1 # SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE
2 # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
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4 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
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34 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
36 msgid "<abbrev>\"freeculture\"</abbrev>"
39 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
40 #: freeculture.xml:25 freeculture.xml:116
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>
68 msgid "<copyright> <year>2004</year> <holder>Lawrence Lessig</holder> </copyright>"
71 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
74 "This version of Free Culture is licensed under a Creative Commons "
75 "license. This license permits non-commercial use of this work, so long as "
76 "attribution is given. For more information about the license, click the "
77 "icon above, or visit <ulink "
78 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/\">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/</ulink>"
81 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><title>
83 msgid "ABOUT THE AUTHOR"
86 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><para>
89 "LAWRENCE LESSIG (<ulink "
90 "url=\"http://www.lessig.org/\">http://www.lessig.org</ulink>), professor of "
91 "law and a John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law "
92 "School, is founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and is "
93 "chairman of the Creative Commons (<ulink "
94 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org/\">http://creativecommons.org</ulink>). "
95 "The author of The Future of Ideas (Random House, 2001) and Code: And Other "
96 "Laws of Cyberspace (Basic Books, 1999), Lessig is a member of the boards of "
97 "the Public Library of Science, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and "
98 "Public Knowledge. He was the winner of the Free Software Foundation's Award "
99 "for the Advancement of Free Software, twice listed in BusinessWeek's \"e.biz "
100 "25,\" and named one of Scientific American's \"50 visionaries.\" A graduate "
101 "of the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge University, and Yale Law "
102 "School, Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Seventh Circuit "
106 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
107 #: freeculture.xml:81
108 msgid "You can buy a copy of this book by clicking on one of the links below:"
111 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
112 #: freeculture.xml:84
113 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.amazon.com/\">Amazon</ulink>"
116 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
117 #: freeculture.xml:85
118 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/\">B&N</ulink>"
121 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
122 #: freeculture.xml:86
123 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.penguin.com/\">Penguin</ulink>"
126 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
127 #: freeculture.xml:93
128 msgid "ALSO BY LAWRENCE LESSIG"
131 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
132 #: freeculture.xml:96
133 msgid "The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World"
136 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
137 #: freeculture.xml:99
138 msgid "Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace"
141 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
142 #: freeculture.xml:104 freeculture.xml:127
143 msgid "THE PENGUIN PRESS"
146 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
147 #: freeculture.xml:107
151 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
152 #: freeculture.xml:112
156 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
157 #: freeculture.xml:122
158 msgid "LAWRENCE LESSIG"
161 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
162 #: freeculture.xml:130
163 msgid "a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street New York, New York"
166 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
167 #: freeculture.xml:134
168 msgid "Copyright © Lawrence Lessig,"
171 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
172 #: freeculture.xml:137
173 msgid "All rights reserved"
176 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
177 #: freeculture.xml:140
179 "Excerpt from an editorial titled \"The Coming of Copyright Perpetuity,\" The "
180 "New York Times, January 16, 2003. Copyright © 2003 by The New York "
181 "Times Co. Reprinted with permission."
184 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
185 #: freeculture.xml:145
186 msgid "Cartoon by Paul Conrad on page 159. Copyright Tribune Media Services, Inc."
189 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
190 #: freeculture.xml:148
191 msgid "All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission."
194 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
195 #: freeculture.xml:151
197 "Diagram on page 164 courtesy of the office of FCC Commissioner, Michael "
201 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
202 #: freeculture.xml:154
203 msgid "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data"
206 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
207 #: freeculture.xml:157
209 "Lessig, Lawrence. Free culture : how big media uses technology and the law "
210 "to lock down culture and control creativity / Lawrence Lessig."
213 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
214 #: freeculture.xml:162
218 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
219 #: freeculture.xml:165
220 msgid "Includes index."
223 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
224 #: freeculture.xml:168
225 msgid "ISBN 1-59420-006-8 (hardcover)"
228 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
229 #: freeculture.xml:171
231 "1. Intellectual property—United States. 2. Mass media—United "
235 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
236 #: freeculture.xml:174
238 "3. Technological innovations—United States. 4. Art—United "
242 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
243 #: freeculture.xml:177
247 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
248 #: freeculture.xml:180
249 msgid "343.7309'9—dc22"
252 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
253 #: freeculture.xml:183
254 msgid "This book is printed on acid-free paper."
257 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
258 #: freeculture.xml:186
259 msgid "Printed in the United States of America"
262 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
263 #: freeculture.xml:189
264 msgid "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4"
267 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
268 #: freeculture.xml:192
269 msgid "Designed by Marysarah Quinn"
272 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
273 #: freeculture.xml:196
274 msgid "&translationblock;"
277 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
278 #: freeculture.xml:200
280 "Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this "
281 "publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval "
282 "system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, "
283 "photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission "
284 "of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The "
285 "scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via "
286 "any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and "
287 "punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and "
288 "do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted "
289 "materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated."
292 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
293 #: freeculture.xml:217
295 "To Eric Eldred—whose work first drew me to this cause, and for whom it "
299 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para><figure><title>
300 #: freeculture.xml:223
301 msgid "Creative Commons, Some rights reserved"
304 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para><figure>
305 #: freeculture.xml:224
306 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/cc.png\"></graphic>"
309 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
310 #: freeculture.xml:222
311 msgid "<placeholder type=\"figure\" id=\"0\"/>"
314 #. type: Content of: <book><lot><title>
315 #: freeculture.xml:232
316 msgid "List of figures"
319 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><title>
320 #: freeculture.xml:294
324 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><indexterm><primary>
325 #: freeculture.xml:296
329 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
330 #: freeculture.xml:299
332 "At the end of his review of my first book, Code: And Other Laws of "
333 "Cyberspace, David Pogue, a brilliant writer and author of countless "
334 "technical and computer-related texts, wrote this:"
337 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
338 #: freeculture.xml:309
340 "David Pogue, \"Don't Just Chat, Do Something,\" New York Times, 30 January "
344 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
345 #: freeculture.xml:305
347 "Unlike actual law, Internet software has no capacity to punish. It doesn't "
348 "affect people who aren't online (and only a tiny minority of the world "
349 "population is). And if you don't like the Internet's system, you can always "
350 "flip off the modem.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
353 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
354 #: freeculture.xml:314
356 "Pogue was skeptical of the core argument of the book—that software, or "
357 "\"code,\" functioned as a kind of law—and his review suggested the "
358 "happy thought that if life in cyberspace got bad, we could always \"drizzle, "
359 "drazzle, druzzle, drome\"-like simply flip a switch and be back home. Turn "
360 "off the modem, unplug the computer, and any troubles that exist in that "
361 "space wouldn't \"affect\" us anymore."
365 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
366 #: freeculture.xml:322
368 "Pogue might have been right in 1999—I'm skeptical, but maybe. But "
369 "even if he was right then, the point is not right now: Free Culture is about "
370 "the troubles the Internet causes even after the modem is turned off. It is "
371 "an argument about how the battles that now rage regarding life on-line have "
372 "fundamentally affected \"people who aren't online.\" There is no switch that "
373 "will insulate us from the Internet's effect."
376 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
377 #: freeculture.xml:332
379 "But unlike Code, the argument here is not much about the Internet itself. It "
380 "is instead about the consequence of the Internet to a part of our tradition "
381 "that is much more fundamental, and, as hard as this is for a geek-wanna-be "
382 "to admit, much more important."
385 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para><footnote><para>
386 #: freeculture.xml:343
388 "Richard M. Stallman, Free Software, Free Societies 57 (Joshua Gay, "
392 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
393 #: freeculture.xml:338
395 "That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages "
396 "that follow, we come from a tradition of \"free culture\"—not \"free\" "
397 "as in \"free beer\" (to borrow a phrase from the founder of the free "
398 "software movement<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), but \"free\" as "
399 "in \"free speech,\" \"free markets,\" \"free trade,\" \"free enterprise,\" "
400 "\"free will,\" and \"free elections.\" A free culture supports and protects "
401 "creators and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual "
402 "property rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those "
403 "rights, to guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain as free "
404 "as possible from the control of the past. A free culture is not a culture "
405 "without property, just as a free market is not a market in which everything "
406 "is free. The opposite of a free culture is a \"permission culture\"—a "
407 "culture in which creators get to create only with the permission of the "
408 "powerful, or of creators from the past."
411 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
412 #: freeculture.xml:357
414 "If we understood this change, I believe we would resist it. Not \"we\" on "
415 "the Left or \"you\" on the Right, but we who have no stake in the particular "
416 "industries of culture that defined the twentieth century. Whether you are "
417 "on the Left or the Right, if you are in this sense disinterested, then the "
418 "story I tell here will trouble you. For the changes I describe affect values "
419 "that both sides of our political culture deem fundamental."
422 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
423 #: freeculture.xml:365 freeculture.xml:12693
424 msgid "CodePink Women in Peace"
427 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
428 #: freeculture.xml:376 freeculture.xml:386 freeculture.xml:12706
429 msgid "Safire, William"
432 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
433 #: freeculture.xml:367
435 "We saw a glimpse of this bipartisan outrage in the early summer of 2003. As "
436 "the FCC considered changes in media ownership rules that would relax limits "
437 "on media concentration, an extraordinary coalition generated more than "
438 "700,000 letters to the FCC opposing the change. As William Safire described "
439 "marching \"uncomfortably alongside CodePink Women for Peace and the National "
440 "Rifle Association, between liberal Olympia Snowe and conservative Ted "
441 "Stevens,\" he formulated perhaps most simply just what was at stake: the "
442 "concentration of power. And as he asked, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
446 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
447 #: freeculture.xml:384
449 "William Safire, \"The Great Media Gulp,\" New York Times, 22 May 2003. "
450 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
453 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
454 #: freeculture.xml:380
456 "Does that sound unconservative? Not to me. The concentration of "
457 "power—political, corporate, media, cultural—should be anathema "
458 "to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby "
459 "encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the "
460 "greatest expression of democracy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
463 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
464 #: freeculture.xml:391
466 "This idea is an element of the argument of Free Culture, though my focus is "
467 "not just on the concentration of power produced by concentrations in "
468 "ownership, but more importantly, if because less visibly, on the "
469 "concentration of power produced by a radical change in the effective scope "
470 "of the law. The law is changing; that change is altering the way our culture "
471 "gets made; that change should worry you—whether or not you care about "
472 "the Internet, and whether you're on Safire's left or on his right. The "
473 "inspiration for the title and for much of the argument of this book comes "
474 "from the work of Richard Stallman and the Free Software Foundation. Indeed, "
475 "as I reread Stallman's own work, especially the essays in Free Software, "
476 "Free Society, I realize that all of the theoretical insights I develop here "
477 "are insights Stallman described decades ago. One could thus well argue that "
478 "this work is \"merely\" derivative."
482 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
483 #: freeculture.xml:407
485 "I accept that criticism, if indeed it is a criticism. The work of a lawyer "
486 "is always derivative, and I mean to do nothing more in this book than to "
487 "remind a culture about a tradition that has always been its own. Like "
488 "Stallman, I defend that tradition on the basis of values. Like Stallman, I "
489 "believe those are the values of freedom. And like Stallman, I believe those "
490 "are values of our past that will need to be defended in our future. A free "
491 "culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the "
492 "path we are on right now. Like Stallman's arguments for free software, an "
493 "argument for free culture stumbles on a confusion that is hard to avoid, and "
494 "even harder to understand. A free culture is not a culture without property; "
495 "it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without "
496 "property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not "
497 "freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here."
500 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
501 #: freeculture.xml:425
503 "Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between "
504 "anarchy and control. A free culture, like a free market, is filled with "
505 "property. It is filled with rules of property and contract that get enforced "
506 "by the state. But just as a free market is perverted if its property becomes "
507 "feudal, so too can a free culture be queered by extremism in the property "
508 "rights that define it. That is what I fear about our culture today. It is "
509 "against that extremism that this book is written."
512 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
513 #: freeculture.xml:440
517 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
518 #: freeculture.xml:442
520 "On December 17, 1903, on a windy North Carolina beach for just shy of one "
521 "hundred seconds, the Wright brothers demonstrated that a heavier-than-air, "
522 "self-propelled vehicle could fly. The moment was electric and its importance "
523 "widely understood. Almost immediately, there was an explosion of interest in "
524 "this newfound technology of manned flight, and a gaggle of innovators began "
528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
529 #: freeculture.xml:454
531 "St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries 3 (South Hackensack, N.J.: "
532 "Rothman Reprints, 1969), 18."
535 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
536 #: freeculture.xml:450
538 "At the time the Wright brothers invented the airplane, American law held "
539 "that a property owner presumptively owned not just the surface of his land, "
540 "but all the land below, down to the center of the earth, and all the space "
541 "above, to \"an indefinite extent, upwards.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
542 "id=\"0\"/> For many years, scholars had puzzled about how best to interpret "
543 "the idea that rights in land ran to the heavens. Did that mean that you "
544 "owned the stars? Could you prosecute geese for their willful and regular "
548 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
549 #: freeculture.xml:463
551 "Then came airplanes, and for the first time, this principle of American "
552 "law—deep within the foundations of our tradition, and acknowledged by "
553 "the most important legal thinkers of our past—mattered. If my land "
554 "reaches to the heavens, what happens when United flies over my field? Do I "
555 "have the right to banish it from my property? Am I allowed to enter into an "
556 "exclusive license with Delta Airlines? Could we set up an auction to decide "
557 "how much these rights are worth?"
560 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
561 #: freeculture.xml:471 freeculture.xml:484 freeculture.xml:515 freeculture.xml:534 freeculture.xml:934 freeculture.xml:951 freeculture.xml:996 freeculture.xml:8740 freeculture.xml:12094 freeculture.xml:12797
562 msgid "Causby, Thomas Lee"
565 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
566 #: freeculture.xml:472 freeculture.xml:485 freeculture.xml:516 freeculture.xml:535 freeculture.xml:935 freeculture.xml:952 freeculture.xml:997 freeculture.xml:8741 freeculture.xml:12095 freeculture.xml:12798
567 msgid "Causby, Tinie"
570 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
571 #: freeculture.xml:474
573 "In 1945, these questions became a federal case. When North Carolina farmers "
574 "Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby started losing chickens because of low-flying "
575 "military aircraft (the terrified chickens apparently flew into the barn "
576 "walls and died), the Causbys filed a lawsuit saying that the government was "
577 "trespassing on their land. The airplanes, of course, never touched the "
578 "surface of the Causbys' land. But if, as Blackstone, Kent, and Coke had "
579 "said, their land reached to \"an indefinite extent, upwards,\" then the "
580 "government was trespassing on their property, and the Causbys wanted it to "
584 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
585 #: freeculture.xml:487
587 "The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Causbys' case. Congress had declared "
588 "the airways public, but if one's property really extended to the heavens, "
589 "then Congress's declaration could well have been an unconstitutional "
590 "\"taking\" of property without compensation. The Court acknowledged that "
591 "\"it is ancient doctrine that common law ownership of the land extended to "
592 "the periphery of the universe.\" But Justice Douglas had no patience for "
593 "ancient doctrine. In a single paragraph, hundreds of years of property law "
594 "were erased. As he wrote for the Court,"
597 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
598 #: freeculture.xml:507
600 "United States v. Causby, U.S. 328 (1946): 256, 261. The Court did find that "
601 "there could be a \"taking\" if the government's use of its land effectively "
602 "destroyed the value of the Causbys' land. This example was suggested to me "
603 "by Keith Aoki's wonderful piece, \"(Intellectual) Property and Sovereignty: "
604 "Notes Toward a Cultural Geography of Authorship,\" Stanford Law Review 48 "
605 "(1996): 1293, 1333. See also Paul Goldstein, Real Property (Mineola, N.Y.: "
606 "Foundation Press, 1984), 1112–13. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
607 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
610 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
611 #: freeculture.xml:498
613 "[The] doctrine has no place in the modern world. The air is a public "
614 "highway, as Congress has declared. Were that not true, every "
615 "transcontinental flight would subject the operator to countless trespass "
616 "suits. Common sense revolts at the idea. To recognize such private claims to "
617 "the airspace would clog these highways, seriously interfere with their "
618 "control and development in the public interest, and transfer into private "
619 "ownership that to which only the public has a just claim.<placeholder "
620 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
623 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
624 #: freeculture.xml:521
625 msgid "\"Common sense revolts at the idea.\""
629 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
630 #: freeculture.xml:524
632 "This is how the law usually works. Not often this abruptly or impatiently, "
633 "but eventually, this is how it works. It was Douglas's style not to "
634 "dither. Other justices would have blathered on for pages to reach the "
635 "conclusion that Douglas holds in a single line: \"Common sense revolts at "
636 "the idea.\" But whether it takes pages or a few words, it is the special "
637 "genius of a common law system, as ours is, that the law adjusts to the "
638 "technologies of the time. And as it adjusts, it changes. Ideas that were as "
639 "solid as rock in one age crumble in another."
642 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
643 #: freeculture.xml:537
645 "Or at least, this is how things happen when there's no one powerful on the "
646 "other side of the change. The Causbys were just farmers. And though there "
647 "were no doubt many like them who were upset by the growing traffic in the "
648 "air (though one hopes not many chickens flew themselves into walls), the "
649 "Causbys of the world would find it very hard to unite and stop the idea, and "
650 "the technology, that the Wright brothers had birthed. The Wright brothers "
651 "spat airplanes into the technological meme pool; the idea then spread like a "
652 "virus in a chicken coop; farmers like the Causbys found themselves "
653 "surrounded by \"what seemed reasonable\" given the technology that the "
654 "Wrights had produced. They could stand on their farms, dead chickens in "
655 "hand, and shake their fists at these newfangled technologies all they "
656 "wanted. They could call their representatives or even file a lawsuit. But "
657 "in the end, the force of what seems \"obvious\" to everyone else—the "
658 "power of \"common sense\"—would prevail. Their \"private interest\" "
659 "would not be allowed to defeat an obvious public gain."
662 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
663 #: freeculture.xml:566
664 msgid "Bell, Alexander Graham"
667 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
668 #: freeculture.xml:567
669 msgid "Edison, Thomas"
672 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
673 #: freeculture.xml:568
674 msgid "Faraday, Michael"
677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
678 #: freeculture.xml:555
680 "Edwin Howard Armstrong is one of America's forgotten inventor geniuses. He "
681 "came to the great American inventor scene just after the titans Thomas "
682 "Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. But his work in the area of radio "
683 "technology was perhaps the most important of any single inventor in the "
684 "first fifty years of radio. He was better educated than Michael Faraday, who "
685 "as a bookbinder's apprentice had discovered electric induction in 1831. But "
686 "he had the same intuition about how the world of radio worked, and on at "
687 "least three occasions, Armstrong invented profoundly important technologies "
688 "that advanced our understanding of radio. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
689 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
690 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
693 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
694 #: freeculture.xml:571
696 "On the day after Christmas, 1933, four patents were issued to Armstrong for "
697 "his most significant invention—FM radio. Until then, consumer radio "
698 "had been amplitude-modulated (AM) radio. The theorists of the day had said "
699 "that frequency-modulated (FM) radio could never work. They were right about "
700 "FM radio in a narrow band of spectrum. But Armstrong discovered that "
701 "frequency-modulated radio in a wide band of spectrum would deliver an "
702 "astonishing fidelity of sound, with much less transmitter power and static."
705 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
706 #: freeculture.xml:581
708 "On November 5, 1935, he demonstrated the technology at a meeting of the "
709 "Institute of Radio Engineers at the Empire State Building in New York "
710 "City. He tuned his radio dial across a range of AM stations, until the radio "
711 "locked on a broadcast that he had arranged from seventeen miles away. The "
712 "radio fell totally silent, as if dead, and then with a clarity no one else "
713 "in that room had ever heard from an electrical device, it produced the sound "
714 "of an announcer's voice: \"This is amateur station W2AG at Yonkers, New "
715 "York, operating on frequency modulation at two and a half meters.\""
718 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
719 #: freeculture.xml:592
720 msgid "The audience was hearing something no one had thought possible:"
723 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
724 #: freeculture.xml:603
726 "Lawrence Lessing, Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong "
727 "(Philadelphia: J. B. Lipincott Company, 1956), 209."
730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
731 #: freeculture.xml:596
733 "A glass of water was poured before the microphone in Yonkers; it sounded "
734 "like a glass of water being poured. . . . A paper was crumpled and torn; it "
735 "sounded like paper and not like a crackling forest fire. . . . Sousa marches "
736 "were played from records and a piano solo and guitar number were "
737 "performed. . . . The music was projected with a live-ness rarely if ever "
738 "heard before from a radio \"music box.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
743 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
744 #: freeculture.xml:609
746 "As our own common sense tells us, Armstrong had discovered a vastly superior "
747 "radio technology. But at the time of his invention, Armstrong was working "
748 "for RCA. RCA was the dominant player in the then dominant AM radio "
749 "market. By 1935, there were a thousand radio stations across the United "
750 "States, but the stations in large cities were all owned by a handful of "
754 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
755 #: freeculture.xml:623 freeculture.xml:643
756 msgid "Sarnoff, David"
759 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
760 #: freeculture.xml:618
762 "RCA's president, David Sarnoff, a friend of Armstrong's, was eager that "
763 "Armstrong discover a way to remove static from AM radio. So Sarnoff was "
764 "quite excited when Armstrong told him he had a device that removed static "
765 "from \"radio.\" But when Armstrong demonstrated his invention, Sarnoff was "
766 "not pleased. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
769 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
770 #: freeculture.xml:630
772 "See \"Saints: The Heroes and Geniuses of the Electronic Era,\" First "
773 "Electronic Church of America, at www.webstationone.com/fecha, available at "
774 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #1</ulink>."
777 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
778 #: freeculture.xml:627
780 "I thought Armstrong would invent some kind of a filter to remove static from "
781 "our AM radio. I didn't think he'd start a revolution— start up a whole "
782 "damn new industry to compete with RCA.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
786 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
787 #: freeculture.xml:639
789 "Armstrong's invention threatened RCA's AM empire, so the company launched a "
790 "campaign to smother FM radio. While FM may have been a superior technology, "
791 "Sarnoff was a superior tactician. As one author described, <placeholder "
792 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
795 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
796 #: freeculture.xml:652
797 msgid "Lessing, 226."
800 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
801 #: freeculture.xml:647
803 "The forces for FM, largely engineering, could not overcome the weight of "
804 "strategy devised by the sales, patent, and legal offices to subdue this "
805 "threat to corporate position. For FM, if allowed to develop unrestrained, "
806 "posed . . . a complete reordering of radio power . . . and the eventual "
807 "overthrow of the carefully restricted AM system on which RCA had grown to "
808 "power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
811 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
812 #: freeculture.xml:657
814 "RCA at first kept the technology in house, insisting that further tests were "
815 "needed. When, after two years of testing, Armstrong grew impatient, RCA "
816 "began to use its power with the government to stall FM radio's deployment "
817 "generally. In 1936, RCA hired the former head of the FCC and assigned him "
818 "the task of assuring that the FCC assign spectrum in a way that would "
819 "castrate FM—principally by moving FM radio to a different band of "
820 "spectrum. At first, these efforts failed. But when Armstrong and the nation "
821 "were distracted by World War II, RCA's work began to be more "
822 "successful. Soon after the war ended, the FCC announced a set of policies "
823 "that would have one clear effect: FM radio would be crippled. As Lawrence "
824 "Lessing described it,"
827 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
828 #: freeculture.xml:676
829 msgid "Lessing, 256."
832 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
833 #: freeculture.xml:672
835 "The series of body blows that FM radio received right after the war, in a "
836 "series of rulings manipulated through the FCC by the big radio interests, "
837 "were almost incredible in their force and deviousness.<placeholder "
838 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
841 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
842 #: freeculture.xml:680
846 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
847 #: freeculture.xml:682
849 "To make room in the spectrum for RCA's latest gamble, television, FM radio "
850 "users were to be moved to a totally new spectrum band. The power of FM radio "
851 "stations was also cut, meaning FM could no longer be used to beam programs "
852 "from one part of the country to another. (This change was strongly "
853 "supported by AT&T, because the loss of FM relaying stations would mean "
854 "radio stations would have to buy wired links from AT&T.) The spread of "
855 "FM radio was thus choked, at least temporarily."
858 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
859 #: freeculture.xml:692
861 "Armstrong resisted RCA's efforts. In response, RCA resisted Armstrong's "
862 "patents. After incorporating FM technology into the emerging standard for "
863 "television, RCA declared the patents invalid—baselessly, and almost "
864 "fifteen years after they were issued. It thus refused to pay him "
865 "royalties. For six years, Armstrong fought an expensive war of litigation to "
866 "defend the patents. Finally, just as the patents expired, RCA offered a "
867 "settlement so low that it would not even cover Armstrong's lawyers' "
868 "fees. Defeated, broken, and now broke, in 1954 Armstrong wrote a short note "
869 "to his wife and then stepped out of a thirteenth-story window to his death."
873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
874 #: freeculture.xml:704
876 "This is how the law sometimes works. Not often this tragically, and rarely "
877 "with heroic drama, but sometimes, this is how it works. From the beginning, "
878 "government and government agencies have been subject to capture. They are "
879 "more likely captured when a powerful interest is threatened by either a "
880 "legal or technical change. That powerful interest too often exerts its "
881 "influence within the government to get the government to protect it. The "
882 "rhetoric of this protection is of course always public spirited; the reality "
883 "is something different. Ideas that were as solid as rock in one age, but "
884 "that, left to themselves, would crumble in another, are sustained through "
885 "this subtle corruption of our political process. RCA had what the Causbys "
886 "did not: the power to stifle the effect of technological change."
889 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
890 #: freeculture.xml:726
892 "Amanda Lenhart, \"The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A New Look at "
893 "Internet Access and the Digital Divide,\" Pew Internet and American Life "
894 "Project, 15 April 2003: 6, available at <ulink "
895 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #2</ulink>."
898 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
899 #: freeculture.xml:720
901 "There's no single inventor of the Internet. Nor is there any good date upon "
902 "which to mark its birth. Yet in a very short time, the Internet has become "
903 "part of ordinary American life. According to the Pew Internet and American "
904 "Life Project, 58 percent of Americans had access to the Internet in 2002, up "
905 "from 49 percent two years before.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
906 "That number could well exceed two thirds of the nation by the end of 2004."
909 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
910 #: freeculture.xml:735
912 "As the Internet has been integrated into ordinary life, it has changed "
913 "things. Some of these changes are technical—the Internet has made "
914 "communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so "
915 "on. These technical changes are not the focus of this book. They are "
916 "important. They are not well understood. But they are the sort of thing that "
917 "would simply go away if we all just switched the Internet off. They don't "
918 "affect people who don't use the Internet, or at least they don't affect them "
919 "directly. They are the proper subject of a book about the Internet. But this "
920 "is not a book about the Internet."
923 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
924 #: freeculture.xml:746
926 "Instead, this book is about an effect of the Internet beyond the Internet "
927 "itself: an effect upon how culture is made. My claim is that the Internet "
928 "has induced an important and unrecognized change in that process. That "
929 "change will radically transform a tradition that is as old as the Republic "
930 "itself. Most, if they recognized this change, would reject it. Yet most "
931 "don't even see the change that the Internet has introduced."
935 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
936 #: freeculture.xml:755
938 "We can glimpse a sense of this change by distinguishing between commercial "
939 "and noncommercial culture, and by mapping the law's regulation of each. By "
940 "\"commercial culture\" I mean that part of our culture that is produced and "
941 "sold or produced to be sold. By \"noncommercial culture\" I mean all the "
942 "rest. When old men sat around parks or on street corners telling stories "
943 "that kids and others consumed, that was noncommercial culture. When Noah "
944 "Webster published his \"Reader,\" or Joel Barlow his poetry, that was "
945 "commercial culture."
948 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
949 #: freeculture.xml:767
951 "At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our "
952 "tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated. Of course, if "
953 "your stories were lewd, or if your song disturbed the peace, then the law "
954 "might intervene. But the law was never directly concerned with the creation "
955 "or spread of this form of culture, and it left this culture \"free.\" The "
956 "ordinary ways in which ordinary individuals shared and transformed their "
957 "culture—telling stories, reenacting scenes from plays or TV, "
958 "participating in fan clubs, sharing music, making tapes—were left "
962 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
963 #: freeculture.xml:792 freeculture.xml:1793 freeculture.xml:1804
964 msgid "Brandeis, Louis D."
967 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
968 #: freeculture.xml:784
970 "This is not the only purpose of copyright, though it is the overwhelmingly "
971 "primary purpose of the copyright established in the federal constitution. "
972 "State copyright law historically protected not just the commercial interest "
973 "in publication, but also a privacy interest. By granting authors the "
974 "exclusive right to first publication, state copyright law gave authors the "
975 "power to control the spread of facts about them. See Samuel D. Warren and "
976 "Louis D. Brandeis, \"The Right to Privacy,\" Harvard Law Review 4 (1890): "
977 "193, 198–200. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
980 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
981 #: freeculture.xml:778
983 "The focus of the law was on commercial creativity. At first slightly, then "
984 "quite extensively, the law protected the incentives of creators by granting "
985 "them exclusive rights to their creative work, so that they could sell those "
986 "exclusive rights in a commercial marketplace.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
987 "id=\"0\"/> This is also, of course, an important part of creativity and "
988 "culture, and it has become an increasingly important part in America. But in "
989 "no sense was it dominant within our tradition. It was instead just one part, "
990 "a controlled part, balanced with the free."
993 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
994 #: freeculture.xml:802
996 "See Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright (New York: Prometheus Books, 2001), "
1000 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1001 #: freeculture.xml:800
1003 "This rough divide between the free and the controlled has now been "
1004 "erased.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Internet has set the "
1005 "stage for this erasure and, pushed by big media, the law has now affected "
1006 "it. For the first time in our tradition, the ordinary ways in which "
1007 "individuals create and share culture fall within the reach of the regulation "
1008 "of the law, which has expanded to draw within its control a vast amount of "
1009 "culture and creativity that it never reached before. The technology that "
1010 "preserved the balance of our history—between uses of our culture that "
1011 "were free and uses of our culture that were only upon permission—has "
1012 "been undone. The consequence is that we are less and less a free culture, "
1013 "more and more a permission culture."
1016 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1017 #: freeculture.xml:818
1019 "This change gets justified as necessary to protect commercial creativity. "
1020 "And indeed, protectionism is precisely its motivation. But the protectionism "
1021 "that justifies the changes that I will describe below is not the limited and "
1022 "balanced sort that has defined the law in the past. This is not a "
1023 "protectionism to protect artists. It is instead a protectionism to protect "
1024 "certain forms of business. Corporations threatened by the potential of the "
1025 "Internet to change the way both commercial and noncommercial culture are "
1026 "made and shared have united to induce lawmakers to use the law to protect "
1027 "them. It is the story of RCA and Armstrong; it is the dream of the Causbys."
1030 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1031 #: freeculture.xml:831
1033 "For the Internet has unleashed an extraordinary possibility for many to "
1034 "participate in the process of building and cultivating a culture that "
1035 "reaches far beyond local boundaries. That power has changed the marketplace "
1036 "for making and cultivating culture generally, and that change in turn "
1037 "threatens established content industries. The Internet is thus to the "
1038 "industries that built and distributed content in the twentieth century what "
1039 "FM radio was to AM radio, or what the truck was to the railroad industry of "
1040 "the nineteenth century: the beginning of the end, or at least a substantial "
1041 "transformation. Digital technologies, tied to the Internet, could produce a "
1042 "vastly more competitive and vibrant market for building and cultivating "
1043 "culture; that market could include a much wider and more diverse range of "
1044 "creators; those creators could produce and distribute a much more vibrant "
1045 "range of creativity; and depending upon a few important factors, those "
1046 "creators could earn more on average from this system than creators do "
1047 "today—all so long as the RCAs of our day don't use the law to protect "
1048 "themselves against this competition."
1051 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1052 #: freeculture.xml:850
1054 "Yet, as I argue in the pages that follow, that is precisely what is "
1055 "happening in our culture today. These modern-day equivalents of the early "
1056 "twentieth-century radio or nineteenth-century railroads are using their "
1057 "power to get the law to protect them against this new, more efficient, more "
1058 "vibrant technology for building culture. They are succeeding in their plan "
1059 "to remake the Internet before the Internet remakes them."
1062 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1063 #: freeculture.xml:867
1065 "Amy Harmon, \"Black Hawk Download: Moving Beyond Music, Pirates Use New "
1066 "Tools to Turn the Net into an Illicit Video Club,\" New York Times, 17 "
1070 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1071 #: freeculture.xml:859
1073 "It doesn't seem this way to many. The battles over copyright and the "
1074 "Internet seem remote to most. To the few who follow them, they seem mainly "
1075 "about a much simpler brace of questions—whether \"piracy\" will be "
1076 "permitted, and whether \"property\" will be protected. The \"war\" that has "
1077 "been waged against the technologies of the Internet—what Motion "
1078 "Picture Association of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti calls his \"own "
1079 "terrorist war\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—has been "
1080 "framed as a battle about the rule of law and respect for property. To know "
1081 "which side to take in this war, most think that we need only decide whether "
1082 "we're for property or against it."
1085 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1086 #: freeculture.xml:876
1088 "If those really were the choices, then I would be with Jack Valenti and the "
1089 "content industry. I, too, am a believer in property, and especially in the "
1090 "importance of what Mr. Valenti nicely calls \"creative property.\" I believe "
1091 "that \"piracy\" is wrong, and that the law, properly tuned, should punish "
1092 "\"piracy,\" whether on or off the Internet."
1095 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1096 #: freeculture.xml:884
1098 "But those simple beliefs mask a much more fundamental question and a much "
1099 "more dramatic change. My fear is that unless we come to see this change, the "
1100 "war to rid the world of Internet \"pirates\" will also rid our culture of "
1101 "values that have been integral to our tradition from the start."
1104 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1105 #: freeculture.xml:898 freeculture.xml:14036
1106 msgid "Netanel, Neil Weinstock"
1109 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1110 #: freeculture.xml:896
1112 "Neil W. Netanel, \"Copyright and a Democratic Civil Society,\" Yale Law "
1113 "Journal 106 (1996): 283. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1116 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1117 #: freeculture.xml:890
1119 "These values built a tradition that, for at least the first 180 years of our "
1120 "Republic, guaranteed creators the right to build freely upon their past, and "
1121 "protected creators and innovators from either state or private control. The "
1122 "First Amendment protected creators against state control. And as Professor "
1123 "Neil Netanel powerfully argues,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1124 "copyright law, properly balanced, protected creators against private "
1125 "control. Our tradition was thus neither Soviet nor the tradition of "
1126 "patrons. It instead carved out a wide berth within which creators could "
1127 "cultivate and extend our culture."
1130 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1131 #: freeculture.xml:906
1133 "Yet the law's response to the Internet, when tied to changes in the "
1134 "technology of the Internet itself, has massively increased the effective "
1135 "regulation of creativity in America. To build upon or critique the culture "
1136 "around us one must ask, Oliver Twist–like, for permission first. "
1137 "Permission is, of course, often granted—but it is not often granted to "
1138 "the critical or the independent. We have built a kind of cultural nobility; "
1139 "those within the noble class live easily; those outside it don't. But it is "
1140 "nobility of any form that is alien to our tradition."
1143 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1144 #: freeculture.xml:918
1146 "The story that follows is about this war. Is it not about the \"centrality "
1147 "of technology\" to ordinary life. I don't believe in gods, digital or "
1148 "otherwise. Nor is it an effort to demonize any individual or group, for "
1149 "neither do I believe in a devil, corporate or otherwise. It is not a "
1150 "morality tale. Nor is it a call to jihad against an industry."
1153 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1154 #: freeculture.xml:926
1156 "It is instead an effort to understand a hopelessly destructive war inspired "
1157 "by the technologies of the Internet but reaching far beyond its code. And by "
1158 "understanding this battle, it is an effort to map peace. There is no good "
1159 "reason for the current struggle around Internet technologies to "
1160 "continue. There will be great harm to our tradition and culture if it is "
1161 "allowed to continue unchecked. We must come to understand the source of this "
1162 "war. We must resolve it soon."
1165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1166 #: freeculture.xml:937
1168 "Like the Causbys' battle, this war is, in part, about \"property.\" The "
1169 "property of this war is not as tangible as the Causbys', and no innocent "
1170 "chicken has yet to lose its life. Yet the ideas surrounding this "
1171 "\"property\" are as obvious to most as the Causbys' claim about the "
1172 "sacredness of their farm was to them. We are the Causbys. Most of us take "
1173 "for granted the extraordinarily powerful claims that the owners of "
1174 "\"intellectual property\" now assert. Most of us, like the Causbys, treat "
1175 "these claims as obvious. And hence we, like the Causbys, object when a new "
1176 "technology interferes with this property. It is as plain to us as it was to "
1177 "them that the new technologies of the Internet are \"trespassing\" upon "
1178 "legitimate claims of \"property.\" It is as plain to us as it was to them "
1179 "that the law should intervene to stop this trespass."
1183 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1184 #: freeculture.xml:954
1186 "And thus, when geeks and technologists defend their Armstrong or Wright "
1187 "brothers technology, most of us are simply unsympathetic. Common sense does "
1188 "not revolt. Unlike in the case of the unlucky Causbys, common sense is on "
1189 "the side of the property owners in this war. Unlike the lucky Wright "
1190 "brothers, the Internet has not inspired a revolution on its side."
1193 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1194 #: freeculture.xml:964
1196 "My hope is to push this common sense along. I have become increasingly "
1197 "amazed by the power of this idea of intellectual property and, more "
1198 "importantly, its power to disable critical thought by policy makers and "
1199 "citizens. There has never been a time in our history when more of our "
1200 "\"culture\" was as \"owned\" as it is now. And yet there has never been a "
1201 "time when the concentration of power to control the uses of culture has been "
1202 "as unquestioningly accepted as it is now."
1205 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1206 #: freeculture.xml:973
1208 "The puzzle is, Why? Is it because we have come to understand a truth about "
1209 "the value and importance of absolute property over ideas and culture? Is it "
1210 "because we have discovered that our tradition of rejecting such an absolute "
1214 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1215 #: freeculture.xml:979
1217 "Or is it because the idea of absolute property over ideas and culture "
1218 "benefits the RCAs of our time and fits our own unreflective intuitions?"
1221 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1222 #: freeculture.xml:983
1224 "Is the radical shift away from our tradition of free culture an instance of "
1225 "America correcting a mistake from its past, as we did after a bloody war "
1226 "with slavery, and as we are slowly doing with inequality? Or is the radical "
1227 "shift away from our tradition of free culture yet another example of a "
1228 "political system captured by a few powerful special interests?"
1231 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1232 #: freeculture.xml:990
1234 "Does common sense lead to the extremes on this question because common sense "
1235 "actually believes in these extremes? Or does common sense stand silent in "
1236 "the face of these extremes because, as with Armstrong versus RCA, the more "
1237 "powerful side has ensured that it has the more powerful view?"
1241 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1242 #: freeculture.xml:999
1244 "I don't mean to be mysterious. My own views are resolved. I believe it was "
1245 "right for common sense to revolt against the extremism of the Causbys. I "
1246 "believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme "
1247 "claims made today on behalf of \"intellectual property.\" What the law "
1248 "demands today is increasingly as silly as a sheriff arresting an airplane "
1249 "for trespass. But the consequences of this silliness will be much more "
1253 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1254 #: freeculture.xml:1009
1256 "The struggle that rages just now centers on two ideas: \"piracy\" and "
1257 "\"property.\" My aim in this book's next two parts is to explore these two "
1261 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1262 #: freeculture.xml:1014
1264 "My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don't want to plunge you "
1265 "into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French "
1266 "theorists—however natural that is for the weird sort we academics have "
1267 "become. Instead I begin in each part with a collection of stories that set a "
1268 "context within which these apparently simple ideas can be more fully "
1272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1273 #: freeculture.xml:1022
1275 "The two sections set up the core claim of this book: that while the Internet "
1276 "has indeed produced something fantastic and new, our government, pushed by "
1277 "big media to respond to this \"something new,\" is destroying something very "
1278 "old. Rather than understanding the changes the Internet might permit, and "
1279 "rather than taking time to let \"common sense\" resolve how best to respond, "
1280 "we are allowing those most threatened by the changes to use their power to "
1281 "change the law—and more importantly, to use their power to change "
1282 "something fundamental about who we have always been."
1285 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1286 #: freeculture.xml:1033
1288 "We allow this, I believe, not because it is right, and not because most of "
1289 "us really believe in these changes. We allow it because the interests most "
1290 "threatened are among the most powerful players in our depressingly "
1291 "compromised process of making law. This book is the story of one more "
1292 "consequence of this form of corruption—a consequence to which most of "
1293 "us remain oblivious."
1296 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
1297 #: freeculture.xml:1043
1301 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
1302 #: freeculture.xml:1047 freeculture.xml:4661
1303 msgid "Mansfield, William Murray, Lord"
1306 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1307 #: freeculture.xml:1050
1309 "Since the inception of the law regulating creative property, there has been "
1310 "a war against \"piracy.\" The precise contours of this concept, \"piracy,\" "
1311 "are hard to sketch, but the animating injustice is easy to capture. As Lord "
1312 "Mansfield wrote in a case that extended the reach of English copyright law "
1313 "to include sheet music,"
1317 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1318 #: freeculture.xml:1062
1319 msgid "Bach v. Longman, 98 Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777) (Mansfield)."
1322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
1323 #: freeculture.xml:1058
1325 "A person may use the copy by playing it, but he has no right to rob the "
1326 "author of the profit, by multiplying copies and disposing of them for his "
1327 "own use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1332 #: freeculture.xml:1068
1334 "Today we are in the middle of another \"war\" against \"piracy.\" The "
1335 "Internet has provoked this war. The Internet makes possible the efficient "
1336 "spread of content. Peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing is among the most "
1337 "efficient of the efficient technologies the Internet enables. Using "
1338 "distributed intelligence, p2p systems facilitate the easy spread of content "
1339 "in a way unimagined a generation ago."
1342 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1343 #: freeculture.xml:1077
1345 "This efficiency does not respect the traditional lines of copyright. The "
1346 "network doesn't discriminate between the sharing of copyrighted and "
1347 "uncopyrighted content. Thus has there been a vast amount of sharing of "
1348 "copyrighted content. That sharing in turn has excited the war, as copyright "
1349 "owners fear the sharing will \"rob the author of the profit.\""
1352 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1353 #: freeculture.xml:1085
1355 "The warriors have turned to the courts, to the legislatures, and "
1356 "increasingly to technology to defend their \"property\" against this "
1357 "\"piracy.\" A generation of Americans, the warriors warn, is being raised to "
1358 "believe that \"property\" should be \"free.\" Forget tattoos, never mind "
1359 "body piercing—our kids are becoming thieves!"
1362 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1363 #: freeculture.xml:1092
1365 "There's no doubt that \"piracy\" is wrong, and that pirates should be "
1366 "punished. But before we summon the executioners, we should put this notion "
1367 "of \"piracy\" in some context. For as the concept is increasingly used, at "
1368 "its core is an extraordinary idea that is almost certainly wrong."
1371 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1372 #: freeculture.xml:1098
1373 msgid "The idea goes something like this:"
1376 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
1377 #: freeculture.xml:1102
1379 "Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative "
1380 "work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take "
1381 "something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The "
1382 "taking of something of value from someone else without permission is "
1383 "wrong. It is a form of piracy."
1386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1387 #: freeculture.xml:1110
1388 msgid "Dreyfuss, Rochelle"
1392 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1393 #: freeculture.xml:1116
1395 "See Rochelle Dreyfuss, \"Expressive Genericity: Trademarks as Language in "
1396 "the Pepsi Generation,\" Notre Dame Law Review 65 (1990): 397."
1399 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1400 #: freeculture.xml:1129 freeculture.xml:6751
1401 msgid "Zittrain, Jonathan"
1404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1405 #: freeculture.xml:1124
1407 "Lisa Bannon, \"The Birds May Sing, but Campers Can't Unless They Pay Up,\" "
1408 "Wall Street Journal, 21 August 1996, available at <ulink "
1409 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #3</ulink>; Jonathan Zittrain, "
1410 "\"Calling Off the Copyright War: In Battle of Property vs. Free Speech, No "
1411 "One Wins,\" Boston Globe, 24 November 2002. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
1415 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1416 #: freeculture.xml:1112
1418 "This view runs deep within the current debates. It is what NYU law professor "
1419 "Rochelle Dreyfuss criticizes as the \"if value, then right\" theory of "
1420 "creative property<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> —if there "
1421 "is value, then someone must have a right to that value. It is the "
1422 "perspective that led a composers' rights organization, ASCAP, to sue the "
1423 "Girl Scouts for failing to pay for the songs that girls sang around Girl "
1424 "Scout campfires.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> There was "
1425 "\"value\" (the songs) so there must have been a \"right\"—even against "
1429 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1430 #: freeculture.xml:1134
1435 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1436 #: freeculture.xml:1136
1438 "This idea is certainly a possible understanding of how creative property "
1439 "should work. It might well be a possible design for a system of law "
1440 "protecting creative property. But the \"if value, then right\" theory of "
1441 "creative property has never been America's theory of creative property. It "
1442 "has never taken hold within our law."
1445 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1446 #: freeculture.xml:1144
1448 "Instead, in our tradition, intellectual property is an instrument. It sets "
1449 "the groundwork for a richly creative society but remains subservient to the "
1450 "value of creativity. The current debate has this turned around. We have "
1451 "become so concerned with protecting the instrument that we are losing sight "
1455 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1456 #: freeculture.xml:1151
1458 "The source of this confusion is a distinction that the law no longer takes "
1459 "care to draw—the distinction between republishing someone's work on "
1460 "the one hand and building upon or transforming that work on the "
1461 "other. Copyright law at its birth had only publishing as its concern; "
1462 "copyright law today regulates both."
1465 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1466 #: freeculture.xml:1158
1468 "Before the technologies of the Internet, this conflation didn't matter all "
1469 "that much. The technologies of publishing were expensive; that meant the "
1470 "vast majority of publishing was commercial. Commercial entities could bear "
1471 "the burden of the law—even the burden of the Byzantine complexity that "
1472 "copyright law has become. It was just one more expense of doing business."
1475 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1476 #: freeculture.xml:1165 freeculture.xml:1193
1477 msgid "Florida, Richard"
1480 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1481 #: freeculture.xml:1186
1483 "In The Rise of the Creative Class (New York: Basic Books, 2002), Richard "
1484 "Florida documents a shift in the nature of labor toward a labor of "
1485 "creativity. His work, however, doesn't directly address the legal "
1486 "conditions under which that creativity is enabled or stifled. I certainly "
1487 "agree with him about the importance and significance of this change, but I "
1488 "also believe the conditions under which it will be enabled are much more "
1489 "tenuous. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1492 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1493 #: freeculture.xml:1167
1495 "But with the birth of the Internet, this natural limit to the reach of the "
1496 "law has disappeared. The law controls not just the creativity of commercial "
1497 "creators but effectively that of anyone. Although that expansion would not "
1498 "matter much if copyright law regulated only \"copying,\" when the law "
1499 "regulates as broadly and obscurely as it does, the extension matters a "
1500 "lot. The burden of this law now vastly outweighs any original "
1501 "benefit—certainly as it affects noncommercial creativity, and "
1502 "increasingly as it affects commercial creativity as well. Thus, as we'll see "
1503 "more clearly in the chapters below, the law's role is less and less to "
1504 "support creativity, and more and more to protect certain industries against "
1505 "competition. Just at the time digital technology could unleash an "
1506 "extraordinary range of commercial and noncommercial creativity, the law "
1507 "burdens this creativity with insanely complex and vague rules and with the "
1508 "threat of obscenely severe penalties. We may be seeing, as Richard Florida "
1509 "writes, the \"Rise of the Creative Class.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
1510 "id=\"0\"/> Unfortunately, we are also seeing an extraordinary rise of "
1511 "regulation of this creative class."
1514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1515 #: freeculture.xml:1199
1517 "These burdens make no sense in our tradition. We should begin by "
1518 "understanding that tradition a bit more and by placing in their proper "
1519 "context the current battles about behavior labeled \"piracy.\""
1522 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
1523 #: freeculture.xml:1206
1524 msgid "CHAPTER ONE: Creators"
1527 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1528 #: freeculture.xml:1208
1530 "In 1928, a cartoon character was born. An early Mickey Mouse made his debut "
1531 "in May of that year, in a silent flop called Plane Crazy. In November, in "
1532 "New York City's Colony Theater, in the first widely distributed cartoon "
1533 "synchronized with sound, Steamboat Willie brought to life the character that "
1534 "would become Mickey Mouse."
1537 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1538 #: freeculture.xml:1215
1540 "Synchronized sound had been introduced to film a year earlier in the movie "
1541 "The Jazz Singer. That success led Walt Disney to copy the technique and mix "
1542 "sound with cartoons. No one knew whether it would work or, if it did work, "
1543 "whether it would win an audience. But when Disney ran a test in the summer "
1544 "of 1928, the results were unambiguous. As Disney describes that first "
1549 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
1550 #: freeculture.xml:1224
1552 "A couple of my boys could read music, and one of them could play a mouth "
1553 "organ. We put them in a room where they could not see the screen and "
1554 "arranged to pipe their sound into the room where our wives and friends were "
1555 "going to see the picture."
1558 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
1559 #: freeculture.xml:1231
1561 "The boys worked from a music and sound-effects score. After several false "
1562 "starts, sound and action got off with the gun. The mouth organist played the "
1563 "tune, the rest of us in the sound department bammed tin pans and blew slide "
1564 "whistles on the beat. The synchronization was pretty close."
1568 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1569 #: freeculture.xml:1244
1571 "Leonard Maltin, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons "
1572 "(New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 34–35."
1575 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
1576 #: freeculture.xml:1238
1578 "The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They "
1579 "responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion. I thought "
1580 "they were kidding me. So they put me in the audience and ran the action "
1581 "again. It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something "
1582 "new!<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1585 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
1586 #: freeculture.xml:1253
1590 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1591 #: freeculture.xml:1250
1593 "Disney's then partner, and one of animation's most extraordinary talents, Ub "
1594 "Iwerks, put it more strongly: \"I have never been so thrilled in my "
1595 "life. Nothing since has ever equaled it.\" <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
1599 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1600 #: freeculture.xml:1256
1602 "Disney had created something very new, based upon something relatively "
1603 "new. Synchronized sound brought life to a form of creativity that had "
1604 "rarely—except in Disney's hands—been anything more than filler "
1605 "for other films. Throughout animation's early history, it was Disney's "
1606 "invention that set the standard that others struggled to match. And quite "
1607 "often, Disney's great genius, his spark of creativity, was built upon the "
1611 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1612 #: freeculture.xml:1265
1614 "This much is familiar. What you might not know is that 1928 also marks "
1615 "another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to cartoon) "
1616 "genius created his last independently produced silent film. That genius was "
1617 "Buster Keaton. The film was Steamboat Bill, Jr."
1620 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1621 #: freeculture.xml:1271
1623 "Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in 1895. In the era of silent film, "
1624 "he had mastered using broad physical comedy as a way to spark uncontrollable "
1625 "laughter from his audience. Steamboat Bill, Jr. was a classic of this form, "
1626 "famous among film buffs for its incredible stunts. The film was classic "
1627 "Keaton—wildly popular and among the best of its genre."
1631 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1632 #: freeculture.xml:1284
1634 "I am grateful to David Gerstein and his careful history, described at <ulink "
1635 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #4</ulink>. According to Dave "
1636 "Smith of the Disney Archives, Disney paid royalties to use the music for "
1637 "five songs in Steamboat Willie: \"Steamboat Bill,\" \"The Simpleton\" "
1638 "(Delille), \"Mischief Makers\" (Carbonara), \"Joyful Hurry No. 1\" (Baron), "
1639 "and \"Gawky Rube\" (Lakay). A sixth song, \"The Turkey in the Straw,\" was "
1640 "already in the public domain. Letter from David Smith to Harry Surden, 10 "
1641 "July 2003, on file with author."
1644 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1645 #: freeculture.xml:1279
1647 "Steamboat Bill, Jr. appeared before Disney's cartoon Steamboat Willie. The "
1648 "coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat Willie is a direct "
1649 "cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1650 "and both are built upon a common song as a source. It is not just from the "
1651 "invention of synchronized sound in The Jazz Singer that we get Steamboat "
1652 "Willie. It is also from Buster Keaton's invention of Steamboat Bill, Jr., "
1653 "itself inspired by the song \"Steamboat Bill,\" that we get Steamboat "
1654 "Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse."
1658 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1659 #: freeculture.xml:1305
1661 "He was also a fan of the public domain. See Chris Sprigman, \"The Mouse that "
1662 "Ate the Public Domain,\" Findlaw, 5 March 2002, at <ulink "
1663 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #5</ulink>."
1666 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1667 #: freeculture.xml:1301
1669 "This \"borrowing\" was nothing unique, either for Disney or for the "
1670 "industry. Disney was always parroting the feature-length mainstream films of "
1671 "his day.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> So did many others. Early "
1672 "cartoons are filled with knockoffs—slight variations on winning "
1673 "themes; retellings of ancient stories. The key to success was the brilliance "
1674 "of the differences. With Disney, it was sound that gave his animation its "
1675 "spark. Later, it was the quality of his work relative to the production-line "
1676 "cartoons with which he competed. Yet these additions were built upon a base "
1677 "that was borrowed. Disney added to the work of others before him, creating "
1678 "something new out of something just barely old."
1681 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1682 #: freeculture.xml:1320
1684 "Sometimes this borrowing was slight. Sometimes it was significant. Think "
1685 "about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. If you're as oblivious as I "
1686 "was, you're likely to think that these tales are happy, sweet stories, "
1687 "appropriate for any child at bedtime. In fact, the Grimm fairy tales are, "
1688 "well, for us, grim. It is a rare and perhaps overly ambitious parent who "
1689 "would dare to read these bloody, moralistic stories to his or her child, at "
1690 "bedtime or anytime."
