938 #: freeculture.xml:6665
8940 "The effect of these extensions has been exacerbated by another, "
8941 "little-noticed change in the copyright law. Remember I said that the framers "
8942 "established a two-part copyright regime, requiring a copyright owner to "
8943 "renew his copyright after an initial term. The requirement of renewal meant "
8944 "that works that no longer needed copyright protection would pass more "
8945 "quickly into the public domain. The works remaining under protection would "
8946 "be those that had some continuing commercial value."
8949 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8950 #: freeculture.xml:6675
8952 "The United States abandoned this sensible system in 1976. For all works "
8953 "created after 1978, there was only one copyright term—the maximum "
8954 "term. For <quote>natural</quote> authors, that term was life plus fifty "
8955 "years. For corporations, the term was seventy-five years. Then, in 1992, "
8956 "Congress abandoned the renewal requirement for all works created before "
8957 "1978. All works still under copyright would be accorded the maximum term "
8958 "then available. After the Sonny Bono Act, that term was ninety-five years."
8961 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8962 #: freeculture.xml:6685
8964 "This change meant that American law no longer had an automatic way to assure "
8965 "that works that were no longer exploited passed into the public domain. And "
8966 "indeed, after these changes, it is unclear whether it is even possible to "
8967 "put works into the public domain. The public domain is orphaned by these "
8968 "changes in copyright law. Despite the requirement that terms be "
8969 "<quote>limited,</quote> we have no evidence that anything will limit them."
8973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8974 #: freeculture.xml:6702
8976 "These statistics are understated. Between the years 1910 and 1962 (the first "
8977 "year the renewal term was extended), the average term was never more than "
8978 "thirty-two years, and averaged thirty years. See Landes and Posner, "
8979 "<quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> loc. cit."
8982 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8983 #: freeculture.xml:6694
8985 "The effect of these changes on the average duration of copyright is "
8986 "dramatic. In 1973, more than 85 percent of copyright owners failed to renew "
8987 "their copyright. That meant that the average term of copyright in 1973 was "
8988 "just 32.2 years. Because of the elimination of the renewal requirement, the "
8989 "average term of copyright is now the maximum term. In thirty years, then, "
8990 "the average term has tripled, from 32.2 years to 95 years.<placeholder "
8991 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8995 #: freeculture.xml:6711
8999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9000 #: freeculture.xml:6713
9002 "The <quote>scope</quote> of a copyright is the range of rights granted by "
9003 "the law. The scope of American copyright has changed dramatically. Those "
9004 "changes are not necessarily bad. But we should understand the extent of the "
9005 "changes if we're to keep this debate in context."
9008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9009 #: freeculture.xml:6719
9011 "In 1790, that scope was very narrow. Copyright covered only <quote>maps, "
9012 "charts, and books.</quote> That means it didn't cover, for example, music or "
9013 "architecture. More significantly, the right granted by a copyright gave the "
9014 "author the exclusive right to <quote>publish</quote> copyrighted works. That "
9015 "means someone else violated the copyright only if he republished the work "
9016 "without the copyright owner's permission. Finally, the right granted by a "
9017 "copyright was an exclusive right to that particular book. The right did not "
9018 "extend to what lawyers call <quote>derivative works.</quote> It would not, "
9019 "therefore, interfere with the right of someone other than the author to "
9020 "translate a copyrighted book, or to adapt the story to a different form "
9021 "(such as a drama based on a published book)."
9024 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9025 #: freeculture.xml:6732
9027 "This, too, has changed dramatically. While the contours of copyright today "
9028 "are extremely hard to describe simply, in general terms, the right covers "
9029 "practically any creative work that is reduced to a tangible form. It covers "
9030 "music as well as architecture, drama as well as computer programs. It gives "
9031 "the copyright owner of that creative work not only the exclusive right to "
9032 "<quote>publish</quote> the work, but also the exclusive right of control "
9033 "over any <quote>copies</quote> of that work. And most significant for our "
9034 "purposes here, the right gives the copyright owner control over not only his "
9035 "or her particular work, but also any <quote>derivative work</quote> that "
9036 "might grow out of the original work. In this way, the right covers more "
9037 "creative work, protects the creative work more broadly, and protects works "
9038 "that are based in a significant way on the initial creative work."
9042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9043 #: freeculture.xml:6747
9045 "At the same time that the scope of copyright has expanded, procedural "
9046 "limitations on the right have been relaxed. I've already described the "
9047 "complete removal of the renewal requirement in 1992. In addition to the "
9048 "renewal requirement, for most of the history of American copyright law, "
9049 "there was a requirement that a work be registered before it could receive "
9050 "the protection of a copyright. There was also a requirement that any "
9051 "copyrighted work be marked either with that famous © or the word "
9052 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis>. And for most of the history of American "
9053 "copyright law, there was a requirement that works be deposited with the "
9054 "government before a copyright could be secured."
9057 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9058 #: freeculture.xml:6761
9060 "The reason for the registration requirement was the sensible understanding "
9061 "that for most works, no copyright was required. Again, in the first ten "
9062 "years of the Republic, 95 percent of works eligible for copyright were never "
9063 "copyrighted. Thus, the rule reflected the norm: Most works apparently didn't "
9064 "need copyright, so registration narrowed the regulation of the law to the "
9065 "few that did. The same reasoning justified the requirement that a work be "
9066 "marked as copyrighted—that way it was easy to know whether a copyright "
9067 "was being claimed. The requirement that works be deposited was to assure "
9068 "that after the copyright expired, there would be a copy of the work "
9069 "somewhere so that it could be copied by others without locating the original "
9073 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9074 #: freeculture.xml:6775
9076 "All of these <quote>formalities</quote> were abolished in the American "
9077 "system when we decided to follow European copyright law. There is no "
9078 "requirement that you register a work to get a copyright; the copyright now "
9079 "is automatic; the copyright exists whether or not you mark your work with a "
9080 "©; and the copyright exists whether or not you actually make a copy "
9081 "available for others to copy."
9084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9085 #: freeculture.xml:6783
9086 msgid "Consider a practical example to understand the scope of these differences."
9090 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9091 #: freeculture.xml:6794
9093 "See Thomas Bender and David Sampliner, <quote>Poets, Pirates, and the "
9094 "Creation of American Literature,</quote> 29 <citetitle>New York University "
9095 "Journal of International Law and Politics</citetitle> 255 (1997), and James "
9096 "Gilraeth, ed., Federal Copyright Records, 1790–1800 (U.S. G.P.O., "
9100 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9101 #: freeculture.xml:6787
9103 "If, in 1790, you wrote a book and you were one of the 5 percent who actually "
9104 "copyrighted that book, then the copyright law protected you against another "
9105 "publisher's taking your book and republishing it without your "
9106 "permission. The aim of the act was to regulate publishers so as to prevent "
9107 "that kind of unfair competition. In 1790, there were 174 publishers in the "
9108 "United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Copyright Act "
9109 "was thus a tiny regulation of a tiny proportion of a tiny part of the "
9110 "creative market in the United States—publishers."
9114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9115 #: freeculture.xml:6806
9117 "The act left other creators totally unregulated. If I copied your poem by "
9118 "hand, over and over again, as a way to learn it by heart, my act was totally "
9119 "unregulated by the 1790 act. If I took your novel and made a play based upon "
9120 "it, or if I translated it or abridged it, none of those activities were "
9121 "regulated by the original copyright act. These creative activities remained "
9122 "free, while the activities of publishers were restrained."
9125 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9126 #: freeculture.xml:6815
9128 "Today the story is very different: If you write a book, your book is "
9129 "automatically protected. Indeed, not just your book. Every e-mail, every "
9130 "note to your spouse, every doodle, <emphasis>every</emphasis> creative act "
9131 "that's reduced to a tangible form—all of this is automatically "
9132 "copyrighted. There is no need to register or mark your work. The protection "
9133 "follows the creation, not the steps you take to protect it."
9136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9137 #: freeculture.xml:6824
9139 "That protection gives you the right (subject to a narrow range of fair use "
9140 "exceptions) to control how others copy the work, whether they copy it to "
9141 "republish it or to share an excerpt."
9144 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9145 #: freeculture.xml:6829
9147 "That much is the obvious part. Any system of copyright would control "
9148 "competing publishing. But there's a second part to the copyright of today "
9149 "that is not at all obvious. This is the protection of <quote>derivative "
9150 "rights.</quote> If you write a book, no one can make a movie out of your "
9151 "book without permission. No one can translate it without permission. "
9152 "CliffsNotes can't make an abridgment unless permission is granted. All of "
9153 "these derivative uses of your original work are controlled by the copyright "
9154 "holder. The copyright, in other words, is now not just an exclusive right to "
9155 "your writings, but an exclusive right to your writings and a large "
9156 "proportion of the writings inspired by them."
9159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9160 #: freeculture.xml:6843
9162 "It is this derivative right that would seem most bizarre to our framers, "
9163 "though it has become second nature to us. Initially, this expansion was "
9164 "created to deal with obvious evasions of a narrower copyright. If I write a "
9165 "book, can you change one word and then claim a copyright in a new and "
9166 "different book? Obviously that would make a joke of the copyright, so the "
9167 "law was properly expanded to include those slight modifications as well as "
9168 "the verbatim original work."
9171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9172 #: freeculture.xml:6865
9174 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>The Copyright Cage,</quote> <citetitle>Legal "
9175 "Affairs</citetitle>, July/August 2003, available at <ulink "
9176 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #26</ulink>. <placeholder "
9177 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9181 #: freeculture.xml:6855
9183 "In preventing that joke, the law created an astonishing power within a free "
9184 "culture—at least, it's astonishing when you understand that the law "
9185 "applies not just to the commercial publisher but to anyone with a "
9186 "computer. I understand the wrong in duplicating and selling someone else's "
9187 "work. But whatever <emphasis>that</emphasis> wrong is, transforming someone "
9188 "else's work is a different wrong. Some view transformation as no wrong at "
9189 "all—they believe that our law, as the framers penned it, should not "
9190 "protect derivative rights at all.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9191 "Whether or not you go that far, it seems plain that whatever wrong is "
9192 "involved is fundamentally different from the wrong of direct piracy."
9195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
9196 #: freeculture.xml:6887
9197 msgid "Rubenfeld, Jeb"
9200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9201 #: freeculture.xml:6880
9203 "Professor Rubenfeld has presented a powerful constitutional argument about "
9204 "the difference that copyright law should draw (from the perspective of the "
9205 "First Amendment) between mere <quote>copies</quote> and derivative "
9206 "works. See Jed Rubenfeld, <quote>The Freedom of Imagination: Copyright's "
9207 "Constitutionality,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 112 "
9208 "(2002): 1–60 (see especially pp. 53–59). <placeholder "
9209 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9213 #: freeculture.xml:6875
9215 "Yet copyright law treats these two different wrongs in the same way. I can "
9216 "go to court and get an injunction against your pirating my book. I can go to "
9217 "court and get an injunction against your transformative use of my "
9218 "book.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These two different uses of "
9219 "my creative work are treated the same."
9222 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9223 #: freeculture.xml:6892
9225 "This again may seem right to you. If I wrote a book, then why should you be "
9226 "able to write a movie that takes my story and makes money from it without "
9227 "paying me or crediting me? Or if Disney creates a creature called "
9228 "<quote>Mickey Mouse,</quote> why should you be able to make Mickey Mouse "
9229 "toys and be the one to trade on the value that Disney originally created?"
9232 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9233 #: freeculture.xml:6900
9235 "These are good arguments, and, in general, my point is not that the "
9236 "derivative right is unjustified. My aim just now is much narrower: simply to "
9237 "make clear that this expansion is a significant change from the rights "
9238 "originally granted."
9241 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9242 #: freeculture.xml:6907
9243 msgid "Law and Architecture: Reach"
9247 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9248 #: freeculture.xml:6914
9250 "This is a simplification of the law, but not much of one. The law certainly "
9251 "regulates more than <quote>copies</quote>—a public performance of a "
9252 "copyrighted song, for example, is regulated even though performance per se "
9253 "doesn't make a copy; 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section "
9254 "106(4). And it certainly sometimes doesn't regulate a <quote>copy</quote>; "
9255 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 112(a). But the "
9256 "presumption under the existing law (which regulates <quote>copies;</quote> "
9257 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 102) is that if there "
9258 "is a copy, there is a right."
9261 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9262 #: freeculture.xml:6909
9264 "Whereas originally the law regulated only publishers, the change in "
9265 "copyright's scope means that the law today regulates publishers, users, and "
9266 "authors. It regulates them because all three are capable of making copies, "
9267 "and the core of the regulation of copyright law is copies.<placeholder "
9268 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9272 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9273 #: freeculture.xml:6926
9275 "<quote>Copies.</quote> That certainly sounds like the obvious thing for "
9276 "<emphasis>copy</emphasis>right law to regulate. But as with Jack Valenti's "
9277 "argument at the start of this chapter, that <quote>creative property</quote> "
9278 "deserves the <quote>same rights</quote> as all other property, it is the "
9279 "<emphasis>obvious</emphasis> that we need to be most careful about. For "
9280 "while it may be obvious that in the world before the Internet, copies were "
9281 "the obvious trigger for copyright law, upon reflection, it should be obvious "
9282 "that in the world with the Internet, copies should <emphasis>not</emphasis> "
9283 "be the trigger for copyright law. More precisely, they should not "
9284 "<emphasis>always</emphasis> be the trigger for copyright law."
9288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9289 #: freeculture.xml:6944
9291 "Thus, my argument is not that in each place that copyright law extends, we "
9292 "should repeal it. It is instead that we should have a good argument for its "
9293 "extending where it does, and should not determine its reach on the basis of "
9294 "arbitrary and automatic changes caused by technology."
9297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9298 #: freeculture.xml:6939
9300 "This is perhaps the central claim of this book, so let me take this very "
9301 "slowly so that the point is not easily missed. My claim is that the Internet "
9302 "should at least force us to rethink the conditions under which the law of "
9303 "copyright automatically applies,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9304 "because it is clear that the current reach of copyright was never "
9305 "contemplated, much less chosen, by the legislators who enacted copyright "
9309 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9310 #: freeculture.xml:6955
9312 "We can see this point abstractly by beginning with this largely empty "
9316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9317 #: freeculture.xml:6959
9318 msgid "All potential uses of a book."
9321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9322 #: freeculture.xml:6960
9323 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1521.png\"></graphic>"
9327 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9328 #: freeculture.xml:6964
9330 "Think about a book in real space, and imagine this circle to represent all "
9331 "its potential <emphasis>uses</emphasis>. Most of these uses are unregulated "
9332 "by copyright law, because the uses don't create a copy. If you read a book, "
9333 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you give someone the book, "
9334 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you resell a book, that act "
9335 "is not regulated (copyright law expressly states that after the first sale "
9336 "of a book, the copyright owner can impose no further conditions on the "
9337 "disposition of the book). If you sleep on the book or use it to hold up a "
9338 "lamp or let your puppy chew it up, those acts are not regulated by copyright "
9339 "law, because those acts do not make a copy."
9342 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9343 #: freeculture.xml:6977
9344 msgid "Examples of unregulated uses of a book."
9347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9348 #: freeculture.xml:6978
9349 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1531.png\"></graphic>"
9352 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9353 #: freeculture.xml:6981
9355 "Obviously, however, some uses of a copyrighted book are regulated by "
9356 "copyright law. Republishing the book, for example, makes a copy. It is "
9357 "therefore regulated by copyright law. Indeed, this particular use stands at "
9358 "the core of this circle of possible uses of a copyrighted work. It is the "
9359 "paradigmatic use properly regulated by copyright regulation (see first "
9360 "diagram on next page)."
9363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9364 #: freeculture.xml:6989
9366 "Finally, there is a tiny sliver of otherwise regulated copying uses that "
9367 "remain unregulated because the law considers these <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
9370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9371 #: freeculture.xml:6994
9373 "Republishing stands at the core of this circle of possible uses of a "
9377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9378 #: freeculture.xml:6995
9379 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1541.png\"></graphic>"
9382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9383 #: freeculture.xml:6998
9385 "These are uses that themselves involve copying, but which the law treats as "
9386 "unregulated because public policy demands that they remain unregulated. You "
9387 "are free to quote from this book, even in a review that is quite negative, "
9388 "without my permission, even though that quoting makes a copy. That copy "
9389 "would ordinarily give the copyright owner the exclusive right to say whether "
9390 "the copy is allowed or not, but the law denies the owner any exclusive right "
9391 "over such <quote>fair uses</quote> for public policy (and possibly First "
9392 "Amendment) reasons."
9395 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9396 #: freeculture.xml:7008
9397 msgid "Unregulated copying considered <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
9400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9401 #: freeculture.xml:7009
9402 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1542.png\"></graphic>"
9405 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9406 #: freeculture.xml:7013
9408 "Uses that before were presumptively unregulated are now presumptively "
9412 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9413 #: freeculture.xml:7014
9414 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1551.png\"></graphic>"
9418 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9419 #: freeculture.xml:7018
9421 "In real space, then, the possible uses of a book are divided into three "
9422 "sorts: (1) unregulated uses, (2) regulated uses, and (3) regulated uses that "
9423 "are nonetheless deemed <quote>fair</quote> regardless of the copyright "
9428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9429 #: freeculture.xml:7026
9431 "I don't mean <quote>nature</quote> in the sense that it couldn't be "
9432 "different, but rather that its present instantiation entails a copy. Optical "
9433 "networks need not make copies of content they transmit, and a digital "
9434 "network could be designed to delete anything it copies so that the same "
9435 "number of copies remain."
9438 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9439 #: freeculture.xml:7023
9441 "Enter the Internet—a distributed, digital network where every use of a "
9442 "copyrighted work produces a copy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9443 "And because of this single, arbitrary feature of the design of a digital "
9444 "network, the scope of category 1 changes dramatically. Uses that before were "
9445 "presumptively unregulated are now presumptively regulated. No longer is "
9446 "there a set of presumptively unregulated uses that define a freedom "
9447 "associated with a copyrighted work. Instead, each use is now subject to the "
9448 "copyright, because each use also makes a copy—category 1 gets sucked "
9449 "into category 2. And those who would defend the unregulated uses of "
9450 "copyrighted work must look exclusively to category 3, fair uses, to bear the "
9451 "burden of this shift."
9455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9456 #: freeculture.xml:7044
9458 "So let's be very specific to make this general point clear. Before the "
9459 "Internet, if you purchased a book and read it ten times, there would be no "
9460 "plausible <emphasis>copyright</emphasis>-related argument that the copyright "
9461 "owner could make to control that use of her book. Copyright law would have "
9462 "nothing to say about whether you read the book once, ten times, or every "
9463 "night before you went to bed. None of those instances of "
9464 "use—reading— could be regulated by copyright law because none of "
9465 "those uses produced a copy."
9468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9469 #: freeculture.xml:7056
9471 "But the same book as an e-book is effectively governed by a different set of "
9472 "rules. Now if the copyright owner says you may read the book only once or "
9473 "only once a month, then <emphasis>copyright law</emphasis> would aid the "
9474 "copyright owner in exercising this degree of control, because of the "
9475 "accidental feature of copyright law that triggers its application upon there "
9476 "being a copy. Now if you read the book ten times and the license says you "
9477 "may read it only five times, then whenever you read the book (or any portion "
9478 "of it) beyond the fifth time, you are making a copy of the book contrary to "
9479 "the copyright owner's wish."
9482 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9483 #: freeculture.xml:7068
9485 "There are some people who think this makes perfect sense. My aim just now is "
9486 "not to argue about whether it makes sense or not. My aim is only to make "
9487 "clear the change. Once you see this point, a few other points also become "
9491 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9492 #: freeculture.xml:7074
9494 "First, making category 1 disappear is not anything any policy maker ever "
9495 "intended. Congress did not think through the collapse of the presumptively "
9496 "unregulated uses of copyrighted works. There is no evidence at all that "
9497 "policy makers had this idea in mind when they allowed our policy here to "
9498 "shift. Unregulated uses were an important part of free culture before the "
9502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9503 #: freeculture.xml:7082
9505 "Second, this shift is especially troubling in the context of transformative "
9506 "uses of creative content. Again, we can all understand the wrong in "
9507 "commercial piracy. But the law now purports to regulate "
9508 "<emphasis>any</emphasis> transformation you make of creative work using a "
9509 "machine. <quote>Copy and paste</quote> and <quote>cut and paste</quote> "
9510 "become crimes. Tinkering with a story and releasing it to others exposes the "
9511 "tinkerer to at least a requirement of justification. However troubling the "
9512 "expansion with respect to copying a particular work, it is extraordinarily "
9513 "troubling with respect to transformative uses of creative work."
9517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9518 #: freeculture.xml:7094
9520 "Third, this shift from category 1 to category 2 puts an extraordinary burden "
9521 "on category 3 (<quote>fair use</quote>) that fair use never before had to "
9522 "bear. If a copyright owner now tried to control how many times I could read "
9523 "a book on-line, the natural response would be to argue that this is a "
9524 "violation of my fair use rights. But there has never been any litigation "
9525 "about whether I have a fair use right to read, because before the Internet, "
9526 "reading did not trigger the application of copyright law and hence the need "
9527 "for a fair use defense. The right to read was effectively protected before "
9528 "because reading was not regulated."
9531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9532 #: freeculture.xml:7108
9534 "This point about fair use is totally ignored, even by advocates for free "
9535 "culture. We have been cornered into arguing that our rights depend upon fair "
9536 "use—never even addressing the earlier question about the expansion in "
9537 "effective regulation. A thin protection grounded in fair use makes sense "
9538 "when the vast majority of uses are <emphasis>unregulated</emphasis>. But "
9539 "when everything becomes presumptively regulated, then the protections of "
9540 "fair use are not enough."
9543 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9544 #: freeculture.xml:7118
9546 "The case of Video Pipeline is a good example. Video Pipeline was in the "
9547 "business of making <quote>trailer</quote> advertisements for movies "
9548 "available to video stores. The video stores displayed the trailers as a way "
9549 "to sell videos. Video Pipeline got the trailers from the film distributors, "
9550 "put the trailers on tape, and sold the tapes to the retail stores."
9553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9554 #: freeculture.xml:7125
9556 "The company did this for about fifteen years. Then, in 1997, it began to "
9557 "think about the Internet as another way to distribute these previews. The "
9558 "idea was to expand their <quote>selling by sampling</quote> technique by "
9559 "giving on-line stores the same ability to enable <quote>browsing.</quote> "
9560 "Just as in a bookstore you can read a few pages of a book before you buy the "
9561 "book, so, too, you would be able to sample a bit from the movie on-line "
9562 "before you bought it."
9566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9567 #: freeculture.xml:7134
9569 "In 1998, Video Pipeline informed Disney and other film distributors that it "
9570 "intended to distribute the trailers through the Internet (rather than "
9571 "sending the tapes) to distributors of their videos. Two years later, Disney "
9572 "told Video Pipeline to stop. The owner of Video Pipeline asked Disney to "
9573 "talk about the matter—he had built a business on distributing this "
9574 "content as a way to help sell Disney films; he had customers who depended "
9575 "upon his delivering this content. Disney would agree to talk only if Video "
9576 "Pipeline stopped the distribution immediately. Video Pipeline thought it "
9577 "was within their <quote>fair use</quote> rights to distribute the clips as "
9578 "they had. So they filed a lawsuit to ask the court to declare that these "
9579 "rights were in fact their rights."
9582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9583 #: freeculture.xml:7149
9585 "Disney countersued—for $100 million in damages. Those damages were "
9586 "predicated upon a claim that Video Pipeline had <quote>willfully "
9587 "infringed</quote> on Disney's copyright. When a court makes a finding of "
9588 "willful infringement, it can award damages not on the basis of the actual "
9589 "harm to the copyright owner, but on the basis of an amount set in the "
9590 "statute. Because Video Pipeline had distributed seven hundred clips of "
9591 "Disney movies to enable video stores to sell copies of those movies, Disney "
9592 "was now suing Video Pipeline for $100 million."
9595 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9596 #: freeculture.xml:7159
9598 "Disney has the right to control its property, of course. But the video "
9599 "stores that were selling Disney's films also had some sort of right to be "
9600 "able to sell the films that they had bought from Disney. Disney's claim in "
9601 "court was that the stores were allowed to sell the films and they were "
9602 "permitted to list the titles of the films they were selling, but they were "
9603 "not allowed to show clips of the films as a way of selling them without "
9604 "Disney's permission."
9607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9608 #: freeculture.xml:7168
9610 "Now, you might think this is a close case, and I think the courts would "
9611 "consider it a close case. My point here is to map the change that gives "
9612 "Disney this power. Before the Internet, Disney couldn't really control how "
9613 "people got access to their content. Once a video was in the marketplace, the "
9614 "<quote>first-sale doctrine</quote> would free the seller to use the video as "
9615 "he wished, including showing portions of it in order to engender sales of "
9616 "the entire movie video. But with the Internet, it becomes possible for "
9617 "Disney to centralize control over access to this content. Because each use "
9618 "of the Internet produces a copy, use on the Internet becomes subject to the "
9619 "copyright owner's control. The technology expands the scope of effective "
9620 "control, because the technology builds a copy into every transaction."
9624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9625 #: freeculture.xml:7183
9627 "No doubt, a potential is not yet an abuse, and so the potential for control "
9628 "is not yet the abuse of control. Barnes & Noble has the right to say you "
9629 "can't touch a book in their store; property law gives them that right. But "
9630 "the market effectively protects against that abuse. If Barnes & Noble "
9631 "banned browsing, then consumers would choose other bookstores. Competition "
9632 "protects against the extremes. And it may well be (my argument so far does "
9633 "not even question this) that competition would prevent any similar danger "
9634 "when it comes to copyright. Sure, publishers exercising the rights that "
9635 "authors have assigned to them might try to regulate how many times you read "
9636 "a book, or try to stop you from sharing the book with anyone. But in a "
9637 "competitive market such as the book market, the dangers of this happening "
9641 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9642 #: freeculture.xml:7198
9644 "Again, my aim so far is simply to map the changes that this changed "
9645 "architecture enables. Enabling technology to enforce the control of "
9646 "copyright means that the control of copyright is no longer defined by "
9647 "balanced policy. The control of copyright is simply what private owners "
9648 "choose. In some contexts, at least, that fact is harmless. But in some "
9649 "contexts it is a recipe for disaster."
9652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9653 #: freeculture.xml:7207
9654 msgid "Architecture and Law: Force"
9657 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9658 #: freeculture.xml:7209
9660 "The disappearance of unregulated uses would be change enough, but a second "
9661 "important change brought about by the Internet magnifies its "
9662 "significance. This second change does not affect the reach of copyright "
9663 "regulation; it affects how such regulation is enforced."
9666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9667 #: freeculture.xml:7215
9669 "In the world before digital technology, it was generally the law that "
9670 "controlled whether and how someone was regulated by copyright law. The law, "
9671 "meaning a court, meaning a judge: In the end, it was a human, trained in the "
9672 "tradition of the law and cognizant of the balances that tradition embraced, "
9673 "who said whether and how the law would restrict your freedom."
9676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9677 #: freeculture.xml:7222
9681 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9682 #: freeculture.xml:7224 freeculture.xml:7403
9683 msgid "Marx Brothers"
9687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9688 #: freeculture.xml:7238
9690 "See David Lange, <quote>Recognizing the Public Domain,</quote> "
9691 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 44 (1981): "
9695 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9696 #: freeculture.xml:7230
9698 "There's a famous story about a battle between the Marx Brothers and Warner "
9699 "Brothers. The Marxes intended to make a parody of "
9700 "<citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>. Warner Brothers objected. They wrote a "
9701 "nasty letter to the Marxes, warning them that there would be serious legal "
9702 "consequences if they went forward with their plan.<placeholder "
9703 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9707 #: freeculture.xml:7247
9709 "Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
9710 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 1–3. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
9714 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9715 #: freeculture.xml:7243
9717 "This led the Marx Brothers to respond in kind. They warned Warner Brothers "
9718 "that the Marx Brothers <quote>were brothers long before you "
9719 "were.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Marx Brothers "
9720 "therefore owned the word <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>, and if Warner "
9721 "Brothers insisted on trying to control <citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>, "
9722 "then the Marx Brothers would insist on control over "
9723 "<citetitle>brothers</citetitle>."
9726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9727 #: freeculture.xml:7257
9729 "An absurd and hollow threat, of course, because Warner Brothers, like the "
9730 "Marx Brothers, knew that no court would ever enforce such a silly "
9731 "claim. This extremism was irrelevant to the real freedoms anyone (including "
9732 "Warner Brothers) enjoyed."
9735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9736 #: freeculture.xml:7263
9738 "On the Internet, however, there is no check on silly rules, because on the "
9739 "Internet, increasingly, rules are enforced not by a human but by a machine: "
9740 "Increasingly, the rules of copyright law, as interpreted by the copyright "
9741 "owner, get built into the technology that delivers copyrighted content. It "
9742 "is code, rather than law, that rules. And the problem with code regulations "
9743 "is that, unlike law, code has no shame. Code would not get the humor of the "
9744 "Marx Brothers. The consequence of that is not at all funny."
9747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9748 #: freeculture.xml:7276
9749 msgid "Adobe eBook Reader"
9752 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9753 #: freeculture.xml:7279
9754 msgid "Consider the life of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9757 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9758 #: freeculture.xml:7282
9760 "An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook is not a "
9761 "book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the software that "
9762 "publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the technology, and the "
9763 "publisher delivers the content by using the technology."
9766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9767 #: freeculture.xml:7289
9768 msgid "On the next page is a picture of an old version of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9773 #: freeculture.xml:7293
9775 "As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this e-book "
9776 "library. Some of these books reproduce content that is in the public domain: "
9777 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, for example, is in the public domain. "
9778 "Some of them reproduce content that is not in the public domain: My own book "
9779 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> is not yet within the public "
9780 "domain. Consider <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> first. If you click on "
9781 "my e-book copy of <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, you'll see a fancy "
9782 "cover, and then a button at the bottom called Permissions."
9785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9786 #: freeculture.xml:7306
9787 msgid "Picture of an old version of Adobe eBook Reader"
9790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9791 #: freeculture.xml:7307
9792 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1611.png\"></graphic>"
9795 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9796 #: freeculture.xml:7310
9798 "If you click on the Permissions button, you'll see a list of the permissions "
9799 "that the publisher purports to grant with this book."
9802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9803 #: freeculture.xml:7314
9804 msgid "List of the permissions that the publisher purports to grant."
9807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9808 #: freeculture.xml:7315
9809 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1612.png\"></graphic>"
9813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9814 #: freeculture.xml:7319
9816 "According to my eBook Reader, I have the permission to copy to the clipboard "
9817 "of the computer ten text selections every ten days. (So far, I've copied no "
9818 "text to the clipboard.) I also have the permission to print ten pages from "
9819 "the book every ten days. Lastly, I have the permission to use the Read Aloud "
9820 "button to hear <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> read aloud through the "
9824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9825 #: freeculture.xml:7329
9829 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9830 #: freeculture.xml:7330
9831 msgid "<citetitle>Politics</citetitle>, (Aristotle)"
9834 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9835 #: freeculture.xml:7327
9837 "Here's the e-book for another work in the public domain (including the "
9838 "translation): Aristotle's <citetitle>Politics</citetitle>. <placeholder "
9839 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
9842 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9843 #: freeculture.xml:7333
9844 msgid "E-book of Aristotle;s <quote>Politics</quote>"
9847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9848 #: freeculture.xml:7334
9849 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1621.png\"></graphic>"
9852 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9853 #: freeculture.xml:7337
9855 "According to its permissions, no printing or copying is permitted at "
9856 "all. But fortunately, you can use the Read Aloud button to hear the book."
9859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9860 #: freeculture.xml:7342
9861 msgid "List of the permissions for Aristotle;s <quote>Politics</quote>."
9864 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9865 #: freeculture.xml:7343
9866 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1622.png\"></graphic>"
9869 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9870 #: freeculture.xml:7346
9872 "Finally (and most embarrassingly), here are the permissions for the original "
9873 "e-book version of my last book, <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>:"
9876 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9877 #: freeculture.xml:7352
9878 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>The Future of Ideas</quote>."
9881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9882 #: freeculture.xml:7353
9883 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1631.png\"></graphic>"
9886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9887 #: freeculture.xml:7356
9888 msgid "No copying, no printing, and don't you dare try to listen to this book!"
9892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9893 #: freeculture.xml:7366
9895 "In principle, a contract might impose a requirement on me. I might, for "
9896 "example, buy a book from you that includes a contract that says I will read "
9897 "it only three times, or that I promise to read it three times. But that "
9898 "obligation (and the limits for creating that obligation) would come from the "
9899 "contract, not from copyright law, and the obligations of contract would not "
9900 "necessarily pass to anyone who subsequently acquired the book."
9903 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9904 #: freeculture.xml:7359
9906 "Now, the Adobe eBook Reader calls these controls "
9907 "<quote>permissions</quote>— as if the publisher has the power to "
9908 "control how you use these works. For works under copyright, the copyright "
9909 "owner certainly does have the power—up to the limits of the copyright "
9910 "law. But for work not under copyright, there is no such copyright "
9911 "power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When my e-book of "
9912 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> says I have the permission to copy only "
9913 "ten text selections into the memory every ten days, what that really means "
9914 "is that the eBook Reader has enabled the publisher to control how I use the "
9915 "book on my computer, far beyond the control that the law would enable."
9918 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9919 #: freeculture.xml:7381
9921 "The control comes instead from the code—from the technology within "
9922 "which the e-book <quote>lives.</quote> Though the e-book says that these are "
9923 "permissions, they are not the sort of <quote>permissions</quote> that most "
9924 "of us deal with. When a teenager gets <quote>permission</quote> to stay out "
9925 "till midnight, she knows (unless she's Cinderella) that she can stay out "
9926 "till 2 A.M., but will suffer a punishment if she's caught. But when the "
9927 "Adobe eBook Reader says I have the permission to make ten copies of the text "
9928 "into the computer's memory, that means that after I've made ten copies, the "
9929 "computer will not make any more. The same with the printing restrictions: "
9930 "After ten pages, the eBook Reader will not print any more pages. It's the "
9931 "same with the silly restriction that says that you can't use the Read Aloud "
9932 "button to read my book aloud—it's not that the company will sue you if "
9933 "you do; instead, if you push the Read Aloud button with my book, the machine "
9934 "simply won't read aloud."
9937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9938 #: freeculture.xml:7399
9940 "These are <emphasis>controls</emphasis>, not permissions. Imagine a world "
9941 "where the Marx Brothers sold word processing software that, when you tried "
9942 "to type <quote>Warner Brothers,</quote> erased <quote>Brothers</quote> from "
9943 "the sentence. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9946 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9947 #: freeculture.xml:7406
9949 "This is the future of copyright law: not so much copyright "
9950 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> as copyright <emphasis>code</emphasis>. The "
9951 "controls over access to content will not be controls that are ratified by "
9952 "courts; the controls over access to content will be controls that are coded "
9953 "by programmers. And whereas the controls that are built into the law are "
9954 "always to be checked by a judge, the controls that are built into the "
9955 "technology have no similar built-in check."
9958 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9959 #: freeculture.xml:7415
9961 "How significant is this? Isn't it always possible to get around the controls "
9962 "built into the technology? Software used to be sold with technologies that "
9963 "limited the ability of users to copy the software, but those were trivial "
9964 "protections to defeat. Why won't it be trivial to defeat these protections "
9968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9969 #: freeculture.xml:7422
9971 "We've only scratched the surface of this story. Return to the Adobe eBook "
9975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9976 #: freeculture.xml:7432
9977 msgid "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)"
9980 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9981 #: freeculture.xml:7426
9983 "Early in the life of the Adobe eBook Reader, Adobe suffered a public "
9984 "relations nightmare. Among the books that you could download for free on the "
9985 "Adobe site was a copy of <citetitle>Alice's Adventures in "
9986 "Wonderland</citetitle>. This wonderful book is in the public domain. Yet "
9987 "when you clicked on Permissions for that book, you got the following report: "
9988 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9991 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9992 #: freeculture.xml:7435
9993 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</quote>."
9996 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9997 #: freeculture.xml:7437
9998 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1641.png\"></graphic>"
10001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10002 #: freeculture.xml:7441
10004 "Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to copy, "
10005 "not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the "
10006 "<quote>permissions</quote> indicated, not allowed to <quote>read "
10010 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10011 #: freeculture.xml:7446
10013 "The public relations nightmare attached to that final permission. For the "
10014 "text did not say that you were not permitted to use the Read Aloud button; "
10015 "it said you did not have the permission to read the book aloud. That led "
10016 "some people to think that Adobe was restricting the right of parents, for "
10017 "example, to read the book to their children, which seemed, to say the least, "
10021 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10022 #: freeculture.xml:7454
10024 "Adobe responded quickly that it was absurd to think that it was trying to "
10025 "restrict the right to read a book aloud. Obviously it was only restricting "
10026 "the ability to use the Read Aloud button to have the book read aloud. But "
10027 "the question Adobe never did answer is this: Would Adobe thus agree that a "
10028 "consumer was free to use software to hack around the restrictions built into "
10029 "the eBook Reader? If some company (call it Elcomsoft) developed a program to "
10030 "disable the technological protection built into an Adobe eBook so that a "
10031 "blind person, say, could use a computer to read the book aloud, would Adobe "
10032 "agree that such a use of an eBook Reader was fair? Adobe didn't answer "
10033 "because the answer, however absurd it might seem, is no."
10036 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10037 #: freeculture.xml:7467
10039 "The point is not to blame Adobe. Indeed, Adobe is among the most innovative "
10040 "companies developing strategies to balance open access to content with "
10041 "incentives for companies to innovate. But Adobe's technology enables "
10042 "control, and Adobe has an incentive to defend this control. That incentive "
10043 "is understandable, yet what it creates is often crazy."
10046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10047 #: freeculture.xml:7476
10049 "To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite story "
10050 "of mine that makes the same point."
10053 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10054 #: freeculture.xml:7480 freeculture.xml:7629 freeculture.xml:7700 freeculture.xml:7806
10055 msgid "Aibo robotic dog"
10058 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10059 #: freeculture.xml:7483 freeculture.xml:7632 freeculture.xml:7701 freeculture.xml:7807
10060 msgid "robotic dog"
10063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10064 #: freeculture.xml:7486 freeculture.xml:7635 freeculture.xml:7703 freeculture.xml:7809
10068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10069 #: freeculture.xml:7487 freeculture.xml:7636 freeculture.xml:7704 freeculture.xml:7810
10070 msgid "Aibo robotic dog produced by"
10073 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10074 #: freeculture.xml:7490
10076 "Consider the robotic dog made by Sony named <quote>Aibo.</quote> The Aibo "
10077 "learns tricks, cuddles, and follows you around. It eats only electricity and "
10078 "that doesn't leave that much of a mess (at least in your house)."
10081 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10082 #: freeculture.xml:7495
10084 "The Aibo is expensive and popular. Fans from around the world have set up "
10085 "clubs to trade stories. One fan in particular set up a Web site to enable "
10086 "information about the Aibo dog to be shared. This fan set <beginpage "
10087 "pagenum=\"165\"/> up aibopet.com (and aibohack.com, but that resolves to the "
10088 "same site), and on that site he provided information about how to teach an "
10089 "Aibo to do tricks in addition to the ones Sony had taught it."
10092 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10093 #: freeculture.xml:7504
10095 "<quote>Teach</quote> here has a special meaning. Aibos are just cute "
10096 "computers. You teach a computer how to do something by programming it "
10097 "differently. So to say that aibopet.com was giving information about how to "
10098 "teach the dog to do new tricks is just to say that aibopet.com was giving "
10099 "information to users of the Aibo pet about how to hack their computer "
10100 "<quote>dog</quote> to make it do new tricks (thus, aibohack.com)."
10103 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10104 #: freeculture.xml:7512
10106 "If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the word "
10107 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> has a particularly unfriendly "
10108 "connotation. Nonprogrammers hack bushes or weeds. Nonprogrammers in horror "
10109 "movies do even worse. But to programmers, or coders, as I call them, "
10110 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> is a much more positive "
10111 "term. <citetitle>Hack</citetitle> just means code that enables the program "
10112 "to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do. If you buy a "
10113 "new printer for an old computer, you might find the old computer doesn't "
10114 "run, or <quote>drive,</quote> the printer. If you discovered that, you'd "
10115 "later be happy to discover a hack on the Net by someone who has written a "
10116 "driver to enable the computer to drive the printer you just bought."
10119 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10120 #: freeculture.xml:7526
10122 "Some hacks are easy. Some are unbelievably hard. Hackers as a community like "
10123 "to challenge themselves and others with increasingly difficult "
10124 "tasks. There's a certain respect that goes with the talent to hack "
10125 "well. There's a well-deserved respect that goes with the talent to hack "
10129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10130 #: freeculture.xml:7533
10132 "The Aibo fan was displaying a bit of both when he hacked the program and "
10133 "offered to the world a bit of code that would enable the Aibo to dance "
10134 "jazz. The dog wasn't programmed to dance jazz. It was a clever bit of "
10135 "tinkering that turned the dog into a more talented creature than Sony had "
10140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10141 #: freeculture.xml:7543
10143 "I've told this story in many contexts, both inside and outside the United "
10144 "States. Once I was asked by a puzzled member of the audience, is it "
10145 "permissible for a dog to dance jazz in the United States? We forget that "
10146 "stories about the backcountry still flow across much of the world. So let's "
10147 "just be clear before we continue: It's not a crime anywhere (anymore) to "
10148 "dance jazz. Nor is it a crime to teach your dog to dance jazz. Nor should it "
10149 "be a crime (though we don't have a lot to go on here) to teach your robot "
10150 "dog to dance jazz. Dancing jazz is a completely legal activity. One imagines "
10151 "that the owner of aibopet.com thought, <emphasis>What possible problem could "
10152 "there be with teaching a robot dog to dance?</emphasis>"
10155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10156 #: freeculture.xml:7559
10158 "Let's put the dog to sleep for a minute, and turn to a pony show— not "
10159 "literally a pony show, but rather a paper that a Princeton academic named Ed "
10160 "Felten prepared for a conference. This Princeton academic is well known and "
10161 "respected. He was hired by the government in the Microsoft case to test "
10162 "Microsoft's claims about what could and could not be done with its own "
10163 "code. In that trial, he demonstrated both his brilliance and his "
10164 "coolness. Under heavy badgering by Microsoft lawyers, Ed Felten stood his "
10165 "ground. He was not about to be bullied into being silent about something he "
10169 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10170 #: freeculture.xml:7582 freeculture.xml:10052
10171 msgid "Electronic Frontier Foundation"
10174 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10175 #: freeculture.xml:7572
10177 "See Pamela Samuelson, <quote>Anticircumvention Rules: Threat to "
10178 "Science,</quote> <citetitle>Science</citetitle> 293 (2001): 2028; Brendan "
10179 "I. Koerner, <quote>Play Dead: Sony Muzzles the Techies Who Teach a Robot Dog "
10180 "New Tricks,</quote> <citetitle>American Prospect</citetitle>, January 2002; "
10181 "<quote>Court Dismisses Computer Scientists' Challenge to DMCA,</quote> "
10182 "<citetitle>Intellectual Property Litigation Reporter</citetitle>, 11 "
10183 "December 2001; Bill Holland, <quote>Copyright Act Raising Free-Speech "
10184 "Concerns,</quote> <citetitle>Billboard</citetitle>, May 2001; Janelle Brown, "
10185 "<quote>Is the RIAA Running Scared?</quote> Salon.com, April 2001; Electronic "
10186 "Frontier Foundation, <quote>Frequently Asked Questions about "
10187 "<citetitle>Felten and USENIX</citetitle> v. <citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> "
10188 "Legal Case,</quote> available at <ulink "
10189 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #27</ulink>. <placeholder "
10190 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10193 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10194 #: freeculture.xml:7570
10196 "But Felten's bravery was really tested in April 2001.<placeholder "
10197 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> He and a group of colleagues were working on a "
10198 "paper to be submitted at conference. The paper was intended to describe the "
10199 "weakness in an encryption system being developed by the Secure Digital Music "
10200 "Initiative as a technique to control the distribution of music."
10203 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10204 #: freeculture.xml:7590
10206 "The SDMI coalition had as its goal a technology to enable content owners to "
10207 "exercise much better control over their content than the Internet, as it "
10208 "originally stood, granted them. Using encryption, SDMI hoped to develop a "
10209 "standard that would allow the content owner to say <quote>this music cannot "
10210 "be copied,</quote> and have a computer respect that command. The technology "
10211 "was to be part of a <quote>trusted system</quote> of control that would get "
10212 "content owners to trust the system of the Internet much more."
10215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10216 #: freeculture.xml:7600
10218 "When SDMI thought it was close to a standard, it set up a competition. In "
10219 "exchange for providing contestants with the code to an SDMI-encrypted bit of "
10220 "content, contestants were to try to crack it and, if they did, report the "
10221 "problems to the consortium."
10225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10226 #: freeculture.xml:7607
10228 "Felten and his team figured out the encryption system quickly. He and the "
10229 "team saw the weakness of this system as a type: Many encryption systems "
10230 "would suffer the same weakness, and Felten and his team thought it "
10231 "worthwhile to point this out to those who study encryption."
10234 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10235 #: freeculture.xml:7613
10237 "Let's review just what Felten was doing. Again, this is the United "
10238 "States. We have a principle of free speech. We have this principle not just "
10239 "because it is the law, but also because it is a really great idea. A "
10240 "strongly protected tradition of free speech is likely to encourage a wide "
10241 "range of criticism. That criticism is likely, in turn, to improve the "
10242 "systems or people or ideas criticized."
10245 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10246 #: freeculture.xml:7621
10248 "What Felten and his colleagues were doing was publishing a paper describing "
10249 "the weakness in a technology. They were not spreading free music, or "
10250 "building and deploying this technology. The paper was an academic essay, "
10251 "unintelligible to most people. But it clearly showed the weakness in the "
10252 "SDMI system, and why SDMI would not, as presently constituted, succeed."
10255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10256 #: freeculture.xml:7639
10258 "What links these two, aibopet.com and Felten, is the letters they then "
10259 "received. Aibopet.com received a letter from Sony about the aibopet.com "
10260 "hack. Though a jazz-dancing dog is perfectly legal, Sony wrote:"
10263 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10264 #: freeculture.xml:7646
10266 "Your site contains information providing the means to circumvent AIBO-ware's "
10267 "copy protection protocol constituting a violation of the anti-circumvention "
10268 "provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
10271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10272 #: freeculture.xml:7655
10274 "And though an academic paper describing the weakness in a system of "
10275 "encryption should also be perfectly legal, Felten received a letter from an "
10276 "RIAA lawyer that read:"
10280 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10281 #: freeculture.xml:7661
10283 "Any disclosure of information gained from participating in the Public "
10284 "Challenge would be outside the scope of activities permitted by the "
10285 "Agreement and could subject you and your research team to actions under the "
10286 "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (<quote>DMCA</quote>)."