1694 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1695 #: freeculture.xml:1329
1697 "Disney took these stories and retold them in a way that carried them into a "
1698 "new age. He animated the stories, with both characters and light. Without "
1699 "removing the elements of fear and danger altogether, he made funny what was "
1700 "dark and injected a genuine emotion of compassion where before there was "
1701 "fear. And not just with the work of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed, the catalog "
1702 "of Disney work drawing upon the work of others is astonishing when set "
1703 "together: Snow White (1937), Fantasia (1940), Pinocchio (1940), Dumbo "
1704 "(1941), Bambi (1942), Song of the South (1946), Cinderella (1950), Alice in "
1705 "Wonderland (1951), Robin Hood (1952), Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp "
1706 "(1955), Mulan (1998), Sleeping Beauty (1959), 101 Dalmatians (1961), The "
1707 "Sword in the Stone (1963), and The Jungle Book (1967)—not to mention a "
1708 "recent example that we should perhaps quickly forget, Treasure Planet "
1709 "(2003). In all of these cases, Disney (or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity "
1710 "from the culture around him, mixed that creativity with his own "
1711 "extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into the soul of his "
1712 "culture. Rip, mix, and burn."
1715 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1716 #: freeculture.xml:1349
1718 "This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should remember and "
1719 "celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no creativity except "
1720 "this kind. We don't need to go that far to recognize its importance. We "
1721 "could call this \"Disney creativity,\" though that would be a bit "
1722 "misleading. It is, more precisely, \"Walt Disney creativity\"—a form "
1723 "of expression and genius that builds upon the culture around us and makes it "
1724 "something different."
1728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1729 #: freeculture.xml:1363
1731 "Until 1976, copyright law granted an author the possibility of two terms: an "
1732 "initial term and a renewal term. I have calculated the \"average\" term by "
1733 "determining the weighted average of total registrations for any particular "
1734 "year, and the proportion renewing. Thus, if 100 copyrights are registered in "
1735 "year 1, and only 15 are renewed, and the renewal term is 28 years, then the "
1736 "average term is 32.2 years. For the renewal data and other relevant data, "
1737 "see the Web site associated with this book, available at <ulink "
1738 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #6</ulink>."
1741 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1742 #: freeculture.xml:1357
1744 "In 1928, the culture that Disney was free to draw upon was relatively "
1745 "fresh. The public domain in 1928 was not very old and was therefore quite "
1746 "vibrant. The average term of copyright was just around thirty "
1747 "years—for that minority of creative work that was in fact "
1748 "copyrighted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That means that for "
1749 "thirty years, on average, the authors or copyright holders of a creative "
1750 "work had an \"exclusive right\" to control certain uses of the work. To use "
1751 "this copyrighted work in limited ways required the permission of the "
1755 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1756 #: freeculture.xml:1380
1758 "At the end of a copyright term, a work passes into the public domain. No "
1759 "permission is then needed to draw upon or use that work. No permission and, "
1760 "hence, no lawyers. The public domain is a \"lawyer-free zone.\" Thus, most "
1761 "of the content from the nineteenth century was free for Disney to use and "
1762 "build upon in 1928. It was free for anyone— whether connected or not, "
1763 "whether rich or not, whether approved or not—to use and build upon."
1767 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1768 #: freeculture.xml:1389
1770 "This is the ways things always were—until quite recently. For most of "
1771 "our history, the public domain was just over the horizon. From until 1978, "
1772 "the average copyright term was never more than thirty-two years, meaning "
1773 "that most culture just a generation and a half old was free for anyone to "
1774 "build upon without the permission of anyone else. Today's equivalent would "
1775 "be for creative work from the 1960s and 1970s to now be free for the next "
1776 "Walt Disney to build upon without permission. Yet today, the public domain "
1777 "is presumptive only for content from before the Great Depression."
1780 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1781 #: freeculture.xml:1402
1783 "Of course, Walt Disney had no monopoly on \"Walt Disney creativity.\" Nor "
1784 "does America. The norm of free culture has, until recently, and except "
1785 "within totalitarian nations, been broadly exploited and quite universal."
1788 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1789 #: freeculture.xml:1408
1791 "Consider, for example, a form of creativity that seems strange to many "
1792 "Americans but that is inescapable within Japanese culture: manga, or "
1793 "comics. The Japanese are fanatics about comics. Some 40 percent of "
1794 "publications are comics, and 30 percent of publication revenue derives from "
1795 "comics. They are everywhere in Japanese society, at every magazine stand, "
1796 "carried by a large proportion of commuters on Japan's extraordinary system "
1797 "of public transportation."
1800 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1801 #: freeculture.xml:1417
1803 "Americans tend to look down upon this form of culture. That's an "
1804 "unattractive characteristic of ours. We're likely to misunderstand much "
1805 "about manga, because few of us have ever read anything close to the stories "
1806 "that these \"graphic novels\" tell. For the Japanese, manga cover every "
1807 "aspect of social life. For us, comics are \"men in tights.\" And anyway, "
1808 "it's not as if the New York subways are filled with readers of Joyce or even "
1809 "Hemingway. People of different cultures distract themselves in different "
1810 "ways, the Japanese in this interestingly different way."
1813 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1814 #: freeculture.xml:1428
1816 "But my purpose here is not to understand manga. It is to describe a variant "
1817 "on manga that from a lawyer's perspective is quite odd, but from a Disney "
1818 "perspective is quite familiar."
1822 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1823 #: freeculture.xml:1433
1825 "This is the phenomenon of doujinshi. Doujinshi are also comics, but they are "
1826 "a kind of copycat comic. A rich ethic governs the creation of doujinshi. It "
1827 "is not doujinshi if it is just a copy; the artist must make a contribution "
1828 "to the art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly. A "
1829 "doujinshi comic can thus take a mainstream comic and develop it "
1830 "differently—with a different story line. Or the comic can keep the "
1831 "character in character but change its look slightly. There is no formula for "
1832 "what makes the doujinshi sufficiently \"different.\" But they must be "
1833 "different if they are to be considered true doujinshi. Indeed, there are "
1834 "committees that review doujinshi for inclusion within shows and reject any "
1835 "copycat comic that is merely a copy."
1838 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1839 #: freeculture.xml:1447
1841 "These copycat comics are not a tiny part of the manga market. They are "
1842 "huge. More than 33,000 \"circles\" of creators from across Japan produce "
1843 "these bits of Walt Disney creativity. More than 450,000 Japanese come "
1844 "together twice a year, in the largest public gathering in the country, to "
1845 "exchange and sell them. This market exists in parallel to the mainstream "
1846 "commercial manga market. In some ways, it obviously competes with that "
1847 "market, but there is no sustained effort by those who control the commercial "
1848 "manga market to shut the doujinshi market down. It flourishes, despite the "
1849 "competition and despite the law."
1852 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1853 #: freeculture.xml:1458
1855 "The most puzzling feature of the doujinshi market, for those trained in the "
1856 "law, at least, is that it is allowed to exist at all. Under Japanese "
1857 "copyright law, which in this respect (on paper) mirrors American copyright "
1858 "law, the doujinshi market is an illegal one. Doujinshi are plainly "
1859 "\"derivative works.\" There is no general practice by doujinshi artists of "
1860 "securing the permission of the manga creators. Instead, the practice is "
1861 "simply to take and modify the creations of others, as Walt Disney did with "
1862 "Steamboat Bill, Jr. Under both Japanese and American law, that \"taking\" "
1863 "without the permission of the original copyright owner is illegal. It is an "
1864 "infringement of the original copyright to make a copy or a derivative work "
1865 "without the original copyright owner's permission."
1868 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
1869 #: freeculture.xml:1472
1870 msgid "Winick, Judd"
1874 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1875 #: freeculture.xml:1485
1877 "For an excellent history, see Scott McCloud, Reinventing Comics (New York: "
1881 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1882 #: freeculture.xml:1475
1884 "Yet this illegal market exists and indeed flourishes in Japan, and in the "
1885 "view of many, it is precisely because it exists that Japanese manga "
1886 "flourish. As American graphic novelist Judd Winick said to me, \"The early "
1887 "days of comics in America are very much like what's going on in Japan "
1888 "now. . . . American comics were born out of copying each other. . . . That's "
1889 "how [the artists] learn to draw—by going into comic books and not "
1890 "tracing them, but looking at them and copying them\" and building from "
1891 "them.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1895 #: freeculture.xml:1490
1897 "American comics now are quite different, Winick explains, in part because of "
1898 "the legal difficulty of adapting comics the way doujinshi are "
1899 "allowed. Speaking of Superman, Winick told me, \"there are these rules and "
1900 "you have to stick to them.\" There are things Superman \"cannot\" do. \"As a "
1901 "creator, it's frustrating having to stick to some parameters which are fifty "
1906 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1907 #: freeculture.xml:1507
1909 "See Salil K. Mehra, \"Copyright and Comics in Japan: Does Law Explain Why "
1910 "All the Comics My Kid Watches Are Japanese Imports?\" Rutgers Law Review 55 "
1911 "(2002): 155, 182. \"[T]here might be a collective economic rationality that "
1912 "would lead manga and anime artists to forgo bringing legal actions for "
1913 "infringement. One hypothesis is that all manga artists may be better off "
1914 "collectively if they set aside their individual self-interest and decide not "
1915 "to press their legal rights. This is essentially a prisoner's dilemma "
1919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1920 #: freeculture.xml:1499
1922 "The norm in Japan mitigates this legal difficulty. Some say it is precisely "
1923 "the benefit accruing to the Japanese manga market that explains the "
1924 "mitigation. Temple University law professor Salil Mehra, for example, "
1925 "hypothesizes that the manga market accepts these technical violations "
1926 "because they spur the manga market to be more wealthy and "
1927 "productive. Everyone would be worse off if doujinshi were banned, so the law "
1928 "does not ban doujinshi.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1931 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1932 #: freeculture.xml:1518
1934 "The problem with this story, however, as Mehra plainly acknowledges, is that "
1935 "the mechanism producing this laissez faire response is not clear. It may "
1936 "well be that the market as a whole is better off if doujinshi are permitted "
1937 "rather than banned, but that doesn't explain why individual copyright owners "
1938 "don't sue nonetheless. If the law has no general exception for doujinshi, "
1939 "and indeed in some cases individual manga artists have sued doujinshi "
1940 "artists, why is there not a more general pattern of blocking this \"free "
1941 "taking\" by the doujinshi culture?"
1944 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1945 #: freeculture.xml:1529
1947 "I spent four wonderful months in Japan, and I asked this question as often "
1948 "as I could. Perhaps the best account in the end was offered by a friend from "
1949 "a major Japanese law firm. \"We don't have enough lawyers,\" he told me one "
1950 "afternoon. There \"just aren't enough resources to prosecute cases like "
1955 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1956 #: freeculture.xml:1536
1958 "This is a theme to which we will return: that regulation by law is a "
1959 "function of both the words on the books and the costs of making those words "
1960 "have effect. For now, focus on the obvious question that is begged: Would "
1961 "Japan be better off with more lawyers? Would manga be richer if doujinshi "
1962 "artists were regularly prosecuted? Would the Japanese gain something "
1963 "important if they could end this practice of uncompensated sharing? Does "
1964 "piracy here hurt the victims of the piracy, or does it help them? Would "
1965 "lawyers fighting this piracy help their clients or hurt them? Let's pause "
1969 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1970 #: freeculture.xml:1549
1972 "If you're like I was a decade ago, or like most people are when they first "
1973 "start thinking about these issues, then just about now you should be puzzled "
1974 "about something you hadn't thought through before."
1978 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
1979 #: freeculture.xml:1559
1981 "The term intellectual property is of relatively recent origin. See Siva "
1982 "Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, 11 (New York: New York University "
1983 "Press, 2001). See also Lawrence Lessig, The Future of Ideas (New York: "
1984 "Random House, 2001), 293 n. 26. The term accurately describes a set of "
1985 "\"property\" rights—copyright, patents, trademark, and "
1986 "trade-secret—but the nature of those rights is very different."
1989 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
1990 #: freeculture.xml:1554
1992 "We live in a world that celebrates \"property.\" I am one of those "
1993 "celebrants. I believe in the value of property in general, and I also "
1994 "believe in the value of that weird form of property that lawyers call "
1995 "\"intellectual property.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A large, "
1996 "diverse society cannot survive without property; a large, diverse, and "
1997 "modern society cannot flourish without intellectual property."
2000 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2001 #: freeculture.xml:1572
2003 "But it takes just a second's reflection to realize that there is plenty of "
2004 "value out there that \"property\" doesn't capture. I don't mean \"money "
2005 "can't buy you love,\" but rather, value that is plainly part of a process of "
2006 "production, including commercial as well as noncommercial production. If "
2007 "Disney animators had stolen a set of pencils to draw Steamboat Willie, we'd "
2008 "have no hesitation in condemning that taking as wrong— even though "
2009 "trivial, even if unnoticed. Yet there was nothing wrong, at least under the "
2010 "law of the day, with Disney's taking from Buster Keaton or from the Brothers "
2011 "Grimm. There was nothing wrong with the taking from Keaton because Disney's "
2012 "use would have been considered \"fair.\" There was nothing wrong with the "
2013 "taking from the Grimms because the Grimms' work was in the public domain."
2017 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2018 #: freeculture.xml:1587
2020 "Thus, even though the things that Disney took—or more generally, the "
2021 "things taken by anyone exercising Walt Disney creativity—are valuable, "
2022 "our tradition does not treat those takings as wrong. Some things remain free "
2023 "for the taking within a free culture, and that freedom is good."
2026 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2027 #: freeculture.xml:1596
2029 "The same with the doujinshi culture. If a doujinshi artist broke into a "
2030 "publisher's office and ran off with a thousand copies of his latest "
2031 "work—or even one copy—without paying, we'd have no hesitation in "
2032 "saying the artist was wrong. In addition to having trespassed, he would have "
2033 "stolen something of value. The law bans that stealing in whatever form, "
2034 "whether large or small."
2037 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2038 #: freeculture.xml:1604
2040 "Yet there is an obvious reluctance, even among Japanese lawyers, to say that "
2041 "the copycat comic artists are \"stealing.\" This form of Walt Disney "
2042 "creativity is seen as fair and right, even if lawyers in particular find it "
2046 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2047 #: freeculture.xml:1610
2049 "It's the same with a thousand examples that appear everywhere once you begin "
2050 "to look. Scientists build upon the work of other scientists without asking "
2051 "or paying for the privilege. (\"Excuse me, Professor Einstein, but may I "
2052 "have permission to use your theory of relativity to show that you were wrong "
2053 "about quantum physics?\") Acting companies perform adaptations of the works "
2054 "of Shakespeare without securing permission from anyone. (Does anyone believe "
2055 "Shakespeare would be better spread within our culture if there were a "
2056 "central Shakespeare rights clearinghouse that all productions of Shakespeare "
2057 "must appeal to first?) And Hollywood goes through cycles with a certain kind "
2058 "of movie: five asteroid films in the late 1990s; two volcano disaster films "
2063 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2064 #: freeculture.xml:1624
2066 "Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the "
2067 "creativity that went before and that surrounds them now. That building is "
2068 "always and everywhere at least partially done without permission and without "
2069 "compensating the original creator. No society, free or controlled, has ever "
2070 "demanded that every use be paid for or that permission for Walt Disney "
2071 "creativity must always be sought. Instead, every society has left a certain "
2072 "bit of its culture free for the taking—free societies more fully than "
2073 "unfree, perhaps, but all societies to some degree."
2076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2077 #: freeculture.xml:1635
2079 "The hard question is therefore not whether a culture is free. All cultures "
2080 "are free to some degree. The hard question instead is \"How free is this "
2081 "culture?\" How much, and how broadly, is the culture free for others to take "
2082 "and build upon? Is that freedom limited to party members? To members of the "
2083 "royal family? To the top ten corporations on the New York Stock Exchange? Or "
2084 "is that freedom spread broadly? To artists generally, whether affiliated "
2085 "with the Met or not? To musicians generally, whether white or not? To "
2086 "filmmakers generally, whether affiliated with a studio or not?"
2089 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2090 #: freeculture.xml:1646
2092 "Free cultures are cultures that leave a great deal open for others to build "
2093 "upon; unfree, or permission, cultures leave much less. Ours was a free "
2094 "culture. It is becoming much less so."
2097 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
2098 #: freeculture.xml:1654
2099 msgid "CHAPTER TWO: \"Mere Copyists\""
2102 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2103 #: freeculture.xml:1655
2104 msgid "Daguerre, Louis"
2107 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2108 #: freeculture.xml:1657
2110 "In 1839, Louis Daguerre invented the first practical technology for "
2111 "producing what we would call \"photographs.\" Appropriately enough, they "
2112 "were called \"daguerreotypes.\" The process was complicated and expensive, "
2113 "and the field was thus limited to professionals and a few zealous and "
2114 "wealthy amateurs. (There was even an American Daguerre Association that "
2115 "helped regulate the industry, as do all such associations, by keeping "
2116 "competition down so as to keep prices up.)"
2119 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2120 #: freeculture.xml:1666
2122 "Yet despite high prices, the demand for daguerreotypes was strong. This "
2123 "pushed inventors to find simpler and cheaper ways to make \"automatic "
2124 "pictures.\" William Talbot soon discovered a process for making "
2125 "\"negatives.\" But because the negatives were glass, and had to be kept wet, "
2126 "the process still remained expensive and cumbersome. In the 1870s, dry "
2127 "plates were developed, making it easier to separate the taking of a picture "
2128 "from its developing. These were still plates of glass, and thus it was still "
2129 "not a process within reach of most amateurs."
2132 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2133 #: freeculture.xml:1677
2134 msgid "Eastman, George"
2138 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2139 #: freeculture.xml:1680
2141 "The technological change that made mass photography possible didn't happen "
2142 "until 1888, and was the creation of a single man. George Eastman, himself an "
2143 "amateur photographer, was frustrated by the technology of photographs made "
2144 "with plates. In a flash of insight (so to speak), Eastman saw that if the "
2145 "film could be made to be flexible, it could be held on a single "
2146 "spindle. That roll could then be sent to a developer, driving the costs of "
2147 "photography down substantially. By lowering the costs, Eastman expected he "
2148 "could dramatically broaden the population of photographers."
2152 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2153 #: freeculture.xml:1697
2155 "Reese V. Jenkins, Images and Enterprise (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University "
2156 "Press, 1975), 112."
2159 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2160 #: freeculture.xml:1692
2162 "Eastman developed flexible, emulsion-coated paper film and placed rolls of "
2163 "it in small, simple cameras: the Kodak. The device was marketed on the basis "
2164 "of its simplicity. \"You press the button and we do the rest.\"<placeholder "
2165 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As he described in The Kodak Primer:"
2168 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2169 #: freeculture.xml:1715 freeculture.xml:1738
2173 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
2174 #: freeculture.xml:1713
2176 "Brian Coe, The Birth of Photography (New York: Taplinger Publishing, 1977), "
2177 "53. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
2181 #: freeculture.xml:1702
2183 "The principle of the Kodak system is the separation of the work that any "
2184 "person whomsoever can do in making a photograph, from the work that only an "
2185 "expert can do. . . . We furnish anybody, man, woman or child, who has "
2186 "sufficient intelligence to point a box straight and press a button, with an "
2187 "instrument which altogether removes from the practice of photography the "
2188 "necessity for exceptional facilities or, in fact, any special knowledge of "
2189 "the art. It can be employed without preliminary study, without a darkroom "
2190 "and without chemicals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2194 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2195 #: freeculture.xml:1731
2196 msgid "Jenkins, 177."
2200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2201 #: freeculture.xml:1735
2202 msgid "Based on a chart in Jenkins, p. 178."
2205 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2206 #: freeculture.xml:1720
2208 "For $25, anyone could make pictures. The camera came preloaded with film, "
2209 "and when it had been used, the camera was returned to an Eastman factory, "
2210 "where the film was developed. Over time, of course, the cost of the camera "
2211 "and the ease with which it could be used both improved. Roll film thus "
2212 "became the basis for the explosive growth of popular photography. Eastman's "
2213 "camera first went on sale in 1888; one year later, Kodak was printing more "
2214 "than six thousand negatives a day. From 1888 through 1909, while industrial "
2215 "production was rising by 4.7 percent, photographic equipment and material "
2216 "sales increased by percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Eastman "
2217 "Kodak's sales during the same period experienced an average annual increase "
2218 "of over 17 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2222 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2223 #: freeculture.xml:1753
2227 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2228 #: freeculture.xml:1742
2230 "The real significance of Eastman's invention, however, was not economic. It "
2231 "was social. Professional photography gave individuals a glimpse of places "
2232 "they would never otherwise see. Amateur photography gave them the ability to "
2233 "record their own lives in a way they had never been able to do before. As "
2234 "author Brian Coe notes, \"For the first time the snapshot album provided the "
2235 "man on the street with a permanent record of his family and its "
2236 "activities. . . . For the first time in history there exists an authentic "
2237 "visual record of the appearance and activities of the common man made "
2238 "without [literary] interpretation or bias.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2242 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2243 #: freeculture.xml:1757
2245 "In this way, the Kodak camera and film were technologies of expression. The "
2246 "pencil or paintbrush was also a technology of expression, of course. But it "
2247 "took years of training before they could be deployed by amateurs in any "
2248 "useful or effective way. With the Kodak, expression was possible much sooner "
2249 "and more simply. The barrier to expression was lowered. Snobs would sneer at "
2250 "its \"quality\"; professionals would discount it as irrelevant. But watch a "
2251 "child study how best to frame a picture and you get a sense of the "
2252 "experience of creativity that the Kodak enabled. Democratic tools gave "
2253 "ordinary people a way to express themselves more easily than any tools could "
2258 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2259 #: freeculture.xml:1779
2261 "For illustrative cases, see, for example, Pavesich v. N.E. Life Ins. Co., 50 "
2265 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2266 #: freeculture.xml:1770
2268 "What was required for this technology to flourish? Obviously, Eastman's "
2269 "genius was an important part. But also important was the legal environment "
2270 "within which Eastman's invention grew. For early in the history of "
2271 "photography, there was a series of judicial decisions that could well have "
2272 "changed the course of photography substantially. Courts were asked whether "
2273 "the photographer, amateur or professional, required permission before he "
2274 "could capture and print whatever image he wanted. Their answer was "
2275 "no.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2279 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2280 #: freeculture.xml:1783
2282 "The arguments in favor of requiring permission will sound surprisingly "
2283 "familiar. The photographer was \"taking\" something from the person or "
2284 "building whose photograph he shot—pirating something of value. Some "
2285 "even thought he was taking the target's soul. Just as Disney was not free to "
2286 "take the pencils that his animators used to draw Mickey, so, too, should "
2287 "these photographers not be free to take images that they thought valuable."
2290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2291 #: freeculture.xml:1805
2292 msgid "Warren, Samuel D."
2295 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2296 #: freeculture.xml:1802
2298 "Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, \"The Right to Privacy,\" Harvard "
2299 "Law Review 4 (1890): 193. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
2300 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
2303 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2304 #: freeculture.xml:1795
2306 "On the other side was an argument that should be familiar, as well. Sure, "
2307 "there may be something of value being used. But citizens should have the "
2308 "right to capture at least those images that stand in public view. (Louis "
2309 "Brandeis, who would become a Supreme Court Justice, thought the rule should "
2310 "be different for images from private spaces.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2311 "id=\"0\"/>) It may be that this means that the photographer gets something "
2312 "for nothing. Just as Disney could take inspiration from Steamboat Bill, "
2313 "Jr. or the Brothers Grimm, the photographer should be free to capture an "
2314 "image without compensating the source."
2318 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2319 #: freeculture.xml:1822
2321 "See Melville B. Nimmer, \"The Right of Publicity,\" Law and Contemporary "
2322 "Problems 19 (1954): 203; William L. Prosser, \"Privacy,\" California Law "
2323 "Review 48 (1960) 398–407; White v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc., "
2324 "971 F. 2d 1395 (9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 951 (1993)."
2327 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2328 #: freeculture.xml:1812
2330 "Fortunately for Mr. Eastman, and for photography in general, these early "
2331 "decisions went in favor of the pirates. In general, no permission would be "
2332 "required before an image could be captured and shared with others. Instead, "
2333 "permission was presumed. Freedom was the default. (The law would eventually "
2334 "craft an exception for famous people: commercial photographers who snap "
2335 "pictures of famous people for commercial purposes have more restrictions "
2336 "than the rest of us. But in the ordinary case, the image can be captured "
2337 "without clearing the rights to do the capturing.<placeholder "
2338 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>)"
2341 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2342 #: freeculture.xml:1830
2344 "We can only speculate about how photography would have developed had the law "
2345 "gone the other way. If the presumption had been against the photographer, "
2346 "then the photographer would have had to demonstrate permission. Perhaps "
2347 "Eastman Kodak would have had to demonstrate permission, too, before it "
2348 "developed the film upon which images were captured. After all, if permission "
2349 "were not granted, then Eastman Kodak would be benefiting from the \"theft\" "
2350 "committed by the photographer. Just as Napster benefited from the copyright "
2351 "infringements committed by Napster users, Kodak would be benefiting from the "
2352 "\"image-right\" infringement of its photographers. We could imagine the law "
2353 "then requiring that some form of permission be demonstrated before a company "
2354 "developed pictures. We could imagine a system developing to demonstrate that "
2359 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2360 #: freeculture.xml:1847
2362 "But though we could imagine this system of permission, it would be very hard "
2363 "to see how photography could have flourished as it did if the requirement "
2364 "for permission had been built into the rules that govern it. Photography "
2365 "would have existed. It would have grown in importance over "
2366 "time. Professionals would have continued to use the technology as they "
2367 "did—since professionals could have more easily borne the burdens of "
2368 "the permission system. But the spread of photography to ordinary people "
2369 "would not have occurred. Nothing like that growth would have been "
2370 "realized. And certainly, nothing like that growth in a democratic technology "
2371 "of expression would have been realized. If you drive through San "
2372 "Francisco's Presidio, you might see two gaudy yellow school buses painted "
2373 "over with colorful and striking images, and the logo \"Just Think!\" in "
2374 "place of the name of a school. But there's little that's \"just\" cerebral "
2375 "in the projects that these busses enable. These buses are filled with "
2376 "technologies that teach kids to tinker with film. Not the film of "
2377 "Eastman. Not even the film of your VCR. Rather the \"film\" of digital "
2378 "cameras. Just Think! is a project that enables kids to make films, as a way "
2379 "to understand and critique the filmed culture that they find all around "
2380 "them. Each year, these busses travel to more than thirty schools and enable "
2381 "three hundred to five hundred children to learn something about media by "
2382 "doing something with media. By doing, they think. By tinkering, they learn."
2386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2387 #: freeculture.xml:1879
2389 "H. Edward Goldberg, \"Essential Presentation Tools: Hardware and Software "
2390 "You Need to Create Digital Multimedia Presentations,\" cadalyst, February "
2391 "2002, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
2395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2396 #: freeculture.xml:1873
2398 "These buses are not cheap, but the technology they carry is increasingly "
2399 "so. The cost of a high-quality digital video system has fallen "
2400 "dramatically. As one analyst puts it, \"Five years ago, a good real-time "
2401 "digital video editing system cost $25,000. Today you can get professional "
2402 "quality for $595.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These buses are "
2403 "filled with technology that would have cost hundreds of thousands just ten "
2404 "years ago. And it is now feasible to imagine not just buses like this, but "
2405 "classrooms across the country where kids are learning more and more of "
2406 "something teachers call \"media literacy.\""
2409 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
2410 #: freeculture.xml:1896
2411 msgid "Yanofsky, Dave"
2414 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2415 #: freeculture.xml:1891
2417 "\"Media literacy,\" as Dave Yanofsky, the executive director of Just Think!, "
2418 "puts it, \"is the ability . . . to understand, analyze, and deconstruct "
2419 "media images. Its aim is to make [kids] literate about the way media works, "
2420 "the way it's constructed, the way it's delivered, and the way people access "
2421 "it.\" <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2424 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2425 #: freeculture.xml:1899
2427 "This may seem like an odd way to think about \"literacy.\" For most people, "
2428 "literacy is about reading and writing. Faulkner and Hemingway and noticing "
2429 "split infinitives are the things that \"literate\" people know about."
2433 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2434 #: freeculture.xml:1909
2436 "Judith Van Evra, Television and Child Development (Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence "
2437 "Erlbaum Associates, 1990); \"Findings on Family and TV Study,\" Denver Post, "
2441 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2442 #: freeculture.xml:1905
2444 "Maybe. But in a world where children see on average 390 hours of television "
2445 "commercials per year, or between 20,000 and 45,000 commercials "
2446 "generally,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it is increasingly "
2447 "important to understand the \"grammar\" of media. For just as there is a "
2448 "grammar for the written word, so, too, is there one for media. And just as "
2449 "kids learn how to write by writing lots of terrible prose, kids learn how to "
2450 "write media by constructing lots of (at least at first) terrible media."
2453 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2454 #: freeculture.xml:1920
2456 "A growing field of academics and activists sees this form of literacy as "
2457 "crucial to the next generation of culture. For though anyone who has written "
2458 "understands how difficult writing is—how difficult it is to sequence "
2459 "the story, to keep a reader's attention, to craft language to be "
2460 "understandable—few of us have any real sense of how difficult media "
2461 "is. Or more fundamentally, few of us have a sense of how media works, how it "
2462 "holds an audience or leads it through a story, how it triggers emotion or "
2466 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2467 #: freeculture.xml:1930
2469 "It took filmmaking a generation before it could do these things well. But "
2470 "even then, the knowledge was in the filming, not in writing about the "
2471 "film. The skill came from experiencing the making of a film, not from "
2472 "reading a book about it. One learns to write by writing and then reflecting "
2473 "upon what one has written. One learns to write with images by making them "
2474 "and then reflecting upon what one has created."
2477 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2478 #: freeculture.xml:1937
2479 msgid "Crichton, Michael"
2482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2483 #: freeculture.xml:1951 freeculture.xml:2011 freeculture.xml:2018 freeculture.xml:2451
2484 msgid "Barish, Stephanie"
2487 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2488 #: freeculture.xml:1952
2489 msgid "Daley, Elizabeth"
2492 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2493 #: freeculture.xml:1949
2495 "Interview with Elizabeth Daley and Stephanie Barish, 13 December 2002. "
2496 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
2501 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2502 #: freeculture.xml:1963
2504 "See Scott Steinberg, \"Crichton Gets Medieval on PCs,\" E!online, 4 November "
2505 "2000, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
2506 "#8</ulink>; \"Timeline,\" 22 November 2000, available at <ulink "
2507 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #9</ulink>."
2510 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2511 #: freeculture.xml:1939
2513 "This grammar has changed as media has changed. When it was just film, as "
2514 "Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the University of Southern "
2515 "California's Annenberg Center for Communication and dean of the USC School "
2516 "of Cinema-Television, explained to me, the grammar was about \"the placement "
2517 "of objects, color, . . . rhythm, pacing, and texture.\"<placeholder "
2518 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But as computers open up an interactive space "
2519 "where a story is \"played\" as well as experienced, that grammar "
2520 "changes. The simple control of narrative is lost, and so other techniques "
2521 "are necessary. Author Michael Crichton had mastered the narrative of science "
2522 "fiction. But when he tried to design a computer game based on one of his "
2523 "works, it was a new craft he had to learn. How to lead people through a game "
2524 "without their feeling they have been led was not obvious, even to a wildly "
2525 "successful author.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2529 #: freeculture.xml:1970
2530 msgid "computer games"
2533 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2534 #: freeculture.xml:1972
2536 "This skill is precisely the craft a filmmaker learns. As Daley describes, "
2537 "\"people are very surprised about how they are led through a film. [I]t is "
2538 "perfectly constructed to keep you from seeing it, so you have no idea. If a "
2539 "filmmaker succeeds you do not know how you were led.\" If you know you were "
2540 "led through a film, the film has failed."
2543 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2544 #: freeculture.xml:1979
2546 "Yet the push for an expanded literacy—one that goes beyond text to "
2547 "include audio and visual elements—is not about making better film "
2548 "directors. The aim is not to improve the profession of filmmaking at all. "
2549 "Instead, as Daley explained,"
2552 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
2553 #: freeculture.xml:1986
2555 "From my perspective, probably the most important digital divide is not "
2556 "access to a box. It's the ability to be empowered with the language that "
2557 "that box works in. Otherwise only a very few people can write with this "
2558 "language, and all the rest of us are reduced to being read-only."
2561 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2562 #: freeculture.xml:1994
2564 "\"Read-only.\" Passive recipients of culture produced elsewhere. Couch "
2565 "potatoes. Consumers. This is the world of media from the twentieth century."
2568 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2569 #: freeculture.xml:2010
2570 msgid "Interview with Daley and Barish. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2574 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
2575 #: freeculture.xml:2015 freeculture.xml:3701 freeculture.xml:4780 freeculture.xml:7929
2579 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2580 #: freeculture.xml:1999
2582 "The twenty-first century could be different. This is the crucial point: It "
2583 "could be both read and write. Or at least reading and better understanding "
2584 "the craft of writing. Or best, reading and understanding the tools that "
2585 "enable the writing to lead or mislead. The aim of any literacy, and this "
2586 "literacy in particular, is to \"empower people to choose the appropriate "
2587 "language for what they need to create or express.\"<placeholder "
2588 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It is to enable students \"to communicate in "
2589 "the language of the twenty-first century.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2593 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2594 #: freeculture.xml:2020
2596 "As with any language, this language comes more easily to some than to "
2597 "others. It doesn't necessarily come more easily to those who excel in "
2598 "written language. Daley and Stephanie Barish, director of the Institute for "
2599 "Multimedia Literacy at the Annenberg Center, describe one particularly "
2600 "poignant example of a project they ran in a high school. The high school "
2601 "was a very poor inner-city Los Angeles school. In all the traditional "
2602 "measures of success, this school was a failure. But Daley and Barish ran a "
2603 "program that gave kids an opportunity to use film to express meaning about "
2604 "something the students know something about—gun violence."
2607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2608 #: freeculture.xml:2032
2610 "The class was held on Friday afternoons, and it created a relatively new "
2611 "problem for the school. While the challenge in most classes was getting the "
2612 "kids to come, the challenge in this class was keeping them away. The \"kids "
2613 "were showing up at 6 A.M. and leaving at 5 at night,\" said Barish. They "
2614 "were working harder than in any other class to do what education should be "
2615 "about—learning how to express themselves."
2618 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2619 #: freeculture.xml:2040
2621 "Using whatever \"free web stuff they could find,\" and relatively simple "
2622 "tools to enable the kids to mix \"image, sound, and text,\" Barish said this "
2623 "class produced a series of projects that showed something about gun violence "
2624 "that few would otherwise understand. This was an issue close to the lives of "
2625 "these students. The project \"gave them a tool and empowered them to be able "
2626 "to both understand it and talk about it,\" Barish explained. That tool "
2627 "succeeded in creating expression—far more successfully and powerfully "
2628 "than could have been created using only text. \"If you had said to these "
2629 "students, `you have to do it in text,' they would've just thrown their hands "
2630 "up and gone and done something else,\" Barish described, in part, no doubt, "
2631 "because expressing themselves in text is not something these students can do "
2632 "well. Yet neither is text a form in which these ideas can be expressed "
2633 "well. The power of this message depended upon its connection to this form of "
2638 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2639 #: freeculture.xml:2059
2641 "\"But isn't education about teaching kids to write?\" I asked. In part, of "
2642 "course, it is. But why are we teaching kids to write? Education, Daley "
2643 "explained, is about giving students a way of \"constructing meaning.\" To "
2644 "say that that means just writing is like saying teaching writing is only "
2645 "about teaching kids how to spell. Text is one part—and increasingly, "
2646 "not the most powerful part—of constructing meaning. As Daley explained "
2647 "in the most moving part of our interview,"
2650 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
2651 #: freeculture.xml:2070
2653 "What you want is to give these students ways of constructing meaning. If all "
2654 "you give them is text, they're not going to do it. Because they can't. You "
2655 "know, you've got Johnny who can look at a video, he can play a video game, "
2656 "he can do graffiti all over your walls, he can take your car apart, and he "
2657 "can do all sorts of other things. He just can't read your text. So Johnny "
2658 "comes to school and you say, \"Johnny, you're illiterate. Nothing you can do "
2659 "matters.\" Well, Johnny then has two choices: He can dismiss you or he [can] "
2660 "dismiss himself. If his ego is healthy at all, he's going to dismiss "
2661 "you. [But i]nstead, if you say, \"Well, with all these things that you can "
2662 "do, let's talk about this issue. Play for me music that you think reflects "
2663 "that, or show me images that you think reflect that, or draw for me "
2664 "something that reflects that.\" Not by giving a kid a video camera and "
2665 ". . . saying, \"Let's go have fun with the video camera and make a little "
2666 "movie.\" But instead, really help you take these elements that you "
2667 "understand, that are your language, and construct meaning about the "
2671 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
2672 #: freeculture.xml:2089
2674 "That empowers enormously. And then what happens, of course, is eventually, "
2675 "as it has happened in all these classes, they bump up against the fact, \"I "
2676 "need to explain this and I really need to write something.\" And as one of "
2677 "the teachers told Stephanie, they would rewrite a paragraph 5, 6, 7, 8 "
2678 "times, till they got it right."
2682 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
2683 #: freeculture.xml:2096
2685 "Because they needed to. There was a reason for doing it. They needed to say "
2686 "something, as opposed to just jumping through your hoops. They actually "
2687 "needed to use a language that they didn't speak very well. But they had come "
2688 "to understand that they had a lot of power with this language.\""
2691 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2692 #: freeculture.xml:2105
2694 "When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, another into the "
2695 "Pentagon, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania field, all media around the world "
2696 "shifted to this news. Every moment of just about every day for that week, "
2697 "and for weeks after, television in particular, and media generally, retold "
2698 "the story of the events we had just witnessed. The telling was a retelling, "
2699 "because we had seen the events that were described. The genius of this awful "
2700 "act of terrorism was that the delayed second attack was perfectly timed to "
2701 "assure that the whole world would be watching."
2704 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2705 #: freeculture.xml:2116
2707 "These retellings had an increasingly familiar feel. There was music scored "
2708 "for the intermissions, and fancy graphics that flashed across the "
2709 "screen. There was a formula to interviews. There was \"balance,\" and "
2710 "seriousness. This was news choreographed in the way we have increasingly "
2711 "come to expect it, \"news as entertainment,\" even if the entertainment is "
2715 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
2716 #: freeculture.xml:2123 freeculture.xml:7867
2720 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2721 #: freeculture.xml:2124
2725 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2726 #: freeculture.xml:2126
2728 "But in addition to this produced news about the \"tragedy of September 11,\" "
2729 "those of us tied to the Internet came to see a very different production as "
2730 "well. The Internet was filled with accounts of the same events. Yet these "
2731 "Internet accounts had a very different flavor. Some people constructed photo "
2732 "pages that captured images from around the world and presented them as slide "
2733 "shows with text. Some offered open letters. There were sound "
2734 "recordings. There was anger and frustration. There were attempts to provide "
2735 "context. There was, in short, an extraordinary worldwide barn raising, in "
2736 "the sense Mike Godwin uses the term in his book Cyber Rights, around a news "
2737 "event that had captured the attention of the world. There was ABC and CBS, "
2738 "but there was also the Internet."
2742 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2743 #: freeculture.xml:2140
2745 "I don't mean simply to praise the Internet—though I do think the "
2746 "people who supported this form of speech should be praised. I mean instead "
2747 "to point to a significance in this form of speech. For like a Kodak, the "
2748 "Internet enables people to capture images. And like in a movie by a student "
2749 "on the \"Just Think!\" bus, the visual images could be mixed with sound or "
2753 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2754 #: freeculture.xml:2150
2756 "But unlike any technology for simply capturing images, the Internet allows "
2757 "these creations to be shared with an extraordinary number of people, "
2758 "practically instantaneously. This is something new in our "
2759 "tradition—not just that culture can be captured mechanically, and "
2760 "obviously not just that events are commented upon critically, but that this "
2761 "mix of captured images, sound, and commentary can be widely spread "
2762 "practically instantaneously."
2765 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2766 #: freeculture.xml:2159
2768 "September 11 was not an aberration. It was a beginning. Around the same "
2769 "time, a form of communication that has grown dramatically was just beginning "
2770 "to come into public consciousness: the Web-log, or blog. The blog is a kind "
2771 "of public diary, and within some cultures, such as in Japan, it functions "
2772 "very much like a diary. In those cultures, it records private facts in a "
2773 "public way—it's a kind of electronic Jerry Springer, available "
2774 "anywhere in the world."
2777 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2778 #: freeculture.xml:2168
2780 "But in the United States, blogs have taken on a very different character. "
2781 "There are some who use the space simply to talk about their private "
2782 "life. But there are many who use the space to engage in public "
2783 "discourse. Discussing matters of public import, criticizing others who are "
2784 "mistaken in their views, criticizing politicians about the decisions they "
2785 "make, offering solutions to problems we all see: blogs create the sense of a "
2786 "virtual public meeting, but one in which we don't all hope to be there at "
2787 "the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked. The "
2788 "best of the blog entries are relatively short; they point directly to words "
2789 "used by others, criticizing with or adding to them. They are arguably the "
2790 "most important form of unchoreographed public discourse that we have."
2794 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2795 #: freeculture.xml:2182
2797 "That's a strong statement. Yet it says as much about our democracy as it "
2798 "does about blogs. This is the part of America that is most difficult for "
2799 "those of us who love America to accept: Our democracy has atrophied. Of "
2800 "course we have elections, and most of the time the courts allow those "
2801 "elections to count. A relatively small number of people vote in those "
2802 "elections. The cycle of these elections has become totally professionalized "
2803 "and routinized. Most of us think this is democracy."
2807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2808 #: freeculture.xml:2208
2810 "See, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, bk. 1, "
2811 "trans. Henry Reeve (New York: Bantam Books, 2000), ch. 16."
2814 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2815 #: freeculture.xml:2193
2817 "But democracy has never just been about elections. Democracy means rule by "
2818 "the people, but rule means something more than mere elections. In our "
2819 "tradition, it also means control through reasoned discourse. This was the "
2820 "idea that captured the imagination of Alexis de Tocqueville, the "
2821 "nineteenth-century French lawyer who wrote the most important account of "
2822 "early \"Democracy in America.\" It wasn't popular elections that fascinated "
2823 "him—it was the jury, an institution that gave ordinary people the "
2824 "right to choose life or death for other citizens. And most fascinating for "
2825 "him was that the jury didn't just vote about the outcome they would "
2826 "impose. They deliberated. Members argued about the \"right\" result; they "
2827 "tried to persuade each other of the \"right\" result, and in criminal cases "
2828 "at least, they had to agree upon a unanimous result for the process to come "
2829 "to an end.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2833 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2834 #: freeculture.xml:2217
2836 "Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, \"Deliberation Day,\" Journal of Political "
2837 "Philosophy 10 (2) (2002): 129."
2840 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2841 #: freeculture.xml:2213
2843 "Yet even this institution flags in American life today. And in its place, "
2844 "there is no systematic effort to enable citizen deliberation. Some are "
2845 "pushing to create just such an institution.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2846 "id=\"0\"/> And in some towns in New England, something close to deliberation "
2847 "remains. But for most of us for most of the time, there is no time or place "
2848 "for \"democratic deliberation\" to occur."
2852 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2853 #: freeculture.xml:2232
2855 "Cass Sunstein, Republic.com (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2001), "
2856 "65–80, 175, 182, 183, 192."
2859 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2860 #: freeculture.xml:2225
2862 "More bizarrely, there is generally not even permission for it to occur. We, "
2863 "the most powerful democracy in the world, have developed a strong norm "
2864 "against talking about politics. It's fine to talk about politics with people "
2865 "you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you "
2866 "disagree with. Political discourse becomes isolated, and isolated discourse "
2867 "becomes more extreme.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We say what "
2868 "our friends want to hear, and hear very little beyond what our friends say."
2872 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2873 #: freeculture.xml:2238
2875 "Enter the blog. The blog's very architecture solves one part of this "
2876 "problem. People post when they want to post, and people read when they want "
2877 "to read. The most difficult time is synchronous time. Technologies that "
2878 "enable asynchronous communication, such as e-mail, increase the opportunity "
2879 "for communication. Blogs allow for public discourse without the public ever "
2880 "needing to gather in a single public place."
2883 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2884 #: freeculture.xml:2249
2886 "But beyond architecture, blogs also have solved the problem of "
2887 "norms. There's no norm (yet) in blog space not to talk about politics. "
2888 "Indeed, the space is filled with political speech, on both the right and the "
2889 "left. Some of the most popular sites are conservative or libertarian, but "
2890 "there are many of all political stripes. And even blogs that are not "
2891 "political cover political issues when the occasion merits."
2894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2895 #: freeculture.xml:2257
2897 "The significance of these blogs is tiny now, though not so tiny. The name "
2898 "Howard Dean may well have faded from the 2004 presidential race but for "
2899 "blogs. Yet even if the number of readers is small, the reading is having an "
2904 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2905 #: freeculture.xml:2274
2907 "Noah Shachtman, \"With Incessant Postings, a Pundit Stirs the Pot,\" New "
2908 "York Times, 16 January 2003, G5."
2911 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2912 #: freeculture.xml:2263
2914 "One direct effect is on stories that had a different life cycle in the "
2915 "mainstream media. The Trent Lott affair is an example. When Lott "
2916 "\"misspoke\" at a party for Senator Strom Thurmond, essentially praising "
2917 "Thurmond's segregationist policies, he calculated correctly that this story "
2918 "would disappear from the mainstream press within forty-eight hours. It "
2919 "did. But he didn't calculate its life cycle in blog space. The bloggers kept "
2920 "researching the story. Over time, more and more instances of the same "
2921 "\"misspeaking\" emerged. Finally, the story broke back into the mainstream "
2922 "press. In the end, Lott was forced to resign as senate majority "
2923 "leader.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2926 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2927 #: freeculture.xml:2279
2929 "This different cycle is possible because the same commercial pressures don't "
2930 "exist with blogs as with other ventures. Television and newspapers are "
2931 "commercial entities. They must work to keep attention. If they lose "
2932 "readers, they lose revenue. Like sharks, they must move on."
2935 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2936 #: freeculture.xml:2286
2938 "But bloggers don't have a similar constraint. They can obsess, they can "
2939 "focus, they can get serious. If a particular blogger writes a particularly "
2940 "interesting story, more and more people link to that story. And as the "
2941 "number of links to a particular story increases, it rises in the ranks of "
2942 "stories. People read what is popular; what is popular has been selected by a "
2943 "very democratic process of peer-generated rankings."
2946 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
2947 #: freeculture.xml:2295
2952 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2953 #: freeculture.xml:2298
2955 "There's a second way, as well, in which blogs have a different cycle from "
2956 "the mainstream press. As Dave Winer, one of the fathers of this movement and "
2957 "a software author for many decades, told me, another difference is the "
2958 "absence of a financial \"conflict of interest.\" \"I think you have to take "
2959 "the conflict of interest\" out of journalism, Winer told me. \"An amateur "
2960 "journalist simply doesn't have a conflict of interest, or the conflict of "
2961 "interest is so easily disclosed that you know you can sort of get it out of "
2965 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2966 #: freeculture.xml:2308 freeculture.xml:2361
2971 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2972 #: freeculture.xml:2316
2973 msgid "Telephone interview with David Winer, 16 April 2003."
2976 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
2977 #: freeculture.xml:2310
2979 "These conflicts become more important as media becomes more concentrated "
2980 "(more on this below). A concentrated media can hide more from the public "
2981 "than an unconcentrated media can—as CNN admitted it did after the Iraq "
2982 "war because it was afraid of the consequences to its own "
2983 "employees.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It also needs to sustain "
2984 "a more coherent account. (In the middle of the Iraq war, I read a post on "
2985 "the Internet from someone who was at that time listening to a satellite "
2986 "uplink with a reporter in Iraq. The New York headquarters was telling the "
2987 "reporter over and over that her account of the war was too bleak: She needed "
2988 "to offer a more optimistic story. When she told New York that wasn't "
2989 "warranted, they told her that they were writing \"the story.\")"
2993 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
2994 #: freeculture.xml:2334
2996 "John Schwartz, \"Loss of the Shuttle: The Internet; A Wealth of Information "
2997 "Online,\" New York Times, 2 February 2003, A28; Staci D. Kramer, \"Shuttle "
2998 "Disaster Coverage Mixed, but Strong Overall,\" Online Journalism Review, 2 "
2999 "February 2003, available at <ulink "
3000 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #10</ulink>."
3003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3004 #: freeculture.xml:2326
3006 "Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the debate—\"amateur\" not in "
3007 "the sense of inexperienced, but in the sense of an Olympic athlete, meaning "
3008 "not paid by anyone to give their reports. It allows for a much broader range "
3009 "of input into a story, as reporting on the Columbia disaster revealed, when "
3010 "hundreds from across the southwest United States turned to the Internet to "
3011 "retell what they had seen.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And it "
3012 "drives readers to read across the range of accounts and \"triangulate,\" as "
3013 "Winer puts it, the truth. Blogs, Winer says, are \"communicating directly "
3014 "with our constituency, and the middle man is out of it\"—with all the "
3015 "benefits, and costs, that might entail."
3018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
3019 #: freeculture.xml:2353
3021 "See Michael Falcone, \"Does an Editor's Pencil Ruin a Web Log?\" New York "
3022 "Times, 29 September 2003, C4. (\"Not all news organizations have been as "
3023 "accepting of employees who blog. Kevin Sites, a CNN correspondent in Iraq "
3024 "who started a blog about his reporting of the war on March 9, stopped "
3025 "posting 12 days later at his bosses' request. Last year Steve Olafson, a "
3026 "Houston Chronicle reporter, was fired for keeping a personal Web log, "
3027 "published under a pseudonym, that dealt with some of the issues and people "
3028 "he was covering.\") <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3032 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3033 #: freeculture.xml:2346
3035 "Winer is optimistic about the future of journalism infected with "
3036 "blogs. \"It's going to become an essential skill,\" Winer predicts, for "
3037 "public figures and increasingly for private figures as well. It's not clear "
3038 "that \"journalism\" is happy about this—some journalists have been "
3039 "told to curtail their blogging.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But "
3040 "it is clear that we are still in transition. \"A lot of what we are doing "
3041 "now is warm-up exercises,\" Winer told me. There is a lot that must mature "
3042 "before this space has its mature effect. And as the inclusion of content in "
3043 "this space is the least infringing use of the Internet (meaning infringing "
3044 "on copyright), Winer said, \"we will be the last thing that gets shut "
3048 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3049 #: freeculture.xml:2373
3051 "This speech affects democracy. Winer thinks that happens because \"you don't "
3052 "have to work for somebody who controls, [for] a gatekeeper.\" That is "
3053 "true. But it affects democracy in another way as well. As more and more "
3054 "citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will change "
3055 "the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and "
3056 "misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be "
3057 "criticized by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has "
3058 "been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore "
3059 "when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and "
3060 "criticism improves democracy. Today there are probably a couple of million "
3061 "blogs where such writing happens. When there are ten million, there will be "
3062 "something extraordinary to report."
3065 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
3066 #: freeculture.xml:2389
3067 msgid "Brown, John Seely"
3070 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3071 #: freeculture.xml:2392
3073 "John Seely Brown is the chief scientist of the Xerox Corporation. His work, "
3074 "as his Web site describes it, is \"human learning and . . . the creation of "
3075 "knowledge ecologies for creating . . . innovation.\""
3078 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3079 #: freeculture.xml:2397
3081 "Brown thus looks at these technologies of digital creativity a bit "
3082 "differently from the perspectives I've sketched so far. I'm sure he would be "
3083 "excited about any technology that might improve democracy. But his real "
3084 "excitement comes from how these technologies affect learning."
3088 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3089 #: freeculture.xml:2404
3091 "As Brown believes, we learn by tinkering. When \"a lot of us grew up,\" he "
3092 "explains, that tinkering was done \"on motorcycle engines, lawnmower "
3093 "engines, automobiles, radios, and so on.\" But digital technologies enable a "
3094 "different kind of tinkering—with abstract ideas though in concrete "
3095 "form. The kids at Just Think! not only think about how a commercial portrays "
3096 "a politician; using digital technology, they can take the commercial apart "
3097 "and manipulate it, tinker with it to see how it does what it does. Digital "
3098 "technologies launch a kind of bricolage, or \"free collage,\" as Brown calls "
3099 "it. Many get to add to or transform the tinkering of many others."
3102 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3103 #: freeculture.xml:2417
3105 "The best large-scale example of this kind of tinkering so far is free "
3106 "software or open-source software (FS/OSS). FS/OSS is software whose source "
3107 "code is shared. Anyone can download the technology that makes a FS/OSS "
3108 "program run. And anyone eager to learn how a particular bit of FS/OSS "
3109 "technology works can tinker with the code."
3112 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3113 #: freeculture.xml:2424
3115 "This opportunity creates a \"completely new kind of learning platform,\" as "
3116 "Brown describes. \"As soon as you start doing that, you . . . unleash a "
3117 "free collage on the community, so that other people can start looking at "
3118 "your code, tinkering with it, trying it out, seeing if they can improve "
3119 "it.\" Each effort is a kind of apprenticeship. \"Open source becomes a major "
3120 "apprenticeship platform.\""
3123 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3124 #: freeculture.xml:2432
3126 "In this process, \"the concrete things you tinker with are abstract. They "
3127 "are code.\" Kids are \"shifting to the ability to tinker in the abstract, "
3128 "and this tinkering is no longer an isolated activity that you're doing in "
3129 "your garage. You are tinkering with a community platform. . . . You are "
3130 "tinkering with other people's stuff. The more you tinker the more you "
3131 "improve.\" The more you improve, the more you learn."
3134 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3135 #: freeculture.xml:2441
3137 "This same thing happens with content, too. And it happens in the same "
3138 "collaborative way when that content is part of the Web. As Brown puts it, "
3139 "\"the Web [is] the first medium that truly honors multiple forms of "
3140 "intelligence.\" Earlier technologies, such as the typewriter or word "
3141 "processors, helped amplify text. But the Web amplifies much more than "
3142 "text. \"The Web . . . says if you are musical, if you are artistic, if you "
3143 "are visual, if you are interested in film . . . [then] there is a lot you "
3144 "can start to do on this medium. [It] can now amplify and honor these "
3145 "multiple forms of intelligence.\""
3149 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3150 #: freeculture.xml:2453
3152 "Brown is talking about what Elizabeth Daley, Stephanie Barish, and Just "
3153 "Think! teach: that this tinkering with culture teaches as well as "
3154 "creates. It develops talents differently, and it builds a different kind of "
3158 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3159 #: freeculture.xml:2461
3161 "Yet the freedom to tinker with these objects is not guaranteed. Indeed, as "
3162 "we'll see through the course of this book, that freedom is increasingly "
3163 "highly contested. While there's no doubt that your father had the right to "
3164 "tinker with the car engine, there's great doubt that your child will have "
3165 "the right to tinker with the images she finds all around. The law and, "
3166 "increasingly, technology interfere with a freedom that technology, and "
3167 "curiosity, would otherwise ensure."
3171 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
3172 #: freeculture.xml:2476
3174 "See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, \"Technological Access "
3175 "Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship,\" Communications of the "
3176 "Association for Computer Machinery 43 (2000): 9."
3179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3180 #: freeculture.xml:2470
3182 "These restrictions have become the focus of researchers and scholars. "
3183 "Professor Ed Felten of Princeton (whom we'll see more of in chapter 10) has "
3184 "developed a powerful argument in favor of the \"right to tinker\" as it "
3185 "applies to computer science and to knowledge in general.<placeholder "
3186 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But Brown's concern is earlier, or younger, or "
3187 "more fundamental. It is about the learning that kids can do, or can't do, "
3188 "because of the law."
3191 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3192 #: freeculture.xml:2484
3194 "\"This is where education in the twenty-first century is going,\" Brown "
3195 "explains. We need to \"understand how kids who grow up digital think and "
3199 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3200 #: freeculture.xml:2489
3202 "\"Yet,\" as Brown continued, and as the balance of this book will evince, "
3203 "\"we are building a legal system that completely suppresses the natural "
3204 "tendencies of today's digital kids. . . . We're building an architecture "
3205 "that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal system that closes down "
3206 "that part of the brain.\""
3209 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3210 #: freeculture.xml:2497
3212 "We're building a technology that takes the magic of Kodak, mixes moving "
3213 "images and sound, and adds a space for commentary and an opportunity to "
3214 "spread that creativity everywhere. But we're building the law to close down "
3218 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3219 #: freeculture.xml:2503
3221 "\"No way to run a culture,\" as Brewster Kahle, whom we'll meet in chapter "
3222 "9, quipped to me in a rare moment of despondence."
3225 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
3226 #: freeculture.xml:2509
3227 msgid "CHAPTER THREE: Catalogs"
3230 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3231 #: freeculture.xml:2511
3233 "In the fall of 2002, Jesse Jordan of Oceanside, New York, enrolled as a "
3234 "freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. His major "
3235 "at RPI was information technology. Though he is not a programmer, in October "
3236 "Jesse decided to begin to tinker with search engine technology that was "
3237 "available on the RPI network."
3240 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3241 #: freeculture.xml:2518
3243 "RPI is one of America's foremost technological research institutions. It "
3244 "offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and engineering to "
3245 "information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five thousand "
3246 "undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high school "
3247 "class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience to imagine "
3248 "and then build, a generation for the network age."
3251 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3252 #: freeculture.xml:2526
3254 "RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration to one "
3255 "another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything available on the "
3256 "RPI network is available on the Internet. But the network is designed to "
3257 "enable students to get access to the Internet, as well as more intimate "
3258 "access to other members of the RPI community."
3262 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3263 #: freeculture.xml:2533
3265 "Search engines are a measure of a network's intimacy. Google brought the "
3266 "Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically improving the quality of "
3267 "search on the network. Specialty search engines can do this even better. The "
3268 "idea of \"intranet\" search engines, search engines that search within the "
3269 "network of a particular institution, is to provide users of that institution "
3270 "with better access to material from that institution. Businesses do this "
3271 "all the time, enabling employees to have access to material that people "
3272 "outside the business can't get. Universities do it as well."
3275 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3276 #: freeculture.xml:2545
3278 "These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. Microsoft, for "
3279 "example, has a network file system that makes it very easy for search "
3280 "engines tuned to that network to query the system for information about the "
3281 "publicly (within that network) available content. Jesse's search engine was "
3282 "built to take advantage of this technology. It used Microsoft's network file "
3283 "system to build an index of all the files available within the RPI network."
3286 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3287 #: freeculture.xml:2554
3289 "Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. Indeed, "
3290 "his engine was a simple modification of engines that others had built. His "
3291 "single most important improvement over those engines was to fix a bug within "
3292 "the Microsoft file-sharing system that could cause a user's computer to "
3293 "crash. With the engines that existed before, if you tried to access a file "
3294 "through a Windows browser that was on a computer that was off-line, your "
3295 "computer could crash. Jesse modified the system a bit to fix that problem, "
3296 "by adding a button that a user could click to see if the machine holding the "
3297 "file was still on-line."
3300 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3301 #: freeculture.xml:2566
3303 "Jesse's engine went on-line in late October. Over the following six months, "
3304 "he continued to tweak it to improve its functionality. By March, the system "
3305 "was functioning quite well. Jesse had more than one million files in his "
3306 "directory, including every type of content that might be on users' "
3311 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3312 #: freeculture.xml:2573
3314 "Thus the index his search engine produced included pictures, which students "
3315 "could use to put on their own Web sites; copies of notes or research; copies "
3316 "of information pamphlets; movie clips that students might have created; "
3317 "university brochures—basically anything that users of the RPI network "
3318 "made available in a public folder of their computer."
3321 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3322 #: freeculture.xml:2582
3324 "But the index also included music files. In fact, one quarter of the files "
3325 "that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that means, of "
3326 "course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this point is "
3327 "absolutely clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to put music files "
3328 "in their public folders. He did nothing to target the search engine to these "
3329 "files. He was a kid tinkering with a Google-like technology at a university "
3330 "where he was studying information science, and hence, tinkering was the "
3331 "aim. Unlike Google, or Microsoft, for that matter, he made no money from "
3332 "this tinkering; he was not connected to any business that would make any "
3333 "money from this experiment. He was a kid tinkering with technology in an "
3334 "environment where tinkering with technology was precisely what he was "
3338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3339 #: freeculture.xml:2597
3341 "On April 3, 2003, Jesse was contacted by the dean of students at RPI. The "
3342 "dean informed Jesse that the Recording Industry Association of America, the "
3343 "RIAA, would be filing a lawsuit against him and three other students whom he "
3344 "didn't even know, two of them at other universities. A few hours later, "
3345 "Jesse was served with papers from the suit. As he read these papers and "
3346 "watched the news reports about them, he was increasingly astonished."
3349 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3350 #: freeculture.xml:2606
3352 "\"It was absurd,\" he told me. \"I don't think I did anything wrong. . . . "
3353 "I don't think there's anything wrong with the search engine that I ran or "
3354 ". . . what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't modified it in any way that "
3355 "promoted or enhanced the work of pirates. I just modified the search engine "
3356 "in a way that would make it easier to use\"—again, a search engine, "
3357 "which Jesse had not himself built, using the Windows filesharing system, "
3358 "which Jesse had not himself built, to enable members of the RPI community to "
3359 "get access to content, which Jesse had not himself created or posted, and "
3360 "the vast majority of which had nothing to do with music."
3364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3365 #: freeculture.xml:2618
3367 "But the RIAA branded Jesse a pirate. They claimed he operated a network and "
3368 "had therefore \"willfully\" violated copyright laws. They demanded that he "
3369 "pay them the damages for his wrong. For cases of \"willful infringement,\" "
3370 "the Copyright Act specifies something lawyers call \"statutory damages.\" "
3371 "These damages permit a copyright owner to claim $150,000 per "
3372 "infringement. As the RIAA alleged more than one hundred specific copyright "
3373 "infringements, they therefore demanded that Jesse pay them at least "
3378 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
3379 #: freeculture.xml:2638
3381 "Tim Goral, \"Recording Industry Goes After Campus P-2-P Networks: Suit "
3382 "Alleges $97.8 Billion in Damages,\" Professional Media Group LCC 6 (2003): "
3383 "5, available at 2003 WL 55179443."
3386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3387 #: freeculture.xml:2629
3389 "Similar lawsuits were brought against three other students: one other "
3390 "student at RPI, one at Michigan Technical University, and one at "
3391 "Princeton. Their situations were similar to Jesse's. Though each case was "
3392 "different in detail, the bottom line in each was exactly the same: huge "
3393 "demands for \"damages\" that the RIAA claimed it was entitled to. If you "
3394 "added up the claims, these four lawsuits were asking courts in the United "
3395 "States to award the plaintiffs close to $100 billion—six times the "
3396 "total profit of the film industry in 2001.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3400 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3401 #: freeculture.xml:2644
3403 "Jesse called his parents. They were supportive but a bit frightened. An "
3404 "uncle was a lawyer. He began negotiations with the RIAA. They demanded to "
3405 "know how much money Jesse had. Jesse had saved $12,000 from summer jobs and "
3406 "other employment. They demanded $12,000 to dismiss the case."
3409 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3410 #: freeculture.xml:2651
3412 "The RIAA wanted Jesse to admit to doing something wrong. He refused. They "
3413 "wanted him to agree to an injunction that would essentially make it "
3414 "impossible for him to work in many fields of technology for the rest of his "
3415 "life. He refused. They made him understand that this process of being sued "
3416 "was not going to be pleasant. (As Jesse's father recounted to me, the chief "
3417 "lawyer on the case, Matt Oppenheimer, told Jesse, \"You don't want to pay "
3418 "another visit to a dentist like me.\") And throughout, the RIAA insisted it "
3419 "would not settle the case until it took every penny Jesse had saved."
3423 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3424 #: freeculture.xml:2662
3426 "Jesse's family was outraged at these claims. They wanted to fight. But "
3427 "Jesse's uncle worked to educate the family about the nature of the American "
3428 "legal system. Jesse could fight the RIAA. He might even win. But the cost of "
3429 "fighting a lawsuit like this, Jesse was told, would be at least $250,000. If "
3430 "he won, he would not recover that money. If he won, he would have a piece of "
3431 "paper saying he had won, and a piece of paper saying he and his family were "
3435 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3436 #: freeculture.xml:2672
3438 "So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at winning, or "
3439 "$12,000 and a settlement."
3443 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
3444 #: freeculture.xml:2684
3446 "Occupational Employment Survey, U.S. Dept. of Labor (2001) "
3447 "(27–2042—Musicians and Singers). See also National Endowment for "
3448 "the Arts, More Than One in a Blue Moon (2000)."
3452 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
3453 #: freeculture.xml:2692
3455 "Douglas Lichtman makes a related point in \"KaZaA and Punishment,\" Wall "
3456 "Street Journal, 10 September 2003, A24."
3459 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3460 #: freeculture.xml:2676
3462 "The recording industry insists this is a matter of law and morality. Let's "
3463 "put the law aside for a moment and think about the morality. Where is the "
3464 "morality in a lawsuit like this? What is the virtue in scapegoatism? The "
3465 "RIAA is an extraordinarily powerful lobby. The president of the RIAA is "
3466 "reported to make more than $1 million a year. Artists, on the other hand, "
3467 "are not well paid. The average recording artist makes $45,900.<placeholder "
3468 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There are plenty of ways for the RIAA to affect "
3469 "and direct policy. So where is the morality in taking money from a student "
3470 "for running a search engine?<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3473 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3474 #: freeculture.xml:2697
3476 "On June 23, Jesse wired his savings to the lawyer working for the RIAA. The "
3477 "case against him was then dismissed. And with this, this kid who had "
3478 "tinkered a computer into a $15 million lawsuit became an activist:"
3481 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
3482 #: freeculture.xml:2704
3484 "I was definitely not an activist [before]. I never really meant to be an "
3485 "activist. . . . [But] I've been pushed into this. In no way did I ever "
3486 "foresee anything like this, but I think it's just completely absurd what the "
3490 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3491 #: freeculture.xml:2711
3493 "Jesse's parents betray a certain pride in their reluctant activist. As his "
3494 "father told me, Jesse \"considers himself very conservative, and so do "
3495 "I. . . . He's not a tree hugger. . . . I think it's bizarre that they would "
3496 "pick on him. But he wants to let people know that they're sending the wrong "
3497 "message. And he wants to correct the record.\""
3500 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
3501 #: freeculture.xml:2720
3502 msgid "CHAPTER FOUR: \"Pirates\""
3505 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
3506 #: freeculture.xml:2722
3508 "If \"piracy\" means using the creative property of others without their "
3509 "permission—if \"if value, then right\" is true—then the history "
3510 "of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of "
3511 "\"big media\" today—film, records, radio, and cable TV—was born "
3512 "of a kind of piracy so defined. The consistent story is how last "
3513 "generation's pirates join this generation's country club—until now."
3516 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
3517 #: freeculture.xml:2730
3522 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3523 #: freeculture.xml:2734
3525 "I am grateful to Peter DiMauro for pointing me to this extraordinary "
3526 "history. See also Siva Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, "
3527 "87–93, which details Edison's \"adventures\" with copyright and "
3532 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3533 #: freeculture.xml:2732
3535 "The film industry of Hollywood was built by fleeing pirates.<placeholder "
3536 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Creators and directors migrated from the East "
3537 "Coast to California in the early twentieth century in part to escape "
3538 "controls that patents granted the inventor of filmmaking, Thomas "
3539 "Edison. These controls were exercised through a monopoly \"trust,\" the "
3540 "Motion Pictures Patents Company, and were based on Thomas Edison's creative "
3541 "property—patents. Edison formed the MPPC to exercise the rights this "
3542 "creative property gave him, and the MPPC was serious about the control it "
3546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3547 #: freeculture.xml:2749
3548 msgid "As one commentator tells one part of the story,"
3551 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
3552 #: freeculture.xml:2753
3554 "A January 1909 deadline was set for all companies to comply with the "
3555 "license. By February, unlicensed outlaws, who referred to themselves as "
3556 "independents protested the trust and carried on business without submitting "
3557 "to the Edison monopoly. In the summer of 1909 the independent movement was "
3558 "in full-swing, with producers and theater owners using illegal equipment and "
3559 "imported film stock to create their own underground market."
3563 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3564 #: freeculture.xml:2773
3566 "J. A. Aberdeen, Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent Motion "
3567 "Picture Producers (Cobblestone Entertainment, 2000) and expanded texts "
3568 "posted at \"The Edison Movie Monopoly: The Motion Picture Patents Company "
3569 "vs. the Independent Outlaws,\" available at <ulink "
3570 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #11</ulink>. For a discussion of "
3571 "the economic motive behind both these limits and the limits imposed by "
3572 "Victor on phonographs, see Randal C. Picker, \"From Edison to the Broadcast "
3573 "Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the Propertization of "
3574 "Copyright\" (September 2002), University of Chicago Law School, James "
3575 "M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, Working Paper No. 159."
3578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
3579 #: freeculture.xml:2784
3580 msgid "General Film Company"
3583 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3584 #: freeculture.xml:2785 freeculture.xml:3028 freeculture.xml:4121 freeculture.xml:9465
3585 msgid "Picker, Randal C."
3588 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
3589 #: freeculture.xml:2762
3591 "With the country experiencing a tremendous expansion in the number of "
3592 "nickelodeons, the Patents Company reacted to the independent movement by "
3593 "forming a strong-arm subsidiary known as the General Film Company to block "
3594 "the entry of non-licensed independents. With coercive tactics that have "
3595 "become legendary, General Film confiscated unlicensed equipment, "
3596 "discontinued product supply to theaters which showed unlicensed films, and "
3597 "effectively monopolized distribution with the acquisition of all U.S. film "
3598 "exchanges, except for the one owned by the independent William Fox who "
3599 "defied the Trust even after his license was revoked.<placeholder "
3600 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
3601 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
3605 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3606 #: freeculture.xml:2795
3608 "Marc Wanamaker, \"The First Studios,\" The Silents Majority, archived at "
3609 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #12</ulink>."
3612 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3613 #: freeculture.xml:2789
3615 "The Napsters of those days, the \"independents,\" were companies like "
3616 "Fox. And no less than today, these independents were vigorously resisted. "
3617 "\"Shooting was disrupted by machinery stolen, and `accidents' resulting in "
3618 "loss of negatives, equipment, buildings and sometimes life and limb "
3619 "frequently occurred.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That led the "
3620 "independents to flee the East Coast. California was remote enough from "
3621 "Edison's reach that filmmakers there could pirate his inventions without "
3622 "fear of the law. And the leaders of Hollywood filmmaking, Fox most "
3623 "prominently, did just that."
3627 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3628 #: freeculture.xml:2805
3630 "Of course, California grew quickly, and the effective enforcement of federal "
3631 "law eventually spread west. But because patents grant the patent holder a "
3632 "truly \"limited\" monopoly (just seventeen years at that time), by the time "
3633 "enough federal marshals appeared, the patents had expired. A new industry "
3634 "had been born, in part from the piracy of Edison's creative property."
3637 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
3638 #: freeculture.xml:2816
3639 msgid "Recorded Music"
3642 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3643 #: freeculture.xml:2818
3645 "The record industry was born of another kind of piracy, though to see how "
3646 "requires a bit of detail about the way the law regulates music."
3649 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3650 #: freeculture.xml:2822
3652 "At the time that Edison and Henri Fourneaux invented machines for "
3653 "reproducing music (Edison the phonograph, Fourneaux the player piano), the "
3654 "law gave composers the exclusive right to control copies of their music and "
3655 "the exclusive right to control public performances of their music. In other "
3656 "words, in 1900, if I wanted a copy of Phil Russel's 1899 hit \"Happy Mose,\" "
3657 "the law said I would have to pay for the right to get a copy of the musical "
3658 "score, and I would also have to pay for the right to perform it publicly."
3661 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
3662 #: freeculture.xml:2831 freeculture.xml:2973
3666 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3667 #: freeculture.xml:2833
3669 "But what if I wanted to record \"Happy Mose,\" using Edison's phonograph or "
3670 "Fourneaux's player piano? Here the law stumbled. It was clear enough that I "
3671 "would have to buy any copy of the musical score that I performed in making "
3672 "this recording. And it was clear enough that I would have to pay for any "
3673 "public performance of the work I was recording. But it wasn't totally clear "
3674 "that I would have to pay for a \"public performance\" if I recorded the song "
3675 "in my own house (even today, you don't owe the Beatles anything if you sing "
3676 "their songs in the shower), or if I recorded the song from memory (copies in "
3677 "your brain are not—yet— regulated by copyright law). So if I "
3678 "simply sang the song into a recording device in the privacy of my own home, "
3679 "it wasn't clear that I owed the composer anything. And more importantly, it "
3680 "wasn't clear whether I owed the composer anything if I then made copies of "
3681 "those recordings. Because of this gap in the law, then, I could effectively "
3682 "pirate someone else's song without paying its composer anything."
3686 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3687 #: freeculture.xml:2851
3689 "The composers (and publishers) were none too happy about this capacity to "
3690 "pirate. As South Dakota senator Alfred Kittredge put it,"
3694 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3695 #: freeculture.xml:2865
3697 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright: Hearings on S. 6330 "
3698 "and H.R. 19853 Before the ( Joint) Committees on Patents, 59th Cong. 59, 1st "
3699 "sess. (1906) (statement of Senator Alfred B. Kittredge, of South Dakota, "
3700 "chairman), reprinted in Legislative History of the Copyright Act, E. Fulton "
3701 "Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, "
3705 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
3706 #: freeculture.xml:2858
3708 "Imagine the injustice of the thing. A composer writes a song or an opera. A "
3709 "publisher buys at great expense the rights to the same and copyrights "
3710 "it. Along come the phonographic companies and companies who cut music rolls "
3711 "and deliberately steal the work of the brain of the composer and publisher "
3712 "without any regard for [their] rights.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3718 #: freeculture.xml:2879
3720 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 223 (statement of "
3721 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
3725 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3726 #: freeculture.xml:2885
3728 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 226 (statement of "
3729 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
3733 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3734 #: freeculture.xml:2892
3736 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 23 (statement of "
3737 "John Philip Sousa, composer)."
3740 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3741 #: freeculture.xml:2875
3743 "The innovators who developed the technology to record other people's works "
3744 "were \"sponging upon the toil, the work, the talent, and genius of American "
3745 "composers,\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and the \"music "
3746 "publishing industry\" was thereby \"at the complete mercy of this one "
3747 "pirate.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> As John Philip Sousa put "
3748 "it, in as direct a way as possible, \"When they make money out of my pieces, "
3749 "I want a share of it.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
3753 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3754 #: freeculture.xml:2905
3756 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 283–84 "
3757 "(statement of Albert Walker, representative of the Auto-Music Perforating "
3758 "Company of New York)."
3762 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3763 #: freeculture.xml:2916
3765 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 376 (prepared "
3766 "memorandum of Philip Mauro, general patent counsel of the American "
3767 "Graphophone Company Association)."
3770 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3771 #: freeculture.xml:2897
3773 "These arguments have familiar echoes in the wars of our day. So, too, do the "
3774 "arguments on the other side. The innovators who developed the player piano "
3775 "argued that \"it is perfectly demonstrable that the introduction of "
3776 "automatic music players has not deprived any composer of anything he had "
3777 "before their introduction.\" Rather, the machines increased the sales of "
3778 "sheet music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In any case, the "
3779 "innovators argued, the job of Congress was \"to consider first the interest "
3780 "of [the public], whom they represent, and whose servants they are.\" \"All "
3781 "talk about `theft,'\" the general counsel of the American Graphophone "
3782 "Company wrote, \"is the merest claptrap, for there exists no property in "
3783 "ideas musical, literary or artistic, except as defined by "
3784 "statute.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3788 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3789 #: freeculture.xml:2922
3791 "The law soon resolved this battle in favor of the composer and the recording "
3792 "artist. Congress amended the law to make sure that composers would be paid "
3793 "for the \"mechanical reproductions\" of their music. But rather than simply "
3794 "granting the composer complete control over the right to make mechanical "
3795 "reproductions, Congress gave recording artists a right to record the music, "
3796 "at a price set by Congress, once the composer allowed it to be recorded "
3797 "once. This is the part of copyright law that makes cover songs "
3798 "possible. Once a composer authorizes a recording of his song, others are "
3799 "free to record the same song, so long as they pay the original composer a "
3800 "fee set by the law."
3803 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3804 #: freeculture.xml:2936
3806 "American law ordinarily calls this a \"compulsory license,\" but I will "
3807 "refer to it as a \"statutory license.\" A statutory license is a license "
3808 "whose key terms are set by law. After Congress's amendment of the Copyright "
3809 "Act in 1909, record companies were free to distribute copies of recordings "
3810 "so long as they paid the composer (or copyright holder) the fee set by the "
3814 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
3815 #: freeculture.xml:2951 freeculture.xml:13712
3816 msgid "Grisham, John"
3819 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3820 #: freeculture.xml:2944
3822 "This is an exception within the law of copyright. When John Grisham writes a "
3823 "novel, a publisher is free to publish that novel only if Grisham gives the "
3824 "publisher permission. Grisham, in turn, is free to charge whatever he wants "
3825 "for that permission. The price to publish Grisham is thus set by Grisham, "
3826 "and copyright law ordinarily says you have no permission to use Grisham's "
3827 "work except with permission of Grisham. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3832 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3833 #: freeculture.xml:2967
3835 "Copyright Law Revision: Hearings on S. 2499, S. 2900, H.R. 243, and "
3836 "H.R. 11794 Before the ( Joint) Committee on Patents, 60th Cong., 1st sess., "
3837 "217 (1908) (statement of Senator Reed Smoot, chairman), reprinted in "
3838 "Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act, E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe "
3839 "Goldman, eds. (South Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1976)."
3842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3843 #: freeculture.xml:2954
3845 "But the law governing recordings gives recording artists less. And thus, in "
3846 "effect, the law subsidizes the recording industry through a kind of "
3847 "piracy—by giving recording artists a weaker right than it otherwise "
3848 "gives creative authors. The Beatles have less control over their creative "
3849 "work than Grisham does. And the beneficiaries of this less control are the "
3850 "recording industry and the public. The recording industry gets something of "
3851 "value for less than it otherwise would pay; the public gets access to a much "
3852 "wider range of musical creativity. Indeed, Congress was quite explicit about "
3853 "its reasons for granting this right. Its fear was the monopoly power of "
3854 "rights holders, and that that power would stifle follow-on "
3855 "creativity.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
3856 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
3859 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3860 #: freeculture.xml:2976
3862 "While the recording industry has been quite coy about this recently, "
3863 "historically it has been quite a supporter of the statutory license for "
3864 "records. As a 1967 report from the House Committee on the Judiciary relates,"
3868 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3869 #: freeculture.xml:2998
3871 "Copyright Law Revision: Report to Accompany H.R. 2512, House Committee on "
3872 "the Judiciary, 90th Cong., 1st sess., House Document no. 83, (8 March "
3873 "1967). I am grateful to Glenn Brown for drawing my attention to this report."
3876 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
3877 #: freeculture.xml:2983
3879 "the record producers argued vigorously that the compulsory license system "
3880 "must be retained. They asserted that the record industry is a "
3881 "half-billion-dollar business of great economic importance in the United "
3882 "States and throughout the world; records today are the principal means of "
3883 "disseminating music, and this creates special problems, since performers "
3884 "need unhampered access to musical material on nondiscriminatory "
3885 "terms. Historically, the record producers pointed out, there were no "
3886 "recording rights before 1909 and the 1909 statute adopted the compulsory "
3887 "license as a deliberate anti-monopoly condition on the grant of these "
3888 "rights. They argue that the result has been an outpouring of recorded music, "
3889 "with the public being given lower prices, improved quality, and a greater "
3890 "choice.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
3893 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3894 #: freeculture.xml:3005
3896 "By limiting the rights musicians have, by partially pirating their creative "
3897 "work, the record producers, and the public, benefit."
3900 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3901 #: freeculture.xml:3010 freeculture.xml:4086
3905 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3906 #: freeculture.xml:3012
3907 msgid "Radio was also born of piracy."
3910 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3911 #: freeculture.xml:3027
3912 msgid "Hand, Learned"
3915 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
3916 #: freeculture.xml:3018
3918 "See 17 United States Code, sections 106 and 110. At the beginning, record "
3919 "companies printed \"Not Licensed for Radio Broadcast\" and other messages "
3920 "purporting to restrict the ability to play a record on a radio station. "
3921 "Judge Learned Hand rejected the argument that a warning attached to a record "
3922 "might restrict the rights of the radio station. See RCA Manufacturing "
3923 "Co. v. Whiteman, 114 F. 2d 86 (2nd Cir. 1940). See also Randal C. Picker, "
3924 "\"From Edison to the Broadcast Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and "
3925 "the Propertization of Copyright,\" University of Chicago Law Review 70 "
3926 "(2003): 281. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
3927 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
3930 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3931 #: freeculture.xml:3015
3933 "When a radio station plays a record on the air, that constitutes a \"public "
3934 "performance\" of the composer's work.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3935 "id=\"0\"/> As I described above, the law gives the composer (or copyright "
3936 "holder) an exclusive right to public performances of his work. The radio "
3937 "station thus owes the composer money for that performance."
3941 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3942 #: freeculture.xml:3035
3944 "But when the radio station plays a record, it is not only performing a copy "
3945 "of the composer's work. The radio station is also performing a copy of the "
3946 "recording artist's work. It's one thing to have \"Happy Birthday\" sung on "
3947 "the radio by the local children's choir; it's quite another to have it sung "
3948 "by the Rolling Stones or Lyle Lovett. The recording artist is adding to the "
3949 "value of the composition performed on the radio station. And if the law "
3950 "were perfectly consistent, the radio station would have to pay the recording "
3951 "artist for his work, just as it pays the composer of the music for his work."
3954 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3955 #: freeculture.xml:3048
3957 "But it doesn't. Under the law governing radio performances, the radio "
3958 "station does not have to pay the recording artist. The radio station need "
3959 "only pay the composer. The radio station thus gets a bit of something for "
3960 "nothing. It gets to perform the recording artist's work for free, even if it "
3961 "must pay the composer something for the privilege of playing the song."
3964 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3965 #: freeculture.xml:3056
3967 "This difference can be huge. Imagine you compose a piece of music. Imagine "
3968 "it is your first. You own the exclusive right to authorize public "
3969 "performances of that music. So if Madonna wants to sing your song in public, "
3970 "she has to get your permission."
3973 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3974 #: freeculture.xml:3062
3976 "Imagine she does sing your song, and imagine she likes it a lot. She then "
3977 "decides to make a recording of your song, and it becomes a top hit. Under "
3978 "our law, every time a radio station plays your song, you get some money. But "
3979 "Madonna gets nothing, save the indirect effect on the sale of her CDs. The "
3980 "public performance of her recording is not a \"protected\" right. The radio "
3981 "station thus gets to pirate the value of Madonna's work without paying her "
3985 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
3986 #: freeculture.xml:3071
3988 "No doubt, one might argue that, on balance, the recording artists "
3989 "benefit. On average, the promotion they get is worth more than the "
3990 "performance rights they give up. Maybe. But even if so, the law ordinarily "
3991 "gives the creator the right to make this choice. By making the choice for "
3992 "him or her, the law gives the radio station the right to take something for "
3996 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
3997 #: freeculture.xml:3080 freeculture.xml:4092
4001 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4002 #: freeculture.xml:3083
4003 msgid "Cable TV was also born of a kind of piracy."
4007 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4008 #: freeculture.xml:3086
4010 "When cable entrepreneurs first started wiring communities with cable "
4011 "television in 1948, most refused to pay broadcasters for the content that "
4012 "they echoed to their customers. Even when the cable companies started "
4013 "selling access to television broadcasts, they refused to pay for what they "
4014 "sold. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more "
4015 "egregiously than anything Napster ever did— Napster never charged for "
4016 "the content it enabled others to give away."
4019 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
4020 #: freeculture.xml:3096
4021 msgid "Anello, Douglas"
4024 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
4025 #: freeculture.xml:3097
4026 msgid "Burdick, Quentin"
4030 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4031 #: freeculture.xml:3103
4033 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV: Hearing on S. 1006 Before the "
4034 "Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Senate Committee "
4035 "on the Judiciary, 89th Cong., 2nd sess., 78 (1966) (statement of Rosel "
4036 "H. Hyde, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission)."
4040 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4041 #: freeculture.xml:3114
4043 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 116 (statement of Douglas A. Anello, "
4044 "general counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters)."
4047 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4048 #: freeculture.xml:3099
4050 "Broadcasters and copyright owners were quick to attack this theft. Rosel "
4051 "Hyde, chairman of the FCC, viewed the practice as a kind of \"unfair and "
4052 "potentially destructive competition.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4053 "id=\"0\"/> There may have been a \"public interest\" in spreading the reach "
4054 "of cable TV, but as Douglas Anello, general counsel to the National "
4055 "Association of Broadcasters, asked Senator Quentin Burdick during testimony, "
4056 "\"Does public interest dictate that you use somebody else's "
4057 "property?\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> As another broadcaster "
4062 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4063 #: freeculture.xml:3125
4065 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 126 (statement of Ernest W. Jennes, "
4066 "general counsel of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, Inc.)."
4069 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
4070 #: freeculture.xml:3121
4072 "The extraordinary thing about the CATV business is that it is the only "
4073 "business I know of where the product that is being sold is not paid "
4074 "for.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4077 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4078 #: freeculture.xml:3131
4079 msgid "Again, the demand of the copyright holders seemed reasonable enough:"
4083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4084 #: freeculture.xml:3140
4086 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 169 (joint statement of Arthur B. Krim, "
4087 "president of United Artists Corp., and John Sinn, president of United "
4088 "Artists Television, Inc.)."
4091 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
4092 #: freeculture.xml:3135
4094 "All we are asking for is a very simple thing, that people who now take our "
4095 "property for nothing pay for it. We are trying to stop piracy and I don't "
4096 "think there is any lesser word to describe it. I think there are harsher "
4097 "words which would fit it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4101 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4102 #: freeculture.xml:3151
4104 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 209 (statement of Charlton Heston, "
4105 "president of the Screen Actors Guild)."
4108 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4109 #: freeculture.xml:3147
4111 "These were \"free-ride[rs],\" Screen Actor's Guild president Charlton Heston "
4112 "said, who were \"depriving actors of compensation.\"<placeholder "
4113 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4116 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4117 #: freeculture.xml:3156
4119 "But again, there was another side to the debate. As Assistant Attorney "
4120 "General Edwin Zimmerman put it,"
4123 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
4124 #: freeculture.xml:3172 freeculture.xml:3174
4125 msgid "Zimmerman, Edwin"
4128 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4129 #: freeculture.xml:3170
4131 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 216 (statement of Edwin M. Zimmerman, "
4132 "acting assistant attorney general). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4136 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
4137 #: freeculture.xml:3161
4139 "Our point here is that unlike the problem of whether you have any copyright "
4140 "protection at all, the problem here is whether copyright holders who are "
4141 "already compensated, who already have a monopoly, should be permitted to "
4142 "extend that monopoly. . . . The question here is how much compensation they "
4143 "should have and how far back they should carry their right to "
4144 "compensation.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4145 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4148 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4149 #: freeculture.xml:3178
4151 "Copyright owners took the cable companies to court. Twice the Supreme Court "
4152 "held that the cable companies owed the copyright owners nothing."
4155 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4156 #: freeculture.xml:3182
4158 "It took Congress almost thirty years before it resolved the question of "
4159 "whether cable companies had to pay for the content they \"pirated.\" In the "
4160 "end, Congress resolved this question in the same way that it resolved the "
4161 "question about record players and player pianos. Yes, cable companies would "
4162 "have to pay for the content that they broadcast; but the price they would "
4163 "have to pay was not set by the copyright owner. The price was set by law, "
4164 "so that the broadcasters couldn't exercise veto power over the emerging "
4165 "technologies of cable. Cable companies thus built their empire in part upon "
4166 "a \"piracy\" of the value created by broadcasters' content."
4170 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4171 #: freeculture.xml:3199
4173 "See, for example, National Music Publisher's Association, The Engine of Free "
4174 "Expression: Copyright on the Internet—The Myth of Free Information, "
4175 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4176 "#13</ulink>. \"The threat of piracy—the use of someone else's creative "
4177 "work without permission or compensation—has grown with the Internet.\""
4180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4181 #: freeculture.xml:3194
4183 "These separate stories sing a common theme. If \"piracy\" means using value "
4184 "from someone else's creative property without permission from that "
4185 "creator—as it is increasingly described today<placeholder "
4186 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> — then every industry affected by "
4187 "copyright today is the product and beneficiary of a certain kind of "
4188 "piracy. Film, records, radio, cable TV. . . . The list is long and could "
4189 "well be expanded. Every generation welcomes the pirates from the last. Every "
4190 "generation—until now."
4193 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
4194 #: freeculture.xml:3216
4195 msgid "CHAPTER FIVE: \"Piracy\""
4198 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
4199 #: freeculture.xml:3218
4201 "There is piracy of copyrighted material. Lots of it. This piracy comes in "
4202 "many forms. The most significant is commercial piracy, the unauthorized "
4203 "taking of other people's content within a commercial context. Despite the "
4204 "many justifications that are offered in its defense, this taking is "
4205 "wrong. No one should condone it, and the law should stop it."
4209 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
4210 #: freeculture.xml:3226
4212 "But as well as copy-shop piracy, there is another kind of \"taking\" that is "
4213 "more directly related to the Internet. That taking, too, seems wrong to "
4214 "many, and it is wrong much of the time. Before we paint this taking "
4215 "\"piracy,\" however, we should understand its nature a bit more. For the "
4216 "harm of this taking is significantly more ambiguous than outright copying, "
4217 "and the law should account for that ambiguity, as it has so often done in "
4221 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
4222 #: freeculture.xml:3236
4227 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4228 #: freeculture.xml:3244
4230 "See IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), The "
4231 "Recording Industry Commercial Piracy Report 2003, July 2003, available at "
4232 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #14</ulink>. See also Ben "
4233 "Hunt, \"Companies Warned on Music Piracy Risk,\" Financial Times, 14 "
4234 "February 2003, 11."
4237 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4238 #: freeculture.xml:3238
4240 "All across the world, but especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, there are "
4241 "businesses that do nothing but take others people's copyrighted content, "
4242 "copy it, and sell it—all without the permission of a copyright "
4243 "owner. The recording industry estimates that it loses about $4.6 billion "
4244 "every year to physical piracy<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> (that "
4245 "works out to one in three CDs sold worldwide). The MPAA estimates that it "
4246 "loses $3 billion annually worldwide to piracy."
4249 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4250 #: freeculture.xml:3254
4252 "This is piracy plain and simple. Nothing in the argument of this book, nor "
4253 "in the argument that most people make when talking about the subject of this "
4254 "book, should draw into doubt this simple point: This piracy is wrong."
4257 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4258 #: freeculture.xml:3260
4260 "Which is not to say that excuses and justifications couldn't be made for "
4261 "it. We could, for example, remind ourselves that for the first one hundred "
4262 "years of the American Republic, America did not honor foreign copyrights. We "
4263 "were born, in this sense, a pirate nation. It might therefore seem "
4264 "hypocritical for us to insist so strongly that other developing nations "
4265 "treat as wrong what we, for the first hundred years of our existence, "
4269 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4270 #: freeculture.xml:3269
4272 "That excuse isn't terribly strong. Technically, our law did not ban the "
4273 "taking of foreign works. It explicitly limited itself to American "
4274 "works. Thus the American publishers who published foreign works without the "
4275 "permission of foreign authors were not violating any rule. The copy shops "
4276 "in Asia, by contrast, are violating Asian law. Asian law does protect "
4277 "foreign copyrights, and the actions of the copy shops violate that law. So "
4278 "the wrong of piracy that they engage in is not just a moral wrong, but a "
4279 "legal wrong, and not just an internationally legal wrong, but a locally "
4280 "legal wrong as well."
4284 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4285 #: freeculture.xml:3280
4287 "True, these local rules have, in effect, been imposed upon these "
4288 "countries. No country can be part of the world economy and choose not to "
4289 "protect copyright internationally. We may have been born a pirate nation, "
4290 "but we will not allow any other nation to have a similar childhood."
4293 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4294 #: freeculture.xml:3307 freeculture.xml:12189 freeculture.xml:12618 freeculture.xml:12625
4295 msgid "Drahos, Peter"
4298 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4299 #: freeculture.xml:3293
4301 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: Who Owns the "
4302 "Knowledge Economy? (New York: The New Press, 2003), 10–13, 209. The "
4303 "Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement "
4304 "obligates member nations to create administrative and enforcement mechanisms "
4305 "for intellectual property rights, a costly proposition for developing "
4306 "countries. Additionally, patent rights may lead to higher prices for staple "
4307 "industries such as agriculture. Critics of TRIPS question the disparity "
4308 "between burdens imposed upon developing countries and benefits conferred to "
4309 "industrialized nations. TRIPS does permit governments to use patents for "
4310 "public, noncommercial uses without first obtaining the patent holder's "
4311 "permission. Developing nations may be able to use this to gain the benefits "
4312 "of foreign patents at lower prices. This is a promising strategy for "
4313 "developing nations within the TRIPS framework. <placeholder "
4314 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4317 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4318 #: freeculture.xml:3288
4320 "If a country is to be treated as a sovereign, however, then its laws are its "
4321 "laws regardless of their source. The international law under which these "
4322 "nations live gives them some opportunities to escape the burden of "
4323 "intellectual property law.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In my "
4324 "view, more developing nations should take advantage of that opportunity, but "
4325 "when they don't, then their laws should be respected. And under the laws of "
4326 "these nations, this piracy is wrong."
4329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4330 #: freeculture.xml:3327 freeculture.xml:3582 freeculture.xml:14235
4331 msgid "Liebowitz, Stan"
4334 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4335 #: freeculture.xml:3320
4337 "For an analysis of the economic impact of copying technology, see Stan "
4338 "Liebowitz, Rethinking the Network Economy (New York: Amacom, 2002), "
4339 "144–90. \"In some instances . . . the impact of piracy on the "
4340 "copyright holder's ability to appropriate the value of the work will be "
4341 "negligible. One obvious instance is the case where the individual engaging "
4342 "in pirating would not have purchased an original even if pirating were not "
4343 "an option.\" Ibid., 149. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4346 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4347 #: freeculture.xml:3314
4349 "Alternatively, we could try to excuse this piracy by noting that in any "
4350 "case, it does no harm to the industry. The Chinese who get access to "
4351 "American CDs at 50 cents a copy are not people who would have bought those "
4352 "American CDs at $15 a copy. So no one really has any less money than they "
4353 "otherwise would have had.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4356 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4357 #: freeculture.xml:3331
4359 "This is often true (though I have friends who have purchased many thousands "
4360 "of pirated DVDs who certainly have enough money to pay for the content they "
4361 "have taken), and it does mitigate to some degree the harm caused by such "
4362 "taking. Extremists in this debate love to say, \"You wouldn't go into Barnes "
4363 "& Noble and take a book off of the shelf without paying; why should it "
4364 "be any different with on-line music?\" The difference is, of course, that "
4365 "when you take a book from Barnes & Noble, it has one less book to "
4366 "sell. By contrast, when you take an MP3 from a computer network, there is "
4367 "not one less CD that can be sold. The physics of piracy of the intangible "
4368 "are different from the physics of piracy of the tangible."
4372 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4373 #: freeculture.xml:3344
4375 "This argument is still very weak. However, although copyright is a property "
4376 "right of a very special sort, it is a property right. Like all property "
4377 "rights, the copyright gives the owner the right to decide the terms under "
4378 "which content is shared. If the copyright owner doesn't want to sell, she "
4379 "doesn't have to. There are exceptions: important statutory licenses that "
4380 "apply to copyrighted content regardless of the wish of the copyright "
4381 "owner. Those licenses give people the right to \"take\" copyrighted content "
4382 "whether or not the copyright owner wants to sell. But where the law does not "
4383 "give people the right to take content, it is wrong to take that content even "
4384 "if the wrong does no harm. If we have a property system, and that system is "
4385 "properly balanced to the technology of a time, then it is wrong to take "
4386 "property without the permission of a property owner. That is exactly what "
4387 "\"property\" means."
4390 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
4391 #: freeculture.xml:3373
4395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4396 #: freeculture.xml:3362
4398 "Finally, we could try to excuse this piracy with the argument that the "
4399 "piracy actually helps the copyright owner. When the Chinese \"steal\" "
4400 "Windows, that makes the Chinese dependent on Microsoft. Microsoft loses the "
4401 "value of the software that was taken. But it gains users who are used to "
4402 "life in the Microsoft world. Over time, as the nation grows more wealthy, "
4403 "more and more people will buy software rather than steal it. And hence over "
4404 "time, because that buying will benefit Microsoft, Microsoft benefits from "
4405 "the piracy. If instead of pirating Microsoft Windows, the Chinese used the "
4406 "free GNU/Linux operating system, then these Chinese users would not "
4407 "eventually be buying Microsoft. Without piracy, then, Microsoft would "
4408 "lose. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4411 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4412 #: freeculture.xml:3376
4414 "This argument, too, is somewhat true. The addiction strategy is a good "
4415 "one. Many businesses practice it. Some thrive because of it. Law students, "
4416 "for example, are given free access to the two largest legal databases. The "
4417 "companies marketing both hope the students will become so used to their "
4418 "service that they will want to use it and not the other when they become "
4419 "lawyers (and must pay high subscription fees)."
4422 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4423 #: freeculture.xml:3384
4425 "Still, the argument is not terribly persuasive. We don't give the alcoholic "
4426 "a defense when he steals his first beer, merely because that will make it "
4427 "more likely that he will buy the next three. Instead, we ordinarily allow "
4428 "businesses to decide for themselves when it is best to give their product "
4429 "away. If Microsoft fears the competition of GNU/Linux, then Microsoft can "
4430 "give its product away, as it did, for example, with Internet Explorer to "
4431 "fight Netscape. A property right means giving the property owner the right "
4432 "to say who gets access to what—at least ordinarily. And if the law "
4433 "properly balances the rights of the copyright owner with the rights of "
4434 "access, then violating the law is still wrong."
4438 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4439 #: freeculture.xml:3398
4441 "Thus, while I understand the pull of these justifications for piracy, and I "
4442 "certainly see the motivation, in my view, in the end, these efforts at "
4443 "justifying commercial piracy simply don't cut it. This kind of piracy is "
4444 "rampant and just plain wrong. It doesn't transform the content it steals; it "
4445 "doesn't transform the market it competes in. It merely gives someone access "
4446 "to something that the law says he should not have. Nothing has changed to "
4447 "draw that law into doubt. This form of piracy is flat out wrong."
4450 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4451 #: freeculture.xml:3408
4453 "But as the examples from the four chapters that introduced this part "
4454 "suggest, even if some piracy is plainly wrong, not all \"piracy\" is. Or at "
4455 "least, not all \"piracy\" is wrong if that term is understood in the way it "
4456 "is increasingly used today. Many kinds of \"piracy\" are useful and "
4457 "productive, to produce either new content or new ways of doing business. "
4458 "Neither our tradition nor any tradition has ever banned all \"piracy\" in "
4459 "that sense of the term."
4462 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4463 #: freeculture.xml:3417
4465 "This doesn't mean that there are no questions raised by the latest piracy "
4466 "concern, peer-to-peer file sharing. But it does mean that we need to "
4467 "understand the harm in peer-to-peer sharing a bit more before we condemn it "
4468 "to the gallows with the charge of piracy."
4471 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4472 #: freeculture.xml:3423
4474 "For (1) like the original Hollywood, p2p sharing escapes an overly "
4475 "controlling industry; and (2) like the original recording industry, it "
4476 "simply exploits a new way to distribute content; but (3) unlike cable TV, no "
4477 "one is selling the content that is shared on p2p services."
4480 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4481 #: freeculture.xml:3429
4483 "These differences distinguish p2p sharing from true piracy. They should push "
4484 "us to find a way to protect artists while enabling this sharing to survive."
4487 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
4488 #: freeculture.xml:3435
4493 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4494 #: freeculture.xml:3440
4495 msgid "Bach v. Longman, 98 Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777)."
4499 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4500 #: freeculture.xml:3437
4502 "The key to the \"piracy\" that the law aims to quash is a use that \"rob[s] "
4503 "the author of [his] profit.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This "
4504 "means we must determine whether and how much p2p sharing harms before we "
4505 "know how strongly the law should seek to either prevent it or find an "
4506 "alternative to assure the author of his profit."
4509 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
4510 #: freeculture.xml:3462 freeculture.xml:7998
4511 msgid "Christensen, Clayton M."
4514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4515 #: freeculture.xml:3454
4517 "See Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary "
4518 "National Bestseller That Changed the Way We Do Business (New York: "
4519 "HarperBusiness, 2000). Professor Christensen examines why companies that "
4520 "give rise to and dominate a product area are frequently unable to come up "
4521 "with the most creative, paradigm-shifting uses for their own products. This "
4522 "job usually falls to outside innovators, who reassemble existing technology "
4523 "in inventive ways. For a discussion of Christensen's ideas, see Lawrence "
4524 "Lessig, Future, 89–92, 139. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
4529 #: freeculture.xml:3465
4530 msgid "Fanning, Shawn"
4533 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4534 #: freeculture.xml:3449
4536 "Peer-to-peer sharing was made famous by Napster. But the inventors of the "
4537 "Napster technology had not made any major technological innovations. Like "
4538 "every great advance in innovation on the Internet (and, arguably, off the "
4539 "Internet as well<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), Shawn Fanning "
4540 "and crew had simply put together components that had been developed "
4541 "independently. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4545 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4546 #: freeculture.xml:3473
4548 "See Carolyn Lochhead, \"Silicon Valley Dream, Hollywood Nightmare,\" San "
4549 "Francisco Chronicle, 24 September 2002, A1; \"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide,\" New "
4550 "Scientist, 6 July 2002, 42; Benny Evangelista, \"Napster Names CEO, Secures "
4551 "New Financing,\" San Francisco Chronicle, 23 May 2003, C1; \"Napster's "
4552 "Wake-Up Call,\" Economist, 24 June 2000, 23; John Naughton, \"Hollywood at "
4553 "War with the Internet\" (London) Times, 26 July 2002, 18."
4556 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4557 #: freeculture.xml:3468
4559 "The result was spontaneous combustion. Launched in July 1999, Napster "
4560 "amassed over 10 million users within nine months. After eighteen months, "
4561 "there were close to 80 million registered users of the system.<placeholder "
4562 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Courts quickly shut Napster down, but other "
4563 "services emerged to take its place. (Kazaa is currently the most popular p2p "
4564 "service. It boasts over 100 million members.) These services' systems are "
4565 "different architecturally, though not very different in function: Each "
4566 "enables users to make content available to any number of other users. With a "
4567 "p2p system, you can share your favorite songs with your best friend— "
4568 "or your 20,000 best friends."
4572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4573 #: freeculture.xml:3495
4575 "See Ipsos-Insight, TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Online Music Distribution "
4576 "(September 2002), reporting that 28 percent of Americans aged twelve and "
4577 "older have downloaded music off of the Internet and 30 percent have listened "
4578 "to digital music files stored on their computers."
4582 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4583 #: freeculture.xml:3504
4585 "Amy Harmon, \"Industry Offers a Carrot in Online Music Fight,\" New York "
4586 "Times, 6 June 2003, A1."
4589 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4590 #: freeculture.xml:3489
4592 "According to a number of estimates, a huge proportion of Americans have "
4593 "tasted file-sharing technology. A study by Ipsos-Insight in September 2002 "
4594 "estimated that 60 million Americans had downloaded music—28 percent of "
4595 "Americans older than 12.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A survey "
4596 "by the NPD group quoted in The New York Times estimated that 43 million "
4597 "citizens used file-sharing networks to exchange content in May "
4598 "2003.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The vast majority of these "
4599 "are not kids. Whatever the actual figure, a massive quantity of content is "
4600 "being \"taken\" on these networks. The ease and inexpensiveness of "
4601 "file-sharing networks have inspired millions to enjoy music in a way that "
4602 "they hadn't before."
4605 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4606 #: freeculture.xml:3513
4608 "Some of this enjoying involves copyright infringement. Some of it does "
4609 "not. And even among the part that is technically copyright infringement, "
4610 "calculating the actual harm to copyright owners is more complicated than one "
4611 "might think. So consider—a bit more carefully than the polarized "
4612 "voices around this debate usually do—the kinds of sharing that file "
4613 "sharing enables, and the kinds of harm it entails."
4617 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4618 #: freeculture.xml:3523
4620 "File sharers share different kinds of content. We can divide these different "
4621 "kinds into four types."
4625 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4626 #: freeculture.xml:3529
4628 "There are some who use sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
4629 "content. Thus, when a new Madonna CD is released, rather than buying the CD, "
4630 "these users simply take it. We might quibble about whether everyone who "
4631 "takes it would actually have bought it if sharing didn't make it available "
4632 "for free. Most probably wouldn't have, but clearly there are some who "
4633 "would. The latter are the target of category A: users who download instead "
4638 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4639 #: freeculture.xml:3539
4641 "There are some who use sharing networks to sample music before purchasing "
4642 "it. Thus, a friend sends another friend an MP3 of an artist he's not heard "
4643 "of. The other friend then buys CDs by that artist. This is a kind of "
4644 "targeted advertising, quite likely to succeed. If the friend recommending "
4645 "the album gains nothing from a bad recommendation, then one could expect "
4646 "that the recommendations will actually be quite good. The net effect of this "
4647 "sharing could increase the quantity of music purchased."
4651 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4652 #: freeculture.xml:3550
4654 "There are many who use sharing networks to get access to copyrighted content "
4655 "that is no longer sold or that they would not have purchased because the "
4656 "transaction costs off the Net are too high. This use of sharing networks is "
4657 "among the most rewarding for many. Songs that were part of your childhood "
4658 "but have long vanished from the marketplace magically appear again on the "
4659 "network. (One friend told me that when she discovered Napster, she spent a "
4660 "solid weekend \"recalling\" old songs. She was astonished at the range and "
4661 "mix of content that was available.) For content not sold, this is still "
4662 "technically a violation of copyright, though because the copyright owner is "
4663 "not selling the content anymore, the economic harm is zero—the same "
4664 "harm that occurs when I sell my collection of 1960s 45-rpm records to a "
4670 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
4671 #: freeculture.xml:3567
4673 "Finally, there are many who use sharing networks to get access to content "
4674 "that is not copyrighted or that the copyright owner wants to give away."
4677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4678 #: freeculture.xml:3573
4679 msgid "How do these different types of sharing balance out?"
4682 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4683 #: freeculture.xml:3581
4685 "See Liebowitz, Rethinking the Network Economy,148–49. <placeholder "
4686 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4689 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4690 #: freeculture.xml:3576
4692 "Let's start with some simple but important points. From the perspective of "
4693 "the law, only type D sharing is clearly legal. From the perspective of "
4694 "economics, only type A sharing is clearly harmful.<placeholder "
4695 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Type B sharing is illegal but plainly "
4696 "beneficial. Type C sharing is illegal, yet good for society (since more "
4697 "exposure to music is good) and harmless to the artist (since the work is "
4698 "not otherwise available). So how sharing matters on balance is a hard "
4699 "question to answer—and certainly much more difficult than the current "
4700 "rhetoric around the issue suggests."
4703 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4704 #: freeculture.xml:3592
4706 "Whether on balance sharing is harmful depends importantly on how harmful "
4707 "type A sharing is. Just as Edison complained about Hollywood, composers "
4708 "complained about piano rolls, recording artists complained about radio, and "
4709 "broadcasters complained about cable TV, the music industry complains that "
4710 "type A sharing is a kind of \"theft\" that is \"devastating\" the industry."
4714 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4715 #: freeculture.xml:3607
4717 "See Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Technology Evolution and the Music "
4718 "Industry's Business Model Crisis (2003), 3. This report describes the music "
4719 "industry's effort to stigmatize the budding practice of cassette taping in "
4720 "the 1970s, including an advertising campaign featuring a cassette-shape "
4721 "skull and the caption \"Home taping is killing music.\" At the time digital "
4722 "audio tape became a threat, the Office of Technical Assessment conducted a "
4723 "survey of consumer behavior. In 1988, 40 percent of consumers older than ten "
4724 "had taped music to a cassette format. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology "
4725 "Assessment, Copyright and Home Copying: Technology Challenges the Law, "
4726 "OTA-CIT-422 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, October "
4727 "1989), 145–56."
4730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4731 #: freeculture.xml:3600
4733 "While the numbers do suggest that sharing is harmful, how harmful is harder "
4734 "to reckon. It has long been the recording industry's practice to blame "
4735 "technology for any drop in sales. The history of cassette recording is a "
4736 "good example. As a study by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young put it, \"Rather "
4737 "than exploiting this new, popular technology, the labels fought "
4738 "it.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The labels claimed that every "
4739 "album taped was an album unsold, and when record sales fell by 11.4 percent "
4740 "in 1981, the industry claimed that its point was proved. Technology was the "
4741 "problem, and banning or regulating technology was the answer."
4745 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4746 #: freeculture.xml:3633
4747 msgid "U.S. Congress, Copyright and Home Copying, 4."