10289 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10290 #: freeculture.xml:7669
10292 "In both cases, this weirdly Orwellian law was invoked to control the spread "
10293 "of information. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act made spreading such "
10294 "information an offense."
10297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10298 #: freeculture.xml:7674
10300 "The DMCA was enacted as a response to copyright owners' first fear about "
10301 "cyberspace. The fear was that copyright control was effectively dead; the "
10302 "response was to find technologies that might compensate. These new "
10303 "technologies would be copyright protection technologies— technologies "
10304 "to control the replication and distribution of copyrighted material. They "
10305 "were designed as <emphasis>code</emphasis> to modify the original "
10306 "<emphasis>code</emphasis> of the Internet, to reestablish some protection "
10307 "for copyright owners."
10310 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10311 #: freeculture.xml:7685
10313 "The DMCA was a bit of law intended to back up the protection of this code "
10314 "designed to protect copyrighted material. It was, we could say, "
10315 "<emphasis>legal code</emphasis> intended to buttress <emphasis>software "
10316 "code</emphasis> which itself was intended to support the <emphasis>legal "
10317 "code of copyright</emphasis>."
10320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10321 #: freeculture.xml:7692
10323 "But the DMCA was not designed merely to protect copyrighted works to the "
10324 "extent copyright law protected them. Its protection, that is, did not end at "
10325 "the line that copyright law drew. The DMCA regulated devices that were "
10326 "designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. It was designed to ban "
10327 "those devices, whether or not the use of the copyrighted material made "
10328 "possible by that circumvention would have been a copyright violation."
10332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10333 #: freeculture.xml:7707
10335 "Aibopet.com and Felten make the point. The Aibo hack circumvented a "
10336 "copyright protection system for the purpose of enabling the dog to dance "
10337 "jazz. That enablement no doubt involved the use of copyrighted material. But "
10338 "as aibopet.com's site was noncommercial, and the use did not enable "
10339 "subsequent copyright infringements, there's no doubt that aibopet.com's hack "
10340 "was fair use of Sony's copyrighted material. Yet fair use is not a defense "
10341 "to the DMCA. The question is not whether the use of the copyrighted material "
10342 "was a copyright violation. The question is whether a copyright protection "
10343 "system was circumvented."
10346 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10347 #: freeculture.xml:7719
10349 "The threat against Felten was more attenuated, but it followed the same line "
10350 "of reasoning. By publishing a paper describing how a copyright protection "
10351 "system could be circumvented, the RIAA lawyer suggested, Felten himself was "
10352 "distributing a circumvention technology. Thus, even though he was not "
10353 "himself infringing anyone's copyright, his academic paper was enabling "
10354 "others to infringe others' copyright."
10357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10358 #: freeculture.xml:7726 freeculture.xml:7759
10359 msgid "Rogers, Fred"
10362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10363 #: freeculture.xml:7736 freeculture.xml:7772 freeculture.xml:7804
10364 msgid "Conrad, Paul"
10367 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10368 #: freeculture.xml:7728
10370 "The bizarreness of these arguments is captured in a cartoon drawn in 1981 by "
10371 "Paul Conrad. At that time, a court in California had held that the VCR could "
10372 "be banned because it was a copyright-infringing technology: It enabled "
10373 "consumers to copy films without the permission of the copyright owner. No "
10374 "doubt there were uses of the technology that were legal: Fred Rogers, aka "
10375 "<quote><citetitle>Mr. Rogers</citetitle>,</quote> for example, had testified "
10376 "in that case that he wanted people to feel free to tape Mr. Rogers' "
10377 "Neighborhood. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10380 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10381 #: freeculture.xml:7755
10383 "<citetitle>Sony Corporation of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal "
10384 "City Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, 455 fn. 27 (1984). Rogers "
10385 "never changed his view about the VCR. See James Lardner, <citetitle>Fast "
10386 "Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR</citetitle> "
10387 "(New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 270–71. <placeholder "
10388 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10392 #: freeculture.xml:7740
10394 "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "
10395 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> at hours when some children cannot use it. I "
10396 "think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such "
10397 "programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with "
10398 "the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "
10399 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "
10400 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> because that's what I produce, that they then "
10401 "become much more active in the programming of their family's television "
10402 "life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My "
10403 "whole approach in broadcasting has always been <quote>You are an important "
10404 "person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.</quote> Maybe "
10405 "I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to "
10406 "be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is "
10407 "important.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10411 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10412 #: freeculture.xml:7765
10414 "Even though there were uses that were legal, because there were some uses "
10415 "that were illegal, the court held the companies producing the VCR "
10419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10420 #: freeculture.xml:7770
10422 "This led Conrad to draw the cartoon below, which we can adopt to the DMCA. "
10423 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10426 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10427 #: freeculture.xml:7775
10428 msgid "No argument I have can top this picture, but let me try to get close."
10431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10432 #: freeculture.xml:7778
10434 "The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA target copyright circumvention "
10435 "technologies. Circumvention technologies can be used for different "
10436 "ends. They can be used, for example, to enable massive pirating of "
10437 "copyrighted material—a bad end. Or they can be used to enable the use "
10438 "of particular copyrighted materials in ways that would be considered fair "
10439 "use—a good end."
10443 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10444 #: freeculture.xml:7786
10446 "A handgun can be used to shoot a police officer or a child. Most would agree "
10447 "such a use is bad. Or a handgun can be used for target practice or to "
10448 "protect against an intruder. At least some would say that such a use would "
10449 "be good. It, too, is a technology that has both good and bad uses."
10452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10453 #: freeculture.xml:7794
10454 msgid "VCR/handgun cartoon."
10457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10458 #: freeculture.xml:7795
10459 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1711.png\"></graphic>"
10462 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10463 #: freeculture.xml:7798
10465 "The obvious point of Conrad's cartoon is the weirdness of a world where guns "
10466 "are legal, despite the harm they can do, while VCRs (and circumvention "
10467 "technologies) are illegal. Flash: <emphasis>No one ever died from copyright "
10468 "circumvention</emphasis>. Yet the law bans circumvention technologies "
10469 "absolutely, despite the potential that they might do some good, but permits "
10470 "guns, despite the obvious and tragic harm they do. <placeholder "
10471 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10474 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10475 #: freeculture.xml:7813
10477 "The Aibo and RIAA examples demonstrate how copyright owners are changing the "
10478 "balance that copyright law grants. Using code, copyright owners restrict "
10479 "fair use; using the DMCA, they punish those who would attempt to evade the "
10480 "restrictions on fair use that they impose through code. Technology becomes a "
10481 "means by which fair use can be erased; the law of the DMCA backs up that "
10485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10486 #: freeculture.xml:7821
10488 "This is how <emphasis>code</emphasis> becomes <emphasis>law</emphasis>. The "
10489 "controls built into the technology of copy and access protection become "
10490 "rules the violation of which is also a violation of the law. In this way, "
10491 "the code extends the law—increasing its regulation, even if the "
10492 "subject it regulates (activities that would otherwise plainly constitute "
10493 "fair use) is beyond the reach of the law. Code becomes law; code extends the "
10494 "law; code thus extends the control that copyright owners effect—at "
10495 "least for those copyright holders with the lawyers who can write the nasty "
10496 "letters that Felten and aibopet.com received."
10499 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10500 #: freeculture.xml:7833
10502 "There is one final aspect of the interaction between architecture and law "
10503 "that contributes to the force of copyright's regulation. This is the ease "
10504 "with which infringements of the law can be detected. For contrary to the "
10505 "rhetoric common at the birth of cyberspace that on the Internet, no one "
10506 "knows you're a dog, increasingly, given changing technologies deployed on "
10507 "the Internet, it is easy to find the dog who committed a legal wrong. The "
10508 "technologies of the Internet are open to snoops as well as sharers, and the "
10509 "snoops are increasingly good at tracking down the identity of those who "
10510 "violate the rules."
10514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10515 #: freeculture.xml:7852
10517 "For an early and prescient analysis, see Rebecca Tushnet, <quote>Legal "
10518 "Fictions, Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law,</quote> "
10519 "<citetitle>Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal</citetitle> 17 "
10523 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10524 #: freeculture.xml:7846
10526 "For example, imagine you were part of a <citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> fan "
10527 "club. You gathered every month to share trivia, and maybe to enact a kind of "
10528 "fan fiction about the show. One person would play Spock, another, Captain "
10529 "Kirk. The characters would begin with a plot from a real story, then simply "
10530 "continue it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10533 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10534 #: freeculture.xml:7858
10536 "Before the Internet, this was, in effect, a totally unregulated activity. "
10537 "No matter what happened inside your club room, you would never be interfered "
10538 "with by the copyright police. You were free in that space to do as you "
10539 "wished with this part of our culture. You were allowed to build on it as you "
10540 "wished without fear of legal control."
10543 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10544 #: freeculture.xml:7865
10546 "But if you moved your club onto the Internet, and made it generally "
10547 "available for others to join, the story would be very different. Bots "
10548 "scouring the Net for trademark and copyright infringement would quickly find "
10549 "your site. Your posting of fan fiction, depending upon the ownership of the "
10550 "series that you're depicting, could well inspire a lawyer's threat. And "
10551 "ignoring the lawyer's threat would be extremely costly indeed. The law of "
10552 "copyright is extremely efficient. The penalties are severe, and the process "
10556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10557 #: freeculture.xml:7875
10559 "This change in the effective force of the law is caused by a change in the "
10560 "ease with which the law can be enforced. That change too shifts the law's "
10561 "balance radically. It is as if your car transmitted the speed at which you "
10562 "traveled at every moment that you drove; that would be just one step before "
10563 "the state started issuing tickets based upon the data you transmitted. That "
10564 "is, in effect, what is happening here."
10567 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10568 #: freeculture.xml:7884
10569 msgid "Market: Concentration"
10573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10574 #: freeculture.xml:7886
10576 "So copyright's duration has increased dramatically—tripled in the past "
10577 "thirty years. And copyright's scope has increased as well—from "
10578 "regulating only publishers to now regulating just about everyone. And "
10579 "copyright's reach has changed, as every action becomes a copy and hence "
10580 "presumptively regulated. And as technologists find better ways to control "
10581 "the use of content, and as copyright is increasingly enforced through "
10582 "technology, copyright's force changes, too. Misuse is easier to find and "
10583 "easier to control. This regulation of the creative process, which began as a "
10584 "tiny regulation governing a tiny part of the market for creative work, has "
10585 "become the single most important regulator of creativity there is. It is a "
10586 "massive expansion in the scope of the government's control over innovation "
10587 "and creativity; it would be totally unrecognizable to those who gave birth "
10588 "to copyright's control."
10591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10592 #: freeculture.xml:7904
10594 "Still, in my view, all of these changes would not matter much if it weren't "
10595 "for one more change that we must also consider. This is a change that is in "
10596 "some sense the most familiar, though its significance and scope are not well "
10597 "understood. It is the one that creates precisely the reason to be concerned "
10598 "about all the other changes I have described."
10601 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10602 #: freeculture.xml:7911
10604 "This is the change in the concentration and integration of the media. In "
10605 "the past twenty years, the nature of media ownership has undergone a radical "
10606 "alteration, caused by changes in legal rules governing the media. Before "
10607 "this change happened, the different forms of media were owned by separate "
10608 "media companies. Now, the media is increasingly owned by only a few "
10609 "companies. Indeed, after the changes that the FCC announced in June 2003, "
10610 "most expect that within a few years, we will live in a world where just "
10611 "three companies control more than percent of the media."
10614 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10615 #: freeculture.xml:7922
10616 msgid "These changes are of two sorts: the scope of concentration, and its nature."
10620 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10621 #: freeculture.xml:7930
10623 "FCC Oversight: Hearing Before the Senate Commerce, Science and "
10624 "Transportation Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (22 May 2003) (statement "
10625 "of Senator John McCain)."
10629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10630 #: freeculture.xml:7937
10632 "Lynette Holloway, <quote>Despite a Marketing Blitz, CD Sales Continue to "
10633 "Slide,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 23 December 2002."
10637 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10638 #: freeculture.xml:7943
10640 "Molly Ivins, <quote>Media Consolidation Must Be Stopped,</quote> "
10641 "<citetitle>Charleston Gazette</citetitle>, 31 May 2003."
10644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10645 #: freeculture.xml:7946
10649 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10650 #: freeculture.xml:7947 freeculture.xml:9286
10654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10655 #: freeculture.xml:7948
10656 msgid "McCain, John"
10659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10660 #: freeculture.xml:7949 freeculture.xml:9287
10661 msgid "Universal Music Group"
10664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10665 #: freeculture.xml:7950
10666 msgid "Warner Music Group"
10669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10670 #: freeculture.xml:7926
10672 "Changes in scope are the easier ones to describe. As Senator John McCain "
10673 "summarized the data produced in the FCC's review of media ownership, "
10674 "<quote>five companies control 85 percent of our media "
10675 "sources.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The five recording "
10676 "labels of Universal Music Group, BMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music "
10677 "Group, and EMI control 84.8 percent of the U.S. music market.<placeholder "
10678 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The <quote>five largest cable companies pipe "
10679 "programming to 74 percent of the cable subscribers "
10680 "nationwide.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
10681 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> "
10682 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10683 "id=\"6\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"7\"/>"
10687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10688 #: freeculture.xml:7953
10690 "The story with radio is even more dramatic. Before deregulation, the "
10691 "nation's largest radio broadcasting conglomerate owned fewer than "
10692 "seventy-five stations. Today <emphasis>one</emphasis> company owns more than "
10693 "1,200 stations. During that period of consolidation, the total number of "
10694 "radio owners dropped by 34 percent. Today, in most markets, the two largest "
10695 "broadcasters control 74 percent of that market's revenues. Overall, just "
10696 "four companies control 90 percent of the nation's radio advertising "
10700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10701 #: freeculture.xml:7964
10703 "Newspaper ownership is becoming more concentrated as well. Today, there are "
10704 "six hundred fewer daily newspapers in the United States than there were "
10705 "eighty years ago, and ten companies control half of the nation's "
10706 "circulation. There are twenty major newspaper publishers in the United "
10707 "States. The top ten film studios receive 99 percent of all film revenue. The "
10708 "ten largest cable companies account for 85 percent of all cable "
10709 "revenue. This is a market far from the free press the framers sought to "
10710 "protect. Indeed, it is a market that is quite well protected— by the "
10714 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10715 #: freeculture.xml:7978 freeculture.xml:7995
10716 msgid "Fallows, James"
10719 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10720 #: freeculture.xml:7975
10722 "Concentration in size alone is one thing. The more invidious change is in "
10723 "the nature of that concentration. As author James Fallows put it in a recent "
10724 "article about Rupert Murdoch, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10728 #: freeculture.xml:7993
10730 "James Fallows, <quote>The Age of Murdoch,</quote> <citetitle>Atlantic "
10731 "Monthly</citetitle> (September 2003): 89. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10735 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10736 #: freeculture.xml:7982
10738 "Murdoch's companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its "
10739 "integration. They supply content—Fox movies … Fox TV shows "
10740 "… Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They "
10741 "sell the content to the public and to advertisers—in newspapers, on "
10742 "the broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical "
10743 "distribution system through which the content reaches the "
10744 "customers. Murdoch's satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in "
10745 "Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV's largest single owner, that "
10746 "system will serve the same function in the United States.<placeholder "
10747 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10751 #: freeculture.xml:8000
10753 "The pattern with Murdoch is the pattern of modern media. Not just large "
10754 "companies owning many radio stations, but a few companies owning as many "
10755 "outlets of media as possible. A picture describes this pattern better than a "
10756 "thousand words could do:"
10759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10760 #: freeculture.xml:8006
10761 msgid "Pattern of modern media ownership."
10764 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10765 #: freeculture.xml:8007
10766 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1761.png\"></graphic>"
10770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10771 #: freeculture.xml:8011
10773 "Does this concentration matter? Will it affect what is made, or what is "
10774 "distributed? Or is it merely a more efficient way to produce and distribute "
10778 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10779 #: freeculture.xml:8016
10781 "My view was that concentration wouldn't matter. I thought it was nothing "
10782 "more than a more efficient financial structure. But now, after reading and "
10783 "listening to a barrage of creators try to convince me to the contrary, I am "
10784 "beginning to change my mind."
10787 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10788 #: freeculture.xml:8022
10790 "Here's a representative story that begins to suggest how this integration "
10794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10795 #: freeculture.xml:8025
10796 msgid "Lear, Norman"
10799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10800 #: freeculture.xml:8027 freeculture.xml:8090
10801 msgid "All in the Family"
10804 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10805 #: freeculture.xml:8029
10807 "In 1969, Norman Lear created a pilot for <citetitle>All in the "
10808 "Family</citetitle>. He took the pilot to ABC. The network didn't like it. It "
10809 "was too edgy, they told Lear. Make it again. Lear made a second pilot, more "
10810 "edgy than the first. ABC was exasperated. You're missing the point, they "
10811 "told Lear. We wanted less edgy, not more."
10815 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10816 #: freeculture.xml:8041
10818 "Leonard Hill, <quote>The Axis of Access,</quote> remarks before Weidenbaum "
10819 "Center Forum, <quote>Entertainment Economics: The Movie Industry,</quote> "
10820 "St. Louis, Missouri, 3 April 2003 (transcript of prepared remarks available "
10821 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #28</ulink>; for the "
10822 "Lear story, not included in the prepared remarks, see <ulink "
10823 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #29</ulink>)."
10826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10827 #: freeculture.xml:8036
10829 "Rather than comply, Lear simply took the show elsewhere. CBS was happy to "
10830 "have the series; ABC could not stop Lear from walking. The copyrights that "
10831 "Lear held assured an independence from network control.<placeholder "
10832 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10836 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10837 #: freeculture.xml:8052
10839 "The network did not control those copyrights because the law forbade the "
10840 "networks from controlling the content they syndicated. The law required a "
10841 "separation between the networks and the content producers; that separation "
10842 "would guarantee Lear freedom. And as late as 1992, because of these rules, "
10843 "the vast majority of prime time television—75 percent of it—was "
10844 "<quote>independent</quote> of the networks."
10848 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10849 #: freeculture.xml:8071
10851 "NewsCorp./DirecTV Merger and Media Consolidation: Hearings on Media "
10852 "Ownership Before the Senate Commerce Committee, 108th Cong., 1st "
10853 "sess. (2003) (testimony of Gene Kimmelman on behalf of Consumers Union and "
10854 "the Consumer Federation of America), available at <ulink "
10855 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #30</ulink>. Kimmelman quotes "
10856 "Victoria Riskin, president of Writers Guild of America, West, in her Remarks "
10857 "at FCC En Banc Hearing, Richmond, Virginia, 27 February 2003."
10860 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10861 #: freeculture.xml:8061
10863 "In 1994, the FCC abandoned the rules that required this independence. After "
10864 "that change, the networks quickly changed the balance. In 1985, there were "
10865 "twenty-five independent television production studios; in 2002, only five "
10866 "independent television studios remained. <quote>In 1992, only 15 percent of "
10867 "new series were produced for a network by a company it controlled. Last "
10868 "year, the percentage of shows produced by controlled companies more than "
10869 "quintupled to 77 percent.</quote> <quote>In 1992, 16 new series were "
10870 "produced independently of conglomerate control, last year there was "
10871 "one.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In 2002, 75 percent of "
10872 "prime time television was owned by the networks that ran it. <quote>In the "
10873 "ten-year period between 1992 and 2002, the number of prime time television "
10874 "hours per week produced by network studios increased over 200%, whereas the "
10875 "number of prime time television hours per week produced by independent "
10876 "studios decreased 63%.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
10879 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10880 #: freeculture.xml:8092
10882 "Today, another Norman Lear with another <citetitle>All in the "
10883 "Family</citetitle> would find that he had the choice either to make the show "
10884 "less edgy or to be fired: The content of any show developed for a network is "
10885 "increasingly owned by the network."
10888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10889 #: freeculture.xml:8101
10890 msgid "Diller, Barry"
10893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10894 #: freeculture.xml:8102
10895 msgid "Moyers, Bill"
10898 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10899 #: freeculture.xml:8098
10901 "While the number of channels has increased dramatically, the ownership of "
10902 "those channels has narrowed to an ever smaller and smaller few. As Barry "
10903 "Diller said to Bill Moyers, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
10904 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
10908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10909 #: freeculture.xml:8115
10911 "<quote>Barry Diller Takes on Media Deregulation,</quote> <citetitle>Now with "
10912 "Bill Moyers</citetitle>, Bill Moyers, 25 April 2003, edited transcript "
10913 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #31</ulink>."
10916 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10917 #: freeculture.xml:8106
10919 "Well, if you have companies that produce, that finance, that air on their "
10920 "channel and then distribute worldwide everything that goes through their "
10921 "controlled distribution system, then what you get is fewer and fewer actual "
10922 "voices participating in the process. [We u]sed to have dozens and dozens of "
10923 "thriving independent production companies producing television programs. Now "
10924 "you have less than a handful.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10928 #: freeculture.xml:8122
10930 "This narrowing has an effect on what is produced. The product of such large "
10931 "and concentrated networks is increasingly homogenous. Increasingly "
10932 "safe. Increasingly sterile. The product of news shows from networks like "
10933 "this is increasingly tailored to the message the network wants to "
10934 "convey. This is not the communist party, though from the inside, it must "
10935 "feel a bit like the communist party. No one can question without risk of "
10936 "consequence—not necessarily banishment to Siberia, but punishment "
10937 "nonetheless. Independent, critical, different views are quashed. This is not "
10938 "the environment for a democracy."
10941 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10942 #: freeculture.xml:8133
10943 msgid "Clark, Kim B."
10947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10948 #: freeculture.xml:8142
10950 "Clayton M. Christensen, <citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The "
10951 "Revolutionary National Bestseller that Changed the Way We Do "
10952 "Business</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, "
10953 "1997). Christensen acknowledges that the idea was first suggested by Dean "
10954 "Kim Clark. See Kim B. Clark, <quote>The Interaction of Design Hierarchies "
10955 "and Market Concepts in Technological Evolution,</quote> <citetitle>Research "
10956 "Policy</citetitle> 14 (1985): 235–51. For a more recent study, see "
10957 "Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan, <citetitle>Creative Destruction: Why "
10958 "Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market—and How to "
10959 "Successfully Transform Them</citetitle> (New York: Currency/Doubleday, "
10963 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10964 #: freeculture.xml:8135
10966 "Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration "
10967 "affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the "
10968 "<quote>Innovator's Dilemma</quote>: the fact that large traditional firms "
10969 "find it rational to ignore new, breakthrough technologies that compete with "
10970 "their core business. The same analysis could help explain why large, "
10971 "traditional media companies would find it rational to ignore new cultural "
10972 "trends.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Lumbering giants not only "
10973 "don't, but should not, sprint. Yet if the field is only open to the giants, "
10974 "there will be far too little sprinting. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10978 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10979 #: freeculture.xml:8159
10981 "I don't think we know enough about the economics of the media market to say "
10982 "with certainty what concentration and integration will do. The efficiencies "
10983 "are important, and the effect on culture is hard to measure."
10986 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10987 #: freeculture.xml:8165
10989 "But there is a quintessentially obvious example that does strongly suggest "
10993 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10994 #: freeculture.xml:8169
10996 "In addition to the copyright wars, we're in the middle of the drug "
10997 "wars. Government policy is strongly directed against the drug cartels; "
10998 "criminal and civil courts are filled with the consequences of this battle."
11002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11003 #: freeculture.xml:8174
11005 "Let me hereby disqualify myself from any possible appointment to any "
11006 "position in government by saying I believe this war is a profound mistake. I "
11007 "am not pro drugs. Indeed, I come from a family once wrecked by "
11008 "drugs—though the drugs that wrecked my family were all quite legal. I "
11009 "believe this war is a profound mistake because the collateral damage from it "
11010 "is so great as to make waging the war insane. When you add together the "
11011 "burdens on the criminal justice system, the desperation of generations of "
11012 "kids whose only real economic opportunities are as drug warriors, the "
11013 "queering of constitutional protections because of the constant surveillance "
11014 "this war requires, and, most profoundly, the total destruction of the legal "
11015 "systems of many South American nations because of the power of the local "
11016 "drug cartels, I find it impossible to believe that the marginal benefit in "
11017 "reduced drug consumption by Americans could possibly outweigh these costs."
11020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11021 #: freeculture.xml:8193
11023 "You may not be convinced. That's fine. We live in a democracy, and it is "
11024 "through votes that we are to choose policy. But to do that, we depend "
11025 "fundamentally upon the press to help inform Americans about these issues."
11028 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11029 #: freeculture.xml:8199
11031 "Beginning in 1998, the Office of National Drug Control Policy launched a "
11032 "media campaign as part of the <quote>war on drugs.</quote> The campaign "
11033 "produced scores of short film clips about issues related to illegal "
11034 "drugs. In one series (the Nick and Norm series) two men are in a bar, "
11035 "discussing the idea of legalizing drugs as a way to avoid some of the "
11036 "collateral damage from the war. One advances an argument in favor of drug "
11037 "legalization. The other responds in a powerful and effective way against the "
11038 "argument of the first. In the end, the first guy changes his mind (hey, it's "
11039 "television). The plug at the end is a damning attack on the pro-legalization "
11043 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11044 #: freeculture.xml:8211
11046 "Fair enough. It's a good ad. Not terribly misleading. It delivers its "
11047 "message well. It's a fair and reasonable message."
11050 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11051 #: freeculture.xml:8215
11053 "But let's say you think it is a wrong message, and you'd like to run a "
11054 "countercommercial. Say you want to run a series of ads that try to "
11055 "demonstrate the extraordinary collateral harm that comes from the drug "
11056 "war. Can you do it?"
11060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11061 #: freeculture.xml:8221
11063 "Well, obviously, these ads cost lots of money. Assume you raise the "
11064 "money. Assume a group of concerned citizens donates all the money in the "
11065 "world to help you get your message out. Can you be sure your message will be "
11069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11070 #: freeculture.xml:8263
11074 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11075 #: freeculture.xml:8264
11076 msgid "Marijuana Policy Project"
11079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11080 #: freeculture.xml:8265
11084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11085 #: freeculture.xml:8266
11089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11090 #: freeculture.xml:8267
11094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11095 #: freeculture.xml:8238
11097 "The Marijuana Policy Project, in February 2003, sought to place ads that "
11098 "directly responded to the Nick and Norm series on stations within the "
11099 "Washington, D.C., area. Comcast rejected the ads as <quote>against [their] "
11100 "policy.</quote> The local NBC affiliate, WRC, rejected the ads without "
11101 "reviewing them. The local ABC affiliate, WJOA, originally agreed to run the "
11102 "ads and accepted payment to do so, but later decided not to run the ads and "
11103 "returned the collected fees. Interview with Neal Levine, 15 October 2003. "
11104 "These restrictions are, of course, not limited to drug policy. See, for "
11105 "example, Nat Ives, <quote>On the Issue of an Iraq War, Advocacy Ads Meet "
11106 "with Rejection from TV Networks,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
11107 "Times</citetitle>, 13 March 2003, C4. Outside of election-related air time "
11108 "there is very little that the FCC or the courts are willing to do to even "
11109 "the playing field. For a general overview, see Rhonda Brown, <quote>Ad Hoc "
11110 "Access: The Regulation of Editorial Advertising on Television and "
11111 "Radio,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law and Policy Review</citetitle> 6 (1988): "
11112 "449–79, and for a more recent summary of the stance of the FCC and the "
11113 "courts, see <citetitle>Radio-Television News Directors "
11114 "Association</citetitle> v. <citetitle>FCC</citetitle>, 184 F. 3d 872 "
11115 "(D.C. Cir. 1999). Municipal authorities exercise the same authority as the "
11116 "networks. In a recent example from San Francisco, the San Francisco transit "
11117 "authority rejected an ad that criticized its Muni diesel buses. Phillip "
11118 "Matier and Andrew Ross, <quote>Antidiesel Group Fuming After Muni Rejects "
11119 "Ad,</quote> SFGate.com, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
11120 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #32</ulink>. The ground was that "
11121 "the criticism was <quote>too controversial.</quote> <placeholder "
11122 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
11123 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
11124 "id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> <placeholder "
11125 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/>"
11128 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11129 #: freeculture.xml:8228
11131 "No. You cannot. Television stations have a general policy of avoiding "
11132 "<quote>controversial</quote> ads. Ads sponsored by the government are deemed "
11133 "uncontroversial; ads disagreeing with the government are controversial. "
11134 "This selectivity might be thought inconsistent with the First Amendment, but "
11135 "the Supreme Court has held that stations have the right to choose what they "
11136 "run. Thus, the major channels of commercial media will refuse one side of a "
11137 "crucial debate the opportunity to present its case. And the courts will "
11138 "defend the rights of the stations to be this biased.<placeholder "
11139 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11142 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11143 #: freeculture.xml:8271
11145 "I'd be happy to defend the networks' rights, as well—if we lived in a "
11146 "media market that was truly diverse. But concentration in the media throws "
11147 "that condition into doubt. If a handful of companies control access to the "
11148 "media, and that handful of companies gets to decide which political "
11149 "positions it will allow to be promoted on its channels, then in an obvious "
11150 "and important way, concentration matters. You might like the positions the "
11151 "handful of companies selects. But you should not like a world in which a "
11152 "mere few get to decide which issues the rest of us get to know about."
11155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
11156 #: freeculture.xml:8283
11160 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11161 #: freeculture.xml:8285
11163 "There is something innocent and obvious about the claim of the copyright "
11164 "warriors that the government should <quote>protect my property.</quote> In "
11165 "the abstract, it is obviously true and, ordinarily, totally harmless. No "
11166 "sane sort who is not an anarchist could disagree."
11170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11171 #: freeculture.xml:8291
11173 "But when we see how dramatically this <quote>property</quote> has "
11174 "changed— when we recognize how it might now interact with both "
11175 "technology and markets to mean that the effective constraint on the liberty "
11176 "to cultivate our culture is dramatically different—the claim begins to "
11177 "seem less innocent and obvious. Given (1) the power of technology to "
11178 "supplement the law's control, and (2) the power of concentrated markets to "
11179 "weaken the opportunity for dissent, if strictly enforcing the massively "
11180 "expanded <quote>property</quote> rights granted by copyright fundamentally "
11181 "changes the freedom within this culture to cultivate and build upon our "
11182 "past, then we have to ask whether this property should be redefined."
11185 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11186 #: freeculture.xml:8307
11188 "Not starkly. Or absolutely. My point is not that we should abolish copyright "
11189 "or go back to the eighteenth century. That would be a total mistake, "
11190 "disastrous for the most important creative enterprises within our culture "
11194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11195 #: freeculture.xml:8313
11197 "But there is a space between zero and one, Internet culture "
11198 "notwithstanding. And these massive shifts in the effective power of "
11199 "copyright regulation, tied to increased concentration of the content "
11200 "industry and resting in the hands of technology that will increasingly "
11201 "enable control over the use of culture, should drive us to consider whether "
11202 "another adjustment is called for. Not an adjustment that increases "
11203 "copyright's power. Not an adjustment that increases its term. Rather, an "
11204 "adjustment to restore the balance that has traditionally defined copyright's "
11205 "regulation—a weakening of that regulation, to strengthen creativity."
11208 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11209 #: freeculture.xml:8325
11211 "Copyright law has not been a rock of Gibraltar. It's not a set of constant "
11212 "commitments that, for some mysterious reason, teenagers and geeks now "
11213 "flout. Instead, copyright power has grown dramatically in a short period of "
11214 "time, as the technologies of distribution and creation have changed and as "
11215 "lobbyists have pushed for more control by copyright holders. Changes in the "
11216 "past in response to changes in technology suggest that we may well need "
11217 "similar changes in the future. And these changes have to be "
11218 "<emphasis>reductions</emphasis> in the scope of copyright, in response to "
11219 "the extraordinary increase in control that technology and the market enable."
11223 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11224 #: freeculture.xml:8337
11226 "For the single point that is lost in this war on pirates is a point that we "
11227 "see only after surveying the range of these changes. When you add together "
11228 "the effect of changing law, concentrated markets, and changing technology, "
11229 "together they produce an astonishing conclusion: <emphasis>Never in our "
11230 "history have fewer had a legal right to control more of the development of "
11231 "our culture than now</emphasis>."
11234 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11235 #: freeculture.xml:8361
11237 "Siva Vaidhyanathan captures a similar point in his <quote>four "
11238 "surrenders</quote> of copyright law in the digital age. See Vaidhyanathan, "
11239 "159–60. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11243 #: freeculture.xml:8346
11245 "Not when copyrights were perpetual, for when copyrights were perpetual, they "
11246 "affected only that precise creative work. Not when only publishers had the "
11247 "tools to publish, for the market then was much more diverse. Not when there "
11248 "were only three television networks, for even then, newspapers, film "
11249 "studios, radio stations, and publishers were independent of the "
11250 "networks. <emphasis>Never</emphasis> has copyright protected such a wide "
11251 "range of rights, against as broad a range of actors, for a term that was "
11252 "remotely as long. This form of regulation—a tiny regulation of a tiny "
11253 "part of the creative energy of a nation at the founding—is now a "
11254 "massive regulation of the overall creative process. Law plus technology plus "
11255 "the market now interact to turn this historically benign regulation into the "
11256 "most significant regulation of culture that our free society has "
11257 "known.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11261 #: freeculture.xml:8367
11262 msgid "This has been a long chapter. Its point can now be briefly stated."
11265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11266 #: freeculture.xml:8370
11268 "At the start of this book, I distinguished between commercial and "
11269 "noncommercial culture. In the course of this chapter, I have distinguished "
11270 "between copying a work and transforming it. We can now combine these two "
11271 "distinctions and draw a clear map of the changes that copyright law has "
11272 "undergone. In 1790, the law looked like this:"
11275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11276 #: freeculture.xml:8382 freeculture.xml:8419
11280 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11281 #: freeculture.xml:8383 freeculture.xml:8420 freeculture.xml:8458 freeculture.xml:8490
11285 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11286 #: freeculture.xml:8388 freeculture.xml:8425 freeculture.xml:8463 freeculture.xml:8495
11290 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11291 #: freeculture.xml:8389 freeculture.xml:8426 freeculture.xml:8427 freeculture.xml:8464 freeculture.xml:8465 freeculture.xml:8496 freeculture.xml:8497 freeculture.xml:8501 freeculture.xml:8502
11295 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11296 #: freeculture.xml:8390 freeculture.xml:8394 freeculture.xml:8395 freeculture.xml:8431 freeculture.xml:8432 freeculture.xml:8470
11300 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11301 #: freeculture.xml:8393 freeculture.xml:8430 freeculture.xml:8468 freeculture.xml:8500
11302 msgid "Noncommercial"
11306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11307 #: freeculture.xml:8402
11309 "The act of publishing a map, chart, and book was regulated by copyright "
11310 "law. Nothing else was. Transformations were free. And as copyright attached "
11311 "only with registration, and only those who intended to benefit commercially "
11312 "would register, copying through publishing of noncommercial work was also "
11316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11317 #: freeculture.xml:8411
11318 msgid "By the end of the nineteenth century, the law had changed to this:"
11321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11322 #: freeculture.xml:8439
11324 "Derivative works were now regulated by copyright law—if published, "
11325 "which again, given the economics of publishing at the time, means if offered "
11326 "commercially. But noncommercial publishing and transformation were still "
11327 "essentially free."
11330 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11331 #: freeculture.xml:8445
11333 "In 1909 the law changed to regulate copies, not publishing, and after this "
11334 "change, the scope of the law was tied to technology. As the technology of "
11335 "copying became more prevalent, the reach of the law expanded. Thus by 1975, "
11336 "as photocopying machines became more common, we could say the law began to "
11340 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11341 #: freeculture.xml:8457 freeculture.xml:8489
11345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11346 #: freeculture.xml:8469
11347 msgid "©/Free"
11350 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11351 #: freeculture.xml:8477
11353 "The law was interpreted to reach noncommercial copying through, say, copy "
11354 "machines, but still much of copying outside of the commercial market "
11355 "remained free. But the consequence of the emergence of digital technologies, "
11356 "especially in the context of a digital network, means that the law now looks "
11361 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11362 #: freeculture.xml:8509
11364 "Every realm is governed by copyright law, whereas before most creativity was "
11365 "not. The law now regulates the full range of creativity— commercial or "
11366 "not, transformative or not—with the same rules designed to regulate "
11367 "commercial publishers."
11370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11371 #: freeculture.xml:8517
11373 "Obviously, copyright law is not the enemy. The enemy is regulation that does "
11374 "no good. So the question that we should be asking just now is whether "
11375 "extending the regulations of copyright law into each of these domains "
11376 "actually does any good."
11379 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11380 #: freeculture.xml:8523
11382 "I have no doubt that it does good in regulating commercial copying. But I "
11383 "also have no doubt that it does more harm than good when regulating (as it "
11384 "regulates just now) noncommercial copying and, especially, noncommercial "
11385 "transformation. And increasingly, for the reasons sketched especially in "
11386 "chapters <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/> and "
11387 "<xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"transformers\"/>, one "
11388 "might well wonder whether it does more harm than good for commercial "
11389 "transformation. More commercial transformative work would be created if "
11390 "derivative rights were more sharply restricted."
11393 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11394 #: freeculture.xml:8547
11395 msgid "legal realist movement"
11398 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11399 #: freeculture.xml:8541
11401 "It was the single most important contribution of the legal realist movement "
11402 "to demonstrate that all property rights are always crafted to balance public "
11403 "and private interests. See Thomas C. Grey, <quote>The Disintegration of "
11404 "Property,</quote> in <citetitle>Nomos XXII: Property</citetitle>, J. Roland "
11405 "Pennock and John W. Chapman, eds. (New York: New York University Press, "
11406 "1980). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11410 #: freeculture.xml:8535
11412 "The issue is therefore not simply whether copyright is property. Of course "
11413 "copyright is a kind of <quote>property,</quote> and of course, as with any "
11414 "property, the state ought to protect it. But first impressions "
11415 "notwithstanding, historically, this property right (as with all property "
11416 "rights<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>) has been crafted to "
11417 "balance the important need to give authors and artists incentives with the "
11418 "equally important need to assure access to creative work. This balance has "
11419 "always been struck in light of new technologies. And for almost half of our "
11420 "tradition, the <quote>copyright</quote> did not control <emphasis>at "
11421 "all</emphasis> the freedom of others to build upon or transform a creative "
11422 "work. American culture was born free, and for almost 180 years our country "
11423 "consistently protected a vibrant and rich free culture."
11427 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11428 #: freeculture.xml:8559
11430 "We achieved that free culture because our law respected important limits on "
11431 "the scope of the interests protected by <quote>property.</quote> The very "
11432 "birth of <quote>copyright</quote> as a statutory right recognized those "
11433 "limits, by granting copyright owners protection for a limited time only (the "
11434 "story of chapter 6). The tradition of <quote>fair use</quote> is animated by "
11435 "a similar concern that is increasingly under strain as the costs of "
11436 "exercising any fair use right become unavoidably high (the story of chapter "
11437 "7). Adding statutory rights where markets might stifle innovation is another "
11438 "familiar limit on the property right that copyright is (chapter 8). And "
11439 "granting archives and libraries a broad freedom to collect, claims of "
11440 "property notwithstanding, is a crucial part of guaranteeing the soul of a "
11441 "culture (chapter 9). Free cultures, like free markets, are built with "
11442 "property. But the nature of the property that builds a free culture is very "
11443 "different from the extremist vision that dominates the debate today."
11446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11447 #: freeculture.xml:8578
11449 "Free culture is increasingly the casualty in this war on piracy. In response "
11450 "to a real, if not yet quantified, threat that the technologies of the "
11451 "Internet present to twentieth-century business models for producing and "
11452 "distributing culture, the law and technology are being transformed in a way "
11453 "that will undermine our tradition of free culture. The property right that "
11454 "is copyright is no longer the balanced right that it was, or was intended to "
11455 "be. The property right that is copyright has become unbalanced, tilted "
11456 "toward an extreme. The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened "
11457 "in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check "
11461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
11462 #: freeculture.xml:8595
11466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
11467 #: freeculture.xml:8599
11468 msgid "CHAPTER ELEVEN: Chimera"
11471 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11472 #: freeculture.xml:8601
11476 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11477 #: freeculture.xml:8604
11478 msgid "Wells, H. G."
11481 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11482 #: freeculture.xml:8607
11483 msgid "<quote>Country of the Blind, The</quote> (Wells)"
11487 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
11488 #: freeculture.xml:8615
11490 "H. G. Wells, <quote>The Country of the Blind</quote> (1904, 1911). See "
11491 "H. G. Wells, <citetitle>The Country of the Blind and Other "
11492 "Stories</citetitle>, Michael Sherborne, ed. (New York: Oxford University "
11496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11497 #: freeculture.xml:8611
11499 "In a well-known short story by H. G. Wells, a mountain climber named Nunez "
11500 "trips (literally, down an ice slope) into an unknown and isolated valley in "
11501 "the Peruvian Andes.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The valley is "
11502 "extraordinarily beautiful, with <quote>sweet water, pasture, an even "
11503 "climate, slopes of rich brown soil with tangles of a shrub that bore an "
11504 "excellent fruit.</quote> But the villagers are all blind. Nunez takes this "
11505 "as an opportunity. <quote>In the Country of the Blind,</quote> he tells "
11506 "himself, <quote>the One-Eyed Man is King.</quote> So he resolves to live "
11507 "with the villagers to explore life as a king."
11510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11511 #: freeculture.xml:8627
11513 "Things don't go quite as he planned. He tries to explain the idea of sight "
11514 "to the villagers. They don't understand. He tells them they are "
11515 "<quote>blind.</quote> They don't have the word "
11516 "<citetitle>blind</citetitle>. They think he's just thick. Indeed, as they "
11517 "increasingly notice the things he can't do (hear the sound of grass being "
11518 "stepped on, for example), they increasingly try to control him. He, in turn, "
11519 "becomes increasingly frustrated. <quote>`You don't understand,' he cried, in "
11520 "a voice that was meant to be great and resolute, and which broke. `You are "
11521 "blind and I can see. Leave me alone!'</quote>"
11525 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11526 #: freeculture.xml:8639
11528 "The villagers don't leave him alone. Nor do they see (so to speak) the "
11529 "virtue of his special power. Not even the ultimate target of his affection, "
11530 "a young woman who to him seems <quote>the most beautiful thing in the whole "
11531 "of creation,</quote> understands the beauty of sight. Nunez's description of "
11532 "what he sees <quote>seemed to her the most poetical of fancies, and she "
11533 "listened to his description of the stars and the mountains and her own sweet "
11534 "white-lit beauty as though it was a guilty indulgence.</quote> <quote>She "
11535 "did not believe,</quote> Wells tells us, and <quote>she could only half "
11536 "understand, but she was mysteriously delighted.</quote>"
11539 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11540 #: freeculture.xml:8650
11542 "When Nunez announces his desire to marry his <quote>mysteriously "
11543 "delighted</quote> love, the father and the village object. <quote>You see, "
11544 "my dear,</quote> her father instructs, <quote>he's an idiot. He has "
11545 "delusions. He can't do anything right.</quote> They take Nunez to the "
11549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11550 #: freeculture.xml:8656
11552 "After a careful examination, the doctor gives his opinion. <quote>His brain "
11553 "is affected,</quote> he reports."
11556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11557 #: freeculture.xml:8660
11559 "<quote>What affects it?</quote> the father asks. <quote>Those queer things "
11560 "that are called the eyes … are diseased … in such a way as to "
11561 "affect his brain.</quote>"
11564 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11565 #: freeculture.xml:8665
11567 "The doctor continues: <quote>I think I may say with reasonable certainty "
11568 "that in order to cure him completely, all that we need to do is a simple and "
11569 "easy surgical operation—namely, to remove these irritant bodies [the "
11574 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11575 #: freeculture.xml:8671
11577 "<quote>Thank Heaven for science!</quote> says the father to the doctor. They "
11578 "inform Nunez of this condition necessary for him to be allowed his bride. "
11579 "(You'll have to read the original to learn what happens in the end. I "
11580 "believe in free culture, but never in giving away the end of a story.) It "
11581 "sometimes happens that the eggs of twins fuse in the mother's womb. That "
11582 "fusion produces a <quote>chimera.</quote> A chimera is a single creature "
11583 "with two sets of DNA. The DNA in the blood, for example, might be different "
11584 "from the DNA of the skin. This possibility is an underused plot for murder "
11585 "mysteries. <quote>But the DNA shows with 100 percent certainty that she was "
11586 "not the person whose blood was at the scene. …</quote>"
11589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11590 #: freeculture.xml:8688
11592 "Before I had read about chimeras, I would have said they were impossible. A "
11593 "single person can't have two sets of DNA. The very idea of DNA is that it is "
11594 "the code of an individual. Yet in fact, not only can two individuals have "
11595 "the same set of DNA (identical twins), but one person can have two different "
11596 "sets of DNA (a chimera). Our understanding of a <quote>person</quote> should "
11597 "reflect this reality."
11600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11601 #: freeculture.xml:8696
11603 "The more I work to understand the current struggle over copyright and "
11604 "culture, which I've sometimes called unfairly, and sometimes not unfairly "
11605 "enough, <quote>the copyright wars,</quote> the more I think we're dealing "
11606 "with a chimera. For example, in the battle over the question <quote>What is "
11607 "p2p file sharing?</quote> both sides have it right, and both sides have it "
11608 "wrong. One side says, <quote>File sharing is just like two kids taping each "
11609 "others' records—the sort of thing we've been doing for the last thirty "
11610 "years without any question at all.</quote> That's true, at least in "
11611 "part. When I tell my best friend to try out a new CD that I've bought, but "
11612 "rather than just send the CD, I point him to my p2p server, that is, in all "
11613 "relevant respects, just like what every executive in every recording company "
11614 "no doubt did as a kid: sharing music."