4750 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4751 #: freeculture.xml:3625
4753 "Yet soon thereafter, and before Congress was given an opportunity to enact "
4754 "regulation, MTV was launched, and the industry had a record turnaround. \"In "
4755 "the end,\" Cap Gemini concludes, \"the `crisis' . . . was not the fault of "
4756 "the tapers—who did not [stop after MTV came into being]—but had "
4757 "to a large extent resulted from stagnation in musical innovation at the "
4758 "major labels.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4761 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4762 #: freeculture.xml:3637
4764 "But just because the industry was wrong before does not mean it is wrong "
4765 "today. To evaluate the real threat that p2p sharing presents to the industry "
4766 "in particular, and society in general—or at least the society that "
4767 "inherits the tradition that gave us the film industry, the record industry, "
4768 "the radio industry, cable TV, and the VCR—the question is not simply "
4769 "whether type A sharing is harmful. The question is also how harmful type A "
4770 "sharing is, and how beneficial the other types of sharing are."
4773 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4774 #: freeculture.xml:3647
4776 "We start to answer this question by focusing on the net harm, from the "
4777 "standpoint of the industry as a whole, that sharing networks cause. The "
4778 "\"net harm\" to the industry as a whole is the amount by which type A "
4779 "sharing exceeds type B. If the record companies sold more records through "
4780 "sampling than they lost through substitution, then sharing networks would "
4781 "actually benefit music companies on balance. They would therefore have "
4782 "little static reason to resist them."
4785 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4786 #: freeculture.xml:3656
4788 "Could that be true? Could the industry as a whole be gaining because of file "
4789 "sharing? Odd as that might sound, the data about CD sales actually suggest "
4790 "it might be close."
4794 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4795 #: freeculture.xml:3666
4797 "See Recording Industry Association of America, 2002 Yearend Statistics, "
4798 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4799 "#15</ulink>. A later report indicates even greater losses. See Recording "
4800 "Industry Association of America, Some Facts About Music Piracy, 25 June "
4801 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4802 "#16</ulink>: \"In the past four years, unit shipments of recorded music have "
4803 "fallen by 26 percent from 1.16 billion units in to 860 million units in 2002 "
4804 "in the United States (based on units shipped). In terms of sales, revenues "
4805 "are down 14 percent, from $14.6 billion in to $12.6 billion last year (based "
4806 "on U.S. dollar value of shipments). The music industry worldwide has gone "
4807 "from a $39 billion industry in 2000 down to a $32 billion industry in 2002 "
4808 "(based on U.S. dollar value of shipments).\""
4811 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4812 #: freeculture.xml:3693
4816 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4817 #: freeculture.xml:3690
4819 "Jane Black, \"Big Music's Broken Record,\" BusinessWeek online, 13 February "
4820 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4821 "#17</ulink>. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4824 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4825 #: freeculture.xml:3662
4827 "In 2002, the RIAA reported that CD sales had fallen by 8.9 percent, from 882 "
4828 "million to 803 million units; revenues fell 6.7 percent.<placeholder "
4829 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This confirms a trend over the past few "
4830 "years. The RIAA blames Internet piracy for the trend, though there are many "
4831 "other causes that could account for this drop. SoundScan, for example, "
4832 "reports a more than 20 percent drop in the number of CDs released since "
4833 "1999. That no doubt accounts for some of the decrease in sales. Rising "
4834 "prices could account for at least some of the loss. \"From 1999 to 2001, the "
4835 "average price of a CD rose 7.2 percent, from $13.04 to $14.19.\"<placeholder "
4836 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Competition from other forms of media could "
4837 "also account for some of the decline. As Jane Black of BusinessWeek notes, "
4838 "\"The soundtrack to the film High Fidelity has a list price of $18.98. You "
4839 "could get the whole movie [on DVD] for $19.99.\"<placeholder "
4840 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
4844 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4845 #: freeculture.xml:3707
4847 "But let's assume the RIAA is right, and all of the decline in CD sales is "
4848 "because of Internet sharing. Here's the rub: In the same period that the "
4849 "RIAA estimates that 803 million CDs were sold, the RIAA estimates that 2.1 "
4850 "billion CDs were downloaded for free. Thus, although 2.6 times the total "
4851 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, sales revenue fell by just 6.7 "
4855 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4856 #: freeculture.xml:3716
4858 "There are too many different things happening at the same time to explain "
4859 "these numbers definitively, but one conclusion is unavoidable: The recording "
4860 "industry constantly asks, \"What's the difference between downloading a song "
4861 "and stealing a CD?\"—but their own numbers reveal the difference. If I "
4862 "steal a CD, then there is one less CD to sell. Every taking is a lost "
4863 "sale. But on the basis of the numbers the RIAA provides, it is absolutely "
4864 "clear that the same is not true of downloads. If every download were a lost "
4865 "sale—if every use of Kazaa \"rob[bed] the author of [his] "
4866 "profit\"—then the industry would have suffered a 100 percent drop in "
4867 "sales last year, not a 7 percent drop. If 2.6 times the number of CDs sold "
4868 "were downloaded for free, and yet sales revenue dropped by just 6.7 percent, "
4869 "then there is a huge difference between \"downloading a song and stealing a "
4873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4874 #: freeculture.xml:3734
4876 "These are the harms—alleged and perhaps exaggerated but, let's assume, "
4877 "real. What of the benefits? File sharing may impose costs on the recording "
4878 "industry. What value does it produce in addition to these costs?"
4882 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4883 #: freeculture.xml:3747
4885 "By one estimate, 75 percent of the music released by the major labels is no "
4886 "longer in print. See Online Entertainment and Copyright Law—Coming "
4887 "Soon to a Digital Device Near You: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on "
4888 "the Judiciary, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (3 April 2001) (prepared statement of "
4889 "the Future of Music Coalition), available at <ulink "
4890 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #18</ulink>."
4893 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4894 #: freeculture.xml:3741
4896 "One benefit is type C sharing—making available content that is "
4897 "technically still under copyright but is no longer commercially available. "
4898 "This is not a small category of content. There are millions of tracks that "
4899 "are no longer commercially available.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4900 "id=\"0\"/> And while it's conceivable that some of this content is not "
4901 "available because the artist producing the content doesn't want it to be "
4902 "made available, the vast majority of it is unavailable solely because the "
4903 "publisher or the distributor has decided it no longer makes economic sense "
4904 "to the company to make it available."
4908 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
4909 #: freeculture.xml:3772
4911 "While there are not good estimates of the number of used record stores in "
4912 "existence, in 2002, there were 7,198 used book dealers in the United States, "
4913 "an increase of 20 percent since 1993. See Book Hunter Press, The Quiet "
4914 "Revolution: The Expansion of the Used Book Market (2002), available at "
4915 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #19</ulink>. Used records "
4916 "accounted for $260 million in sales in 2002. See National Association of "
4917 "Recording Merchandisers, \"2002 Annual Survey Results,\" available at <ulink "
4918 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #20</ulink>."
4921 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4922 #: freeculture.xml:3766
4924 "In real space—long before the Internet—the market had a simple "
4925 "response to this problem: used book and record stores. There are thousands "
4926 "of used book and used record stores in America today.<placeholder "
4927 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These stores buy content from owners, then sell "
4928 "the content they buy. And under American copyright law, when they buy and "
4929 "sell this content, even if the content is still under copyright, the "
4930 "copyright owner doesn't get a dime. Used book and record stores are "
4931 "commercial entities; their owners make money from the content they sell; but "
4932 "as with cable companies before statutory licensing, they don't have to pay "
4933 "the copyright owner for the content they sell."
4936 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
4937 #: freeculture.xml:3793
4938 msgid "Bernstein, Leonard"
4941 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4942 #: freeculture.xml:3795
4944 "Type C sharing, then, is very much like used book stores or used record "
4945 "stores. It is different, of course, because the person making the content "
4946 "available isn't making money from making the content available. It is also "
4947 "different, of course, because in real space, when I sell a record, I don't "
4948 "have it anymore, while in cyberspace, when someone shares my 1949 recording "
4949 "of Bernstein's \"Two Love Songs,\" I still have it. That difference would "
4950 "matter economically if the owner of the copyright were selling the record in "
4951 "competition to my sharing. But we're talking about the class of content that "
4952 "is not currently commercially available. The Internet is making it "
4953 "available, through cooperative sharing, without competing with the market."
4956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4957 #: freeculture.xml:3808
4959 "It may well be, all things considered, that it would be better if the "
4960 "copyright owner got something from this trade. But just because it may well "
4961 "be better, it doesn't follow that it would be good to ban used book "
4962 "stores. Or put differently, if you think that type C sharing should be "
4963 "stopped, do you think that libraries and used book stores should be shut as "
4968 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4969 #: freeculture.xml:3816
4971 "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, file-sharing networks enable type D "
4972 "sharing to occur—the sharing of content that copyright owners want to "
4973 "have shared or for which there is no continuing copyright. This sharing "
4974 "clearly benefits authors and society. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow, "
4975 "for example, released his first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, "
4976 "both free on-line and in bookstores on the same day. His (and his "
4977 "publisher's) thinking was that the on-line distribution would be a great "
4978 "advertisement for the \"real\" book. People would read part on-line, and "
4979 "then decide whether they liked the book or not. If they liked it, they would "
4980 "be more likely to buy it. Doctorow's content is type D content. If sharing "
4981 "networks enable his work to be spread, then both he and society are better "
4982 "off. (Actually, much better off: It is a great book!)"
4985 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4986 #: freeculture.xml:3833
4988 "Likewise for work in the public domain: This sharing benefits society with "
4989 "no legal harm to authors at all. If efforts to solve the problem of type A "
4990 "sharing destroy the opportunity for type D sharing, then we lose something "
4991 "important in order to protect type A content."
4994 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
4995 #: freeculture.xml:3839
4997 "The point throughout is this: While the recording industry understandably "
4998 "says, \"This is how much we've lost,\" we must also ask, \"How much has "
4999 "society gained from p2p sharing? What are the efficiencies? What is the "
5000 "content that otherwise would be unavailable?\""
5003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5004 #: freeculture.xml:3846
5006 "For unlike the piracy I described in the first section of this chapter, much "
5007 "of the \"piracy\" that file sharing enables is plainly legal and good. And "
5008 "like the piracy I described in chapter 4, much of this piracy is motivated "
5009 "by a new way of spreading content caused by changes in the technology of "
5010 "distribution. Thus, consistent with the tradition that gave us Hollywood, "
5011 "radio, the recording industry, and cable TV, the question we should be "
5012 "asking about file sharing is how best to preserve its benefits while "
5013 "minimizing (to the extent possible) the wrongful harm it causes artists. The "
5014 "question is one of balance. The law should seek that balance, and that "
5015 "balance will be found only with time."
5018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5019 #: freeculture.xml:3859
5021 "\"But isn't the war just a war against illegal sharing? Isn't the target "
5022 "just what you call type A sharing?\""
5026 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5027 #: freeculture.xml:3876
5029 "See Transcript of Proceedings, In Re: Napster Copyright Litigation at 34- 35 "
5030 "(N.D. Cal., 11 July 2001), nos. MDL-00-1369 MHP, C 99-5183 MHP, available at "
5031 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #21</ulink>. For an "
5032 "account of the litigation and its toll on Napster, see Joseph Menn, All the "
5033 "Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster (New York: Crown "
5034 "Business, 2003), 269–82."
5037 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5038 #: freeculture.xml:3863
5040 "You would think. And we should hope. But so far, it is not. The effect of "
5041 "the war purportedly on type A sharing alone has been felt far beyond that "
5042 "one class of sharing. That much is obvious from the Napster case "
5043 "itself. When Napster told the district court that it had developed a "
5044 "technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing "
5045 "material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not "
5046 "good enough. Napster had to push the infringements \"down to "
5047 "zero.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5050 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5051 #: freeculture.xml:3886
5053 "If 99.4 percent is not good enough, then this is a war on file-sharing "
5054 "technologies, not a war on copyright infringement. There is no way to assure "
5055 "that a p2p system is used 100 percent of the time in compliance with the "
5056 "law, any more than there is a way to assure that 100 percent of VCRs or 100 "
5057 "percent of Xerox machines or 100 percent of handguns are used in compliance "
5058 "with the law. Zero tolerance means zero p2p. The court's ruling means that "
5059 "we as a society must lose the benefits of p2p, even for the totally legal "
5060 "and beneficial uses they serve, simply to assure that there are zero "
5061 "copyright infringements caused by p2p."
5064 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5065 #: freeculture.xml:3897
5067 "Zero tolerance has not been our history. It has not produced the content "
5068 "industry that we know today. The history of American law has been a process "
5069 "of balance. As new technologies changed the way content was distributed, the "
5070 "law adjusted, after some time, to the new technology. In this adjustment, "
5071 "the law sought to ensure the legitimate rights of creators while protecting "
5072 "innovation. Sometimes this has meant more rights for creators. Sometimes "
5076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5077 #: freeculture.xml:3908
5079 "So, as we've seen, when \"mechanical reproduction\" threatened the interests "
5080 "of composers, Congress balanced the rights of composers against the "
5081 "interests of the recording industry. It granted rights to composers, but "
5082 "also to the recording artists: Composers were to be paid, but at a price set "
5083 "by Congress. But when radio started broadcasting the recordings made by "
5084 "these recording artists, and they complained to Congress that their "
5085 "\"creative property\" was not being respected (since the radio station did "
5086 "not have to pay them for the creativity it broadcast), Congress rejected "
5087 "their claim. An indirect benefit was enough."
5090 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5091 #: freeculture.xml:3921
5093 "Cable TV followed the pattern of record albums. When the courts rejected the "
5094 "claim that cable broadcasters had to pay for the content they rebroadcast, "
5095 "Congress responded by giving broadcasters a right to compensation, but at a "
5096 "level set by the law. It likewise gave cable companies the right to the "
5097 "content, so long as they paid the statutory price."
5101 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5102 #: freeculture.xml:3931
5104 "This compromise, like the compromise affecting records and player pianos, "
5105 "served two important goals—indeed, the two central goals of any "
5106 "copyright legislation. First, the law assured that new innovators would have "
5107 "the freedom to develop new ways to deliver content. Second, the law assured "
5108 "that copyright holders would be paid for the content that was "
5109 "distributed. One fear was that if Congress simply required cable TV to pay "
5110 "copyright holders whatever they demanded for their content, then copyright "
5111 "holders associated with broadcasters would use their power to stifle this "
5112 "new technology, cable. But if Congress had permitted cable to use "
5113 "broadcasters' content for free, then it would have unfairly subsidized "
5114 "cable. Thus Congress chose a path that would assure compensation without "
5115 "giving the past (broadcasters) control over the future (cable)."
5118 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
5119 #: freeculture.xml:3949
5123 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5124 #: freeculture.xml:3951
5126 "In the same year that Congress struck this balance, two major producers and "
5127 "distributors of film content filed a lawsuit against another technology, the "
5128 "video tape recorder (VTR, or as we refer to them today, VCRs) that Sony had "
5129 "produced, the Betamax. Disney's and Universal's claim against Sony was "
5130 "relatively simple: Sony produced a device, Disney and Universal claimed, "
5131 "that enabled consumers to engage in copyright infringement. Because the "
5132 "device that Sony built had a \"record\" button, the device could be used to "
5133 "record copyrighted movies and shows. Sony was therefore benefiting from the "
5134 "copyright infringement of its customers. It should therefore, Disney and "
5135 "Universal claimed, be partially liable for that infringement."
5139 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5140 #: freeculture.xml:3964
5142 "There was something to Disney's and Universal's claim. Sony did decide to "
5143 "design its machine to make it very simple to record television shows. It "
5144 "could have built the machine to block or inhibit any direct copying from a "
5145 "television broadcast. Or possibly, it could have built the machine to copy "
5146 "only if there were a special \"copy me\" signal on the line. It was clear "
5147 "that there were many television shows that did not grant anyone permission "
5148 "to copy. Indeed, if anyone had asked, no doubt the majority of shows would "
5149 "not have authorized copying. And in the face of this obvious preference, "
5150 "Sony could have designed its system to minimize the opportunity for "
5151 "copyright infringement. It did not, and for that, Disney and Universal "
5152 "wanted to hold it responsible for the architecture it chose."
5156 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5157 #: freeculture.xml:3986
5159 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders): Hearing on S. 1758 "
5160 "Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., "
5161 "459 (1982) (testimony of Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association "
5162 "of America, Inc.)."
5166 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5167 #: freeculture.xml:3998
5168 msgid "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 475."
5172 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5173 #: freeculture.xml:4003
5175 "Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Sony Corp. of America, 480 F. Supp. 429, "
5176 "(C.D. Cal., 1979)."
5180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5181 #: freeculture.xml:4014
5183 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 485 (testimony of Jack "
5187 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5188 #: freeculture.xml:3979
5190 "MPAA president Jack Valenti became the studios' most vocal champion. Valenti "
5191 "called VCRs \"tapeworms.\" He warned, \"When there are 20, 30, 40 million of "
5192 "these VCRs in the land, we will be invaded by millions of `tapeworms,' "
5193 "eating away at the very heart and essence of the most precious asset the "
5194 "copyright owner has, his copyright.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5195 "id=\"0\"/> \"One does not have to be trained in sophisticated marketing and "
5196 "creative judgment,\" he told Congress, \"to understand the devastation on "
5197 "the after-theater marketplace caused by the hundreds of millions of tapings "
5198 "that will adversely impact on the future of the creative community in this "
5199 "country. It is simply a question of basic economics and plain common "
5200 "sense.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Indeed, as surveys would "
5201 "later show, percent of VCR owners had movie libraries of ten videos or "
5202 "more<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> — a use the Court would "
5203 "later hold was not \"fair.\" By \"allowing VCR owners to copy freely by the "
5204 "means of an exemption from copyright infringementwithout creating a "
5205 "mechanism to compensate copyrightowners,\" Valenti testified, Congress would "
5206 "\"take from the owners the very essence of their property: the exclusive "
5207 "right to control who may use their work, that is, who may copy it and "
5208 "thereby profit from its reproduction.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5213 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5214 #: freeculture.xml:4030
5216 "Universal City Studios, Inc. v. Sony Corp. of America, 659 F. 2d 963 (9th "
5220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5221 #: freeculture.xml:4019
5223 "It took eight years for this case to be resolved by the Supreme Court. In "
5224 "the interim, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hollywood in "
5225 "its jurisdiction—leading Judge Alex Kozinski, who sits on that court, "
5226 "refers to it as the \"Hollywood Circuit\"—held that Sony would be "
5227 "liable for the copyright infringement made possible by its machines. Under "
5228 "the Ninth Circuit's rule, this totally familiar technology—which Jack "
5229 "Valenti had called \"the Boston Strangler of the American film industry\" "
5230 "(worse yet, it was a Japanese Boston Strangler of the American film "
5231 "industry)—was an illegal technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5237 #: freeculture.xml:4035
5239 "But the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit. And in "
5240 "its reversal, the Court clearly articulated its understanding of when and "
5241 "whether courts should intervene in such disputes. As the Court wrote,"
5245 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5246 #: freeculture.xml:4054
5248 "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, 431 "
5252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
5253 #: freeculture.xml:4044
5255 "Sound policy, as well as history, supports our consistent deference to "
5256 "Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for "
5257 "copyrighted materials. Congress has the constitutional authority and the "
5258 "institutional ability to accommodate fully the varied permutations of "
5259 "competing interests that are inevitably implicated by such new "
5260 "technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5263 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5264 #: freeculture.xml:4059
5266 "Congress was asked to respond to the Supreme Court's decision. But as with "
5267 "the plea of recording artists about radio broadcasts, Congress ignored the "
5268 "request. Congress was convinced that American film got enough, this "
5269 "\"taking\" notwithstanding. If we put these cases together, a pattern is "
5273 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><title>
5274 #: freeculture.xml:4068
5278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5279 #: freeculture.xml:4072
5283 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5284 #: freeculture.xml:4073
5285 msgid "WHOSE VALUE WAS \"PIRATED\""
5288 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5289 #: freeculture.xml:4074
5290 msgid "RESPONSE OF THE COURTS"
5293 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5294 #: freeculture.xml:4075
5295 msgid "RESPONSE OF CONGRESS"
5298 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5299 #: freeculture.xml:4080
5303 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5304 #: freeculture.xml:4081
5308 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5309 #: freeculture.xml:4082 freeculture.xml:4094 freeculture.xml:4100
5310 msgid "No protection"
5313 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5314 #: freeculture.xml:4083 freeculture.xml:4095
5315 msgid "Statutory license"
5318 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5319 #: freeculture.xml:4087
5320 msgid "Recording artists"
5323 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5324 #: freeculture.xml:4088
5328 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5329 #: freeculture.xml:4089 freeculture.xml:4101
5333 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5334 #: freeculture.xml:4093
5335 msgid "Broadcasters"
5338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5339 #: freeculture.xml:4098
5343 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5344 #: freeculture.xml:4099
5345 msgid "Film creators"
5348 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5349 #: freeculture.xml:4111
5351 "These are the most important instances in our history, but there are other "
5352 "cases as well. The technology of digital audio tape (DAT), for example, was "
5353 "regulated by Congress to minimize the risk of piracy. The remedy Congress "
5354 "imposed did burden DAT producers, by taxing tape sales and controlling the "
5355 "technology of DAT. See Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (Title 17 of the "
5356 "United States Code), Pub. L. No. 102-563, 106 Stat. 4237, codified at 17 "
5357 "U.S.C. §1001. Again, however, this regulation did not eliminate the "
5358 "opportunity for free riding in the sense I've described. See Lessig, Future, "
5359 "71. See also Picker, \"From Edison to the Broadcast Flag,\" University of "
5360 "Chicago Law Review 70 (2003): 293–96. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5365 #: freeculture.xml:4108
5367 "In each case throughout our history, a new technology changed the way "
5368 "content was distributed.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In each "
5369 "case, throughout our history, that change meant that someone got a \"free "
5370 "ride\" on someone else's work."
5374 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5375 #: freeculture.xml:4128
5377 "In none of these cases did either the courts or Congress eliminate all free "
5378 "riding. In none of these cases did the courts or Congress insist that the "
5379 "law should assure that the copyright holder get all the value that his "
5380 "copyright created. In every case, the copyright owners complained of "
5381 "\"piracy.\" In every case, Congress acted to recognize some of the "
5382 "legitimacy in the behavior of the \"pirates.\" In each case, Congress "
5383 "allowed some new technology to benefit from content made before. It balanced "
5384 "the interests at stake."
5387 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5388 #: freeculture.xml:4140
5390 "When you think across these examples, and the other examples that make up "
5391 "the first four chapters of this section, this balance makes sense. Was Walt "
5392 "Disney a pirate? Would doujinshi be better if creators had to ask "
5393 "permission? Should tools that enable others to capture and spread images as "
5394 "a way to cultivate or criticize our culture be better regulated? Is it "
5395 "really right that building a search engine should expose you to $15 million "
5396 "in damages? Would it have been better if Edison had controlled film? Should "
5397 "every cover band have to hire a lawyer to get permission to record a song?"
5401 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5402 #: freeculture.xml:4157
5403 msgid "Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, (1984)."
5406 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5407 #: freeculture.xml:4152
5409 "We could answer yes to each of these questions, but our tradition has "
5410 "answered no. In our tradition, as the Supreme Court has stated, copyright "
5411 "\"has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all possible "
5412 "uses of his work.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Instead, the "
5413 "particular uses that the law regulates have been defined by balancing the "
5414 "good that comes from granting an exclusive right against the burdens such an "
5415 "exclusive right creates. And this balancing has historically been done after "
5416 "a technology has matured, or settled into the mix of technologies that "
5417 "facilitate the distribution of content."
5420 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5421 #: freeculture.xml:4169
5423 "We should be doing the same thing today. The technology of the Internet is "
5424 "changing quickly. The way people connect to the Internet (wires "
5425 "vs. wireless) is changing very quickly. No doubt the network should not "
5426 "become a tool for \"stealing\" from artists. But neither should the law "
5427 "become a tool to entrench one particular way in which artists (or more "
5428 "accurately, distributors) get paid. As I describe in some detail in the last "
5429 "chapter of this book, we should be securing income to artists while we allow "
5430 "the market to secure the most efficient way to promote and distribute "
5431 "content. This will require changes in the law, at least in the "
5432 "interim. These changes should be designed to balance the protection of the "
5433 "law against the strong public interest that innovation continue."
5437 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
5438 #: freeculture.xml:4196
5440 "John Schwartz, \"New Economy: The Attack on Peer-to-Peer Software Echoes "
5441 "Past Efforts,\" New York Times, 22 September 2003, C3."
5444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5445 #: freeculture.xml:4186
5447 "This is especially true when a new technology enables a vastly superior mode "
5448 "of distribution. And this p2p has done. P2p technologies can be ideally "
5449 "efficient in moving content across a widely diverse network. Left to "
5450 "develop, they could make the network vastly more efficient. Yet these "
5451 "\"potential public benefits,\" as John Schwartz writes in The New York "
5452 "Times, \"could be delayed in the P2P fight.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5453 "id=\"0\"/> Yet when anyone begins to talk about \"balance,\" the copyright "
5454 "warriors raise a different argument. \"All this hand waving about balance "
5455 "and incentives,\" they say, \"misses a fundamental point. Our content,\" the "
5456 "warriors insist, \"is our property. Why should we wait for Congress to "
5457 "`rebalance' our property rights? Do you have to wait before calling the "
5458 "police when your car has been stolen? And why should Congress deliberate at "
5459 "all about the merits of this theft? Do we ask whether the car thief had a "
5460 "good use for the car before we arrest him?\""
5463 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
5464 #: freeculture.xml:4210
5466 "\"It is our property,\" the warriors insist. \"And it should be protected "
5467 "just as any other property is protected.\""
5470 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
5471 #: freeculture.xml:4218
5472 msgid "\"PROPERTY\""
5476 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5477 #: freeculture.xml:4222
5479 "The copyright warriors are right: A copyright is a kind of property. It can "
5480 "be owned and sold, and the law protects against its theft. Ordinarily, the "
5481 "copyright owner gets to hold out for any price he wants. Markets reckon the "
5482 "supply and demand that partially determine the price she can get."
5485 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5486 #: freeculture.xml:4229
5488 "But in ordinary language, to call a copyright a \"property\" right is a bit "
5489 "misleading, for the property of copyright is an odd kind of property. "
5490 "Indeed, the very idea of property in any idea or any expression is very "
5491 "odd. I understand what I am taking when I take the picnic table you put in "
5492 "your backyard. I am taking a thing, the picnic table, and after I take it, "
5493 "you don't have it. But what am I taking when I take the good idea you had to "
5494 "put a picnic table in the backyard—by, for example, going to Sears, "
5495 "buying a table, and putting it in my backyard? What is the thing I am taking "
5500 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
5501 #: freeculture.xml:4254
5503 "Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson (13 August 1813) in The "
5504 "Writings of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 6 (Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery "
5505 "Bergh, eds., 1903), 330, 333–34."
5508 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5509 #: freeculture.xml:4241
5511 "The point is not just about the thingness of picnic tables versus ideas, "
5512 "though that's an important difference. The point instead is that in the "
5513 "ordinary case—indeed, in practically every case except for a narrow "
5514 "range of exceptions—ideas released to the world are free. I don't take "
5515 "anything from you when I copy the way you dress—though I might seem "
5516 "weird if I did it every day, and especially weird if you are a "
5517 "woman. Instead, as Thomas Jefferson said (and as is especially true when I "
5518 "copy the way someone else dresses), \"He who receives an idea from me, "
5519 "receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his "
5520 "taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.\"<placeholder "
5521 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5524 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5525 #: freeculture.xml:4260
5527 "The exceptions to free use are ideas and expressions within the reach of the "
5528 "law of patent and copyright, and a few other domains that I won't discuss "
5529 "here. Here the law says you can't take my idea or expression without my "
5530 "permission: The law turns the intangible into property."
5534 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
5535 #: freeculture.xml:4275
5537 "As the legal realists taught American law, all property rights are "
5538 "intangible. A property right is simply a right that an individual has "
5539 "against the world to do or not do certain things that may or may not attach "
5540 "to a physical object. The right itself is intangible, even if the object to "
5541 "which it is (metaphorically) attached is tangible. See Adam Mossoff, \"What "
5542 "Is Property? Putting the Pieces Back Together,\" Arizona Law Review 45 "
5543 "(2003): 373, 429 n. 241."
5546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5547 #: freeculture.xml:4268
5549 "But how, and to what extent, and in what form—the details, in other "
5550 "words—matter. To get a good sense of how this practice of turning the "
5551 "intangible into property emerged, we need to place this \"property\" in its "
5552 "proper context.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5555 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
5556 #: freeculture.xml:4288
5558 "My strategy in doing this will be the same as my strategy in the preceding "
5559 "part. I offer four stories to help put the idea of \"copyright material is "
5560 "property\" in context. Where did the idea come from? What are its limits? "
5561 "How does it function in practice? After these stories, the significance of "
5562 "this true statement—\"copyright material is property\"— will be "
5563 "a bit more clear, and its implications will be revealed as quite different "
5564 "from the implications that the copyright warriors would have us draw."
5567 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
5568 #: freeculture.xml:4302
5569 msgid "CHAPTER SIX: Founders"
5572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5573 #: freeculture.xml:4304
5575 "William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1595. The play was first "
5576 "published in 1597. It was the eleventh major play that Shakespeare had "
5577 "written. He would continue to write plays through 1613, and the plays that "
5578 "he wrote have continued to define Anglo-American culture ever since. So "
5579 "deeply have the works of a sixteenth-century writer seeped into our culture "
5580 "that we often don't even recognize their source. I once overheard someone "
5581 "commenting on Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Henry V: \"I liked it, but "
5582 "Shakespeare is so full of clichés.\""
5586 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5587 #: freeculture.xml:4320
5589 "Jacob Tonson is typically remembered for his associations with prominent "
5590 "eighteenth-century literary figures, especially John Dryden, and for his "
5591 "handsome \"definitive editions\" of classic works. In addition to Romeo and "
5592 "Juliet, he published an astonishing array of works that still remain at the "
5593 "heart of the English canon, including collected works of Shakespeare, Ben "
5594 "Jonson, John Milton, and John Dryden. See Keith Walker, \"Jacob Tonson, "
5595 "Bookseller,\" American Scholar 61:3 (1992): 424–31."
5599 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5600 #: freeculture.xml:4331
5602 "Lyman Ray Patterson, Copyright in Historical Perspective (Nashville: "
5603 "Vanderbilt University Press, 1968), 151–52."
5607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5608 #: freeculture.xml:4316
5610 "In 1774, almost 180 years after Romeo and Juliet was written, the "
5611 "\"copy-right\" for the work was still thought by many to be the exclusive "
5612 "right of a single London publisher, Jacob Tonson.<placeholder "
5613 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Tonson was the most prominent of a small group "
5614 "of publishers called the Conger<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> who "
5615 "controlled bookselling in England during the eighteenth century. The Conger "
5616 "claimed a perpetual right to control the \"copy\" of books that they had "
5617 "acquired from authors. That perpetual right meant that no one else could "
5618 "publish copies of a book to which they held the copyright. Prices of the "
5619 "classics were thus kept high; competition to produce better or cheaper "
5620 "editions was eliminated."
5624 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5625 #: freeculture.xml:4357
5627 "As Siva Vaidhyanathan nicely argues, it is erroneous to call this a "
5628 "\"copyright law.\" See Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, 40."
5631 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5632 #: freeculture.xml:4347
5634 "Now, there's something puzzling about the year 1774 to anyone who knows a "
5635 "little about copyright law. The better-known year in the history of "
5636 "copyright is 1710, the year that the British Parliament adopted the first "
5637 "\"copyright\" act. Known as the Statute of Anne, the act stated that all "
5638 "published works would get a copyright term of fourteen years, renewable once "
5639 "if the author was alive, and that all works already published by 1710 would "
5640 "get a single term of twenty-one additional years.<placeholder "
5641 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Under this law, Romeo and Juliet should have "
5642 "been free in 1731. So why was there any issue about it still being under "
5643 "Tonson's control in 1774?"
5646 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5647 #: freeculture.xml:4365
5649 "The reason is that the English hadn't yet agreed on what a \"copyright\" "
5650 "was—indeed, no one had. At the time the English passed the Statute of "
5651 "Anne, there was no other legislation governing copyrights. The last law "
5652 "regulating publishers, the Licensing Act of 1662, had expired in 1695. That "
5653 "law gave publishers a monopoly over publishing, as a way to make it easier "
5654 "for the Crown to control what was published. But after it expired, there "
5655 "was no positive law that said that the publishers, or \"Stationers,\" had an "
5656 "exclusive right to print books."
5659 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5660 #: freeculture.xml:4378
5662 "There was no positive law, but that didn't mean that there was no law. The "
5663 "Anglo-American legal tradition looks to both the words of legislatures and "
5664 "the words of judges to know the rules that are to govern how people are to "
5665 "behave. We call the words from legislatures \"positive law.\" We call the "
5666 "words from judges \"common law.\" The common law sets the background against "
5667 "which legislatures legislate; the legislature, ordinarily, can trump that "
5668 "background only if it passes a law to displace it. And so the real question "
5669 "after the licensing statutes had expired was whether the common law "
5670 "protected a copyright, independent of any positive law."
5674 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5675 #: freeculture.xml:4395
5677 "This question was important to the publishers, or \"booksellers,\" as they "
5678 "were called, because there was growing competition from foreign "
5679 "publishers. The Scottish, in particular, were increasingly publishing and "
5680 "exporting books to England. That competition reduced the profits of the "
5681 "Conger, which reacted by demanding that Parliament pass a law to again give "
5682 "them exclusive control over publishing. That demand ultimately resulted in "
5683 "the Statute of Anne."
5686 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5687 #: freeculture.xml:4407
5689 "The Statute of Anne granted the author or \"proprietor\" of a book an "
5690 "exclusive right to print that book. In an important limitation, however, and "
5691 "to the horror of the booksellers, the law gave the bookseller that right for "
5692 "a limited term. At the end of that term, the copyright \"expired,\" and the "
5693 "work would then be free and could be published by anyone. Or so the "
5694 "legislature is thought to have believed."
5697 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5698 #: freeculture.xml:4417
5700 "Now, the thing to puzzle about for a moment is this: Why would Parliament "
5701 "limit the exclusive right? Not why would they limit it to the particular "
5702 "limit they set, but why would they limit the right at all?"
5705 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5706 #: freeculture.xml:4422
5708 "For the booksellers, and the authors whom they represented, had a very "
5709 "strong claim. Take Romeo and Juliet as an example: That play was written by "
5710 "Shakespeare. It was his genius that brought it into the world. He didn't "
5711 "take anybody's property when he created this play (that's a controversial "
5712 "claim, but never mind), and by his creating this play, he didn't make it any "
5713 "harder for others to craft a play. So why is it that the law would ever "
5714 "allow someone else to come along and take Shakespeare's play without his, or "
5715 "his estate's, permission? What reason is there to allow someone else to "
5716 "\"steal\" Shakespeare's work?"
5719 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5720 #: freeculture.xml:4434
5722 "The answer comes in two parts. We first need to see something special about "
5723 "the notion of \"copyright\" that existed at the time of the Statute of "
5724 "Anne. Second, we have to see something important about \"booksellers.\""
5728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5729 #: freeculture.xml:4441
5731 "First, about copyright. In the last three hundred years, we have come to "
5732 "apply the concept of \"copyright\" ever more broadly. But in 1710, it wasn't "
5733 "so much a concept as it was a very particular right. The copyright was born "
5734 "as a very specific set of restrictions: It forbade others from reprinting a "
5735 "book. In 1710, the \"copy-right\" was a right to use a particular machine to "
5736 "replicate a particular work. It did not go beyond that very narrow right. It "
5737 "did not control any more generally how a work could be used. Today the right "
5738 "includes a large collection of restrictions on the freedom of others: It "
5739 "grants the author the exclusive right to copy, the exclusive right to "
5740 "distribute, the exclusive right to perform, and so on."
5743 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5744 #: freeculture.xml:4458
5746 "So, for example, even if the copyright to Shakespeare's works were "
5747 "perpetual, all that would have meant under the original meaning of the term "
5748 "was that no one could reprint Shakespeare's work without the permission of "
5749 "the Shakespeare estate. It would not have controlled anything, for example, "
5750 "about how the work could be performed, whether the work could be translated, "
5751 "or whether Kenneth Branagh would be allowed to make his films. The "
5752 "\"copy-right\" was only an exclusive right to print—no less, of "
5753 "course, but also no more."
5756 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5757 #: freeculture.xml:4470
5759 "Even that limited right was viewed with skepticism by the British. They had "
5760 "had a long and ugly experience with \"exclusive rights,\" especially "
5761 "\"exclusive rights\" granted by the Crown. The English had fought a civil "
5762 "war in part about the Crown's practice of handing out "
5763 "monopolies—especially monopolies for works that already existed. King "
5764 "Henry VIII granted a patent to print the Bible and a monopoly to Darcy to "
5765 "print playing cards. The English Parliament began to fight back against this "
5766 "power of the Crown. In 1656, it passed the Statute of Monopolies, limiting "
5767 "monopolies to patents for new inventions. And by 1710, Parliament was eager "
5768 "to deal with the growing monopoly in publishing."
5771 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5772 #: freeculture.xml:4486
5774 "Thus the \"copy-right,\" when viewed as a monopoly right, was naturally "
5775 "viewed as a right that should be limited. (However convincing the claim that "
5776 "\"it's my property, and I should have it forever,\" try sounding convincing "
5777 "when uttering, \"It's my monopoly, and I should have it forever.\") The "
5778 "state would protect the exclusive right, but only so long as it benefited "
5779 "society. The British saw the harms from specialinterest favors; they passed "
5780 "a law to stop them."
5784 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5785 #: freeculture.xml:4510
5787 "Philip Wittenberg, The Protection and Marketing of Literary Property (New "
5788 "York: J. Messner, Inc., 1937), 31."
5791 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5792 #: freeculture.xml:4497
5794 "Second, about booksellers. It wasn't just that the copyright was a "
5795 "monopoly. It was also that it was a monopoly held by the booksellers. "
5796 "Booksellers sound quaint and harmless to us. They were not viewed as "
5797 "harmless in seventeenth-century England. Members of the Conger were "
5798 "increasingly seen as monopolists of the worst kind—tools of the "
5799 "Crown's repression, selling the liberty of England to guarantee themselves a "
5800 "monopoly profit. The attacks against these monopolists were harsh: Milton "
5801 "described them as \"old patentees and monopolizers in the trade of "
5802 "book-selling\"; they were \"men who do not therefore labour in an honest "
5803 "profession to which learning is indetted.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5808 #: freeculture.xml:4515
5810 "Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread of "
5811 "knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment was "
5812 "teaching the importance of education and knowledge spread generally. The "
5813 "idea that knowledge should be free was a hallmark of the time, and these "
5814 "powerful commercial interests were interfering with that idea."
5817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5818 #: freeculture.xml:4524
5820 "To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition among "
5821 "booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the wealth of "
5822 "valuable books. Parliament therefore limited the term of copyrights, and "
5823 "thereby guaranteed that valuable books would become open to any publisher to "
5824 "publish after a limited time. Thus the setting of the term for existing "
5825 "works to just twenty-one years was a compromise to fight the power of the "
5826 "booksellers. The limitation on terms was an indirect way to assure "
5827 "competition among publishers, and thus the construction and spread of "
5831 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5832 #: freeculture.xml:4536
5834 "When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were getting "
5835 "anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and like every "
5836 "competitor, they didn't like them. At first booksellers simply ignored the "
5837 "Statute of Anne, continuing to insist on the perpetual right to control "
5838 "publication. But in 1735 and 1737, they tried to persuade Parliament to "
5839 "extend their terms. Twenty-one years was not enough, they said; they needed "
5843 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5844 #: freeculture.xml:4545
5846 "Parliament rejected their requests. As one pamphleteer put it, in words that "
5851 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5852 #: freeculture.xml:4560
5854 "A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Bill now depending in the "
5855 "House of Commons, for making more effectual an Act in the Eighth Year of the "
5856 "Reign of Queen Anne, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by "
5857 "Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such "
5858 "Copies, during the Times therein mentioned (London, 1735), in Brief Amici "
5859 "Curiae of Tyler T. Ochoa et al., 8, Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) "
5863 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
5864 #: freeculture.xml:4550
5866 "I see no Reason for granting a further Term now, which will not hold as well "
5867 "for granting it again and again, as often as the Old ones Expire; so that "
5868 "should this Bill pass, it will in Effect be establishing a perpetual "
5869 "Monopoly, a Thing deservedly odious in the Eye of the Law; it will be a "
5870 "great Cramp to Trade, a Discouragement to Learning, no Benefit to the "
5871 "Authors, but a general Tax on the Publick; and all this only to increase the "
5872 "private Gain of the Booksellers.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5876 #: freeculture.xml:4571
5878 "Having failed in Parliament, the publishers turned to the courts in a series "
5879 "of cases. Their argument was simple and direct: The Statute of Anne gave "
5880 "authors certain protections through positive law, but those protections were "
5881 "not intended as replacements for the common law. Instead, they were "
5882 "intended simply to supplement the common law. Under common law, it was "
5883 "already wrong to take another person's creative \"property\" and use it "
5884 "without his permission. The Statute of Anne, the booksellers argued, didn't "
5885 "change that. Therefore, just because the protections of the Statute of Anne "
5886 "expired, that didn't mean the protections of the common law expired: Under "
5887 "the common law they had the right to ban the publication of a book, even if "
5888 "its Statute of Anne copyright had expired. This, they argued, was the only "
5889 "way to protect authors."
5893 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5894 #: freeculture.xml:4592
5896 "Lyman Ray Patterson, \"Free Speech, Copyright, and Fair Use,\" Vanderbilt "
5897 "Law Review 40 (1987): 28. For a wonderfully compelling account, see "
5898 "Vaidhyanathan, 37–48."
5901 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5902 #: freeculture.xml:4586
5904 "This was a clever argument, and one that had the support of some of the "
5905 "leading jurists of the day. It also displayed extraordinary chutzpah. Until "
5906 "then, as law professor Raymond Patterson has put it, \"The publishers "
5907 ". . . had as much concern for authors as a cattle rancher has for "
5908 "cattle.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The bookseller didn't "
5909 "care squat for the rights of the author. His concern was the monopoly "
5910 "profit that the author's work gave."
5914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5915 #: freeculture.xml:4604
5917 "For a compelling account, see David Saunders, Authorship and Copyright "
5918 "(London: Routledge, 1992), 62–69."
5921 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5922 #: freeculture.xml:4600
5924 "The booksellers' argument was not accepted without a fight. The hero of "
5925 "this fight was a Scottish bookseller named Alexander Donaldson.<placeholder "
5926 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5930 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5931 #: freeculture.xml:4614
5933 "Mark Rose, Authors and Owners (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993), "
5938 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5939 #: freeculture.xml:4624
5943 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
5944 #: freeculture.xml:4626
5945 msgid "Erskine, Andrew"
5948 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5949 #: freeculture.xml:4609
5951 "Donaldson was an outsider to the London Conger. He began his career in "
5952 "Edinburgh in 1750. The focus of his business was inexpensive reprints \"of "
5953 "standard works whose copyright term had expired,\" at least under the "
5954 "Statute of Anne.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Donaldson's "
5955 "publishing house prospered and became \"something of a center for literary "
5956 "Scotsmen.\" \"[A]mong them,\" Professor Mark Rose writes, was \"the young "
5957 "James Boswell who, together with his friend Andrew Erskine, published an "
5958 "anthology of contemporary Scottish poems with Donaldson.\"<placeholder "
5959 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
5963 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5964 #: freeculture.xml:4635
5966 "Lyman Ray Patterson, Copyright in Historical Perspective, 167 (quoting "
5970 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5971 #: freeculture.xml:4629
5973 "When the London booksellers tried to shut down Donaldson's shop in Scotland, "
5974 "he responded by moving his shop to London, where he sold inexpensive "
5975 "editions \"of the most popular English books, in defiance of the supposed "
5976 "common law right of Literary Property.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5977 "id=\"0\"/> His books undercut the Conger prices by 30 to 50 percent, and he "
5978 "rested his right to compete upon the ground that, under the Statute of Anne, "
5979 "the works he was selling had passed out of protection."
5982 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
5983 #: freeculture.xml:4643
5985 "The London booksellers quickly brought suit to block \"piracy\" like "
5986 "Donaldson's. A number of actions were successful against the \"pirates,\" "
5987 "the most important early victory being Millar v. Taylor."
5991 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
5992 #: freeculture.xml:4655
5994 "Howard B. Abrams, \"The Historic Foundation of American Copyright Law: "
5995 "Exploding the Myth of Common Law Copyright,\" Wayne Law Review 29 (1983): "
5999 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6000 #: freeculture.xml:4648
6002 "Millar was a bookseller who in 1729 had purchased the rights to James "
6003 "Thomson's poem \"The Seasons.\" Millar complied with the requirements of the "
6004 "Statute of Anne, and therefore received the full protection of the "
6005 "statute. After the term of copyright ended, Robert Taylor began printing a "
6006 "competing volume. Millar sued, claiming a perpetual common law right, the "
6007 "Statute of Anne notwithstanding.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6010 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6011 #: freeculture.xml:4664
6013 "Astonishingly to modern lawyers, one of the greatest judges in English "
6014 "history, Lord Mansfield, agreed with the booksellers. Whatever protection "
6015 "the Statute of Anne gave booksellers, it did not, he held, extinguish any "
6016 "common law right. The question was whether the common law would protect the "
6017 "author against subsequent \"pirates.\" Mansfield's answer was yes: The "
6018 "common law would bar Taylor from reprinting Thomson's poem without Millar's "
6019 "permission. That common law rule thus effectively gave the booksellers a "
6020 "perpetual right to control the publication of any book assigned to them."
6024 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6025 #: freeculture.xml:4675
6027 "Considered as a matter of abstract justice—reasoning as if justice "
6028 "were just a matter of logical deduction from first "
6029 "principles—Mansfield's conclusion might make some sense. But what it "
6030 "ignored was the larger issue that Parliament had struggled with in 1710: How "
6031 "best to limit the monopoly power of publishers? Parliament's strategy was to "
6032 "offer a term for existing works that was long enough to buy peace in 1710, "
6033 "but short enough to assure that culture would pass into competition within a "
6034 "reasonable period of time. Within twenty-one years, Parliament believed, "
6035 "Britain would mature from the controlled culture that the Crown coveted to "
6036 "the free culture that we inherited."
6039 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6040 #: freeculture.xml:4690
6042 "The fight to defend the limits of the Statute of Anne was not to end there, "
6043 "however, and it is here that Donaldson enters the mix."
6046 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
6047 #: freeculture.xml:4693
6048 msgid "Beckett, Thomas"
6052 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6053 #: freeculture.xml:4699
6054 msgid "Ibid., 1156."
6057 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6058 #: freeculture.xml:4695
6060 "Millar died soon after his victory, so his case was not appealed. His estate "
6061 "sold Thomson's poems to a syndicate of printers that included Thomas "
6062 "Beckett.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Donaldson then released an "
6063 "unauthorized edition of Thomson's works. Beckett, on the strength of the "
6064 "decision in Millar, got an injunction against Donaldson. Donaldson appealed "
6065 "the case to the House of Lords, which functioned much like our own Supreme "
6066 "Court. In February of 1774, that body had the chance to interpret the "
6067 "meaning of Parliament's limits from sixty years before."
6070 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6071 #: freeculture.xml:4709
6073 "As few legal cases ever do, Donaldson v. Beckett drew an enormous amount of "
6074 "attention throughout Britain. Donaldson's lawyers argued that whatever "
6075 "rights may have existed under the common law, the Statute of Anne terminated "
6076 "those rights. After passage of the Statute of Anne, the only legal "
6077 "protection for an exclusive right to control publication came from that "
6078 "statute. Thus, they argued, after the term specified in the Statute of Anne "
6079 "expired, works that had been protected by the statute were no longer "
6083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6084 #: freeculture.xml:4719
6086 "The House of Lords was an odd institution. Legal questions were presented to "
6087 "the House and voted upon first by the \"law lords,\" members of special "
6088 "legal distinction who functioned much like the Justices in our Supreme "
6089 "Court. Then, after the law lords voted, the House of Lords generally voted."
6093 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6094 #: freeculture.xml:4726
6096 "The reports about the law lords' votes are mixed. On some counts, it looks "
6097 "as if perpetual copyright prevailed. But there is no ambiguity about how the "
6098 "House of Lords voted as whole. By a two-to-one majority (22 to 11) they "
6099 "voted to reject the idea of perpetual copyrights. Whatever one's "
6100 "understanding of the common law, now a copyright was fixed for a limited "
6101 "time, after which the work protected by copyright passed into the public "
6105 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6106 #: freeculture.xml:4744
6107 msgid "Bacon, Francis"
6110 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6111 #: freeculture.xml:4745
6112 msgid "Bunyan, John"
6115 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6116 #: freeculture.xml:4746
6117 msgid "Johnson, Samuel"
6120 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6121 #: freeculture.xml:4747
6122 msgid "Milton, John"
6125 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6126 #: freeculture.xml:4748
6127 msgid "Shakespeare, William"
6130 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6131 #: freeculture.xml:4736
6133 "\"The public domain.\" Before the case of Donaldson v. Beckett, there was no "
6134 "clear idea of a public domain in England. Before 1774, there was a strong "
6135 "argument that common law copyrights were perpetual. After 1774, the public "
6136 "domain was born. For the first time in Anglo-American history, the legal "
6137 "control over creative works expired, and the greatest works in English "
6138 "history—including those of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Johnson, and "
6139 "Bunyan—were free of legal restraint. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6140 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
6141 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> "
6142 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/>"
6146 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6147 #: freeculture.xml:4761
6151 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6152 #: freeculture.xml:4751
6154 "It is hard for us to imagine, but this decision by the House of Lords fueled "
6155 "an extraordinarily popular and political reaction. In Scotland, where most "
6156 "of the \"pirate publishers\" did their work, people celebrated the decision "
6157 "in the streets. As the Edinburgh Advertiser reported, \"No private cause has "
6158 "so much engrossed the attention of the public, and none has been tried "
6159 "before the House of Lords in the decision of which so many individuals were "
6160 "interested.\" \"Great rejoicing in Edinburgh upon victory over literary "
6161 "property: bonfires and illuminations.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6166 #: freeculture.xml:4765
6168 "In London, however, at least among publishers, the reaction was equally "
6169 "strong in the opposite direction. The Morning Chronicle reported:"
6172 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6173 #: freeculture.xml:4771
6175 "By the above decision . . . near 200,000 pounds worth of what was honestly "
6176 "purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought property is now "
6177 "reduced to nothing. The Booksellers of London and Westminster, many of whom "
6178 "sold estates and houses to purchase Copy-right, are in a manner ruined, and "
6179 "those who after many years industry thought they had acquired a competency "
6180 "to provide for their families now find themselves without a shilling to "
6181 "devise to their successors.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6185 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6186 #: freeculture.xml:4786
6188 "\"Ruined\" is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is not an exaggeration to say "
6189 "that the change was profound. The decision of the House of Lords meant that "
6190 "the booksellers could no longer control how culture in England would grow "
6191 "and develop. Culture in England was thereafter free. Not in the sense that "
6192 "copyrights would not be respected, for of course, for a limited time after a "
6193 "work was published, the bookseller had an exclusive right to control the "
6194 "publication of that book. And not in the sense that books could be stolen, "
6195 "for even after a copyright expired, you still had to buy the book from "
6196 "someone. But free in the sense that the culture and its growth would no "
6197 "longer be controlled by a small group of publishers. As every free market "
6198 "does, this free market of free culture would grow as the consumers and "
6199 "producers chose. English culture would develop as the many English readers "
6200 "chose to let it develop— chose in the books they bought and wrote; "
6201 "chose in the memes they repeated and endorsed. Chose in a competitive "
6202 "context, not a context in which the choices about what culture is available "
6203 "to people and how they get access to it are made by the few despite the "
6204 "wishes of the many."
6207 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6208 #: freeculture.xml:4806
6210 "At least, this was the rule in a world where the Parliament is antimonopoly, "
6211 "resistant to the protectionist pleas of publishers. In a world where the "
6212 "Parliament is more pliant, free culture would be less protected."
6215 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
6216 #: freeculture.xml:4814
6217 msgid "CHAPTER SEVEN: Recorders"
6220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6221 #: freeculture.xml:4816
6223 "Jon Else is a filmmaker. He is best known for his documentaries and has been "
6224 "very successful in spreading his art. He is also a teacher, and as a teacher "
6225 "myself, I envy the loyalty and admiration that his students feel for him. (I "
6226 "met, by accident, two of his students at a dinner party. He was their god.)"
6229 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6230 #: freeculture.xml:4823
6232 "Else worked on a documentary that I was involved in. At a break, he told me "
6233 "a story about the freedom to create with film in America today."
6236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6237 #: freeculture.xml:4834 freeculture.xml:4903
6238 msgid "San Francisco Opera"
6241 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6242 #: freeculture.xml:4828
6244 "In 1990, Else was working on a documentary about Wagner's Ring Cycle. The "
6245 "focus was stagehands at the San Francisco Opera. Stagehands are a "
6246 "particularly funny and colorful element of an opera. During a show, they "
6247 "hang out below the stage in the grips' lounge and in the lighting loft. They "
6248 "make a perfect contrast to the art on the stage. <placeholder "
6249 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6253 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6254 #: freeculture.xml:4837
6256 "During one of the performances, Else was shooting some stagehands playing "
6257 "checkers. In one corner of the room was a television set. Playing on the "
6258 "television set, while the stagehands played checkers and the opera company "
6259 "played Wagner, was The Simpsons. As Else judged it, this touch of cartoon "
6260 "helped capture the flavor of what was special about the scene."
6263 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6264 #: freeculture.xml:4846
6266 "Years later, when he finally got funding to complete the film, Else "
6267 "attempted to clear the rights for those few seconds of The Simpsons. For of "
6268 "course, those few seconds are copyrighted; and of course, to use copyrighted "
6269 "material you need the permission of the copyright owner, unless \"fair use\" "
6270 "or some other privilege applies."