11617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11618 #: freeculture.xml:8710
11620 "But the description is also false in part. For when my p2p server is on a "
11621 "p2p network through which anyone can get access to my music, then sure, my "
11622 "friends can get access, but it stretches the meaning of "
11623 "<quote>friends</quote> beyond recognition to say <quote>my ten thousand best "
11624 "friends</quote> can get access. Whether or not sharing my music with my best "
11625 "friend is what <quote>we have always been allowed to do,</quote> we have not "
11626 "always been allowed to share music with <quote>our ten thousand best "
11630 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11631 #: freeculture.xml:8719
11633 "Likewise, when the other side says, <quote>File sharing is just like walking "
11634 "into a Tower Records and taking a CD off the shelf and walking out with "
11635 "it,</quote> that's true, at least in part. If, after Lyle Lovett (finally) "
11636 "releases a new album, rather than buying it, I go to Kazaa and find a free "
11637 "copy to take, that is very much like stealing a copy from Tower. "
11638 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11642 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11643 #: freeculture.xml:8730
11645 "But it is not quite stealing from Tower. After all, when I take a CD from "
11646 "Tower Records, Tower has one less CD to sell. And when I take a CD from "
11647 "Tower Records, I get a bit of plastic and a cover, and something to show on "
11648 "my shelves. (And, while we're at it, we could also note that when I take a "
11649 "CD from Tower Records, the maximum fine that might be imposed on me, under "
11650 "California law, at least, is $1,000. According to the RIAA, by contrast, if "
11651 "I download a ten-song CD, I'm liable for $1,500,000 in damages.)"
11654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11655 #: freeculture.xml:8740
11657 "The point is not that it is as neither side describes. The point is that it "
11658 "is both—both as the RIAA describes it and as Kazaa describes it. It is "
11659 "a chimera. And rather than simply denying what the other side asserts, we "
11660 "need to begin to think about how we should respond to this chimera. What "
11661 "rules should govern it?"
11664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11665 #: freeculture.xml:8786
11666 msgid "Conyers, John, Jr."
11669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11670 #: freeculture.xml:8787 freeculture.xml:9491
11671 msgid "Berman, Howard L."
11674 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
11675 #: freeculture.xml:8756
11677 "For an excellent summary, see the report prepared by GartnerG2 and the "
11678 "Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, "
11679 "<quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> 27 June "
11680 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11681 "#33</ulink>. Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard L. Berman "
11682 "(D-Calif.) have introduced a bill that would treat unauthorized on-line "
11683 "copying as a felony offense with punishments ranging as high as five years "
11684 "imprisonment; see Jon Healey, <quote>House Bill Aims to Up Stakes on "
11685 "Piracy,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 17 July 2003, "
11686 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11687 "#34</ulink>. Civil penalties are currently set at $150,000 per copied "
11688 "song. For a recent (and unsuccessful) legal challenge to the RIAA's demand "
11689 "that an ISP reveal the identity of a user accused of sharing more than 600 "
11690 "songs through a family computer, see <citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> "
11691 "v. <citetitle>Verizon Internet Services (In re. Verizon Internet "
11692 "Services)</citetitle>, 240 F. Supp. 2d 24 (D.D.C. 2003). Such a user could "
11693 "face liability ranging as high as $90 million. Such astronomical figures "
11694 "furnish the RIAA with a powerful arsenal in its prosecution of file "
11695 "sharers. Settlements ranging from $12,000 to $17,500 for four students "
11696 "accused of heavy file sharing on university networks must have seemed a mere "
11697 "pittance next to the $98 billion the RIAA could seek should the matter "
11698 "proceed to court. See Elizabeth Young, <quote>Downloading Could Lead to "
11699 "Fines,</quote> redandblack.com, August 2003, available at <ulink "
11700 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #35</ulink>. For an example of "
11701 "the RIAA's targeting of student file sharing, and of the subpoenas issued to "
11702 "universities to reveal student file-sharer identities, see James Collins, "
11703 "<quote>RIAA Steps Up Bid to Force BC, MIT to Name Students,</quote> "
11704 "<citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 8 August 2003, D3, available at <ulink "
11705 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #36</ulink>. <placeholder "
11706 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
11709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11710 #: freeculture.xml:8747
11712 "We could respond by simply pretending that it is not a chimera. We could, "
11713 "with the RIAA, decide that every act of file sharing should be a felony. We "
11714 "could prosecute families for millions of dollars in damages just because "
11715 "file sharing occurred on a family computer. And we can get universities to "
11716 "monitor all computer traffic to make sure that no computer is used to commit "
11717 "this crime. These responses might be extreme, but each of them has either "
11718 "been proposed or actually implemented.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
11722 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11723 #: freeculture.xml:8793
11725 "Alternatively, we could respond to file sharing the way many kids act as "
11726 "though we've responded. We could totally legalize it. Let there be no "
11727 "copyright liability, either civil or criminal, for making copyrighted "
11728 "content available on the Net. Make file sharing like gossip: regulated, if "
11729 "at all, by social norms but not by law."
11732 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11733 #: freeculture.xml:8800
11735 "Either response is possible. I think either would be a mistake. Rather than "
11736 "embrace one of these two extremes, we should embrace something that "
11737 "recognizes the truth in both. And while I end this book with a sketch of a "
11738 "system that does just that, my aim in the next chapter is to show just how "
11739 "awful it would be for us to adopt the zero-tolerance extreme. I believe "
11740 "<emphasis>either</emphasis> extreme would be worse than a reasonable "
11741 "alternative. But I believe the zero-tolerance solution would be the worse "
11742 "of the two extremes."
11746 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11747 #: freeculture.xml:8812
11749 "Yet zero tolerance is increasingly our government's policy. In the middle of "
11750 "the chaos that the Internet has created, an extraordinary land grab is "
11751 "occurring. The law and technology are being shifted to give content holders "
11752 "a kind of control over our culture that they have never had before. And in "
11753 "this extremism, many an opportunity for new innovation and new creativity "
11757 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11758 #: freeculture.xml:8820
11760 "I'm not talking about the opportunities for kids to <quote>steal</quote> "
11761 "music. My focus instead is the commercial and cultural innovation that this "
11762 "war will also kill. We have never seen the power to innovate spread so "
11763 "broadly among our citizens, and we have just begun to see the innovation "
11764 "that this power will unleash. Yet the Internet has already seen the passing "
11765 "of one cycle of innovation around technologies to distribute content. The "
11766 "law is responsible for this passing. As the vice president for global public "
11767 "policy at one of these new innovators, eMusic.com, put it when criticizing "
11768 "the DMCA's added protection for copyrighted material,"
11771 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11772 #: freeculture.xml:8833
11774 "eMusic opposes music piracy. We are a distributor of copyrighted material, "
11775 "and we want to protect those rights."
11778 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11779 #: freeculture.xml:8837
11781 "But building a technology fortress that locks in the clout of the major "
11782 "labels is by no means the only way to protect copyright interests, nor is it "
11783 "necessarily the best. It is simply too early to answer that question. Market "
11784 "forces operating naturally may very well produce a totally different "
11789 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
11790 #: freeculture.xml:8854
11792 "WIPO and the DMCA One Year Later: Assessing Consumer Access to Digital "
11793 "Entertainment on the Internet and Other Media: Hearing Before the "
11794 "Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, House "
11795 "Committee on Commerce, 106th Cong. 29 (1999) (statement of Peter Harter, "
11796 "vice president, Global Public Policy and Standards, EMusic.com), available "
11797 "in LEXIS, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony File."
11800 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11801 #: freeculture.xml:8844
11803 "This is a critical point. The choices that industry sectors make with "
11804 "respect to these systems will in many ways directly shape the market for "
11805 "digital media and the manner in which digital media are distributed. This in "
11806 "turn will directly influence the options that are available to consumers, "
11807 "both in terms of the ease with which they will be able to access digital "
11808 "media and the equipment that they will require to do so. Poor choices made "
11809 "this early in the game will retard the growth of this market, hurting "
11810 "everyone's interests.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11814 #: freeculture.xml:8868 freeculture.xml:9219
11815 msgid "Vivendi Universal"
11818 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11819 #: freeculture.xml:8865
11821 "In April 2001, eMusic.com was purchased by Vivendi Universal, one of "
11822 "<quote>the major labels.</quote> Its position on these matters has now "
11823 "changed. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11827 #: freeculture.xml:8871
11829 "Reversing our tradition of tolerance now will not merely quash piracy. It "
11830 "will sacrifice values that are important to this culture, and will kill "
11831 "opportunities that could be extraordinarily valuable."
11834 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
11835 #: freeculture.xml:8879
11836 msgid "CHAPTER TWELVE: Harms"
11839 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11840 #: freeculture.xml:8881
11842 "To fight <quote>piracy,</quote> to protect <quote>property,</quote> the "
11843 "content industry has launched a war. Lobbying and lots of campaign "
11844 "contributions have now brought the government into this war. As with any "
11845 "war, this one will have both direct and collateral damage. As with any war "
11846 "of prohibition, these damages will be suffered most by our own people."
11849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11850 #: freeculture.xml:8888
11852 "My aim so far has been to describe the consequences of this war, in "
11853 "particular, the consequences for <quote>free culture.</quote> But my aim now "
11854 "is to extend this description of consequences into an argument. Is this war "
11858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11859 #: freeculture.xml:8894
11861 "In my view, it is not. There is no good reason why this time, for the first "
11862 "time, the law should defend the old against the new, just when the power of "
11863 "the property called <quote>intellectual property</quote> is at its greatest "
11867 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11868 #: freeculture.xml:8902
11870 "Yet <quote>common sense</quote> does not see it this way. Common sense is "
11871 "still on the side of the Causbys and the content industry. The extreme "
11872 "claims of control in the name of property still resonate; the uncritical "
11873 "rejection of <quote>piracy</quote> still has play."
11877 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11878 #: freeculture.xml:8909
11880 "There will be many consequences of continuing this war. I want to describe "
11881 "just three. All three might be said to be unintended. I am quite confident "
11882 "the third is unintended. I'm less sure about the first two. The first two "
11883 "protect modern RCAs, but there is no Howard Armstrong in the wings to fight "
11884 "today's monopolists of culture."
11887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
11888 #: freeculture.xml:8916
11889 msgid "Constraining Creators"
11892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11893 #: freeculture.xml:8918
11895 "In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. "
11896 "These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share "
11897 "content. Capturing and sharing content, of course, is what humans have done "
11898 "since the dawn of man. It is how we learn and communicate. But capturing and "
11899 "sharing through digital technology is different. The fidelity and power are "
11900 "different. You could send an e-mail telling someone about a joke you saw on "
11901 "Comedy Central, or you could send the clip. You could write an essay about "
11902 "the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to "
11903 "hate, or you could make a short film that puts statement against "
11904 "statement. You could write a poem to express your love, or you could weave "
11905 "together a string—a mash-up— of songs from your favorite artists "
11906 "in a collage and make it available on the Net."
11909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11910 #: freeculture.xml:8933
11912 "This digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> is in part an extension of "
11913 "the capturing and sharing that has always been integral to our culture, and "
11914 "in part it is something new. It is continuous with the Kodak, but it "
11915 "explodes the boundaries of Kodak-like technologies. The technology of "
11916 "digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> promises a world of "
11917 "extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly "
11918 "shared. And as that creativity is applied to democracy, it will enable a "
11919 "broad range of citizens to use technology to express and criticize and "
11920 "contribute to the culture all around."
11924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11925 #: freeculture.xml:8944
11927 "Technology has thus given us an opportunity to do something with culture "
11928 "that has only ever been possible for individuals in small groups, isolated "
11929 "from others. Think about an old man telling a story to a collection of "
11930 "neighbors in a small town. Now imagine that same storytelling extended "
11931 "across the globe."
11934 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11935 #: freeculture.xml:8954
11937 "Yet all this is possible only if the activity is presumptively legal. In the "
11938 "current regime of legal regulation, it is not. Forget file sharing for a "
11939 "moment. Think about your favorite amazing sites on the Net. Web sites that "
11940 "offer plot summaries from forgotten television shows; sites that catalog "
11941 "cartoons from the 1960s; sites that mix images and sound to criticize "
11942 "politicians or businesses; sites that gather newspaper articles on remote "
11943 "topics of science or culture. There is a vast amount of creative work spread "
11944 "across the Internet. But as the law is currently crafted, this work is "
11945 "presumptively illegal."
11948 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
11949 #: freeculture.xml:8982 freeculture.xml:9003
11953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11954 #: freeculture.xml:8977
11956 "See Lynne W. Jeter, <citetitle>Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at "
11957 "WorldCom</citetitle> (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 176, 204; "
11958 "for details of the settlement, see MCI press release, <quote>MCI Wins "
11959 "U.S. District Court Approval for SEC Settlement</quote> (7 July 2003), "
11960 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #37</ulink>. "
11961 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11965 #: freeculture.xml:8998
11966 msgid "Bush, George W."
11969 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11970 #: freeculture.xml:8989
11972 "The bill, modeled after California's tort reform model, was passed in the "
11973 "House of Representatives but defeated in a Senate vote in July 2003. For an "
11974 "overview, see Tanya Albert, <quote>Measure Stalls in Senate: `We'll Be "
11975 "Back,' Say Tort Reformers,</quote> amednews.com, 28 July 2003, available at "
11976 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #38</ulink>, and "
11977 "<quote>Senate Turns Back Malpractice Caps,</quote> CBSNews.com, 9 July 2003, "
11978 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11979 "#39</ulink>. President Bush has continued to urge tort reform in recent "
11980 "months. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11983 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11984 #: freeculture.xml:8965
11986 "That presumption will increasingly chill creativity, as the examples of "
11987 "extreme penalties for vague infringements continue to proliferate. It is "
11988 "impossible to get a clear sense of what's allowed and what's not, and at the "
11989 "same time, the penalties for crossing the line are astonishingly harsh. The "
11990 "four students who were threatened by the RIAA ( Jesse Jordan of chapter 3 "
11991 "was just one) were threatened with a $98 billion lawsuit for building search "
11992 "engines that permitted songs to be copied. Yet World-Com—which "
11993 "defrauded investors of $11 billion, resulting in a loss to investors in "
11994 "market capitalization of over $200 billion—received a fine of a mere "
11995 "$750 million.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And under legislation "
11996 "being pushed in Congress right now, a doctor who negligently removes the "
11997 "wrong leg in an operation would be liable for no more than $250,000 in "
11998 "damages for pain and suffering.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Can "
11999 "common sense recognize the absurdity in a world where the maximum fine for "
12000 "downloading two songs off the Internet is more than the fine for a doctor's "
12001 "negligently butchering a patient? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
12005 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12006 #: freeculture.xml:9025
12008 "See Danit Lidor, <quote>Artists Just Wanna Be Free,</quote> "
12009 "<citetitle>Wired</citetitle>, 7 July 2003, available at <ulink "
12010 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #40</ulink>. For an overview of "
12011 "the exhibition, see <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
12015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12016 #: freeculture.xml:9006
12018 "The consequence of this legal uncertainty, tied to these extremely high "
12019 "penalties, is that an extraordinary amount of creativity will either never "
12020 "be exercised, or never be exercised in the open. We drive this creative "
12021 "process underground by branding the modern-day Walt Disneys "
12022 "<quote>pirates.</quote> We make it impossible for businesses to rely upon a "
12023 "public domain, because the boundaries of the public domain are designed to "
12024 "be unclear. It never pays to do anything except pay for the right to create, "
12025 "and hence only those who can pay are allowed to create. As was the case in "
12026 "the Soviet Union, though for very different reasons, we will begin to see a "
12027 "world of underground art—not because the message is necessarily "
12028 "political, or because the subject is controversial, but because the very act "
12029 "of creating the art is legally fraught. Already, exhibits of <quote>illegal "
12030 "art</quote> tour the United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
12031 "In what does their <quote>illegality</quote> consist? In the act of mixing "
12032 "the culture around us with an expression that is critical or reflective."
12035 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12036 #: freeculture.xml:9035
12038 "Part of the reason for this fear of illegality has to do with the changing "
12039 "law. I described that change in detail in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
12040 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>. But an even bigger part has to do "
12041 "with the increasing ease with which infractions can be tracked. As users of "
12042 "file-sharing systems discovered in 2002, it is a trivial matter for "
12043 "copyright owners to get courts to order Internet service providers to reveal "
12044 "who has what content. It is as if your cassette tape player transmitted a "
12045 "list of the songs that you played in the privacy of your own home that "
12046 "anyone could tune into for whatever reason they chose."
12049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12050 #: freeculture.xml:9047
12052 "Never in our history has a painter had to worry about whether his painting "
12053 "infringed on someone else's work; but the modern-day painter, using the "
12054 "tools of Photoshop, sharing content on the Web, must worry all the "
12055 "time. Images are all around, but the only safe images to use in the act of "
12056 "creation are those purchased from Corbis or another image farm. And in "
12057 "purchasing, censoring happens. There is a free market in pencils; we needn't "
12058 "worry about its effect on creativity. But there is a highly regulated, "
12059 "monopolized market in cultural icons; the right to cultivate and transform "
12060 "them is not similarly free."
12063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12064 #: freeculture.xml:9058
12066 "Lawyers rarely see this because lawyers are rarely empirical. As I described "
12067 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/>, "
12068 "in response to the story about documentary filmmaker Jon Else, I have been "
12069 "lectured again and again by lawyers who insist Else's use was fair use, and "
12070 "hence I am wrong to say that the law regulates such a use."
12074 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12075 #: freeculture.xml:9069
12077 "But fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend "
12078 "your right to create. And as lawyers love to forget, our system for "
12079 "defending rights such as fair use is astonishingly bad—in practically "
12080 "every context, but especially here. It costs too much, it delivers too "
12081 "slowly, and what it delivers often has little connection to the justice "
12082 "underlying the claim. The legal system may be tolerable for the very rich. "
12083 "For everyone else, it is an embarrassment to a tradition that prides itself "
12084 "on the rule of law."
12087 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12088 #: freeculture.xml:9079
12090 "Judges and lawyers can tell themselves that fair use provides adequate "
12091 "<quote>breathing room</quote> between regulation by the law and the access "
12092 "the law should allow. But it is a measure of how out of touch our legal "
12093 "system has become that anyone actually believes this. The rules that "
12094 "publishers impose upon writers, the rules that film distributors impose upon "
12095 "filmmakers, the rules that newspapers impose upon journalists— these "
12096 "are the real laws governing creativity. And these rules have little "
12097 "relationship to the <quote>law</quote> with which judges comfort themselves."
12100 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12101 #: freeculture.xml:9090
12103 "For in a world that threatens $150,000 for a single willful infringement of "
12104 "a copyright, and which demands tens of thousands of dollars to even defend "
12105 "against a copyright infringement claim, and which would never return to the "
12106 "wrongfully accused defendant anything of the costs she suffered to defend "
12107 "her right to speak—in that world, the astonishingly broad regulations "
12108 "that pass under the name <quote>copyright</quote> silence speech and "
12109 "creativity. And in that world, it takes a studied blindness for people to "
12110 "continue to believe they live in a culture that is free."
12113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12114 #: freeculture.xml:9101
12115 msgid "As Jed Horovitz, the businessman behind Video Pipeline, said to me,"
12119 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12120 #: freeculture.xml:9105
12122 "We're losing [creative] opportunities right and left. Creative people are "
12123 "being forced not to express themselves. Thoughts are not being "
12124 "expressed. And while a lot of stuff may [still] be created, it still won't "
12125 "get distributed. Even if the stuff gets made … you're not going to "
12126 "get it distributed in the mainstream media unless you've got a little note "
12127 "from a lawyer saying, <quote>This has been cleared.</quote> You're not even "
12128 "going to get it on PBS without that kind of permission. That's the point at "
12129 "which they control it."
12132 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
12133 #: freeculture.xml:9118
12134 msgid "Constraining Innovators"
12137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12138 #: freeculture.xml:9120
12140 "The story of the last section was a crunchy-lefty story—creativity "
12141 "quashed, artists who can't speak, yada yada yada. Maybe that doesn't get you "
12142 "going. Maybe you think there's enough weird art out there, and enough "
12143 "expression that is critical of what seems to be just about everything. And "
12144 "if you think that, you might think there's little in this story to worry "
12148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12149 #: freeculture.xml:9128
12151 "But there's an aspect of this story that is not lefty in any sense. Indeed, "
12152 "it is an aspect that could be written by the most extreme promarket "
12153 "ideologue. And if you're one of these sorts (and a special one at that, 188 "
12154 "pages into a book like this), then you can see this other aspect by "
12155 "substituting <quote>free market</quote> every place I've spoken of "
12156 "<quote>free culture.</quote> The point is the same, even if the interests "
12157 "affecting culture are more fundamental."
12160 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12161 #: freeculture.xml:9137
12163 "The charge I've been making about the regulation of culture is the same "
12164 "charge free marketers make about regulating markets. Everyone, of course, "
12165 "concedes that some regulation of markets is necessary—at a minimum, we "
12166 "need rules of property and contract, and courts to enforce both. Likewise, "
12167 "in this culture debate, everyone concedes that at least some framework of "
12168 "copyright is also required. But both perspectives vehemently insist that "
12169 "just because some regulation is good, it doesn't follow that more regulation "
12170 "is better. And both perspectives are constantly attuned to the ways in which "
12171 "regulation simply enables the powerful industries of today to protect "
12172 "themselves against the competitors of tomorrow."
12175 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12176 #: freeculture.xml:9149 freeculture.xml:9257
12177 msgid "Barry, Hank"
12181 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12182 #: freeculture.xml:9151
12184 "This is the single most dramatic effect of the shift in regulatory strategy "
12185 "that I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12186 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>. The consequence of this massive threat of "
12187 "liability tied to the murky boundaries of copyright law is that innovators "
12188 "who want to innovate in this space can safely innovate only if they have the "
12189 "sign-off from last generation's dominant industries. That lesson has been "
12190 "taught through a series of cases that were designed and executed to teach "
12191 "venture capitalists a lesson. That lesson—what former Napster CEO Hank "
12192 "Barry calls a <quote>nuclear pall</quote> that has fallen over the "
12193 "Valley—has been learned."
12196 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12197 #: freeculture.xml:9164
12199 "Consider one example to make the point, a story whose beginning I told in "
12200 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> and which has progressed in a way "
12201 "that even I (pessimist extraordinaire) would never have predicted."
12204 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12205 #: freeculture.xml:9168
12206 msgid "Roberts, Michael"
12209 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12210 #: freeculture.xml:9170
12212 "In 1997, Michael Roberts launched a company called MP3.com. MP3.com was "
12213 "keen to remake the music business. Their goal was not just to facilitate new "
12214 "ways to get access to content. Their goal was also to facilitate new ways to "
12215 "create content. Unlike the major labels, MP3.com offered creators a venue to "
12216 "distribute their creativity, without demanding an exclusive engagement from "
12220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12221 #: freeculture.xml:9178
12223 "To make this system work, however, MP3.com needed a reliable way to "
12224 "recommend music to its users. The idea behind this alternative was to "
12225 "leverage the revealed preferences of music listeners to recommend new "
12226 "artists. If you like Lyle Lovett, you're likely to enjoy Bonnie Raitt. And "
12227 "so on. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12230 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12231 #: freeculture.xml:9186
12233 "This idea required a simple way to gather data about user preferences. "
12234 "MP3.com came up with an extraordinarily clever way to gather this preference "
12235 "data. In January 2000, the company launched a service called "
12236 "my.mp3.com. Using software provided by MP3.com, a user would sign into an "
12237 "account and then insert into her computer a CD. The software would identify "
12238 "the CD, and then give the user access to that content. So, for example, if "
12239 "you inserted a CD by Jill Sobule, then wherever you were—at work or at "
12240 "home—you could get access to that music once you signed into your "
12241 "account. The system was therefore a kind of music-lockbox."
12245 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12246 #: freeculture.xml:9198
12248 "No doubt some could use this system to illegally copy content. But that "
12249 "opportunity existed with or without MP3.com. The aim of the my.mp3.com "
12250 "service was to give users access to their own content, and as a by-product, "
12251 "by seeing the content they already owned, to discover the kind of content "
12255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12256 #: freeculture.xml:9207
12258 "To make this system function, however, MP3.com needed to copy 50,000 CDs to "
12259 "a server. (In principle, it could have been the user who uploaded the music, "
12260 "but that would have taken a great deal of time, and would have produced a "
12261 "product of questionable quality.) It therefore purchased 50,000 CDs from a "
12262 "store, and started the process of making copies of those CDs. Again, it "
12263 "would not serve the content from those copies to anyone except those who "
12264 "authenticated that they had a copy of the CD they wanted to access. So while "
12265 "this was 50,000 copies, it was 50,000 copies directed at giving customers "
12266 "something they had already bought."
12269 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12270 #: freeculture.xml:9222
12272 "Nine days after MP3.com launched its service, the five major labels, headed "
12273 "by the RIAA, brought a lawsuit against MP3.com. MP3.com settled with four of "
12274 "the five. Nine months later, a federal judge found MP3.com to have been "
12275 "guilty of willful infringement with respect to the fifth. Applying the law "
12276 "as it is, the judge imposed a fine against MP3.com of $118 million. MP3.com "
12277 "then settled with the remaining plaintiff, Vivendi Universal, paying over "
12278 "$54 million. Vivendi purchased MP3.com just about a year later."
12281 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12282 #: freeculture.xml:9232
12283 msgid "That part of the story I have told before. Now consider its conclusion."
12286 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12287 #: freeculture.xml:9235
12289 "After Vivendi purchased MP3.com, Vivendi turned around and filed a "
12290 "malpractice lawsuit against the lawyers who had advised it that they had a "
12291 "good faith claim that the service they wanted to offer would be considered "
12292 "legal under copyright law. This lawsuit alleged that it should have been "
12293 "obvious that the courts would find this behavior illegal; therefore, this "
12294 "lawsuit sought to punish any lawyer who had dared to suggest that the law "
12295 "was less restrictive than the labels demanded."
12299 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12300 #: freeculture.xml:9245
12302 "The clear purpose of this lawsuit (which was settled for an unspecified "
12303 "amount shortly after the story was no longer covered in the press) was to "
12304 "send an unequivocal message to lawyers advising clients in this space: It is "
12305 "not just your clients who might suffer if the content industry directs its "
12306 "guns against them. It is also you. So those of you who believe the law "
12307 "should be less restrictive should realize that such a view of the law will "
12308 "cost you and your firm dearly."
12311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12312 #: freeculture.xml:9256
12313 msgid "Hummer, John"
12316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12317 #: freeculture.xml:9258
12318 msgid "Hummer Winblad"
12322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12323 #: freeculture.xml:9266
12325 "See Joseph Menn, <quote>Universal, EMI Sue Napster Investor,</quote> "
12326 "<citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 23 April 2003. For a parallel "
12327 "argument about the effects on innovation in the distribution of music, see "
12328 "Janelle Brown, <quote>The Music Revolution Will Not Be Digitized,</quote> "
12329 "Salon.com, 1 June 2001, available at <ulink "
12330 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #42</ulink>. See also Jon "
12331 "Healey, <quote>Online Music Services Besieged,</quote> <citetitle>Los "
12332 "Angeles Times</citetitle>, 28 May 2001."
12335 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12336 #: freeculture.xml:9260
12338 "This strategy is not just limited to the lawyers. In April 2003, Universal "
12339 "and EMI brought a lawsuit against Hummer Winblad, the venture capital firm "
12340 "(VC) that had funded Napster at a certain stage of its development, its "
12341 "cofounder ( John Hummer), and general partner (Hank Barry).<placeholder "
12342 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The claim here, as well, was that the VC should "
12343 "have recognized the right of the content industry to control how the "
12344 "industry should develop. They should be held personally liable for funding a "
12345 "company whose business turned out to be beyond the law. Here again, the aim "
12346 "of the lawsuit is transparent: Any VC now recognizes that if you fund a "
12347 "company whose business is not approved of by the dinosaurs, you are at risk "
12348 "not just in the marketplace, but in the courtroom as well. Your investment "
12349 "buys you not only a company, it also buys you a lawsuit. So extreme has the "
12350 "environment become that even car manufacturers are afraid of technologies "
12351 "that touch content. In an article in <citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, "
12352 "Rafe Needleman describes a discussion with BMW: <placeholder "
12353 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
12356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
12357 #: freeculture.xml:9290
12361 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12362 #: freeculture.xml:9305
12363 msgid "Needleman, Rafe"
12366 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12367 #: freeculture.xml:9301
12369 "Rafe Needleman, <quote>Driving in Cars with MP3s,</quote> "
12370 "<citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
12371 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #43</ulink>. I am grateful to "
12372 "Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli for this example. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12376 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12377 #: freeculture.xml:9292
12379 "I asked why, with all the storage capacity and computer power in the car, "
12380 "there was no way to play MP3 files. I was told that BMW engineers in Germany "
12381 "had rigged a new vehicle to play MP3s via the car's built-in sound system, "
12382 "but that the company's marketing and legal departments weren't comfortable "
12383 "with pushing this forward for release stateside. Even today, no new cars are "
12384 "sold in the United States with bona fide MP3 players. … <placeholder "
12385 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12389 #: freeculture.xml:9310
12391 "This is the world of the mafia—filled with <quote>your money or your "
12392 "life</quote> offers, governed in the end not by courts but by the threats "
12393 "that the law empowers copyright holders to exercise. It is a system that "
12394 "will obviously and necessarily stifle new innovation. It is hard enough to "
12395 "start a company. It is impossibly hard if that company is constantly "
12396 "threatened by litigation."
12400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12401 #: freeculture.xml:9320
12403 "The point is not that businesses should have a right to start illegal "
12404 "enterprises. The point is the definition of <quote>illegal.</quote> The law "
12405 "is a mess of uncertainty. We have no good way to know how it should apply to "
12406 "new technologies. Yet by reversing our tradition of judicial deference, and "
12407 "by embracing the astonishingly high penalties that copyright law imposes, "
12408 "that uncertainty now yields a reality which is far more conservative than is "
12409 "right. If the law imposed the death penalty for parking tickets, we'd not "
12410 "only have fewer parking tickets, we'd also have much less driving. The same "
12411 "principle applies to innovation. If innovation is constantly checked by this "
12412 "uncertain and unlimited liability, we will have much less vibrant innovation "
12413 "and much less creativity."
12416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12417 #: freeculture.xml:9334
12419 "The point is directly parallel to the crunchy-lefty point about fair "
12420 "use. Whatever the <quote>real</quote> law is, realism about the effect of "
12421 "law in both contexts is the same. This wildly punitive system of regulation "
12422 "will systematically stifle creativity and innovation. It will protect some "
12423 "industries and some creators, but it will harm industry and creativity "
12424 "generally. Free market and free culture depend upon vibrant competition. "
12425 "Yet the effect of the law today is to stifle just this kind of competition. "
12426 "The effect is to produce an overregulated culture, just as the effect of too "
12427 "much control in the market is to produce an overregulatedregulated market."
12431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12432 #: freeculture.xml:9346
12434 "The building of a permission culture, rather than a free culture, is the "
12435 "first important way in which the changes I have described will burden "
12436 "innovation. A permission culture means a lawyer's culture—a culture in "
12437 "which the ability to create requires a call to your lawyer. Again, I am not "
12438 "antilawyer, at least when they're kept in their proper place. I am certainly "
12439 "not antilaw. But our profession has lost the sense of its limits. And "
12440 "leaders in our profession have lost an appreciation of the high costs that "
12441 "our profession imposes upon others. The inefficiency of the law is an "
12442 "embarrassment to our tradition. And while I believe our profession should "
12443 "therefore do everything it can to make the law more efficient, it should at "
12444 "least do everything it can to limit the reach of the law where the law is "
12445 "not doing any good. The transaction costs buried within a permission culture "
12446 "are enough to bury a wide range of creativity. Someone needs to do a lot of "
12447 "justifying to justify that result. The uncertainty of the law is one burden "
12448 "on innovation. There is a second burden that operates more directly. This is "
12449 "the effort by many in the content industry to use the law to directly "
12450 "regulate the technology of the Internet so that it better protects their "
12454 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12455 #: freeculture.xml:9368
12457 "The motivation for this response is obvious. The Internet enables the "
12458 "efficient spread of content. That efficiency is a feature of the Internet's "
12459 "design. But from the perspective of the content industry, this feature is a "
12460 "<quote>bug.</quote> The efficient spread of content means that content "
12461 "distributors have a harder time controlling the distribution of content. "
12462 "One obvious response to this efficiency is thus to make the Internet less "
12463 "efficient. If the Internet enables <quote>piracy,</quote> then, this "
12464 "response says, we should break the kneecaps of the Internet."
12468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12469 #: freeculture.xml:9382
12471 "<quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> "
12472 "GartnerG2 and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law "
12473 "School (2003), 33–35, available at <ulink "
12474 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>."
12478 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12479 #: freeculture.xml:9395
12480 msgid "GartnerG2, 26–27."
12483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12484 #: freeculture.xml:9378
12486 "The examples of this form of legislation are many. At the urging of the "
12487 "content industry, some in Congress have threatened legislation that would "
12488 "require computers to determine whether the content they access is protected "
12489 "or not, and to disable the spread of protected content.<placeholder "
12490 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Congress has already launched proceedings to "
12491 "explore a mandatory <quote>broadcast flag</quote> that would be required on "
12492 "any device capable of transmitting digital video (i.e., a computer), and "
12493 "that would disable the copying of any content that is marked with a "
12494 "broadcast flag. Other members of Congress have proposed immunizing content "
12495 "providers from liability for technology they might deploy that would hunt "
12496 "down copyright violators and disable their machines.<placeholder "
12497 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
12501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12502 #: freeculture.xml:9399
12504 "In one sense, these solutions seem sensible. If the problem is the code, why "
12505 "not regulate the code to remove the problem. But any regulation of technical "
12506 "infrastructure will always be tuned to the particular technology of the "
12507 "day. It will impose significant burdens and costs on the technology, but "
12508 "will likely be eclipsed by advances around exactly those requirements."
12512 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12513 #: freeculture.xml:9413
12515 "See David McGuire, <quote>Tech Execs Square Off Over Piracy,</quote> "
12516 "Newsbytes, February 2002 (Entertainment)."
12519 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
12520 #: freeculture.xml:9419 freeculture.xml:11235
12524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12525 #: freeculture.xml:9409
12527 "In March 2002, a broad coalition of technology companies, led by Intel, "
12528 "tried to get Congress to see the harm that such legislation would "
12529 "impose.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Their argument was "
12530 "obviously not that copyright should not be protected. Instead, they argued, "
12531 "any protection should not do more harm than good. <placeholder "
12532 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12536 #: freeculture.xml:9422
12538 "There is one more obvious way in which this war has harmed "
12539 "innovation—again, a story that will be quite familiar to the free "
12543 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12544 #: freeculture.xml:9427
12546 "Copyright may be property, but like all property, it is also a form of "
12547 "regulation. It is a regulation that benefits some and harms others. When "
12548 "done right, it benefits creators and harms leeches. When done wrong, it is "
12549 "regulation the powerful use to defeat competitors."
12552 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12553 #: freeculture.xml:9439
12555 "Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (Amherst, N.Y.: "
12556 "Prometheus Books, 2001). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12560 #: freeculture.xml:9433
12562 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12563 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, despite this feature of copyright as regulation, "
12564 "and subject to important qualifications outlined by Jessica Litman in her "
12565 "book <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle>,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
12566 "id=\"0\"/> overall this history of copyright is not bad. As chapter 10 "
12567 "details, when new technologies have come along, Congress has struck a "
12568 "balance to assure that the new is protected from the old. Compulsory, or "
12569 "statutory, licenses have been one part of that strategy. Free use (as in the "
12570 "case of the VCR) has been another."
12573 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12574 #: freeculture.xml:9450
12576 "But that pattern of deference to new technologies has now changed with the "
12577 "rise of the Internet. Rather than striking a balance between the claims of a "
12578 "new technology and the legitimate rights of content creators, both the "
12579 "courts and Congress have imposed legal restrictions that will have the "
12580 "effect of smothering the new to benefit the old."
12584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12585 #: freeculture.xml:9459
12587 "The only circuit court exception is found in <citetitle>Recording Industry "
12588 "Association of America (RIAA)</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Diamond Multimedia "
12589 "Systems</citetitle>, 180 F. 3d 1072 (9th Cir. 1999). There the court of "
12590 "appeals for the Ninth Circuit reasoned that makers of a portable MP3 player "
12591 "were not liable for contributory copyright infringement for a device that is "
12592 "unable to record or redistribute music (a device whose only copying function "
12593 "is to render portable a music file already stored on a user's hard drive). "
12594 "At the district court level, the only exception is found in "
12595 "<citetitle>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, "
12596 "Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Grokster, Ltd</citetitle>., 259 F. Supp. 2d "
12597 "1029 (C.D. Cal., 2003), where the court found the link between the "
12598 "distributor and any given user's conduct too attenuated to make the "
12599 "distributor liable for contributory or vicarious infringement liability."
12602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12603 #: freeculture.xml:9492
12604 msgid "Hollings, Fritz"
12607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12608 #: freeculture.xml:9477
12610 "For example, in July 2002, Representative Howard Berman introduced the "
12611 "Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211), which would immunize "
12612 "copyright holders from liability for damage done to computers when the "
12613 "copyright holders use technology to stop copyright infringement. In August "
12614 "2002, Representative Billy Tauzin introduced a bill to mandate that "
12615 "technologies capable of rebroadcasting digital copies of films broadcast on "
12616 "TV (i.e., computers) respect a <quote>broadcast flag</quote> that would "
12617 "disable copying of that content. And in March of the same year, Senator "
12618 "Fritz Hollings introduced the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television "
12619 "Promotion Act, which mandated copyright protection technology in all digital "
12620 "media devices. See GartnerG2, <quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a "
12621 "Post-Napster World,</quote> 27 June 2003, 33–34, available at <ulink "
12622 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>. <placeholder "
12623 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12626 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12627 #: freeculture.xml:9457
12629 "The response by the courts has been fairly universal.<placeholder "
12630 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It has been mirrored in the responses "
12631 "threatened and actually implemented by Congress. I won't catalog all of "
12632 "those responses here.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> But there is "
12633 "one example that captures the flavor of them all. This is the story of the "
12634 "demise of Internet radio."
12637 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12638 #: freeculture.xml:9500
12640 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12641 "linkend=\"pirates\"/>, when a radio station plays a song, the recording "
12642 "artist doesn't get paid for that <quote>radio performance</quote> unless he "
12643 "or she is also the composer. So, for example if Marilyn Monroe had recorded "
12644 "a version of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote>—to memorialize her famous "
12645 "performance before President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden— then "
12646 "whenever that recording was played on the radio, the current copyright "
12647 "owners of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> would get some money, whereas "
12648 "Marilyn Monroe would not. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12651 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12652 #: freeculture.xml:9512
12654 "The reasoning behind this balance struck by Congress makes some sense. The "
12655 "justification was that radio was a kind of advertising. The recording artist "
12656 "thus benefited because by playing her music, the radio station was making it "
12657 "more likely that her records would be purchased. Thus, the recording artist "
12658 "got something, even if only indirectly. Probably this reasoning had less to "
12659 "do with the result than with the power of radio stations: Their lobbyists "
12660 "were quite good at stopping any efforts to get Congress to require "
12661 "compensation to the recording artists."
12664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12665 #: freeculture.xml:9523
12667 "Enter Internet radio. Like regular radio, Internet radio is a technology to "
12668 "stream content from a broadcaster to a listener. The broadcast travels "
12669 "across the Internet, not across the ether of radio spectrum. Thus, I can "
12670 "<quote>tune in</quote> to an Internet radio station in Berlin while sitting "
12671 "in San Francisco, even though there's no way for me to tune in to a regular "
12672 "radio station much beyond the San Francisco metropolitan area."
12675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12676 #: freeculture.xml:9532
12678 "This feature of the architecture of Internet radio means that there are "
12679 "potentially an unlimited number of radio stations that a user could tune in "
12680 "to using her computer, whereas under the existing architecture for broadcast "
12681 "radio, there is an obvious limit to the number of broadcasters and clear "
12682 "broadcast frequencies. Internet radio could therefore be more competitive "
12683 "than regular radio; it could provide a wider range of selections. And "
12684 "because the potential audience for Internet radio is the whole world, niche "
12685 "stations could easily develop and market their content to a relatively large "
12686 "number of users worldwide. According to some estimates, more than eighty "
12687 "million users worldwide have tuned in to this new form of radio."
12691 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12692 #: freeculture.xml:9547
12694 "Internet radio is thus to radio what FM was to AM. It is an improvement "
12695 "potentially vastly more significant than the FM improvement over AM, since "
12696 "not only is the technology better, so, too, is the competition. Indeed, "
12697 "there is a direct parallel between the fight to establish FM radio and the "
12698 "fight to protect Internet radio. As one author describes Howard Armstrong's "
12699 "struggle to enable FM radio,"
12703 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12704 #: freeculture.xml:9571
12705 msgid "Lessing, 239."
12708 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12709 #: freeculture.xml:9557
12711 "An almost unlimited number of FM stations was possible in the shortwaves, "
12712 "thus ending the unnatural restrictions imposed on radio in the crowded "
12713 "longwaves. If FM were freely developed, the number of stations would be "
12714 "limited only by economics and competition rather than by technical "
12715 "restrictions. … Armstrong likened the situation that had grown up in "
12716 "radio to that following the invention of the printing press, when "
12717 "governments and ruling interests attempted to control this new instrument of "
12718 "mass communications by imposing restrictive licenses on it. This tyranny was "
12719 "broken only when it became possible for men freely to acquire printing "
12720 "presses and freely to run them. FM in this sense was as great an invention "
12721 "as the printing presses, for it gave radio the opportunity to strike off its "
12722 "shackles.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12727 #: freeculture.xml:9581
12728 msgid "Ibid., 229."
12731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12732 #: freeculture.xml:9576
12734 "This potential for FM radio was never realized—not because Armstrong "
12735 "was wrong about the technology, but because he underestimated the power of "
12736 "<quote>vested interests, habits, customs and legislation</quote><placeholder "
12737 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> to retard the growth of this competing "
12741 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12742 #: freeculture.xml:9586
12744 "Now the very same claim could be made about Internet radio. For again, there "
12745 "is no technical limitation that could restrict the number of Internet radio "
12746 "stations. The only restrictions on Internet radio are those imposed by the "
12747 "law. Copyright law is one such law. So the first question we should ask is, "
12748 "what copyright rules would govern Internet radio?"
12752 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12753 #: freeculture.xml:9594
12755 "But here the power of the lobbyists is reversed. Internet radio is a new "
12756 "industry. The recording artists, on the other hand, have a very powerful "
12757 "lobby, the RIAA. Thus when Congress considered the phenomenon of Internet "
12758 "radio in 1995, the lobbyists had primed Congress to adopt a different rule "
12759 "for Internet radio than the rule that applies to terrestrial radio. While "
12760 "terrestrial radio does not have to pay our hypothetical Marilyn Monroe when "
12761 "it plays her hypothetical recording of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> on the "
12762 "air, <emphasis>Internet radio does</emphasis>. Not only is the law not "
12763 "neutral toward Internet radio—the law actually burdens Internet radio "
12764 "more than it burdens terrestrial radio."
12767 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12768 #: freeculture.xml:9633
12769 msgid "CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel)"
12772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12773 #: freeculture.xml:9616
12775 "This example was derived from fees set by the original Copyright Arbitration "
12776 "Royalty Panel (CARP) proceedings, and is drawn from an example offered by "
12777 "Professor William Fisher. Conference Proceedings, iLaw (Stanford), 3 July "
12778 "2003, on file with author. Professors Fisher and Zittrain submitted "
12779 "testimony in the CARP proceeding that was ultimately rejected. See Jonathan "
12780 "Zittrain, Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral "
12781 "Recordings, Docket No. 2000-9, CARP DTRA 1 and 2, available at <ulink "
12782 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #45</ulink>. For an excellent "
12783 "analysis making a similar point, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>Copyright as "
12784 "Entry Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution,</quote> <citetitle>Antitrust "
12785 "Bulletin</citetitle> (Summer/Fall 2002): 461: <quote>This was not confusion, "
12786 "these are just old-fashioned entry barriers. Analog radio stations are "
12787 "protected from digital entrants, reducing entry in radio and diversity. Yes, "
12788 "this is done in the name of getting royalties to copyright holders, but, "
12789 "absent the play of powerful interests, that could have been done in a "
12790 "media-neutral way.</quote> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
12791 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12795 #: freeculture.xml:9609
12797 "This financial burden is not slight. As Harvard law professor William Fisher "
12798 "estimates, if an Internet radio station distributed adfree popular music to "
12799 "(on average) ten thousand listeners, twenty-four hours a day, the total "
12800 "artist fees that radio station would owe would be over $1 million a "
12801 "year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A regular radio station "
12802 "broadcasting the same content would pay no equivalent fee."
12805 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12806 #: freeculture.xml:9640
12808 "The burden is not financial only. Under the original rules that were "
12809 "proposed, an Internet radio station (but not a terrestrial radio station) "
12810 "would have to collect the following data from <emphasis>every listening "
12811 "transaction</emphasis>:"
12814 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12815 #: freeculture.xml:9648
12816 msgid "name of the service;"
12819 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12820 #: freeculture.xml:9651
12821 msgid "channel of the program (AM/FM stations use station ID);"
12824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12825 #: freeculture.xml:9654
12826 msgid "type of program (archived/looped/live);"
12829 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12830 #: freeculture.xml:9657
12831 msgid "date of transmission;"
12834 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12835 #: freeculture.xml:9660
12836 msgid "time of transmission;"
12839 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12840 #: freeculture.xml:9663
12841 msgid "time zone of origination of transmission;"
12844 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12845 #: freeculture.xml:9666
12846 msgid "numeric designation of the place of the sound recording within the program;"
12849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12850 #: freeculture.xml:9669
12851 msgid "duration of transmission (to nearest second);"
12854 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12855 #: freeculture.xml:9672
12856 msgid "sound recording title;"
12859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12860 #: freeculture.xml:9675
12861 msgid "ISRC code of the recording;"
12864 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12865 #: freeculture.xml:9678
12867 "release year of the album per copyright notice and in the case of "
12868 "compilation albums, the release year of the album and copy- right date of "
12872 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12873 #: freeculture.xml:9681
12874 msgid "featured recording artist;"
12877 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12878 #: freeculture.xml:9684
12879 msgid "retail album title;"
12882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12883 #: freeculture.xml:9687
12884 msgid "recording label;"
12887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12888 #: freeculture.xml:9690
12889 msgid "UPC code of the retail album;"
12892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12893 #: freeculture.xml:9693
12894 msgid "catalog number;"
12897 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12898 #: freeculture.xml:9696
12899 msgid "copyright owner information;"
12902 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12903 #: freeculture.xml:9699
12904 msgid "musical genre of the channel or program (station format);"
12907 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12908 #: freeculture.xml:9702
12909 msgid "name of the service or entity;"
12912 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12913 #: freeculture.xml:9705
12914 msgid "channel or program;"
12917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12918 #: freeculture.xml:9708
12919 msgid "date and time that the user logged in (in the user's time zone);"
12922 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12923 #: freeculture.xml:9711
12924 msgid "date and time that the user logged out (in the user's time zone);"
12927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12928 #: freeculture.xml:9714
12929 msgid "time zone where the signal was received (user);"
12932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12933 #: freeculture.xml:9717
12934 msgid "unique user identifier;"
12937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12938 #: freeculture.xml:9720
12939 msgid "the country in which the user received the transmissions."
12942 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12943 #: freeculture.xml:9725
12945 "The Librarian of Congress eventually suspended these reporting requirements, "
12946 "pending further study. And he also changed the original rates set by the "
12947 "arbitration panel charged with setting rates. But the basic difference "
12948 "between Internet radio and terrestrial radio remains: Internet radio has to "
12949 "pay a <emphasis>type of copyright fee</emphasis> that terrestrial radio does "
12953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12954 #: freeculture.xml:9733
12956 "Why? What justifies this difference? Was there any study of the economic "
12957 "consequences from Internet radio that would justify these differences? Was "
12958 "the motive to protect artists against piracy?"
12961 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
12962 #: freeculture.xml:9738 freeculture.xml:14316
12963 msgid "Real Networks"
12966 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12967 #: freeculture.xml:9740
12969 "In a rare bit of candor, one RIAA expert admitted what seemed obvious to "
12970 "everyone at the time. As Alex Alben, vice president for Public Policy at "
12971 "Real Networks, told me,"
12975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12976 #: freeculture.xml:9746
12978 "The RIAA, which was representing the record labels, presented some testimony "
12979 "about what they thought a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller, and "
12980 "it was much higher. It was ten times higher than what radio stations pay to "
12981 "perform the same songs for the same period of time. And so the attorneys "
12982 "representing the webcasters asked the RIAA, … <quote>How do you come "
12983 "up with a rate that's so much higher? Why is it worth more than radio? "
12984 "Because here we have hundreds of thousands of webcasters who want to pay, "
12985 "and that should establish the market rate, and if you set the rate so high, "
12986 "you're going to drive the small webcasters out of business. …</quote>"
12989 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12990 #: freeculture.xml:9761
12992 "And the RIAA experts said, <quote>Well, we don't really model this as an "
12993 "industry with thousands of webcasters, <emphasis>we think it should be an "
12994 "industry with, you know, five or seven big players who can pay a high rate "
12995 "and it's a stable, predictable market</emphasis>.</quote> (Emphasis added.)"
12998 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12999 #: freeculture.xml:9769
13001 "Translation: The aim is to use the law to eliminate competition, so that "
13002 "this platform of potentially immense competition, which would cause the "
13003 "diversity and range of content available to explode, would not cause pain to "
13004 "the dinosaurs of old. There is no one, on either the right or the left, who "
13005 "should endorse this use of the law. And yet there is practically no one, on "
13006 "either the right or the left, who is doing anything effective to prevent it."
13009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
13010 #: freeculture.xml:9779
13011 msgid "Corrupting Citizens"
13014 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13015 #: freeculture.xml:9781
13017 "Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives "
13018 "dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity "
13019 "for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables."
13022 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13023 #: freeculture.xml:9787
13025 "In addition to these important harms, there is one more that was important "
13026 "to our forebears, but seems forgotten today. Overregulation corrupts "
13027 "citizens and weakens the rule of law."
13031 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13032 #: freeculture.xml:9796
13034 "Mike Graziano and Lee Rainie, <quote>The Music Downloading Deluge,</quote> "
13035 "Pew Internet and American Life Project (24 April 2001), available at <ulink "
13036 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #46</ulink>. The Pew Internet "
13037 "and American Life Project reported that 37 million Americans had downloaded "
13038 "music files from the Internet by early 2001."
13042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13043 #: freeculture.xml:9792
13045 "The war that is being waged today is a war of prohibition. As with every war "
13046 "of prohibition, it is targeted against the behavior of a very large number "
13047 "of citizens. According to <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, 43 "
13048 "million Americans downloaded music in May 2002.<placeholder "
13049 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> According to the RIAA, the behavior of those 43 "
13050 "million Americans is a felony. We thus have a set of rules that transform 20 "
13051 "percent of America into criminals. As the RIAA launches lawsuits against not "
13052 "only the Napsters and Kazaas of the world, but against students building "
13053 "search engines, and increasingly against ordinary users downloading content, "
13054 "the technologies for sharing will advance to further protect and hide "
13055 "illegal use. It is an arms race or a civil war, with the extremes of one "
13056 "side inviting a more extreme response by the other."
13060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13061 #: freeculture.xml:9830
13063 "Alex Pham, <quote>The Labels Strike Back: N.Y. Girl Settles RIAA "
13064 "Case,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, "
13068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13069 #: freeculture.xml:9817
13071 "The content industry's tactics exploit the failings of the American legal "
13072 "system. When the RIAA brought suit against Jesse Jordan, it knew that in "
13073 "Jordan it had found a scapegoat, not a defendant. The threat of having to "
13074 "pay either all the money in the world in damages ($15,000,000) or almost all "
13075 "the money in the world to defend against paying all the money in the world "
13076 "in damages ($250,000 in legal fees) led Jordan to choose to pay all the "
13077 "money he had in the world ($12,000) to make the suit go away. The same "
13078 "strategy animates the RIAA's suits against individual users. In September "
13079 "2003, the RIAA sued 261 individuals—including a twelve-year-old girl "
13080 "living in public housing and a seventy-year-old man who had no idea what "
13081 "file sharing was.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As these "
13082 "scapegoats discovered, it will always cost more to defend against these "
13083 "suits than it would cost to simply settle. (The twelve year old, for "
13084 "example, like Jesse Jordan, paid her life savings of $2,000 to settle the "
13085 "case.) Our law is an awful system for defending rights. It is an "
13086 "embarrassment to our tradition. And the consequence of our law as it is, is "
13087 "that those with the power can use the law to quash any rights they oppose."
13091 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13092 #: freeculture.xml:9852
13094 "Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel, <quote>Alcohol Consumption During "
13095 "Prohibition,</quote> <citetitle>American Economic Review</citetitle> 81, "
13096 "no. 2 (1991): 242."
13100 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13101 #: freeculture.xml:9860
13103 "National Drug Control Policy: Hearing Before the House Government Reform "
13104 "Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (5 March 2003) (statement of John "
13105 "P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy)."
13109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13110 #: freeculture.xml:9870
13112 "See James Andreoni, Brian Erard, and Jonathon Feinstein, <quote>Tax "
13113 "Compliance,</quote> <citetitle>Journal of Economic Literature</citetitle> 36 "
13114 "(1998): 818 (survey of compliance literature)."
13117 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13118 #: freeculture.xml:9877
13119 msgid "alcohol prohibition"
13122 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13123 #: freeculture.xml:9842
13125 "Wars of prohibition are nothing new in America. This one is just something "
13126 "more extreme than anything we've seen before. We experimented with alcohol "
13127 "prohibition, at a time when the per capita consumption of alcohol was 1.5 "
13128 "gallons per capita per year. The war against drinking initially reduced that "
13129 "consumption to just 30 percent of its preprohibition levels, but by the end "
13130 "of prohibition, consumption was up to 70 percent of the preprohibition "
13131 "level. Americans were drinking just about as much, but now, a vast number "
13132 "were criminals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We have launched a "
13133 "war on drugs aimed at reducing the consumption of regulated narcotics that 7 "
13134 "percent (or 16 million) Americans now use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13135 "id=\"1\"/> That is a drop from the high (so to speak) in 1979 of 14 percent "
13136 "of the population. We regulate automobiles to the point where the vast "
13137 "majority of Americans violate the law every day. We run such a complex tax "
13138 "system that a majority of cash businesses regularly cheat.<placeholder "
13139 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> We pride ourselves on our <quote>free "
13140 "society,</quote> but an endless array of ordinary behavior is regulated "
13141 "within our society. And as a result, a huge proportion of Americans "
13142 "regularly violate at least some law. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
13146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13147 #: freeculture.xml:9895
13148 msgid "law schools"
13151 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13152 #: freeculture.xml:9880
13154 "This state of affairs is not without consequence. It is a particularly "
13155 "salient issue for teachers like me, whose job it is to teach law students "
13156 "about the importance of <quote>ethics.</quote> As my colleague Charlie "
13157 "Nesson told a class at Stanford, each year law schools admit thousands of "
13158 "students who have illegally downloaded music, illegally consumed alcohol and "
13159 "sometimes drugs, illegally worked without paying taxes, illegally driven "
13160 "cars. These are kids for whom behaving illegally is increasingly the "
13161 "norm. And then we, as law professors, are supposed to teach them how to "
13162 "behave ethically—how to say no to bribes, or keep client funds "
13163 "separate, or honor a demand to disclose a document that will mean that your "
13164 "case is over. Generations of Americans—more significantly in some "
13165 "parts of America than in others, but still, everywhere in America "
13166 "today—can't live their lives both normally and legally, since "
13167 "<quote>normally</quote> entails a certain degree of illegality. "
13168 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13172 #: freeculture.xml:9898
13174 "The response to this general illegality is either to enforce the law more "
13175 "severely or to change the law. We, as a society, have to learn how to make "
13176 "that choice more rationally. Whether a law makes sense depends, in part, at "
13177 "least, upon whether the costs of the law, both intended and collateral, "
13178 "outweigh the benefits. If the costs, intended and collateral, do outweigh "
13179 "the benefits, then the law ought to be changed. Alternatively, if the costs "
13180 "of the existing system are much greater than the costs of an alternative, "
13181 "then we have a good reason to consider the alternative."
13185 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13186 #: freeculture.xml:9911
13188 "My point is not the idiotic one: Just because people violate a law, we "
13189 "should therefore repeal it. Obviously, we could reduce murder statistics "
13190 "dramatically by legalizing murder on Wednesdays and Fridays. But that "
13191 "wouldn't make any sense, since murder is wrong every day of the week. A "
13192 "society is right to ban murder always and everywhere."
13195 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13196 #: freeculture.xml:9918
13198 "My point is instead one that democracies understood for generations, but "
13199 "that we recently have learned to forget. The rule of law depends upon people "
13200 "obeying the law. The more often, and more repeatedly, we as citizens "
13201 "experience violating the law, the less we respect the law. Obviously, in "
13202 "most cases, the important issue is the law, not respect for the law. I don't "
13203 "care whether the rapist respects the law or not; I want to catch and "
13204 "incarcerate the rapist. But I do care whether my students respect the "
13205 "law. And I do care if the rules of law sow increasing disrespect because of "
13206 "the extreme of regulation they impose. Twenty million Americans have come "
13207 "of age since the Internet introduced this different idea of "
13208 "<quote>sharing.</quote> We need to be able to call these twenty million "
13209 "Americans <quote>citizens,</quote> not <quote>felons.</quote>"
13212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13213 #: freeculture.xml:9932
13215 "When at least forty-three million citizens download content from the "
13216 "Internet, and when they use tools to combine that content in ways "
13217 "unauthorized by copyright holders, the first question we should be asking is "
13218 "not how best to involve the FBI. The first question should be whether this "
13219 "particular prohibition is really necessary in order to achieve the proper "
13220 "ends that copyright law serves. Is there another way to assure that artists "
13221 "get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? "
13222 "Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure that artists get paid "
13223 "without transforming America into a nation of felons?"
13226 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13227 #: freeculture.xml:9944
13228 msgid "This abstract point can be made more clear with a particular example."
13232 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13233 #: freeculture.xml:9947
13235 "We all own CDs. Many of us still own phonograph records. These pieces of "
13236 "plastic encode music that in a certain sense we have bought. The law "
13237 "protects our right to buy and sell that plastic: It is not a copyright "
13238 "infringement for me to sell all my classical records at a used record store "
13239 "and buy jazz records to replace them. That <quote>use</quote> of the "
13240 "recordings is free."
13243 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13244 #: freeculture.xml:9958
13246 "But as the MP3 craze has demonstrated, there is another use of phonograph "
13247 "records that is effectively free. Because these recordings were made without "
13248 "copy-protection technologies, I am <quote>free</quote> to copy, or "
13249 "<quote>rip,</quote> music from my records onto a computer hard disk. Indeed, "
13250 "Apple Corporation went so far as to suggest that <quote>freedom</quote> was "
13251 "a right: In a series of commercials, Apple endorsed the <quote>Rip, Mix, "
13252 "Burn</quote> capacities of digital technologies."
13255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13256 #: freeculture.xml:9966
13260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13261 #: freeculture.xml:9968
13263 "This <quote>use</quote> of my records is certainly valuable. I have begun a "
13264 "large process at home of ripping all of my and my wife's CDs, and storing "
13265 "them in one archive. Then, using Apple's iTunes, or a wonderful program "
13266 "called Andromeda, we can build different play lists of our music: Bach, "
13267 "Baroque, Love Songs, Love Songs of Significant Others—the potential is "
13268 "endless. And by reducing the costs of mixing play lists, these technologies "
13269 "help build a creativity with play lists that is itself independently "
13270 "valuable. Compilations of songs are creative and meaningful in their own "
13274 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13275 #: freeculture.xml:9979
13277 "This use is enabled by unprotected media—either CDs or records. But "
13278 "unprotected media also enable file sharing. File sharing threatens (or so "
13279 "the content industry believes) the ability of creators to earn a fair return "
13280 "from their creativity. And thus, many are beginning to experiment with "
13281 "technologies to eliminate unprotected media. These technologies, for "
13282 "example, would enable CDs that could not be ripped. Or they might enable spy "
13283 "programs to identify ripped content on people's machines."
13287 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13288 #: freeculture.xml:9989
13290 "If these technologies took off, then the building of large archives of your "
13291 "own music would become quite difficult. You might hang in hacker circles, "
13292 "and get technology to disable the technologies that protect the "
13293 "content. Trading in those technologies is illegal, but maybe that doesn't "
13294 "bother you much. In any case, for the vast majority of people, these "
13295 "protection technologies would effectively destroy the archiving use of "
13296 "CDs. The technology, in other words, would force us all back to the world "
13297 "where we either listened to music by manipulating pieces of plastic or were "
13298 "part of a massively complex <quote>digital rights management</quote> system."
13301 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13302 #: freeculture.xml:10003
13304 "If the only way to assure that artists get paid were the elimination of the "
13305 "ability to freely move content, then these technologies to interfere with "
13306 "the freedom to move content would be justifiable. But what if there were "
13307 "another way to assure that artists are paid, without locking down any "
13308 "content? What if, in other words, a different system could assure "
13309 "compensation to artists while also preserving the freedom to move content "
13313 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13314 #: freeculture.xml:10012
13316 "My point just now is not to prove that there is such a system. I offer a "
13317 "version of such a system in the last chapter of this book. For now, the only "
13318 "point is the relatively uncontroversial one: If a different system achieved "
13319 "the same legitimate objectives that the existing copyright system achieved, "
13320 "but left consumers and creators much more free, then we'd have a very good "
13321 "reason to pursue this alternative—namely, freedom. The choice, in "
13322 "other words, would not be between property and piracy; the choice would be "
13323 "between different property systems and the freedoms each allowed."
13326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13327 #: freeculture.xml:10023
13329 "I believe there is a way to assure that artists are paid without turning "
13330 "forty-three million Americans into felons. But the salient feature of this "
13331 "alternative is that it would lead to a very different market for producing "
13332 "and distributing creativity. The dominant few, who today control the vast "
13333 "majority of the distribution of content in the world, would no longer "
13334 "exercise this extreme of control. Rather, they would go the way of the "
13335 "horse-drawn buggy."
13338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13339 #: freeculture.xml:10032
13341 "Except that this generation's buggy manufacturers have already saddled "
13342 "Congress, and are riding the law to protect themselves against this new form "
13343 "of competition. For them the choice is between fortythree million Americans "
13344 "as criminals and their own survival."
13347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13348 #: freeculture.xml:10038
13350 "It is understandable why they choose as they do. It is not understandable "
13351 "why we as a democracy continue to choose as we do. Jack Valenti is charming; "
13352 "but not so charming as to justify giving up a tradition as deep and "
13353 "important as our tradition of free culture. There's one more aspect to this "
13354 "corruption that is particularly important to civil liberties, and follows "
13355 "directly from any war of prohibition. As Electronic Frontier Foundation "
13356 "attorney Fred von Lohmann describes, this is the <quote>collateral "
13357 "damage</quote> that <quote>arises whenever you turn a very large percentage "
13358 "of the population into criminals.</quote> This is the collateral damage to "
13359 "civil liberties generally. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13363 #: freeculture.xml:10057 freeculture.xml:10166
13364 msgid "von Lohmann, Fred"
13367 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13368 #: freeculture.xml:10055
13370 "<quote>If you can treat someone as a putative lawbreaker,</quote> von "
13371 "Lohmann explains, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13374 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13375 #: freeculture.xml:10061
13377 "then all of a sudden a lot of basic civil liberty protections evaporate to "
13378 "one degree or another. … If you're a copyright infringer, how can you "
13379 "hope to have any privacy rights? If you're a copyright infringer, how can "
13380 "you hope to be secure against seizures of your computer? How can you hope to "
13381 "continue to receive Internet access? … Our sensibilities change as "
13382 "soon as we think, <quote>Oh, well, but that person's a criminal, a "
13383 "lawbreaker.</quote> Well, what this campaign against file sharing has done "
13384 "is turn a remarkable percentage of the American Internet-using population "
13385 "into <quote>lawbreakers.</quote>"
13388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13389 #: freeculture.xml:10073
13391 "And the consequence of this transformation of the American public into "
13392 "criminals is that it becomes trivial, as a matter of due process, to "
13393 "effectively erase much of the privacy most would presume."
13396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13397 #: freeculture.xml:10078
13399 "Users of the Internet began to see this generally in 2003 as the RIAA "
13400 "launched its campaign to force Internet service providers to turn over the "
13401 "names of customers who the RIAA believed were violating copyright "
13402 "law. Verizon fought that demand and lost. With a simple request to a judge, "
13403 "and without any notice to the customer at all, the identity of an Internet "
13404 "user is revealed."
13408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13409 #: freeculture.xml:10096
13411 "See Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single "
13412 "Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> "
13413 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, E1; Chris Cobbs, "
13414 "<quote>Worried Parents Pull Plug on File `Stealing'; With the Music Industry "
13415 "Cracking Down on File Swapping, Parents are Yanking Software from Home PCs "
13416 "to Avoid Being Sued,</quote> <citetitle>Orlando Sentinel "
13417 "Tribune</citetitle>, 30 August 2003, C1; Jefferson Graham, <quote>Recording "
13418 "Industry Sues Parents,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 15 "
13419 "September 2003, 4D; John Schwartz, <quote>She Says She's No Music Pirate. No "
13420 "Snoop Fan, Either,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 25 "
13421 "September 2003, C1; Margo Varadi, <quote>Is Brianna a Criminal?</quote> "
13422 "<citetitle>Toronto Star</citetitle>, 18 September 2003, P7."
13425 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13426 #: freeculture.xml:10087
13428 "The RIAA then expanded this campaign, by announcing a general strategy to "
13429 "sue individual users of the Internet who are alleged to have downloaded "
13430 "copyrighted music from file-sharing systems. But as we've seen, the "
13431 "potential damages from these suits are astronomical: If a family's computer "
13432 "is used to download a single CD's worth of music, the family could be liable "
13433 "for $2 million in damages. That didn't stop the RIAA from suing a number of "
13434 "these families, just as they had sued Jesse Jordan.<placeholder "
13435 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13439 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13440 #: freeculture.xml:10114
13442 "See <quote>Revealed: How RIAA Tracks Downloaders: Music Industry Discloses "
13443 "Some Methods Used,</quote> CNN.com, available at <ulink "
13444 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #47</ulink>."
13447 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13448 #: freeculture.xml:10110
13450 "Even this understates the espionage that is being waged by the RIAA. A "
13451 "report from CNN late last summer described a strategy the RIAA had adopted "
13452 "to track Napster users.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Using a "
13453 "sophisticated hashing algorithm, the RIAA took what is in effect a "
13454 "fingerprint of every song in the Napster catalog. Any copy of one of those "
13455 "MP3s will have the same <quote>fingerprint.</quote>"
13459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13460 #: freeculture.xml:10135
13462 "See Jeff Adler, <quote>Cambridge: On Campus, Pirates Are Not "
13463 "Penitent,</quote> <citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 18 May 2003, City "
13464 "Weekly, 1; Frank Ahrens, <quote>Four Students Sued over Music Sites; "
13465 "Industry Group Targets File Sharing at Colleges,</quote> "
13466 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 4 April 2003, E1; Elizabeth "
13467 "Armstrong, <quote>Students `Rip, Mix, Burn' at Their Own Risk,</quote> "
13468 "<citetitle>Christian Science Monitor</citetitle>, 2 September 2003, 20; "
13469 "Robert Becker and Angela Rozas, <quote>Music Pirate Hunt Turns to Loyola; "
13470 "Two Students Names Are Handed Over; Lawsuit Possible,</quote> "
13471 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 16 July 2003, 1C; Beth Cox, "
13472 "<quote>RIAA Trains Antipiracy Guns on Universities,</quote> "
13473 "<citetitle>Internet News</citetitle>, 30 January 2003, available at <ulink "
13474 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #48</ulink>; Benny Evangelista, "
13475 "<quote>Download Warning 101: Freshman Orientation This Fall to Include "
13476 "Record Industry Warnings Against File Sharing,</quote> <citetitle>San "
13477 "Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 11 August 2003, E11; <quote>Raid, Letters "
13478 "Are Weapons at Universities,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 26 "
13479 "September 2000, 3D."
13482 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13483 #: freeculture.xml:10123
13485 "So imagine the following not-implausible scenario: Imagine a friend gives a "
13486 "CD to your daughter—a collection of songs just like the cassettes you "
13487 "used to make as a kid. You don't know, and neither does your daughter, where "
13488 "these songs came from. But she copies these songs onto her computer. She "
13489 "then takes her computer to college and connects it to a college network, and "
13490 "if the college network is <quote>cooperating</quote> with the RIAA's "
13491 "espionage, and she hasn't properly protected her content from the network "
13492 "(do you know how to do that yourself ?), then the RIAA will be able to "
13493 "identify your daughter as a <quote>criminal.</quote> And under the rules "
13494 "that universities are beginning to deploy,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13495 "id=\"0\"/> your daughter can lose the right to use the university's computer "
13496 "network. She can, in some cases, be expelled."
13499 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13500 #: freeculture.xml:10154
13502 "Now, of course, she'll have the right to defend herself. You can hire a "
13503 "lawyer for her (at $300 per hour, if you're lucky), and she can plead that "
13504 "she didn't know anything about the source of the songs or that they came "
13505 "from Napster. And it may well be that the university believes her. But the "
13506 "university might not believe her. It might treat this "
13507 "<quote>contraband</quote> as presumptive of guilt. And as any number of "
13508 "college students have already learned, our presumptions about innocence "
13509 "disappear in the middle of wars of prohibition. This war is no different. "
13510 "Says von Lohmann, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13514 #: freeculture.xml:10170
13516 "So when we're talking about numbers like forty to sixty million Americans "
13517 "that are essentially copyright infringers, you create a situation where the "
13518 "civil liberties of those people are very much in peril in a general "
13519 "matter. [I don't] think [there is any] analog where you could randomly "
13520 "choose any person off the street and be confident that they were committing "
13521 "an unlawful act that could put them on the hook for potential felony "
13522 "liability or hundreds of millions of dollars of civil liability. Certainly "
13523 "we all speed, but speeding isn't the kind of an act for which we routinely "
13524 "forfeit civil liberties. Some people use drugs, and I think that's the "
13525 "closest analog, [but] many have noted that the war against drugs has eroded "
13526 "all of our civil liberties because it's treated so many Americans as "
13527 "criminals. Well, I think it's fair to say that file sharing is an order of "
13528 "magnitude larger number of Americans than drug use. … If forty to "
13529 "sixty million Americans have become lawbreakers, then we're really on a "
13530 "slippery slope to lose a lot of civil liberties for all forty to sixty "
13534 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13535 #: freeculture.xml:10190
13537 "When forty to sixty million Americans are considered "
13538 "<quote>criminals</quote> under the law, and when the law could achieve the "
13539 "same objective— securing rights to authors—without these "
13540 "millions being considered <quote>criminals,</quote> who is the villain? "
13541 "Americans or the law? Which is American, a constant war on our own people or "
13542 "a concerted effort through our democracy to change our law?"
13545 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
13546 #: freeculture.xml:10203
13550 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13551 #: freeculture.xml:10208
13553 "So here's the picture: You're standing at the side of the road. Your car is "
13554 "on fire. You are angry and upset because in part you helped start the "
13555 "fire. Now you don't know how to put it out. Next to you is a bucket, filled "
13556 "with gasoline. Obviously, gasoline won't put the fire out."
13559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13560 #: freeculture.xml:10214
13562 "As you ponder the mess, someone else comes along. In a panic, she grabs the "
13563 "bucket. Before you have a chance to tell her to stop—or before she "
13564 "understands just why she should stop—the bucket is in the air. The "
13565 "gasoline is about to hit the blazing car. And the fire that gasoline will "
13566 "ignite is about to ignite everything around."
13569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13570 #: freeculture.xml:10222
13572 "A war about copyright rages all around—and we're all focusing on the "
13573 "wrong thing. No doubt, current technologies threaten existing businesses. "
13574 "No doubt they may threaten artists. But technologies change. The industry "
13575 "and technologists have plenty of ways to use technology to protect "
13576 "themselves against the current threats of the Internet. This is a fire that "
13577 "if let alone would burn itself out."
13581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13582 #: freeculture.xml:10231
13584 "Yet policy makers are not willing to leave this fire to itself. Primed with "
13585 "plenty of lobbyists' money, they are keen to intervene to eliminate the "
13586 "problem they perceive. But the problem they perceive is not the real threat "
13587 "this culture faces. For while we watch this small fire in the corner, there "
13588 "is a massive change in the way culture is made that is happening all around."
13591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13592 #: freeculture.xml:10239
13594 "Somehow we have to find a way to turn attention to this more important and "
13595 "fundamental issue. Somehow we have to find a way to avoid pouring gasoline "
13599 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13600 #: freeculture.xml:10244
13602 "We have not found that way yet. Instead, we seem trapped in a simpler, "
13603 "binary view. However much many people push to frame this debate more "
13604 "broadly, it is the simple, binary view that remains. We rubberneck to look "
13605 "at the fire when we should be keeping our eyes on the road."
13608 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13609 #: freeculture.xml:10250
13611 "This challenge has been my life these last few years. It has also been my "
13612 "failure. In the two chapters that follow, I describe one small brace of "
13613 "efforts, so far failed, to find a way to refocus this debate. We must "
13614 "understand these failures if we're to understand what success will require."
13617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
13618 #: freeculture.xml:10260
13619 msgid "CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Eldred"
13622 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
13623 #: freeculture.xml:10262
13624 msgid "Hawthorne, Nathaniel"
13627 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13628 #: freeculture.xml:10265
13630 "In 1995, a father was frustrated that his daughters didn't seem to like "
13631 "Hawthorne. No doubt there was more than one such father, but at least one "
13632 "did something about it. Eric Eldred, a retired computer programmer living in "
13633 "New Hampshire, decided to put Hawthorne on the Web. An electronic version, "
13634 "Eldred thought, with links to pictures and explanatory text, would make this "
13635 "nineteenth-century author's work come alive."
13638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13639 #: freeculture.xml:10274
13641 "It didn't work—at least for his daughters. They didn't find Hawthorne "
13642 "any more interesting than before. But Eldred's experiment gave birth to a "
13643 "hobby, and his hobby begat a cause: Eldred would build a library of public "
13644 "domain works by scanning these works and making them available for free."
13648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13649 #: freeculture.xml:10281
13651 "Eldred's library was not simply a copy of certain public domain works, "
13652 "though even a copy would have been of great value to people across the world "
13653 "who can't get access to printed versions of these works. Instead, Eldred was "
13654 "producing derivative works from these public domain works. Just as Disney "
13655 "turned Grimm into stories more accessible to the twentieth century, Eldred "
13656 "transformed Hawthorne, and many others, into a form more "
13657 "accessible—technically accessible—today."
13660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13661 #: freeculture.xml:10292
13663 "Eldred's freedom to do this with Hawthorne's work grew from the same source "
13664 "as Disney's. Hawthorne's <citetitle>Scarlet Letter</citetitle> had passed "
13665 "into the public domain in 1907. It was free for anyone to take without the "
13666 "permission of the Hawthorne estate or anyone else. Some, such as Dover Press "
13667 "and Penguin Classics, take works from the public domain and produce printed "
13668 "editions, which they sell in bookstores across the country. Others, such as "
13669 "Disney, take these stories and turn them into animated cartoons, sometimes "
13670 "successfully (<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle>), sometimes not "
13671 "(<citetitle>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</citetitle>, <citetitle>Treasure "
13672 "Planet</citetitle>). These are all commercial publications of public domain "
13677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13678 #: freeculture.xml:10316
13680 "There's a parallel here with pornography that is a bit hard to describe, but "
13681 "it's a strong one. One phenomenon that the Internet created was a world of "
13682 "noncommercial pornographers—people who were distributing porn but were "
13683 "not making money directly or indirectly from that distribution. Such a "
13684 "class didn't exist before the Internet came into being because the costs of "
13685 "distributing porn were so high. Yet this new class of distributors got "
13686 "special attention in the Supreme Court, when the Court struck down the "
13687 "Communications Decency Act of 1996. It was partly because of the burden on "
13688 "noncommercial speakers that the statute was found to exceed Congress's "
13689 "power. The same point could have been made about noncommercial publishers "
13690 "after the advent of the Internet. The Eric Eldreds of the world before the "
13691 "Internet were extremely few. Yet one would think it at least as important to "
13692 "protect the Eldreds of the world as to protect noncommercial pornographers."
13695 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13696 #: freeculture.xml:10305
13698 "The Internet created the possibility of noncommercial publications of public "
13699 "domain works. Eldred's is just one example. There are literally thousands of "
13700 "others. Hundreds of thousands from across the world have discovered this "
13701 "platform of expression and now use it to share works that are, by law, free "
13702 "for the taking. This has produced what we might call the "
13703 "<quote>noncommercial publishing industry,</quote> which before the Internet "
13704 "was limited to people with large egos or with political or social "
13705 "causes. But with the Internet, it includes a wide range of individuals and "
13706 "groups dedicated to spreading culture generally.<placeholder "
13707 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13711 #: freeculture.xml:10333
13713 "As I said, Eldred lives in New Hampshire. In 1998, Robert Frost's collection "
13714 "of poems <citetitle>New Hampshire</citetitle> was slated to pass into the "
13715 "public domain. Eldred wanted to post that collection in his free public "
13716 "library. But Congress got in the way. As I described in chapter <xref "
13717 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, in 1998, for the "
13718 "eleventh time in forty years, Congress extended the terms of existing "
13719 "copyrights—this time by twenty years. Eldred would not be free to add "
13720 "any works more recent than 1923 to his collection until 2019. Indeed, no "
13721 "copyrighted work would pass into the public domain until that year (and not "
13722 "even then, if Congress extends the term again). By contrast, in the same "
13723 "period, more than 1 million patents will pass into the public domain."
13727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13728 #: freeculture.xml:10354
13730 "The full text is: <quote>Sonny [Bono] wanted the term of copyright "
13731 "protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would "
13732 "violate the Constitution. I invite all of you to work with me to strengthen "
13733 "our copyright laws in all of the ways available to us. As you know, there is "
13734 "also Jack Valenti's proposal for a term to last forever less one "
13735 "day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress,</quote> 144 "
13736 "Cong. Rec. H9946, 9951-2 (October 7, 1998)."
13739 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13740 #: freeculture.xml:10349
13742 "This was the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), enacted in "
13743 "memory of the congressman and former musician Sonny Bono, who, his widow, "
13744 "Mary Bono, says, believed that <quote>copyrights should be "
13745 "forever.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13748 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13749 #: freeculture.xml:10365
13751 "Eldred decided to fight this law. He first resolved to fight it through "
13752 "civil disobedience. In a series of interviews, Eldred announced that he "
13753 "would publish as planned, CTEA notwithstanding. But because of a second law "
13754 "passed in 1998, the NET (No Electronic Theft) Act, his act of publishing "
13755 "would make Eldred a felon—whether or not anyone complained. This was a "
13756 "dangerous strategy for a disabled programmer to undertake."
13759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13760 #: freeculture.xml:10374
13762 "It was here that I became involved in Eldred's battle. I was a "
13763 "constitutional scholar whose first passion was constitutional "
13764 "interpretation. And though constitutional law courses never focus upon the "
13765 "Progress Clause of the Constitution, it had always struck me as importantly "
13766 "different. As you know, the Constitution says,"
13769 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
13770 #: freeculture.xml:10385
13772 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science … by "
13773 "securing for limited Times to Authors … exclusive Right to their "
13774 "… Writings. …"
13777 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13778 #: freeculture.xml:10391
13780 "As I've described, this clause is unique within the power-granting clause of "
13781 "Article I, section 8 of our Constitution. Every other clause granting power "
13782 "to Congress simply says Congress has the power to do something—for "
13783 "example, to regulate <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> or "
13784 "<quote>declare War.</quote> But here, the <quote>something</quote> is "
13785 "something quite specific—to <quote>promote … "
13786 "Progress</quote>—through means that are also specific— by "
13787 "<quote>securing</quote> <quote>exclusive Rights</quote> (i.e., copyrights) "
13788 "<quote>for limited Times.</quote>"
13791 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
13792 #: freeculture.xml:10410 freeculture.xml:11867
13793 msgid "Jaszi, Peter"
13796 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13797 #: freeculture.xml:10401
13799 "In the past forty years, Congress has gotten into the practice of extending "
13800 "existing terms of copyright protection. What puzzled me about this was, if "
13801 "Congress has the power to extend existing terms, then the Constitution's "
13802 "requirement that terms be <quote>limited</quote> will have no practical "
13803 "effect. If every time a copyright is about to expire, Congress has the power "
13804 "to extend its term, then Congress can achieve what the Constitution plainly "
13805 "forbids—perpetual terms <quote>on the installment plan,</quote> as "
13806 "Professor Peter Jaszi so nicely put it. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
13810 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13811 #: freeculture.xml:10413
13813 "As an academic, my first response was to hit the books. I remember sitting "
13814 "late at the office, scouring on-line databases for any serious consideration "
13815 "of the question. No one had ever challenged Congress's practice of extending "
13816 "existing terms. That failure may in part be why Congress seemed so "
13817 "untroubled in its habit. That, and the fact that the practice had become so "
13818 "lucrative for Congress. Congress knows that copyright owners will be willing "
13819 "to pay a great deal of money to see their copyright terms extended. And so "
13820 "Congress is quite happy to keep this gravy train going."
13823 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13824 #: freeculture.xml:10424
13826 "For this is the core of the corruption in our present system of "
13827 "government. <quote>Corruption</quote> not in the sense that representatives "
13828 "are bribed. Rather, <quote>corruption</quote> in the sense that the system "
13829 "induces the beneficiaries of Congress's acts to raise and give money to "
13830 "Congress to induce it to act. There's only so much time; there's only so "
13831 "much Congress can do. Why not limit its actions to those things it must "
13832 "do—and those things that pay? Extending copyright terms pays."
13835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13836 #: freeculture.xml:10433
13838 "If that's not obvious to you, consider the following: Say you're one of the "
13839 "very few lucky copyright owners whose copyright continues to make money one "
13840 "hundred years after it was created. The Estate of Robert Frost is a good "
13841 "example. Frost died in 1963. His poetry continues to be extraordinarily "
13842 "valuable. Thus the Robert Frost estate benefits greatly from any extension "
13843 "of copyright, since no publisher would pay the estate any money if the poems "
13844 "Frost wrote could be published by anyone for free."
13847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13848 #: freeculture.xml:10443
13850 "So imagine the Robert Frost estate is earning $100,000 a year from three of "
13851 "Frost's poems. And imagine the copyright for those poems is about to "
13852 "expire. You sit on the board of the Robert Frost estate. Your financial "
13853 "adviser comes to your board meeting with a very grim report:"
13857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13858 #: freeculture.xml:10450
13860 "<quote>Next year,</quote> the adviser announces, <quote>our copyrights in "
13861 "works A, B, and C will expire. That means that after next year, we will no "
13862 "longer be receiving the annual royalty check of $100,000 from the publishers "
13863 "of those works.</quote>"
13866 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13867 #: freeculture.xml:10458
13869 "<quote>There's a proposal in Congress, however,</quote> she continues, "
13870 "<quote>that could change this. A few congressmen are floating a bill to "
13871 "extend the terms of copyright by twenty years. That bill would be "
13872 "extraordinarily valuable to us. So we should hope this bill passes.</quote>"
13875 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13876 #: freeculture.xml:10464
13878 "<quote>Hope?</quote> a fellow board member says. <quote>Can't we be doing "
13879 "something about it?</quote>"
13882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13883 #: freeculture.xml:10468
13885 "<quote>Well, obviously, yes,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>We could "
13886 "contribute to the campaigns of a number of representatives to try to assure "
13887 "that they support the bill.</quote>"
13890 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13891 #: freeculture.xml:10473
13893 "You hate politics. You hate contributing to campaigns. So you want to know "
13894 "whether this disgusting practice is worth it. <quote>How much would we get "
13895 "if this extension were passed?</quote> you ask the adviser. <quote>How much "
13896 "is it worth?</quote>"
13899 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13900 #: freeculture.xml:10479
13902 "<quote>Well,</quote> the adviser says, <quote>if you're confident that you "
13903 "will continue to get at least $100,000 a year from these copyrights, and you "
13904 "use the `discount rate' that we use to evaluate estate investments (6 "
13905 "percent), then this law would be worth $1,146,000 to the estate.</quote>"
13908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13909 #: freeculture.xml:10485
13911 "You're a bit shocked by the number, but you quickly come to the correct "
13915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13916 #: freeculture.xml:10489
13918 "<quote>So you're saying it would be worth it for us to pay more than "
13919 "$1,000,000 in campaign contributions if we were confident those "
13920 "contributions would assure that the bill was passed?</quote>"
13923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13924 #: freeculture.xml:10495
13926 "<quote>Absolutely,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>It is worth it to "
13927 "you to contribute up to the `present value' of the income you expect from "
13928 "these copyrights. Which for us means over $1,000,000.</quote>"
13932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13933 #: freeculture.xml:10501
13935 "You quickly get the point—you as the member of the board and, I trust, "
13936 "you the reader. Each time copyrights are about to expire, every beneficiary "
13937 "in the position of the Robert Frost estate faces the same choice: If they "
13938 "can contribute to get a law passed to extend copyrights, they will benefit "
13939 "greatly from that extension. And so each time copyrights are about to "
13940 "expire, there is a massive amount of lobbying to get the copyright term "
13944 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13945 #: freeculture.xml:10512
13947 "Thus a congressional perpetual motion machine: So long as legislation can be "
13948 "bought (albeit indirectly), there will be all the incentive in the world to "
13949 "buy further extensions of copyright."
13953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13954 #: freeculture.xml:10524
13956 "Associated Press, <quote>Disney Lobbying for Copyright Extension No Mickey "
13957 "Mouse Effort; Congress OKs Bill Granting Creators 20 More Years,</quote> "
13958 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 17 October 1998, 22."
13962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13963 #: freeculture.xml:10531
13965 "See Nick Brown, <quote>Fair Use No More?: Copyright in the Information "
13966 "Age,</quote> available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
13971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13972 #: freeculture.xml:10539
13974 "Alan K. Ota, <quote>Disney in Washington: The Mouse That Roars,</quote> "
13975 "<citetitle>Congressional Quarterly This Week</citetitle>, 8 August 1990, "
13976 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #50</ulink>."
13979 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13980 #: freeculture.xml:10517
13982 "In the lobbying that led to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term "
13983 "Extension Act, this <quote>theory</quote> about incentives was proved "
13984 "real. Ten of the thirteen original sponsors of the act in the House received "
13985 "the maximum contribution from Disney's political action committee; in the "
13986 "Senate, eight of the twelve sponsors received contributions.<placeholder "
13987 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The RIAA and the MPAA are estimated to have "
13988 "spent over $1.5 million lobbying in the 1998 election cycle. They paid out "
13989 "more than $200,000 in campaign contributions.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13990 "id=\"1\"/> Disney is estimated to have contributed more than $800,000 to "
13991 "reelection campaigns in the cycle.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
13994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13995 #: freeculture.xml:10546
13997 "Constitutional law is not oblivious to the obvious. Or at least, it need not "
13998 "be. So when I was considering Eldred's complaint, this reality about the "
13999 "never-ending incentives to increase the copyright term was central to my "
14000 "thinking. In my view, a pragmatic court committed to interpreting and "
14001 "applying the Constitution of our framers would see that if Congress has the "
14002 "power to extend existing terms, then there would be no effective "
14003 "constitutional requirement that terms be <quote>limited.</quote> If they "
14004 "could extend it once, they would extend it again and again and again."
14008 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14009 #: freeculture.xml:10559
14011 "It was also my judgment that <emphasis>this</emphasis> Supreme Court would "
14012 "not allow Congress to extend existing terms. As anyone close to the Supreme "
14013 "Court's work knows, this Court has increasingly restricted the power of "
14014 "Congress when it has viewed Congress's actions as exceeding the power "
14015 "granted to it by the Constitution. Among constitutional scholars, the most "
14016 "famous example of this trend was the Supreme Court's decision in 1995 to "
14017 "strike down a law that banned the possession of guns near schools."
14020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14021 #: freeculture.xml:10572
14023 "Since 1937, the Supreme Court had interpreted Congress's granted powers very "
14024 "broadly; so, while the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate "
14025 "only <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> (aka <quote>interstate "
14026 "commerce</quote>), the Supreme Court had interpreted that power to include "
14027 "the power to regulate any activity that merely affected interstate commerce."
14030 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14031 #: freeculture.xml:10582
14033 "As the economy grew, this standard increasingly meant that there was no "
14034 "limit to Congress's power to regulate, since just about every activity, when "
14035 "considered on a national scale, affects interstate commerce. A Constitution "
14036 "designed to limit Congress's power was instead interpreted to impose no "
14040 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14041 #: freeculture.xml:10588 freeculture.xml:11364
14042 msgid "Rehnquist, William H."
14045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14046 #: freeculture.xml:10590
14048 "The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Rehnquist's command, changed that in "
14049 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The "
14050 "government had argued that possessing guns near schools affected interstate "
14051 "commerce. Guns near schools increase crime, crime lowers property values, "
14052 "and so on. In the oral argument, the Chief Justice asked the government "
14053 "whether there was any activity that would not affect interstate commerce "
14054 "under the reasoning the government advanced. The government said there was "
14055 "not; if Congress says an activity affects interstate commerce, then that "
14056 "activity affects interstate commerce. The Supreme Court, the government "
14057 "said, was not in the position to second-guess Congress."
14061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14062 #: freeculture.xml:10605
14064 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>, 514 "
14065 "U.S. 549, 564 (1995)."
14069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14070 #: freeculture.xml:10612
14072 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>, 529 "
14076 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14077 #: freeculture.xml:10603
14079 "<quote>We pause to consider the implications of the government's "
14080 "arguments,</quote> the Chief Justice wrote.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14081 "id=\"0\"/> If anything Congress says is interstate commerce must therefore "
14082 "be considered interstate commerce, then there would be no limit to "
14083 "Congress's power. The decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> was "
14084 "reaffirmed five years later in <citetitle>United States</citetitle> "
14085 "v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
14089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14090 #: freeculture.xml:10619
14092 "If it is a principle about enumerated powers, then the principle carries "
14093 "from one enumerated power to another. The animating point in the context of "
14094 "the Commerce Clause was that the interpretation offered by the government "
14095 "would allow the government unending power to regulate commerce—the "
14096 "limitation to interstate commerce notwithstanding. The same point is true in "
14097 "the context of the Copyright Clause. Here, too, the government's "
14098 "interpretation would allow the government unending power to regulate "
14099 "copyrights—the limitation to <quote>limited times</quote> "
14104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14105 #: freeculture.xml:10616
14107 "If a principle were at work here, then it should apply to the Progress "
14108 "Clause as much as the Commerce Clause.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14109 "id=\"0\"/> And if it is applied to the Progress Clause, the principle should "
14110 "yield the conclusion that Congress can't extend an existing term. If "
14111 "Congress could extend an existing term, then there would be no "
14112 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power over terms, though the "
14113 "Constitution expressly states that there is such a limit. Thus, the same "
14114 "principle applied to the power to grant copyrights should entail that "
14115 "Congress is not allowed to extend the term of existing copyrights."
14118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14119 #: freeculture.xml:10640
14121 "<emphasis>If</emphasis>, that is, the principle announced in "
14122 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for a principle. Many believed the "
14123 "decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for politics—a "
14124 "conservative Supreme Court, which believed in states' rights, using its "
14125 "power over Congress to advance its own personal political preferences. But I "
14126 "rejected that view of the Supreme Court's decision. Indeed, shortly after "
14127 "the decision, I wrote an article demonstrating the <quote>fidelity</quote> "
14128 "in such an interpretation of the Constitution. The idea that the Supreme "
14129 "Court decides cases based upon its politics struck me as extraordinarily "
14130 "boring. I was not going to devote my life to teaching constitutional law if "
14131 "these nine Justices were going to be petty politicians."
14134 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14135 #: freeculture.xml:10653
14137 "Now let's pause for a moment to make sure we understand what the argument in "
14138 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was not about. By insisting on the "
14139 "Constitution's limits to copyright, obviously Eldred was not endorsing "
14140 "piracy. Indeed, in an obvious sense, he was fighting a kind of "
14141 "piracy—piracy of the public domain. When Robert Frost wrote his work "
14142 "and when Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, the maximum copyright term was "
14143 "just fifty-six years. Because of interim changes, Frost and Disney had "
14144 "already enjoyed a seventy-five-year monopoly for their work. They had gotten "
14145 "the benefit of the bargain that the Constitution envisions: In exchange for "
14146 "a monopoly protected for fifty-six years, they created new work. But now "
14147 "these entities were using their power—expressed through the power of "
14148 "lobbyists' money—to get another twenty-year dollop of monopoly. That "
14149 "twenty-year dollop would be taken from the public domain. Eric Eldred was "
14150 "fighting a piracy that affects us all."
14154 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14155 #: freeculture.xml:10676
14157 "Brief of the Nashville Songwriters Association, "
14158 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. "
14159 "186 (2003) (No. 01-618), n.10, available at <ulink "
14160 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #51</ulink>."