6273 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6274 #: freeculture.xml:4858 freeculture.xml:4866
6275 msgid "Gracie Films"
6278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6279 #: freeculture.xml:4853
6281 "Else called Simpsons creator Matt Groening's office to get permission. "
6282 "Groening approved the shot. The shot was a four-and-a-halfsecond image on a "
6283 "tiny television set in the corner of the room. How could it hurt? Groening "
6284 "was happy to have it in the film, but he told Else to contact Gracie Films, "
6285 "the company that produces the program. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6289 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6290 #: freeculture.xml:4861
6292 "Gracie Films was okay with it, too, but they, like Groening, wanted to be "
6293 "careful. So they told Else to contact Fox, Gracie's parent company. Else "
6294 "called Fox and told them about the clip in the corner of the one room shot "
6295 "of the film. Matt Groening had already given permission, Else said. He was "
6296 "just confirming the permission with Fox. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6300 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6301 #: freeculture.xml:4869
6303 "Then, as Else told me, \"two things happened. First we discovered . . . that "
6304 "Matt Groening doesn't own his own creation—or at least that someone "
6305 "[at Fox] believes he doesn't own his own creation.\" And second, Fox "
6306 "\"wanted ten thousand dollars as a licensing fee for us to use this "
6307 "four-point-five seconds of . . . entirely unsolicited Simpsons which was in "
6308 "the corner of the shot.\""
6311 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6312 #: freeculture.xml:4877
6314 "Else was certain there was a mistake. He worked his way up to someone he "
6315 "thought was a vice president for licensing, Rebecca Herrera. He explained "
6316 "to her, \"There must be some mistake here. . . . We're asking for your "
6317 "educational rate on this.\" That was the educational rate, Herrera told "
6318 "Else. A day or so later, Else called again to confirm what he had been told."
6322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6323 #: freeculture.xml:4885
6325 "\"I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight,\" he told me. \"Yes, you "
6326 "have your facts straight,\" she said. It would cost $10,000 to use the clip "
6327 "of The Simpsons in the corner of a shot in a documentary film about Wagner's "
6328 "Ring Cycle. And then, astonishingly, Herrera told Else, \"And if you quote "
6329 "me, I'll turn you over to our attorneys.\" As an assistant to Herrera told "
6330 "Else later on, \"They don't give a shit. They just want the money.\""
6333 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6334 #: freeculture.xml:4897
6336 "Else didn't have the money to buy the right to replay what was playing on "
6337 "the television backstage at the San Francisco Opera. To reproduce this "
6338 "reality was beyond the documentary filmmaker's budget. At the very last "
6339 "minute before the film was to be released, Else digitally replaced the shot "
6340 "with a clip from another film that he had worked on, The Day After Trinity, "
6341 "from ten years before. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6344 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6345 #: freeculture.xml:4906
6347 "There's no doubt that someone, whether Matt Groening or Fox, owns the "
6348 "copyright to The Simpsons. That copyright is their property. To use that "
6349 "copyrighted material thus sometimes requires the permission of the copyright "
6350 "owner. If the use that Else wanted to make of the Simpsons copyright were "
6351 "one of the uses restricted by the law, then he would need to get the "
6352 "permission of the copyright owner before he could use the work in that "
6353 "way. And in a free market, it is the owner of the copyright who gets to set "
6354 "the price for any use that the law says the owner gets to control."
6357 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6358 #: freeculture.xml:4917
6360 "For example, \"public performance\" is a use of The Simpsons that the "
6361 "copyright owner gets to control. If you take a selection of favorite "
6362 "episodes, rent a movie theater, and charge for tickets to come see \"My "
6363 "Favorite Simpsons,\" then you need to get permission from the copyright "
6364 "owner. And the copyright owner (rightly, in my view) can charge whatever she "
6365 "wants—$10 or $1,000,000. That's her right, as set by the law."
6369 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6370 #: freeculture.xml:4929
6372 "For an excellent argument that such use is \"fair use,\" but that lawyers "
6373 "don't permit recognition that it is \"fair use,\" see Richard A. Posner with "
6374 "William F. Patry, \"Fair Use and Statutory Reform in the Wake of Eldred \" "
6375 "(draft on file with author), University of Chicago Law School, 5 August "
6379 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6380 #: freeculture.xml:4926
6382 "But when lawyers hear this story about Jon Else and Fox, their first thought "
6383 "is \"fair use.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Else's use of just "
6384 "4.5 seconds of an indirect shot of a Simpsons episode is clearly a fair use "
6385 "of The Simpsons—and fair use does not require the permission of "
6390 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6391 #: freeculture.xml:4941
6392 msgid "So I asked Else why he didn't just rely upon \"fair use.\" Here's his reply:"
6395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6396 #: freeculture.xml:4945
6398 "The Simpsons fiasco was for me a great lesson in the gulf between what "
6399 "lawyers find irrelevant in some abstract sense, and what is crushingly "
6400 "relevant in practice to those of us actually trying to make and broadcast "
6401 "documentaries. I never had any doubt that it was \"clearly fair use\" in an "
6402 "absolute legal sense. But I couldn't rely on the concept in any concrete "
6407 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6408 #: freeculture.xml:4955
6410 "Before our films can be broadcast, the network requires that we buy Errors "
6411 "and Omissions insurance. The carriers require a detailed \"visual cue "
6412 "sheet\" listing the source and licensing status of each shot in the "
6413 "film. They take a dim view of \"fair use,\" and a claim of \"fair use\" can "
6414 "grind the application process to a halt."
6418 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6419 #: freeculture.xml:4963
6421 "I probably never should have asked Matt Groening in the first place. But I "
6422 "knew (at least from folklore) that Fox had a history of tracking down and "
6423 "stopping unlicensed Simpsons usage, just as George Lucas had a very high "
6424 "profile litigating Star Wars usage. So I decided to play by the book, "
6425 "thinking that we would be granted free or cheap license to four seconds of "
6426 "Simpsons. As a documentary producer working to exhaustion on a shoestring, "
6427 "the last thing I wanted was to risk legal trouble, even nuisance legal "
6428 "trouble, and even to defend a principle."
6433 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6434 #: freeculture.xml:4975
6436 "I did, in fact, speak with one of your colleagues at Stanford Law School "
6437 ". . . who confirmed that it was fair use. He also confirmed that Fox would "
6438 "\"depose and litigate you to within an inch of your life,\" regardless of "
6439 "the merits of my claim. He made clear that it would boil down to who had the "
6440 "bigger legal department and the deeper pockets, me or them."
6444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6445 #: freeculture.xml:4985
6447 "The question of fair use usually comes up at the end of the project, when we "
6448 "are up against a release deadline and out of money."
6451 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6452 #: freeculture.xml:4992
6454 "In theory, fair use means you need no permission. The theory therefore "
6455 "supports free culture and insulates against a permission culture. But in "
6456 "practice, fair use functions very differently. The fuzzy lines of the law, "
6457 "tied to the extraordinary liability if lines are crossed, means that the "
6458 "effective fair use for many types of creators is slight. The law has the "
6459 "right aim; practice has defeated the aim."
6462 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6463 #: freeculture.xml:5000
6465 "This practice shows just how far the law has come from its "
6466 "eighteenth-century roots. The law was born as a shield to protect "
6467 "publishers' profits against the unfair competition of a pirate. It has "
6468 "matured into a sword that interferes with any use, transformative or not."
6471 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
6472 #: freeculture.xml:5009
6473 msgid "CHAPTER EIGHT: Transformers"
6476 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
6477 #: freeculture.xml:5010
6481 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
6482 #: freeculture.xml:5011 freeculture.xml:5019 freeculture.xml:5030 freeculture.xml:5045 freeculture.xml:5054 freeculture.xml:5059 freeculture.xml:5111 freeculture.xml:5127 freeculture.xml:5150 freeculture.xml:5212 freeculture.xml:9567
6486 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6487 #: freeculture.xml:5013
6489 "In 1993, Alex Alben was a lawyer working at Starwave, Inc. Starwave was an "
6490 "innovative company founded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen to develop "
6491 "digital entertainment. Long before the Internet became popular, Starwave "
6492 "began investing in new technology for delivering entertainment in "
6493 "anticipation of the power of networks."
6496 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6497 #: freeculture.xml:5021
6499 "Alben had a special interest in new technology. He was intrigued by the "
6500 "emerging market for CD-ROM technology—not to distribute film, but to "
6501 "do things with film that otherwise would be very difficult. In 1993, he "
6502 "launched an initiative to develop a product to build retrospectives on the "
6503 "work of particular actors. The first actor chosen was Clint Eastwood. The "
6504 "idea was to showcase all of the work of Eastwood, with clips from his films "
6505 "and interviews with figures important to his career."
6508 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6509 #: freeculture.xml:5032
6511 "At that time, Eastwood had made more than fifty films, as an actor and as a "
6512 "director. Alben began with a series of interviews with Eastwood, asking him "
6513 "about his career. Because Starwave produced those interviews, it was free to "
6514 "include them on the CD."
6518 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6519 #: freeculture.xml:5039
6521 "That alone would not have made a very interesting product, so Starwave "
6522 "wanted to add content from the movies in Eastwood's career: posters, "
6523 "scripts, and other material relating to the films Eastwood made. Most of his "
6524 "career was spent at Warner Brothers, and so it was relatively easy to get "
6525 "permission for that content."
6528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6529 #: freeculture.xml:5047
6531 "Then Alben and his team decided to include actual film clips. \"Our goal was "
6532 "that we were going to have a clip from every one of Eastwood's films,\" "
6533 "Alben told me. It was here that the problem arose. \"No one had ever really "
6534 "done this before,\" Alben explained. \"No one had ever tried to do this in "
6535 "the context of an artistic look at an actor's career.\""
6538 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6539 #: freeculture.xml:5056
6541 "Alben brought the idea to Michael Slade, the CEO of Starwave. Slade asked, "
6542 "\"Well, what will it take?\""
6545 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
6546 #: freeculture.xml:5072
6550 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><secondary>
6551 #: freeculture.xml:5073
6552 msgid "publicity rights on images of"
6555 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6556 #: freeculture.xml:5067
6558 "Technically, the rights that Alben had to clear were mainly those of "
6559 "publicity—rights an artist has to control the commercial exploitation "
6560 "of his image. But these rights, too, burden \"Rip, Mix, Burn\" creativity, "
6561 "as this chapter evinces. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6565 #: freeculture.xml:5061
6567 "Alben replied, \"Well, we're going to have to clear rights from everyone who "
6568 "appears in these films, and the music and everything else that we want to "
6569 "use in these film clips.\" Slade said, \"Great! Go for it.\"<placeholder "
6570 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6573 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6574 #: freeculture.xml:5078
6576 "The problem was that neither Alben nor Slade had any idea what clearing "
6577 "those rights would mean. Every actor in each of the films could have a claim "
6578 "to royalties for the reuse of that film. But CD- ROMs had not been specified "
6579 "in the contracts for the actors, so there was no clear way to know just what "
6580 "Starwave was to do."
6583 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6584 #: freeculture.xml:5085
6586 "I asked Alben how he dealt with the problem. With an obvious pride in his "
6587 "resourcefulness that obscured the obvious bizarreness of his tale, Alben "
6588 "recounted just what they did:"
6591 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6592 #: freeculture.xml:5091
6594 "So we very mechanically went about looking up the film clips. We made some "
6595 "artistic decisions about what film clips to include—of course we were "
6596 "going to use the \"Make my day\" clip from Dirty Harry. But you then need to "
6597 "get the guy on the ground who's wiggling under the gun and you need to get "
6598 "his permission. And then you have to decide what you are going to pay him."
6602 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6603 #: freeculture.xml:5100
6605 "We decided that it would be fair if we offered them the dayplayer rate for "
6606 "the right to reuse that performance. We're talking about a clip of less than "
6607 "a minute, but to reuse that performance in the CD-ROM the rate at the time "
6608 "was about $600. So we had to identify the people—some of them were "
6609 "hard to identify because in Eastwood movies you can't tell who's the guy "
6610 "crashing through the glass—is it the actor or is it the stuntman? And "
6611 "then we just, we put together a team, my assistant and some others, and we "
6612 "just started calling people."
6615 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6616 #: freeculture.xml:5113
6618 "Some actors were glad to help—Donald Sutherland, for example, followed "
6619 "up himself to be sure that the rights had been cleared. Others were "
6620 "dumbfounded at their good fortune. Alben would ask, \"Hey, can I pay you "
6621 "$600 or maybe if you were in two films, you know, $1,200?\" And they would "
6622 "say, \"Are you for real? Hey, I'd love to get $1,200.\" And some of course "
6623 "were a bit difficult (estranged ex-wives, in particular). But eventually, "
6624 "Alben and his team had cleared the rights to this retrospective CD-ROM on "
6625 "Clint Eastwood's career."
6628 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6629 #: freeculture.xml:5124
6631 "It was one year later—\"and even then we weren't sure whether we were "
6632 "totally in the clear.\""
6635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6636 #: freeculture.xml:5129
6638 "Alben is proud of his work. The project was the first of its kind and the "
6639 "only time he knew of that a team had undertaken such a massive project for "
6640 "the purpose of releasing a retrospective."
6643 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6644 #: freeculture.xml:5135
6646 "Everyone thought it would be too hard. Everyone just threw up their hands "
6647 "and said, \"Oh, my gosh, a film, it's so many copyrights, there's the music, "
6648 "there's the screenplay, there's the director, there's the actors.\" But we "
6649 "just broke it down. We just put it into its constituent parts and said, "
6650 "\"Okay, there's this many actors, this many directors, . . . this many "
6651 "musicians,\" and we just went at it very systematically and cleared the "
6656 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6657 #: freeculture.xml:5147
6659 "And no doubt, the product itself was exceptionally good. Eastwood loved it, "
6660 "and it sold very well."
6663 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
6664 #: freeculture.xml:5151
6665 msgid "Drucker, Peter"
6669 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6670 #: freeculture.xml:5159
6672 "U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management, Seven Steps to "
6673 "Performance-Based Services Acquisition, available at <ulink "
6674 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #22</ulink>."
6677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6678 #: freeculture.xml:5153
6680 "But I pressed Alben about how weird it seems that it would have to take a "
6681 "year's work simply to clear rights. No doubt Alben had done this "
6682 "efficiently, but as Peter Drucker has famously quipped, \"There is nothing "
6683 "so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at "
6684 "all.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Did it make sense, I asked "
6685 "Alben, that this is the way a new work has to be made?"
6688 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6689 #: freeculture.xml:5167
6691 "For, as he acknowledged, \"very few . . . have the time and resources, and "
6692 "the will to do this,\" and thus, very few such works would ever be "
6693 "made. Does it make sense, I asked him, from the standpoint of what anybody "
6694 "really thought they were ever giving rights for originally, that you would "
6695 "have to go clear rights for these kinds of clips?"
6698 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6699 #: freeculture.xml:5175
6701 "I don't think so. When an actor renders a performance in a movie, he or she "
6702 "gets paid very well. . . . And then when 30 seconds of that performance is "
6703 "used in a new product that is a retrospective of somebody's career, I don't "
6704 "think that that person . . . should be compensated for that."
6707 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6708 #: freeculture.xml:5183
6710 "Or at least, is this how the artist should be compensated? Would it make "
6711 "sense, I asked, for there to be some kind of statutory license that someone "
6712 "could pay and be free to make derivative use of clips like this? Did it "
6713 "really make sense that a follow-on creator would have to track down every "
6714 "artist, actor, director, musician, and get explicit permission from each? "
6715 "Wouldn't a lot more be created if the legal part of the creative process "
6716 "could be made to be more clean?"
6720 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
6721 #: freeculture.xml:5193
6723 "Absolutely. I think that if there were some fair-licensing "
6724 "mechanism—where you weren't subject to hold-ups and you weren't "
6725 "subject to estranged former spouses—you'd see a lot more of this work, "
6726 "because it wouldn't be so daunting to try to put together a retrospective of "
6727 "someone's career and meaningfully illustrate it with lots of media from that "
6728 "person's career. You'd build in a cost as the producer of one of these "
6729 "things. You'd build in a cost of paying X dollars to the talent that "
6730 "performed. But it would be a known cost. That's the thing that trips "
6731 "everybody up and makes this kind of product hard to get off the ground. If "
6732 "you knew I have a hundred minutes of film in this product and it's going to "
6733 "cost me X, then you build your budget around it, and you can get investments "
6734 "and everything else that you need to produce it. But if you say, \"Oh, I "
6735 "want a hundred minutes of something and I have no idea what it's going to "
6736 "cost me, and a certain number of people are going to hold me up for money,\" "
6737 "then it becomes difficult to put one of these things together."
6740 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6741 #: freeculture.xml:5214
6743 "Alben worked for a big company. His company was backed by some of the "
6744 "richest investors in the world. He therefore had authority and access that "
6745 "the average Web designer would not have. So if it took him a year, how long "
6746 "would it take someone else? And how much creativity is never made just "
6747 "because the costs of clearing the rights are so high? These costs are the "
6748 "burdens of a kind of regulation. Put on a Republican hat for a moment, and "
6749 "get angry for a bit. The government defines the scope of these rights, and "
6750 "the scope defined determines how much it's going to cost to negotiate "
6751 "them. (Remember the idea that land runs to the heavens, and imagine the "
6752 "pilot purchasing flythrough rights as he negotiates to fly from Los Angeles "
6753 "to San Francisco.) These rights might well have once made sense; but as "
6754 "circumstances change, they make no sense at all. Or at least, a "
6755 "well-trained, regulationminimizing Republican should look at the rights and "
6756 "ask, \"Does this still make sense?\""
6760 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6761 #: freeculture.xml:5231
6763 "I've seen the flash of recognition when people get this point, but only a "
6764 "few times. The first was at a conference of federal judges in California. "
6765 "The judges were gathered to discuss the emerging topic of cyber-law. I was "
6766 "asked to be on the panel. Harvey Saferstein, a well-respected lawyer from an "
6767 "L.A. firm, introduced the panel with a video that he and a friend, Robert "
6768 "Fairbank, had produced."
6771 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6772 #: freeculture.xml:5241
6774 "The video was a brilliant collage of film from every period in the twentieth "
6775 "century, all framed around the idea of a 60 Minutes episode. The execution "
6776 "was perfect, down to the sixty-minute stopwatch. The judges loved every "
6780 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
6781 #: freeculture.xml:5246
6782 msgid "Nimmer, David"
6785 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6786 #: freeculture.xml:5248
6788 "When the lights came up, I looked over to my copanelist, David Nimmer, "
6789 "perhaps the leading copyright scholar and practitioner in the nation. He had "
6790 "an astonished look on his face, as he peered across the room of over 250 "
6791 "well-entertained judges. Taking an ominous tone, he began his talk with a "
6792 "question: \"Do you know how many federal laws were just violated in this "
6796 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
6797 #: freeculture.xml:5255
6798 msgid "Boies, David"
6801 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6802 #: freeculture.xml:5257
6804 "For of course, the two brilliantly talented creators who made this film "
6805 "hadn't done what Alben did. They hadn't spent a year clearing the rights to "
6806 "these clips; technically, what they had done violated the law. Of course, "
6807 "it wasn't as if they or anyone were going to be prosecuted for this "
6808 "violation (the presence of 250 judges and a gaggle of federal marshals "
6809 "notwithstanding). But Nimmer was making an important point: A year before "
6810 "anyone would have heard of the word Napster, and two years before another "
6811 "member of our panel, David Boies, would defend Napster before the Ninth "
6812 "Circuit Court of Appeals, Nimmer was trying to get the judges to see that "
6813 "the law would not be friendly to the capacities that this technology would "
6814 "enable. Technology means you can now do amazing things easily; but you "
6815 "couldn't easily do them legally."
6818 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6819 #: freeculture.xml:5272
6821 "We live in a \"cut and paste\" culture enabled by technology. Anyone "
6822 "building a presentation knows the extraordinary freedom that the cut and "
6823 "paste architecture of the Internet created—in a second you can find "
6824 "just about any image you want; in another second, you can have it planted in "
6825 "your presentation."
6828 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
6829 #: freeculture.xml:5288
6833 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6834 #: freeculture.xml:5279
6836 "But presentations are just a tiny beginning. Using the Internet and its "
6837 "archives, musicians are able to string together mixes of sound never before "
6838 "imagined; filmmakers are able to build movies out of clips on computers "
6839 "around the world. An extraordinary site in Sweden takes images of "
6840 "politicians and blends them with music to create biting political "
6841 "commentary. A site called Camp Chaos has produced some of the most biting "
6842 "criticism of the record industry that there is through the mixing of Flash! "
6843 "and music. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6846 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6847 #: freeculture.xml:5291
6849 "All of these creations are technically illegal. Even if the creators wanted "
6850 "to be \"legal,\" the cost of complying with the law is impossibly "
6851 "high. Therefore, for the law-abiding sorts, a wealth of creativity is never "
6852 "made. And for that part that is made, if it doesn't follow the clearance "
6853 "rules, it doesn't get released."
6856 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6857 #: freeculture.xml:5298
6859 "To some, these stories suggest a solution: Let's alter the mix of rights so "
6860 "that people are free to build upon our culture. Free to add or mix as they "
6861 "see fit. We could even make this change without necessarily requiring that "
6862 "the \"free\" use be free as in \"free beer.\" Instead, the system could "
6863 "simply make it easy for follow-on creators to compensate artists without "
6864 "requiring an army of lawyers to come along: a rule, for example, that says "
6865 "\"the royalty owed the copyright owner of an unregistered work for the "
6866 "derivative reuse of his work will be a flat 1 percent of net revenues, to be "
6867 "held in escrow for the copyright owner.\" Under this rule, the copyright "
6868 "owner could benefit from some royalty, but he would not have the benefit of "
6869 "a full property right (meaning the right to name his own price) unless he "
6870 "registers the work."
6873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6874 #: freeculture.xml:5313
6876 "Who could possibly object to this? And what reason would there be for "
6877 "objecting? We're talking about work that is not now being made; which if "
6878 "made, under this plan, would produce new income for artists. What reason "
6879 "would anyone have to oppose it?"
6883 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6884 #: freeculture.xml:5319
6886 "In February 2003, DreamWorks studios announced an agreement with Mike Myers, "
6887 "the comic genius of Saturday Night Live and Austin Powers. According to the "
6888 "announcement, Myers and Dream-Works would work together to form a \"unique "
6889 "filmmaking pact.\" Under the agreement, DreamWorks \"will acquire the rights "
6890 "to existing motion picture hits and classics, write new storylines "
6891 "and—with the use of stateof-the-art digital technology—insert "
6892 "Myers and other actors into the film, thereby creating an entirely new piece "
6893 "of entertainment.\""
6896 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6897 #: freeculture.xml:5331
6899 "The announcement called this \"film sampling.\" As Myers explained, \"Film "
6900 "Sampling is an exciting way to put an original spin on existing films and "
6901 "allow audiences to see old movies in a new light. Rap artists have been "
6902 "doing this for years with music and now we are able to take that same "
6903 "concept and apply it to film.\" Steven Spielberg is quoted as saying, \"If "
6904 "anyone can create a way to bring old films to new audiences, it is Mike.\""
6907 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6908 #: freeculture.xml:5340
6910 "Spielberg is right. Film sampling by Myers will be brilliant. But if you "
6911 "don't think about it, you might miss the truly astonishing point about this "
6912 "announcement. As the vast majority of our film heritage remains under "
6913 "copyright, the real meaning of the DreamWorks announcement is just this: It "
6914 "is Mike Myers and only Mike Myers who is free to sample. Any general freedom "
6915 "to build upon the film archive of our culture, a freedom in other contexts "
6916 "presumed for us all, is now a privilege reserved for the funny and "
6917 "famous—and presumably rich."
6920 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6921 #: freeculture.xml:5350
6923 "This privilege becomes reserved for two sorts of reasons. The first "
6924 "continues the story of the last chapter: the vagueness of \"fair use.\" Much "
6925 "of \"sampling\" should be considered \"fair use.\" But few would rely upon "
6926 "so weak a doctrine to create. That leads to the second reason that the "
6927 "privilege is reserved for the few: The costs of negotiating the legal rights "
6928 "for the creative reuse of content are astronomically high. These costs "
6929 "mirror the costs with fair use: You either pay a lawyer to defend your fair "
6930 "use rights or pay a lawyer to track down permissions so you don't have to "
6931 "rely upon fair use rights. Either way, the creative process is a process of "
6932 "paying lawyers—again a privilege, or perhaps a curse, reserved for the "
6936 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
6937 #: freeculture.xml:5365
6938 msgid "CHAPTER NINE: Collectors"
6941 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6942 #: freeculture.xml:5367
6944 "In April 1996, millions of \"bots\"—computer codes designed to "
6945 "\"spider,\" or automatically search the Internet and copy "
6946 "content—began running across the Net. Page by page, these bots copied "
6947 "Internet-based information onto a small set of computers located in a "
6948 "basement in San Francisco's Presidio. Once the bots finished the whole of "
6949 "the Internet, they started again. Over and over again, once every two "
6950 "months, these bits of code took copies of the Internet and stored them."
6953 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6954 #: freeculture.xml:5376
6956 "By October 2001, the bots had collected more than five years of copies. And "
6957 "at a small announcement in Berkeley, California, the archive that these "
6958 "copies created, the Internet Archive, was opened to the world. Using a "
6959 "technology called \"the Way Back Machine,\" you could enter a Web page, and "
6960 "see all of its copies going back to 1996, as well as when those pages "
6964 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6965 #: freeculture.xml:5384
6967 "This is the thing about the Internet that Orwell would have appreciated. In "
6968 "the dystopia described in 1984, old newspapers were constantly updated to "
6969 "assure that the current view of the world, approved of by the government, "
6970 "was not contradicted by previous news reports."
6974 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6975 #: freeculture.xml:5392
6977 "Thousands of workers constantly reedited the past, meaning there was no way "
6978 "ever to know whether the story you were reading today was the story that was "
6979 "printed on the date published on the paper."
6982 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
6983 #: freeculture.xml:5397
6985 "It's the same with the Internet. If you go to a Web page today, there's no "
6986 "way for you to know whether the content you are reading is the same as the "
6987 "content you read before. The page may seem the same, but the content could "
6988 "easily be different. The Internet is Orwell's library—constantly "
6989 "updated, without any reliable memory."
6993 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
6994 #: freeculture.xml:5410
6996 "The temptations remain, however. Brewster Kahle reports that the White House "
6997 "changes its own press releases without notice. A May 13, 2003, press release "
6998 "stated, \"Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.\" That was later changed, "
6999 "without notice, to \"Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.\" E-mail "
7000 "from Brewster Kahle, 1 December 2003."
7003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7004 #: freeculture.xml:5404
7006 "Until the Way Back Machine, at least. With the Way Back Machine, and the "
7007 "Internet Archive underlying it, you can see what the Internet was. You have "
7008 "the power to see what you remember. More importantly, perhaps, you also have "
7009 "the power to find what you don't remember and what others might prefer you "
7010 "forget.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7013 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7014 #: freeculture.xml:5418
7016 "We take it for granted that we can go back to see what we remember "
7017 "reading. Think about newspapers. If you wanted to study the reaction of your "
7018 "hometown newspaper to the race riots in Watts in 1965, or to Bull Connor's "
7019 "water cannon in 1963, you could go to your public library and look at the "
7020 "newspapers. Those papers probably exist on microfiche. If you're lucky, they "
7021 "exist in paper, too. Either way, you are free, using a library, to go back "
7022 "and remember—not just what it is convenient to remember, but remember "
7023 "something close to the truth."
7026 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7027 #: freeculture.xml:5429
7029 "It is said that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat "
7030 "it. That's not quite correct. We all forget history. The key is whether we "
7031 "have a way to go back to rediscover what we forget. More directly, the key "
7032 "is whether an objective past can keep us honest. Libraries help do that, by "
7033 "collecting content and keeping it, for schoolchildren, for researchers, for "
7034 "grandma. A free society presumes this knowedge."
7038 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7039 #: freeculture.xml:5438
7041 "The Internet was an exception to this presumption. Until the Internet "
7042 "Archive, there was no way to go back. The Internet was the quintessentially "
7043 "transitory medium. And yet, as it becomes more important in forming and "
7044 "reforming society, it becomes more and more important to maintain in some "
7045 "historical form. It's just bizarre to think that we have scads of archives "
7046 "of newspapers from tiny towns around the world, yet there is but one copy of "
7047 "the Internet—the one kept by the Internet Archive."
7050 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7051 #: freeculture.xml:5449
7053 "Brewster Kahle is the founder of the Internet Archive. He was a very "
7054 "successful Internet entrepreneur after he was a successful computer "
7055 "researcher. In the 1990s, Kahle decided he had had enough business "
7056 "success. It was time to become a different kind of success. So he launched "
7057 "a series of projects designed to archive human knowledge. The Internet "
7058 "Archive was just the first of the projects of this Andrew Carnegie of the "
7059 "Internet. By December of 2002, the archive had over 10 billion pages, and it "
7060 "was growing at about a billion pages a month."
7063 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7064 #: freeculture.xml:5459
7066 "The Way Back Machine is the largest archive of human knowledge in human "
7067 "history. At the end of 2002, it held \"two hundred and thirty terabytes of "
7068 "material\"—and was \"ten times larger than the Library of Congress.\" "
7069 "And this was just the first of the archives that Kahle set out to build. In "
7070 "addition to the Internet Archive, Kahle has been constructing the Television "
7071 "Archive. Television, it turns out, is even more ephemeral than the "
7072 "Internet. While much of twentieth-century culture was constructed through "
7073 "television, only a tiny proportion of that culture is available for anyone "
7074 "to see today. Three hours of news are recorded each evening by Vanderbilt "
7075 "University—thanks to a specific exemption in the copyright law. That "
7076 "content is indexed, and is available to scholars for a very low fee. \"But "
7077 "other than that, [television] is almost unavailable,\" Kahle told me. \"If "
7078 "you were Barbara Walters you could get access to [the archives], but if you "
7079 "are just a graduate student?\" As Kahle put it,"
7083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
7084 #: freeculture.xml:5477
7086 "Do you remember when Dan Quayle was interacting with Murphy Brown? Remember "
7087 "that back and forth surreal experience of a politician interacting with a "
7088 "fictional television character? If you were a graduate student wanting to "
7089 "study that, and you wanted to get those original back and forth exchanges "
7090 "between the two, the 60 Minutes episode that came out after it . . . it "
7091 "would be almost impossible. . . . Those materials are almost "
7095 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7096 #: freeculture.xml:5489
7098 "Why is that? Why is it that the part of our culture that is recorded in "
7099 "newspapers remains perpetually accessible, while the part that is recorded "
7100 "on videotape is not? How is it that we've created a world where researchers "
7101 "trying to understand the effect of media on nineteenthcentury America will "
7102 "have an easier time than researchers trying to understand the effect of "
7103 "media on twentieth-century America?"
7106 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7107 #: freeculture.xml:5497
7109 "In part, this is because of the law. Early in American copyright law, "
7110 "copyright owners were required to deposit copies of their work in "
7111 "libraries. These copies were intended both to facilitate the spread of "
7112 "knowledge and to assure that a copy of the work would be around once the "
7113 "copyright expired, so that others might access and copy the work."
7117 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
7118 #: freeculture.xml:5514
7120 "Doug Herrick, \"Toward a National Film Collection: Motion Pictures at the "
7121 "Library of Congress,\" Film Library Quarterly 13 nos. 2–3 (1980): 5; "
7122 "Anthony Slide, Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the "
7123 "United States ( Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1992), 36."
7126 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7127 #: freeculture.xml:5505
7129 "These rules applied to film as well. But in 1915, the Library of Congress "
7130 "made an exception for film. Film could be copyrighted so long as such "
7131 "deposits were made. But the filmmaker was then allowed to borrow back the "
7132 "deposits—for an unlimited time at no cost. In 1915 alone, there were "
7133 "more than 5,475 films deposited and \"borrowed back.\" Thus, when the "
7134 "copyrights to films expire, there is no copy held by any library. The copy "
7135 "exists—if it exists at all—in the library archive of the film "
7136 "company.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7139 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7140 #: freeculture.xml:5522
7142 "The same is generally true about television. Television broadcasts were "
7143 "originally not copyrighted—there was no way to capture the broadcasts, "
7144 "so there was no fear of \"theft.\" But as technology enabled capturing, "
7145 "broadcasters relied increasingly upon the law. The law required they make a "
7146 "copy of each broadcast for the work to be \"copyrighted.\" But those copies "
7147 "were simply kept by the broadcasters. No library had any right to them; the "
7148 "government didn't demand them. The content of this part of American culture "
7149 "is practically invisible to anyone who would look."
7153 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7154 #: freeculture.xml:5533
7156 "Kahle was eager to correct this. Before September 11, 2001, he and his "
7157 "allies had started capturing television. They selected twenty stations from "
7158 "around the world and hit the Record button. After September 11, Kahle, "
7159 "working with dozens of others, selected twenty stations from around the "
7160 "world and, beginning October 11, 2001, made their coverage during the week "
7161 "of September 11 available free on-line. Anyone could see how news reports "
7162 "from around the world covered the events of that day."
7165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7166 #: freeculture.xml:5560
7167 msgid "Movie Archive"
7170 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7171 #: freeculture.xml:5544
7173 "Kahle had the same idea with film. Working with Rick Prelinger, whose "
7174 "archive of film includes close to 45,000 \"ephemeral films\" (meaning films "
7175 "other than Hollywood movies, films that were never copyrighted), Kahle "
7176 "established the Movie Archive. Prelinger let Kahle digitize 1,300 films in "
7177 "this archive and post those films on the Internet to be downloaded for "
7178 "free. Prelinger's is a for-profit company. It sells copies of these films as "
7179 "stock footage. What he has discovered is that after he made a significant "
7180 "chunk available for free, his stock footage sales went up "
7181 "dramatically. People could easily find the material they wanted to use. Some "
7182 "downloaded that material and made films on their own. Others purchased "
7183 "copies to enable other films to be made. Either way, the archive enabled "
7184 "access to this important part of our culture. Want to see a copy of the "
7185 "\"Duck and Cover\" film that instructed children how to save themselves in "
7186 "the middle of nuclear attack? Go to archive.org, and you can download the "
7187 "film in a few minutes—for free. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7191 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7192 #: freeculture.xml:5563
7194 "Here again, Kahle is providing access to a part of our culture that we "
7195 "otherwise could not get easily, if at all. It is yet another part of what "
7196 "defines the twentieth century that we have lost to history. The law doesn't "
7197 "require these copies to be kept by anyone, or to be deposited in an archive "
7198 "by anyone. Therefore, there is no simple way to find them."
7201 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7202 #: freeculture.xml:5571
7204 "The key here is access, not price. Kahle wants to enable free access to this "
7205 "content, but he also wants to enable others to sell access to it. His aim is "
7206 "to ensure competition in access to this important part of our culture. Not "
7207 "during the commercial life of a bit of creative property, but during a "
7208 "second life that all creative property has—a noncommercial life."
7212 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7213 #: freeculture.xml:5579
7215 "For here is an idea that we should more clearly recognize. Every bit of "
7216 "creative property goes through different \"lives.\" In its first life, if "
7217 "the creator is lucky, the content is sold. In such cases the commercial "
7218 "market is successful for the creator. The vast majority of creative property "
7219 "doesn't enjoy such success, but some clearly does. For that content, "
7220 "commercial life is extremely important. Without this commercial market, "
7221 "there would be, many argue, much less creativity."
7224 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7225 #: freeculture.xml:5591
7227 "After the commercial life of creative property has ended, our tradition has "
7228 "always supported a second life as well. A newspaper delivers the news every "
7229 "day to the doorsteps of America. The very next day, it is used to wrap fish "
7230 "or to fill boxes with fragile gifts or to build an archive of knowledge "
7231 "about our history. In this second life, the content can continue to inform "
7232 "even if that information is no longer sold."
7236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
7237 #: freeculture.xml:5603
7239 "Dave Barns, \"Fledgling Career in Antique Books: Woodstock Landlord, Bar "
7240 "Owner Starts a New Chapter by Adopting Business,\" Chicago Tribune, 5 "
7241 "September 1997, at Metro Lake 1L. Of books published between 1927 and 1946, "
7242 "only 2.2 percent were in print in 2002. R. Anthony Reese, \"The First Sale "
7243 "Doctrine in the Era of Digital Networks,\" Boston College Law Review 44 "
7244 "(2003): 593 n. 51."
7247 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7248 #: freeculture.xml:5600
7250 "The same has always been true about books. A book goes out of print very "
7251 "quickly (the average today is after about a year<placeholder "
7252 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>). After it is out of print, it can be sold in "
7253 "used book stores without the copyright owner getting anything and stored in "
7254 "libraries, where many get to read the book, also for free. Used book stores "
7255 "and libraries are thus the second life of a book. That second life is "
7256 "extremely important to the spread and stability of culture."
7259 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7260 #: freeculture.xml:5617
7262 "Yet increasingly, any assumption about a stable second life for creative "
7263 "property does not hold true with the most important components of popular "
7264 "culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For "
7265 "these—television, movies, music, radio, the Internet—there is no "
7266 "guarantee of a second life. For these sorts of culture, it is as if we've "
7267 "replaced libraries with Barnes & Noble superstores. With this culture, "
7268 "what's accessible is nothing but what a certain limited market demands. "
7269 "Beyond that, culture disappears."
7273 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7274 #: freeculture.xml:5628
7276 "For most of the twentieth century, it was economics that made this so. It "
7277 "would have been insanely expensive to collect and make accessible all "
7278 "television and film and music: The cost of analog copies is extraordinarily "
7279 "high. So even though the law in principle would have restricted the ability "
7280 "of a Brewster Kahle to copy culture generally, the real restriction was "
7281 "economics. The market made it impossibly difficult to do anything about this "
7282 "ephemeral culture; the law had little practical effect."
7285 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7286 #: freeculture.xml:5640
7288 "Perhaps the single most important feature of the digital revolution is that "
7289 "for the first time since the Library of Alexandria, it is feasible to "
7290 "imagine constructing archives that hold all culture produced or distributed "
7291 "publicly. Technology makes it possible to imagine an archive of all books "
7292 "published, and increasingly makes it possible to imagine an archive of all "
7293 "moving images and sound."
7296 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7297 #: freeculture.xml:5648
7299 "The scale of this potential archive is something we've never imagined "
7300 "before. The Brewster Kahles of our history have dreamed about it; but we are "
7301 "for the first time at a point where that dream is possible. As Kahle "
7305 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
7306 #: freeculture.xml:5655
7308 "It looks like there's about two to three million recordings of music. "
7309 "Ever. There are about a hundred thousand theatrical releases of movies, "
7310 ". . . and about one to two million movies [distributed] during the twentieth "
7311 "century. There are about twenty-six million different titles of books. All "
7312 "of these would fit on computers that would fit in this room and be able to "
7313 "be afforded by a small company. So we're at a turning point in our "
7314 "history. Universal access is the goal. And the opportunity of leading a "
7315 "different life, based on this, is . . . thrilling. It could be one of the "
7316 "things humankind would be most proud of. Up there with the Library of "
7317 "Alexandria, putting a man on the moon, and the invention of the printing "
7322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7323 #: freeculture.xml:5669
7325 "Kahle is not the only librarian. The Internet Archive is not the only "
7326 "archive. But Kahle and the Internet Archive suggest what the future of "
7327 "libraries or archives could be. When the commercial life of creative "
7328 "property ends, I don't know. But it does. And whenever it does, Kahle and "
7329 "his archive hint at a world where this knowledge, and culture, remains "
7330 "perpetually available. Some will draw upon it to understand it; some to "
7331 "criticize it. Some will use it, as Walt Disney did, to re-create the past "
7332 "for the future. These technologies promise something that had become "
7333 "unimaginable for much of our past—a future for our past. The "
7334 "technology of digital arts could make the dream of the Library of Alexandria "
7338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7339 #: freeculture.xml:5684
7341 "Technologists have thus removed the economic costs of building such an "
7342 "archive. But lawyers' costs remain. For as much as we might like to call "
7343 "these \"archives,\" as warm as the idea of a \"library\" might seem, the "
7344 "\"content\" that is collected in these digital spaces is also someone's "
7345 "\"property.\" And the law of property restricts the freedoms that Kahle and "
7346 "others would exercise."
7349 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
7350 #: freeculture.xml:5694
7351 msgid "CHAPTER TEN: \"Property\""
7354 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7355 #: freeculture.xml:5703
7356 msgid "Johnson, Lyndon"
7359 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7360 #: freeculture.xml:5696
7362 "Jack Valenti has been the president of the Motion Picture Association of "
7363 "America since 1966. He first came to Washington, D.C., with Lyndon Johnson's "
7364 "administration—literally. The famous picture of Johnson's swearing-in "
7365 "on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy has Valenti in "
7366 "the background. In his almost forty years of running the MPAA, Valenti has "
7367 "established himself as perhaps the most prominent and effective lobbyist in "
7368 "Washington. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
7371 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7372 #: freeculture.xml:5716
7373 msgid "Disney, Inc."
7376 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7377 #: freeculture.xml:5717
7378 msgid "Sony Pictures Entertainment"
7381 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7382 #: freeculture.xml:5718
7386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7387 #: freeculture.xml:5719
7388 msgid "Paramount Pictures"
7391 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7392 #: freeculture.xml:5720
7393 msgid "Twentieth Century Fox"
7396 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7397 #: freeculture.xml:5721
7398 msgid "Universal Pictures"
7401 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
7402 #: freeculture.xml:5722
7403 msgid "Warner Brothers"
7406 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7407 #: freeculture.xml:5706
7409 "The MPAA is the American branch of the international Motion Picture "
7410 "Association. It was formed in 1922 as a trade association whose goal was to "
7411 "defend American movies against increasing domestic criticism. The "
7412 "organization now represents not only filmmakers but producers and "
7413 "distributors of entertainment for television, video, and cable. Its board is "
7414 "made up of the chairmen and presidents of the seven major producers and "
7415 "distributors of motion picture and television programs in the United States: "
7416 "Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth "
7417 "Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Brothers. <placeholder "
7418 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
7419 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7420 "id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> <placeholder "
7421 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"6\"/>"
7425 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7426 #: freeculture.xml:5726
7428 "Valenti is only the third president of the MPAA. No president before him has "
7429 "had as much influence over that organization, or over Washington. As a "
7430 "Texan, Valenti has mastered the single most important political skill of a "
7431 "Southerner—the ability to appear simple and slow while hiding a "
7432 "lightning-fast intellect. To this day, Valenti plays the simple, humble "
7433 "man. But this Harvard MBA, and author of four books, who finished high "
7434 "school at the age of fifteen and flew more than fifty combat missions in "
7435 "World War II, is no Mr. Smith. When Valenti went to Washington, he mastered "
7436 "the city in a quintessentially Washingtonian way."
7439 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7440 #: freeculture.xml:5738
7442 "In defending artistic liberty and the freedom of speech that our culture "
7443 "depends upon, the MPAA has done important good. In crafting the MPAA rating "
7444 "system, it has probably avoided a great deal of speech-regulating harm. But "
7445 "there is an aspect to the organization's mission that is both the most "
7446 "radical and the most important. This is the organization's effort, "
7447 "epitomized in Valenti's every act, to redefine the meaning of \"creative "
7451 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7452 #: freeculture.xml:5747
7453 msgid "In 1982, Valenti's testimony to Congress captured the strategy perfectly:"
7457 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
7458 #: freeculture.xml:5761
7460 "Home Recording of Copyrighted Works: Hearings on H.R. 4783, H.R. 4794, "
7461 "H.R. 4808, H.R. 5250, H.R. 5488, and H.R. 5705 Before the Subcommittee on "
7462 "Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice of the Committee "
7463 "on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, 97th Cong., 2nd "
7464 "sess. (1982): 65 (testimony of Jack Valenti)."
7467 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
7468 #: freeculture.xml:5752
7470 "No matter the lengthy arguments made, no matter the charges and the "
7471 "counter-charges, no matter the tumult and the shouting, reasonable men and "
7472 "women will keep returning to the fundamental issue, the central theme which "
7473 "animates this entire debate: Creative property owners must be accorded the "
7474 "same rights and protection resident in all other property owners in the "
7475 "nation. That is the issue. That is the question. And that is the rostrum on "
7476 "which this entire hearing and the debates to follow must rest.<placeholder "
7477 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7481 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7482 #: freeculture.xml:5771
7484 "The strategy of this rhetoric, like the strategy of most of Valenti's "
7485 "rhetoric, is brilliant and simple and brilliant because simple. The "
7486 "\"central theme\" to which \"reasonable men and women\" will return is this: "
7487 "\"Creative property owners must be accorded the same rights and protections "
7488 "resident in all other property owners in the nation.\" There are no "
7489 "second-class citizens, Valenti might have continued. There should be no "
7490 "second-class property owners."
7493 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7494 #: freeculture.xml:5782
7496 "This claim has an obvious and powerful intuitive pull. It is stated with "
7497 "such clarity as to make the idea as obvious as the notion that we use "
7498 "elections to pick presidents. But in fact, there is no more extreme a claim "
7499 "made by anyone who is serious in this debate than this claim of "
7500 "Valenti's. Jack Valenti, however sweet and however brilliant, is perhaps the "
7501 "nation's foremost extremist when it comes to the nature and scope of "
7502 "\"creative property.\" His views have no reasonable connection to our actual "
7503 "legal tradition, even if the subtle pull of his Texan charm has slowly "
7504 "redefined that tradition, at least in Washington."
7508 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
7509 #: freeculture.xml:5797
7511 "Lawyers speak of \"property\" not as an absolute thing, but as a bundle of "
7512 "rights that are sometimes associated with a particular object. Thus, my "
7513 "\"property right\" to my car gives me the right to exclusive use, but not "
7514 "the right to drive at 150 miles an hour. For the best effort to connect the "
7515 "ordinary meaning of \"property\" to \"lawyer talk,\" see Bruce Ackerman, "
7516 "Private Property and the Constitution (New Haven: Yale University Press, "
7517 "1977), 26–27."
7520 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7521 #: freeculture.xml:5794
7523 "While \"creative property\" is certainly \"property\" in a nerdy and precise "
7524 "sense that lawyers are trained to understand,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
7525 "id=\"0\"/> it has never been the case, nor should it be, that \"creative "
7526 "property owners\" have been \"accorded the same rights and protection "
7527 "resident in all other property owners.\" Indeed, if creative property owners "
7528 "were given the same rights as all other property owners, that would effect a "
7529 "radical, and radically undesirable, change in our tradition."
7532 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7533 #: freeculture.xml:5812
7535 "Valenti knows this. But he speaks for an industry that cares squat for our "
7536 "tradition and the values it represents. He speaks for an industry that is "
7537 "instead fighting to restore the tradition that the British overturned in "
7538 "1710. In the world that Valenti's changes would create, a powerful few would "
7539 "exercise powerful control over how our creative culture would develop."
7543 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7544 #: freeculture.xml:5820
7546 "I have two purposes in this chapter. The first is to convince you that, "
7547 "historically, Valenti's claim is absolutely wrong. The second is to convince "
7548 "you that it would be terribly wrong for us to reject our history. We have "
7549 "always treated rights in creative property differently from the rights "
7550 "resident in all other property owners. They have never been the same. And "
7551 "they should never be the same, because, however counterintuitive this may "
7552 "seem, to make them the same would be to fundamentally weaken the opportunity "
7553 "for new creators to create. Creativity depends upon the owners of "
7554 "creativity having less than perfect control."
7557 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7558 #: freeculture.xml:5835
7560 "Organizations such as the MPAA, whose board includes the most powerful of "
7561 "the old guard, have little interest, their rhetoric notwithstanding, in "
7562 "assuring that the new can displace them. No organization does. No person "
7563 "does. (Ask me about tenure, for example.) But what's good for the MPAA is "
7564 "not necessarily good for America. A society that defends the ideals of free "
7565 "culture must preserve precisely the opportunity for new creativity to "
7566 "threaten the old. To get just a hint that there is something fundamentally "
7567 "wrong in Valenti's argument, we need look no further than the United States "
7568 "Constitution itself."
7571 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7572 #: freeculture.xml:5847
7574 "The framers of our Constitution loved \"property.\" Indeed, so strongly did "
7575 "they love property that they built into the Constitution an important "
7576 "requirement. If the government takes your property—if it condemns your "
7577 "house, or acquires a slice of land from your farm—it is required, "
7578 "under the Fifth Amendment's \"Takings Clause,\" to pay you \"just "
7579 "compensation\" for that taking. The Constitution thus guarantees that "
7580 "property is, in a certain sense, sacred. It cannot ever be taken from the "
7581 "property owner unless the government pays for the privilege."
7585 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7586 #: freeculture.xml:5858
7588 "Yet the very same Constitution speaks very differently about what Valenti "
7589 "calls \"creative property.\" In the clause granting Congress the power to "
7590 "create \"creative property,\" the Constitution requires that after a "
7591 "\"limited time,\" Congress take back the rights that it has granted and set "
7592 "the \"creative property\" free to the public domain. Yet when Congress does "
7593 "this, when the expiration of a copyright term \"takes\" your copyright and "
7594 "turns it over to the public domain, Congress does not have any obligation to "
7595 "pay \"just compensation\" for this \"taking.\" Instead, the same "
7596 "Constitution that requires compensation for your land requires that you lose "
7597 "your \"creative property\" right without any compensation at all."
7600 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7601 #: freeculture.xml:5873
7603 "The Constitution thus on its face states that these two forms of property "
7604 "are not to be accorded the same rights. They are plainly to be treated "
7605 "differently. Valenti is therefore not just asking for a change in our "
7606 "tradition when he argues that creative-property owners should be accorded "
7607 "the same rights as every other property-right owner. He is effectively "
7608 "arguing for a change in our Constitution itself."
7611 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7612 #: freeculture.xml:5882
7614 "Arguing for a change in our Constitution is not necessarily wrong. There "
7615 "was much in our original Constitution that was plainly wrong. The "
7616 "Constitution of 1789 entrenched slavery; it left senators to be appointed "
7617 "rather than elected; it made it possible for the electoral college to "
7618 "produce a tie between the president and his own vice president (as it did in "
7619 "1800). The framers were no doubt extraordinary, but I would be the first to "
7620 "admit that they made big mistakes. We have since rejected some of those "
7621 "mistakes; no doubt there could be others that we should reject as well. So "
7622 "my argument is not simply that because Jefferson did it, we should, too."
7625 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7626 #: freeculture.xml:5894
7628 "Instead, my argument is that because Jefferson did it, we should at least "
7629 "try to understand why. Why did the framers, fanatical property types that "
7630 "they were, reject the claim that creative property be given the same rights "
7631 "as all other property? Why did they require that for creative property there "
7632 "must be a public domain?"
7635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7636 #: freeculture.xml:5901
7638 "To answer this question, we need to get some perspective on the history of "
7639 "these \"creative property\" rights, and the control that they enabled. Once "
7640 "we see clearly how differently these rights have been defined, we will be in "
7641 "a better position to ask the question that should be at the core of this "
7642 "war: Not whether creative property should be protected, but how. Not whether "
7643 "we will enforce the rights the law gives to creative-property owners, but "
7644 "what the particular mix of rights ought to be. Not whether artists should be "
7645 "paid, but whether institutions designed to assure that artists get paid need "
7646 "also control how culture develops."
7650 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7651 #: freeculture.xml:5915
7653 "To answer these questions, we need a more general way to talk about how "
7654 "property is protected. More precisely, we need a more general way than the "
7655 "narrow language of the law allows. In Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace, I "
7656 "used a simple model to capture this more general perspective. For any "
7657 "particular right or regulation, this model asks how four different "
7658 "modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken the right or "
7659 "regulation. I represented it with this diagram:"
7662 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><figure><title>
7663 #: freeculture.xml:5924
7665 "How four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken "
7666 "the right or regulation."
7669 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
7670 #: freeculture.xml:5925 freeculture.xml:6099 freeculture.xml:6400
7671 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1331.png\"></graphic>"
7675 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7676 #: freeculture.xml:5928
7678 "At the center of this picture is a regulated dot: the individual or group "
7679 "that is the target of regulation, or the holder of a right. (In each case "
7680 "throughout, we can describe this either as regulation or as a right. For "
7681 "simplicity's sake, I will speak only of regulations.) The ovals represent "
7682 "four ways in which the individual or group might be regulated— either "
7683 "constrained or, alternatively, enabled. Law is the most obvious constraint "
7684 "(to lawyers, at least). It constrains by threatening punishments after the "
7685 "fact if the rules set in advance are violated. So if, for example, you "
7686 "willfully infringe Madonna's copyright by copying a song from her latest CD "
7687 "and posting it on the Web, you can be punished with a $150,000 fine. The "
7688 "fine is an ex post punishment for violating an ex ante rule. It is imposed "
7692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7693 #: freeculture.xml:5944
7695 "Norms are a different kind of constraint. They, too, punish an individual "
7696 "for violating a rule. But the punishment of a norm is imposed by a "
7697 "community, not (or not only) by the state. There may be no law against "
7698 "spitting, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished if you spit on the "
7699 "ground while standing in line at a movie. The punishment might not be harsh, "
7700 "though depending upon the community, it could easily be more harsh than many "
7701 "of the punishments imposed by the state. The mark of the difference is not "
7702 "the severity of the rule, but the source of the enforcement."
7705 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7706 #: freeculture.xml:5955
7708 "The market is a third type of constraint. Its constraint is effected through "
7709 "conditions: You can do X if you pay Y; you'll be paid M if you do N. These "
7710 "constraints are obviously not independent of law or norms—it is "
7711 "property law that defines what must be bought if it is to be taken legally; "
7712 "it is norms that say what is appropriately sold. But given a set of norms, "
7713 "and a background of property and contract law, the market imposes a "
7714 "simultaneous constraint upon how an individual or group might behave."
7717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7718 #: freeculture.xml:5965
7720 "Finally, and for the moment, perhaps, most mysteriously, "
7721 "\"architecture\"—the physical world as one finds it—is a "
7722 "constraint on behavior. A fallen bridge might constrain your ability to get "
7723 "across a river. Railroad tracks might constrain the ability of a community "
7724 "to integrate its social life. As with the market, architecture does not "
7725 "effect its constraint through ex post punishments. Instead, also as with the "
7726 "market, architecture effects its constraint through simultaneous "
7727 "conditions. These conditions are imposed not by courts enforcing contracts, "
7728 "or by police punishing theft, but by nature, by \"architecture.\" If a "
7729 "500-pound boulder blocks your way, it is the law of gravity that enforces "
7730 "this constraint. If a $500 airplane ticket stands between you and a flight "
7731 "to New York, it is the market that enforces this constraint."
7735 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7736 #: freeculture.xml:5982
7738 "So the first point about these four modalities of regulation is obvious: "
7739 "They interact. Restrictions imposed by one might be reinforced by "
7740 "another. Or restrictions imposed by one might be undermined by another."
7743 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7744 #: freeculture.xml:5988
7746 "The second point follows directly: If we want to understand the effective "
7747 "freedom that anyone has at a given moment to do any particular thing, we "
7748 "have to consider how these four modalities interact. Whether or not there "
7749 "are other constraints (there may well be; my claim is not about "
7750 "comprehensiveness), these four are among the most significant, and any "
7751 "regulator (whether controlling or freeing) must consider how these four in "
7752 "particular interact."
7755 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
7756 #: freeculture.xml:5997
7757 msgid "driving speed, constraints on"
7760 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7761 #: freeculture.xml:6000
7763 "So, for example, consider the \"freedom\" to drive a car at a high "
7764 "speed. That freedom is in part restricted by laws: speed limits that say how "
7765 "fast you can drive in particular places at particular times. It is in part "
7766 "restricted by architecture: speed bumps, for example, slow most rational "
7767 "drivers; governors in buses, as another example, set the maximum rate at "
7768 "which the driver can drive. The freedom is in part restricted by the market: "
7769 "Fuel efficiency drops as speed increases, thus the price of gasoline "
7770 "indirectly constrains speed. And finally, the norms of a community may or "
7771 "may not constrain the freedom to speed. Drive at 50 mph by a school in your "
7772 "own neighborhood and you're likely to be punished by the neighbors. The same "
7773 "norm wouldn't be as effective in a different town, or at night."
7777 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
7778 #: freeculture.xml:6018
7780 "By describing the way law affects the other three modalities, I don't mean "
7781 "to suggest that the other three don't affect law. Obviously, they do. Law's "
7782 "only distinction is that it alone speaks as if it has a right "
7783 "self-consciously to change the other three. The right of the other three is "
7784 "more timidly expressed. See Lawrence Lessig, Code: And Other Laws of "
7785 "Cyberspace (New York: Basic Books, 1999): 90–95; Lawrence Lessig, "
7786 "\"The New Chicago School,\" Journal of Legal Studies, June 1998."
7790 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7791 #: freeculture.xml:6014
7793 "The final point about this simple model should also be fairly clear: While "
7794 "these four modalities are analytically independent, law has a special role "
7795 "in affecting the three.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The law, in "
7796 "other words, sometimes operates to increase or decrease the constraint of a "
7797 "particular modality. Thus, the law might be used to increase taxes on "
7798 "gasoline, so as to increase the incentives to drive more slowly. The law "
7799 "might be used to mandate more speed bumps, so as to increase the difficulty "
7800 "of driving rapidly. The law might be used to fund ads that stigmatize "
7801 "reckless driving. Or the law might be used to require that other laws be "
7802 "more strict—a federal requirement that states decrease the speed "
7803 "limit, for example—so as to decrease the attractiveness of fast "
7807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><figure><title>
7808 #: freeculture.xml:6042
7809 msgid "Law has a special role in affecting the three."
7812 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><figure>
7813 #: freeculture.xml:6043
7814 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1361.png\"></graphic>"
7817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
7818 #: freeculture.xml:6082
7819 msgid "Commons, John R."
7822 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
7823 #: freeculture.xml:6054
7825 "Some people object to this way of talking about \"liberty.\" They object "
7826 "because their focus when considering the constraints that exist at any "
7827 "particular moment are constraints imposed exclusively by the government. For "
7828 "instance, if a storm destroys a bridge, these people think it is meaningless "
7829 "to say that one's liberty has been restrained. A bridge has washed out, and "
7830 "it's harder to get from one place to another. To talk about this as a loss "
7831 "of freedom, they say, is to confuse the stuff of politics with the vagaries "
7832 "of ordinary life. I don't mean to deny the value in this narrower view, "
7833 "which depends upon the context of the inquiry. I do, however, mean to argue "
7834 "against any insistence that this narrower view is the only proper view of "
7835 "liberty. As I argued in Code, we come from a long tradition of political "
7836 "thought with a broader focus than the narrow question of what the government "
7837 "did when. John Stuart Mill defended freedom of speech, for example, from "
7838 "the tyranny of narrow minds, not from the fear of government prosecution; "
7839 "John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Co., 1978), 19. "
7840 "John R. Commons famously defended the economic freedom of labor from "
7841 "constraints imposed by the market; John R. Commons, \"The Right to Work,\" "
7842 "in Malcom Rutherford and Warren J. Samuels, eds., John R. Commons: Selected "
7843 "Essays (London: Routledge: 1997), 62. The Americans with Disabilities Act "
7844 "increases the liberty of people with physical disabilities by changing the "
7845 "architecture of certain public places, thereby making access to those places "
7846 "easier; 42 United States Code, section 12101 (2000). Each of these "
7847 "interventions to change existing conditions changes the liberty of a "
7848 "particular group. The effect of those interventions should be accounted for "
7849 "in order to understand the effective liberty that each of these groups might "
7850 "face. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
7853 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
7854 #: freeculture.xml:6046
7856 "These constraints can thus change, and they can be changed. To understand "
7857 "the effective protection of liberty or protection of property at any "
7858 "particular moment, we must track these changes over time. A restriction "
7859 "imposed by one modality might be erased by another. A freedom enabled by one "
7860 "modality might be displaced by another.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
7864 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
7865 #: freeculture.xml:6086
7866 msgid "Why Hollywood Is Right"
7869 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7870 #: freeculture.xml:6088
7872 "The most obvious point that this model reveals is just why, or just how, "
7873 "Hollywood is right. The copyright warriors have rallied Congress and the "
7874 "courts to defend copyright. This model helps us see why that rallying makes "
7878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7879 #: freeculture.xml:6094
7880 msgid "Let's say this is the picture of copyright's regulation before the Internet:"
7883 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
7884 #: freeculture.xml:6098 freeculture.xml:6399
7885 msgid "Copyright's regulation before the Internet."
7889 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7890 #: freeculture.xml:6103
7892 "There is balance between law, norms, market, and architecture. The law "
7893 "limits the ability to copy and share content, by imposing penalties on those "
7894 "who copy and share content. Those penalties are reinforced by technologies "
7895 "that make it hard to copy and share content (architecture) and expensive to "
7896 "copy and share content (market). Finally, those penalties are mitigated by "
7897 "norms we all recognize—kids, for example, taping other kids' "
7898 "records. These uses of copyrighted material may well be infringement, but "
7899 "the norms of our society (before the Internet, at least) had no problem with "
7900 "this form of infringement."
7903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7904 #: freeculture.xml:6115
7906 "Enter the Internet, or, more precisely, technologies such as MP3s and p2p "
7907 "sharing. Now the constraint of architecture changes dramatically, as does "
7908 "the constraint of the market. And as both the market and architecture relax "
7909 "the regulation of copyright, norms pile on. The happy balance (for the "
7910 "warriors, at least) of life before the Internet becomes an effective state "
7911 "of anarchy after the Internet."
7915 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7916 #: freeculture.xml:6123
7918 "Thus the sense of, and justification for, the warriors' response. "
7919 "Technology has changed, the warriors say, and the effect of this change, "
7920 "when ramified through the market and norms, is that a balance of protection "
7921 "for the copyright owners' rights has been lost. This is Iraq after the fall "
7922 "of Saddam, but this time no government is justifying the looting that "
7926 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
7927 #: freeculture.xml:6133
7928 msgid "effective state of anarchy after the Internet."
7931 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
7932 #: freeculture.xml:6134
7933 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1381.png\"></graphic>"
7936 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7937 #: freeculture.xml:6137
7939 "Neither this analysis nor the conclusions that follow are new to the "
7940 "warriors. Indeed, in a \"White Paper\" prepared by the Commerce Department "
7941 "(one heavily influenced by the copyright warriors) in 1995, this mix of "
7942 "regulatory modalities had already been identified and the strategy to "
7943 "respond already mapped. In response to the changes the Internet had "
7944 "effected, the White Paper argued (1) Congress should strengthen intellectual "
7945 "property law, (2) businesses should adopt innovative marketing techniques, "
7946 "(3) technologists should push to develop code to protect copyrighted "
7947 "material, and (4) educators should educate kids to better protect copyright."
7951 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7952 #: freeculture.xml:6149
7954 "This mixed strategy is just what copyright needed—if it was to "
7955 "preserve the particular balance that existed before the change induced by "
7956 "the Internet. And it's just what we should expect the content industry to "
7957 "push for. It is as American as apple pie to consider the happy life you have "
7958 "as an entitlement, and to look to the law to protect it if something comes "
7959 "along to change that happy life. Homeowners living in a flood plain have no "
7960 "hesitation appealing to the government to rebuild (and rebuild again) when a "
7961 "flood (architecture) wipes away their property (law). Farmers have no "
7962 "hesitation appealing to the government to bail them out when a virus "
7963 "(architecture) devastates their crop. Unions have no hesitation appealing to "
7964 "the government to bail them out when imports (market) wipe out the "
7965 "U.S. steel industry."
7968 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7969 #: freeculture.xml:6166
7971 "Thus, there's nothing wrong or surprising in the content industry's campaign "
7972 "to protect itself from the harmful consequences of a technological "
7973 "innovation. And I would be the last person to argue that the changing "
7974 "technology of the Internet has not had a profound effect on the content "
7975 "industry's way of doing business, or as John Seely Brown describes it, its "
7976 "\"architecture of revenue.\""
7980 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
7981 #: freeculture.xml:6182
7983 "See Geoffrey Smith, \"Film vs. Digital: Can Kodak Build a Bridge?\" "
7984 "BusinessWeek online, 2 August 1999, available at <ulink "
7985 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #23</ulink>. For a more recent "
7986 "analysis of Kodak's place in the market, see Chana R. Schoenberger, \"Can "
7987 "Kodak Make Up for Lost Moments?\" Forbes.com, 6 October 2003, available at "
7988 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #24</ulink>."
7991 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
7992 #: freeculture.xml:6174
7994 "But just because a particular interest asks for government support, it "
7995 "doesn't follow that support should be granted. And just because technology "
7996 "has weakened a particular way of doing business, it doesn't follow that the "
7997 "government should intervene to support that old way of doing "
7998 "business. Kodak, for example, has lost perhaps as much as 20 percent of "
7999 "their traditional film market to the emerging technologies of digital "
8000 "cameras.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Does anyone believe the "
8001 "government should ban digital cameras just to support Kodak? Highways have "
8002 "weakened the freight business for railroads. Does anyone think we should ban "
8003 "trucks from roads for the purpose of protecting the railroads? Closer to the "
8004 "subject of this book, remote channel changers have weakened the "
8005 "\"stickiness\" of television advertising (if a boring commercial comes on "
8006 "the TV, the remote makes it easy to surf ), and it may well be that this "
8007 "change has weakened the television advertising market. But does anyone "
8008 "believe we should regulate remotes to reinforce commercial television? "
8009 "(Maybe by limiting them to function only once a second, or to switch to only "
8010 "ten channels within an hour?)"
8014 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8015 #: freeculture.xml:6214
8016 msgid "Fred Warshofsky, The Patent Wars (New York: Wiley, 1994), 170–71."
8019 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8020 #: freeculture.xml:6223 freeculture.xml:12592
8024 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8025 #: freeculture.xml:6204
8027 "The obvious answer to these obviously rhetorical questions is no. In a free "
8028 "society, with a free market, supported by free enterprise and free trade, "
8029 "the government's role is not to support one way of doing business against "
8030 "others. Its role is not to pick winners and protect them against loss. If "
8031 "the government did this generally, then we would never have any progress. As "
8032 "Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wrote in 1991, in a memo criticizing software "
8033 "patents, \"established companies have an interest in excluding future "
8034 "competitors.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And relative to a "
8035 "startup, established companies also have the means. (Think RCA and FM "
8036 "radio.) A world in which competitors with new ideas must fight not only the "
8037 "market but also the government is a world in which competitors with new "
8038 "ideas will not succeed. It is a world of stasis and increasingly "
8039 "concentrated stagnation. It is the Soviet Union under Brezhnev. "
8040 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8043 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8044 #: freeculture.xml:6226
8046 "Thus, while it is understandable for industries threatened with new "
8047 "technologies that change the way they do business to look to the government "
8048 "for protection, it is the special duty of policy makers to guarantee that "
8049 "that protection not become a deterrent to progress. It is the duty of policy "
8050 "makers, in other words, to assure that the changes they create, in response "
8051 "to the request of those hurt by changing technology, are changes that "
8052 "preserve the incentives and opportunities for innovation and change."
8055 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8056 #: freeculture.xml:6236
8058 "In the context of laws regulating speech—which include, obviously, "
8059 "copyright law—that duty is even stronger. When the industry "
8060 "complaining about changing technologies is asking Congress to respond in a "
8061 "way that burdens speech and creativity, policy makers should be especially "
8062 "wary of the request. It is always a bad deal for the government to get into "
8063 "the business of regulating speech markets. The risks and dangers of that "
8064 "game are precisely why our framers created the First Amendment to our "
8065 "Constitution: \"Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of "
8066 "speech.\" So when Congress is being asked to pass laws that would "
8067 "\"abridge\" the freedom of speech, it should ask— "
8068 "carefully—whether such regulation is justified."
8072 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8073 #: freeculture.xml:6250
8075 "My argument just now, however, has nothing to do with whether the changes "
8076 "that are being pushed by the copyright warriors are \"justified.\" My "
8077 "argument is about their effect. For before we get to the question of "
8078 "justification, a hard question that depends a great deal upon your values, "
8079 "we should first ask whether we understand the effect of the changes the "
8080 "content industry wants."
8083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8084 #: freeculture.xml:6259
8085 msgid "Here's the metaphor that will capture the argument to follow."
8088 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
8089 #: freeculture.xml:6262
8093 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
8094 #: freeculture.xml:6270
8095 msgid "Müller, Paul Hermann"
8098 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8099 #: freeculture.xml:6265
8101 "In 1873, the chemical DDT was first synthesized. In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul "
8102 "Hermann Müller won the Nobel Prize for his work demonstrating the "
8103 "insecticidal properties of DDT. By the 1950s, the insecticide was widely "
8104 "used around the world to kill disease-carrying pests. It was also used to "
8105 "increase farm production. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8108 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8109 #: freeculture.xml:6273
8111 "No one doubts that killing disease-carrying pests or increasing crop "
8112 "production is a good thing. No one doubts that the work of Müller was "
8113 "important and valuable and probably saved lives, possibly millions."
8116 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
8117 #: freeculture.xml:6277 freeculture.xml:6283
8118 msgid "Carson, Rachel"
8121 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
8122 #: freeculture.xml:6284
8123 msgid "Silent Sprint (Carson)"
8126 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8127 #: freeculture.xml:6279
8129 "But in 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which argued that DDT, "
8130 "whatever its primary benefits, was also having unintended environmental "
8131 "consequences. Birds were losing the ability to reproduce. Whole chains of "
8132 "the ecology were being destroyed. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
8133 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
8136 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8137 #: freeculture.xml:6287
8139 "No one set out to destroy the environment. Paul Müller certainly did not aim "
8140 "to harm any birds. But the effort to solve one set of problems produced "
8141 "another set which, in the view of some, was far worse than the problems that "
8142 "were originally attacked. Or more accurately, the problems DDT caused were "
8143 "worse than the problems it solved, at least when considering the other, more "
8144 "environmentally friendly ways to solve the problems that DDT was meant to "
8149 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8150 #: freeculture.xml:6300
8152 "See, for example, James Boyle, \"A Politics of Intellectual Property: "
8153 "Environmentalism for the Net?\" Duke Law Journal 47 (1997): 87."
8157 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8158 #: freeculture.xml:6296
8160 "It is to this image precisely that Duke University law professor James Boyle "
8161 "appeals when he argues that we need an \"environmentalism\" for "
8162 "culture.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His point, and the point I "
8163 "want to develop in the balance of this chapter, is not that the aims of "
8164 "copyright are flawed. Or that authors should not be paid for their work. Or "
8165 "that music should be given away \"for free.\" The point is that some of the "
8166 "ways in which we might protect authors will have unintended consequences for "
8167 "the cultural environment, much like DDT had for the natural environment. And "
8168 "just as criticism of DDT is not an endorsement of malaria or an attack on "
8169 "farmers, so, too, is criticism of one particular set of regulations "
8170 "protecting copyright not an endorsement of anarchy or an attack on authors. "
8171 "It is an environment of creativity that we seek, and we should be aware of "
8172 "our actions' effects on the environment."
8175 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8176 #: freeculture.xml:6317
8178 "My argument, in the balance of this chapter, tries to map exactly this "
8179 "effect. No doubt the technology of the Internet has had a dramatic effect on "
8180 "the ability of copyright owners to protect their content. But there should "
8181 "also be little doubt that when you add together the changes in copyright law "
8182 "over time, plus the change in technology that the Internet is undergoing "
8183 "just now, the net effect of these changes will not be only that copyrighted "
8184 "work is effectively protected. Also, and generally missed, the net effect of "
8185 "this massive increase in protection will be devastating to the environment "
8189 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8190 #: freeculture.xml:6328
8192 "In a line: To kill a gnat, we are spraying DDT with consequences for free "
8193 "culture that will be far more devastating than that this gnat will be lost."
8196 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
8197 #: freeculture.xml:6335
8201 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8202 #: freeculture.xml:6337
8204 "America copied English copyright law. Actually, we copied and improved "
8205 "English copyright law. Our Constitution makes the purpose of \"creative "
8206 "property\" rights clear; its express limitations reinforce the English aim "
8207 "to avoid overly powerful publishers."
8210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8211 #: freeculture.xml:6343
8213 "The power to establish \"creative property\" rights is granted to Congress "
8214 "in a way that, for our Constitution, at least, is very odd. Article I, "
8215 "section 8, clause 8 of our Constitution states that:"
8219 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8220 #: freeculture.xml:6348
8222 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, "
8223 "by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right "
8224 "to their respective Writings and Discoveries. We can call this the "
8225 "\"Progress Clause,\" for notice what this clause does not say. It does not "
8226 "say Congress has the power to grant \"creative property rights.\" It says "
8227 "that Congress has the power to promote progress. The grant of power is its "
8228 "purpose, and its purpose is a public one, not the purpose of enriching "
8229 "publishers, nor even primarily the purpose of rewarding authors."
8232 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8233 #: freeculture.xml:6361
8235 "The Progress Clause expressly limits the term of copyrights. As we saw in "
8236 "chapter 6, the English limited the term of copyright so as to assure that a "
8237 "few would not exercise disproportionate control over culture by exercising "
8238 "disproportionate control over publishing. We can assume the framers followed "
8239 "the English for a similar purpose. Indeed, unlike the English, the framers "
8240 "reinforced that objective, by requiring that copyrights extend \"to "
8244 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8245 #: freeculture.xml:6370
8247 "The design of the Progress Clause reflects something about the "
8248 "Constitution's design in general. To avoid a problem, the framers built "
8249 "structure. To prevent the concentrated power of publishers, they built a "
8250 "structure that kept copyrights away from publishers and kept them short. To "
8251 "prevent the concentrated power of a church, they banned the federal "
8252 "government from establishing a church. To prevent concentrating power in the "
8253 "federal government, they built structures to reinforce the power of the "
8254 "states—including the Senate, whose members were at the time selected "
8255 "by the states, and an electoral college, also selected by the states, to "
8256 "select the president. In each case, a structure built checks and balances "
8257 "into the constitutional frame, structured to prevent otherwise inevitable "
8258 "concentrations of power."
8261 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8262 #: freeculture.xml:6385
8264 "I doubt the framers would recognize the regulation we call \"copyright\" "
8265 "today. The scope of that regulation is far beyond anything they ever "
8266 "considered. To begin to understand what they did, we need to put our "
8267 "\"copyright\" in context: We need to see how it has changed in the 210 years "
8268 "since they first struck its design."
8272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8273 #: freeculture.xml:6392
8275 "Some of these changes come from the law: some in light of changes in "
8276 "technology, and some in light of changes in technology given a particular "
8277 "concentration of market power. In terms of our model, we started here:"
8280 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8281 #: freeculture.xml:6403
8282 msgid "We will end here:"
8285 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8286 #: freeculture.xml:6406
8287 msgid ""Copyright" today."
8290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8291 #: freeculture.xml:6407
8292 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1442.png\"></graphic>"
8296 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8297 #: freeculture.xml:6410
8298 msgid "Let me explain how."
8301 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
8302 #: freeculture.xml:6415
8303 msgid "Law: Duration"
8306 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8307 #: freeculture.xml:6430
8308 msgid "Crosskey, William W."
8311 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8312 #: freeculture.xml:6425
8314 "William W. Crosskey, Politics and the Constitution in the History of the "
8315 "United States (London: Cambridge University Press, 1953), vol. 1, "
8316 "485–86: \"extinguish[ing], by plain implication of `the supreme Law of "
8317 "the Land,' the perpetual rights which authors had, or were supposed by some "
8318 "to have, under the Common Law\" (emphasis added). <placeholder "
8319 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8323 #: freeculture.xml:6417
8325 "When the first Congress enacted laws to protect creative property, it faced "
8326 "the same uncertainty about the status of creative property that the English "
8327 "had confronted in 1774. Many states had passed laws protecting creative "
8328 "property, and some believed that these laws simply supplemented common law "
8329 "rights that already protected creative authorship.<placeholder "
8330 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This meant that there was no guaranteed public "
8331 "domain in the United States in 1790. If copyrights were protected by the "
8332 "common law, then there was no simple way to know whether a work published in "
8333 "the United States was controlled or free. Just as in England, this lingering "
8334 "uncertainty would make it hard for publishers to rely upon a public domain "
8335 "to reprint and distribute works."
8338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8339 #: freeculture.xml:6440
8341 "That uncertainty ended after Congress passed legislation granting "
8342 "copyrights. Because federal law overrides any contrary state law, federal "
8343 "protections for copyrighted works displaced any state law protections. Just "
8344 "as in England the Statute of Anne eventually meant that the copyrights for "
8345 "all English works expired, a federal statute meant that any state copyrights "
8349 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8350 #: freeculture.xml:6448
8352 "In 1790, Congress enacted the first copyright law. It created a federal "
8353 "copyright and secured that copyright for fourteen years. If the author was "
8354 "alive at the end of that fourteen years, then he could opt to renew the "
8355 "copyright for another fourteen years. If he did not renew the copyright, his "
8356 "work passed into the public domain."
8360 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8361 #: freeculture.xml:6463
8363 "Although 13,000 titles were published in the United States from 1790 to "
8364 "1799, only 556 copyright registrations were filed; John Tebbel, A History of "
8365 "Book Publishing in the United States, vol. 1, The Creation of an Industry, "
8366 "1630–1865 (New York: Bowker, 1972), 141. Of the 21,000 imprints "
8367 "recorded before 1790, only twelve were copyrighted under the 1790 act; "
8368 "William J. Maher, Copyright Term, Retrospective Extension and the Copyright "
8369 "Law of 1790 in Historical Context, 7–10 (2002), available at <ulink "
8370 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #25</ulink>. Thus, the "
8371 "overwhelming majority of works fell immediately into the public domain. Even "
8372 "those works that were copyrighted fell into the public domain quickly, "
8373 "because the term of copyright was short. The initial term of copyright was "
8374 "fourteen years, with the option of renewal for an additional fourteen "
8375 "years. Copyright Act of May 31, 1790, §1, 1 stat. 124."
8378 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8379 #: freeculture.xml:6455
8381 "While there were many works created in the United States in the first ten "
8382 "years of the Republic, only 5 percent of the works were actually registered "
8383 "under the federal copyright regime. Of all the work created in the United "
8384 "States both before 1790 and from 1790 through 1800, 95 percent immediately "
8385 "passed into the public domain; the balance would pass into the pubic domain "
8386 "within twenty-eight years at most, and more likely within fourteen "
8387 "years.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8391 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8392 #: freeculture.xml:6479
8394 "This system of renewal was a crucial part of the American system of "
8395 "copyright. It assured that the maximum terms of copyright would be granted "
8396 "only for works where they were wanted. After the initial term of fourteen "
8397 "years, if it wasn't worth it to an author to renew his copyright, then it "
8398 "wasn't worth it to society to insist on the copyright, either."
8402 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8403 #: freeculture.xml:6494
8405 "Few copyright holders ever chose to renew their copyrights. For instance, of "
8406 "the 25,006 copyrights registered in 1883, only 894 were renewed in 1910. For "
8407 "a year-by-year analysis of copyright renewal rates, see Barbara A. Ringer, "
8408 "\"Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright,\" Studies on Copyright, vol. 1 (New "
8409 "York: Practicing Law Institute, 1963), 618. For a more recent and "
8410 "comprehensive analysis, see William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner, "
8411 "\"Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,\" University of Chicago Law Review 70 "
8412 "(2003): 471, 498–501, and accompanying figures."
8415 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8416 #: freeculture.xml:6488
8418 "Fourteen years may not seem long to us, but for the vast majority of "
8419 "copyright owners at that time, it was long enough: Only a small minority of "
8420 "them renewed their copyright after fourteen years; the balance allowed their "
8421 "work to pass into the public domain.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
8426 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8427 #: freeculture.xml:6509
8428 msgid "See Ringer, ch. 9, n. 2."
8431 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8432 #: freeculture.xml:6505
8434 "Even today, this structure would make sense. Most creative work has an "
8435 "actual commercial life of just a couple of years. Most books fall out of "
8436 "print after one year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When that "
8437 "happens, the used books are traded free of copyright regulation. Thus the "
8438 "books are no longer effectively controlled by copyright. The only practical "
8439 "commercial use of the books at that time is to sell the books as used books; "
8440 "that use—because it does not involve publication—is effectively "
8444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8445 #: freeculture.xml:6517
8447 "In the first hundred years of the Republic, the term of copyright was "
8448 "changed once. In 1831, the term was increased from a maximum of 28 years to "
8449 "a maximum of 42 by increasing the initial term of copyright from 14 years to "
8450 "28 years. In the next fifty years of the Republic, the term increased once "
8451 "again. In 1909, Congress extended the renewal term of 14 years to 28 years, "
8452 "setting a maximum term of 56 years."
8455 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8456 #: freeculture.xml:6525
8458 "Then, beginning in 1962, Congress started a practice that has defined "
8459 "copyright law since. Eleven times in the last forty years, Congress has "
8460 "extended the terms of existing copyrights; twice in those forty years, "
8461 "Congress extended the term of future copyrights. Initially, the extensions "
8462 "of existing copyrights were short, a mere one to two years. In 1976, "
8463 "Congress extended all existing copyrights by nineteen years. And in 1998, "
8464 "in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Congress extended the term "
8465 "of existing and future copyrights by twenty years."
8469 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8470 #: freeculture.xml:6535
8472 "The effect of these extensions is simply to toll, or delay, the passing of "
8473 "works into the public domain. This latest extension means that the public "
8474 "domain will have been tolled for thirty-nine out of fifty-five years, or 70 "
8475 "percent of the time since 1962. Thus, in the twenty years after the Sonny "
8476 "Bono Act, while one million patents will pass into the public domain, zero "
8477 "copyrights will pass into the public domain by virtue of the expiration of a "
8481 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8482 #: freeculture.xml:6546
8484 "The effect of these extensions has been exacerbated by another, "
8485 "little-noticed change in the copyright law. Remember I said that the framers "
8486 "established a two-part copyright regime, requiring a copyright owner to "
8487 "renew his copyright after an initial term. The requirement of renewal meant "
8488 "that works that no longer needed copyright protection would pass more "
8489 "quickly into the public domain. The works remaining under protection would "
8490 "be those that had some continuing commercial value."
8493 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8494 #: freeculture.xml:6556
8496 "The United States abandoned this sensible system in 1976. For all works "
8497 "created after 1978, there was only one copyright term—the maximum "
8498 "term. For \"natural\" authors, that term was life plus fifty years. For "
8499 "corporations, the term was seventy-five years. Then, in 1992, Congress "
8500 "abandoned the renewal requirement for all works created before 1978. All "
8501 "works still under copyright would be accorded the maximum term then "
8502 "available. After the Sonny Bono Act, that term was ninety-five years."
8505 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8506 #: freeculture.xml:6566
8508 "This change meant that American law no longer had an automatic way to assure "
8509 "that works that were no longer exploited passed into the public domain. And "
8510 "indeed, after these changes, it is unclear whether it is even possible to "
8511 "put works into the public domain. The public domain is orphaned by these "
8512 "changes in copyright law. Despite the requirement that terms be \"limited,\" "
8513 "we have no evidence that anything will limit them."
8517 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8518 #: freeculture.xml:6583
8520 "These statistics are understated. Between the years 1910 and 1962 (the first "
8521 "year the renewal term was extended), the average term was never more than "
8522 "thirty-two years, and averaged thirty years. See Landes and Posner, "
8523 "\"Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,\" loc. cit."
8526 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8527 #: freeculture.xml:6575
8529 "The effect of these changes on the average duration of copyright is "
8530 "dramatic. In 1973, more than 85 percent of copyright owners failed to renew "
8531 "their copyright. That meant that the average term of copyright in 1973 was "
8532 "just 32.2 years. Because of the elimination of the renewal requirement, the "
8533 "average term of copyright is now the maximum term. In thirty years, then, "
8534 "the average term has tripled, from 32.2 years to 95 years.<placeholder "
8535 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8538 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
8539 #: freeculture.xml:6592
8543 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8544 #: freeculture.xml:6594
8546 "The \"scope\" of a copyright is the range of rights granted by the law. The "
8547 "scope of American copyright has changed dramatically. Those changes are not "
8548 "necessarily bad. But we should understand the extent of the changes if we're "
8549 "to keep this debate in context."
8552 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8553 #: freeculture.xml:6600
8555 "In 1790, that scope was very narrow. Copyright covered only \"maps, charts, "
8556 "and books.\" That means it didn't cover, for example, music or "
8557 "architecture. More significantly, the right granted by a copyright gave the "
8558 "author the exclusive right to \"publish\" copyrighted works. That means "
8559 "someone else violated the copyright only if he republished the work without "
8560 "the copyright owner's permission. Finally, the right granted by a copyright "
8561 "was an exclusive right to that particular book. The right did not extend to "
8562 "what lawyers call \"derivative works.\" It would not, therefore, interfere "
8563 "with the right of someone other than the author to translate a copyrighted "
8564 "book, or to adapt the story to a different form (such as a drama based on a "
8568 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8569 #: freeculture.xml:6613
8571 "This, too, has changed dramatically. While the contours of copyright today "
8572 "are extremely hard to describe simply, in general terms, the right covers "
8573 "practically any creative work that is reduced to a tangible form. It covers "
8574 "music as well as architecture, drama as well as computer programs. It gives "
8575 "the copyright owner of that creative work not only the exclusive right to "
8576 "\"publish\" the work, but also the exclusive right of control over any "
8577 "\"copies\" of that work. And most significant for our purposes here, the "
8578 "right gives the copyright owner control over not only his or her particular "
8579 "work, but also any \"derivative work\" that might grow out of the original "
8580 "work. In this way, the right covers more creative work, protects the "
8581 "creative work more broadly, and protects works that are based in a "
8582 "significant way on the initial creative work."
8586 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8587 #: freeculture.xml:6628
8589 "At the same time that the scope of copyright has expanded, procedural "
8590 "limitations on the right have been relaxed. I've already described the "
8591 "complete removal of the renewal requirement in 1992. In addition to the "
8592 "renewal requirement, for most of the history of American copyright law, "
8593 "there was a requirement that a work be registered before it could receive "
8594 "the protection of a copyright. There was also a requirement that any "
8595 "copyrighted work be marked either with that famous © or the word "
8596 "copyright. And for most of the history of American copyright law, there was "
8597 "a requirement that works be deposited with the government before a copyright "
8601 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8602 #: freeculture.xml:6641
8604 "The reason for the registration requirement was the sensible understanding "
8605 "that for most works, no copyright was required. Again, in the first ten "
8606 "years of the Republic, 95 percent of works eligible for copyright were never "
8607 "copyrighted. Thus, the rule reflected the norm: Most works apparently didn't "
8608 "need copyright, so registration narrowed the regulation of the law to the "
8609 "few that did. The same reasoning justified the requirement that a work be "
8610 "marked as copyrighted—that way it was easy to know whether a copyright "
8611 "was being claimed. The requirement that works be deposited was to assure "
8612 "that after the copyright expired, there would be a copy of the work "
8613 "somewhere so that it could be copied by others without locating the original "
8617 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8618 #: freeculture.xml:6655
8620 "All of these \"formalities\" were abolished in the American system when we "
8621 "decided to follow European copyright law. There is no requirement that you "
8622 "register a work to get a copyright; the copyright now is automatic; the "
8623 "copyright exists whether or not you mark your work with a ©; and the "
8624 "copyright exists whether or not you actually make a copy available for "
8628 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8629 #: freeculture.xml:6663
8630 msgid "Consider a practical example to understand the scope of these differences."
8634 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8635 #: freeculture.xml:6674
8637 "See Thomas Bender and David Sampliner, \"Poets, Pirates, and the Creation of "
8638 "American Literature,\" 29 New York University Journal of International Law "
8639 "and Politics 255 (1997), and James Gilraeth, ed., Federal Copyright Records, "
8640 "1790–1800 (U.S. G.P.O., 1987)."
8643 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8644 #: freeculture.xml:6667
8646 "If, in 1790, you wrote a book and you were one of the 5 percent who actually "
8647 "copyrighted that book, then the copyright law protected you against another "
8648 "publisher's taking your book and republishing it without your "
8649 "permission. The aim of the act was to regulate publishers so as to prevent "
8650 "that kind of unfair competition. In 1790, there were 174 publishers in the "
8651 "United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Copyright Act "
8652 "was thus a tiny regulation of a tiny proportion of a tiny part of the "
8653 "creative market in the United States—publishers."
8657 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8658 #: freeculture.xml:6687
8660 "The act left other creators totally unregulated. If I copied your poem by "
8661 "hand, over and over again, as a way to learn it by heart, my act was totally "
8662 "unregulated by the 1790 act. If I took your novel and made a play based upon "
8663 "it, or if I translated it or abridged it, none of those activities were "
8664 "regulated by the original copyright act. These creative activities remained "
8665 "free, while the activities of publishers were restrained."
8668 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8669 #: freeculture.xml:6697
8671 "Today the story is very different: If you write a book, your book is "
8672 "automatically protected. Indeed, not just your book. Every e-mail, every "
8673 "note to your spouse, every doodle, every creative act that's reduced to a "
8674 "tangible form—all of this is automatically copyrighted. There is no "
8675 "need to register or mark your work. The protection follows the creation, not "
8676 "the steps you take to protect it."
8679 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8680 #: freeculture.xml:6706
8682 "That protection gives you the right (subject to a narrow range of fair use "
8683 "exceptions) to control how others copy the work, whether they copy it to "
8684 "republish it or to share an excerpt."
8687 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8688 #: freeculture.xml:6711
8690 "That much is the obvious part. Any system of copyright would control "
8691 "competing publishing. But there's a second part to the copyright of today "
8692 "that is not at all obvious. This is the protection of \"derivative rights.\" "
8693 "If you write a book, no one can make a movie out of your book without "
8694 "permission. No one can translate it without permission. CliffsNotes can't "
8695 "make an abridgment unless permission is granted. All of these derivative "
8696 "uses of your original work are controlled by the copyright holder. The "
8697 "copyright, in other words, is now not just an exclusive right to your "
8698 "writings, but an exclusive right to your writings and a large proportion of "
8699 "the writings inspired by them."
8702 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8703 #: freeculture.xml:6725
8705 "It is this derivative right that would seem most bizarre to our framers, "
8706 "though it has become second nature to us. Initially, this expansion was "
8707 "created to deal with obvious evasions of a narrower copyright. If I write a "
8708 "book, can you change one word and then claim a copyright in a new and "
8709 "different book? Obviously that would make a joke of the copyright, so the "
8710 "law was properly expanded to include those slight modifications as well as "
8711 "the verbatim original work."
8714 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8715 #: freeculture.xml:6748
8717 "Jonathan Zittrain, \"The Copyright Cage,\" Legal Affairs, July/August 2003, "
8718 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #26</ulink>. "
8719 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8722 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8723 #: freeculture.xml:6738
8725 "In preventing that joke, the law created an astonishing power within a free "
8726 "culture—at least, it's astonishing when you understand that the law "
8727 "applies not just to the commercial publisher but to anyone with a "
8728 "computer. I understand the wrong in duplicating and selling someone else's "
8729 "work. But whatever that wrong is, transforming someone else's work is a "
8730 "different wrong. Some view transformation as no wrong at all—they "
8731 "believe that our law, as the framers penned it, should not protect "
8732 "derivative rights at all.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Whether "
8733 "or not you go that far, it seems plain that whatever wrong is involved is "
8734 "fundamentally different from the wrong of direct piracy."
8738 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8739 #: freeculture.xml:6764
8741 "Professor Rubenfeld has presented a powerful constitutional argument about "
8742 "the difference that copyright law should draw (from the perspective of the "
8743 "First Amendment) between mere \"copies\" and derivative works. See Jed "
8744 "Rubenfeld, \"The Freedom of Imagination: Copyright's Constitutionality,\" "
8745 "Yale Law Journal 112 (2002): 1–60 (see especially pp. 53–59)."
8748 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8749 #: freeculture.xml:6758
8751 "Yet copyright law treats these two different wrongs in the same way. I can "
8752 "go to court and get an injunction against your pirating my book. I can go to "
8753 "court and get an injunction against your transformative use of my "
8754 "book.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These two different uses of "
8755 "my creative work are treated the same."
8758 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8759 #: freeculture.xml:6775
8761 "This again may seem right to you. If I wrote a book, then why should you be "
8762 "able to write a movie that takes my story and makes money from it without "
8763 "paying me or crediting me? Or if Disney creates a creature called \"Mickey "
8764 "Mouse,\" why should you be able to make Mickey Mouse toys and be the one to "
8765 "trade on the value that Disney originally created?"
8768 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8769 #: freeculture.xml:6784
8771 "These are good arguments, and, in general, my point is not that the "
8772 "derivative right is unjustified. My aim just now is much narrower: simply to "
8773 "make clear that this expansion is a significant change from the rights "
8774 "originally granted."
8777 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
8778 #: freeculture.xml:6792
8779 msgid "Law and Architecture: Reach"
8783 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8784 #: freeculture.xml:6799
8786 "This is a simplification of the law, but not much of one. The law certainly "
8787 "regulates more than \"copies\"—a public performance of a copyrighted "
8788 "song, for example, is regulated even though performance per se doesn't make "
8789 "a copy; 17 United States Code, section 106(4). And it certainly sometimes "
8790 "doesn't regulate a \"copy\"; 17 United States Code, section 112(a). But the "
8791 "presumption under the existing law (which regulates \"copies;\" 17 United "
8792 "States Code, section 102) is that if there is a copy, there is a right."
8795 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8796 #: freeculture.xml:6794
8798 "Whereas originally the law regulated only publishers, the change in "
8799 "copyright's scope means that the law today regulates publishers, users, and "
8800 "authors. It regulates them because all three are capable of making copies, "
8801 "and the core of the regulation of copyright law is copies.<placeholder "
8802 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8806 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8807 #: freeculture.xml:6811
8809 "\"Copies.\" That certainly sounds like the obvious thing for copyright law "
8810 "to regulate. But as with Jack Valenti's argument at the start of this "
8811 "chapter, that \"creative property\" deserves the \"same rights\" as all "
8812 "other property, it is the obvious that we need to be most careful about. For "
8813 "while it may be obvious that in the world before the Internet, copies were "
8814 "the obvious trigger for copyright law, upon reflection, it should be obvious "
8815 "that in the world with the Internet, copies should not be the trigger for "
8816 "copyright law. More precisely, they should not always be the trigger for "
8821 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8822 #: freeculture.xml:6827
8824 "Thus, my argument is not that in each place that copyright law extends, we "
8825 "should repeal it. It is instead that we should have a good argument for its "
8826 "extending where it does, and should not determine its reach on the basis of "
8827 "arbitrary and automatic changes caused by technology."
8830 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8831 #: freeculture.xml:6822
8833 "This is perhaps the central claim of this book, so let me take this very "
8834 "slowly so that the point is not easily missed. My claim is that the Internet "
8835 "should at least force us to rethink the conditions under which the law of "
8836 "copyright automatically applies,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
8837 "because it is clear that the current reach of copyright was never "
8838 "contemplated, much less chosen, by the legislators who enacted copyright "
8842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8843 #: freeculture.xml:6838
8845 "We can see this point abstractly by beginning with this largely empty "
8849 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8850 #: freeculture.xml:6842
8851 msgid "All potential uses of a book."
8854 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8855 #: freeculture.xml:6843
8856 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1521.png\"></graphic>"
8860 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8861 #: freeculture.xml:6847
8863 "Think about a book in real space, and imagine this circle to represent all "
8864 "its potential uses. Most of these uses are unregulated by copyright law, "
8865 "because the uses don't create a copy. If you read a book, that act is not "
8866 "regulated by copyright law. If you give someone the book, that act is not "
8867 "regulated by copyright law. If you resell a book, that act is not regulated "
8868 "(copyright law expressly states that after the first sale of a book, the "
8869 "copyright owner can impose no further conditions on the disposition of the "
8870 "book). If you sleep on the book or use it to hold up a lamp or let your "
8871 "puppy chew it up, those acts are not regulated by copyright law, because "
8872 "those acts do not make a copy."
8875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8876 #: freeculture.xml:6860
8877 msgid "Examples of unregulated uses of a book."
8880 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8881 #: freeculture.xml:6861
8882 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1531.png\"></graphic>"
8885 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8886 #: freeculture.xml:6864
8888 "Obviously, however, some uses of a copyrighted book are regulated by "
8889 "copyright law. Republishing the book, for example, makes a copy. It is "
8890 "therefore regulated by copyright law. Indeed, this particular use stands at "
8891 "the core of this circle of possible uses of a copyrighted work. It is the "
8892 "paradigmatic use properly regulated by copyright regulation (see first "
8893 "diagram on next page)."
8896 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8897 #: freeculture.xml:6872
8899 "Finally, there is a tiny sliver of otherwise regulated copying uses that "
8900 "remain unregulated because the law considers these \"fair uses.\""
8903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8904 #: freeculture.xml:6877
8906 "Republishing stands at the core of this circle of possible uses of a "
8910 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8911 #: freeculture.xml:6878
8912 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1541.png\"></graphic>"
8915 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8916 #: freeculture.xml:6881
8918 "These are uses that themselves involve copying, but which the law treats as "
8919 "unregulated because public policy demands that they remain unregulated. You "
8920 "are free to quote from this book, even in a review that is quite negative, "
8921 "without my permission, even though that quoting makes a copy. That copy "
8922 "would ordinarily give the copyright owner the exclusive right to say whether "
8923 "the copy is allowed or not, but the law denies the owner any exclusive right "
8924 "over such \"fair uses\" for public policy (and possibly First Amendment) "
8928 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8929 #: freeculture.xml:6892
8930 msgid "Unregulated copying considered "fair uses.""
8933 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8934 #: freeculture.xml:6893
8935 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1542.png\"></graphic>"
8938 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
8939 #: freeculture.xml:6897
8941 "Uses that before were presumptively unregulated are now presumptively "
8945 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
8946 #: freeculture.xml:6898
8947 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1551.png\"></graphic>"
8951 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8952 #: freeculture.xml:6902
8954 "In real space, then, the possible uses of a book are divided into three "
8955 "sorts: (1) unregulated uses, (2) regulated uses, and (3) regulated uses that "
8956 "are nonetheless deemed \"fair\" regardless of the copyright owner's views."
8960 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
8961 #: freeculture.xml:6910
8963 "I don't mean \"nature\" in the sense that it couldn't be different, but "
8964 "rather that its present instantiation entails a copy. Optical networks need "
8965 "not make copies of content they transmit, and a digital network could be "
8966 "designed to delete anything it copies so that the same number of copies "
8970 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8971 #: freeculture.xml:6907
8973 "Enter the Internet—a distributed, digital network where every use of a "
8974 "copyrighted work produces a copy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
8975 "And because of this single, arbitrary feature of the design of a digital "
8976 "network, the scope of category 1 changes dramatically. Uses that before were "
8977 "presumptively unregulated are now presumptively regulated. No longer is "
8978 "there a set of presumptively unregulated uses that define a freedom "
8979 "associated with a copyrighted work. Instead, each use is now subject to the "
8980 "copyright, because each use also makes a copy—category 1 gets sucked "
8981 "into category 2. And those who would defend the unregulated uses of "
8982 "copyrighted work must look exclusively to category 3, fair uses, to bear the "
8983 "burden of this shift."
8987 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
8988 #: freeculture.xml:6931
8990 "So let's be very specific to make this general point clear. Before the "
8991 "Internet, if you purchased a book and read it ten times, there would be no "
8992 "plausible copyright-related argument that the copyright owner could make to "
8993 "control that use of her book. Copyright law would have nothing to say about "
8994 "whether you read the book once, ten times, or every night before you went to "
8995 "bed. None of those instances of use—reading— could be regulated "
8996 "by copyright law because none of those uses produced a copy."
8999 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9000 #: freeculture.xml:6944
9002 "But the same book as an e-book is effectively governed by a different set of "
9003 "rules. Now if the copyright owner says you may read the book only once or "
9004 "only once a month, then copyright law would aid the copyright owner in "
9005 "exercising this degree of control, because of the accidental feature of "
9006 "copyright law that triggers its application upon there being a copy. Now if "
9007 "you read the book ten times and the license says you may read it only five "
9008 "times, then whenever you read the book (or any portion of it) beyond the "
9009 "fifth time, you are making a copy of the book contrary to the copyright "
9013 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9014 #: freeculture.xml:6958
9016 "There are some people who think this makes perfect sense. My aim just now is "
9017 "not to argue about whether it makes sense or not. My aim is only to make "
9018 "clear the change. Once you see this point, a few other points also become "
9022 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9023 #: freeculture.xml:6964
9025 "First, making category 1 disappear is not anything any policy maker ever "
9026 "intended. Congress did not think through the collapse of the presumptively "
9027 "unregulated uses of copyrighted works. There is no evidence at all that "
9028 "policy makers had this idea in mind when they allowed our policy here to "
9029 "shift. Unregulated uses were an important part of free culture before the "
9033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9034 #: freeculture.xml:6974
9036 "Second, this shift is especially troubling in the context of transformative "
9037 "uses of creative content. Again, we can all understand the wrong in "
9038 "commercial piracy. But the law now purports to regulate any transformation "
9039 "you make of creative work using a machine. \"Copy and paste\" and \"cut and "
9040 "paste\" become crimes. Tinkering with a story and releasing it to others "
9041 "exposes the tinkerer to at least a requirement of justification. However "
9042 "troubling the expansion with respect to copying a particular work, it is "
9043 "extraordinarily troubling with respect to transformative uses of creative "
9048 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9049 #: freeculture.xml:6990
9051 "Third, this shift from category 1 to category 2 puts an extraordinary burden "
9052 "on category 3 (\"fair use\") that fair use never before had to bear. If a "
9053 "copyright owner now tried to control how many times I could read a book "
9054 "on-line, the natural response would be to argue that this is a violation of "
9055 "my fair use rights. But there has never been any litigation about whether I "
9056 "have a fair use right to read, because before the Internet, reading did not "
9057 "trigger the application of copyright law and hence the need for a fair use "
9058 "defense. The right to read was effectively protected before because reading "
9059 "was not regulated."
9062 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9063 #: freeculture.xml:7005
9065 "This point about fair use is totally ignored, even by advocates for free "
9066 "culture. We have been cornered into arguing that our rights depend upon fair "
9067 "use—never even addressing the earlier question about the expansion in "
9068 "effective regulation. A thin protection grounded in fair use makes sense "
9069 "when the vast majority of uses are unregulated. But when everything becomes "
9070 "presumptively regulated, then the protections of fair use are not enough."
9073 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9074 #: freeculture.xml:7016
9076 "The case of Video Pipeline is a good example. Video Pipeline was in the "
9077 "business of making \"trailer\" advertisements for movies available to video "
9078 "stores. The video stores displayed the trailers as a way to sell "
9079 "videos. Video Pipeline got the trailers from the film distributors, put the "
9080 "trailers on tape, and sold the tapes to the retail stores."
9083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9084 #: freeculture.xml:7023
9086 "The company did this for about fifteen years. Then, in 1997, it began to "
9087 "think about the Internet as another way to distribute these previews. The "
9088 "idea was to expand their \"selling by sampling\" technique by giving on-line "
9089 "stores the same ability to enable \"browsing.\" Just as in a bookstore you "
9090 "can read a few pages of a book before you buy the book, so, too, you would "
9091 "be able to sample a bit from the movie on-line before you bought it."
9095 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9096 #: freeculture.xml:7035
9098 "In 1998, Video Pipeline informed Disney and other film distributors that it "
9099 "intended to distribute the trailers through the Internet (rather than "
9100 "sending the tapes) to distributors of their videos. Two years later, Disney "
9101 "told Video Pipeline to stop. The owner of Video Pipeline asked Disney to "
9102 "talk about the matter—he had built a business on distributing this "
9103 "content as a way to help sell Disney films; he had customers who depended "
9104 "upon his delivering this content. Disney would agree to talk only if Video "
9105 "Pipeline stopped the distribution immediately. Video Pipeline thought it "
9106 "was within their \"fair use\" rights to distribute the clips as they had. So "
9107 "they filed a lawsuit to ask the court to declare that these rights were in "
9108 "fact their rights."
9111 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9112 #: freeculture.xml:7052
9114 "Disney countersued—for $100 million in damages. Those damages were "
9115 "predicated upon a claim that Video Pipeline had \"willfully infringed\" on "
9116 "Disney's copyright. When a court makes a finding of willful infringement, it "
9117 "can award damages not on the basis of the actual harm to the copyright "
9118 "owner, but on the basis of an amount set in the statute. Because Video "
9119 "Pipeline had distributed seven hundred clips of Disney movies to enable "
9120 "video stores to sell copies of those movies, Disney was now suing Video "
9121 "Pipeline for $100 million."
9124 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9125 #: freeculture.xml:7064
9127 "Disney has the right to control its property, of course. But the video "
9128 "stores that were selling Disney's films also had some sort of right to be "
9129 "able to sell the films that they had bought from Disney. Disney's claim in "
9130 "court was that the stores were allowed to sell the films and they were "
9131 "permitted to list the titles of the films they were selling, but they were "
9132 "not allowed to show clips of the films as a way of selling them without "
9133 "Disney's permission."
9136 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9137 #: freeculture.xml:7073
9139 "Now, you might think this is a close case, and I think the courts would "
9140 "consider it a close case. My point here is to map the change that gives "
9141 "Disney this power. Before the Internet, Disney couldn't really control how "
9142 "people got access to their content. Once a video was in the marketplace, the "
9143 "\"first-sale doctrine\" would free the seller to use the video as he wished, "
9144 "including showing portions of it in order to engender sales of the entire "
9145 "movie video. But with the Internet, it becomes possible for Disney to "
9146 "centralize control over access to this content. Because each use of the "
9147 "Internet produces a copy, use on the Internet becomes subject to the "
9148 "copyright owner's control. The technology expands the scope of effective "
9149 "control, because the technology builds a copy into every transaction."
9153 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9154 #: freeculture.xml:7088
9156 "No doubt, a potential is not yet an abuse, and so the potential for control "
9157 "is not yet the abuse of control. Barnes & Noble has the right to say you "
9158 "can't touch a book in their store; property law gives them that right. But "
9159 "the market effectively protects against that abuse. If Barnes & Noble "
9160 "banned browsing, then consumers would choose other bookstores. Competition "
9161 "protects against the extremes. And it may well be (my argument so far does "
9162 "not even question this) that competition would prevent any similar danger "
9163 "when it comes to copyright. Sure, publishers exercising the rights that "
9164 "authors have assigned to them might try to regulate how many times you read "
9165 "a book, or try to stop you from sharing the book with anyone. But in a "
9166 "competitive market such as the book market, the dangers of this happening "
9170 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9171 #: freeculture.xml:7103
9173 "Again, my aim so far is simply to map the changes that this changed "
9174 "architecture enables. Enabling technology to enforce the control of "
9175 "copyright means that the control of copyright is no longer defined by "
9176 "balanced policy. The control of copyright is simply what private owners "
9177 "choose. In some contexts, at least, that fact is harmless. But in some "
9178 "contexts it is a recipe for disaster."
9181 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
9182 #: freeculture.xml:7112
9183 msgid "Architecture and Law: Force"
9186 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9187 #: freeculture.xml:7114
9189 "The disappearance of unregulated uses would be change enough, but a second "
9190 "important change brought about by the Internet magnifies its "
9191 "significance. This second change does not affect the reach of copyright "
9192 "regulation; it affects how such regulation is enforced."
9195 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9196 #: freeculture.xml:7120
9198 "In the world before digital technology, it was generally the law that "
9199 "controlled whether and how someone was regulated by copyright law. The law, "
9200 "meaning a court, meaning a judge: In the end, it was a human, trained in the "
9201 "tradition of the law and cognizant of the balances that tradition embraced, "
9202 "who said whether and how the law would restrict your freedom."
9205 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
9206 #: freeculture.xml:7127
9211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
9212 #: freeculture.xml:7136
9214 "See David Lange, \"Recognizing the Public Domain,\" Law and Contemporary "
9215 "Problems 44 (1981): 172–73."
9218 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9219 #: freeculture.xml:7129
9221 "There's a famous story about a battle between the Marx Brothers and Warner "
9222 "Brothers. The Marxes intended to make a parody of Casablanca. Warner "
9223 "Brothers objected. They wrote a nasty letter to the Marxes, warning them "
9224 "that there would be serious legal consequences if they went forward with "
9225 "their plan.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9229 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
9230 #: freeculture.xml:7145
9231 msgid "Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, Copyrights and Copywrongs, 1–3."
9234 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9235 #: freeculture.xml:7141
9237 "This led the Marx Brothers to respond in kind. They warned Warner Brothers "
9238 "that the Marx Brothers \"were brothers long before you were.\"<placeholder "
9239 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Marx Brothers therefore owned the word "
9240 "brothers, and if Warner Brothers insisted on trying to control Casablanca, "
9241 "then the Marx Brothers would insist on control over brothers."
9244 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9245 #: freeculture.xml:7152
9247 "An absurd and hollow threat, of course, because Warner Brothers, like the "
9248 "Marx Brothers, knew that no court would ever enforce such a silly "
9249 "claim. This extremism was irrelevant to the real freedoms anyone (including "
9250 "Warner Brothers) enjoyed."