14163 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14164 #: freeculture.xml:10684
14165 msgid "Nashville Songwriters Association"
14168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14169 #: freeculture.xml:10670
14171 "Some people view the public domain with contempt. In their brief before the "
14172 "Supreme Court, the Nashville Songwriters Association wrote that the public "
14173 "domain is nothing more than <quote>legal piracy.</quote><placeholder "
14174 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is not piracy when the law allows it; "
14175 "and in our constitutional system, our law requires it. Some may not like the "
14176 "Constitution's requirements, but that doesn't make the Constitution a "
14177 "pirate's charter. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14181 #: freeculture.xml:10687
14183 "As we've seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a "
14184 "way to assure that copyright holders do not too heavily influence the "
14185 "development and distribution of our culture. Yet, as Eric Eldred discovered, "
14186 "we have set up a system that assures that copyright terms will be repeatedly "
14187 "extended, and extended, and extended. We have created the perfect storm for "
14188 "the public domain. Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long "
14189 "as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again."
14192 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14193 #: freeculture.xml:10699
14195 "It is valuable copyrights that are responsible for terms being extended. "
14196 "Mickey Mouse and <quote>Rhapsody in Blue.</quote> These works are too "
14197 "valuable for copyright owners to ignore. But the real harm to our society "
14198 "from copyright extensions is not that Mickey Mouse remains Disney's. Forget "
14199 "Mickey Mouse. Forget Robert Frost. Forget all the works from the 1920s and "
14200 "1930s that have continuing commercial value. The real harm of term extension "
14201 "comes not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are "
14202 "not famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result."
14206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14207 #: freeculture.xml:10720
14209 "The figure of 2 percent is an extrapolation from the study by the "
14210 "Congressional Research Service, in light of the estimated renewal "
14211 "ranges. See Brief of Petitioners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14212 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 7, available at <ulink "
14213 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #52</ulink>."
14216 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14217 #: freeculture.xml:10714
14219 "If you look at the work created in the first twenty years (1923 to 1942) "
14220 "affected by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, 2 percent of that "
14221 "work has any continuing commercial value. It was the copyright holders for "
14222 "that 2 percent who pushed the CTEA through. But the law and its effect were "
14223 "not limited to that 2 percent. The law extended the terms of copyright "
14224 "generally.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14229 #: freeculture.xml:10729
14231 "Think practically about the consequence of this extension—practically, "
14232 "as a businessperson, and not as a lawyer eager for more legal work. In 1930, "
14233 "10,047 books were published. In 2000, 174 of those books were still in "
14234 "print. Let's say you were Brewster Kahle, and you wanted to make available "
14235 "to the world in your iArchive project the remaining 9,873. What would you "
14239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14240 #: freeculture.xml:10741
14242 "Well, first, you'd have to determine which of the 9,873 books were still "
14243 "under copyright. That requires going to a library (these data are not "
14244 "on-line) and paging through tomes of books, cross-checking the titles and "
14245 "authors of the 9,873 books with the copyright registration and renewal "
14246 "records for works published in 1930. That will produce a list of books still "
14250 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14251 #: freeculture.xml:10749
14253 "Then for the books still under copyright, you would need to locate the "
14254 "current copyright owners. How would you do that?"
14257 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14258 #: freeculture.xml:10753
14260 "Most people think that there must be a list of these copyright owners "
14261 "somewhere. Practical people think this way. How could there be thousands and "
14262 "thousands of government monopolies without there being at least a list?"
14265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14266 #: freeculture.xml:10760
14268 "But there is no list. There may be a name from 1930, and then in 1959, of "
14269 "the person who registered the copyright. But just think practically about "
14270 "how impossibly difficult it would be to track down thousands of such "
14271 "records—especially since the person who registered is not necessarily "
14272 "the current owner. And we're just talking about 1930!"
14275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14276 #: freeculture.xml:10769
14278 "<quote>But there isn't a list of who owns property generally,</quote> the "
14279 "apologists for the system respond. <quote>Why should there be a list of "
14280 "copyright owners?</quote>"
14283 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14284 #: freeculture.xml:10774
14286 "Well, actually, if you think about it, there <emphasis>are</emphasis> plenty "
14287 "of lists of who owns what property. Think about deeds on houses, or titles "
14288 "to cars. And where there isn't a list, the code of real space is pretty "
14289 "good at suggesting who the owner of a bit of property is. (A swing set in "
14290 "your backyard is probably yours.) So formally or informally, we have a "
14291 "pretty good way to know who owns what tangible property."
14295 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14296 #: freeculture.xml:10783
14298 "So: You walk down a street and see a house. You can know who owns the house "
14299 "by looking it up in the courthouse registry. If you see a car, there is "
14300 "ordinarily a license plate that will link the owner to the car. If you see a "
14301 "bunch of children's toys sitting on the front lawn of a house, it's fairly "
14302 "easy to determine who owns the toys. And if you happen to see a baseball "
14303 "lying in a gutter on the side of the road, look around for a second for some "
14304 "kids playing ball. If you don't see any kids, then okay: Here's a bit of "
14305 "property whose owner we can't easily determine. It is the exception that "
14306 "proves the rule: that we ordinarily know quite well who owns what property."
14309 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14310 #: freeculture.xml:10798
14312 "Compare this story to intangible property. You go into a library. The "
14313 "library owns the books. But who owns the copyrights? As I've already "
14314 "described, there's no list of copyright owners. There are authors' names, of "
14315 "course, but their copyrights could have been assigned, or passed down in an "
14316 "estate like Grandma's old jewelry. To know who owns what, you would have to "
14317 "hire a private detective. The bottom line: The owner cannot easily be "
14318 "located. And in a regime like ours, in which it is a felony to use such "
14319 "property without the property owner's permission, the property isn't going "
14323 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14324 #: freeculture.xml:10810
14326 "The consequence with respect to old books is that they won't be digitized, "
14327 "and hence will simply rot away on shelves. But the consequence for other "
14328 "creative works is much more dire."
14331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14332 #: freeculture.xml:10815
14333 msgid "Agee, Michael"
14336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14337 #: freeculture.xml:10816 freeculture.xml:11247
14338 msgid "Hal Roach Studios"
14341 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14342 #: freeculture.xml:10817
14343 msgid "Laurel and Hardy Films"
14347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14348 #: freeculture.xml:10830
14350 "See David G. Savage, <quote>High Court Scene of Showdown on Copyright "
14351 "Law,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 6 October 2002; David "
14352 "Streitfeld, <quote>Classic Movies, Songs, Books at Stake; Supreme Court "
14353 "Hears Arguments Today on Striking Down Copyright Extension,</quote> "
14354 "<citetitle>Orlando Sentinel Tribune</citetitle>, 9 October 2002."
14357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14358 #: freeculture.xml:10836
14359 msgid "Lucky Dog, The"
14362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14363 #: freeculture.xml:10819
14365 "Consider the story of Michael Agee, chairman of Hal Roach Studios, which "
14366 "owns the copyrights for the Laurel and Hardy films. Agee is a direct "
14367 "beneficiary of the Bono Act. The Laurel and Hardy films were made between "
14368 "1921 and 1951. Only one of these films, <citetitle>The Lucky "
14369 "Dog</citetitle>, is currently out of copyright. But for the CTEA, films made "
14370 "after 1923 would have begun entering the public domain. Because Agee "
14371 "controls the exclusive rights for these popular films, he makes a great deal "
14372 "of money. According to one estimate, <quote>Roach has sold about 60,000 "
14373 "videocassettes and 50,000 DVDs of the duo's silent "
14374 "films.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
14375 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14379 #: freeculture.xml:10839
14381 "Yet Agee opposed the CTEA. His reasons demonstrate a rare virtue in this "
14382 "culture: selflessness. He argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that "
14383 "the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act will, if left standing, destroy "
14384 "a whole generation of American film."
14388 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14389 #: freeculture.xml:10845
14391 "His argument is straightforward. A tiny fraction of this work has any "
14392 "continuing commercial value. The rest—to the extent it survives at "
14393 "all—sits in vaults gathering dust. It may be that some of this work "
14394 "not now commercially valuable will be deemed to be valuable by the owners of "
14395 "the vaults. For this to occur, however, the commercial benefit from the work "
14396 "must exceed the costs of making the work available for distribution."
14400 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14401 #: freeculture.xml:10863
14403 "Brief of Hal Roach Studios and Michael Agee as Amicus Curiae Supporting the "
14404 "Petitoners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14405 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01- 618), "
14406 "12. See also Brief of Amicus Curiae filed on behalf of Petitioners by the "
14407 "Internet Archive, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14408 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
14409 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #53</ulink>."
14412 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14413 #: freeculture.xml:10856
14415 "We can't know the benefits, but we do know a lot about the costs. For most "
14416 "of the history of film, the costs of restoring film were very high; digital "
14417 "technology has lowered these costs substantially. While it cost more than "
14418 "$10,000 to restore a ninety-minute black-and-white film in 1993, it can now "
14419 "cost as little as $100 to digitize one hour of mm film.<placeholder "
14420 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14423 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14424 #: freeculture.xml:10873
14426 "Restoration technology is not the only cost, nor the most important. "
14427 "Lawyers, too, are a cost, and increasingly, a very important one. In "
14428 "addition to preserving the film, a distributor needs to secure the rights. "
14429 "And to secure the rights for a film that is under copyright, you need to "
14430 "locate the copyright owner."
14433 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14434 #: freeculture.xml:10881
14436 "Or more accurately, <emphasis>owners</emphasis>. As we've seen, there isn't "
14437 "only a single copyright associated with a film; there are many. There isn't "
14438 "a single person whom you can contact about those copyrights; there are as "
14439 "many as can hold the rights, which turns out to be an extremely large "
14440 "number. Thus the costs of clearing the rights to these films is "
14441 "exceptionally high."
14444 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14445 #: freeculture.xml:10889
14447 "<quote>But can't you just restore the film, distribute it, and then pay the "
14448 "copyright owner when she shows up?</quote> Sure, if you want to commit a "
14449 "felony. And even if you're not worried about committing a felony, when she "
14450 "does show up, she'll have the right to sue you for all the profits you have "
14451 "made. So, if you're successful, you can be fairly confident you'll be "
14452 "getting a call from someone's lawyer. And if you're not successful, you "
14453 "won't make enough to cover the costs of your own lawyer. Either way, you "
14454 "have to talk to a lawyer. And as is too often the case, saying you have to "
14455 "talk to a lawyer is the same as saying you won't make any money."
14459 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14460 #: freeculture.xml:10900
14462 "For some films, the benefit of releasing the film may well exceed these "
14463 "costs. But for the vast majority of them, there is no way the benefit would "
14464 "outweigh the legal costs. Thus, for the vast majority of old films, Agee "
14465 "argued, the film will not be restored and distributed until the copyright "
14469 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14470 #: freeculture.xml:10910
14472 "But by the time the copyright for these films expires, the film will have "
14473 "expired. These films were produced on nitrate-based stock, and nitrate stock "
14474 "dissolves over time. They will be gone, and the metal canisters in which "
14475 "they are now stored will be filled with nothing more than dust."
14478 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14479 #: freeculture.xml:10918
14481 "Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has "
14482 "continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a "
14483 "crucially important legal device. For that tiny fraction, the copyright "
14484 "creates incentives to produce and distribute the creative work. For that "
14485 "tiny fraction, the copyright acts as an <quote>engine of free "
14486 "expression.</quote>"
14489 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14490 #: freeculture.xml:10927
14492 "But even for that tiny fraction, the actual time during which the creative "
14493 "work has a commercial life is extremely short. As I've indicated, most books "
14494 "go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and "
14495 "film. Commercial culture is sharklike. It must keep moving. And when a "
14496 "creative work falls out of favor with the commercial distributors, the "
14497 "commercial life ends."
14500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14501 #: freeculture.xml:10937
14503 "Yet that doesn't mean the life of the creative work ends. We don't keep "
14504 "libraries of books in order to compete with Barnes & Noble, and we don't "
14505 "have archives of films because we expect people to choose between spending "
14506 "Friday night watching new movies and spending Friday night watching a 1930 "
14507 "news documentary. The noncommercial life of culture is important and "
14508 "valuable—for entertainment but also, and more importantly, for "
14509 "knowledge. To understand who we are, and where we came from, and how we have "
14510 "made the mistakes that we have, we need to have access to this history."
14514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14515 #: freeculture.xml:10950
14517 "Copyrights in this context do not drive an engine of free expression. In "
14518 "this context, there is no need for an exclusive right. Copyrights in this "
14519 "context do no good."
14522 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14523 #: freeculture.xml:10957
14525 "Yet, for most of our history, they also did little harm. For most of our "
14526 "history, when a work ended its commercial life, there was no "
14527 "<emphasis>copyright-related use</emphasis> that would be inhibited by an "
14528 "exclusive right. When a book went out of print, you could not buy it from a "
14529 "publisher. But you could still buy it from a used book store, and when a "
14530 "used book store sells it, in America, at least, there is no need to pay the "
14531 "copyright owner anything. Thus, the ordinary use of a book after its "
14532 "commercial life ended was a use that was independent of copyright law."
14535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14536 #: freeculture.xml:10968
14538 "The same was effectively true of film. Because the costs of restoring a "
14539 "film—the real economic costs, not the lawyer costs—were so high, "
14540 "it was never at all feasible to preserve or restore film. Like the remains "
14541 "of a great dinner, when it's over, it's over. Once a film passed out of its "
14542 "commercial life, it may have been archived for a bit, but that was the end "
14543 "of its life so long as the market didn't have more to offer."
14546 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14547 #: freeculture.xml:10977
14549 "In other words, though copyright has been relatively short for most of our "
14550 "history, long copyrights wouldn't have mattered for the works that lost "
14551 "their commercial value. Long copyrights for these works would not have "
14552 "interfered with anything."
14555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14556 #: freeculture.xml:10983
14557 msgid "But this situation has now changed."
14560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14561 #: freeculture.xml:10986
14563 "One crucially important consequence of the emergence of digital technologies "
14564 "is to enable the archive that Brewster Kahle dreams of. Digital "
14565 "technologies now make it possible to preserve and give access to all sorts "
14566 "of knowledge. Once a book goes out of print, we can now imagine digitizing "
14567 "it and making it available to everyone, forever. Once a film goes out of "
14568 "distribution, we could digitize it and make it available to everyone, "
14569 "forever. Digital technologies give new life to copyrighted material after it "
14570 "passes out of its commercial life. It is now possible to preserve and assure "
14571 "universal access to this knowledge and culture, whereas before it was not."
14575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14576 #: freeculture.xml:10999
14578 "And now copyright law does get in the way. Every step of producing this "
14579 "digital archive of our culture infringes on the exclusive right of "
14580 "copyright. To digitize a book is to copy it. To do that requires permission "
14581 "of the copyright owner. The same with music, film, or any other aspect of "
14582 "our culture protected by copyright. The effort to make these things "
14583 "available to history, or to researchers, or to those who just want to "
14584 "explore, is now inhibited by a set of rules that were written for a "
14585 "radically different context."
14588 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14589 #: freeculture.xml:11009
14591 "Here is the core of the harm that comes from extending terms: Now that "
14592 "technology enables us to rebuild the library of Alexandria, the law gets in "
14593 "the way. And it doesn't get in the way for any useful "
14594 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis> purpose, for the purpose of copyright is to "
14595 "enable the commercial market that spreads culture. No, we are talking about "
14596 "culture after it has lived its commercial life. In this context, copyright "
14597 "is serving no purpose <emphasis>at all</emphasis> related to the spread of "
14598 "knowledge. In this context, copyright is not an engine of free "
14599 "expression. Copyright is a brake."
14602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14603 #: freeculture.xml:11020
14605 "You may well ask, <quote>But if digital technologies lower the costs for "
14606 "Brewster Kahle, then they will lower the costs for Random House, too. So "
14607 "won't Random House do as well as Brewster Kahle in spreading culture "
14611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14612 #: freeculture.xml:11026
14614 "Maybe. Someday. But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that "
14615 "publishers would be as complete as libraries. If Barnes & Noble offered "
14616 "to lend books from its stores for a low price, would that eliminate the need "
14617 "for libraries? Only if you think that the only role of a library is to serve "
14618 "what <quote>the market</quote> would demand. But if you think the role of a "
14619 "library is bigger than this—if you think its role is to archive "
14620 "culture, whether there's a demand for any particular bit of that culture or "
14621 "not—then we can't count on the commercial market to do our library "
14626 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14627 #: freeculture.xml:11049
14629 "Jason Schultz, <quote>The Myth of the 1976 Copyright `Chaos' Theory,</quote> "
14630 "20 December 2002, available at <ulink "
14631 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #54</ulink>."
14634 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14635 #: freeculture.xml:11037
14637 "I would be the first to agree that it should do as much as it can: We should "
14638 "rely upon the market as much as possible to spread and enable culture. My "
14639 "message is absolutely not antimarket. But where we see the market is not "
14640 "doing the job, then we should allow nonmarket forces the freedom to fill the "
14641 "gaps. As one researcher calculated for American culture, 94 percent of the "
14642 "films, books, and music produced between and 1946 is not commercially "
14643 "available. However much you love the commercial market, if access is a "
14644 "value, then 6 percent is a failure to provide that value.<placeholder "
14645 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14649 #: freeculture.xml:11056
14651 "In January 1999, we filed a lawsuit on Eric Eldred's behalf in federal "
14652 "district court in Washington, D.C., asking the court to declare the Sonny "
14653 "Bono Copyright Term Extension Act unconstitutional. The two central claims "
14654 "that we made were (1) that extending existing terms violated the "
14655 "Constitution's <quote>limited Times</quote> requirement, and (2) that "
14656 "extending terms by another twenty years violated the First Amendment."
14659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14660 #: freeculture.xml:11064
14662 "The district court dismissed our claims without even hearing an argument. A "
14663 "panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also dismissed our "
14664 "claims, though after hearing an extensive argument. But that decision at "
14665 "least had a dissent, by one of the most conservative judges on that "
14666 "court. That dissent gave our claims life."
14669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14670 #: freeculture.xml:11071
14672 "Judge David Sentelle said the CTEA violated the requirement that copyrights "
14673 "be for <quote>limited Times</quote> only. His argument was as elegant as it "
14674 "was simple: If Congress can extend existing terms, then there is no "
14675 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power under the Copyright "
14676 "Clause. The power to extend existing terms means Congress is not required to "
14677 "grant terms that are <quote>limited.</quote> Thus, Judge Sentelle argued, "
14678 "the court had to interpret the term <quote>limited Times</quote> to give it "
14679 "meaning. And the best interpretation, Judge Sentelle argued, would be to "
14680 "deny Congress the power to extend existing terms."
14683 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14684 #: freeculture.xml:11082
14686 "We asked the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as a whole to hear the "
14687 "case. Cases are ordinarily heard in panels of three, except for important "
14688 "cases or cases that raise issues specific to the circuit as a whole, where "
14689 "the court will sit <quote>en banc</quote> to hear the case."
14693 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14694 #: freeculture.xml:11088
14696 "The Court of Appeals rejected our request to hear the case en banc. This "
14697 "time, Judge Sentelle was joined by the most liberal member of the "
14698 "D.C. Circuit, Judge David Tatel. Both the most conservative and the most "
14699 "liberal judges in the D.C. Circuit believed Congress had overstepped its "
14703 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14704 #: freeculture.xml:11097
14706 "It was here that most expected Eldred v. Ashcroft would die, for the Supreme "
14707 "Court rarely reviews any decision by a court of appeals. (It hears about one "
14708 "hundred cases a year, out of more than five thousand appeals.) And it "
14709 "practically never reviews a decision that upholds a statute when no other "
14710 "court has yet reviewed the statute."
14713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14714 #: freeculture.xml:11104
14716 "But in February 2002, the Supreme Court surprised the world by granting our "
14717 "petition to review the D.C. Circuit opinion. Argument was set for October of "
14718 "2002. The summer would be spent writing briefs and preparing for argument."
14721 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14722 #: freeculture.xml:11110
14724 "It is over a year later as I write these words. It is still astonishingly "
14725 "hard. If you know anything at all about this story, you know that we lost "
14726 "the appeal. And if you know something more than just the minimum, you "
14727 "probably think there was no way this case could have been won. After our "
14728 "defeat, I received literally thousands of missives by well-wishers and "
14729 "supporters, thanking me for my work on behalf of this noble but doomed "
14730 "cause. And none from this pile was more significant to me than the e-mail "
14731 "from my client, Eric Eldred."
14734 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14735 #: freeculture.xml:11120
14737 "But my client and these friends were wrong. This case could have been "
14738 "won. It should have been won. And no matter how hard I try to retell this "
14739 "story to myself, I can never escape believing that my own mistake lost it."
14742 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14743 #: freeculture.xml:11125 freeculture.xml:11139
14744 msgid "Steward, Geoffrey"
14748 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14749 #: freeculture.xml:11127
14751 "The mistake was made early, though it became obvious only at the very "
14752 "end. Our case had been supported from the very beginning by an extraordinary "
14753 "lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, and by the law firm he had moved to, Jones, Day, "
14754 "Reavis and Pogue. Jones Day took a great deal of heat from its "
14755 "copyright-protectionist clients for supporting us. They ignored this "
14756 "pressure (something that few law firms today would ever do), and throughout "
14757 "the case, they gave it everything they could."
14760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14761 #: freeculture.xml:11137 freeculture.xml:11487 freeculture.xml:11503 freeculture.xml:11596 freeculture.xml:11810 freeculture.xml:11841 freeculture.xml:11934
14765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14766 #: freeculture.xml:11138
14767 msgid "Bromberg, Dan"
14770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14771 #: freeculture.xml:11141
14773 "There were three key lawyers on the case from Jones Day. Geoff Stewart was "
14774 "the first, but then Dan Bromberg and Don Ayer became quite "
14775 "involved. Bromberg and Ayer in particular had a common view about how this "
14776 "case would be won: We would only win, they repeatedly told me, if we could "
14777 "make the issue seem <quote>important</quote> to the Supreme Court. It had to "
14778 "seem as if dramatic harm were being done to free speech and free culture; "
14779 "otherwise, they would never vote against <quote>the most powerful media "
14780 "companies in the world.</quote>"
14783 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14784 #: freeculture.xml:11151
14786 "I hate this view of the law. Of course I thought the Sonny Bono Act was a "
14787 "dramatic harm to free speech and free culture. Of course I still think it "
14788 "is. But the idea that the Supreme Court decides the law based on how "
14789 "important they believe the issues are is just wrong. It might be "
14790 "<quote>right</quote> as in <quote>true,</quote> I thought, but it is "
14791 "<quote>wrong</quote> as in <quote>it just shouldn't be that way.</quote> As "
14792 "I believed that any faithful interpretation of what the framers of our "
14793 "Constitution did would yield the conclusion that the CTEA was "
14794 "unconstitutional, and as I believed that any faithful interpretation of what "
14795 "the First Amendment means would yield the conclusion that the power to "
14796 "extend existing copyright terms is unconstitutional, I was not persuaded "
14797 "that we had to sell our case like soap. Just as a law that bans the "
14798 "swastika is unconstitutional not because the Court likes Nazis but because "
14799 "such a law would violate the Constitution, so too, in my view, would the "
14800 "Court decide whether Congress's law was constitutional based on the "
14801 "Constitution, not based on whether they liked the values that the framers "
14802 "put in the Constitution."
14805 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14806 #: freeculture.xml:11172
14808 "In any case, I thought, the Court must already see the danger and the harm "
14809 "caused by this sort of law. Why else would they grant review? There was no "
14810 "reason to hear the case in the Supreme Court if they weren't convinced that "
14811 "this regulation was harmful. So in my view, we didn't need to persuade them "
14812 "that this law was bad, we needed to show why it was unconstitutional."
14816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14817 #: freeculture.xml:11180
14819 "There was one way, however, in which I felt politics would matter and in "
14820 "which I thought a response was appropriate. I was convinced that the Court "
14821 "would not hear our arguments if it thought these were just the arguments of "
14822 "a group of lefty loons. This Supreme Court was not about to launch into a "
14823 "new field of judicial review if it seemed that this field of review was "
14824 "simply the preference of a small political minority. Although my focus in "
14825 "the case was not to demonstrate how bad the Sonny Bono Act was but to "
14826 "demonstrate that it was unconstitutional, my hope was to make this argument "
14827 "against a background of briefs that covered the full range of political "
14828 "views. To show that this claim against the CTEA was grounded in "
14829 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> and not politics, then, we tried to gather the "
14830 "widest range of credible critics—credible not because they were rich "
14831 "and famous, but because they, in the aggregate, demonstrated that this law "
14832 "was unconstitutional regardless of one's politics."
14835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14836 #: freeculture.xml:11211 freeculture.xml:11237
14837 msgid "Eagle Forum"
14840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14841 #: freeculture.xml:11212
14842 msgid "Schlafly, Phyllis"
14845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14846 #: freeculture.xml:11199
14848 "The first step happened all by itself. Phyllis Schlafly's organization, "
14849 "Eagle Forum, had been an opponent of the CTEA from the very beginning. "
14850 "Mrs. Schlafly viewed the CTEA as a sellout by Congress. In November 1998, "
14851 "she wrote a stinging editorial attacking the Republican Congress for "
14852 "allowing the law to pass. As she wrote, <quote>Do you sometimes wonder why "
14853 "bills that create a financial windfall to narrow special interests slide "
14854 "easily through the intricate legislative process, while bills that benefit "
14855 "the general public seem to get bogged down?</quote> The answer, as the "
14856 "editorial documented, was the power of money. Schlafly enumerated Disney's "
14857 "contributions to the key players on the committees. It was money, not "
14858 "justice, that gave Mickey Mouse twenty more years in Disney's control, "
14859 "Schlafly argued. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
14860 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14863 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14864 #: freeculture.xml:11215
14866 "In the Court of Appeals, Eagle Forum was eager to file a brief supporting "
14867 "our position. Their brief made the argument that became the core claim in "
14868 "the Supreme Court: If Congress can extend the term of existing copyrights, "
14869 "there is no limit to Congress's power to set terms. That strong "
14870 "conservative argument persuaded a strong conservative judge, Judge Sentelle."
14873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14874 #: freeculture.xml:11223
14876 "In the Supreme Court, the briefs on our side were about as diverse as it "
14877 "gets. They included an extraordinary historical brief by the Free Software "
14878 "Foundation (home of the GNU project that made GNU/ Linux possible). They "
14879 "included a powerful brief about the costs of uncertainty by Intel. There "
14880 "were two law professors' briefs, one by copyright scholars and one by First "
14881 "Amendment scholars. There was an exhaustive and uncontroverted brief by the "
14882 "world's experts in the history of the Progress Clause. And of course, there "
14883 "was a new brief by Eagle Forum, repeating and strengthening its arguments. "
14884 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14885 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
14886 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
14889 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14890 #: freeculture.xml:11244
14891 msgid "American Association of Law Libraries"
14894 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14895 #: freeculture.xml:11245
14896 msgid "National Writers Union"
14899 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14900 #: freeculture.xml:11240
14902 "Those briefs framed a legal argument. Then to support the legal argument, "
14903 "there were a number of powerful briefs by libraries and archives, including "
14904 "the Internet Archive, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the "
14905 "National Writers Union. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
14906 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14910 #: freeculture.xml:11249
14912 "But two briefs captured the policy argument best. One made the argument I've "
14913 "already described: A brief by Hal Roach Studios argued that unless the law "
14914 "was struck, a whole generation of American film would disappear. The other "
14915 "made the economic argument absolutely clear."
14918 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14919 #: freeculture.xml:11255
14920 msgid "Akerlof, George"
14923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14924 #: freeculture.xml:11256
14925 msgid "Arrow, Kenneth"
14928 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14929 #: freeculture.xml:11257
14930 msgid "Buchanan, James"
14933 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14934 #: freeculture.xml:11258
14935 msgid "Coase, Ronald"
14938 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14939 #: freeculture.xml:11259
14940 msgid "Friedman, Milton"
14943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14944 #: freeculture.xml:11261
14946 "This economists' brief was signed by seventeen economists, including five "
14947 "Nobel Prize winners, including Ronald Coase, James Buchanan, Milton "
14948 "Friedman, Kenneth Arrow, and George Akerlof. The economists, as the list of "
14949 "Nobel winners demonstrates, spanned the political spectrum. Their "
14950 "conclusions were powerful: There was no plausible claim that extending the "
14951 "terms of existing copyrights would do anything to increase incentives to "
14952 "create. Such extensions were nothing more than "
14953 "<quote>rent-seeking</quote>—the fancy term economists use to describe "
14954 "special-interest legislation gone wild."
14957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14958 #: freeculture.xml:11284 freeculture.xml:11300 freeculture.xml:11494 freeculture.xml:11846
14959 msgid "Fried, Charles"
14962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14963 #: freeculture.xml:11285
14964 msgid "Morrison, Alan"
14967 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14968 #: freeculture.xml:11286
14969 msgid "Public Citizen"
14972 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14973 #: freeculture.xml:11287 freeculture.xml:11488 freeculture.xml:12578
14974 msgid "Reagan, Ronald"
14977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14978 #: freeculture.xml:11272
14980 "The same effort at balance was reflected in the legal team we gathered to "
14981 "write our briefs in the case. The Jones Day lawyers had been with us from "
14982 "the start. But when the case got to the Supreme Court, we added three "
14983 "lawyers to help us frame this argument to this Court: Alan Morrison, a "
14984 "lawyer from Public Citizen, a Washington group that had made constitutional "
14985 "history with a series of seminal victories in the Supreme Court defending "
14986 "individual rights; my colleague and dean, Kathleen Sullivan, who had argued "
14987 "many cases in the Court, and who had advised us early on about a First "
14988 "Amendment strategy; and finally, former solicitor general Charles Fried. "
14989 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14990 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
14991 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
14994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14995 #: freeculture.xml:11290
14997 "Fried was a special victory for our side. Every other former solicitor "
14998 "general was hired by the other side to defend Congress's power to give media "
14999 "companies the special favor of extended copyright terms. Fried was the only "
15000 "one who turned down that lucrative assignment to stand up for something he "
15001 "believed in. He had been Ronald Reagan's chief lawyer in the Supreme "
15002 "Court. He had helped craft the line of cases that limited Congress's power "
15003 "in the context of the Commerce Clause. And while he had argued many "
15004 "positions in the Supreme Court that I personally disagreed with, his joining "
15005 "the cause was a vote of confidence in our argument. <placeholder "
15006 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15010 #: freeculture.xml:11303
15012 "The government, in defending the statute, had its collection of friends, as "
15013 "well. Significantly, however, none of these <quote>friends</quote> included "
15014 "historians or economists. The briefs on the other side of the case were "
15015 "written exclusively by major media companies, congressmen, and copyright "
15019 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15020 #: freeculture.xml:11310
15022 "The media companies were not surprising. They had the most to gain from the "
15023 "law. The congressmen were not surprising either—they were defending "
15024 "their power and, indirectly, the gravy train of contributions such power "
15025 "induced. And of course it was not surprising that the copyright holders "
15026 "would defend the idea that they should continue to have the right to control "
15027 "who did what with content they wanted to control."
15031 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15032 #: freeculture.xml:11326
15034 "Brief of Amici Dr. Seuss Enterprise et al., <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
15035 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. (2003) (No. 01-618), 19."
15039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15040 #: freeculture.xml:11334
15042 "Dinitia Smith, <quote>Immortal Words, Immortal Royalties? Even Mickey Mouse "
15043 "Joins the Fray,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 28 March "
15047 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15048 #: freeculture.xml:11341
15049 msgid "Gershwin, George"
15052 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15053 #: freeculture.xml:11319
15055 "Dr. Seuss's representatives, for example, argued that it was better for the "
15056 "Dr. Seuss estate to control what happened to Dr. Seuss's work— better "
15057 "than allowing it to fall into the public domain—because if this "
15058 "creativity were in the public domain, then people could use it to "
15059 "<quote>glorify drugs or to create pornography.</quote><placeholder "
15060 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That was also the motive of the Gershwin "
15061 "estate, which defended its <quote>protection</quote> of the work of George "
15062 "Gershwin. They refuse, for example, to license <citetitle>Porgy and "
15063 "Bess</citetitle> to anyone who refuses to use African Americans in the "
15064 "cast.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> That's their view of how this "
15065 "part of American culture should be controlled, and they wanted this law to "
15066 "help them effect that control. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
15069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15070 #: freeculture.xml:11344
15072 "This argument made clear a theme that is rarely noticed in this debate. "
15073 "When Congress decides to extend the term of existing copyrights, Congress is "
15074 "making a choice about which speakers it will favor. Famous and beloved "
15075 "copyright owners, such as the Gershwin estate and Dr. Seuss, come to "
15076 "Congress and say, <quote>Give us twenty years to control the speech about "
15077 "these icons of American culture. We'll do better with them than anyone "
15078 "else.</quote> Congress of course likes to reward the popular and famous by "
15079 "giving them what they want. But when Congress gives people an exclusive "
15080 "right to speak in a certain way, that's just what the First Amendment is "
15081 "traditionally meant to block."
15084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15085 #: freeculture.xml:11356
15087 "We argued as much in a final brief. Not only would upholding the CTEA mean "
15088 "that there was no limit to the power of Congress to extend "
15089 "copyrights—extensions that would further concentrate the market; it "
15090 "would also mean that there was no limit to Congress's power to play "
15091 "favorites, through copyright, with who has the right to speak. Between "
15092 "February and October, there was little I did beyond preparing for this "
15093 "case. Early on, as I said, I set the strategy."
15096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15097 #: freeculture.xml:11366
15099 "The Supreme Court was divided into two important camps. One camp we called "
15100 "<quote>the Conservatives.</quote> The other we called <quote>the "
15101 "Rest.</quote> The Conservatives included Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice "
15102 "O'Connor, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas. These five "
15103 "had been the most consistent in limiting Congress's power. They were the "
15104 "five who had supported the <citetitle>Lopez/Morrison</citetitle> line of "
15105 "cases that said that an enumerated power had to be interpreted to assure "
15106 "that Congress's powers had limits."
15109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15110 #: freeculture.xml:11375 freeculture.xml:11399 freeculture.xml:11739 freeculture.xml:11751
15111 msgid "Breyer, Stephen"
15115 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15116 #: freeculture.xml:11377
15118 "The Rest were the four Justices who had strongly opposed limits on "
15119 "Congress's power. These four—Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice "
15120 "Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer—had repeatedly argued that the "
15121 "Constitution gives Congress broad discretion to decide how best to implement "
15122 "its powers. In case after case, these justices had argued that the Court's "
15123 "role should be one of deference. Though the votes of these four justices "
15124 "were the votes that I personally had most consistently agreed with, they "
15125 "were also the votes that we were least likely to get."
15128 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15129 #: freeculture.xml:11389
15131 "In particular, the least likely was Justice Ginsburg's. In addition to her "
15132 "general view about deference to Congress (except where issues of gender are "
15133 "involved), she had been particularly deferential in the context of "
15134 "intellectual property protections. She and her daughter (an excellent and "
15135 "well-known intellectual property scholar) were cut from the same "
15136 "intellectual property cloth. We expected she would agree with the writings "
15137 "of her daughter: that Congress had the power in this context to do as it "
15138 "wished, even if what Congress wished made little sense."
15141 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15142 #: freeculture.xml:11401
15144 "Close behind Justice Ginsburg were two justices whom we also viewed as "
15145 "unlikely allies, though possible surprises. Justice Souter strongly favored "
15146 "deference to Congress, as did Justice Breyer. But both were also very "
15147 "sensitive to free speech concerns. And as we strongly believed, there was a "
15148 "very important free speech argument against these retrospective extensions."
15151 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15152 #: freeculture.xml:11409
15154 "The only vote we could be confident about was that of Justice "
15155 "Stevens. History will record Justice Stevens as one of the greatest judges "
15156 "on this Court. His votes are consistently eclectic, which just means that no "
15157 "simple ideology explains where he will stand. But he had consistently argued "
15158 "for limits in the context of intellectual property generally. We were fairly "
15159 "confident he would recognize limits here."
15162 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15163 #: freeculture.xml:11417
15165 "This analysis of <quote>the Rest</quote> showed most clearly where our focus "
15166 "had to be: on the Conservatives. To win this case, we had to crack open "
15167 "these five and get at least a majority to go our way. Thus, the single "
15168 "overriding argument that animated our claim rested on the Conservatives' "
15169 "most important jurisprudential innovation—the argument that Judge "
15170 "Sentelle had relied upon in the Court of Appeals, that Congress's power must "
15171 "be interpreted so that its enumerated powers have limits."
15175 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15176 #: freeculture.xml:11427
15178 "This then was the core of our strategy—a strategy for which I am "
15179 "responsible. We would get the Court to see that just as with the "
15180 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, under the government's argument here, "
15181 "Congress would always have unlimited power to extend existing terms. If "
15182 "anything was plain about Congress's power under the Progress Clause, it was "
15183 "that this power was supposed to be <quote>limited.</quote> Our aim would be "
15184 "to get the Court to reconcile <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> with "
15185 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>: If Congress's power to regulate commerce was "
15186 "limited, then so, too, must Congress's power to regulate copyright be "
15190 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15191 #: freeculture.xml:11441
15193 "The argument on the government's side came down to this: Congress has done "
15194 "it before. It should be allowed to do it again. The government claimed that "
15195 "from the very beginning, Congress has been extending the term of existing "
15196 "copyrights. So, the government argued, the Court should not now say that "
15197 "practice is unconstitutional."
15200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15201 #: freeculture.xml:11448
15203 "There was some truth to the government's claim, but not much. We certainly "
15204 "agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in 1831 and in 1909. And of "
15205 "course, in 1962, Congress began extending existing terms "
15206 "regularly—eleven times in forty years."
15210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15211 #: freeculture.xml:11455
15213 "But this <quote>consistency</quote> should be kept in perspective. Congress "
15214 "extended existing terms once in the first hundred years of the Republic. It "
15215 "then extended existing terms once again in the next fifty. Those rare "
15216 "extensions are in contrast to the now regular practice of extending existing "
15217 "terms. Whatever restraint Congress had had in the past, that restraint was "
15218 "now gone. Congress was now in a cycle of extensions; there was no reason to "
15219 "expect that cycle would end. This Court had not hesitated to intervene where "
15220 "Congress was in a similar cycle of extension. There was no reason it "
15221 "couldn't intervene here. Oral argument was scheduled for the first week in "
15222 "October. I arrived in D.C. two weeks before the argument. During those two "
15223 "weeks, I was repeatedly <quote>mooted</quote> by lawyers who had volunteered "
15224 "to help in the case. Such <quote>moots</quote> are basically practice "
15225 "rounds, where wannabe justices fire questions at wannabe winners."
15228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15229 #: freeculture.xml:11478
15231 "I was convinced that to win, I had to keep the Court focused on a single "
15232 "point: that if this extension is permitted, then there is no limit to the "
15233 "power to set terms. Going with the government would mean that terms would be "
15234 "effectively unlimited; going with us would give Congress a clear line to "
15235 "follow: Don't extend existing terms. The moots were an effective practice; I "
15236 "found ways to take every question back to this central idea."
15239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15240 #: freeculture.xml:11490
15242 "One moot was before the lawyers at Jones Day. Don Ayer was the skeptic. He "
15243 "had served in the Reagan Justice Department with Solicitor General Charles "
15244 "Fried. He had argued many cases before the Supreme Court. And in his review "
15245 "of the moot, he let his concern speak: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15249 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15250 #: freeculture.xml:11497
15252 "<quote>I'm just afraid that unless they really see the harm, they won't be "
15253 "willing to upset this practice that the government says has been a "
15254 "consistent practice for two hundred years. You have to make them see the "
15255 "harm—passionately get them to see the harm. For if they don't see "
15256 "that, then we haven't any chance of winning.</quote>"
15260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15261 #: freeculture.xml:11505
15263 "He may have argued many cases before this Court, I thought, but he didn't "
15264 "understand its soul. As a clerk, I had seen the Justices do the right "
15265 "thing—not because of politics but because it was right. As a law "
15266 "professor, I had spent my life teaching my students that this Court does the "
15267 "right thing—not because of politics but because it is right. As I "
15268 "listened to Ayer's plea for passion in pressing politics, I understood his "
15269 "point, and I rejected it. Our argument was right. That was enough. Let the "
15270 "politicians learn to see that it was also good. The night before the "
15271 "argument, a line of people began to form in front of the Supreme Court. The "
15272 "case had become a focus of the press and of the movement to free "
15273 "culture. Hundreds stood in line for the chance to see the "
15274 "proceedings. Scores spent the night on the Supreme Court steps so that they "
15275 "would be assured a seat."
15278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15279 #: freeculture.xml:11522
15281 "Not everyone has to wait in line. People who know the Justices can ask for "
15282 "seats they control. (I asked Justice Scalia's chambers for seats for my "
15283 "parents, for example.) Members of the Supreme Court bar can get a seat in a "
15284 "special section reserved for them. And senators and congressmen have a "
15285 "special place where they get to sit, too. And finally, of course, the press "
15286 "has a gallery, as do clerks working for the Justices on the Court. As we "
15287 "entered that morning, there was no place that was not taken. This was an "
15288 "argument about intellectual property law, yet the halls were filled. As I "
15289 "walked in to take my seat at the front of the Court, I saw my parents "
15290 "sitting on the left. As I sat down at the table, I saw Jack Valenti sitting "
15291 "in the special section ordinarily reserved for family of the Justices."
15294 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15295 #: freeculture.xml:11537
15297 "When the Chief Justice called me to begin my argument, I began where I "
15298 "intended to stay: on the question of the limits on Congress's power. This "
15299 "was a case about enumerated powers, I said, and whether those enumerated "
15300 "powers had any limit."
15303 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15304 #: freeculture.xml:11543
15306 "Justice O'Connor stopped me within one minute of my opening. The history "
15307 "was bothering her."
15310 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15311 #: freeculture.xml:11548
15313 "justice o'connor: Congress has extended the term so often through the years, "
15314 "and if you are right, don't we run the risk of upsetting previous extensions "
15315 "of time? I mean, this seems to be a practice that began with the very first "
15319 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15320 #: freeculture.xml:11555
15322 "She was quite willing to concede <quote>that this flies directly in the face "
15323 "of what the framers had in mind.</quote> But my response again and again was "
15324 "to emphasize limits on Congress's power."
15328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15329 #: freeculture.xml:11561
15331 "mr. lessig: Well, if it flies in the face of what the framers had in mind, "
15332 "then the question is, is there a way of interpreting their words that gives "
15333 "effect to what they had in mind, and the answer is yes."
15336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15337 #: freeculture.xml:11569
15339 "There were two points in this argument when I should have seen where the "
15340 "Court was going. The first was a question by Justice Kennedy, who observed,"
15343 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15344 #: freeculture.xml:11575
15346 "justice kennedy: Well, I suppose implicit in the argument that the '76 act, "
15347 "too, should have been declared void, and that we might leave it alone "
15348 "because of the disruption, is that for all these years the act has impeded "
15349 "progress in science and the useful arts. I just don't see any empirical "
15350 "evidence for that."
15353 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15354 #: freeculture.xml:11583
15356 "Here follows my clear mistake. Like a professor correcting a student, I "
15360 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15361 #: freeculture.xml:11589
15363 "mr. lessig: Justice, we are not making an empirical claim at all. Nothing "
15364 "in our Copyright Clause claim hangs upon the empirical assertion about "
15365 "impeding progress. Our only argument is this is a structural limit necessary "
15366 "to assure that what would be an effectively perpetual term not be permitted "
15367 "under the copyright laws."
15370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15371 #: freeculture.xml:11598
15373 "That was a correct answer, but it wasn't the right answer. The right answer "
15374 "was instead that there was an obvious and profound harm. Any number of "
15375 "briefs had been written about it. He wanted to hear it. And here was the "
15376 "place Don Ayer's advice should have mattered. This was a softball; my answer "
15377 "was a swing and a miss."
15380 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15381 #: freeculture.xml:11605
15383 "The second came from the Chief, for whom the whole case had been "
15384 "crafted. For the Chief Justice had crafted the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
15385 "ruling, and we hoped that he would see this case as its second cousin."
15389 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15390 #: freeculture.xml:11610
15392 "It was clear a second into his question that he wasn't at all sympathetic. "
15393 "To him, we were a bunch of anarchists. As he asked:"
15396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15397 #: freeculture.xml:11617
15399 "chief justice: Well, but you want more than that. You want the right to copy "
15400 "verbatim other people's books, don't you?"
15403 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15404 #: freeculture.xml:11621
15406 "mr. lessig: We want the right to copy verbatim works that should be in the "
15407 "public domain and would be in the public domain but for a statute that "
15408 "cannot be justified under ordinary First Amendment analysis or under a "
15409 "proper reading of the limits built into the Copyright Clause."
15412 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15413 #: freeculture.xml:11630
15415 "Things went better for us when the government gave its argument; for now the "
15416 "Court picked up on the core of our claim. As Justice Scalia asked Solicitor "
15420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15421 #: freeculture.xml:11636
15423 "justice scalia: You say that the functional equivalent of an unlimited time "
15424 "would be a violation [of the Constitution], but that's precisely the "
15425 "argument that's being made by petitioners here, that a limited time which is "
15426 "extendable is the functional equivalent of an unlimited time."
15429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15430 #: freeculture.xml:11644
15432 "When Olson was finished, it was my turn to give a closing rebuttal. Olson's "
15433 "flailing had revived my anger. But my anger still was directed to the "
15434 "academic, not the practical. The government was arguing as if this were the "
15435 "first case ever to consider limits on Congress's Copyright and Patent Clause "
15436 "power. Ever the professor and not the advocate, I closed by pointing out the "
15437 "long history of the Court imposing limits on Congress's power in the name of "
15438 "the Copyright and Patent Clause— indeed, the very first case striking "
15439 "a law of Congress as exceeding a specific enumerated power was based upon "
15440 "the Copyright and Patent Clause. All true. But it wasn't going to move the "
15441 "Court to my side."
15445 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15446 #: freeculture.xml:11657
15448 "As I left the court that day, I knew there were a hundred points I wished I "
15449 "could remake. There were a hundred questions I wished I had answered "
15450 "differently. But one way of thinking about this case left me optimistic."
15453 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15454 #: freeculture.xml:11665
15456 "The government had been asked over and over again, what is the limit? Over "
15457 "and over again, it had answered there is no limit. This was precisely the "
15458 "answer I wanted the Court to hear. For I could not imagine how the Court "
15459 "could understand that the government believed Congress's power was unlimited "
15460 "under the terms of the Copyright Clause, and sustain the government's "
15461 "argument. The solicitor general had made my argument for me. No matter how "
15462 "often I tried, I could not understand how the Court could find that "
15463 "Congress's power under the Commerce Clause was limited, but under the "
15464 "Copyright Clause, unlimited. In those rare moments when I let myself believe "
15465 "that we may have prevailed, it was because I felt this Court—in "
15466 "particular, the Conservatives—would feel itself constrained by the "
15467 "rule of law that it had established elsewhere."
15470 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15471 #: freeculture.xml:11680
15473 "The morning of January 15, 2003, I was five minutes late to the office and "
15474 "missed the 7:00 A.M. call from the Supreme Court clerk. Listening to the "
15475 "message, I could tell in an instant that she had bad news to report.The "
15476 "Supreme Court had affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Seven "
15477 "justices had voted in the majority. There were two dissents."
15480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15481 #: freeculture.xml:11687
15483 "A few seconds later, the opinions arrived by e-mail. I took the phone off "
15484 "the hook, posted an announcement to our blog, and sat down to see where I "
15485 "had been wrong in my reasoning."
15488 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15489 #: freeculture.xml:11692
15491 "My <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. Here was a case that pitted all the money "
15492 "in the world against <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. And here was the last "
15493 "naïve law professor, scouring the pages, looking for reasoning."
15496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15497 #: freeculture.xml:11698
15499 "I first scoured the opinion, looking for how the Court would distinguish the "
15500 "principle in this case from the principle in "
15501 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The argument was nowhere to be found. The case "
15502 "was not even cited. The argument that was the core argument of our case did "
15503 "not even appear in the Court's opinion."
15507 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15508 #: freeculture.xml:11707
15510 "Justice Ginsburg simply ignored the enumerated powers argument. Consistent "
15511 "with her view that Congress's power was not limited generally, she had found "
15512 "Congress's power not limited here."
15515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15516 #: freeculture.xml:11712
15518 "Her opinion was perfectly reasonable—for her, and for Justice "
15519 "Souter. Neither believes in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. It would be too "
15520 "much to expect them to write an opinion that recognized, much less "
15521 "explained, the doctrine they had worked so hard to defeat."
15524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15525 #: freeculture.xml:11718
15527 "But as I realized what had happened, I couldn't quite believe what I was "
15528 "reading. I had said there was no way this Court could reconcile limited "
15529 "powers with the Commerce Clause and unlimited powers with the Progress "
15530 "Clause. It had never even occurred to me that they could reconcile the two "
15531 "simply <emphasis>by not addressing the argument</emphasis>. There was no "
15532 "inconsistency because they would not talk about the two together. There was "
15533 "therefore no principle that followed from the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
15534 "case: In that context, Congress's power would be limited, but in this "
15535 "context it would not."
15538 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15539 #: freeculture.xml:11729
15541 "Yet by what right did they get to choose which of the framers' values they "
15542 "would respect? By what right did they—the silent five—get to "
15543 "select the part of the Constitution they would enforce based on the values "
15544 "they thought important? We were right back to the argument that I said I "
15545 "hated at the start: I had failed to convince them that the issue here was "
15546 "important, and I had failed to recognize that however much I might hate a "
15547 "system in which the Court gets to pick the constitutional values that it "
15548 "will respect, that is the system we have."
15551 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15552 #: freeculture.xml:11741
15554 "Justices Breyer and Stevens wrote very strong dissents. Stevens's opinion "
15555 "was crafted internal to the law: He argued that the tradition of "
15556 "intellectual property law should not support this unjustified extension of "
15557 "terms. He based his argument on a parallel analysis that had governed in the "
15558 "context of patents (so had we). But the rest of the Court discounted the "
15559 "parallel—without explaining how the very same words in the Progress "
15560 "Clause could come to mean totally different things depending upon whether "
15561 "the words were about patents or copyrights. The Court let Justice Stevens's "
15562 "charge go unanswered."
15566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15567 #: freeculture.xml:11754
15569 "Justice Breyer's opinion, perhaps the best opinion he has ever written, was "
15570 "external to the Constitution. He argued that the term of copyrights has "
15571 "become so long as to be effectively unlimited. We had said that under the "
15572 "current term, a copyright gave an author 99.8 percent of the value of a "
15573 "perpetual term. Breyer said we were wrong, that the actual number was "
15574 "99.9997 percent of a perpetual term. Either way, the point was clear: If the "
15575 "Constitution said a term had to be <quote>limited,</quote> and the existing "
15576 "term was so long as to be effectively unlimited, then it was "
15577 "unconstitutional."
15580 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15581 #: freeculture.xml:11765
15583 "These two justices understood all the arguments we had made. But because "
15584 "neither believed in the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, neither was "
15585 "willing to push it as a reason to reject this extension. The case was "
15586 "decided without anyone having addressed the argument that we had carried "
15587 "from Judge Sentelle. It was <citetitle>Hamlet</citetitle> without the "
15591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15592 #: freeculture.xml:11772
15594 "Defeat brings depression. They say it is a sign of health when depression "
15595 "gives way to anger. My anger came quickly, but it didn't cure the "
15596 "depression. This anger was of two sorts."
15599 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15600 #: freeculture.xml:11777
15602 "It was first anger with the five <quote>Conservatives.</quote> It would have "
15603 "been one thing for them to have explained why the principle of "
15604 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> didn't apply in this case. That wouldn't have "
15605 "been a very convincing argument, I don't believe, having read it made by "
15606 "others, and having tried to make it myself. But it at least would have been "
15607 "an act of integrity. These justices in particular have repeatedly said that "
15608 "the proper mode of interpreting the Constitution is "
15609 "<quote>originalism</quote>—to first understand the framers' text, "
15610 "interpreted in their context, in light of the structure of the "
15611 "Constitution. That method had produced <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> and many "
15612 "other <quote>originalist</quote> rulings. Where was their "
15613 "<quote>originalism</quote> now?"
15617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15618 #: freeculture.xml:11790
15620 "Here, they had joined an opinion that never once tried to explain what the "
15621 "framers had meant by crafting the Progress Clause as they did; they joined "
15622 "an opinion that never once tried to explain how the structure of that clause "
15623 "would affect the interpretation of Congress's power. And they joined an "
15624 "opinion that didn't even try to explain why this grant of power could be "
15625 "unlimited, whereas the Commerce Clause would be limited. In short, they had "
15626 "joined an opinion that did not apply to, and was inconsistent with, their "
15627 "own method for interpreting the Constitution. This opinion may well have "
15628 "yielded a result that they liked. It did not produce a reason that was "
15629 "consistent with their own principles."
15632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15633 #: freeculture.xml:11805
15635 "My anger with the Conservatives quickly yielded to anger with myself. For I "
15636 "had let a view of the law that I liked interfere with a view of the law as "
15640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15641 #: freeculture.xml:11812
15643 "Most lawyers, and most law professors, have little patience for idealism "
15644 "about courts in general and this Supreme Court in particular. Most have a "
15645 "much more pragmatic view. When Don Ayer said that this case would be won "
15646 "based on whether I could convince the Justices that the framers' values were "
15647 "important, I fought the idea, because I didn't want to believe that that is "
15648 "how this Court decides. I insisted on arguing this case as if it were a "
15649 "simple application of a set of principles. I had an argument that followed "
15650 "in logic. I didn't need to waste my time showing it should also follow in "
15655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15656 #: freeculture.xml:11823
15658 "As I read back over the transcript from that argument in October, I can see "
15659 "a hundred places where the answers could have taken the conversation in "
15660 "different directions, where the truth about the harm that this unchecked "
15661 "power will cause could have been made clear to this Court. Justice Kennedy "
15662 "in good faith wanted to be shown. I, idiotically, corrected his "
15663 "question. Justice Souter in good faith wanted to be shown the First "
15664 "Amendment harms. I, like a math teacher, reframed the question to make the "
15665 "logical point. I had shown them how they could strike this law of Congress "
15666 "if they wanted to. There were a hundred places where I could have helped "
15667 "them want to, yet my stubbornness, my refusal to give in, stopped me. I have "
15668 "stood before hundreds of audiences trying to persuade; I have used passion "
15669 "in that effort to persuade; but I refused to stand before this audience and "
15670 "try to persuade with the passion I had used elsewhere. It was not the basis "
15671 "on which a court should decide the issue."
15674 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15675 #: freeculture.xml:11843
15677 "Would it have been different if I had argued it differently? Would it have "
15678 "been different if Don Ayer had argued it? Or Charles Fried? Or Kathleen "
15679 "Sullivan? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15682 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15683 #: freeculture.xml:11849
15685 "My friends huddled around me to insist it would not. The Court was not "
15686 "ready, my friends insisted. This was a loss that was destined. It would take "
15687 "a great deal more to show our society why our framers were right. And when "
15688 "we do that, we will be able to show that Court."
15691 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15692 #: freeculture.xml:11855
15694 "Maybe, but I doubt it. These Justices have no financial interest in doing "
15695 "anything except the right thing. They are not lobbied. They have little "
15696 "reason to resist doing right. I can't help but think that if I had stepped "
15697 "down from this pretty picture of dispassionate justice, I could have "
15701 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15702 #: freeculture.xml:11862
15704 "And even if I couldn't, then that doesn't excuse what happened in "
15705 "January. For at the start of this case, one of America's leading "
15706 "intellectual property professors stated publicly that my bringing this case "
15707 "was a mistake. <quote>The Court is not ready,</quote> Peter Jaszi said; this "
15708 "issue should not be raised until it is. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15714 #: freeculture.xml:11870
15716 "After the argument and after the decision, Peter said to me, and publicly, "
15717 "that he was wrong. But if indeed that Court could not have been persuaded, "
15718 "then that is all the evidence that's needed to know that here again Peter "
15719 "was right. Either I was not ready to argue this case in a way that would do "
15720 "some good or they were not ready to hear this case in a way that would do "
15721 "some good. Either way, the decision to bring this case—a decision I "
15722 "had made four years before—was wrong. While the reaction to the Sonny "
15723 "Bono Act itself was almost unanimously negative, the reaction to the Court's "
15724 "decision was mixed. No one, at least in the press, tried to say that "
15725 "extending the term of copyright was a good idea. We had won that battle over "
15726 "ideas. Where the decision was praised, it was praised by papers that had "
15727 "been skeptical of the Court's activism in other cases. Deference was a good "
15728 "thing, even if it left standing a silly law. But where the decision was "
15729 "attacked, it was attacked because it left standing a silly and harmful "
15730 "law. <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> wrote in its editorial,"
15733 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15734 #: freeculture.xml:11891
15736 "In effect, the Supreme Court's decision makes it likely that we are seeing "
15737 "the beginning of the end of public domain and the birth of copyright "
15738 "perpetuity. The public domain has been a grand experiment, one that should "
15739 "not be allowed to die. The ability to draw freely on the entire creative "
15740 "output of humanity is one of the reasons we live in a time of such fruitful "
15741 "creative ferment."
15744 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><indexterm><primary>
15745 #: freeculture.xml:11905 freeculture.xml:11910
15746 msgid "Bolling, Ruben"
15749 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15750 #: freeculture.xml:11900
15752 "The best responses were in the cartoons. There was a gaggle of hilarious "
15753 "images—of Mickey in jail and the like. The best, from my view of the "
15754 "case, was Ruben Bolling's, reproduced on the next page (<xref "
15755 "linkend=\"fig-18\"/>). The <quote>powerful and wealthy</quote> line is a bit "
15756 "unfair. But the punch in the face felt exactly like that. <placeholder "
15757 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
15761 #: freeculture.xml:11908
15762 msgid "Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon"
15765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
15766 #: freeculture.xml:11909
15768 "<graphic fileref=\"images/18.png\"></graphic> <placeholder "
15769 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15773 #: freeculture.xml:11913
15775 "The image that will always stick in my head is that evoked by the quote from "
15776 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>. That <quote>grand "
15777 "experiment</quote> we call the <quote>public domain</quote> is over? When I "
15778 "can make light of it, I think, <quote>Honey, I shrunk the "
15779 "Constitution.</quote> But I can rarely make light of it. We had in our "
15780 "Constitution a commitment to free culture. In the case that I fathered, the "
15781 "Supreme Court effectively renounced that commitment. A better lawyer would "
15782 "have made them see differently."
15785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
15786 #: freeculture.xml:11924
15787 msgid "CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Eldred II"
15790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15791 #: freeculture.xml:11926
15793 "The day <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was decided, fate would have it that I "
15794 "was to travel to Washington, D.C. (The day the rehearing petition in "
15795 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was denied—meaning the case was really "
15796 "finally over—fate would have it that I was giving a speech to "
15797 "technologists at Disney World.) This was a particularly long flight to my "
15798 "least favorite city. The drive into the city from Dulles was delayed because "
15799 "of traffic, so I opened up my computer and wrote an op-ed piece."
15802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15803 #: freeculture.xml:11936
15805 "It was an act of contrition. During the whole of the flight from San "
15806 "Francisco to Washington, I had heard over and over again in my head the same "
15807 "advice from Don Ayer: You need to make them see why it is important. And "
15808 "alternating with that command was the question of Justice Kennedy: "
15809 "<quote>For all these years the act has impeded progress in science and the "
15810 "useful arts. I just don't see any empirical evidence for that.</quote> And "
15811 "so, having failed in the argument of constitutional principle, finally, I "
15812 "turned to an argument of politics."
15816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15817 #: freeculture.xml:11946
15819 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> published the piece. In it, I "
15820 "proposed a simple fix: Fifty years after a work has been published, the "
15821 "copyright owner would be required to register the work and pay a small "
15822 "fee. If he paid the fee, he got the benefit of the full term of "
15823 "copyright. If he did not, the work passed into the public domain."
15826 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15827 #: freeculture.xml:11954
15829 "We called this the Eldred Act, but that was just to give it a name. Eric "
15830 "Eldred was kind enough to let his name be used once again, but as he said "
15831 "early on, it won't get passed unless it has another name."
15834 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15835 #: freeculture.xml:11959
15837 "Or another two names. For depending upon your perspective, this is either "
15838 "the <quote>Public Domain Enhancement Act</quote> or the <quote>Copyright "
15839 "Term Deregulation Act.</quote> Either way, the essence of the idea is clear "
15840 "and obvious: Remove copyright where it is doing nothing except blocking "
15841 "access and the spread of knowledge. Leave it for as long as Congress allows "
15842 "for those works where its worth is at least $1. But for everything else, let "
15846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15847 #: freeculture.xml:11967 freeculture.xml:12167
15848 msgid "Forbes, Steve"
15851 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15852 #: freeculture.xml:11969
15854 "The reaction to this idea was amazingly strong. Steve Forbes endorsed it in "
15855 "an editorial. I received an avalanche of e-mail and letters expressing "
15856 "support. When you focus the issue on lost creativity, people can see the "
15857 "copyright system makes no sense. As a good Republican might say, here "
15858 "government regulation is simply getting in the way of innovation and "
15859 "creativity. And as a good Democrat might say, here the government is "
15860 "blocking access and the spread of knowledge for no good reason. Indeed, "
15861 "there is no real difference between Democrats and Republicans on this "
15862 "issue. Anyone can recognize the stupid harm of the present system."
15865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15866 #: freeculture.xml:11981
15868 "Indeed, many recognized the obvious benefit of the registration "
15869 "requirement. For one of the hardest things about the current system for "
15870 "people who want to license content is that there is no obvious place to look "
15871 "for the current copyright owners. Since registration is not required, since "
15872 "marking content is not required, since no formality at all is required, it "
15873 "is often impossibly hard to locate copyright owners to ask permission to use "
15874 "or license their work. This system would lower these costs, by establishing "
15875 "at least one registry where copyright owners could be identified."
15878 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15879 #: freeculture.xml:11991
15880 msgid "Berlin Act (1908)"
15883 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15884 #: freeculture.xml:11992 freeculture.xml:12032
15885 msgid "Berne Convention (1908)"
15889 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15890 #: freeculture.xml:12000
15892 "Until the 1908 Berlin Act of the Berne Convention, national copyright "
15893 "legislation sometimes made protection depend upon compliance with "
15894 "formalities such as registration, deposit, and affixation of notice of the "
15895 "author's claim of copyright. However, starting with the 1908 act, every text "
15896 "of the Convention has provided that <quote>the enjoyment and the "
15897 "exercise</quote> of rights guaranteed by the Convention <quote>shall not be "
15898 "subject to any formality.</quote> The prohibition against formalities is "
15899 "presently embodied in Article 5(2) of the Paris Text of the Berne "
15900 "Convention. Many countries continue to impose some form of deposit or "
15901 "registration requirement, albeit not as a condition of copyright. French "
15902 "law, for example, requires the deposit of copies of works in national "
15903 "repositories, principally the National Museum. Copies of books published in "
15904 "the United Kingdom must be deposited in the British Library. The German "
15905 "Copyright Act provides for a Registrar of Authors where the author's true "
15906 "name can be filed in the case of anonymous or pseudonymous works. Paul "
15907 "Goldstein, <citetitle>International Intellectual Property Law, Cases and "
15908 "Materials</citetitle> (New York: Foundation Press, 2001), 153–54."
15911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15912 #: freeculture.xml:11995
15914 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
15915 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, formalities in copyright law were removed in 1976, "
15916 "when Congress followed the Europeans by abandoning any formal requirement "
15917 "before a copyright is granted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
15918 "Europeans are said to view copyright as a <quote>natural right.</quote> "
15919 "Natural rights don't need forms to exist. Traditions, like the "
15920 "Anglo-American tradition that required copyright owners to follow form if "
15921 "their rights were to be protected, did not, the Europeans thought, properly "
15922 "respect the dignity of the author. My right as a creator turns on my "
15923 "creativity, not upon the special favor of the government."
15926 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15927 #: freeculture.xml:12026
15929 "That's great rhetoric. It sounds wonderfully romantic. But it is absurd "
15930 "copyright policy. It is absurd especially for authors, because a world "
15931 "without formalities harms the creator. The ability to spread <quote>Walt "
15932 "Disney creativity</quote> is destroyed when there is no simple way to know "
15933 "what's protected and what's not."
15936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15937 #: freeculture.xml:12034
15939 "The fight against formalities achieved its first real victory in Berlin in "
15940 "1908. International copyright lawyers amended the Berne Convention in 1908, "
15941 "to require copyright terms of life plus fifty years, as well as the "
15942 "abolition of copyright formalities. The formalities were hated because the "
15943 "stories of inadvertent loss were increasingly common. It was as if a Charles "
15944 "Dickens character ran all copyright offices, and the failure to dot an "
15945 "<citetitle>i</citetitle> or cross a <citetitle>t</citetitle> resulted in the "
15946 "loss of widows' only income."
15949 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15950 #: freeculture.xml:12044
15952 "These complaints were real and sensible. And the strictness of the "
15953 "formalities, especially in the United States, was absurd. The law should "
15954 "always have ways of forgiving innocent mistakes. There is no reason "
15955 "copyright law couldn't, as well. Rather than abandoning formalities totally, "
15956 "the response in Berlin should have been to embrace a more equitable system "
15960 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15961 #: freeculture.xml:12052
15963 "Even that would have been resisted, however, because registration in the "
15964 "nineteenth and twentieth centuries was still expensive. It was also a "
15965 "hassle. The abolishment of formalities promised not only to save the "
15966 "starving widows, but also to lighten an unnecessary regulatory burden "
15967 "imposed upon creators."
15971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15972 #: freeculture.xml:12060
15974 "In addition to the practical complaint of authors in 1908, there was a moral "
15975 "claim as well. There was no reason that creative property should be a "
15976 "second-class form of property. If a carpenter builds a table, his rights "
15977 "over the table don't depend upon filing a form with the government. He has "
15978 "a property right over the table <quote>naturally,</quote> and he can assert "
15979 "that right against anyone who would steal the table, whether or not he has "
15980 "informed the government of his ownership of the table."
15983 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15984 #: freeculture.xml:12072
15986 "This argument is correct, but its implications are misleading. For the "
15987 "argument in favor of formalities does not depend upon creative property "
15988 "being second-class property. The argument in favor of formalities turns upon "
15989 "the special problems that creative property presents. The law of "
15990 "formalities responds to the special physics of creative property, to assure "
15991 "that it can be efficiently and fairly spread."
15994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15995 #: freeculture.xml:12081
15997 "No one thinks, for example, that land is second-class property just because "
15998 "you have to register a deed with a court if your sale of land is to be "
15999 "effective. And few would think a car is second-class property just because "
16000 "you must register the car with the state and tag it with a license. In both "
16001 "of those cases, everyone sees that there is an important reason to secure "
16002 "registration—both because it makes the markets more efficient and "
16003 "because it better secures the rights of the owner. Without a registration "
16004 "system for land, landowners would perpetually have to guard their "
16005 "property. With registration, they can simply point the police to a "
16006 "deed. Without a registration system for cars, auto theft would be much "
16007 "easier. With a registration system, the thief has a high burden to sell a "
16008 "stolen car. A slight burden is placed on the property owner, but those "
16009 "burdens produce a much better system of protection for property generally."
16012 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16013 #: freeculture.xml:12097
16015 "It is similarly special physics that makes formalities important in "
16016 "copyright law. Unlike a carpenter's table, there's nothing in nature that "
16017 "makes it relatively obvious who might own a particular bit of creative "
16018 "property. A recording of Lyle Lovett's latest album can exist in a billion "
16019 "places without anything necessarily linking it back to a particular "
16020 "owner. And like a car, there's no way to buy and sell creative property with "
16021 "confidence unless there is some simple way to authenticate who is the author "
16022 "and what rights he has. Simple transactions are destroyed in a world without "
16023 "formalities. Complex, expensive, <emphasis>lawyer</emphasis> transactions "
16024 "take their place. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16028 #: freeculture.xml:12112
16030 "This was the understanding of the problem with the Sonny Bono Act that we "
16031 "tried to demonstrate to the Court. This was the part it didn't "
16032 "<quote>get.</quote> Because we live in a system without formalities, there "
16033 "is no way easily to build upon or use culture from our past. If copyright "
16034 "terms were, as Justice Story said they would be, <quote>short,</quote> then "
16035 "this wouldn't matter much. For fourteen years, under the framers' system, a "
16036 "work would be presumptively controlled. After fourteen years, it would be "
16037 "presumptively uncontrolled."
16040 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16041 #: freeculture.xml:12122
16043 "But now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to "
16044 "know what is protected and what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious "
16045 "burden on the creative process. If the only way a library can offer an "
16046 "Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear the rights "
16047 "to every image and sound, then the copyright system is burdening creativity "
16048 "in a way that has never been seen before <emphasis>because there are no "
16049 "formalities</emphasis>."
16052 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16053 #: freeculture.xml:12131
16055 "The Eldred Act was designed to respond to exactly this problem. If it is "
16056 "worth $1 to you, then register your work and you can get the longer "
16057 "term. Others will know how to contact you and, therefore, how to get your "
16058 "permission if they want to use your work. And you will get the benefit of an "
16059 "extended copyright term."
16062 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16063 #: freeculture.xml:12138
16065 "If it isn't worth it to you to register to get the benefit of an extended "
16066 "term, then it shouldn't be worth it for the government to defend your "
16067 "monopoly over that work either. The work should pass into the public domain "
16068 "where anyone can copy it, or build archives with it, or create a movie based "
16069 "on it. It should become free if it is not worth $1 to you."
16072 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16073 #: freeculture.xml:12145
16075 "Some worry about the burden on authors. Won't the burden of registering the "
16076 "work mean that the $1 is really misleading? Isn't the hassle worth more than "
16077 "$1? Isn't that the real problem with registration?"
16081 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16082 #: freeculture.xml:12151
16084 "It is. The hassle is terrible. The system that exists now is awful. I "
16085 "completely agree that the Copyright Office has done a terrible job (no doubt "
16086 "because they are terribly funded) in enabling simple and cheap "
16087 "registrations. Any real solution to the problem of formalities must address "
16088 "the real problem of <emphasis>governments</emphasis> standing at the core of "
16089 "any system of formalities. In this book, I offer such a solution. That "
16090 "solution essentially remakes the Copyright Office. For now, assume it was "
16091 "Amazon that ran the registration system. Assume it was one-click "
16092 "registration. The Eldred Act would propose a simple, one-click registration "
16093 "fifty years after a work was published. Based upon historical data, that "
16094 "system would move up to 98 percent of commercial work, commercial work that "
16095 "no longer had a commercial life, into the public domain within fifty "
16096 "years. What do you think?"
16099 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16100 #: freeculture.xml:12169
16102 "When Steve Forbes endorsed the idea, some in Washington began to pay "
16103 "attention. Many people contacted me pointing to representatives who might be "
16104 "willing to introduce the Eldred Act. And I had a few who directly suggested "
16105 "that they might be willing to take the first step."
16108 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16109 #: freeculture.xml:12182
16110 msgid "Lofgren, Zoe"
16113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16114 #: freeculture.xml:12175
16116 "One representative, Zoe Lofgren of California, went so far as to get the "
16117 "bill drafted. The draft solved any problem with international law. It "
16118 "imposed the simplest requirement upon copyright owners possible. In May "
16119 "2003, it looked as if the bill would be introduced. On May 16, I posted on "
16120 "the Eldred Act blog, <quote>we are close.</quote> There was a general "
16121 "reaction in the blog community that something good might happen here. "
16122 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16125 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16126 #: freeculture.xml:12185
16128 "But at this stage, the lobbyists began to intervene. Jack Valenti and the "
16129 "MPAA general counsel came to the congresswoman's office to give the view of "
16130 "the MPAA. Aided by his lawyer, as Valenti told me, Valenti informed the "
16131 "congresswoman that the MPAA would oppose the Eldred Act. The reasons are "
16132 "embarrassingly thin. More importantly, their thinness shows something clear "
16133 "about what this debate is really about."
16137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16138 #: freeculture.xml:12193
16140 "The MPAA argued first that Congress had <quote>firmly rejected the central "
16141 "concept in the proposed bill</quote>—that copyrights be renewed. That "
16142 "was true, but irrelevant, as Congress's <quote>firm rejection</quote> had "
16143 "occurred long before the Internet made subsequent uses much more likely. "
16144 "Second, they argued that the proposal would harm poor copyright "
16145 "owners—apparently those who could not afford the $1 fee. Third, they "
16146 "argued that Congress had determined that extending a copyright term would "
16147 "encourage restoration work. Maybe in the case of the small percentage of "
16148 "work covered by copyright law that is still commercially valuable, but again "
16149 "this was irrelevant, as the proposal would not cut off the extended term "
16150 "unless the $1 fee was not paid. Fourth, the MPAA argued that the bill would "
16151 "impose <quote>enormous</quote> costs, since a registration system is not "
16152 "free. True enough, but those costs are certainly less than the costs of "
16153 "clearing the rights for a copyright whose owner is not known. Fifth, they "
16154 "worried about the risks if the copyright to a story underlying a film were "
16155 "to pass into the public domain. But what risk is that? If it is in the "
16156 "public domain, then the film is a valid derivative use."
16159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16160 #: freeculture.xml:12214
16162 "Finally, the MPAA argued that existing law enabled copyright owners to do "
16163 "this if they wanted. But the whole point is that there are thousands of "
16164 "copyright owners who don't even know they have a copyright to give. Whether "
16165 "they are free to give away their copyright or not—a controversial "
16166 "claim in any case—unless they know about a copyright, they're not "
16170 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16171 #: freeculture.xml:12222
16173 "At the beginning of this book, I told two stories about the law reacting to "
16174 "changes in technology. In the one, common sense prevailed. In the other, "
16175 "common sense was delayed. The difference between the two stories was the "
16176 "power of the opposition—the power of the side that fought to defend "
16177 "the status quo. In both cases, a new technology threatened old "
16178 "interests. But in only one case did those interest's have the power to "
16179 "protect themselves against this new competitive threat."
16182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16183 #: freeculture.xml:12232
16185 "I used these two cases as a way to frame the war that this book has been "
16186 "about. For here, too, a new technology is forcing the law to react. And "
16187 "here, too, we should ask, is the law following or resisting common sense? If "
16188 "common sense supports the law, what explains this common sense?"
16192 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16193 #: freeculture.xml:12241
16195 "When the issue is piracy, it is right for the law to back the copyright "
16196 "owners. The commercial piracy that I described is wrong and harmful, and the "
16197 "law should work to eliminate it. When the issue is p2p sharing, it is easy "
16198 "to understand why the law backs the owners still: Much of this sharing is "
16199 "wrong, even if much is harmless. When the issue is copyright terms for the "
16200 "Mickey Mouses of the world, it is possible still to understand why the law "
16201 "favors Hollywood: Most people don't recognize the reasons for limiting "
16202 "copyright terms; it is thus still possible to see good faith within the "
16206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16207 #: freeculture.xml:12260
16208 msgid "Kelly, Kevin"
16211 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16212 #: freeculture.xml:12252
16214 "But when the copyright owners oppose a proposal such as the Eldred Act, "
16215 "then, finally, there is an example that lays bare the naked selfinterest "
16216 "driving this war. This act would free an extraordinary range of content that "
16217 "is otherwise unused. It wouldn't interfere with any copyright owner's desire "
16218 "to exercise continued control over his content. It would simply liberate "
16219 "what Kevin Kelly calls the <quote>Dark Content</quote> that fills archives "
16220 "around the world. So when the warriors oppose a change like this, we should "
16221 "ask one simple question: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16224 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16225 #: freeculture.xml:12263
16226 msgid "What does this industry really want?"
16229 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16230 #: freeculture.xml:12266
16232 "With very little effort, the warriors could protect their content. So the "
16233 "effort to block something like the Eldred Act is not really about protecting "
16234 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> content. The effort to block the Eldred Act is an "
16235 "effort to assure that nothing more passes into the public domain. It is "
16236 "another step to assure that the public domain will never compete, that there "
16237 "will be no use of content that is not commercially controlled, and that "
16238 "there will be no commercial use of content that doesn't require "
16239 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> permission first."
16242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16243 #: freeculture.xml:12277
16245 "The opposition to the Eldred Act reveals how extreme the other side is. The "
16246 "most powerful and sexy and well loved of lobbies really has as its aim not "
16247 "the protection of <quote>property</quote> but the rejection of a tradition. "
16248 "Their aim is not simply to protect what is theirs. <emphasis>Their aim is to "
16249 "assure that all there is is what is theirs</emphasis>."
16253 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16254 #: freeculture.xml:12285
16256 "It is not hard to understand why the warriors take this view. It is not hard "
16257 "to see why it would benefit them if the competition of the public domain "
16258 "tied to the Internet could somehow be quashed. Just as RCA feared the "
16259 "competition of FM, they fear the competition of a public domain connected to "
16260 "a public that now has the means to create with it and to share its own "
16264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16265 #: freeculture.xml:12297
16267 "What is hard to understand is why the public takes this view. It is as if "
16268 "the law made airplanes trespassers. The MPAA stands with the Causbys and "
16269 "demands that their remote and useless property rights be respected, so that "
16270 "these remote and forgotten copyright holders might block the progress of "
16274 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16275 #: freeculture.xml:12304
16277 "All this seems to follow easily from this untroubled acceptance of the "
16278 "<quote>property</quote> in intellectual property. Common sense supports it, "
16279 "and so long as it does, the assaults will rain down upon the technologies of "
16280 "the Internet. The consequence will be an increasing <quote>permission "
16281 "society.</quote> The past can be cultivated only if you can identify the "
16282 "owner and gain permission to build upon his work. The future will be "
16283 "controlled by this dead (and often unfindable) hand of the past."
16286 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
16287 #: freeculture.xml:12316
16291 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16292 #: freeculture.xml:12318
16294 "There are more than 35 million people with the AIDS virus "
16295 "worldwide. Twenty-five million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. "
16296 "Seventeen million have already died. Seventeen million Africans is "
16297 "proportional percentage-wise to seven million Americans. More importantly, "
16298 "it is seventeen million Africans."
16301 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16302 #: freeculture.xml:12325
16304 "There is no cure for AIDS, but there are drugs to slow its progression. "
16305 "These antiretroviral therapies are still experimental, but they have already "
16306 "had a dramatic effect. In the United States, AIDS patients who regularly "
16307 "take a cocktail of these drugs increase their life expectancy by ten to "
16308 "twenty years. For some, the drugs make the disease almost invisible."
16312 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16313 #: freeculture.xml:12340
16315 "Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, <quote>Final Report: Integrating "
16316 "Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy</quote> (London, 2002), "
16317 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16318 "#55</ulink>. According to a World Health Organization press release issued 9 "
16319 "July 2002, only 230,000 of the 6 million who need drugs in the developing "
16320 "world receive them—and half of them are in Brazil."
16323 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16324 #: freeculture.xml:12333
16326 "These drugs are expensive. When they were first introduced in the United "
16327 "States, they cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per person per year. Today, "
16328 "some cost $25,000 per year. At these prices, of course, no African nation "
16329 "can afford the drugs for the vast majority of its population: $15,000 is "
16330 "thirty times the per capita gross national product of Zimbabwe. At these "
16331 "prices, the drugs are totally unavailable.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16336 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16337 #: freeculture.xml:12351
16339 "These prices are not high because the ingredients of the drugs are "
16340 "expensive. These prices are high because the drugs are protected by "
16341 "patents. The drug companies that produced these life-saving mixes enjoy at "
16342 "least a twenty-year monopoly for their inventions. They use that monopoly "
16343 "power to extract the most they can from the market. That power is in turn "
16344 "used to keep the prices high."
16347 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16348 #: freeculture.xml:12359
16350 "There are many who are skeptical of patents, especially drug patents. I am "
16351 "not. Indeed, of all the areas of research that might be supported by "
16352 "patents, drug research is, in my view, the clearest case where patents are "
16353 "needed. The patent gives the drug company some assurance that if it is "
16354 "successful in inventing a new drug to treat a disease, it will be able to "
16355 "earn back its investment and more. This is socially an extremely valuable "
16356 "incentive. I am the last person who would argue that the law should abolish "
16357 "it, at least without other changes."
16360 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16361 #: freeculture.xml:12370
16363 "But it is one thing to support patents, even drug patents. It is another "
16364 "thing to determine how best to deal with a crisis. And as African leaders "
16365 "began to recognize the devastation that AIDS was bringing, they started "
16366 "looking for ways to import HIV treatments at costs significantly below the "
16370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16371 #: freeculture.xml:12388 freeculture.xml:12824
16372 msgid "Braithwaite, John"
16375 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16376 #: freeculture.xml:12386
16378 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism: "
16379 "Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New Press, 2003), "
16380 "37. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
16381 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
16384 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16385 #: freeculture.xml:12377
16387 "In 1997, South Africa tried one tack. It passed a law to allow the "
16388 "importation of patented medicines that had been produced or sold in another "
16389 "nation's market with the consent of the patent owner. For example, if the "
16390 "drug was sold in India, it could be imported into Africa from India. This is "
16391 "called <quote>parallel importation,</quote> and it is generally permitted "
16392 "under international trade law and is specifically permitted within the "
16393 "European Union.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16397 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16398 #: freeculture.xml:12399
16400 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
16401 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
16402 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
16403 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 14, available at <ulink "
16404 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #56</ulink>. For a firsthand "
16405 "account of the struggle over South Africa, see Hearing Before the "
16406 "Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, House "
16407 "Committee on Government Reform, H. Rep., 1st sess., Ser. No. 106-126 (22 "
16408 "July 1999), 150–57 (statement of James Love)."
16412 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16413 #: freeculture.xml:12426
16415 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
16416 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
16417 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
16418 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 15."
16421 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16422 #: freeculture.xml:12393
16424 "However, the United States government opposed the bill. Indeed, more than "
16425 "opposed. As the International Intellectual Property Association "
16426 "characterized it, <quote>The U.S. government pressured South Africa … "
16427 "not to permit compulsory licensing or parallel imports.</quote><placeholder "
16428 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Through the Office of the United States Trade "
16429 "Representative, the government asked South Africa to change the "
16430 "law—and to add pressure to that request, in 1998, the USTR listed "
16431 "South Africa for possible trade sanctions. That same year, more than forty "
16432 "pharmaceutical companies began proceedings in the South African courts to "
16433 "challenge the government's actions. The United States was then joined by "
16434 "other governments from the EU. Their claim, and the claim of the "
16435 "pharmaceutical companies, was that South Africa was violating its "
16436 "obligations under international law by discriminating against a particular "
16437 "kind of patent— pharmaceutical patents. The demand of these "
16438 "governments, with the United States in the lead, was that South Africa "
16439 "respect these patents as it respects any other patent, regardless of any "
16440 "effect on the treatment of AIDS within South Africa.<placeholder "
16441 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
16444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16445 #: freeculture.xml:12432
16447 "We should place the intervention by the United States in context. No doubt "
16448 "patents are not the most important reason that Africans don't have access to "
16449 "drugs. Poverty and the total absence of an effective health care "
16450 "infrastructure matter more. But whether patents are the most important "
16451 "reason or not, the price of drugs has an effect on their demand, and patents "
16452 "affect price. And so, whether massive or marginal, there was an effect from "
16453 "our government's intervention to stop the flow of medications into Africa."
16456 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16457 #: freeculture.xml:12442
16459 "By stopping the flow of HIV treatment into Africa, the United States "
16460 "government was not saving drugs for United States citizens. This is not "
16461 "like wheat (if they eat it, we can't); instead, the flow that the United "
16462 "States intervened to stop was, in effect, a flow of knowledge: information "
16463 "about how to take chemicals that exist within Africa, and turn those "
16464 "chemicals into drugs that would save 15 to 30 million lives."
16467 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16468 #: freeculture.xml:12450
16470 "Nor was the intervention by the United States going to protect the profits "
16471 "of United States drug companies—at least, not substantially. It was "
16472 "not as if these countries were in the position to buy the drugs for the "
16473 "prices the drug companies were charging. Again, the Africans are wildly too "
16474 "poor to afford these drugs at the offered prices. Stopping the parallel "
16475 "import of these drugs would not substantially increase the sales by "
16481 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16482 #: freeculture.xml:12465
16484 "See Sabin Russell, <quote>New Crusade to Lower AIDS Drug Costs: Africa's "
16485 "Needs at Odds with Firms' Profit Motive,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
16486 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 May 1999, A1, available at <ulink "
16487 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #57</ulink> (<quote>compulsory "
16488 "licenses and gray markets pose a threat to the entire system of intellectual "
16489 "property protection</quote>); Robert Weissman, <quote>AIDS and Developing "
16490 "Countries: Democratizing Access to Essential Medicines,</quote> "
16491 "<citetitle>Foreign Policy in Focus</citetitle> 4:23 (August 1999), available "
16492 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #58</ulink> (describing "
16493 "U.S. policy); John A. Harrelson, <quote>TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents, and "
16494 "the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual "
16495 "Property Rights and Compassion, a Synopsis,</quote> <citetitle>Widener Law "
16496 "Symposium Journal</citetitle> (Spring 2001): 175."
16499 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16500 #: freeculture.xml:12459
16502 "Instead, the argument in favor of restricting this flow of information, "
16503 "which was needed to save the lives of millions, was an argument about the "
16504 "sanctity of property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It was "
16505 "because <quote>intellectual property</quote> would be violated that these "
16506 "drugs should not flow into Africa. It was a principle about the importance "
16507 "of <quote>intellectual property</quote> that led these government actors to "
16508 "intervene against the South African response to AIDS."
16511 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16512 #: freeculture.xml:12486
16514 "Now just step back for a moment. There will be a time thirty years from now "
16515 "when our children look back at us and ask, how could we have let this "
16516 "happen? How could we allow a policy to be pursued whose direct cost would be "
16517 "to speed the death of 15 to 30 million Africans, and whose only real benefit "
16518 "would be to uphold the <quote>sanctity</quote> of an idea? What possible "
16519 "justification could there ever be for a policy that results in so many "
16520 "deaths? What exactly is the insanity that would allow so many to die for "
16521 "such an abstraction?"
16524 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16525 #: freeculture.xml:12496
16527 "Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their "
16528 "managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push a "
16529 "certain patent policy not because of ideals, but because it is the policy "
16530 "that makes them the most money. And it only makes them the most money "
16531 "because of a certain corruption within our political system— a "
16532 "corruption the drug companies are certainly not responsible for."
16535 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16536 #: freeculture.xml:12504
16538 "The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. For the drug "
16539 "companies would love—they say, and I believe them—to sell their "
16540 "drugs as cheaply as they can to countries in Africa and elsewhere. There "
16541 "are issues they'd have to resolve to make sure the drugs didn't get back "
16542 "into the United States, but those are mere problems of technology. They "
16543 "could be overcome."
16547 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16548 #: freeculture.xml:12512
16550 "A different problem, however, could not be overcome. This is the fear of the "
16551 "grandstanding politician who would call the presidents of the drug companies "
16552 "before a Senate or House hearing, and ask, <quote>How is it you can sell "
16553 "this HIV drug in Africa for only $1 a pill, but the same drug would cost an "
16554 "American $1,500?</quote> Because there is no <quote>sound bite</quote> "
16555 "answer to that question, its effect would be to induce regulation of prices "
16556 "in America. The drug companies thus avoid this spiral by avoiding the first "
16557 "step. They reinforce the idea that property should be sacred. They adopt a "
16558 "rational strategy in an irrational context, with the unintended consequence "
16559 "that perhaps millions die. And that rational strategy thus becomes framed in "
16560 "terms of this ideal—the sanctity of an idea called <quote>intellectual "
16561 "property.</quote>"
16564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16565 #: freeculture.xml:12527
16567 "So when the common sense of your child confronts you, what will you say? "
16568 "When the common sense of a generation finally revolts against what we have "
16569 "done, how will we justify what we have done? What is the argument?"
16572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16573 #: freeculture.xml:12533
16575 "A sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly support the patent "
16576 "system without having to reach everyone everywhere in exactly the same "
16577 "way. Just as a sensible copyright policy could endorse and strongly support "
16578 "a copyright system without having to regulate the spread of culture "
16579 "perfectly and forever, a sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly "
16580 "support a patent system without having to block the spread of drugs to a "
16581 "country not rich enough to afford market prices in any case. A sensible "
16582 "policy, in other words, could be a balanced policy. For most of our history, "
16583 "both copyright and patent policies were balanced in just this sense."
16587 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16588 #: freeculture.xml:12545
16590 "But we as a culture have lost this sense of balance. We have lost the "
16591 "critical eye that helps us see the difference between truth and extremism. "
16592 "A certain property fundamentalism, having no connection to our tradition, "
16593 "now reigns in this culture—bizarrely, and with consequences more grave "
16594 "to the spread of ideas and culture than almost any other single policy "
16595 "decision that we as a democracy will make. A simple idea blinds us, and "
16596 "under the cover of darkness, much happens that most of us would reject if "
16597 "any of us looked. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in ideas "
16598 "that we don't even notice how monstrous it is to deny ideas to a people who "
16599 "are dying without them. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in "
16600 "culture that we don't even question when the control of that property "
16601 "removes our ability, as a people, to develop our culture "
16602 "democratically. Blindness becomes our common sense. And the challenge for "
16603 "anyone who would reclaim the right to cultivate our culture is to find a way "
16604 "to make this common sense open its eyes."
16607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16608 #: freeculture.xml:12565
16610 "So far, common sense sleeps. There is no revolt. Common sense does not yet "
16611 "see what there could be to revolt about. The extremism that now dominates "
16612 "this debate fits with ideas that seem natural, and that fit is reinforced by "
16613 "the RCAs of our day. They wage a frantic war to fight <quote>piracy,</quote> "
16614 "and devastate a culture for creativity. They defend the idea of "
16615 "<quote>creative property,</quote> while transforming real creators into "
16616 "modern-day sharecroppers. They are insulted by the idea that rights should "
16617 "be balanced, even though each of the major players in this content war was "
16618 "itself a beneficiary of a more balanced ideal. The hypocrisy reeks. Yet in a "
16619 "city like Washington, hypocrisy is not even noticed. Powerful lobbies, "
16620 "complex issues, and MTV attention spans produce the <quote>perfect "
16621 "storm</quote> for free culture."
16625 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16626 #: freeculture.xml:12583
16628 "Jonathan Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> "
16629 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, August 2003, E1, available at <ulink "
16630 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #59</ulink>; William New, "
16631 "<quote>Global Group's Shift on `Open Source' Meeting Spurs Stir,</quote> "
16632 "<citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 August 2003, "
16633 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #60</ulink>; "
16634 "William New, <quote>U.S. Official Opposes `Open Source' Talks at "
16635 "WIPO,</quote> <citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 "
16636 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16640 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
16641 #: freeculture.xml:12611 freeculture.xml:13284
16642 msgid "academic journals"
16645 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
16646 #: freeculture.xml:12612 freeculture.xml:12702 freeculture.xml:13210
16650 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
16651 #: freeculture.xml:12613 freeculture.xml:13348
16652 msgid "PLoS (Public Library of Science)"
16655 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16656 #: freeculture.xml:12580
16658 "In August 2003, a fight broke out in the United States about a decision by "
16659 "the World Intellectual Property Organization to cancel a "
16660 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> At the request of a wide "
16661 "range of interests, WIPO had decided to hold a meeting to discuss "
16662 "<quote>open and collaborative projects to create public goods.</quote> These "
16663 "are projects that have been successful in producing public goods without "
16664 "relying exclusively upon a proprietary use of intellectual "
16665 "property. Examples include the Internet and the World Wide Web, both of "
16666 "which were developed on the basis of protocols in the public domain. It "
16667 "included an emerging trend to support open academic journals, including the "
16668 "Public Library of Science project that I describe in the Afterword. It "
16669 "included a project to develop single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which "
16670 "are thought to have great significance in biomedical research. (That "
16671 "nonprofit project comprised a consortium of the Wellcome Trust and "
16672 "pharmaceutical and technological companies, including Amersham Biosciences, "
16673 "AstraZeneca, Aventis, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffmann-La Roche, "
16674 "Glaxo-SmithKline, IBM, Motorola, Novartis, Pfizer, and Searle.) It included "
16675 "the Global Positioning System, which Ronald Reagan set free in the early "
16676 "1980s. And it included <quote>open source and free software.</quote> "
16677 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
16678 "id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
16681 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16682 #: freeculture.xml:12616
16684 "The aim of the meeting was to consider this wide range of projects from one "
16685 "common perspective: that none of these projects relied upon intellectual "
16686 "property extremism. Instead, in all of them, intellectual property was "
16687 "balanced by agreements to keep access open or to impose limitations on the "
16688 "way in which proprietary claims might be used."
16692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16693 #: freeculture.xml:12624
16695 "I should disclose that I was one of the people who asked WIPO for the "
16699 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16700 #: freeculture.xml:12623
16702 "From the perspective of this book, then, the conference was "
16703 "ideal.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The projects within its "
16704 "scope included both commercial and noncommercial work. They primarily "
16705 "involved science, but from many perspectives. And WIPO was an ideal venue "
16706 "for this discussion, since WIPO is the preeminent international body dealing "
16707 "with intellectual property issues."