9253 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9254 #: freeculture.xml:7158
9256 "On the Internet, however, there is no check on silly rules, because on the "
9257 "Internet, increasingly, rules are enforced not by a human but by a machine: "
9258 "Increasingly, the rules of copyright law, as interpreted by the copyright "
9259 "owner, get built into the technology that delivers copyrighted content. It "
9260 "is code, rather than law, that rules. And the problem with code regulations "
9261 "is that, unlike law, code has no shame. Code would not get the humor of the "
9262 "Marx Brothers. The consequence of that is not at all funny."
9265 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9266 #: freeculture.xml:7169
9267 msgid "Consider the life of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9270 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9271 #: freeculture.xml:7172
9273 "An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook is not a "
9274 "book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the software that "
9275 "publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the technology, and the "
9276 "publisher delivers the content by using the technology."
9279 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9280 #: freeculture.xml:7179
9281 msgid "On the next page is a picture of an old version of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9285 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9286 #: freeculture.xml:7183
9288 "As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this e-book "
9289 "library. Some of these books reproduce content that is in the public domain: "
9290 "Middlemarch, for example, is in the public domain. Some of them reproduce "
9291 "content that is not in the public domain: My own book The Future of Ideas is "
9292 "not yet within the public domain. Consider Middlemarch first. If you click "
9293 "on my e-book copy of Middlemarch, you'll see a fancy cover, and then a "
9294 "button at the bottom called Permissions."
9297 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9298 #: freeculture.xml:7194
9299 msgid "Picture of an old version of Adobe eBook Reader"
9302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9303 #: freeculture.xml:7195
9304 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1611.png\"></graphic>"
9307 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9308 #: freeculture.xml:7198
9310 "If you click on the Permissions button, you'll see a list of the permissions "
9311 "that the publisher purports to grant with this book."
9314 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9315 #: freeculture.xml:7202
9316 msgid "List of the permissions that the publisher purports to grant."
9319 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9320 #: freeculture.xml:7203
9321 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1612.png\"></graphic>"
9325 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9326 #: freeculture.xml:7207
9328 "According to my eBook Reader, I have the permission to copy to the clipboard "
9329 "of the computer ten text selections every ten days. (So far, I've copied no "
9330 "text to the clipboard.) I also have the permission to print ten pages from "
9331 "the book every ten days. Lastly, I have the permission to use the Read Aloud "
9332 "button to hear Middlemarch read aloud through the computer."
9335 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9336 #: freeculture.xml:7223
9338 "Here's the e-book for another work in the public domain (including the "
9339 "translation): Aristotle's Politics."
9342 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9343 #: freeculture.xml:7227
9344 msgid "E-book of Aristotle;s "Politics""
9347 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9348 #: freeculture.xml:7228
9349 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1621.png\"></graphic>"
9352 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9353 #: freeculture.xml:7231
9355 "According to its permissions, no printing or copying is permitted at "
9356 "all. But fortunately, you can use the Read Aloud button to hear the book."
9359 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9360 #: freeculture.xml:7236
9361 msgid "List of the permissions for Aristotle;s "Politics"."
9364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9365 #: freeculture.xml:7237
9366 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1622.png\"></graphic>"
9369 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9370 #: freeculture.xml:7240
9372 "Finally (and most embarrassingly), here are the permissions for the original "
9373 "e-book version of my last book, The Future of Ideas:"
9376 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9377 #: freeculture.xml:7245
9378 msgid "List of the permissions for "The Future of Ideas"."
9381 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9382 #: freeculture.xml:7246
9383 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1631.png\"></graphic>"
9386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9387 #: freeculture.xml:7249
9388 msgid "No copying, no printing, and don't you dare try to listen to this book!"
9392 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
9393 #: freeculture.xml:7259
9395 "In principle, a contract might impose a requirement on me. I might, for "
9396 "example, buy a book from you that includes a contract that says I will read "
9397 "it only three times, or that I promise to read it three times. But that "
9398 "obligation (and the limits for creating that obligation) would come from the "
9399 "contract, not from copyright law, and the obligations of contract would not "
9400 "necessarily pass to anyone who subsequently acquired the book."
9403 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9404 #: freeculture.xml:7252
9406 "Now, the Adobe eBook Reader calls these controls \"permissions\"— as "
9407 "if the publisher has the power to control how you use these works. For "
9408 "works under copyright, the copyright owner certainly does have the "
9409 "power—up to the limits of the copyright law. But for work not under "
9410 "copyright, there is no such copyright power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
9411 "id=\"0\"/> When my e-book of Middlemarch says I have the permission to copy "
9412 "only ten text selections into the memory every ten days, what that really "
9413 "means is that the eBook Reader has enabled the publisher to control how I "
9414 "use the book on my computer, far beyond the control that the law would "
9418 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9419 #: freeculture.xml:7274
9421 "The control comes instead from the code—from the technology within "
9422 "which the e-book \"lives.\" Though the e-book says that these are "
9423 "permissions, they are not the sort of \"permissions\" that most of us deal "
9424 "with. When a teenager gets \"permission\" to stay out till midnight, she "
9425 "knows (unless she's Cinderella) that she can stay out till 2 A.M., but will "
9426 "suffer a punishment if she's caught. But when the Adobe eBook Reader says I "
9427 "have the permission to make ten copies of the text into the computer's "
9428 "memory, that means that after I've made ten copies, the computer will not "
9429 "make any more. The same with the printing restrictions: After ten pages, the "
9430 "eBook Reader will not print any more pages. It's the same with the silly "
9431 "restriction that says that you can't use the Read Aloud button to read my "
9432 "book aloud—it's not that the company will sue you if you do; instead, "
9433 "if you push the Read Aloud button with my book, the machine simply won't "
9438 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9439 #: freeculture.xml:7292
9441 "These are controls, not permissions. Imagine a world where the Marx Brothers "
9442 "sold word processing software that, when you tried to type \"Warner "
9443 "Brothers,\" erased \"Brothers\" from the sentence."
9446 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9447 #: freeculture.xml:7297
9449 "This is the future of copyright law: not so much copyright law as copyright "
9450 "code. The controls over access to content will not be controls that are "
9451 "ratified by courts; the controls over access to content will be controls "
9452 "that are coded by programmers. And whereas the controls that are built into "
9453 "the law are always to be checked by a judge, the controls that are built "
9454 "into the technology have no similar built-in check."
9457 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9458 #: freeculture.xml:7305
9460 "How significant is this? Isn't it always possible to get around the controls "
9461 "built into the technology? Software used to be sold with technologies that "
9462 "limited the ability of users to copy the software, but those were trivial "
9463 "protections to defeat. Why won't it be trivial to defeat these protections "
9467 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9468 #: freeculture.xml:7313
9470 "We've only scratched the surface of this story. Return to the Adobe eBook "
9474 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9475 #: freeculture.xml:7317
9477 "Early in the life of the Adobe eBook Reader, Adobe suffered a public "
9478 "relations nightmare. Among the books that you could download for free on the "
9479 "Adobe site was a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. This wonderful "
9480 "book is in the public domain. Yet when you clicked on Permissions for that "
9481 "book, you got the following report:"
9484 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9485 #: freeculture.xml:7325
9486 msgid "List of the permissions for "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"."
9489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9490 #: freeculture.xml:7327
9491 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1641.png\"></graphic>"
9495 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9496 #: freeculture.xml:7331
9498 "Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to copy, "
9499 "not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the \"permissions\" "
9500 "indicated, not allowed to \"read aloud\"!"
9503 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9504 #: freeculture.xml:7338
9506 "The public relations nightmare attached to that final permission. For the "
9507 "text did not say that you were not permitted to use the Read Aloud button; "
9508 "it said you did not have the permission to read the book aloud. That led "
9509 "some people to think that Adobe was restricting the right of parents, for "
9510 "example, to read the book to their children, which seemed, to say the least, "
9514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9515 #: freeculture.xml:7346
9517 "Adobe responded quickly that it was absurd to think that it was trying to "
9518 "restrict the right to read a book aloud. Obviously it was only restricting "
9519 "the ability to use the Read Aloud button to have the book read aloud. But "
9520 "the question Adobe never did answer is this: Would Adobe thus agree that a "
9521 "consumer was free to use software to hack around the restrictions built into "
9522 "the eBook Reader? If some company (call it Elcomsoft) developed a program to "
9523 "disable the technological protection built into an Adobe eBook so that a "
9524 "blind person, say, could use a computer to read the book aloud, would Adobe "
9525 "agree that such a use of an eBook Reader was fair? Adobe didn't answer "
9526 "because the answer, however absurd it might seem, is no."
9529 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9530 #: freeculture.xml:7359
9532 "The point is not to blame Adobe. Indeed, Adobe is among the most innovative "
9533 "companies developing strategies to balance open access to content with "
9534 "incentives for companies to innovate. But Adobe's technology enables "
9535 "control, and Adobe has an incentive to defend this control. That incentive "
9536 "is understandable, yet what it creates is often crazy."
9539 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9540 #: freeculture.xml:7367
9542 "To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite story "
9543 "of mine that makes the same point."
9546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
9547 #: freeculture.xml:7371
9548 msgid "Aibo robotic dog"
9551 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9552 #: freeculture.xml:7374
9554 "Consider the robotic dog made by Sony named \"Aibo.\" The Aibo learns "
9555 "tricks, cuddles, and follows you around. It eats only electricity and that "
9556 "doesn't leave that much of a mess (at least in your house)."
9560 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9561 #: freeculture.xml:7379
9563 "The Aibo is expensive and popular. Fans from around the world have set up "
9564 "clubs to trade stories. One fan in particular set up a Web site to enable "
9565 "information about the Aibo dog to be shared. This fan set up aibopet.com "
9566 "(and aibohack.com, but that resolves to the same site), and on that site he "
9567 "provided information about how to teach an Aibo to do tricks in addition to "
9568 "the ones Sony had taught it."
9571 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9572 #: freeculture.xml:7388
9574 "\"Teach\" here has a special meaning. Aibos are just cute computers. You "
9575 "teach a computer how to do something by programming it differently. So to "
9576 "say that aibopet.com was giving information about how to teach the dog to do "
9577 "new tricks is just to say that aibopet.com was giving information to users "
9578 "of the Aibo pet about how to hack their computer \"dog\" to make it do new "
9579 "tricks (thus, aibohack.com)."
9582 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9583 #: freeculture.xml:7396
9585 "If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the word hack has "
9586 "a particularly unfriendly connotation. Nonprogrammers hack bushes or "
9587 "weeds. Nonprogrammers in horror movies do even worse. But to programmers, or "
9588 "coders, as I call them, hack is a much more positive term. Hack just means "
9589 "code that enables the program to do something it wasn't originally intended "
9590 "or enabled to do. If you buy a new printer for an old computer, you might "
9591 "find the old computer doesn't run, or \"drive,\" the printer. If you "
9592 "discovered that, you'd later be happy to discover a hack on the Net by "
9593 "someone who has written a driver to enable the computer to drive the printer "
9597 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9598 #: freeculture.xml:7408
9600 "Some hacks are easy. Some are unbelievably hard. Hackers as a community like "
9601 "to challenge themselves and others with increasingly difficult "
9602 "tasks. There's a certain respect that goes with the talent to hack "
9603 "well. There's a well-deserved respect that goes with the talent to hack "
9607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9608 #: freeculture.xml:7415
9610 "The Aibo fan was displaying a bit of both when he hacked the program and "
9611 "offered to the world a bit of code that would enable the Aibo to dance "
9612 "jazz. The dog wasn't programmed to dance jazz. It was a clever bit of "
9613 "tinkering that turned the dog into a more talented creature than Sony had "
9618 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9619 #: freeculture.xml:7423
9621 "I've told this story in many contexts, both inside and outside the United "
9622 "States. Once I was asked by a puzzled member of the audience, is it "
9623 "permissible for a dog to dance jazz in the United States? We forget that "
9624 "stories about the backcountry still flow across much of the world. So let's "
9625 "just be clear before we continue: It's not a crime anywhere (anymore) to "
9626 "dance jazz. Nor is it a crime to teach your dog to dance jazz. Nor should it "
9627 "be a crime (though we don't have a lot to go on here) to teach your robot "
9628 "dog to dance jazz. Dancing jazz is a completely legal activity. One imagines "
9629 "that the owner of aibopet.com thought, What possible problem could there be "
9630 "with teaching a robot dog to dance?"
9633 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9634 #: freeculture.xml:7439
9636 "Let's put the dog to sleep for a minute, and turn to a pony show— not "
9637 "literally a pony show, but rather a paper that a Princeton academic named Ed "
9638 "Felten prepared for a conference. This Princeton academic is well known and "
9639 "respected. He was hired by the government in the Microsoft case to test "
9640 "Microsoft's claims about what could and could not be done with its own "
9641 "code. In that trial, he demonstrated both his brilliance and his "
9642 "coolness. Under heavy badgering by Microsoft lawyers, Ed Felten stood his "
9643 "ground. He was not about to be bullied into being silent about something he "
9647 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
9648 #: freeculture.xml:7462 freeculture.xml:9879
9649 msgid "Electronic Frontier Foundation"
9652 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
9653 #: freeculture.xml:7452
9655 "See Pamela Samuelson, \"Anticircumvention Rules: Threat to Science,\" "
9656 "Science 293 (2001): 2028; Brendan I. Koerner, \"Play Dead: Sony Muzzles the "
9657 "Techies Who Teach a Robot Dog New Tricks,\" American Prospect, January 2002; "
9658 "\"Court Dismisses Computer Scientists' Challenge to DMCA,\" Intellectual "
9659 "Property Litigation Reporter, 11 December 2001; Bill Holland, \"Copyright "
9660 "Act Raising Free-Speech Concerns,\" Billboard, May 2001; Janelle Brown, \"Is "
9661 "the RIAA Running Scared?\" Salon.com, April 2001; Electronic Frontier "
9662 "Foundation, \"Frequently Asked Questions about Felten and USENIX v. RIAA "
9663 "Legal Case,\" available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
9664 "#27</ulink>. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9667 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9668 #: freeculture.xml:7450
9670 "But Felten's bravery was really tested in April 2001.<placeholder "
9671 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> He and a group of colleagues were working on a "
9672 "paper to be submitted at conference. The paper was intended to describe the "
9673 "weakness in an encryption system being developed by the Secure Digital Music "
9674 "Initiative as a technique to control the distribution of music."
9677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9678 #: freeculture.xml:7470
9680 "The SDMI coalition had as its goal a technology to enable content owners to "
9681 "exercise much better control over their content than the Internet, as it "
9682 "originally stood, granted them. Using encryption, SDMI hoped to develop a "
9683 "standard that would allow the content owner to say \"this music cannot be "
9684 "copied,\" and have a computer respect that command. The technology was to "
9685 "be part of a \"trusted system\" of control that would get content owners to "
9686 "trust the system of the Internet much more."
9689 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9690 #: freeculture.xml:7480
9692 "When SDMI thought it was close to a standard, it set up a competition. In "
9693 "exchange for providing contestants with the code to an SDMI-encrypted bit of "
9694 "content, contestants were to try to crack it and, if they did, report the "
9695 "problems to the consortium."
9699 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9700 #: freeculture.xml:7487
9702 "Felten and his team figured out the encryption system quickly. He and the "
9703 "team saw the weakness of this system as a type: Many encryption systems "
9704 "would suffer the same weakness, and Felten and his team thought it "
9705 "worthwhile to point this out to those who study encryption."
9708 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9709 #: freeculture.xml:7493
9711 "Let's review just what Felten was doing. Again, this is the United "
9712 "States. We have a principle of free speech. We have this principle not just "
9713 "because it is the law, but also because it is a really great idea. A "
9714 "strongly protected tradition of free speech is likely to encourage a wide "
9715 "range of criticism. That criticism is likely, in turn, to improve the "
9716 "systems or people or ideas criticized."
9719 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9720 #: freeculture.xml:7501
9722 "What Felten and his colleagues were doing was publishing a paper describing "
9723 "the weakness in a technology. They were not spreading free music, or "
9724 "building and deploying this technology. The paper was an academic essay, "
9725 "unintelligible to most people. But it clearly showed the weakness in the "
9726 "SDMI system, and why SDMI would not, as presently constituted, succeed."
9729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9730 #: freeculture.xml:7509
9732 "What links these two, aibopet.com and Felten, is the letters they then "
9733 "received. Aibopet.com received a letter from Sony about the aibopet.com "
9734 "hack. Though a jazz-dancing dog is perfectly legal, Sony wrote:"
9737 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
9738 #: freeculture.xml:7516
9740 "Your site contains information providing the means to circumvent AIBO-ware's "
9741 "copy protection protocol constituting a violation of the anti-circumvention "
9742 "provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
9745 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9746 #: freeculture.xml:7522
9748 "And though an academic paper describing the weakness in a system of "
9749 "encryption should also be perfectly legal, Felten received a letter from an "
9750 "RIAA lawyer that read:"
9754 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
9755 #: freeculture.xml:7528
9757 "Any disclosure of information gained from participating in the Public "
9758 "Challenge would be outside the scope of activities permitted by the "
9759 "Agreement and could subject you and your research team to actions under the "
9760 "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (\"DMCA\")."
9763 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9764 #: freeculture.xml:7536
9766 "In both cases, this weirdly Orwellian law was invoked to control the spread "
9767 "of information. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act made spreading such "
9768 "information an offense."
9771 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9772 #: freeculture.xml:7541
9774 "The DMCA was enacted as a response to copyright owners' first fear about "
9775 "cyberspace. The fear was that copyright control was effectively dead; the "
9776 "response was to find technologies that might compensate. These new "
9777 "technologies would be copyright protection technologies— technologies "
9778 "to control the replication and distribution of copyrighted material. They "
9779 "were designed as code to modify the original code of the Internet, to "
9780 "reestablish some protection for copyright owners."
9783 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9784 #: freeculture.xml:7550
9786 "The DMCA was a bit of law intended to back up the protection of this code "
9787 "designed to protect copyrighted material. It was, we could say, legal code "
9788 "intended to buttress software code which itself was intended to support the "
9789 "legal code of copyright."
9792 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9793 #: freeculture.xml:7556
9795 "But the DMCA was not designed merely to protect copyrighted works to the "
9796 "extent copyright law protected them. Its protection, that is, did not end at "
9797 "the line that copyright law drew. The DMCA regulated devices that were "
9798 "designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. It was designed to ban "
9799 "those devices, whether or not the use of the copyrighted material made "
9800 "possible by that circumvention would have been a copyright violation."
9804 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9805 #: freeculture.xml:7565
9807 "Aibopet.com and Felten make the point. The Aibo hack circumvented a "
9808 "copyright protection system for the purpose of enabling the dog to dance "
9809 "jazz. That enablement no doubt involved the use of copyrighted material. But "
9810 "as aibopet.com's site was noncommercial, and the use did not enable "
9811 "subsequent copyright infringements, there's no doubt that aibopet.com's hack "
9812 "was fair use of Sony's copyrighted material. Yet fair use is not a defense "
9813 "to the DMCA. The question is not whether the use of the copyrighted material "
9814 "was a copyright violation. The question is whether a copyright protection "
9815 "system was circumvented."
9818 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9819 #: freeculture.xml:7577
9821 "The threat against Felten was more attenuated, but it followed the same line "
9822 "of reasoning. By publishing a paper describing how a copyright protection "
9823 "system could be circumvented, the RIAA lawyer suggested, Felten himself was "
9824 "distributing a circumvention technology. Thus, even though he was not "
9825 "himself infringing anyone's copyright, his academic paper was enabling "
9826 "others to infringe others' copyright."
9829 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9830 #: freeculture.xml:7585
9832 "The bizarreness of these arguments is captured in a cartoon drawn in 1981 by "
9833 "Paul Conrad. At that time, a court in California had held that the VCR could "
9834 "be banned because it was a copyright-infringing technology: It enabled "
9835 "consumers to copy films without the permission of the copyright owner. No "
9836 "doubt there were uses of the technology that were legal: Fred Rogers, aka "
9837 "\"Mr. Rogers,\" for example, had testified in that case that he wanted "
9838 "people to feel free to tape Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood."
9842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
9843 #: freeculture.xml:7611
9845 "Sony Corporation of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417, "
9846 "455 fn. 27 (1984). Rogers never changed his view about the VCR. See James "
9847 "Lardner, Fast Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR "
9848 "(New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 270–71."
9851 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
9852 #: freeculture.xml:7596
9854 "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "
9855 "\"Neighborhood\" at hours when some children cannot use it. I think that "
9856 "it's a real service to families to be able to record such programs and show "
9857 "them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with the advent of all of "
9858 "this new technology that allows people to tape the \"Neighborhood\" "
9859 "off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the \"Neighborhood\" because that's what I "
9860 "produce, that they then become much more active in the programming of their "
9861 "family's television life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being "
9862 "programmed by others. My whole approach in broadcasting has always been "
9863 "\"You are an important person just the way you are. You can make healthy "
9864 "decisions.\" Maybe I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that "
9865 "allows a person to be more active in the control of his or her life, in a "
9866 "healthy way, is important.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9870 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9871 #: freeculture.xml:7620
9873 "Even though there were uses that were legal, because there were some uses "
9874 "that were illegal, the court held the companies producing the VCR "
9878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9879 #: freeculture.xml:7625
9880 msgid "This led Conrad to draw the cartoon below, which we can adopt to the DMCA."
9883 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9884 #: freeculture.xml:7629
9885 msgid "No argument I have can top this picture, but let me try to get close."
9888 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9889 #: freeculture.xml:7632
9891 "The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA target copyright circumvention "
9892 "technologies. Circumvention technologies can be used for different "
9893 "ends. They can be used, for example, to enable massive pirating of "
9894 "copyrighted material—a bad end. Or they can be used to enable the use "
9895 "of particular copyrighted materials in ways that would be considered fair "
9896 "use—a good end."
9900 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9901 #: freeculture.xml:7640
9903 "A handgun can be used to shoot a police officer or a child. Most would agree "
9904 "such a use is bad. Or a handgun can be used for target practice or to "
9905 "protect against an intruder. At least some would say that such a use would "
9906 "be good. It, too, is a technology that has both good and bad uses."
9909 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
9910 #: freeculture.xml:7648
9911 msgid "VCR/handgun cartoon."
9914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
9915 #: freeculture.xml:7649
9916 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1711.png\"></graphic>"
9919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9920 #: freeculture.xml:7652
9922 "The obvious point of Conrad's cartoon is the weirdness of a world where guns "
9923 "are legal, despite the harm they can do, while VCRs (and circumvention "
9924 "technologies) are illegal. Flash: No one ever died from copyright "
9925 "circumvention. Yet the law bans circumvention technologies absolutely, "
9926 "despite the potential that they might do some good, but permits guns, "
9927 "despite the obvious and tragic harm they do."
9930 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9931 #: freeculture.xml:7660
9933 "The Aibo and RIAA examples demonstrate how copyright owners are changing the "
9934 "balance that copyright law grants. Using code, copyright owners restrict "
9935 "fair use; using the DMCA, they punish those who would attempt to evade the "
9936 "restrictions on fair use that they impose through code. Technology becomes a "
9937 "means by which fair use can be erased; the law of the DMCA backs up that "
9941 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9942 #: freeculture.xml:7668
9944 "This is how code becomes law. The controls built into the technology of copy "
9945 "and access protection become rules the violation of which is also a "
9946 "violation of the law. In this way, the code extends the law—increasing "
9947 "its regulation, even if the subject it regulates (activities that would "
9948 "otherwise plainly constitute fair use) is beyond the reach of the law. Code "
9949 "becomes law; code extends the law; code thus extends the control that "
9950 "copyright owners effect—at least for those copyright holders with the "
9951 "lawyers who can write the nasty letters that Felten and aibopet.com "
9955 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9956 #: freeculture.xml:7678
9958 "There is one final aspect of the interaction between architecture and law "
9959 "that contributes to the force of copyright's regulation. This is the ease "
9960 "with which infringements of the law can be detected. For contrary to the "
9961 "rhetoric common at the birth of cyberspace that on the Internet, no one "
9962 "knows you're a dog, increasingly, given changing technologies deployed on "
9963 "the Internet, it is easy to find the dog who committed a legal wrong. The "
9964 "technologies of the Internet are open to snoops as well as sharers, and the "
9965 "snoops are increasingly good at tracking down the identity of those who "
9966 "violate the rules."
9970 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
9971 #: freeculture.xml:7697
9973 "For an early and prescient analysis, see Rebecca Tushnet, \"Legal Fictions, "
9974 "Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law,\" Loyola of Los Angeles "
9975 "Entertainment Law Journal 17 (1997): 651."
9978 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9979 #: freeculture.xml:7691
9981 "For example, imagine you were part of a Star Trek fan club. You gathered "
9982 "every month to share trivia, and maybe to enact a kind of fan fiction about "
9983 "the show. One person would play Spock, another, Captain Kirk. The characters "
9984 "would begin with a plot from a real story, then simply continue "
9985 "it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9988 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9989 #: freeculture.xml:7703
9991 "Before the Internet, this was, in effect, a totally unregulated activity. "
9992 "No matter what happened inside your club room, you would never be interfered "
9993 "with by the copyright police. You were free in that space to do as you "
9994 "wished with this part of our culture. You were allowed to build on it as you "
9995 "wished without fear of legal control."
9998 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
9999 #: freeculture.xml:7710
10001 "But if you moved your club onto the Internet, and made it generally "
10002 "available for others to join, the story would be very different. Bots "
10003 "scouring the Net for trademark and copyright infringement would quickly find "
10004 "your site. Your posting of fan fiction, depending upon the ownership of the "
10005 "series that you're depicting, could well inspire a lawyer's threat. And "
10006 "ignoring the lawyer's threat would be extremely costly indeed. The law of "
10007 "copyright is extremely efficient. The penalties are severe, and the process "
10011 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10012 #: freeculture.xml:7720
10014 "This change in the effective force of the law is caused by a change in the "
10015 "ease with which the law can be enforced. That change too shifts the law's "
10016 "balance radically. It is as if your car transmitted the speed at which you "
10017 "traveled at every moment that you drove; that would be just one step before "
10018 "the state started issuing tickets based upon the data you transmitted. That "
10019 "is, in effect, what is happening here."
10022 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
10023 #: freeculture.xml:7729
10024 msgid "Market: Concentration"
10028 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10029 #: freeculture.xml:7731
10031 "So copyright's duration has increased dramatically—tripled in the past "
10032 "thirty years. And copyright's scope has increased as well—from "
10033 "regulating only publishers to now regulating just about everyone. And "
10034 "copyright's reach has changed, as every action becomes a copy and hence "
10035 "presumptively regulated. And as technologists find better ways to control "
10036 "the use of content, and as copyright is increasingly enforced through "
10037 "technology, copyright's force changes, too. Misuse is easier to find and "
10038 "easier to control. This regulation of the creative process, which began as a "
10039 "tiny regulation governing a tiny part of the market for creative work, has "
10040 "become the single most important regulator of creativity there is. It is a "
10041 "massive expansion in the scope of the government's control over innovation "
10042 "and creativity; it would be totally unrecognizable to those who gave birth "
10043 "to copyright's control."
10046 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10047 #: freeculture.xml:7749
10049 "Still, in my view, all of these changes would not matter much if it weren't "
10050 "for one more change that we must also consider. This is a change that is in "
10051 "some sense the most familiar, though its significance and scope are not well "
10052 "understood. It is the one that creates precisely the reason to be concerned "
10053 "about all the other changes I have described."
10056 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10057 #: freeculture.xml:7756
10059 "This is the change in the concentration and integration of the media. In "
10060 "the past twenty years, the nature of media ownership has undergone a radical "
10061 "alteration, caused by changes in legal rules governing the media. Before "
10062 "this change happened, the different forms of media were owned by separate "
10063 "media companies. Now, the media is increasingly owned by only a few "
10064 "companies. Indeed, after the changes that the FCC announced in June 2003, "
10065 "most expect that within a few years, we will live in a world where just "
10066 "three companies control more than percent of the media."
10069 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10070 #: freeculture.xml:7767
10071 msgid "These changes are of two sorts: the scope of concentration, and its nature."
10074 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
10075 #: freeculture.xml:7770
10080 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10081 #: freeculture.xml:7776
10083 "FCC Oversight: Hearing Before the Senate Commerce, Science and "
10084 "Transportation Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (22 May 2003) (statement "
10085 "of Senator John McCain)."
10089 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10090 #: freeculture.xml:7783
10092 "Lynette Holloway, \"Despite a Marketing Blitz, CD Sales Continue to Slide,\" "
10093 "New York Times, 23 December 2002."
10097 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10098 #: freeculture.xml:7789
10100 "Molly Ivins, \"Media Consolidation Must Be Stopped,\" Charleston Gazette, 31 "
10104 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10105 #: freeculture.xml:7772
10107 "Changes in scope are the easier ones to describe. As Senator John McCain "
10108 "summarized the data produced in the FCC's review of media ownership, \"five "
10109 "companies control 85 percent of our media sources.\"<placeholder "
10110 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The five recording labels of Universal Music "
10111 "Group, BMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI control "
10112 "84.8 percent of the U.S. music market.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
10113 "id=\"1\"/> The \"five largest cable companies pipe programming to 74 percent "
10114 "of the cable subscribers nationwide.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
10119 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10120 #: freeculture.xml:7794
10122 "The story with radio is even more dramatic. Before deregulation, the "
10123 "nation's largest radio broadcasting conglomerate owned fewer than "
10124 "seventy-five stations. Today one company owns more than 1,200 stations. "
10125 "During that period of consolidation, the total number of radio owners "
10126 "dropped by 34 percent. Today, in most markets, the two largest broadcasters "
10127 "control 74 percent of that market's revenues. Overall, just four companies "
10128 "control 90 percent of the nation's radio advertising revenues."
10131 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10132 #: freeculture.xml:7805
10134 "Newspaper ownership is becoming more concentrated as well. Today, there are "
10135 "six hundred fewer daily newspapers in the United States than there were "
10136 "eighty years ago, and ten companies control half of the nation's "
10137 "circulation. There are twenty major newspaper publishers in the United "
10138 "States. The top ten film studios receive 99 percent of all film revenue. The "
10139 "ten largest cable companies account for 85 percent of all cable "
10140 "revenue. This is a market far from the free press the framers sought to "
10141 "protect. Indeed, it is a market that is quite well protected— by the "
10145 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10146 #: freeculture.xml:7819 freeculture.xml:7836
10147 msgid "Fallows, James"
10150 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10151 #: freeculture.xml:7816
10153 "Concentration in size alone is one thing. The more invidious change is in "
10154 "the nature of that concentration. As author James Fallows put it in a recent "
10155 "article about Rupert Murdoch, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10158 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10159 #: freeculture.xml:7834
10161 "James Fallows, \"The Age of Murdoch,\" Atlantic Monthly (September 2003): "
10162 "89. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
10166 #: freeculture.xml:7823
10168 "Murdoch's companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its "
10169 "integration. They supply content—Fox movies . . . Fox TV shows "
10170 ". . . Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They sell "
10171 "the content to the public and to advertisers—in newspapers, on the "
10172 "broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical "
10173 "distribution system through which the content reaches the "
10174 "customers. Murdoch's satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in "
10175 "Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV's largest single owner, that "
10176 "system will serve the same function in the United States.<placeholder "
10177 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10181 #: freeculture.xml:7841
10183 "The pattern with Murdoch is the pattern of modern media. Not just large "
10184 "companies owning many radio stations, but a few companies owning as many "
10185 "outlets of media as possible. A picture describes this pattern better than a "
10186 "thousand words could do:"
10189 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure><title>
10190 #: freeculture.xml:7847
10191 msgid "Pattern of modern media ownership."
10194 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><figure>
10195 #: freeculture.xml:7848
10196 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1761.png\"></graphic>"
10200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10201 #: freeculture.xml:7852
10203 "Does this concentration matter? Will it affect what is made, or what is "
10204 "distributed? Or is it merely a more efficient way to produce and distribute "
10208 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10209 #: freeculture.xml:7857
10211 "My view was that concentration wouldn't matter. I thought it was nothing "
10212 "more than a more efficient financial structure. But now, after reading and "
10213 "listening to a barrage of creators try to convince me to the contrary, I am "
10214 "beginning to change my mind."
10217 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10218 #: freeculture.xml:7863
10220 "Here's a representative story that begins to suggest how this integration "
10224 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
10225 #: freeculture.xml:7866
10226 msgid "Lear, Norman"
10229 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
10230 #: freeculture.xml:7868 freeculture.xml:7932
10231 msgid "All in the Family"
10234 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10235 #: freeculture.xml:7870
10237 "In 1969, Norman Lear created a pilot for All in the Family. He took the "
10238 "pilot to ABC. The network didn't like it. It was too edgy, they told "
10239 "Lear. Make it again. Lear made a second pilot, more edgy than the first. ABC "
10240 "was exasperated. You're missing the point, they told Lear. We wanted less "
10245 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10246 #: freeculture.xml:7882
10248 "Leonard Hill, \"The Axis of Access,\" remarks before Weidenbaum Center "
10249 "Forum, \"Entertainment Economics: The Movie Industry,\" St. Louis, Missouri, "
10250 "3 April 2003 (transcript of prepared remarks available at <ulink "
10251 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #28</ulink>; for the Lear story, "
10252 "not included in the prepared remarks, see <ulink "
10253 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #29</ulink>)."
10256 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10257 #: freeculture.xml:7877
10259 "Rather than comply, Lear simply took the show elsewhere. CBS was happy to "
10260 "have the series; ABC could not stop Lear from walking. The copyrights that "
10261 "Lear held assured an independence from network control.<placeholder "
10262 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10266 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10267 #: freeculture.xml:7894
10269 "The network did not control those copyrights because the law forbade the "
10270 "networks from controlling the content they syndicated. The law required a "
10271 "separation between the networks and the content producers; that separation "
10272 "would guarantee Lear freedom. And as late as 1992, because of these rules, "
10273 "the vast majority of prime time television—75 percent of it—was "
10274 "\"independent\" of the networks."
10278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10279 #: freeculture.xml:7913
10281 "NewsCorp./DirecTV Merger and Media Consolidation: Hearings on Media "
10282 "Ownership Before the Senate Commerce Committee, 108th Cong., 1st "
10283 "sess. (2003) (testimony of Gene Kimmelman on behalf of Consumers Union and "
10284 "the Consumer Federation of America), available at <ulink "
10285 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #30</ulink>. Kimmelman quotes "
10286 "Victoria Riskin, president of Writers Guild of America, West, in her Remarks "
10287 "at FCC En Banc Hearing, Richmond, Virginia, 27 February 2003."
10290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10291 #: freeculture.xml:7903
10293 "In 1994, the FCC abandoned the rules that required this independence. After "
10294 "that change, the networks quickly changed the balance. In 1985, there were "
10295 "twenty-five independent television production studios; in 2002, only five "
10296 "independent television studios remained. \"In 1992, only 15 percent of new "
10297 "series were produced for a network by a company it controlled. Last year, "
10298 "the percentage of shows produced by controlled companies more than "
10299 "quintupled to 77 percent.\" \"In 1992, 16 new series were produced "
10300 "independently of conglomerate control, last year there was "
10301 "one.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In 2002, 75 percent of prime "
10302 "time television was owned by the networks that ran it. \"In the ten-year "
10303 "period between 1992 and 2002, the number of prime time television hours per "
10304 "week produced by network studios increased over 200%, whereas the number of "
10305 "prime time television hours per week produced by independent studios "
10306 "decreased 63%.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
10309 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10310 #: freeculture.xml:7934
10312 "Today, another Norman Lear with another All in the Family would find that he "
10313 "had the choice either to make the show less edgy or to be fired: The content "
10314 "of any show developed for a network is increasingly owned by the network."
10317 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
10318 #: freeculture.xml:7943
10319 msgid "Diller, Barry"
10322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
10323 #: freeculture.xml:7944
10324 msgid "Moyers, Bill"
10327 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10328 #: freeculture.xml:7940
10330 "While the number of channels has increased dramatically, the ownership of "
10331 "those channels has narrowed to an ever smaller and smaller few. As Barry "
10332 "Diller said to Bill Moyers, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
10333 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
10337 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10338 #: freeculture.xml:7957
10340 "\"Barry Diller Takes on Media Deregulation,\" Now with Bill Moyers, Bill "
10341 "Moyers, 25 April 2003, edited transcript available at <ulink "
10342 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #31</ulink>."
10345 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
10346 #: freeculture.xml:7948
10348 "Well, if you have companies that produce, that finance, that air on their "
10349 "channel and then distribute worldwide everything that goes through their "
10350 "controlled distribution system, then what you get is fewer and fewer actual "
10351 "voices participating in the process. [We u]sed to have dozens and dozens of "
10352 "thriving independent production companies producing television programs. Now "
10353 "you have less than a handful.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10356 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10357 #: freeculture.xml:7964
10359 "This narrowing has an effect on what is produced. The product of such large "
10360 "and concentrated networks is increasingly homogenous. Increasingly "
10361 "safe. Increasingly sterile. The product of news shows from networks like "
10362 "this is increasingly tailored to the message the network wants to "
10363 "convey. This is not the communist party, though from the inside, it must "
10364 "feel a bit like the communist party. No one can question without risk of "
10365 "consequence—not necessarily banishment to Siberia, but punishment "
10366 "nonetheless. Independent, critical, different views are quashed. This is not "
10367 "the environment for a democracy."
10370 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
10371 #: freeculture.xml:7975
10372 msgid "Clark, Kim B."
10376 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10377 #: freeculture.xml:7984
10379 "Clayton M. Christensen, The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary National "
10380 "Bestseller that Changed the Way We Do Business (Cambridge: Harvard Business "
10381 "School Press, 1997). Christensen acknowledges that the idea was first "
10382 "suggested by Dean Kim Clark. See Kim B. Clark, \"The Interaction of Design "
10383 "Hierarchies and Market Concepts in Technological Evolution,\" Research "
10384 "Policy 14 (1985): 235–51. For a more recent study, see Richard Foster "
10385 "and Sarah Kaplan, Creative Destruction: Why Companies That Are Built to Last "
10386 "Underperform the Market—and How to Successfully Transform Them (New "
10387 "York: Currency/Doubleday, 2001)."
10390 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10391 #: freeculture.xml:7977
10393 "Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration "
10394 "affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the \"Innovator's "
10395 "Dilemma\": the fact that large traditional firms find it rational to ignore "
10396 "new, breakthrough technologies that compete with their core business. The "
10397 "same analysis could help explain why large, traditional media companies "
10398 "would find it rational to ignore new cultural trends.<placeholder "
10399 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Lumbering giants not only don't, but should "
10400 "not, sprint. Yet if the field is only open to the giants, there will be far "
10401 "too little sprinting. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
10404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10405 #: freeculture.xml:8001
10407 "I don't think we know enough about the economics of the media market to say "
10408 "with certainty what concentration and integration will do. The efficiencies "
10409 "are important, and the effect on culture is hard to measure."
10412 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10413 #: freeculture.xml:8007
10415 "But there is a quintessentially obvious example that does strongly suggest "
10419 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10420 #: freeculture.xml:8011
10422 "In addition to the copyright wars, we're in the middle of the drug "
10423 "wars. Government policy is strongly directed against the drug cartels; "
10424 "criminal and civil courts are filled with the consequences of this battle."
10428 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10429 #: freeculture.xml:8016
10431 "Let me hereby disqualify myself from any possible appointment to any "
10432 "position in government by saying I believe this war is a profound mistake. I "
10433 "am not pro drugs. Indeed, I come from a family once wrecked by "
10434 "drugs—though the drugs that wrecked my family were all quite legal. I "
10435 "believe this war is a profound mistake because the collateral damage from it "
10436 "is so great as to make waging the war insane. When you add together the "
10437 "burdens on the criminal justice system, the desperation of generations of "
10438 "kids whose only real economic opportunities are as drug warriors, the "
10439 "queering of constitutional protections because of the constant surveillance "
10440 "this war requires, and, most profoundly, the total destruction of the legal "
10441 "systems of many South American nations because of the power of the local "
10442 "drug cartels, I find it impossible to believe that the marginal benefit in "
10443 "reduced drug consumption by Americans could possibly outweigh these costs."
10446 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10447 #: freeculture.xml:8035
10449 "You may not be convinced. That's fine. We live in a democracy, and it is "
10450 "through votes that we are to choose policy. But to do that, we depend "
10451 "fundamentally upon the press to help inform Americans about these issues."
10454 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10455 #: freeculture.xml:8041
10457 "Beginning in 1998, the Office of National Drug Control Policy launched a "
10458 "media campaign as part of the \"war on drugs.\" The campaign produced scores "
10459 "of short film clips about issues related to illegal drugs. In one series "
10460 "(the Nick and Norm series) two men are in a bar, discussing the idea of "
10461 "legalizing drugs as a way to avoid some of the collateral damage from the "
10462 "war. One advances an argument in favor of drug legalization. The other "
10463 "responds in a powerful and effective way against the argument of the "
10464 "first. In the end, the first guy changes his mind (hey, it's "
10465 "television). The plug at the end is a damning attack on the pro-legalization "
10469 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10470 #: freeculture.xml:8053
10472 "Fair enough. It's a good ad. Not terribly misleading. It delivers its "
10473 "message well. It's a fair and reasonable message."
10476 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10477 #: freeculture.xml:8057
10479 "But let's say you think it is a wrong message, and you'd like to run a "
10480 "countercommercial. Say you want to run a series of ads that try to "
10481 "demonstrate the extraordinary collateral harm that comes from the drug "
10482 "war. Can you do it?"
10486 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10487 #: freeculture.xml:8063
10489 "Well, obviously, these ads cost lots of money. Assume you raise the "
10490 "money. Assume a group of concerned citizens donates all the money in the "
10491 "world to help you get your message out. Can you be sure your message will be "
10495 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10496 #: freeculture.xml:8104
10500 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10501 #: freeculture.xml:8105
10502 msgid "Marijuana Policy Project"
10505 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10506 #: freeculture.xml:8106
10510 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10511 #: freeculture.xml:8080
10513 "The Marijuana Policy Project, in February 2003, sought to place ads that "
10514 "directly responded to the Nick and Norm series on stations within the "
10515 "Washington, D.C., area. Comcast rejected the ads as \"against [their] "
10516 "policy.\" The local NBC affiliate, WRC, rejected the ads without reviewing "
10517 "them. The local ABC affiliate, WJOA, originally agreed to run the ads and "
10518 "accepted payment to do so, but later decided not to run the ads and returned "
10519 "the collected fees. Interview with Neal Levine, 15 October 2003. These "
10520 "restrictions are, of course, not limited to drug policy. See, for example, "
10521 "Nat Ives, \"On the Issue of an Iraq War, Advocacy Ads Meet with Rejection "
10522 "from TV Networks,\" New York Times, 13 March 2003, C4. Outside of "
10523 "election-related air time there is very little that the FCC or the courts "
10524 "are willing to do to even the playing field. For a general overview, see "
10525 "Rhonda Brown, \"Ad Hoc Access: The Regulation of Editorial Advertising on "
10526 "Television and Radio,\" Yale Law and Policy Review 6 (1988): 449–79, "
10527 "and for a more recent summary of the stance of the FCC and the courts, see "
10528 "Radio-Television News Directors Association v. FCC, 184 F. 3d 872 "
10529 "(D.C. Cir. 1999). Municipal authorities exercise the same authority as the "
10530 "networks. In a recent example from San Francisco, the San Francisco transit "
10531 "authority rejected an ad that criticized its Muni diesel buses. Phillip "
10532 "Matier and Andrew Ross, \"Antidiesel Group Fuming After Muni Rejects Ad,\" "
10533 "SFGate.com, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
10534 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #32</ulink>. The ground was that "
10535 "the criticism was \"too controversial.\" <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10536 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
10537 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
10540 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10541 #: freeculture.xml:8070
10543 "No. You cannot. Television stations have a general policy of avoiding "
10544 "\"controversial\" ads. Ads sponsored by the government are deemed "
10545 "uncontroversial; ads disagreeing with the government are controversial. "
10546 "This selectivity might be thought inconsistent with the First Amendment, but "
10547 "the Supreme Court has held that stations have the right to choose what they "
10548 "run. Thus, the major channels of commercial media will refuse one side of a "
10549 "crucial debate the opportunity to present its case. And the courts will "
10550 "defend the rights of the stations to be this biased.<placeholder "
10551 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10554 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10555 #: freeculture.xml:8110
10557 "I'd be happy to defend the networks' rights, as well—if we lived in a "
10558 "media market that was truly diverse. But concentration in the media throws "
10559 "that condition into doubt. If a handful of companies control access to the "
10560 "media, and that handful of companies gets to decide which political "
10561 "positions it will allow to be promoted on its channels, then in an obvious "
10562 "and important way, concentration matters. You might like the positions the "
10563 "handful of companies selects. But you should not like a world in which a "
10564 "mere few get to decide which issues the rest of us get to know about."
10567 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
10568 #: freeculture.xml:8122
10572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10573 #: freeculture.xml:8124
10575 "There is something innocent and obvious about the claim of the copyright "
10576 "warriors that the government should \"protect my property.\" In the "
10577 "abstract, it is obviously true and, ordinarily, totally harmless. No sane "
10578 "sort who is not an anarchist could disagree."
10582 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10583 #: freeculture.xml:8130
10585 "But when we see how dramatically this \"property\" has changed— when "
10586 "we recognize how it might now interact with both technology and markets to "
10587 "mean that the effective constraint on the liberty to cultivate our culture "
10588 "is dramatically different—the claim begins to seem less innocent and "
10589 "obvious. Given (1) the power of technology to supplement the law's control, "
10590 "and (2) the power of concentrated markets to weaken the opportunity for "
10591 "dissent, if strictly enforcing the massively expanded \"property\" rights "
10592 "granted by copyright fundamentally changes the freedom within this culture "
10593 "to cultivate and build upon our past, then we have to ask whether this "
10594 "property should be redefined."
10597 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10598 #: freeculture.xml:8146
10600 "Not starkly. Or absolutely. My point is not that we should abolish copyright "
10601 "or go back to the eighteenth century. That would be a total mistake, "
10602 "disastrous for the most important creative enterprises within our culture "
10606 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10607 #: freeculture.xml:8152
10609 "But there is a space between zero and one, Internet culture "
10610 "notwithstanding. And these massive shifts in the effective power of "
10611 "copyright regulation, tied to increased concentration of the content "
10612 "industry and resting in the hands of technology that will increasingly "
10613 "enable control over the use of culture, should drive us to consider whether "
10614 "another adjustment is called for. Not an adjustment that increases "
10615 "copyright's power. Not an adjustment that increases its term. Rather, an "
10616 "adjustment to restore the balance that has traditionally defined copyright's "
10617 "regulation—a weakening of that regulation, to strengthen creativity."
10620 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10621 #: freeculture.xml:8164
10623 "Copyright law has not been a rock of Gibraltar. It's not a set of constant "
10624 "commitments that, for some mysterious reason, teenagers and geeks now "
10625 "flout. Instead, copyright power has grown dramatically in a short period of "
10626 "time, as the technologies of distribution and creation have changed and as "
10627 "lobbyists have pushed for more control by copyright holders. Changes in the "
10628 "past in response to changes in technology suggest that we may well need "
10629 "similar changes in the future. And these changes have to be reductions in "
10630 "the scope of copyright, in response to the extraordinary increase in control "
10631 "that technology and the market enable."
10635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10636 #: freeculture.xml:8176
10638 "For the single point that is lost in this war on pirates is a point that we "
10639 "see only after surveying the range of these changes. When you add together "
10640 "the effect of changing law, concentrated markets, and changing technology, "
10641 "together they produce an astonishing conclusion: Never in our history have "
10642 "fewer had a legal right to control more of the development of our culture "
10647 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10648 #: freeculture.xml:8198
10650 "Siva Vaidhyanathan captures a similar point in his \"four surrenders\" of "
10651 "copyright law in the digital age. See Vaidhyanathan, 159–60."
10654 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10655 #: freeculture.xml:8184
10657 "Not when copyrights were perpetual, for when copyrights were perpetual, they "
10658 "affected only that precise creative work. Not when only publishers had the "
10659 "tools to publish, for the market then was much more diverse. Not when there "
10660 "were only three television networks, for even then, newspapers, film "
10661 "studios, radio stations, and publishers were independent of the "
10662 "networks. Never has copyright protected such a wide range of rights, against "
10663 "as broad a range of actors, for a term that was remotely as long. This form "
10664 "of regulation—a tiny regulation of a tiny part of the creative energy "
10665 "of a nation at the founding—is now a massive regulation of the overall "
10666 "creative process. Law plus technology plus the market now interact to turn "
10667 "this historically benign regulation into the most significant regulation of "
10668 "culture that our free society has known.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
10672 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10673 #: freeculture.xml:8203
10674 msgid "This has been a long chapter. Its point can now be briefly stated."
10677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10678 #: freeculture.xml:8206
10680 "At the start of this book, I distinguished between commercial and "
10681 "noncommercial culture. In the course of this chapter, I have distinguished "
10682 "between copying a work and transforming it. We can now combine these two "
10683 "distinctions and draw a clear map of the changes that copyright law has "
10684 "undergone. In 1790, the law looked like this:"
10687 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
10688 #: freeculture.xml:8219 freeculture.xml:8257
10692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
10693 #: freeculture.xml:8220 freeculture.xml:8258 freeculture.xml:8297 freeculture.xml:8330
10697 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
10698 #: freeculture.xml:8225 freeculture.xml:8263 freeculture.xml:8302 freeculture.xml:8335
10702 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
10703 #: freeculture.xml:8226 freeculture.xml:8264 freeculture.xml:8265 freeculture.xml:8303 freeculture.xml:8304 freeculture.xml:8336 freeculture.xml:8337 freeculture.xml:8341 freeculture.xml:8342
10707 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
10708 #: freeculture.xml:8227 freeculture.xml:8231 freeculture.xml:8232 freeculture.xml:8269 freeculture.xml:8270 freeculture.xml:8309
10712 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
10713 #: freeculture.xml:8230 freeculture.xml:8268 freeculture.xml:8307 freeculture.xml:8340
10714 msgid "Noncommercial"
10718 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10719 #: freeculture.xml:8239
10721 "The act of publishing a map, chart, and book was regulated by copyright "
10722 "law. Nothing else was. Transformations were free. And as copyright attached "
10723 "only with registration, and only those who intended to benefit commercially "
10724 "would register, copying through publishing of noncommercial work was also "
10728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10729 #: freeculture.xml:8248
10730 msgid "By the end of the nineteenth century, the law had changed to this:"
10733 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10734 #: freeculture.xml:8277
10736 "Derivative works were now regulated by copyright law—if published, "
10737 "which again, given the economics of publishing at the time, means if offered "
10738 "commercially. But noncommercial publishing and transformation were still "
10739 "essentially free."
10742 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10743 #: freeculture.xml:8283
10745 "In 1909 the law changed to regulate copies, not publishing, and after this "
10746 "change, the scope of the law was tied to technology. As the technology of "
10747 "copying became more prevalent, the reach of the law expanded. Thus by 1975, "
10748 "as photocopying machines became more common, we could say the law began to "
10752 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
10753 #: freeculture.xml:8296 freeculture.xml:8329
10757 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><table><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
10758 #: freeculture.xml:8308
10759 msgid "©/Free"
10762 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10763 #: freeculture.xml:8316
10765 "The law was interpreted to reach noncommercial copying through, say, copy "
10766 "machines, but still much of copying outside of the commercial market "
10767 "remained free. But the consequence of the emergence of digital technologies, "
10768 "especially in the context of a digital network, means that the law now looks "
10773 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10774 #: freeculture.xml:8349
10776 "Every realm is governed by copyright law, whereas before most creativity was "
10777 "not. The law now regulates the full range of creativity— commercial or "
10778 "not, transformative or not—with the same rules designed to regulate "
10779 "commercial publishers."
10782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10783 #: freeculture.xml:8357
10785 "Obviously, copyright law is not the enemy. The enemy is regulation that does "
10786 "no good. So the question that we should be asking just now is whether "
10787 "extending the regulations of copyright law into each of these domains "
10788 "actually does any good."
10791 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10792 #: freeculture.xml:8363
10794 "I have no doubt that it does good in regulating commercial copying. But I "
10795 "also have no doubt that it does more harm than good when regulating (as it "
10796 "regulates just now) noncommercial copying and, especially, noncommercial "
10797 "transformation. And increasingly, for the reasons sketched especially in "
10798 "chapters 7 and 8, one might well wonder whether it does more harm than good "
10799 "for commercial transformation. More commercial transformative work would be "
10800 "created if derivative rights were more sharply restricted."
10804 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
10805 #: freeculture.xml:8379
10807 "It was the single most important contribution of the legal realist movement "
10808 "to demonstrate that all property rights are always crafted to balance public "
10809 "and private interests. See Thomas C. Grey, \"The Disintegration of "
10810 "Property,\" in Nomos XXII: Property, J. Roland Pennock and John W. Chapman, "
10811 "eds. (New York: New York University Press, 1980)."
10814 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10815 #: freeculture.xml:8373
10817 "The issue is therefore not simply whether copyright is property. Of course "
10818 "copyright is a kind of \"property,\" and of course, as with any property, "
10819 "the state ought to protect it. But first impressions notwithstanding, "
10820 "historically, this property right (as with all property rights<placeholder "
10821 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>) has been crafted to balance the important "
10822 "need to give authors and artists incentives with the equally important need "
10823 "to assure access to creative work. This balance has always been struck in "
10824 "light of new technologies. And for almost half of our tradition, the "
10825 "\"copyright\" did not control at all the freedom of others to build upon or "
10826 "transform a creative work. American culture was born free, and for almost "
10827 "180 years our country consistently protected a vibrant and rich free "
10832 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10833 #: freeculture.xml:8396
10835 "We achieved that free culture because our law respected important limits on "
10836 "the scope of the interests protected by \"property.\" The very birth of "
10837 "\"copyright\" as a statutory right recognized those limits, by granting "
10838 "copyright owners protection for a limited time only (the story of chapter "
10839 "6). The tradition of \"fair use\" is animated by a similar concern that is "
10840 "increasingly under strain as the costs of exercising any fair use right "
10841 "become unavoidably high (the story of chapter 7). Adding statutory rights "
10842 "where markets might stifle innovation is another familiar limit on the "
10843 "property right that copyright is (chapter 8). And granting archives and "
10844 "libraries a broad freedom to collect, claims of property notwithstanding, is "
10845 "a crucial part of guaranteeing the soul of a culture (chapter 9). Free "
10846 "cultures, like free markets, are built with property. But the nature of the "
10847 "property that builds a free culture is very different from the extremist "
10848 "vision that dominates the debate today."