16711 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16712 #: freeculture.xml:12634
16714 "Indeed, I was once publicly scolded for not recognizing this fact about "
16715 "WIPO. In February 2003, I delivered a keynote address to a preparatory "
16716 "conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At a "
16717 "press conference before the address, I was asked what I would say. I "
16718 "responded that I would be talking a little about the importance of balance "
16719 "in intellectual property for the development of an information society. The "
16720 "moderator for the event then promptly interrupted to inform me and the "
16721 "assembled reporters that no question about intellectual property would be "
16722 "discussed by WSIS, since those questions were the exclusive domain of "
16723 "WIPO. In the talk that I had prepared, I had actually made the issue of "
16724 "intellectual property relatively minor. But after this astonishing "
16725 "statement, I made intellectual property the sole focus of my talk. There was "
16726 "no way to talk about an <quote>Information Society</quote> unless one also "
16727 "talked about the range of information and culture that would be free. My "
16728 "talk did not make my immoderate moderator very happy. And she was no doubt "
16729 "correct that the scope of intellectual property protections was ordinarily "
16730 "the stuff of WIPO. But in my view, there couldn't be too much of a "
16731 "conversation about how much intellectual property is needed, since in my "
16732 "view, the very idea of balance in intellectual property had been lost."
16735 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16736 #: freeculture.xml:12658
16738 "So whether or not WSIS can discuss balance in intellectual property, I had "
16739 "thought it was taken for granted that WIPO could and should. And thus the "
16740 "meeting about <quote>open and collaborative projects to create public "
16741 "goods</quote> seemed perfectly appropriate within the WIPO agenda."
16744 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16745 #: freeculture.xml:12664
16747 "But there is one project within that list that is highly controversial, at "
16748 "least among lobbyists. That project is <quote>open source and free "
16749 "software.</quote> Microsoft in particular is wary of discussion of the "
16750 "subject. From its perspective, a conference to discuss open source and free "
16751 "software would be like a conference to discuss Apple's operating "
16752 "system. Both open source and free software compete with Microsoft's "
16753 "software. And internationally, many governments have begun to explore "
16754 "requirements that they use open source or free software, rather than "
16755 "<quote>proprietary software,</quote> for their own internal uses."
16759 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16760 #: freeculture.xml:12686
16762 "Microsoft's position about free and open source software is more "
16763 "sophisticated. As it has repeatedly asserted, it has no problem with "
16764 "<quote>open source</quote> software or software in the public "
16765 "domain. Microsoft's principal opposition is to <quote>free software</quote> "
16766 "licensed under a <quote>copyleft</quote> license, meaning a license that "
16767 "requires the licensee to adopt the same terms on any derivative work. See "
16768 "Bradford L. Smith, <quote>The Future of Software: Enabling the Marketplace "
16769 "to Decide,</quote> <citetitle>Government Policy Toward Open Source "
16770 "Software</citetitle> (Washington, D.C.: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for "
16771 "Regulatory Studies, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy "
16772 "Research, 2002), 69, available at <ulink "
16773 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #62</ulink>. See also Craig "
16774 "Mundie, Microsoft senior vice president, <citetitle>The Commercial Software "
16775 "Model</citetitle>, discussion at New York University Stern School of "
16776 "Business (3 May 2001), available at <ulink "
16777 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #63</ulink>."
16780 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16781 #: freeculture.xml:12703
16782 msgid "<quote>copyleft</quote> licenses"
16785 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16786 #: freeculture.xml:12675
16788 "I don't mean to enter that debate here. It is important only to make clear "
16789 "that the distinction is not between commercial and noncommercial "
16790 "software. There are many important companies that depend fundamentally upon "
16791 "open source and free software, IBM being the most prominent. IBM is "
16792 "increasingly shifting its focus to the GNU/Linux operating system, the most "
16793 "famous bit of <quote>free software</quote>—and IBM is emphatically a "
16794 "commercial entity. Thus, to support <quote>open source and free "
16795 "software</quote> is not to oppose commercial entities. It is, instead, to "
16796 "support a mode of software development that is different from "
16797 "Microsoft's.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
16798 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> "
16799 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
16804 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16805 #: freeculture.xml:12708
16807 "More important for our purposes, to support <quote>open source and free "
16808 "software</quote> is not to oppose copyright. <quote>Open source and free "
16809 "software</quote> is not software in the public domain. Instead, like "
16810 "Microsoft's software, the copyright owners of free and open source software "
16811 "insist quite strongly that the terms of their software license be respected "
16812 "by adopters of free and open source software. The terms of that license are "
16813 "no doubt different from the terms of a proprietary software license. Free "
16814 "software licensed under the General Public License (GPL), for example, "
16815 "requires that the source code for the software be made available by anyone "
16816 "who modifies and redistributes the software. But that requirement is "
16817 "effective only if copyright governs software. If copyright did not govern "
16818 "software, then free software could not impose the same kind of requirements "
16819 "on its adopters. It thus depends upon copyright law just as Microsoft does."
16823 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16824 #: freeculture.xml:12734
16826 "Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> available at <ulink "
16827 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #64</ulink>."
16830 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16831 #: freeculture.xml:12738
16832 msgid "Krim, Jonathan"
16835 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16836 #: freeculture.xml:12726
16838 "It is therefore understandable that as a proprietary software developer, "
16839 "Microsoft would oppose this WIPO meeting, and understandable that it would "
16840 "use its lobbyists to get the United States government to oppose it, as "
16841 "well. And indeed, that is just what was reported to have happened. According "
16842 "to Jonathan Krim of the <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, Microsoft's "
16843 "lobbyists succeeded in getting the United States government to veto the "
16844 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And without U.S. backing, "
16845 "the meeting was canceled. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
16848 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16849 #: freeculture.xml:12741
16851 "I don't blame Microsoft for doing what it can to advance its own interests, "
16852 "consistent with the law. And lobbying governments is plainly consistent with "
16853 "the law. There was nothing surprising about its lobbying here, and nothing "
16854 "terribly surprising about the most powerful software producer in the United "
16855 "States having succeeded in its lobbying efforts."
16858 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16859 #: freeculture.xml:12749
16861 "What was surprising was the United States government's reason for opposing "
16862 "the meeting. Again, as reported by Krim, Lois Boland, acting director of "
16863 "international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, explained "
16864 "that <quote>open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which "
16865 "is to promote intellectual-property rights.</quote> She is quoted as saying, "
16866 "<quote>To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such "
16867 "rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO.</quote>"
16870 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16871 #: freeculture.xml:12759
16872 msgid "These statements are astonishing on a number of levels."
16875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16876 #: freeculture.xml:12763
16878 "First, they are just flat wrong. As I described, most open source and free "
16879 "software relies fundamentally upon the intellectual property right called "
16880 "<quote>copyright</quote>. Without it, restrictions imposed by those "
16881 "licenses wouldn't work. Thus, to say it <quote>runs counter</quote> to the "
16882 "mission of promoting intellectual property rights reveals an extraordinary "
16883 "gap in understanding—the sort of mistake that is excusable in a "
16884 "first-year law student, but an embarrassment from a high government official "
16885 "dealing with intellectual property issues."
16888 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16889 #: freeculture.xml:12773
16891 "Second, who ever said that WIPO's exclusive aim was to "
16892 "<quote>promote</quote> intellectual property maximally? As I had been "
16893 "scolded at the preparatory conference of WSIS, WIPO is to consider not only "
16894 "how best to protect intellectual property, but also what the best balance of "
16895 "intellectual property is. As every economist and lawyer knows, the hard "
16896 "question in intellectual property law is to find that balance. But that "
16897 "there should be limits is, I had thought, uncontested. One wants to ask "
16898 "Ms. Boland, are generic drugs (drugs based on drugs whose patent has "
16899 "expired) contrary to the WIPO mission? Does the public domain weaken "
16900 "intellectual property? Would it have been better if the protocols of the "
16901 "Internet had been patented?"
16904 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16905 #: freeculture.xml:12786
16907 "Third, even if one believed that the purpose of WIPO was to maximize "
16908 "intellectual property rights, in our tradition, intellectual property rights "
16909 "are held by individuals and corporations. They get to decide what to do with "
16910 "those rights because, again, they are <emphasis>their</emphasis> rights. If "
16911 "they want to <quote>waive</quote> or <quote>disclaim</quote> their rights, "
16912 "that is, within our tradition, totally appropriate. When Bill Gates gives "
16913 "away more than $20 billion to do good in the world, that is not inconsistent "
16914 "with the objectives of the property system. That is, on the contrary, just "
16915 "what a property system is supposed to be about: giving individuals the right "
16916 "to decide what to do with <emphasis>their</emphasis> property. <placeholder "
16917 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16921 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16922 #: freeculture.xml:12800
16924 "When Ms. Boland says that there is something wrong with a meeting "
16925 "<quote>which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights,</quote> "
16926 "she's saying that WIPO has an interest in interfering with the choices of "
16927 "the individuals who own intellectual property rights. That somehow, WIPO's "
16928 "objective should be to stop an individual from <quote>waiving</quote> or "
16929 "<quote>disclaiming</quote> an intellectual property right. That the interest "
16930 "of WIPO is not just that intellectual property rights be maximized, but that "
16931 "they also should be exercised in the most extreme and restrictive way "
16935 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16936 #: freeculture.xml:12812
16938 "There is a history of just such a property system that is well known in the "
16939 "Anglo-American tradition. It is called <quote>feudalism.</quote> Under "
16940 "feudalism, not only was property held by a relatively small number of "
16941 "individuals and entities. And not only were the rights that ran with that "
16942 "property powerful and extensive. But the feudal system had a strong interest "
16943 "in assuring that property holders within that system not weaken feudalism by "
16944 "liberating people or property within their control to the free "
16945 "market. Feudalism depended upon maximum control and concentration. It fought "
16946 "any freedom that might interfere with that control."
16949 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16950 #: freeculture.xml:12829
16952 "See Drahos with Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism</citetitle>, "
16953 "210–20. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16957 #: freeculture.xml:12826
16959 "As Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite relate, this is precisely the choice we "
16960 "are now making about intellectual property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16961 "id=\"0\"/> We will have an information society. That much is certain. Our "
16962 "only choice now is whether that information society will be "
16963 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> or <emphasis>feudal</emphasis>. The trend is "
16964 "toward the feudal."
16967 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16968 #: freeculture.xml:12838
16970 "When this battle broke, I blogged it. A spirited debate within the comment "
16971 "section ensued. Ms. Boland had a number of supporters who tried to show why "
16972 "her comments made sense. But there was one comment that was particularly "
16973 "depressing for me. An anonymous poster wrote,"
16977 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
16978 #: freeculture.xml:12845
16980 "George, you misunderstand Lessig: He's only talking about the world as it "
16981 "should be (<quote>the goal of WIPO, and the goal of any government, should "
16982 "be to promote the right balance of intellectual property rights, not simply "
16983 "to promote intellectual property rights</quote>), not as it is. If we were "
16984 "talking about the world as it is, then of course Boland didn't say anything "
16985 "wrong. But in the world as Lessig would have it, then of course she "
16986 "did. Always pay attention to the distinction between Lessig's world and "
16990 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16991 #: freeculture.xml:12857
16993 "I missed the irony the first time I read it. I read it quickly and thought "
16994 "the poster was supporting the idea that seeking balance was what our "
16995 "government should be doing. (Of course, my criticism of Ms. Boland was not "
16996 "about whether she was seeking balance or not; my criticism was that her "
16997 "comments betrayed a first-year law student's mistake. I have no illusion "
16998 "about the extremism of our government, whether Republican or Democrat. My "
16999 "only illusion apparently is about whether our government should speak the "
17003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17004 #: freeculture.xml:12867
17006 "Obviously, however, the poster was not supporting that idea. Instead, the "
17007 "poster was ridiculing the very idea that in the real world, the "
17008 "<quote>goal</quote> of a government should be <quote>to promote the right "
17009 "balance</quote> of intellectual property. That was obviously silly to "
17010 "him. And it obviously betrayed, he believed, my own silly "
17011 "utopianism. <quote>Typical for an academic,</quote> the poster might well "
17015 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17016 #: freeculture.xml:12875
17018 "I understand criticism of academic utopianism. I think utopianism is silly, "
17019 "too, and I'd be the first to poke fun at the absurdly unrealistic ideals of "
17020 "academics throughout history (and not just in our own country's history)."
17023 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17024 #: freeculture.xml:12881
17026 "But when it has become silly to suppose that the role of our government "
17027 "should be to <quote>seek balance,</quote> then count me with the silly, for "
17028 "that means that this has become quite serious indeed. If it should be "
17029 "obvious to everyone that the government does not seek balance, that the "
17030 "government is simply the tool of the most powerful lobbyists, that the idea "
17031 "of holding the government to a different standard is absurd, that the idea "
17032 "of demanding of the government that it speak truth and not lies is just "
17033 "naïve, then who have we, the most powerful democracy in the world, "
17038 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17039 #: freeculture.xml:12892
17041 "It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the "
17042 "truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be something "
17043 "more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It might be crazy "
17044 "to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has been part of our "
17045 "tradition for most of our history—free culture."
17048 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
17049 #: freeculture.xml:12911
17050 msgid "Turner, Ted"
17053 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17054 #: freeculture.xml:12901
17056 "If this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon. There are moments "
17057 "of hope in this struggle. And moments that surprise. When the FCC was "
17058 "considering relaxing ownership rules, which would thereby further increase "
17059 "the concentration in media ownership, an extraordinary bipartisan coalition "
17060 "formed to fight this change. For perhaps the first time in history, "
17061 "interests as diverse as the NRA, the ACLU, Moveon.org, William Safire, Ted "
17062 "Turner, and CodePink Women for Peace organized to oppose this change in FCC "
17063 "policy. An astonishing 700,000 letters were sent to the FCC, demanding more "
17064 "hearings and a different result. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
17065 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
17068 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17069 #: freeculture.xml:12915
17071 "This activism did not stop the FCC, but soon after, a broad coalition in the "
17072 "Senate voted to reverse the FCC decision. The hostile hearings leading up to "
17073 "that vote revealed just how powerful this movement had become. There was no "
17074 "substantial support for the FCC's decision, and there was broad and "
17075 "sustained support for fighting further concentration in the media."
17078 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17079 #: freeculture.xml:12923
17081 "But even this movement misses an important piece of the puzzle. Largeness "
17082 "as such is not bad. Freedom is not threatened just because some become very "
17083 "rich, or because there are only a handful of big players. The poor quality "
17084 "of Big Macs or Quarter Pounders does not mean that you can't get a good "
17085 "hamburger from somewhere else."
17088 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17089 #: freeculture.xml:12930
17091 "The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but "
17092 "instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in "
17093 "copyright, produces. It is not just that there are a few powerful companies "
17094 "that control an ever expanding slice of the media. It is that this "
17095 "concentration can call upon an equally bloated range of "
17096 "rights—property rights of a historically extreme form—that makes "
17097 "their bigness bad."
17100 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17101 #: freeculture.xml:12940
17103 "It is therefore significant that so many would rally to demand competition "
17104 "and increased diversity. Still, if the rally is understood as being about "
17105 "bigness alone, it is not terribly surprising. We Americans have a long "
17106 "history of fighting <quote>big,</quote> wisely or not. That we could be "
17107 "motivated to fight <quote>big</quote> again is not something new."
17110 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17111 #: freeculture.xml:12947
17113 "It would be something new, and something very important, if an equal number "
17114 "could be rallied to fight the increasing extremism built within the idea of "
17115 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote> Not because balance is alien to our "
17116 "tradition; indeed, as I've argued, balance is our tradition. But because the "
17117 "muscle to think critically about the scope of anything called "
17118 "<quote>property</quote> is not well exercised within this tradition anymore."
17121 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17122 #: freeculture.xml:12955
17124 "If we were Achilles, this would be our heel. This would be the place of our "
17128 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17129 #: freeculture.xml:12958
17134 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17135 #: freeculture.xml:12963
17137 "John Borland, <quote>RIAA Sues 261 File Swappers,</quote> CNET News.com, "
17138 "September 2003, available at <ulink "
17139 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #65</ulink>; Paul R. La Monica, "
17140 "<quote>Music Industry Sues Swappers,</quote> CNN/Money, 8 September 2003, "
17141 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #66</ulink>; "
17142 "Soni Sangha and Phyllis Furman with Robert Gearty, <quote>Sued for a Song, "
17143 "N.Y.C. 12-Yr-Old Among 261 Cited as Sharers,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
17144 "Daily News</citetitle>, 9 September 2003, 3; Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's "
17145 "Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl "
17146 "in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 "
17147 "September 2003, E1; Katie Dean, <quote>Schoolgirl Settles with RIAA,</quote> "
17148 "<citetitle>Wired News</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, available at <ulink "
17149 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #67</ulink>."
17153 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17154 #: freeculture.xml:12981
17156 "Jon Wiederhorn, <quote>Eminem Gets Sued … by a Little Old "
17157 "Lady,</quote> mtv.com, 17 September 2003, available at <ulink "
17158 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #68</ulink>."
17163 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17164 #: freeculture.xml:12988
17166 "Kenji Hall, Associated Press, <quote>Japanese Book May Be Inspiration for "
17167 "Dylan Songs,</quote> Kansascity.com, 9 July 2003, available at <ulink "
17168 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #69</ulink>."
17171 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17172 #: freeculture.xml:12960
17174 "As I write these final words, the news is filled with stories about the RIAA "
17175 "lawsuits against almost three hundred individuals.<placeholder "
17176 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Eminem has just been sued for "
17177 "<quote>sampling</quote> someone else's music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17178 "id=\"1\"/> The story about Bob Dylan <quote>stealing</quote> from a Japanese "
17179 "author has just finished making the rounds.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17180 "id=\"2\"/> An insider from Hollywood—who insists he must remain "
17181 "anonymous—reports <quote>an amazing conversation with these studio "
17182 "guys. They've got extraordinary [old] content that they'd love to use but "
17183 "can't because they can't begin to clear the rights. They've got scores of "
17184 "kids who could do amazing things with the content, but it would take scores "
17185 "of lawyers to clean it first.</quote> Congressmen are talking about "
17186 "deputizing computer viruses to bring down computers thought to violate the "
17187 "law. Universities are threatening expulsion for kids who use a computer to "
17191 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17192 #: freeculture.xml:13005 freeculture.xml:13365
17193 msgid "Creative Commons"
17196 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17197 #: freeculture.xml:13006
17198 msgid "Gil, Gilberto"
17202 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17203 #: freeculture.xml:13011
17205 "<quote>BBC Plans to Open Up Its Archive to the Public,</quote> BBC press "
17206 "release, 24 August 2003, available at <ulink "
17207 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #70</ulink>."
17211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17212 #: freeculture.xml:13020
17214 "<quote>Creative Commons and Brazil,</quote> Creative Commons Weblog, 6 "
17215 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
17220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17221 #: freeculture.xml:13008
17223 "Yet on the other side of the Atlantic, the BBC has just announced that it "
17224 "will build a <quote>Creative Archive,</quote> from which British citizens "
17225 "can download BBC content, and rip, mix, and burn it.<placeholder "
17226 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And in Brazil, the culture minister, Gilberto "
17227 "Gil, himself a folk hero of Brazilian music, has joined with Creative "
17228 "Commons to release content and free licenses in that Latin American "
17229 "country.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> I've told a dark "
17230 "story. The truth is more mixed. A technology has given us a new "
17231 "freedom. Slowly, some begin to understand that this freedom need not mean "
17232 "anarchy. We can carry a free culture into the twenty-first century, without "
17233 "artists losing and without the potential of digital technology being "
17234 "destroyed. It will take some thought, and more importantly, it will take "
17235 "some will to transform the RCAs of our day into the Causbys."
17239 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17240 #: freeculture.xml:13034
17242 "Common sense must revolt. It must act to free culture. Soon, if this "
17243 "potential is ever to be realized."
17246 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
17247 #: freeculture.xml:13042
17252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17253 #: freeculture.xml:13046
17255 "At least some who have read this far will agree with me that something must "
17256 "be done to change where we are heading. The balance of this book maps what "
17260 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17261 #: freeculture.xml:13051
17263 "I divide this map into two parts: that which anyone can do now, and that "
17264 "which requires the help of lawmakers. If there is one lesson that we can "
17265 "draw from the history of remaking common sense, it is that it requires "
17266 "remaking how many people think about the very same issue."
17269 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17270 #: freeculture.xml:13057
17272 "That means this movement must begin in the streets. It must recruit a "
17273 "significant number of parents, teachers, librarians, creators, authors, "
17274 "musicians, filmmakers, scientists—all to tell this story in their own "
17275 "words, and to tell their neighbors why this battle is so important."
17278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17279 #: freeculture.xml:13064
17281 "Once this movement has its effect in the streets, it has some hope of having "
17282 "an effect in Washington. We are still a democracy. What people think "
17283 "matters. Not as much as it should, at least when an RCA stands opposed, but "
17284 "still, it matters. And thus, in the second part below, I sketch changes that "
17285 "Congress could make to better secure a free culture."
17288 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
17289 #: freeculture.xml:13073
17293 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17294 #: freeculture.xml:13075
17296 "Common sense is with the copyright warriors because the debate so far has "
17297 "been framed at the extremes—as a grand either/or: either property or "
17298 "anarchy, either total control or artists won't be paid. If that really is "
17299 "the choice, then the warriors should win."
17302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17303 #: freeculture.xml:13081
17305 "The mistake here is the error of the excluded middle. There are extremes in "
17306 "this debate, but the extremes are not all that there is. There are those who "
17307 "believe in maximal copyright—<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote>— "
17308 "and those who reject copyright—<quote>No Rights Reserved.</quote> The "
17309 "<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe that you should ask "
17310 "permission before you <quote>use</quote> a copyrighted work in any way. The "
17311 "<quote>No Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe you should be able to do "
17312 "with content as you wish, regardless of whether you have permission or not."
17316 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17317 #: freeculture.xml:13091
17319 "When the Internet was first born, its initial architecture effectively "
17320 "tilted in the <quote>no rights reserved</quote> direction. Content could be "
17321 "copied perfectly and cheaply; rights could not easily be controlled. Thus, "
17322 "regardless of anyone's desire, the effective regime of copyright under the "
17323 "original design of the Internet was <quote>no rights reserved.</quote> "
17324 "Content was <quote>taken</quote> regardless of the rights. Any rights were "
17325 "effectively unprotected."
17328 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17329 #: freeculture.xml:13103
17331 "This initial character produced a reaction (opposite, but not quite equal) "
17332 "by copyright owners. That reaction has been the topic of this book. Through "
17333 "legislation, litigation, and changes to the network's design, copyright "
17334 "holders have been able to change the essential character of the environment "
17335 "of the original Internet. If the original architecture made the effective "
17336 "default <quote>no rights reserved,</quote> the future architecture will make "
17337 "the effective default <quote>all rights reserved.</quote> The architecture "
17338 "and law that surround the Internet's design will increasingly produce an "
17339 "environment where all use of content requires permission. The <quote>cut "
17340 "and paste</quote> world that defines the Internet today will become a "
17341 "<quote>get permission to cut and paste</quote> world that is a creator's "
17345 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17346 #: freeculture.xml:13117
17348 "What's needed is a way to say something in the middle—neither "
17349 "<quote>all rights reserved</quote> nor <quote>no rights reserved</quote> but "
17350 "<quote>some rights reserved</quote>— and thus a way to respect "
17351 "copyrights but enable creators to free content as they see fit. In other "
17352 "words, we need a way to restore a set of freedoms that we could just take "
17353 "for granted before."
17356 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
17357 #: freeculture.xml:13126
17358 msgid "Rebuilding Freedoms Previously Presumed: Examples"
17361 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17362 #: freeculture.xml:13128
17364 "If you step back from the battle I've been describing here, you will "
17365 "recognize this problem from other contexts. Think about privacy. Before the "
17366 "Internet, most of us didn't have to worry much about data about our lives "
17367 "that we broadcast to the world. If you walked into a bookstore and browsed "
17368 "through some of the works of Karl Marx, you didn't need to worry about "
17369 "explaining your browsing habits to your neighbors or boss. The "
17370 "<quote>privacy</quote> of your browsing habits was assured."
17373 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17374 #: freeculture.xml:13138
17375 msgid "What made it assured?"
17378 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17379 #: freeculture.xml:13142
17381 "Well, if we think in terms of the modalities I described in chapter <xref "
17382 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, your privacy was "
17383 "assured because of an inefficient architecture for gathering data and hence "
17384 "a market constraint (cost) on anyone who wanted to gather that data. If you "
17385 "were a suspected spy for North Korea, working for the CIA, no doubt your "
17386 "privacy would not be assured. But that's because the CIA would (we hope) "
17387 "find it valuable enough to spend the thousands required to track you. But "
17388 "for most of us (again, we can hope), spying doesn't pay. The highly "
17389 "inefficient architecture of real space means we all enjoy a fairly robust "
17390 "amount of privacy. That privacy is guaranteed to us by friction. Not by law "
17391 "(there is no law protecting <quote>privacy</quote> in public places), and in "
17392 "many places, not by norms (snooping and gossip are just fun), but instead, "
17393 "by the costs that friction imposes on anyone who would want to spy."
17396 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17397 #: freeculture.xml:13157
17401 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17402 #: freeculture.xml:13167
17403 msgid "cookies, Internet"
17406 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17407 #: freeculture.xml:13159
17409 "Enter the Internet, where the cost of tracking browsing in particular has "
17410 "become quite tiny. If you're a customer at Amazon, then as you browse the "
17411 "pages, Amazon collects the data about what you've looked at. You know this "
17412 "because at the side of the page, there's a list of <quote>recently "
17413 "viewed</quote> pages. Now, because of the architecture of the Net and the "
17414 "function of cookies on the Net, it is easier to collect the data than "
17415 "not. The friction has disappeared, and hence any <quote>privacy</quote> "
17416 "protected by the friction disappears, too. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17420 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17421 #: freeculture.xml:13170
17423 "Amazon, of course, is not the problem. But we might begin to worry about "
17424 "libraries. If you're one of those crazy lefties who thinks that people "
17425 "should have the <quote>right</quote> to browse in a library without the "
17426 "government knowing which books you look at (I'm one of those lefties, too), "
17427 "then this change in the technology of monitoring might concern you. If it "
17428 "becomes simple to gather and sort who does what in electronic spaces, then "
17429 "the friction-induced privacy of yesterday disappears."
17433 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
17434 #: freeculture.xml:13186
17436 "See, for example, Marc Rotenberg, <quote>Fair Information Practices and the "
17437 "Architecture of Privacy (What Larry Doesn't Get),</quote> "
17438 "<citetitle>Stanford Technology Law Review</citetitle> 1 (2001): "
17439 "par. 6–18, available at <ulink "
17440 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink> (describing examples "
17441 "in which technology defines privacy policy). See also Jeffrey Rosen, "
17442 "<citetitle>The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious "
17443 "Age</citetitle> (New York: Random House, 2004) (mapping tradeoffs between "
17444 "technology and privacy)."
17448 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17449 #: freeculture.xml:13180
17451 "It is this reality that explains the push of many to define "
17452 "<quote>privacy</quote> on the Internet. It is the recognition that "
17453 "technology can remove what friction before gave us that leads many to push "
17454 "for laws to do what friction did.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
17455 "And whether you're in favor of those laws or not, it is the pattern that is "
17456 "important here. We must take affirmative steps to secure a kind of freedom "
17457 "that was passively provided before. A change in technology now forces those "
17458 "who believe in privacy to affirmatively act where, before, privacy was given "
17462 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17463 #: freeculture.xml:13204
17465 "A similar story could be told about the birth of the free software "
17466 "movement. When computers with software were first made available "
17467 "commercially, the software—both the source code and the "
17468 "binaries— was free. You couldn't run a program written for a Data "
17469 "General machine on an IBM machine, so Data General and IBM didn't care much "
17470 "about controlling their software. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17474 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17475 #: freeculture.xml:13212
17476 msgid "Stallman, Richard"
17479 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17480 #: freeculture.xml:13214
17482 "That was the world Richard Stallman was born into, and while he was a "
17483 "researcher at MIT, he grew to love the community that developed when one was "
17484 "free to explore and tinker with the software that ran on machines. Being a "
17485 "smart sort himself, and a talented programmer, Stallman grew to depend upon "
17486 "the freedom to add to or modify other people's work."
17489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17490 #: freeculture.xml:13222
17492 "In an academic setting, at least, that's not a terribly radical idea. In a "
17493 "math department, anyone would be free to tinker with a proof that someone "
17494 "offered. If you thought you had a better way to prove a theorem, you could "
17495 "take what someone else did and change it. In a classics department, if you "
17496 "believed a colleague's translation of a recently discovered text was flawed, "
17497 "you were free to improve it. Thus, to Stallman, it seemed obvious that you "
17498 "should be free to tinker with and improve the code that ran a machine. This, "
17499 "too, was knowledge. Why shouldn't it be open for criticism like anything "
17503 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17504 #: freeculture.xml:13234
17506 "No one answered that question. Instead, the architecture of revenue for "
17507 "computing changed. As it became possible to import programs from one system "
17508 "to another, it became economically attractive (at least in the view of some) "
17509 "to hide the code of your program. So, too, as companies started selling "
17510 "peripherals for mainframe systems. If I could just take your printer driver "
17511 "and copy it, then that would make it easier for me to sell a printer to the "
17512 "market than it was for you."
17516 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17517 #: freeculture.xml:13243
17519 "Thus, the practice of proprietary code began to spread, and by the early "
17520 "1980s, Stallman found himself surrounded by proprietary code. The world of "
17521 "free software had been erased by a change in the economics of computing. And "
17522 "as he believed, if he did nothing about it, then the freedom to change and "
17523 "share software would be fundamentally weakened."
17526 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17527 #: freeculture.xml:13252
17529 "Therefore, in 1984, Stallman began a project to build a free operating "
17530 "system, so that at least a strain of free software would survive. That was "
17531 "the birth of the GNU project, into which Linus Torvalds's "
17532 "<quote>Linux</quote> kernel was added to produce the GNU/Linux operating "
17533 "system. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
17534 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
17537 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17538 #: freeculture.xml:13260
17540 "Stallman's technique was to use copyright law to build a world of software "
17541 "that must be kept free. Software licensed under the Free Software "
17542 "Foundation's GPL cannot be modified and distributed unless the source code "
17543 "for that software is made available as well. Thus, anyone building upon "
17544 "GPL'd software would have to make their buildings free as well. This would "
17545 "assure, Stallman believed, that an ecology of code would develop that "
17546 "remained free for others to build upon. His fundamental goal was freedom; "
17547 "innovative creative code was a byproduct."
17550 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17551 #: freeculture.xml:13271
17553 "Stallman was thus doing for software what privacy advocates now do for "
17554 "privacy. He was seeking a way to rebuild a kind of freedom that was taken "
17555 "for granted before. Through the affirmative use of licenses that bind "
17556 "copyrighted code, Stallman was affirmatively reclaiming a space where free "
17557 "software would survive. He was actively protecting what before had been "
17558 "passively guaranteed."
17561 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17562 #: freeculture.xml:13279
17564 "Finally, consider a very recent example that more directly resonates with "
17565 "the story of this book. This is the shift in the way academic and scientific "
17566 "journals are produced."
17570 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17571 #: freeculture.xml:13287
17573 "As digital technologies develop, it is becoming obvious to many that "
17574 "printing thousands of copies of journals every month and sending them to "
17575 "libraries is perhaps not the most efficient way to distribute "
17576 "knowledge. Instead, journals are increasingly becoming electronic, and "
17577 "libraries and their users are given access to these electronic journals "
17578 "through password-protected sites. Something similar to this has been "
17579 "happening in law for almost thirty years: Lexis and Westlaw have had "
17580 "electronic versions of case reports available to subscribers to their "
17581 "service. Although a Supreme Court opinion is not copyrighted, and anyone is "
17582 "free to go to a library and read it, Lexis and Westlaw are also free to "
17583 "charge users for the privilege of gaining access to that Supreme Court "
17584 "opinion through their respective services."
17587 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17588 #: freeculture.xml:13303
17590 "There's nothing wrong in general with this, and indeed, the ability to "
17591 "charge for access to even public domain materials is a good incentive for "
17592 "people to develop new and innovative ways to spread knowledge. The law has "
17593 "agreed, which is why Lexis and Westlaw have been allowed to flourish. And if "
17594 "there's nothing wrong with selling the public domain, then there could be "
17595 "nothing wrong, in principle, with selling access to material that is not in "
17596 "the public domain."
17599 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17600 #: freeculture.xml:13312
17602 "But what if the only way to get access to social and scientific data was "
17603 "through proprietary services? What if no one had the ability to browse this "
17604 "data except by paying for a subscription?"
17607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17608 #: freeculture.xml:13317
17610 "As many are beginning to notice, this is increasingly the reality with "
17611 "scientific journals. When these journals were distributed in paper form, "
17612 "libraries could make the journals available to anyone who had access to the "
17613 "library. Thus, patients with cancer could become cancer experts because the "
17614 "library gave them access. Or patients trying to understand the risks of a "
17615 "certain treatment could research those risks by reading all available "
17616 "articles about that treatment. This freedom was therefore a function of the "
17617 "institution of libraries (norms) and the technology of paper journals "
17618 "(architecture)—namely, that it was very hard to control access to a "
17622 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17623 #: freeculture.xml:13329
17625 "As journals become electronic, however, the publishers are demanding that "
17626 "libraries not give the general public access to the journals. This means "
17627 "that the freedoms provided by print journals in public libraries begin to "
17628 "disappear. Thus, as with privacy and with software, a changing technology "
17629 "and market shrink a freedom taken for granted before."
17632 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17633 #: freeculture.xml:13337
17635 "This shrinking freedom has led many to take affirmative steps to restore the "
17636 "freedom that has been lost. The Public Library of Science (PLoS), for "
17637 "example, is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making scientific research "
17638 "available to anyone with a Web connection. Authors of scientific work submit "
17639 "that work to the Public Library of Science. That work is then subject to "
17640 "peer review. If accepted, the work is then deposited in a public, electronic "
17641 "archive and made permanently available for free. PLoS also sells a print "
17642 "version of its work, but the copyright for the print journal does not "
17643 "inhibit the right of anyone to redistribute the work for free. <placeholder "
17644 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17647 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17648 #: freeculture.xml:13351
17650 "This is one of many such efforts to restore a freedom taken for granted "
17651 "before, but now threatened by changing technology and markets. There's no "
17652 "doubt that this alternative competes with the traditional publishers and "
17653 "their efforts to make money from the exclusive distribution of content. But "
17654 "competition in our tradition is presumptively a good—especially when "
17655 "it helps spread knowledge and science."
17658 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
17659 #: freeculture.xml:13363
17660 msgid "Rebuilding Free Culture: One Idea"
17663 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17664 #: freeculture.xml:13368
17666 "The same strategy could be applied to culture, as a response to the "
17667 "increasing control effected through law and technology."
17670 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17671 #: freeculture.xml:13372
17673 "Enter the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation "
17674 "established in Massachusetts, but with its home at Stanford University. Its "
17675 "aim is to build a layer of <emphasis>reasonable</emphasis> copyright on top "
17676 "of the extremes that now reign. It does this by making it easy for people to "
17677 "build upon other people's work, by making it simple for creators to express "
17678 "the freedom for others to take and build upon their work. Simple tags, tied "
17679 "to human-readable descriptions, tied to bulletproof licenses, make this "
17684 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17685 #: freeculture.xml:13383
17687 "<emphasis>Simple</emphasis>—which means without a middleman, or "
17688 "without a lawyer. By developing a free set of licenses that people can "
17689 "attach to their content, Creative Commons aims to mark a range of content "
17690 "that can easily, and reliably, be built upon. These tags are then linked to "
17691 "machine-readable versions of the license that enable computers automatically "
17692 "to identify content that can easily be shared. These three expressions "
17693 "together—a legal license, a human-readable description, and "
17694 "machine-readable tags—constitute a Creative Commons license. A "
17695 "Creative Commons license constitutes a grant of freedom to anyone who "
17696 "accesses the license, and more importantly, an expression of the ideal that "
17697 "the person associated with the license believes in something different than "
17698 "the <quote>All</quote> or <quote>No</quote> extremes. Content is marked with "
17699 "the CC mark, which does not mean that copyright is waived, but that certain "
17700 "freedoms are given."
17703 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17704 #: freeculture.xml:13401
17706 "These freedoms are beyond the freedoms promised by fair use. Their precise "
17707 "contours depend upon the choices the creator makes. The creator can choose a "
17708 "license that permits any use, so long as attribution is given. She can "
17709 "choose a license that permits only noncommercial use. She can choose a "
17710 "license that permits any use so long as the same freedoms are given to other "
17711 "uses (<quote>share and share alike</quote>). Or any use so long as no "
17712 "derivative use is made. Or any use at all within developing nations. Or any "
17713 "sampling use, so long as full copies are not made. Or lastly, any "
17717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17718 #: freeculture.xml:13412
17720 "These choices thus establish a range of freedoms beyond the default of "
17721 "copyright law. They also enable freedoms that go beyond traditional fair "
17722 "use. And most importantly, they express these freedoms in a way that "
17723 "subsequent users can use and rely upon without the need to hire a "
17724 "lawyer. Creative Commons thus aims to build a layer of content, governed by "
17725 "a layer of reasonable copyright law, that others can build upon. Voluntary "
17726 "choice of individuals and creators will make this content available. And "
17727 "that content will in turn enable us to rebuild a public domain."
17730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17731 #: freeculture.xml:13433
17732 msgid "Garlick, Mia"
17735 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17736 #: freeculture.xml:13423
17738 "This is just one project among many within the Creative Commons. And of "
17739 "course, Creative Commons is not the only organization pursuing such "
17740 "freedoms. But the point that distinguishes the Creative Commons from many is "
17741 "that we are not interested only in talking about a public domain or in "
17742 "getting legislators to help build a public domain. Our aim is to build a "
17743 "movement of consumers and producers of content (<quote>content "
17744 "conducers,</quote> as attorney Mia Garlick calls them) who help build the "
17745 "public domain and, by their work, demonstrate the importance of the public "
17746 "domain to other creativity. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17749 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17750 #: freeculture.xml:13436
17752 "The aim is not to fight the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts. The "
17753 "aim is to complement them. The problems that the law creates for us as a "
17754 "culture are produced by insane and unintended consequences of laws written "
17755 "centuries ago, applied to a technology that only Jefferson could have "
17756 "imagined. The rules may well have made sense against a background of "
17757 "technologies from centuries ago, but they do not make sense against the "
17758 "background of digital technologies. New rules—with different freedoms, "
17759 "expressed in ways so that humans without lawyers can use them—are "
17760 "needed. Creative Commons gives people a way effectively to begin to build "
17764 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17765 #: freeculture.xml:13448
17767 "Why would creators participate in giving up total control? Some participate "
17768 "to better spread their content. Cory Doctorow, for example, is a science "
17769 "fiction author. His first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
17770 "Kingdom</citetitle>, was released on-line and for free, under a Creative "
17771 "Commons license, on the same day that it went on sale in bookstores."
17774 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17775 #: freeculture.xml:13455
17777 "Why would a publisher ever agree to this? I suspect his publisher reasoned "
17778 "like this: There are two groups of people out there: (1) those who will buy "
17779 "Cory's book whether or not it's on the Internet, and (2) those who may never "
17780 "hear of Cory's book, if it isn't made available for free on the "
17781 "Internet. Some part of (1) will download Cory's book instead of buying "
17782 "it. Call them bad-(1)s. Some part of (2) will download Cory's book, like "
17783 "it, and then decide to buy it. Call them (2)-goods. If there are more "
17784 "(2)-goods than bad-(1)s, the strategy of releasing Cory's book free on-line "
17785 "will probably <emphasis>increase</emphasis> sales of Cory's book."
17788 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17789 #: freeculture.xml:13467
17791 "Indeed, the experience of his publisher clearly supports that conclusion. "
17792 "The book's first printing was exhausted months before the publisher had "
17793 "expected. This first novel of a science fiction author was a total success."
17796 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17797 #: freeculture.xml:13482
17798 msgid "Free for All (Wayner)"
17801 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17802 #: freeculture.xml:13483
17803 msgid "Wayner, Peter"
17806 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17807 #: freeculture.xml:13473
17809 "The idea that free content might increase the value of nonfree content was "
17810 "confirmed by the experience of another author. Peter Wayner, who wrote a "
17811 "book about the free software movement titled <citetitle>Free for "
17812 "All</citetitle>, made an electronic version of his book free on-line under a "
17813 "Creative Commons license after the book went out of print. He then monitored "
17814 "used book store prices for the book. As predicted, as the number of "
17815 "downloads increased, the used book price for his book increased, as well. "
17816 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17820 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17821 #: freeculture.xml:13485
17822 msgid "Public Enemy"
17825 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17826 #: freeculture.xml:13486
17831 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
17832 #: freeculture.xml:13503
17834 "<citetitle>Willful Infringement: A Report from the Front Lines of the Real "
17835 "Culture Wars</citetitle> (2003), produced by Jed Horovitz, directed by Greg "
17836 "Hittelman, a Fiat Lucre production, available at <ulink "
17837 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink>."
17840 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17841 #: freeculture.xml:13510
17842 msgid "Leaphart, Walter"
17845 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17846 #: freeculture.xml:13488
17848 "These are examples of using the Commons to better spread proprietary "
17849 "content. I believe that is a wonderful and common use of the Commons. There "
17850 "are others who use Creative Commons licenses for other reasons. Many who use "
17851 "the <quote>sampling license</quote> do so because anything else would be "
17852 "hypocritical. The sampling license says that others are free, for commercial "
17853 "or noncommercial purposes, to sample content from the licensed work; they "
17854 "are just not free to make full copies of the licensed work available to "
17855 "others. This is consistent with their own art—they, too, sample from "
17856 "others. Because the <emphasis>legal</emphasis> costs of sampling are so high "
17857 "(Walter Leaphart, manager of the rap group Public Enemy, which was born "
17858 "sampling the music of others, has stated that he does not "
17859 "<quote>allow</quote> Public Enemy to sample anymore, because the legal costs "
17860 "are so high<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), these artists release "
17861 "into the creative environment content that others can build upon, so that "
17862 "their form of creativity might grow. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17866 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17867 #: freeculture.xml:13513
17869 "Finally, there are many who mark their content with a Creative Commons "
17870 "license just because they want to express to others the importance of "
17871 "balance in this debate. If you just go along with the system as it is, you "
17872 "are effectively saying you believe in the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> "
17873 "model. Good for you, but many do not. Many believe that however appropriate "
17874 "that rule is for Hollywood and freaks, it is not an appropriate description "
17875 "of how most creators view the rights associated with their content. The "
17876 "Creative Commons license expresses this notion of <quote>Some Rights "
17877 "Reserved,</quote> and gives many the chance to say it to others."
17881 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17882 #: freeculture.xml:13525
17884 "In the first six months of the Creative Commons experiment, over 1 million "
17885 "objects were licensed with these free-culture licenses. The next step is "
17886 "partnerships with middleware content providers to help them build into their "
17887 "technologies simple ways for users to mark their content with Creative "
17888 "Commons freedoms. Then the next step is to watch and celebrate creators who "
17889 "build content based upon content set free."
17892 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17893 #: freeculture.xml:13535
17895 "These are first steps to rebuilding a public domain. They are not mere "
17896 "arguments; they are action. Building a public domain is the first step to "
17897 "showing people how important that domain is to creativity and "
17898 "innovation. Creative Commons relies upon voluntary steps to achieve this "
17899 "rebuilding. They will lead to a world in which more than voluntary steps are "
17903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17904 #: freeculture.xml:13543
17906 "Creative Commons is just one example of voluntary efforts by individuals and "
17907 "creators to change the mix of rights that now govern the creative field. The "
17908 "project does not compete with copyright; it complements it. Its aim is not "
17909 "to defeat the rights of authors, but to make it easier for authors and "
17910 "creators to exercise their rights more flexibly and cheaply. That "
17911 "difference, we believe, will enable creativity to spread more easily."
17914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
17915 #: freeculture.xml:13557
17919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17920 #: freeculture.xml:13559
17922 "We will not reclaim a free culture by individual action alone. It will also "
17923 "take important reforms of laws. We have a long way to go before the "
17924 "politicians will listen to these ideas and implement these reforms. But "
17925 "that also means that we have time to build awareness around the changes that "
17929 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17930 #: freeculture.xml:13566
17932 "In this chapter, I outline five kinds of changes: four that are general, and "
17933 "one that's specific to the most heated battle of the day, music. Each is a "
17934 "step, not an end. But any of these steps would carry us a long way to our "
17938 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
17939 #: freeculture.xml:13573
17940 msgid "1. More Formalities"
17943 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17944 #: freeculture.xml:13575
17946 "If you buy a house, you have to record the sale in a deed. If you buy land "
17947 "upon which to build a house, you have to record the purchase in a deed. If "
17948 "you buy a car, you get a bill of sale and register the car. If you buy an "
17949 "airplane ticket, it has your name on it."
17953 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17954 #: freeculture.xml:13582
17956 "These are all formalities associated with property. They are requirements "
17957 "that we all must bear if we want our property to be protected."
17960 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17961 #: freeculture.xml:13587
17963 "In contrast, under current copyright law, you automatically get a copyright, "
17964 "regardless of whether you comply with any formality. You don't have to "
17965 "register. You don't even have to mark your content. The default is control, "
17966 "and <quote>formalities</quote> are banished."
17969 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17970 #: freeculture.xml:13593
17974 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17975 #: freeculture.xml:13596
17977 "As I suggested in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
17978 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, the motivation to abolish formalities was a good "
17979 "one. In the world before digital technologies, formalities imposed a burden "
17980 "on copyright holders without much benefit. Thus, it was progress when the "
17981 "law relaxed the formal requirements that a copyright owner must bear to "
17982 "protect and secure his work. Those formalities were getting in the way."
17985 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17986 #: freeculture.xml:13605
17988 "But the Internet changes all this. Formalities today need not be a "
17989 "burden. Rather, the world without formalities is the world that burdens "
17990 "creativity. Today, there is no simple way to know who owns what, or with "
17991 "whom one must deal in order to use or build upon the creative work of "
17992 "others. There are no records, there is no system to trace— there is no "
17993 "simple way to know how to get permission. Yet given the massive increase in "
17994 "the scope of copyright's rule, getting permission is a necessary step for "
17995 "any work that builds upon our past. And thus, the <emphasis>lack</emphasis> "
17996 "of formalities forces many into silence where they otherwise could speak."
18000 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18001 #: freeculture.xml:13619
18003 "The proposal I am advancing here would apply to American works only. "
18004 "Obviously, I believe it would be beneficial for the same idea to be adopted "
18005 "by other countries as well."
18008 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18009 #: freeculture.xml:13617
18011 "The law should therefore change this requirement<placeholder "
18012 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—but it should not change it by going back "
18013 "to the old, broken system. We should require formalities, but we should "
18014 "establish a system that will create the incentives to minimize the burden of "
18015 "these formalities."
18018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18019 #: freeculture.xml:13627
18021 "The important formalities are three: marking copyrighted work, registering "
18022 "copyrights, and renewing the claim to copyright. Traditionally, the first of "
18023 "these three was something the copyright owner did; the second two were "
18024 "something the government did. But a revised system of formalities would "
18025 "banish the government from the process, except for the sole purpose of "
18026 "approving standards developed by others."
18029 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
18030 #: freeculture.xml:13639
18031 msgid "REGISTRATION AND RENEWAL"
18034 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18035 #: freeculture.xml:13641
18037 "Under the old system, a copyright owner had to file a registration with the "
18038 "Copyright Office to register or renew a copyright. When filing that "
18039 "registration, the copyright owner paid a fee. As with most government "
18040 "agencies, the Copyright Office had little incentive to minimize the burden "
18041 "of registration; it also had little incentive to minimize the fee. And as "
18042 "the Copyright Office is not a main target of government policymaking, the "
18043 "office has historically been terribly underfunded. Thus, when people who "
18044 "know something about the process hear this idea about formalities, their "
18045 "first reaction is panic—nothing could be worse than forcing people to "
18046 "deal with the mess that is the Copyright Office."
18049 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18050 #: freeculture.xml:13654
18052 "Yet it is always astonishing to me that we, who come from a tradition of "
18053 "extraordinary innovation in governmental design, can no longer think "
18054 "innovatively about how governmental functions can be designed. Just because "
18055 "there is a public purpose to a government role, it doesn't follow that the "
18056 "government must actually administer the role. Instead, we should be creating "
18057 "incentives for private parties to serve the public, subject to standards "
18058 "that the government sets."
18061 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18062 #: freeculture.xml:13663
18064 "In the context of registration, one obvious model is the Internet. There "
18065 "are at least 32 million Web sites registered around the world. Domain name "
18066 "owners for these Web sites have to pay a fee to keep their registration "
18067 "alive. In the main top-level domains (.com, .org, .net), there is a central "
18068 "registry. The actual registrations are, however, performed by many competing "
18069 "registrars. That competition drives the cost of registering down, and more "
18070 "importantly, it drives the ease with which registration occurs up."
18074 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18075 #: freeculture.xml:13673
18077 "We should adopt a similar model for the registration and renewal of "
18078 "copyrights. The Copyright Office may well serve as the central registry, but "
18079 "it should not be in the registrar business. Instead, it should establish a "
18080 "database, and a set of standards for registrars. It should approve "
18081 "registrars that meet its standards. Those registrars would then compete with "
18082 "one another to deliver the cheapest and simplest systems for registering and "
18083 "renewing copyrights. That competition would substantially lower the burden "
18084 "of this formality—while producing a database of registrations that "
18085 "would facilitate the licensing of content."
18088 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
18089 #: freeculture.xml:13688
18093 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18094 #: freeculture.xml:13690
18096 "It used to be that the failure to include a copyright notice on a creative "
18097 "work meant that the copyright was forfeited. That was a harsh punishment for "
18098 "failing to comply with a regulatory rule—akin to imposing the death "
18099 "penalty for a parking ticket in the world of creative rights. Here again, "
18100 "there is no reason that a marking requirement needs to be enforced in this "
18101 "way. And more importantly, there is no reason a marking requirement needs to "
18102 "be enforced uniformly across all media."
18105 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18106 #: freeculture.xml:13700
18108 "The aim of marking is to signal to the public that this work is copyrighted "
18109 "and that the author wants to enforce his rights. The mark also makes it easy "
18110 "to locate a copyright owner to secure permission to use the work."
18113 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18114 #: freeculture.xml:13706
18116 "One of the problems the copyright system confronted early on was that "
18117 "different copyrighted works had to be differently marked. It wasn't clear "
18118 "how or where a statue was to be marked, or a record, or a film. A new "
18119 "marking requirement could solve these problems by recognizing the "
18120 "differences in media, and by allowing the system of marking to evolve as "
18121 "technologies enable it to. The system could enable a special signal from the "
18122 "failure to mark—not the loss of the copyright, but the loss of the "
18123 "right to punish someone for failing to get permission first."
18127 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18128 #: freeculture.xml:13723
18130 "There would be a complication with derivative works that I have not solved "
18131 "here. In my view, the law of derivatives creates a more complicated system "
18132 "than is justified by the marginal incentive it creates."
18136 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18137 #: freeculture.xml:13716
18139 "Let's start with the last point. If a copyright owner allows his work to be "
18140 "published without a copyright notice, the consequence of that failure need "
18141 "not be that the copyright is lost. The consequence could instead be that "
18142 "anyone has the right to use this work, until the copyright owner complains "
18143 "and demonstrates that it is his work and he doesn't give "
18144 "permission.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The meaning of an "
18145 "unmarked work would therefore be <quote>use unless someone "
18146 "complains.</quote> If someone does complain, then the obligation would be to "
18147 "stop using the work in any new work from then on though no penalty would "
18148 "attach for existing uses. This would create a strong incentive for "
18149 "copyright owners to mark their work."
18152 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18153 #: freeculture.xml:13736
18155 "That in turn raises the question about how work should best be marked. Here "
18156 "again, the system needs to adjust as the technologies evolve. The best way "
18157 "to ensure that the system evolves is to limit the Copyright Office's role to "
18158 "that of approving standards for marking content that have been crafted "
18162 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18163 #: freeculture.xml:13743
18165 "For example, if a recording industry association devises a method for "
18166 "marking CDs, it would propose that to the Copyright Office. The Copyright "
18167 "Office would hold a hearing, at which other proposals could be made. The "
18168 "Copyright Office would then select the proposal that it judged preferable, "
18169 "and it would base that choice <emphasis>solely</emphasis> upon the "
18170 "consideration of which method could best be integrated into the registration "
18171 "and renewal system. We would not count on the government to innovate; but we "
18172 "would count on the government to keep the product of innovation in line with "
18173 "its other important functions."
18176 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18177 #: freeculture.xml:13755
18179 "Finally, marking content clearly would simplify registration requirements. "
18180 "If photographs were marked by author and year, there would be little reason "
18181 "not to allow a photographer to reregister, for example, all photographs "
18182 "taken in a particular year in one quick step. The aim of the formality is "
18183 "not to burden the creator; the system itself should be kept as simple as "
18187 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18188 #: freeculture.xml:13763
18190 "The objective of formalities is to make things clear. The existing system "
18191 "does nothing to make things clear. Indeed, it seems designed to make things "
18195 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18196 #: freeculture.xml:13768
18198 "If formalities such as registration were reinstated, one of the most "
18199 "difficult aspects of relying upon the public domain would be removed. It "
18200 "would be simple to identify what content is presumptively free; it would be "
18201 "simple to identify who controls the rights for a particular kind of content; "
18202 "it would be simple to assert those rights, and to renew that assertion at "
18203 "the appropriate time."
18206 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18207 #: freeculture.xml:13780
18208 msgid "2. Shorter Terms"
18211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18212 #: freeculture.xml:13782
18214 "The term of copyright has gone from fourteen years to ninety-five years for "
18215 "corporate authors, and life of the author plus seventy years for natural "
18220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18221 #: freeculture.xml:13795
18223 "<quote>A Radical Rethink,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 366:8308 "
18224 "(25 January 2003): 15, available at <ulink "
18225 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #74</ulink>."
18228 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18229 #: freeculture.xml:13787
18231 "In <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>, I proposed a "
18232 "seventy-five-year term, granted in five-year increments with a requirement "
18233 "of renewal every five years. That seemed radical enough at the time. But "
18234 "after we lost <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
18235 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, the proposals became even more "
18236 "radical. <citetitle>The Economist</citetitle> endorsed a proposal for a "
18237 "fourteen-year copyright term.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
18238 "Others have proposed tying the term to the term for patents."
18241 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18242 #: freeculture.xml:13802
18244 "I agree with those who believe that we need a radical change in copyright's "
18245 "term. But whether fourteen years or seventy-five, there are four principles "
18246 "that are important to keep in mind about copyright terms."
18250 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18251 #: freeculture.xml:13810
18253 "<emphasis>Keep it short:</emphasis> The term should be as long as necessary "
18254 "to give incentives to create, but no longer. If it were tied to very strong "
18255 "protections for authors (so authors were able to reclaim rights from "
18256 "publishers), rights to the same work (not derivative works) might be "
18257 "extended further. The key is not to tie the work up with legal regulations "
18258 "when it no longer benefits an author."
18263 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18264 #: freeculture.xml:13819
18266 "<emphasis>Keep it simple:</emphasis> The line between the public domain and "
18267 "protected content must be kept clear. Lawyers like the fuzziness of "
18268 "<quote>fair use,</quote> and the distinction between <quote>ideas</quote> "
18269 "and <quote>expression.</quote> That kind of law gives them lots of work. But "
18270 "our framers had a simpler idea in mind: protected versus unprotected. The "
18271 "value of short terms is that there is little need to build exceptions into "
18272 "copyright when the term itself is kept short. A clear and active "
18273 "<quote>lawyer-free zone</quote> makes the complexities of <quote>fair "
18274 "use</quote> and <quote>idea/expression</quote> less necessary to navigate."
18278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para><footnote><para>
18279 #: freeculture.xml:13840
18281 "Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran's Application for Compensation "
18282 "and/or Pension, VA Form 21-526 (OMB Approved No. 2900-0001), available at "
18283 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #75</ulink>."
18286 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para><indexterm><primary>
18287 #: freeculture.xml:13848
18288 msgid "veterans' pensions"
18291 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18292 #: freeculture.xml:13832
18294 "<emphasis>Keep it alive:</emphasis> Copyright should have to be renewed. "
18295 "Especially if the maximum term is long, the copyright owner should be "
18296 "required to signal periodically that he wants the protection continued. This "
18297 "need not be an onerous burden, but there is no reason this monopoly "
18298 "protection has to be granted for free. On average, it takes ninety minutes "
18299 "for a veteran to apply for a pension.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
18300 "id=\"0\"/> If we make veterans suffer that burden, I don't see why we "
18301 "couldn't require authors to spend ten minutes every fifty years to file a "
18302 "single form. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
18306 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18307 #: freeculture.xml:13852
18309 "<emphasis>Keep it prospective:</emphasis> Whatever the term of copyright "
18310 "should be, the clearest lesson that economists teach is that a term once "
18311 "given should not be extended. It might have been a mistake in 1923 for the "
18312 "law to offer authors only a fifty-six-year term. I don't think so, but it's "
18313 "possible. If it was a mistake, then the consequence was that we got fewer "
18314 "authors to create in 1923 than we otherwise would have. But we can't correct "
18315 "that mistake today by increasing the term. No matter what we do today, we "
18316 "will not increase the number of authors who wrote in 1923. Of course, we can "
18317 "increase the reward that those who write now get (or alternatively, increase "
18318 "the copyright burden that smothers many works that are today invisible). But "
18319 "increasing their reward will not increase their creativity in 1923. What's "
18320 "not done is not done, and there's nothing we can do about that now."
18323 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18324 #: freeculture.xml:13868
18326 "These changes together should produce an <emphasis>average</emphasis> "
18327 "copyright term that is much shorter than the current term. Until 1976, the "
18328 "average term was just 32.2 years. We should be aiming for the same."
18331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18332 #: freeculture.xml:13874
18334 "No doubt the extremists will call these ideas <quote>radical.</quote> (After "
18335 "all, I call them <quote>extremists.</quote>) But again, the term I "
18336 "recommended was longer than the term under Richard Nixon. How "
18337 "<quote>radical</quote> can it be to ask for a more generous copyright law "
18338 "than Richard Nixon presided over?"
18341 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18342 #: freeculture.xml:13884
18343 msgid "3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use"
18346 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18347 #: freeculture.xml:13886
18349 "As I observed at the beginning of this book, property law originally granted "
18350 "property owners the right to control their property from the ground to the "
18351 "heavens. The airplane came along. The scope of property rights quickly "
18352 "changed. There was no fuss, no constitutional challenge. It made no sense "
18353 "anymore to grant that much control, given the emergence of that new "
18357 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18358 #: freeculture.xml:13894
18360 "Our Constitution gives Congress the power to give authors <quote>exclusive "
18361 "right</quote> to <quote>their writings.</quote> Congress has given authors "
18362 "an exclusive right to <quote>their writings</quote> plus any derivative "
18363 "writings (made by others) that are sufficiently close to the author's "
18364 "original work. Thus, if I write a book, and you base a movie on that book, I "
18365 "have the power to deny you the right to release that movie, even though that "
18366 "movie is not <quote>my writing.</quote>"
18370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18371 #: freeculture.xml:13907
18373 "Benjamin Kaplan, <citetitle>An Unhurried View of Copyright</citetitle> (New "
18374 "York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 32."
18377 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
18378 #: freeculture.xml:13913
18379 msgid "Kaplan, Benjamin"
18382 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18383 #: freeculture.xml:13903
18385 "Congress granted the beginnings of this right in 1870, when it expanded the "
18386 "exclusive right of copyright to include a right to control translations and "
18387 "dramatizations of a work.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
18388 "courts have expanded it slowly through judicial interpretation ever "
18389 "since. This expansion has been commented upon by one of the law's greatest "
18390 "judges, Judge Benjamin Kaplan. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
18394 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
18395 #: freeculture.xml:13921
18399 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para>
18400 #: freeculture.xml:13917
18402 "So inured have we become to the extension of the monopoly to a large range "
18403 "of so-called derivative works, that we no longer sense the oddity of "
18404 "accepting such an enlargement of copyright while yet intoning the "
18405 "abracadabra of idea and expression.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18409 #: freeculture.xml:13926
18411 "I think it's time to recognize that there are airplanes in this field and "
18412 "the expansiveness of these rights of derivative use no longer make "
18413 "sense. More precisely, they don't make sense for the period of time that a "
18414 "copyright runs. And they don't make sense as an amorphous grant. Consider "
18415 "each limitation in turn."
18418 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18419 #: freeculture.xml:13933
18421 "<emphasis>Term:</emphasis> If Congress wants to grant a derivative right, "
18422 "then that right should be for a much shorter term. It makes sense to protect "
18423 "John Grisham's right to sell the movie rights to his latest novel (or at "
18424 "least I'm willing to assume it does); but it does not make sense for that "
18425 "right to run for the same term as the underlying copyright. The derivative "
18426 "right could be important in inducing creativity; it is not important long "
18427 "after the creative work is done. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18430 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18431 #: freeculture.xml:13946
18433 "<emphasis>Scope:</emphasis> Likewise should the scope of derivative rights "
18434 "be narrowed. Again, there are some cases in which derivative rights are "
18435 "important. Those should be specified. But the law should draw clear lines "
18436 "around regulated and unregulated uses of copyrighted material. When all "
18437 "<quote>reuse</quote> of creative material was within the control of "
18438 "businesses, perhaps it made sense to require lawyers to negotiate the "
18439 "lines. It no longer makes sense for lawyers to negotiate the lines. Think "
18440 "about all the creative possibilities that digital technologies enable; now "
18441 "imagine pouring molasses into the machines. That's what this general "
18442 "requirement of permission does to the creative process. Smothers it."
18445 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18446 #: freeculture.xml:13959
18448 "This was the point that Alben made when describing the making of the Clint "
18449 "Eastwood CD. While it makes sense to require negotiation for foreseeable "
18450 "derivative rights—turning a book into a movie, or a poem into a "
18451 "musical score—it doesn't make sense to require negotiation for the "
18452 "unforeseeable. Here, a statutory right would make much more sense."
18455 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
18456 #: freeculture.xml:13975
18457 msgid "Goldstein, Paul"
18460 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18461 #: freeculture.xml:13973
18463 "Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the "
18464 "Celestial Jukebox</citetitle> (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), "
18465 "187–216. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18468 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18469 #: freeculture.xml:13967
18471 "In each of these cases, the law should mark the uses that are protected, and "
18472 "the presumption should be that other uses are not protected. This is the "
18473 "reverse of the recommendation of my colleague Paul Goldstein.<placeholder "
18474 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His view is that the law should be written so "
18475 "that expanded protections follow expanded uses."
18478 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18479 #: freeculture.xml:13981
18481 "Goldstein's analysis would make perfect sense if the cost of the legal "
18482 "system were small. But as we are currently seeing in the context of the "
18483 "Internet, the uncertainty about the scope of protection, and the incentives "
18484 "to protect existing architectures of revenue, combined with a strong "
18485 "copyright, weaken the process of innovation."
18489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18490 #: freeculture.xml:13988
18492 "The law could remedy this problem either by removing protection beyond the "
18493 "part explicitly drawn or by granting reuse rights upon certain statutory "
18494 "conditions. Either way, the effect would be to free a great deal of culture "
18495 "to others to cultivate. And under a statutory rights regime, that reuse "
18496 "would earn artists more income."
18499 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18500 #: freeculture.xml:13998
18501 msgid "4. Liberate the Music—Again"
18504 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18505 #: freeculture.xml:14000
18507 "The battle that got this whole war going was about music, so it wouldn't be "
18508 "fair to end this book without addressing the issue that is, to most people, "
18509 "most pressing—music. There is no other policy issue that better "
18510 "teaches the lessons of this book than the battles around the sharing of "
18514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18515 #: freeculture.xml:14007
18517 "The appeal of file-sharing music was the crack cocaine of the Internet's "
18518 "growth. It drove demand for access to the Internet more powerfully than any "
18519 "other single application. It was the Internet's killer app—possibly in "
18520 "two senses of that word. It no doubt was the application that drove demand "
18521 "for bandwidth. It may well be the application that drives demand for "
18522 "regulations that in the end kill innovation on the network."
18525 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18526 #: freeculture.xml:14016
18528 "The aim of copyright, with respect to content in general and music in "
18529 "particular, is to create the incentives for music to be composed, performed, "
18530 "and, most importantly, spread. The law does this by giving an exclusive "
18531 "right to a composer to control public performances of his work, and to a "
18532 "performing artist to control copies of her performance."
18535 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18536 #: freeculture.xml:14023
18538 "File-sharing networks complicate this model by enabling the spread of "
18539 "content for which the performer has not been paid. But of course, that's not "
18540 "all the file-sharing networks do. As I described in chapter <xref "
18541 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"piracy\"/>, they enable four "
18542 "different kinds of sharing:"
18546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18547 #: freeculture.xml:14032
18549 "There are some who are using sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
18554 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18555 #: freeculture.xml:14037
18557 "There are also some who are using sharing networks to sample, on the way to "
18563 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18564 #: freeculture.xml:14043
18566 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
18567 "that is no longer sold but is still under copyright or that would have been "
18568 "too cumbersome to buy off the Net."
18572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18573 #: freeculture.xml:14049
18575 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
18576 "that is not copyrighted or to get access that the copyright owner plainly "
18580 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18581 #: freeculture.xml:14055
18583 "Any reform of the law needs to keep these different uses in focus. It must "
18584 "avoid burdening type D even if it aims to eliminate type A. The eagerness "
18585 "with which the law aims to eliminate type A, moreover, should depend upon "
18586 "the magnitude of type B. As with VCRs, if the net effect of sharing is "
18587 "actually not very harmful, the need for regulation is significantly "
18591 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18592 #: freeculture.xml:14063
18594 "As I said in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
18595 "linkend=\"piracy\"/>, the actual harm caused by sharing is controversial. "
18596 "For the purposes of this chapter, however, I assume the harm is real. I "
18597 "assume, in other words, that type A sharing is significantly greater than "
18598 "type B, and is the dominant use of sharing networks."
18601 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18602 #: freeculture.xml:14071
18604 "Nonetheless, there is a crucial fact about the current technological context "
18605 "that we must keep in mind if we are to understand how the law should "
18609 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18610 #: freeculture.xml:14076
18612 "Today, file sharing is addictive. In ten years, it won't be. It is addictive "
18613 "today because it is the easiest way to gain access to a broad range of "
18614 "content. It won't be the easiest way to get access to a broad range of "
18615 "content in ten years. Today, access to the Internet is cumbersome and "
18616 "slow—we in the United States are lucky to have broadband service at "
18617 "1.5 MBs, and very rarely do we get service at that speed both up and "
18618 "down. Although wireless access is growing, most of us still get access "
18619 "across wires. Most only gain access through a machine with a keyboard. The "
18620 "idea of the always on, always connected Internet is mainly just an idea."
18624 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18625 #: freeculture.xml:14088
18627 "But it will become a reality, and that means the way we get access to the "
18628 "Internet today is a technology in transition. Policy makers should not make "
18629 "policy on the basis of technology in transition. They should make policy on "
18630 "the basis of where the technology is going. The question should not be, how "
18631 "should the law regulate sharing in this world? The question should be, what "
18632 "law will we require when the network becomes the network it is clearly "
18633 "becoming? That network is one in which every machine with electricity is "
18634 "essentially on the Net; where everywhere you are—except maybe the "
18635 "desert or the Rockies—you can instantaneously be connected to the "
18636 "Internet. Imagine the Internet as ubiquitous as the best cell-phone service, "
18637 "where with the flip of a device, you are connected."
18641 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18642 #: freeculture.xml:14121
18644 "See, for example, <quote>Music Media Watch,</quote> The J@pan "
18645 "Inc. Newsletter, 3 April 2002, available at <ulink "
18646 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #76</ulink>."
18649 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18650 #: freeculture.xml:14103
18652 "In that world, it will be extremely easy to connect to services that give "
18653 "you access to content on the fly—such as Internet radio, content that "
18654 "is streamed to the user when the user demands. Here, then, is the critical "
18655 "point: When it is <emphasis>extremely</emphasis> easy to connect to services "
18656 "that give access to content, it will be <emphasis>easier</emphasis> to "
18657 "connect to services that give you access to content than it will be to "
18658 "download and store content <emphasis>on the many devices you will have for "
18659 "playing content</emphasis>. It will be easier, in other words, to subscribe "
18660 "than it will be to be a database manager, as everyone in the "
18661 "download-sharing world of Napster-like technologies essentially is. Content "
18662 "services will compete with content sharing, even if the services charge "
18663 "money for the content they give access to. Already cell-phone services in "
18664 "Japan offer music (for a fee) streamed over cell phones (enhanced with plugs "
18665 "for headphones). The Japanese are paying for this content even though "
18666 "<quote>free</quote> content is available in the form of MP3s across the "
18667 "Web.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18671 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18672 #: freeculture.xml:14128
18674 "This point about the future is meant to suggest a perspective on the "
18675 "present: It is emphatically temporary. The <quote>problem</quote> with file "
18676 "sharing—to the extent there is a real problem—is a problem that "
18677 "will increasingly disappear as it becomes easier to connect to the "
18678 "Internet. And thus it is an extraordinary mistake for policy makers today "
18679 "to be <quote>solving</quote> this problem in light of a technology that will "
18680 "be gone tomorrow. The question should not be how to regulate the Internet "
18681 "to eliminate file sharing (the Net will evolve that problem away). The "
18682 "question instead should be how to assure that artists get paid, during this "
18683 "transition between twentieth-century models for doing business and "
18684 "twenty-first-century technologies."
18687 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18688 #: freeculture.xml:14144
18690 "The answer begins with recognizing that there are different "
18691 "<quote>problems</quote> here to solve. Let's start with type D "
18692 "content—uncopyrighted content or copyrighted content that the artist "
18693 "wants shared. The <quote>problem</quote> with this content is to make sure "
18694 "that the technology that would enable this kind of sharing is not rendered "
18695 "illegal. You can think of it this way: Pay phones are used to deliver ransom "
18696 "demands, no doubt. But there are many who need to use pay phones who have "
18697 "nothing to do with ransoms. It would be wrong to ban pay phones in order to "
18698 "eliminate kidnapping."
18701 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18702 #: freeculture.xml:14155
18704 "Type C content raises a different <quote>problem.</quote> This is content "
18705 "that was, at one time, published and is no longer available. It may be "
18706 "unavailable because the artist is no longer valuable enough for the record "
18707 "label he signed with to carry his work. Or it may be unavailable because the "
18708 "work is forgotten. Either way, the aim of the law should be to facilitate "
18709 "the access to this content, ideally in a way that returns something to the "
18713 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18714 #: freeculture.xml:14164
18716 "Again, the model here is the used book store. Once a book goes out of print, "
18717 "it may still be available in libraries and used book stores. But libraries "
18718 "and used book stores don't pay the copyright owner when someone reads or "
18719 "buys an out-of-print book. That makes total sense, of course, since any "
18720 "other system would be so burdensome as to eliminate the possibility of used "
18721 "book stores' existing. But from the author's perspective, this "
18722 "<quote>sharing</quote> of his content without his being compensated is less "
18726 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18727 #: freeculture.xml:14174
18729 "The model of used book stores suggests that the law could simply deem "
18730 "out-of-print music fair game. If the publisher does not make copies of the "
18731 "music available for sale, then commercial and noncommercial providers would "
18732 "be free, under this rule, to <quote>share</quote> that content, even though "
18733 "the sharing involved making a copy. The copy here would be incidental to the "
18734 "trade; in a context where commercial publishing has ended, trading music "
18735 "should be as free as trading books."
18739 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18740 #: freeculture.xml:14185
18742 "Alternatively, the law could create a statutory license that would ensure "
18743 "that artists get something from the trade of their work. For example, if the "
18744 "law set a low statutory rate for the commercial sharing of content that was "
18745 "not offered for sale by a commercial publisher, and if that rate were "
18746 "automatically transferred to a trust for the benefit of the artist, then "
18747 "businesses could develop around the idea of trading this content, and "
18748 "artists would benefit from this trade."
18751 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18752 #: freeculture.xml:14195
18754 "This system would also create an incentive for publishers to keep works "
18755 "available commercially. Works that are available commercially would not be "
18756 "subject to this license. Thus, publishers could protect the right to charge "
18757 "whatever they want for content if they kept the work commercially "
18758 "available. But if they don't keep it available, and instead, the computer "
18759 "hard disks of fans around the world keep it alive, then any royalty owed for "
18760 "such copying should be much less than the amount owed a commercial "
18764 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18765 #: freeculture.xml:14205
18767 "The hard case is content of types A and B, and again, this case is hard only "
18768 "because the extent of the problem will change over time, as the technologies "
18769 "for gaining access to content change. The law's solution should be as "
18770 "flexible as the problem is, understanding that we are in the middle of a "
18771 "radical transformation in the technology for delivering and accessing "
18775 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18776 #: freeculture.xml:14213
18778 "So here's a solution that will at first seem very strange to both sides in "
18779 "this war, but which upon reflection, I suggest, should make some sense."
18782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18783 #: freeculture.xml:14217
18785 "Stripped of the rhetoric about the sanctity of property, the basic claim of "
18786 "the content industry is this: A new technology (the Internet) has harmed a "
18787 "set of rights that secure copyright. If those rights are to be protected, "
18788 "then the content industry should be compensated for that harm. Just as the "
18789 "technology of tobacco harmed the health of millions of Americans, or the "
18790 "technology of asbestos caused grave illness to thousands of miners, so, too, "
18791 "has the technology of digital networks harmed the interests of the content "
18796 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18797 #: freeculture.xml:14228
18799 "I love the Internet, and so I don't like likening it to tobacco or "
18800 "asbestos. But the analogy is a fair one from the perspective of the law. "
18801 "And it suggests a fair response: Rather than seeking to destroy the "
18802 "Internet, or the p2p technologies that are currently harming content "
18803 "providers on the Internet, we should find a relatively simple way to "
18804 "compensate those who are harmed."
18807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
18808 #: freeculture.xml:14273
18809 msgid "Fisher, William"
18812 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
18813 #: freeculture.xml:14275 freeculture.xml:14301
18814 msgid "Promises to Keep (Fisher)"
18817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18818 #: freeculture.xml:14240
18820 "William Fisher, <citetitle>Digital Music: Problems and "
18821 "Possibilities</citetitle> (last revised: 10 October 2000), available at "
18822 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #77</ulink>; William "
18823 "Fisher, <citetitle>Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of "
18824 "Entertainment</citetitle> (forthcoming) (Stanford: Stanford University "
18825 "Press, 2004), ch. 6, available at <ulink "
18826 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #78</ulink>. Professor Netanel "
18827 "has proposed a related idea that would exempt noncommercial sharing from the "
18828 "reach of copyright and would establish compensation to artists to balance "
18829 "any loss. See Neil Weinstock Netanel, <quote>Impose a Noncommercial Use Levy "
18830 "to Allow Free P2P File Sharing,</quote> available at <ulink "
18831 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #79</ulink>. For other proposals, "
18832 "see Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Who's Holding Back Broadband?</quote> "
18833 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 8 January 2002, A17; Philip "
18834 "S. Corwin on behalf of Sharman Networks, A Letter to Senator Joseph "
18835 "R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 26 "
18836 "February 2002, available at <ulink "
18837 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #80</ulink>; Serguei Osokine, "
18838 "<citetitle>A Quick Case for Intellectual Property Use Fee "
18839 "(IPUF)</citetitle>, 3 March 2002, available at <ulink "
18840 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #81</ulink>; Jefferson Graham, "
18841 "<quote>Kazaa, Verizon Propose to Pay Artists Directly,</quote> "
18842 "<citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 13 May 2002, available at <ulink "
18843 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #82</ulink>; Steven M. Cherry, "
18844 "<quote>Getting Copyright Right,</quote> IEEE Spectrum Online, 1 July 2002, "
18845 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #83</ulink>; "
18846 "Declan McCullagh, <quote>Verizon's Copyright Campaign,</quote> CNET "
18847 "News.com, 27 August 2002, available at <ulink "
18848 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #84</ulink>. Fisher's proposal "
18849 "is very similar to Richard Stallman's proposal for DAT. Unlike Fisher's, "
18850 "Stallman's proposal would not pay artists directly proportionally, though "
18851 "more popular artists would get more than the less popular. As is typical "
18852 "with Stallman, his proposal predates the current debate by about a "
18853 "decade. See <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #85</ulink>. "
18854 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
18855 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
18858 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18859 #: freeculture.xml:14236
18861 "The idea would be a modification of a proposal that has been floated by "
18862 "Harvard law professor William Fisher.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
18863 "id=\"0\"/> Fisher suggests a very clever way around the current impasse of "
18864 "the Internet. Under his plan, all content capable of digital transmission "
18865 "would (1) be marked with a digital watermark (don't worry about how easy it "
18866 "is to evade these marks; as you'll see, there's no incentive to evade "
18867 "them). Once the content is marked, then entrepreneurs would develop (2) "
18868 "systems to monitor how many items of each content were distributed. On the "
18869 "basis of those numbers, then (3) artists would be compensated. The "
18870 "compensation would be paid for by (4) an appropriate tax."
18873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18874 #: freeculture.xml:14288
18876 "Fisher's proposal is careful and comprehensive. It raises a million "
18877 "questions, most of which he answers well in his upcoming book, "
18878 "<citetitle>Promises to Keep</citetitle>. The modification that I would make "
18879 "is relatively simple: Fisher imagines his proposal replacing the existing "
18880 "copyright system. I imagine it complementing the existing system. The aim "
18881 "of the proposal would be to facilitate compensation to the extent that harm "
18882 "could be shown. This compensation would be temporary, aimed at facilitating "
18883 "a transition between regimes. And it would require renewal after a period of "
18884 "years. If it continues to make sense to facilitate free exchange of content, "
18885 "supported through a taxation system, then it can be continued. If this form "
18886 "of protection is no longer necessary, then the system could lapse into the "
18887 "old system of controlling access. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
18892 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18893 #: freeculture.xml:14304
18895 "Fisher would balk at the idea of allowing the system to lapse. His aim is "
18896 "not just to ensure that artists are paid, but also to ensure that the system "
18897 "supports the widest range of <quote>semiotic democracy</quote> possible. But "
18898 "the aims of semiotic democracy would be satisfied if the other changes I "
18899 "described were accomplished—in particular, the limits on derivative "
18900 "uses. A system that simply charges for access would not greatly burden "
18901 "semiotic democracy if there were few limitations on what one was allowed to "
18902 "do with the content itself."
18905 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18906 #: freeculture.xml:14318
18908 "No doubt it would be difficult to calculate the proper measure of "
18909 "<quote>harm</quote> to an industry. But the difficulty of making that "
18910 "calculation would be outweighed by the benefit of facilitating "
18911 "innovation. This background system to compensate would also not need to "
18912 "interfere with innovative proposals such as Apple's MusicStore. As experts "
18913 "predicted when Apple launched the MusicStore, it could beat "
18914 "<quote>free</quote> by being easier than free is. This has proven correct: "
18915 "Apple has sold millions of songs at even the very high price of 99 cents a "
18916 "song. (At 99 cents, the cost is the equivalent of a per-song CD price, "
18917 "though the labels have none of the costs of a CD to pay.) Apple's move was "
18918 "countered by Real Networks, offering music at just 79 cents a song. And no "
18919 "doubt there will be a great deal of competition to offer and sell music "
18923 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18924 #: freeculture.xml:14333
18926 "This competition has already occurred against the background of "
18927 "<quote>free</quote> music from p2p systems. As the sellers of cable "
18928 "television have known for thirty years, and the sellers of bottled water for "
18929 "much more than that, there is nothing impossible at all about "
18930 "<quote>competing with free.</quote> Indeed, if anything, the competition "
18931 "spurs the competitors to offer new and better products. This is precisely "
18932 "what the competitive market was to be about. Thus in Singapore, though "
18933 "piracy is rampant, movie theaters are often luxurious—with "
18934 "<quote>first class</quote> seats, and meals served while you watch a "
18935 "movie—as they struggle and succeed in finding ways to compete with "
18936 "<quote>free.</quote>"
18939 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18940 #: freeculture.xml:14345
18942 "This regime of competition, with a backstop to assure that artists don't "
18943 "lose, would facilitate a great deal of innovation in the delivery of "
18944 "content. That competition would continue to shrink type A sharing. It would "
18945 "inspire an extraordinary range of new innovators—ones who would have a "
18946 "right to the content, and would no longer fear the uncertain and "
18947 "barbarically severe punishments of the law."
18950 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18951 #: freeculture.xml:14354
18952 msgid "In summary, then, my proposal is this:"
18956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18957 #: freeculture.xml:14359
18959 "The Internet is in transition. We should not be regulating a technology in "
18960 "transition. We should instead be regulating to minimize the harm to "
18961 "interests affected by this technological change, while enabling, and "
18962 "encouraging, the most efficient technology we can create."
18965 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18966 #: freeculture.xml:14366
18967 msgid "We can minimize that harm while maximizing the benefit to innovation by"
18971 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18972 #: freeculture.xml:14372
18973 msgid "guaranteeing the right to engage in type D sharing;"
18977 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18978 #: freeculture.xml:14376
18980 "permitting noncommercial type C sharing without liability, and commercial "
18981 "type C sharing at a low and fixed rate set by statute;"
18985 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18986 #: freeculture.xml:14382
18988 "while in this transition, taxing and compensating for type A sharing, to the "
18989 "extent actual harm is demonstrated."
18992 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18993 #: freeculture.xml:14387
18995 "But what if <quote>piracy</quote> doesn't disappear? What if there is a "
18996 "competitive market providing content at a low cost, but a significant number "
18997 "of consumers continue to <quote>take</quote> content for nothing? Should the "
18998 "law do something then?"
19001 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19002 #: freeculture.xml:14393
19004 "Yes, it should. But, again, what it should do depends upon how the facts "
19005 "develop. These changes may not eliminate type A sharing. But the real issue "
19006 "is not whether it eliminates sharing in the abstract. The real issue is its "
19007 "effect on the market. Is it better (a) to have a technology that is 95 "
19008 "percent secure and produces a market of size <citetitle>x</citetitle>, or "
19009 "(b) to have a technology that is 50 percent secure but produces a market of "
19010 "five times <citetitle>x</citetitle>? Less secure might produce more "
19011 "unauthorized sharing, but it is likely to also produce a much bigger market "
19012 "in authorized sharing. The most important thing is to assure artists' "
19013 "compensation without breaking the Internet. Once that's assured, then it may "
19014 "well be appropriate to find ways to track down the petty pirates."
19018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19019 #: freeculture.xml:14407
19021 "But we're a long way away from whittling the problem down to this subset of "
19022 "type A sharers. And our focus until we're there should not be on finding "
19023 "ways to break the Internet. Our focus until we're there should be on how to "
19024 "make sure the artists are paid, while protecting the space for innovation "
19025 "and creativity that the Internet is."
19028 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
19029 #: freeculture.xml:14418
19030 msgid "5. Fire Lots of Lawyers"
19033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19034 #: freeculture.xml:14420
19036 "I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living. I believe in the law. I believe "
19037 "in the law of copyright. Indeed, I have devoted my life to working in law, "
19038 "not because there are big bucks at the end but because there are ideals at "
19039 "the end that I would love to live."
19042 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19043 #: freeculture.xml:14426
19045 "Yet much of this book has been a criticism of lawyers, or the role lawyers "
19046 "have played in this debate. The law speaks to ideals, but it is my view that "
19047 "our profession has become too attuned to the client. And in a world where "
19048 "the rich clients have one strong view, the unwillingness of the profession "
19049 "to question or counter that one strong view queers the law."
19053 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19054 #: freeculture.xml:14443
19056 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Copyright's First Amendment</quote> (Melville "
19057 "B. Nimmer Memorial Lecture), <citetitle>UCLA Law Review</citetitle> 48 "
19058 "(2001): 1057, 1069–70."
19061 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19062 #: freeculture.xml:14434
19064 "The evidence of this bending is compelling. I'm attacked as a "
19065 "<quote>radical</quote> by many within the profession, yet the positions that "
19066 "I am advocating are precisely the positions of some of the most moderate and "
19067 "significant figures in the history of this branch of the law. Many, for "
19068 "example, thought crazy the challenge that we brought to the Copyright Term "
19069 "Extension Act. Yet just thirty years ago, the dominant scholar and "
19070 "practitioner in the field of copyright, Melville Nimmer, thought it "
19071 "obvious.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
19074 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19075 #: freeculture.xml:14449
19077 "However, my criticism of the role that lawyers have played in this debate is "
19078 "not just about a professional bias. It is more importantly about our failure "
19079 "to actually reckon the costs of the law."
19082 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19083 #: freeculture.xml:14459
19085 "A good example is the work of Professor Stan Liebowitz. Liebowitz is to be "
19086 "commended for his careful review of data about infringement, leading him to "
19087 "question his own publicly stated position—twice. He initially "
19088 "predicted that downloading would substantially harm the industry. He then "
19089 "revised his view in light of the data, and he has since revised his view "
19090 "again. Compare Stan J. Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network "
19091 "Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace</citetitle> (New "
19092 "York: Amacom, 2002), (reviewing his original view but expressing skepticism) "
19093 "with Stan J. Liebowitz, <quote>Will MP3s Annihilate the Record "
19094 "Industry?</quote> working paper, June 2003, available at <ulink "
19095 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #86</ulink>. Liebowitz's careful "
19096 "analysis is extremely valuable in estimating the effect of file-sharing "
19097 "technology. In my view, however, he underestimates the costs of the legal "
19098 "system. See, for example, <citetitle>Rethinking</citetitle>, 174–76. "
19099 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
19102 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19103 #: freeculture.xml:14454
19105 "Economists are supposed to be good at reckoning costs and benefits. But "
19106 "more often than not, economists, with no clue about how the legal system "
19107 "actually functions, simply assume that the transaction costs of the legal "
19108 "system are slight.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> They see a "
19109 "system that has been around for hundreds of years, and they assume it works "
19110 "the way their elementary school civics class taught them it works."
19114 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19115 #: freeculture.xml:14483
19117 "But the legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for "
19118 "anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the system is "
19119 "corrupt. I don't think our legal system (at the federal level, at least) is "
19120 "at all corrupt. I mean simply because the costs of our legal system are so "
19121 "astonishingly high that justice can practically never be done."
19124 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19125 #: freeculture.xml:14491
19127 "These costs distort free culture in many ways. A lawyer's time is billed at "
19128 "the largest firms at more than $400 per hour. How much time should such a "
19129 "lawyer spend reading cases carefully, or researching obscure strands of "
19130 "authority? The answer is the increasing reality: very little. The law "
19131 "depended upon the careful articulation and development of doctrine, but the "
19132 "careful articulation and development of legal doctrine depends upon careful "
19133 "work. Yet that careful work costs too much, except in the most high-profile "
19134 "and costly cases."
19137 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19138 #: freeculture.xml:14501
19140 "The costliness and clumsiness and randomness of this system mock our "
19141 "tradition. And lawyers, as well as academics, should consider it their duty "
19142 "to change the way the law works—or better, to change the law so that "
19143 "it works. It is wrong that the system works well only for the top 1 percent "
19144 "of the clients. It could be made radically more efficient, and inexpensive, "
19145 "and hence radically more just."
19148 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19149 #: freeculture.xml:14509
19151 "But until that reform is complete, we as a society should keep the law away "
19152 "from areas that we know it will only harm. And that is precisely what the "
19153 "law will too often do if too much of our culture is left to its review."
19156 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19157 #: freeculture.xml:14515
19159 "Think about the amazing things your kid could do or make with digital "
19160 "technology—the film, the music, the Web page, the blog. Or think about "
19161 "the amazing things your community could facilitate with digital "
19162 "technology—a wiki, a barn raising, activism to change something. "
19163 "Think about all those creative things, and then imagine cold molasses poured "
19164 "onto the machines. This is what any regime that requires permission "
19165 "produces. Again, this is the reality of Brezhnev's Russia."
19169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19170 #: freeculture.xml:14524
19172 "The law should regulate in certain areas of culture—but it should "
19173 "regulate culture only where that regulation does good. Yet lawyers rarely "
19174 "test their power, or the power they promote, against this simple pragmatic "
19175 "question: <quote>Will it do good?</quote> When challenged about the "
19176 "expanding reach of the law, the lawyer answers, <quote>Why not?</quote>"
19179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19180 #: freeculture.xml:14533
19182 "We should ask, <quote>Why?</quote> Show me why your regulation of culture is "
19183 "needed. Show me how it does good. And until you can show me both, keep your "
19187 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
19188 #: freeculture.xml:14542
19192 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19193 #: freeculture.xml:14544
19195 "Throughout this text, there are references to links on the World Wide "
19196 "Web. As anyone who has tried to use the Web knows, these links can be highly "
19197 "unstable. I have tried to remedy the instability by redirecting readers to "
19198 "the original source through the Web site associated with this book. For each "
19199 "link below, you can go to http://free-culture.cc/notes and locate the "
19200 "original source by clicking on the number after the # sign. If the original "
19201 "link remains alive, you will be redirected to that link. If the original "
19202 "link has disappeared, you will be redirected to an appropriate reference for "
19206 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
19207 #: freeculture.xml:14559
19208 msgid "ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"
19211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19212 #: freeculture.xml:14561
19214 "This book is the product of a long and as yet unsuccessful struggle that "
19215 "began when I read of Eric Eldred's war to keep books free. Eldred's work "
19216 "helped launch a movement, the free culture movement, and it is to him that "
19217 "this book is dedicated."
19220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19221 #: freeculture.xml:14568
19223 "I received guidance in various places from friends and academics, including "
19224 "Glenn Brown, Peter DiCola, Jennifer Mnookin, Richard Posner, Mark Rose, and "
19225 "Kathleen Sullivan. And I received correction and guidance from many amazing "
19226 "students at Stanford Law School and Stanford University. They included "
19227 "Andrew B. Coan, John Eden, James P. Fellers, Christopher Guzelian, Erica "
19228 "Goldberg, Robert Hallman, Andrew Harris, Matthew Kahn, Brian Link, Ohad "
19229 "Mayblum, Alina Ng, and Erica Platt. I am particularly grateful to Catherine "
19230 "Crump and Harry Surden, who helped direct their research, and to Laura "
19231 "Lynch, who brilliantly managed the army that they assembled, and provided "
19232 "her own critical eye on much of this."
19236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19237 #: freeculture.xml:14581
19239 "Yuko Noguchi helped me to understand the laws of Japan as well as its "
19240 "culture. I am thankful to her, and to the many in Japan who helped me "
19241 "prepare this book: Joi Ito, Takayuki Matsutani, Naoto Misaki, Michihiro "
19242 "Sasaki, Hiromichi Tanaka, Hiroo Yamagata, and Yoshihiro Yonezawa. I am "
19243 "thankful as well as to Professor Nobuhiro Nakayama, and the Tokyo University "
19244 "Business Law Center, for giving me the chance to spend time in Japan, and to "
19245 "Tadashi Shiraishi and Kiyokazu Yamagami for their generous help while I was "
19249 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19250 #: freeculture.xml:14592
19252 "These are the traditional sorts of help that academics regularly draw "
19253 "upon. But in addition to them, the Internet has made it possible to receive "
19254 "advice and correction from many whom I have never even met. Among those who "
19255 "have responded with extremely helpful advice to requests on my blog about "
19256 "the book are Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, David Gerstein, and Peter DiMauro, as "
19257 "well as a long list of those who had specific ideas about ways to develop my "
19258 "argument. They included Richard Bondi, Steven Cherry, David Coe, Nik "
19259 "Cubrilovic, Bob Devine, Charles Eicher, Thomas Guida, Elihu M. Gerson, "
19260 "Jeremy Hunsinger, Vaughn Iverson, John Karabaic, Jeff Keltner, James "
19261 "Lindenschmidt, K. L. Mann, Mark Manning, Nora McCauley, Jeffrey McHugh, Evan "
19262 "McMullen, Fred Norton, John Pormann, Pedro A. D. Rezende, Shabbir Safdar, "
19263 "Saul Schleimer, Clay Shirky, Adam Shostack, Kragen Sitaker, Chris Smith, "
19264 "Bruce Steinberg, Andrzej Jan Taramina, Sean Walsh, Matt Wasserman, Miljenko "
19265 "Williams, <quote>Wink,</quote> Roger Wood, <quote>Ximmbo da Jazz,</quote> "
19266 "and Richard Yanco. (I apologize if I have missed anyone; with computers come "
19267 "glitches, and a crash of my e-mail system meant I lost a bunch of great "
19271 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19272 #: freeculture.xml:14612
19274 "Richard Stallman and Michael Carroll each read the whole book in draft, and "
19275 "each provided extremely helpful correction and advice. Michael helped me to "
19276 "see more clearly the significance of the regulation of derivitive works. And "
19277 "Richard corrected an embarrassingly large number of errors. While my work is "
19278 "in part inspired by Stallman's, he does not agree with me in important "
19279 "places throughout this book."
19282 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19283 #: freeculture.xml:14621
19285 "Finally, and forever, I am thankful to Bettina, who has always insisted that "
19286 "there would be unending happiness away from these battles, and who has "
19287 "always been right. This slow learner is, as ever, grateful for her perpetual "
19288 "patience and love."