10851 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
10852 #: freeculture.xml:8415
10854 "Free culture is increasingly the casualty in this war on piracy. In response "
10855 "to a real, if not yet quantified, threat that the technologies of the "
10856 "Internet present to twentieth-century business models for producing and "
10857 "distributing culture, the law and technology are being transformed in a way "
10858 "that will undermine our tradition of free culture. The property right that "
10859 "is copyright is no longer the balanced right that it was, or was intended to "
10860 "be. The property right that is copyright has become unbalanced, tilted "
10861 "toward an extreme. The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened "
10862 "in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check "
10866 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
10867 #: freeculture.xml:8432
10871 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
10872 #: freeculture.xml:8436
10873 msgid "CHAPTER ELEVEN: Chimera"
10876 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
10877 #: freeculture.xml:8438
10881 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
10882 #: freeculture.xml:8441
10883 msgid "Wells, H. G."
10886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
10887 #: freeculture.xml:8444
10888 msgid ""Country of the Blind, The" (Wells)"
10892 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
10893 #: freeculture.xml:8452
10895 "H. G. Wells, \"The Country of the Blind\" (1904, 1911). See H. G. Wells, The "
10896 "Country of the Blind and Other Stories, Michael Sherborne, ed. (New York: "
10897 "Oxford University Press, 1996)."
10900 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10901 #: freeculture.xml:8448
10903 "In a well-known short story by H. G. Wells, a mountain climber named Nunez "
10904 "trips (literally, down an ice slope) into an unknown and isolated valley in "
10905 "the Peruvian Andes.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The valley is "
10906 "extraordinarily beautiful, with \"sweet water, pasture, an even climate, "
10907 "slopes of rich brown soil with tangles of a shrub that bore an excellent "
10908 "fruit.\" But the villagers are all blind. Nunez takes this as an "
10909 "opportunity. \"In the Country of the Blind,\" he tells himself, \"the "
10910 "One-Eyed Man is King.\" So he resolves to live with the villagers to explore "
10914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10915 #: freeculture.xml:8464
10917 "Things don't go quite as he planned. He tries to explain the idea of sight "
10918 "to the villagers. They don't understand. He tells them they are \"blind.\" "
10919 "They don't have the word blind. They think he's just thick. Indeed, as they "
10920 "increasingly notice the things he can't do (hear the sound of grass being "
10921 "stepped on, for example), they increasingly try to control him. He, in turn, "
10922 "becomes increasingly frustrated. \"`You don't understand,' he cried, in a "
10923 "voice that was meant to be great and resolute, and which broke. `You are "
10924 "blind and I can see. Leave me alone!'\""
10928 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10929 #: freeculture.xml:8476
10931 "The villagers don't leave him alone. Nor do they see (so to speak) the "
10932 "virtue of his special power. Not even the ultimate target of his affection, "
10933 "a young woman who to him seems \"the most beautiful thing in the whole of "
10934 "creation,\" understands the beauty of sight. Nunez's description of what he "
10935 "sees \"seemed to her the most poetical of fancies, and she listened to his "
10936 "description of the stars and the mountains and her own sweet white-lit "
10937 "beauty as though it was a guilty indulgence.\" \"She did not believe,\" "
10938 "Wells tells us, and \"she could only half understand, but she was "
10939 "mysteriously delighted.\""
10942 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10943 #: freeculture.xml:8487
10945 "When Nunez announces his desire to marry his \"mysteriously delighted\" "
10946 "love, the father and the village object. \"You see, my dear,\" her father "
10947 "instructs, \"he's an idiot. He has delusions. He can't do anything right.\" "
10948 "They take Nunez to the village doctor."
10951 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10952 #: freeculture.xml:8493
10954 "After a careful examination, the doctor gives his opinion. \"His brain is "
10955 "affected,\" he reports."
10958 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10959 #: freeculture.xml:8497
10961 "\"What affects it?\" the father asks. \"Those queer things that are called "
10962 "the eyes . . . are diseased . . . in such a way as to affect his brain.\""
10965 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10966 #: freeculture.xml:8502
10968 "The doctor continues: \"I think I may say with reasonable certainty that in "
10969 "order to cure him completely, all that we need to do is a simple and easy "
10970 "surgical operation—namely, to remove these irritant bodies [the "
10975 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10976 #: freeculture.xml:8508
10978 "\"Thank Heaven for science!\" says the father to the doctor. They inform "
10979 "Nunez of this condition necessary for him to be allowed his bride. (You'll "
10980 "have to read the original to learn what happens in the end. I believe in "
10981 "free culture, but never in giving away the end of a story.) It sometimes "
10982 "happens that the eggs of twins fuse in the mother's womb. That fusion "
10983 "produces a \"chimera.\" A chimera is a single creature with two sets of "
10984 "DNA. The DNA in the blood, for example, might be different from the DNA of "
10985 "the skin. This possibility is an underused plot for murder mysteries. \"But "
10986 "the DNA shows with 100 percent certainty that she was not the person whose "
10987 "blood was at the scene. . . .\""
10990 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
10991 #: freeculture.xml:8525
10993 "Before I had read about chimeras, I would have said they were impossible. A "
10994 "single person can't have two sets of DNA. The very idea of DNA is that it is "
10995 "the code of an individual. Yet in fact, not only can two individuals have "
10996 "the same set of DNA (identical twins), but one person can have two different "
10997 "sets of DNA (a chimera). Our understanding of a \"person\" should reflect "
11001 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11002 #: freeculture.xml:8533
11004 "The more I work to understand the current struggle over copyright and "
11005 "culture, which I've sometimes called unfairly, and sometimes not unfairly "
11006 "enough, \"the copyright wars,\" the more I think we're dealing with a "
11007 "chimera. For example, in the battle over the question \"What is p2p file "
11008 "sharing?\" both sides have it right, and both sides have it wrong. One side "
11009 "says, \"File sharing is just like two kids taping each others' "
11010 "records—the sort of thing we've been doing for the last thirty years "
11011 "without any question at all.\" That's true, at least in part. When I tell my "
11012 "best friend to try out a new CD that I've bought, but rather than just send "
11013 "the CD, I point him to my p2p server, that is, in all relevant respects, "
11014 "just like what every executive in every recording company no doubt did as a "
11015 "kid: sharing music."
11018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11019 #: freeculture.xml:8547
11021 "But the description is also false in part. For when my p2p server is on a "
11022 "p2p network through which anyone can get access to my music, then sure, my "
11023 "friends can get access, but it stretches the meaning of \"friends\" beyond "
11024 "recognition to say \"my ten thousand best friends\" can get access. Whether "
11025 "or not sharing my music with my best friend is what \"we have always been "
11026 "allowed to do,\" we have not always been allowed to share music with \"our "
11027 "ten thousand best friends.\""
11030 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11031 #: freeculture.xml:8556
11033 "Likewise, when the other side says, \"File sharing is just like walking into "
11034 "a Tower Records and taking a CD off the shelf and walking out with it,\" "
11035 "that's true, at least in part. If, after Lyle Lovett (finally) releases a "
11036 "new album, rather than buying it, I go to Kazaa and find a free copy to "
11037 "take, that is very much like stealing a copy from Tower."
11041 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11042 #: freeculture.xml:8566
11044 "But it is not quite stealing from Tower. After all, when I take a CD from "
11045 "Tower Records, Tower has one less CD to sell. And when I take a CD from "
11046 "Tower Records, I get a bit of plastic and a cover, and something to show on "
11047 "my shelves. (And, while we're at it, we could also note that when I take a "
11048 "CD from Tower Records, the maximum fine that might be imposed on me, under "
11049 "California law, at least, is $1,000. According to the RIAA, by contrast, if "
11050 "I download a ten-song CD, I'm liable for $1,500,000 in damages.)"
11053 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11054 #: freeculture.xml:8576
11056 "The point is not that it is as neither side describes. The point is that it "
11057 "is both—both as the RIAA describes it and as Kazaa describes it. It is "
11058 "a chimera. And rather than simply denying what the other side asserts, we "
11059 "need to begin to think about how we should respond to this chimera. What "
11060 "rules should govern it?"
11063 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11064 #: freeculture.xml:8622 freeculture.xml:9324
11065 msgid "Berman, Howard L."
11068 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
11069 #: freeculture.xml:8592
11071 "For an excellent summary, see the report prepared by GartnerG2 and the "
11072 "Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, \"Copyright "
11073 "and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,\" 27 June 2003, available at "
11074 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #33</ulink>. Reps. John "
11075 "Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard L. Berman (D-Calif.) have introduced a bill "
11076 "that would treat unauthorized on-line copying as a felony offense with "
11077 "punishments ranging as high as five years imprisonment; see Jon Healey, "
11078 "\"House Bill Aims to Up Stakes on Piracy,\" Los Angeles Times, 17 July 2003, "
11079 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11080 "#34</ulink>. Civil penalties are currently set at $150,000 per copied "
11081 "song. For a recent (and unsuccessful) legal challenge to the RIAA's demand "
11082 "that an ISP reveal the identity of a user accused of sharing more than 600 "
11083 "songs through a family computer, see RIAA v. Verizon Internet Services (In "
11084 "re. Verizon Internet Services), 240 F. Supp. 2d 24 (D.D.C. 2003). Such a "
11085 "user could face liability ranging as high as $90 million. Such astronomical "
11086 "figures furnish the RIAA with a powerful arsenal in its prosecution of file "
11087 "sharers. Settlements ranging from $12,000 to $17,500 for four students "
11088 "accused of heavy file sharing on university networks must have seemed a mere "
11089 "pittance next to the $98 billion the RIAA could seek should the matter "
11090 "proceed to court. See Elizabeth Young, \"Downloading Could Lead to Fines,\" "
11091 "redandblack.com, August 2003, available at <ulink "
11092 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #35</ulink>. For an example of "
11093 "the RIAA's targeting of student file sharing, and of the subpoenas issued to "
11094 "universities to reveal student file-sharer identities, see James Collins, "
11095 "\"RIAA Steps Up Bid to Force BC, MIT to Name Students,\" Boston Globe, 8 "
11096 "August 2003, D3, available at <ulink "
11097 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #36</ulink>. <placeholder "
11098 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11101 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11102 #: freeculture.xml:8583
11104 "We could respond by simply pretending that it is not a chimera. We could, "
11105 "with the RIAA, decide that every act of file sharing should be a felony. We "
11106 "could prosecute families for millions of dollars in damages just because "
11107 "file sharing occurred on a family computer. And we can get universities to "
11108 "monitor all computer traffic to make sure that no computer is used to commit "
11109 "this crime. These responses might be extreme, but each of them has either "
11110 "been proposed or actually implemented.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
11114 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11115 #: freeculture.xml:8628
11117 "Alternatively, we could respond to file sharing the way many kids act as "
11118 "though we've responded. We could totally legalize it. Let there be no "
11119 "copyright liability, either civil or criminal, for making copyrighted "
11120 "content available on the Net. Make file sharing like gossip: regulated, if "
11121 "at all, by social norms but not by law."
11124 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11125 #: freeculture.xml:8635
11127 "Either response is possible. I think either would be a mistake. Rather than "
11128 "embrace one of these two extremes, we should embrace something that "
11129 "recognizes the truth in both. And while I end this book with a sketch of a "
11130 "system that does just that, my aim in the next chapter is to show just how "
11131 "awful it would be for us to adopt the zero-tolerance extreme. I believe "
11132 "either extreme would be worse than a reasonable alternative. But I believe "
11133 "the zero-tolerance solution would be the worse of the two extremes."
11137 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11138 #: freeculture.xml:8647
11140 "Yet zero tolerance is increasingly our government's policy. In the middle of "
11141 "the chaos that the Internet has created, an extraordinary land grab is "
11142 "occurring. The law and technology are being shifted to give content holders "
11143 "a kind of control over our culture that they have never had before. And in "
11144 "this extremism, many an opportunity for new innovation and new creativity "
11148 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11149 #: freeculture.xml:8655
11151 "I'm not talking about the opportunities for kids to \"steal\" music. My "
11152 "focus instead is the commercial and cultural innovation that this war will "
11153 "also kill. We have never seen the power to innovate spread so broadly among "
11154 "our citizens, and we have just begun to see the innovation that this power "
11155 "will unleash. Yet the Internet has already seen the passing of one cycle of "
11156 "innovation around technologies to distribute content. The law is responsible "
11157 "for this passing. As the vice president for global public policy at one of "
11158 "these new innovators, eMusic.com, put it when criticizing the DMCA's added "
11159 "protection for copyrighted material,"
11162 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
11163 #: freeculture.xml:8668
11165 "eMusic opposes music piracy. We are a distributor of copyrighted material, "
11166 "and we want to protect those rights."
11169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
11170 #: freeculture.xml:8672
11172 "But building a technology fortress that locks in the clout of the major "
11173 "labels is by no means the only way to protect copyright interests, nor is it "
11174 "necessarily the best. It is simply too early to answer that question. Market "
11175 "forces operating naturally may very well produce a totally different "
11180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
11181 #: freeculture.xml:8689
11183 "WIPO and the DMCA One Year Later: Assessing Consumer Access to Digital "
11184 "Entertainment on the Internet and Other Media: Hearing Before the "
11185 "Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, House "
11186 "Committee on Commerce, 106th Cong. 29 (1999) (statement of Peter Harter, "
11187 "vice president, Global Public Policy and Standards, EMusic.com), available "
11188 "in LEXIS, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony File."
11191 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
11192 #: freeculture.xml:8680
11194 "This is a critical point. The choices that industry sectors make with "
11195 "respect to these systems will in many ways directly shape the market for "
11196 "digital media and the manner in which digital media are distributed. This in "
11197 "turn will directly influence the options that are available to consumers, "
11198 "both in terms of the ease with which they will be able to access digital "
11199 "media and the equipment that they will require to do so. Poor choices made "
11200 "this early in the game will retard the growth of this market, hurting "
11201 "everyone's interests.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11204 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11205 #: freeculture.xml:8704
11207 "In April 2001, eMusic.com was purchased by Vivendi Universal, one of \"the "
11208 "major labels.\" Its position on these matters has now changed."
11211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11212 #: freeculture.xml:8709
11214 "Reversing our tradition of tolerance now will not merely quash piracy. It "
11215 "will sacrifice values that are important to this culture, and will kill "
11216 "opportunities that could be extraordinarily valuable."
11219 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
11220 #: freeculture.xml:8717
11221 msgid "CHAPTER TWELVE: Harms"
11224 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11225 #: freeculture.xml:8720
11227 "To fight \"piracy,\" to protect \"property,\" the content industry has "
11228 "launched a war. Lobbying and lots of campaign contributions have now brought "
11229 "the government into this war. As with any war, this one will have both "
11230 "direct and collateral damage. As with any war of prohibition, these damages "
11231 "will be suffered most by our own people."
11234 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11235 #: freeculture.xml:8728
11237 "My aim so far has been to describe the consequences of this war, in "
11238 "particular, the consequences for \"free culture.\" But my aim now is to "
11239 "extend this description of consequences into an argument. Is this war "
11243 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11244 #: freeculture.xml:8735
11246 "In my view, it is not. There is no good reason why this time, for the first "
11247 "time, the law should defend the old against the new, just when the power of "
11248 "the property called \"intellectual property\" is at its greatest in our "
11252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11253 #: freeculture.xml:8743
11255 "Yet \"common sense\" does not see it this way. Common sense is still on the "
11256 "side of the Causbys and the content industry. The extreme claims of control "
11257 "in the name of property still resonate; the uncritical rejection of "
11258 "\"piracy\" still has play."
11262 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
11263 #: freeculture.xml:8750
11265 "There will be many consequences of continuing this war. I want to describe "
11266 "just three. All three might be said to be unintended. I am quite confident "
11267 "the third is unintended. I'm less sure about the first two. The first two "
11268 "protect modern RCAs, but there is no Howard Armstrong in the wings to fight "
11269 "today's monopolists of culture."
11272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
11273 #: freeculture.xml:8757
11274 msgid "Constraining Creators"
11277 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11278 #: freeculture.xml:8759
11280 "In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. "
11281 "These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share "
11282 "content. Capturing and sharing content, of course, is what humans have done "
11283 "since the dawn of man. It is how we learn and communicate. But capturing and "
11284 "sharing through digital technology is different. The fidelity and power are "
11285 "different. You could send an e-mail telling someone about a joke you saw on "
11286 "Comedy Central, or you could send the clip. You could write an essay about "
11287 "the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to "
11288 "hate, or you could make a short film that puts statement against "
11289 "statement. You could write a poem to express your love, or you could weave "
11290 "together a string—a mash-up— of songs from your favorite artists "
11291 "in a collage and make it available on the Net."
11294 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11295 #: freeculture.xml:8774
11297 "This digital \"capturing and sharing\" is in part an extension of the "
11298 "capturing and sharing that has always been integral to our culture, and in "
11299 "part it is something new. It is continuous with the Kodak, but it explodes "
11300 "the boundaries of Kodak-like technologies. The technology of digital "
11301 "\"capturing and sharing\" promises a world of extraordinarily diverse "
11302 "creativity that can be easily and broadly shared. And as that creativity is "
11303 "applied to democracy, it will enable a broad range of citizens to use "
11304 "technology to express and criticize and contribute to the culture all "
11309 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11310 #: freeculture.xml:8785
11312 "Technology has thus given us an opportunity to do something with culture "
11313 "that has only ever been possible for individuals in small groups, isolated "
11314 "from others. Think about an old man telling a story to a collection of "
11315 "neighbors in a small town. Now imagine that same storytelling extended "
11316 "across the globe."
11319 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11320 #: freeculture.xml:8795
11322 "Yet all this is possible only if the activity is presumptively legal. In the "
11323 "current regime of legal regulation, it is not. Forget file sharing for a "
11324 "moment. Think about your favorite amazing sites on the Net. Web sites that "
11325 "offer plot summaries from forgotten television shows; sites that catalog "
11326 "cartoons from the 1960s; sites that mix images and sound to criticize "
11327 "politicians or businesses; sites that gather newspaper articles on remote "
11328 "topics of science or culture. There is a vast amount of creative work spread "
11329 "across the Internet. But as the law is currently crafted, this work is "
11330 "presumptively illegal."
11333 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
11334 #: freeculture.xml:8823 freeculture.xml:8844
11338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11339 #: freeculture.xml:8818
11341 "See Lynne W. Jeter, Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom (Hoboken, "
11342 "N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 176, 204; for details of the settlement, "
11343 "see MCI press release, \"MCI Wins U.S. District Court Approval for SEC "
11344 "Settlement\" (7 July 2003), available at <ulink "
11345 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #37</ulink>. <placeholder "
11346 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11349 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11350 #: freeculture.xml:8839
11351 msgid "Bush, George W."
11354 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11355 #: freeculture.xml:8830
11357 "The bill, modeled after California's tort reform model, was passed in the "
11358 "House of Representatives but defeated in a Senate vote in July 2003. For an "
11359 "overview, see Tanya Albert, \"Measure Stalls in Senate: `We'll Be Back,' Say "
11360 "Tort Reformers,\" amednews.com, 28 July 2003, available at <ulink "
11361 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #38</ulink>, and \"Senate Turns "
11362 "Back Malpractice Caps,\" CBSNews.com, 9 July 2003, available at <ulink "
11363 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #39</ulink>. President Bush has "
11364 "continued to urge tort reform in recent months. <placeholder "
11365 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11368 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11369 #: freeculture.xml:8806
11371 "That presumption will increasingly chill creativity, as the examples of "
11372 "extreme penalties for vague infringements continue to proliferate. It is "
11373 "impossible to get a clear sense of what's allowed and what's not, and at the "
11374 "same time, the penalties for crossing the line are astonishingly harsh. The "
11375 "four students who were threatened by the RIAA ( Jesse Jordan of chapter 3 "
11376 "was just one) were threatened with a $98 billion lawsuit for building search "
11377 "engines that permitted songs to be copied. Yet World-Com—which "
11378 "defrauded investors of $11 billion, resulting in a loss to investors in "
11379 "market capitalization of over $200 billion—received a fine of a mere "
11380 "$750 million.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And under legislation "
11381 "being pushed in Congress right now, a doctor who negligently removes the "
11382 "wrong leg in an operation would be liable for no more than $250,000 in "
11383 "damages for pain and suffering.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Can "
11384 "common sense recognize the absurdity in a world where the maximum fine for "
11385 "downloading two songs off the Internet is more than the fine for a doctor's "
11386 "negligently butchering a patient? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
11390 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11391 #: freeculture.xml:8867
11393 "See Danit Lidor, \"Artists Just Wanna Be Free,\" Wired, 7 July 2003, "
11394 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11395 "#40</ulink>. For an overview of the exhibition, see <ulink "
11396 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #41</ulink>."
11399 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11400 #: freeculture.xml:8847
11402 "The consequence of this legal uncertainty, tied to these extremely high "
11403 "penalties, is that an extraordinary amount of creativity will either never "
11404 "be exercised, or never be exercised in the open. We drive this creative "
11405 "process underground by branding the modern-day Walt Disneys \"pirates.\" We "
11406 "make it impossible for businesses to rely upon a public domain, because the "
11407 "boundaries of the public domain are designed to be unclear. It never pays to "
11408 "do anything except pay for the right to create, and hence only those who can "
11409 "pay are allowed to create. As was the case in the Soviet Union, though for "
11410 "very different reasons, we will begin to see a world of underground "
11411 "art—not because the message is necessarily political, or because the "
11412 "subject is controversial, but because the very act of creating the art is "
11413 "legally fraught. Already, exhibits of \"illegal art\" tour the United "
11414 "States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In what does their "
11415 "\"illegality\" consist? In the act of mixing the culture around us with an "
11416 "expression that is critical or reflective."
11419 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11420 #: freeculture.xml:8878
11422 "Part of the reason for this fear of illegality has to do with the changing "
11423 "law. I described that change in detail in chapter 10. But an even bigger "
11424 "part has to do with the increasing ease with which infractions can be "
11425 "tracked. As users of file-sharing systems discovered in 2002, it is a "
11426 "trivial matter for copyright owners to get courts to order Internet service "
11427 "providers to reveal who has what content. It is as if your cassette tape "
11428 "player transmitted a list of the songs that you played in the privacy of "
11429 "your own home that anyone could tune into for whatever reason they chose."
11432 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11433 #: freeculture.xml:8889
11435 "Never in our history has a painter had to worry about whether his painting "
11436 "infringed on someone else's work; but the modern-day painter, using the "
11437 "tools of Photoshop, sharing content on the Web, must worry all the "
11438 "time. Images are all around, but the only safe images to use in the act of "
11439 "creation are those purchased from Corbis or another image farm. And in "
11440 "purchasing, censoring happens. There is a free market in pencils; we needn't "
11441 "worry about its effect on creativity. But there is a highly regulated, "
11442 "monopolized market in cultural icons; the right to cultivate and transform "
11443 "them is not similarly free."
11446 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11447 #: freeculture.xml:8900
11449 "Lawyers rarely see this because lawyers are rarely empirical. As I described "
11450 "in chapter 7, in response to the story about documentary filmmaker Jon Else, "
11451 "I have been lectured again and again by lawyers who insist Else's use was "
11452 "fair use, and hence I am wrong to say that the law regulates such a use."
11456 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11457 #: freeculture.xml:8909
11459 "But fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend "
11460 "your right to create. And as lawyers love to forget, our system for "
11461 "defending rights such as fair use is astonishingly bad—in practically "
11462 "every context, but especially here. It costs too much, it delivers too "
11463 "slowly, and what it delivers often has little connection to the justice "
11464 "underlying the claim. The legal system may be tolerable for the very rich. "
11465 "For everyone else, it is an embarrassment to a tradition that prides itself "
11466 "on the rule of law."
11469 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11470 #: freeculture.xml:8919
11472 "Judges and lawyers can tell themselves that fair use provides adequate "
11473 "\"breathing room\" between regulation by the law and the access the law "
11474 "should allow. But it is a measure of how out of touch our legal system has "
11475 "become that anyone actually believes this. The rules that publishers impose "
11476 "upon writers, the rules that film distributors impose upon filmmakers, the "
11477 "rules that newspapers impose upon journalists— these are the real laws "
11478 "governing creativity. And these rules have little relationship to the "
11479 "\"law\" with which judges comfort themselves."
11482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11483 #: freeculture.xml:8930
11485 "For in a world that threatens $150,000 for a single willful infringement of "
11486 "a copyright, and which demands tens of thousands of dollars to even defend "
11487 "against a copyright infringement claim, and which would never return to the "
11488 "wrongfully accused defendant anything of the costs she suffered to defend "
11489 "her right to speak—in that world, the astonishingly broad regulations "
11490 "that pass under the name \"copyright\" silence speech and creativity. And in "
11491 "that world, it takes a studied blindness for people to continue to believe "
11492 "they live in a culture that is free."
11495 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11496 #: freeculture.xml:8941
11497 msgid "As Jed Horovitz, the businessman behind Video Pipeline, said to me,"
11501 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
11502 #: freeculture.xml:8945
11504 "We're losing [creative] opportunities right and left. Creative people are "
11505 "being forced not to express themselves. Thoughts are not being "
11506 "expressed. And while a lot of stuff may [still] be created, it still won't "
11507 "get distributed. Even if the stuff gets made . . . you're not going to get "
11508 "it distributed in the mainstream media unless you've got a little note from "
11509 "a lawyer saying, \"This has been cleared.\" You're not even going to get it "
11510 "on PBS without that kind of permission. That's the point at which they "
11514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
11515 #: freeculture.xml:8958
11516 msgid "Constraining Innovators"
11519 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11520 #: freeculture.xml:8960
11522 "The story of the last section was a crunchy-lefty story—creativity "
11523 "quashed, artists who can't speak, yada yada yada. Maybe that doesn't get you "
11524 "going. Maybe you think there's enough weird art out there, and enough "
11525 "expression that is critical of what seems to be just about everything. And "
11526 "if you think that, you might think there's little in this story to worry "
11530 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11531 #: freeculture.xml:8968
11533 "But there's an aspect of this story that is not lefty in any sense. Indeed, "
11534 "it is an aspect that could be written by the most extreme promarket "
11535 "ideologue. And if you're one of these sorts (and a special one at that, 188 "
11536 "pages into a book like this), then you can see this other aspect by "
11537 "substituting \"free market\" every place I've spoken of \"free culture.\" "
11538 "The point is the same, even if the interests affecting culture are more "
11542 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11543 #: freeculture.xml:8977
11545 "The charge I've been making about the regulation of culture is the same "
11546 "charge free marketers make about regulating markets. Everyone, of course, "
11547 "concedes that some regulation of markets is necessary—at a minimum, we "
11548 "need rules of property and contract, and courts to enforce both. Likewise, "
11549 "in this culture debate, everyone concedes that at least some framework of "
11550 "copyright is also required. But both perspectives vehemently insist that "
11551 "just because some regulation is good, it doesn't follow that more regulation "
11552 "is better. And both perspectives are constantly attuned to the ways in which "
11553 "regulation simply enables the powerful industries of today to protect "
11554 "themselves against the competitors of tomorrow."
11557 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
11558 #: freeculture.xml:8989 freeculture.xml:9090
11559 msgid "Barry, Hank"
11563 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11564 #: freeculture.xml:8991
11566 "This is the single most dramatic effect of the shift in regulatory strategy "
11567 "that I described in chapter 10. The consequence of this massive threat of "
11568 "liability tied to the murky boundaries of copyright law is that innovators "
11569 "who want to innovate in this space can safely innovate only if they have the "
11570 "sign-off from last generation's dominant industries. That lesson has been "
11571 "taught through a series of cases that were designed and executed to teach "
11572 "venture capitalists a lesson. That lesson—what former Napster CEO Hank "
11573 "Barry calls a \"nuclear pall\" that has fallen over the Valley—has "
11577 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11578 #: freeculture.xml:9003
11580 "Consider one example to make the point, a story whose beginning I told in "
11581 "The Future of Ideas and which has progressed in a way that even I (pessimist "
11582 "extraordinaire) would never have predicted."
11585 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11586 #: freeculture.xml:9008
11588 "In 1997, Michael Roberts launched a company called MP3.com. MP3.com was "
11589 "keen to remake the music business. Their goal was not just to facilitate new "
11590 "ways to get access to content. Their goal was also to facilitate new ways to "
11591 "create content. Unlike the major labels, MP3.com offered creators a venue to "
11592 "distribute their creativity, without demanding an exclusive engagement from "
11596 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11597 #: freeculture.xml:9016
11599 "To make this system work, however, MP3.com needed a reliable way to "
11600 "recommend music to its users. The idea behind this alternative was to "
11601 "leverage the revealed preferences of music listeners to recommend new "
11602 "artists. If you like Lyle Lovett, you're likely to enjoy Bonnie Raitt. And "
11606 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11607 #: freeculture.xml:9023
11609 "This idea required a simple way to gather data about user preferences. "
11610 "MP3.com came up with an extraordinarily clever way to gather this preference "
11611 "data. In January 2000, the company launched a service called "
11612 "my.mp3.com. Using software provided by MP3.com, a user would sign into an "
11613 "account and then insert into her computer a CD. The software would identify "
11614 "the CD, and then give the user access to that content. So, for example, if "
11615 "you inserted a CD by Jill Sobule, then wherever you were—at work or at "
11616 "home—you could get access to that music once you signed into your "
11617 "account. The system was therefore a kind of music-lockbox."
11621 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11622 #: freeculture.xml:9035
11624 "No doubt some could use this system to illegally copy content. But that "
11625 "opportunity existed with or without MP3.com. The aim of the my.mp3.com "
11626 "service was to give users access to their own content, and as a by-product, "
11627 "by seeing the content they already owned, to discover the kind of content "
11631 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11632 #: freeculture.xml:9044
11634 "To make this system function, however, MP3.com needed to copy 50,000 CDs to "
11635 "a server. (In principle, it could have been the user who uploaded the music, "
11636 "but that would have taken a great deal of time, and would have produced a "
11637 "product of questionable quality.) It therefore purchased 50,000 CDs from a "
11638 "store, and started the process of making copies of those CDs. Again, it "
11639 "would not serve the content from those copies to anyone except those who "
11640 "authenticated that they had a copy of the CD they wanted to access. So while "
11641 "this was 50,000 copies, it was 50,000 copies directed at giving customers "
11642 "something they had already bought."
11645 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11646 #: freeculture.xml:9056
11648 "Nine days after MP3.com launched its service, the five major labels, headed "
11649 "by the RIAA, brought a lawsuit against MP3.com. MP3.com settled with four of "
11650 "the five. Nine months later, a federal judge found MP3.com to have been "
11651 "guilty of willful infringement with respect to the fifth. Applying the law "
11652 "as it is, the judge imposed a fine against MP3.com of $118 million. MP3.com "
11653 "then settled with the remaining plaintiff, Vivendi Universal, paying over "
11654 "$54 million. Vivendi purchased MP3.com just about a year later."
11657 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11658 #: freeculture.xml:9066
11659 msgid "That part of the story I have told before. Now consider its conclusion."
11662 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11663 #: freeculture.xml:9069
11665 "After Vivendi purchased MP3.com, Vivendi turned around and filed a "
11666 "malpractice lawsuit against the lawyers who had advised it that they had a "
11667 "good faith claim that the service they wanted to offer would be considered "
11668 "legal under copyright law. This lawsuit alleged that it should have been "
11669 "obvious that the courts would find this behavior illegal; therefore, this "
11670 "lawsuit sought to punish any lawyer who had dared to suggest that the law "
11671 "was less restrictive than the labels demanded."
11675 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11676 #: freeculture.xml:9079
11678 "The clear purpose of this lawsuit (which was settled for an unspecified "
11679 "amount shortly after the story was no longer covered in the press) was to "
11680 "send an unequivocal message to lawyers advising clients in this space: It is "
11681 "not just your clients who might suffer if the content industry directs its "
11682 "guns against them. It is also you. So those of you who believe the law "
11683 "should be less restrictive should realize that such a view of the law will "
11684 "cost you and your firm dearly."
11687 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
11688 #: freeculture.xml:9089
11689 msgid "Hummer, John"
11693 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11694 #: freeculture.xml:9097
11696 "See Joseph Menn, \"Universal, EMI Sue Napster Investor,\" Los Angeles Times, "
11697 "23 April 2003. For a parallel argument about the effects on innovation in "
11698 "the distribution of music, see Janelle Brown, \"The Music Revolution Will "
11699 "Not Be Digitized,\" Salon.com, 1 June 2001, available at <ulink "
11700 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #42</ulink>. See also Jon "
11701 "Healey, \"Online Music Services Besieged,\" Los Angeles Times, 28 May 2001."
11704 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11705 #: freeculture.xml:9092
11707 "This strategy is not just limited to the lawyers. In April 2003, Universal "
11708 "and EMI brought a lawsuit against Hummer Winblad, the venture capital firm "
11709 "(VC) that had funded Napster at a certain stage of its development, its "
11710 "cofounder ( John Hummer), and general partner (Hank Barry).<placeholder "
11711 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The claim here, as well, was that the VC should "
11712 "have recognized the right of the content industry to control how the "
11713 "industry should develop. They should be held personally liable for funding a "
11714 "company whose business turned out to be beyond the law. Here again, the aim "
11715 "of the lawsuit is transparent: Any VC now recognizes that if you fund a "
11716 "company whose business is not approved of by the dinosaurs, you are at risk "
11717 "not just in the marketplace, but in the courtroom as well. Your investment "
11718 "buys you not only a company, it also buys you a lawsuit. So extreme has the "
11719 "environment become that even car manufacturers are afraid of technologies "
11720 "that touch content. In an article in Business 2.0, Rafe Needleman describes "
11721 "a discussion with BMW:"
11724 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
11725 #: freeculture.xml:9121
11729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11730 #: freeculture.xml:9136
11731 msgid "Needleman, Rafe"
11734 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
11735 #: freeculture.xml:9132
11737 "Rafe Needleman, \"Driving in Cars with MP3s,\" Business 2.0, 16 June 2003, "
11738 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11739 "#43</ulink>. I am grateful to Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli for this example. "
11740 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11743 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
11744 #: freeculture.xml:9123
11746 "I asked why, with all the storage capacity and computer power in the car, "
11747 "there was no way to play MP3 files. I was told that BMW engineers in Germany "
11748 "had rigged a new vehicle to play MP3s via the car's built-in sound system, "
11749 "but that the company's marketing and legal departments weren't comfortable "
11750 "with pushing this forward for release stateside. Even today, no new cars are "
11751 "sold in the United States with bona fide MP3 players. . . . <placeholder "
11752 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11755 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11756 #: freeculture.xml:9141
11758 "This is the world of the mafia—filled with \"your money or your life\" "
11759 "offers, governed in the end not by courts but by the threats that the law "
11760 "empowers copyright holders to exercise. It is a system that will obviously "
11761 "and necessarily stifle new innovation. It is hard enough to start a "
11762 "company. It is impossibly hard if that company is constantly threatened by "
11767 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11768 #: freeculture.xml:9151
11770 "The point is not that businesses should have a right to start illegal "
11771 "enterprises. The point is the definition of \"illegal.\" The law is a mess "
11772 "of uncertainty. We have no good way to know how it should apply to new "
11773 "technologies. Yet by reversing our tradition of judicial deference, and by "
11774 "embracing the astonishingly high penalties that copyright law imposes, that "
11775 "uncertainty now yields a reality which is far more conservative than is "
11776 "right. If the law imposed the death penalty for parking tickets, we'd not "
11777 "only have fewer parking tickets, we'd also have much less driving. The same "
11778 "principle applies to innovation. If innovation is constantly checked by this "
11779 "uncertain and unlimited liability, we will have much less vibrant innovation "
11780 "and much less creativity."
11783 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11784 #: freeculture.xml:9166
11786 "The point is directly parallel to the crunchy-lefty point about fair "
11787 "use. Whatever the \"real\" law is, realism about the effect of law in both "
11788 "contexts is the same. This wildly punitive system of regulation will "
11789 "systematically stifle creativity and innovation. It will protect some "
11790 "industries and some creators, but it will harm industry and creativity "
11791 "generally. Free market and free culture depend upon vibrant competition. "
11792 "Yet the effect of the law today is to stifle just this kind of competition. "
11793 "The effect is to produce an overregulated culture, just as the effect of too "
11794 "much control in the market is to produce an overregulatedregulated market."
11798 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11799 #: freeculture.xml:9178
11801 "The building of a permission culture, rather than a free culture, is the "
11802 "first important way in which the changes I have described will burden "
11803 "innovation. A permission culture means a lawyer's culture—a culture in "
11804 "which the ability to create requires a call to your lawyer. Again, I am not "
11805 "antilawyer, at least when they're kept in their proper place. I am certainly "
11806 "not antilaw. But our profession has lost the sense of its limits. And "
11807 "leaders in our profession have lost an appreciation of the high costs that "
11808 "our profession imposes upon others. The inefficiency of the law is an "
11809 "embarrassment to our tradition. And while I believe our profession should "
11810 "therefore do everything it can to make the law more efficient, it should at "
11811 "least do everything it can to limit the reach of the law where the law is "
11812 "not doing any good. The transaction costs buried within a permission culture "
11813 "are enough to bury a wide range of creativity. Someone needs to do a lot of "
11814 "justifying to justify that result. The uncertainty of the law is one burden "
11815 "on innovation. There is a second burden that operates more directly. This is "
11816 "the effort by many in the content industry to use the law to directly "
11817 "regulate the technology of the Internet so that it better protects their "
11821 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11822 #: freeculture.xml:9200
11824 "The motivation for this response is obvious. The Internet enables the "
11825 "efficient spread of content. That efficiency is a feature of the Internet's "
11826 "design. But from the perspective of the content industry, this feature is a "
11827 "\"bug.\" The efficient spread of content means that content distributors "
11828 "have a harder time controlling the distribution of content. One obvious "
11829 "response to this efficiency is thus to make the Internet less efficient. If "
11830 "the Internet enables \"piracy,\" then, this response says, we should break "
11831 "the kneecaps of the Internet."
11835 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11836 #: freeculture.xml:9214
11838 "\"Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,\" GartnerG2 and the "
11839 "Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School (2003), "
11840 "33–35, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11845 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11846 #: freeculture.xml:9230
11847 msgid "GartnerG2, 26–27."
11850 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11851 #: freeculture.xml:9210
11853 "The examples of this form of legislation are many. At the urging of the "
11854 "content industry, some in Congress have threatened legislation that would "
11855 "require computers to determine whether the content they access is protected "
11856 "or not, and to disable the spread of protected content.<placeholder "
11857 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Congress has already launched proceedings to "
11858 "explore a mandatory \"broadcast flag\" that would be required on any device "
11859 "capable of transmitting digital video (i.e., a computer), and that would "
11860 "disable the copying of any content that is marked with a broadcast "
11861 "flag. Other members of Congress have proposed immunizing content providers "
11862 "from liability for technology they might deploy that would hunt down "
11863 "copyright violators and disable their machines.<placeholder "
11864 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
11868 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11869 #: freeculture.xml:9235
11871 "In one sense, these solutions seem sensible. If the problem is the code, why "
11872 "not regulate the code to remove the problem. But any regulation of technical "
11873 "infrastructure will always be tuned to the particular technology of the "
11874 "day. It will impose significant burdens and costs on the technology, but "
11875 "will likely be eclipsed by advances around exactly those requirements."
11879 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11880 #: freeculture.xml:9249
11882 "See David McGuire, \"Tech Execs Square Off Over Piracy,\" Newsbytes, "
11883 "February 2002 (Entertainment)."
11886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11887 #: freeculture.xml:9246
11889 "In March 2002, a broad coalition of technology companies, led by Intel, "
11890 "tried to get Congress to see the harm that such legislation would "
11891 "impose.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Their argument was "
11892 "obviously not that copyright should not be protected. Instead, they argued, "
11893 "any protection should not do more harm than good."
11896 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11897 #: freeculture.xml:9257
11899 "There is one more obvious way in which this war has harmed "
11900 "innovation—again, a story that will be quite familiar to the free "
11904 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11905 #: freeculture.xml:9263
11907 "Copyright may be property, but like all property, it is also a form of "
11908 "regulation. It is a regulation that benefits some and harms others. When "
11909 "done right, it benefits creators and harms leeches. When done wrong, it is "
11910 "regulation the powerful use to defeat competitors."
11914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11915 #: freeculture.xml:9272
11916 msgid "Jessica Litman, Digital Copyright (Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2001)."
11919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11920 #: freeculture.xml:9269
11922 "As I described in chapter 10, despite this feature of copyright as "
11923 "regulation, and subject to important qualifications outlined by Jessica "
11924 "Litman in her book Digital Copyright,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
11925 "id=\"0\"/> overall this history of copyright is not bad. As chapter 10 "
11926 "details, when new technologies have come along, Congress has struck a "
11927 "balance to assure that the new is protected from the old. Compulsory, or "
11928 "statutory, licenses have been one part of that strategy. Free use (as in the "
11929 "case of the VCR) has been another."
11932 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11933 #: freeculture.xml:9282
11935 "But that pattern of deference to new technologies has now changed with the "
11936 "rise of the Internet. Rather than striking a balance between the claims of a "
11937 "new technology and the legitimate rights of content creators, both the "
11938 "courts and Congress have imposed legal restrictions that will have the "
11939 "effect of smothering the new to benefit the old."
11943 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11944 #: freeculture.xml:9290
11946 "The only circuit court exception is found in Recording Industry Association "
11947 "of America (RIAA) v. Diamond Multimedia Systems, 180 F. 3d 1072 (9th "
11948 "Cir. 1999). There the court of appeals for the Ninth Circuit reasoned that "
11949 "makers of a portable MP3 player were not liable for contributory copyright "
11950 "infringement for a device that is unable to record or redistribute music (a "
11951 "device whose only copying function is to render portable a music file "
11952 "already stored on a user's hard drive). At the district court level, the "
11953 "only exception is found in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. v. Grokster, "
11954 "Ltd., 259 F. Supp. 2d 1029 (C.D. Cal., 2003), where the court found the "
11955 "link between the distributor and any given user's conduct too attenuated to "
11956 "make the distributor liable for contributory or vicarious infringement "
11960 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
11961 #: freeculture.xml:9310
11963 "For example, in July 2002, Representative Howard Berman introduced the "
11964 "Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211), which would immunize "
11965 "copyright holders from liability for damage done to computers when the "
11966 "copyright holders use technology to stop copyright infringement. In August "
11967 "2002, Representative Billy Tauzin introduced a bill to mandate that "
11968 "technologies capable of rebroadcasting digital copies of films broadcast on "
11969 "TV (i.e., computers) respect a \"broadcast flag\" that would disable copying "
11970 "of that content. And in March of the same year, Senator Fritz Hollings "
11971 "introduced the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television Promotion Act, "
11972 "which mandated copyright protection technology in all digital media "
11973 "devices. See GartnerG2, \"Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster "
11974 "World,\" 27 June 2003, 33–34, available at <ulink "
11975 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>. <placeholder "
11976 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11979 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11980 #: freeculture.xml:9289
11982 "The response by the courts has been fairly universal.<placeholder "
11983 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It has been mirrored in the responses "
11984 "threatened and actually implemented by Congress. I won't catalog all of "
11985 "those responses here.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> But there is "
11986 "one example that captures the flavor of them all. This is the story of the "
11987 "demise of Internet radio."
11991 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
11992 #: freeculture.xml:9332
11994 "As I described in chapter 4, when a radio station plays a song, the "
11995 "recording artist doesn't get paid for that \"radio performance\" unless he "
11996 "or she is also the composer. So, for example if Marilyn Monroe had recorded "
11997 "a version of \"Happy Birthday\"—to memorialize her famous performance "
11998 "before President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden— then whenever that "
11999 "recording was played on the radio, the current copyright owners of \"Happy "
12000 "Birthday\" would get some money, whereas Marilyn Monroe would not."
12003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12004 #: freeculture.xml:9342
12006 "The reasoning behind this balance struck by Congress makes some sense. The "
12007 "justification was that radio was a kind of advertising. The recording artist "
12008 "thus benefited because by playing her music, the radio station was making it "
12009 "more likely that her records would be purchased. Thus, the recording artist "
12010 "got something, even if only indirectly. Probably this reasoning had less to "
12011 "do with the result than with the power of radio stations: Their lobbyists "
12012 "were quite good at stopping any efforts to get Congress to require "
12013 "compensation to the recording artists."
12016 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12017 #: freeculture.xml:9353
12019 "Enter Internet radio. Like regular radio, Internet radio is a technology to "
12020 "stream content from a broadcaster to a listener. The broadcast travels "
12021 "across the Internet, not across the ether of radio spectrum. Thus, I can "
12022 "\"tune in\" to an Internet radio station in Berlin while sitting in San "
12023 "Francisco, even though there's no way for me to tune in to a regular radio "
12024 "station much beyond the San Francisco metropolitan area."
12027 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12028 #: freeculture.xml:9362
12030 "This feature of the architecture of Internet radio means that there are "
12031 "potentially an unlimited number of radio stations that a user could tune in "
12032 "to using her computer, whereas under the existing architecture for broadcast "
12033 "radio, there is an obvious limit to the number of broadcasters and clear "
12034 "broadcast frequencies. Internet radio could therefore be more competitive "
12035 "than regular radio; it could provide a wider range of selections. And "
12036 "because the potential audience for Internet radio is the whole world, niche "
12037 "stations could easily develop and market their content to a relatively large "
12038 "number of users worldwide. According to some estimates, more than eighty "
12039 "million users worldwide have tuned in to this new form of radio."
12043 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12044 #: freeculture.xml:9377
12046 "Internet radio is thus to radio what FM was to AM. It is an improvement "
12047 "potentially vastly more significant than the FM improvement over AM, since "
12048 "not only is the technology better, so, too, is the competition. Indeed, "
12049 "there is a direct parallel between the fight to establish FM radio and the "
12050 "fight to protect Internet radio. As one author describes Howard Armstrong's "
12051 "struggle to enable FM radio,"
12055 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12056 #: freeculture.xml:9401
12057 msgid "Lessing, 239."
12060 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
12061 #: freeculture.xml:9387
12063 "An almost unlimited number of FM stations was possible in the shortwaves, "
12064 "thus ending the unnatural restrictions imposed on radio in the crowded "
12065 "longwaves. If FM were freely developed, the number of stations would be "
12066 "limited only by economics and competition rather than by technical "
12067 "restrictions. . . . Armstrong likened the situation that had grown up in "
12068 "radio to that following the invention of the printing press, when "
12069 "governments and ruling interests attempted to control this new instrument of "
12070 "mass communications by imposing restrictive licenses on it. This tyranny was "
12071 "broken only when it became possible for men freely to acquire printing "
12072 "presses and freely to run them. FM in this sense was as great an invention "
12073 "as the printing presses, for it gave radio the opportunity to strike off its "
12074 "shackles.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12078 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12079 #: freeculture.xml:9411
12080 msgid "Ibid., 229."
12083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12084 #: freeculture.xml:9406
12086 "This potential for FM radio was never realized—not because Armstrong "
12087 "was wrong about the technology, but because he underestimated the power of "
12088 "\"vested interests, habits, customs and legislation\"<placeholder "
12089 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> to retard the growth of this competing "
12093 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12094 #: freeculture.xml:9416
12096 "Now the very same claim could be made about Internet radio. For again, there "
12097 "is no technical limitation that could restrict the number of Internet radio "
12098 "stations. The only restrictions on Internet radio are those imposed by the "
12099 "law. Copyright law is one such law. So the first question we should ask is, "
12100 "what copyright rules would govern Internet radio?"
12104 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12105 #: freeculture.xml:9424
12107 "But here the power of the lobbyists is reversed. Internet radio is a new "
12108 "industry. The recording artists, on the other hand, have a very powerful "
12109 "lobby, the RIAA. Thus when Congress considered the phenomenon of Internet "
12110 "radio in 1995, the lobbyists had primed Congress to adopt a different rule "
12111 "for Internet radio than the rule that applies to terrestrial radio. While "
12112 "terrestrial radio does not have to pay our hypothetical Marilyn Monroe when "
12113 "it plays her hypothetical recording of \"Happy Birthday\" on the air, "
12114 "Internet radio does. Not only is the law not neutral toward Internet "
12115 "radio—the law actually burdens Internet radio more than it burdens "
12116 "terrestrial radio."
12119 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12120 #: freeculture.xml:9464
12121 msgid "CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel)"
12124 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12125 #: freeculture.xml:9447
12127 "This example was derived from fees set by the original Copyright Arbitration "
12128 "Royalty Panel (CARP) proceedings, and is drawn from an example offered by "
12129 "Professor William Fisher. Conference Proceedings, iLaw (Stanford), 3 July "
12130 "2003, on file with author. Professors Fisher and Zittrain submitted "
12131 "testimony in the CARP proceeding that was ultimately rejected. See Jonathan "
12132 "Zittrain, Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral "
12133 "Recordings, Docket No. 2000-9, CARP DTRA 1 and 2, available at <ulink "
12134 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #45</ulink>. For an excellent "
12135 "analysis making a similar point, see Randal C. Picker, \"Copyright as Entry "
12136 "Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution,\" Antitrust Bulletin (Summer/Fall "
12137 "2002): 461: \"This was not confusion, these are just old-fashioned entry "
12138 "barriers. Analog radio stations are protected from digital entrants, "
12139 "reducing entry in radio and diversity. Yes, this is done in the name of "
12140 "getting royalties to copyright holders, but, absent the play of powerful "
12141 "interests, that could have been done in a media-neutral way.\" <placeholder "
12142 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12145 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12146 #: freeculture.xml:9440
12148 "This financial burden is not slight. As Harvard law professor William Fisher "
12149 "estimates, if an Internet radio station distributed adfree popular music to "
12150 "(on average) ten thousand listeners, twenty-four hours a day, the total "
12151 "artist fees that radio station would owe would be over $1 million a "
12152 "year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A regular radio station "
12153 "broadcasting the same content would pay no equivalent fee."
12156 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12157 #: freeculture.xml:9471
12159 "The burden is not financial only. Under the original rules that were "
12160 "proposed, an Internet radio station (but not a terrestrial radio station) "
12161 "would have to collect the following data from every listening transaction:"
12164 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12165 #: freeculture.xml:9478
12166 msgid "name of the service;"
12169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12170 #: freeculture.xml:9481
12171 msgid "channel of the program (AM/FM stations use station ID);"
12174 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12175 #: freeculture.xml:9484
12176 msgid "type of program (archived/looped/live);"
12179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12180 #: freeculture.xml:9487
12181 msgid "date of transmission;"
12184 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12185 #: freeculture.xml:9490
12186 msgid "time of transmission;"
12189 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12190 #: freeculture.xml:9493
12191 msgid "time zone of origination of transmission;"
12194 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12195 #: freeculture.xml:9496
12196 msgid "numeric designation of the place of the sound recording within the program;"
12199 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12200 #: freeculture.xml:9499
12201 msgid "duration of transmission (to nearest second);"
12204 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12205 #: freeculture.xml:9502
12206 msgid "sound recording title;"
12209 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12210 #: freeculture.xml:9505
12211 msgid "ISRC code of the recording;"
12214 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12215 #: freeculture.xml:9508
12217 "release year of the album per copyright notice and in the case of "
12218 "compilation albums, the release year of the album and copy- right date of "
12222 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12223 #: freeculture.xml:9511
12224 msgid "featured recording artist;"
12227 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12228 #: freeculture.xml:9514
12229 msgid "retail album title;"
12232 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12233 #: freeculture.xml:9517
12234 msgid "recording label;"
12237 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12238 #: freeculture.xml:9520
12239 msgid "UPC code of the retail album;"
12242 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12243 #: freeculture.xml:9523
12244 msgid "catalog number;"
12247 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12248 #: freeculture.xml:9526
12249 msgid "copyright owner information;"
12252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12253 #: freeculture.xml:9529
12254 msgid "musical genre of the channel or program (station format);"
12257 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12258 #: freeculture.xml:9532
12259 msgid "name of the service or entity;"
12262 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12263 #: freeculture.xml:9535
12264 msgid "channel or program;"
12267 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12268 #: freeculture.xml:9538
12269 msgid "date and time that the user logged in (in the user's time zone);"
12272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12273 #: freeculture.xml:9541
12274 msgid "date and time that the user logged out (in the user's time zone);"
12277 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12278 #: freeculture.xml:9544
12279 msgid "time zone where the signal was received (user);"
12282 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12283 #: freeculture.xml:9547
12284 msgid "Unique User identifier;"
12287 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12288 #: freeculture.xml:9550
12289 msgid "the country in which the user received the transmissions."
12292 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12293 #: freeculture.xml:9555
12295 "The Librarian of Congress eventually suspended these reporting requirements, "
12296 "pending further study. And he also changed the original rates set by the "
12297 "arbitration panel charged with setting rates. But the basic difference "
12298 "between Internet radio and terrestrial radio remains: Internet radio has to "
12299 "pay a type of copyright fee that terrestrial radio does not."
12302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12303 #: freeculture.xml:9563
12305 "Why? What justifies this difference? Was there any study of the economic "
12306 "consequences from Internet radio that would justify these differences? Was "
12307 "the motive to protect artists against piracy?"
12310 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12311 #: freeculture.xml:9569
12313 "In a rare bit of candor, one RIAA expert admitted what seemed obvious to "
12314 "everyone at the time. As Alex Alben, vice president for Public Policy at "
12315 "Real Networks, told me,"
12319 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
12320 #: freeculture.xml:9575
12322 "The RIAA, which was representing the record labels, presented some testimony "
12323 "about what they thought a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller, and "
12324 "it was much higher. It was ten times higher than what radio stations pay to "
12325 "perform the same songs for the same period of time. And so the attorneys "
12326 "representing the webcasters asked the RIAA, . . . \"How do you come up with "
12327 "a rate that's so much higher? Why is it worth more than radio? Because here "
12328 "we have hundreds of thousands of webcasters who want to pay, and that should "
12329 "establish the market rate, and if you set the rate so high, you're going to "
12330 "drive the small webcasters out of business. . . .\""
12333 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
12334 #: freeculture.xml:9591
12336 "And the RIAA experts said, \"Well, we don't really model this as an industry "
12337 "with thousands of webcasters, we think it should be an industry with, you "
12338 "know, five or seven big players who can pay a high rate and it's a stable, "
12339 "predictable market.\" (Emphasis added.)"
12342 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12343 #: freeculture.xml:9598
12345 "Translation: The aim is to use the law to eliminate competition, so that "
12346 "this platform of potentially immense competition, which would cause the "
12347 "diversity and range of content available to explode, would not cause pain to "
12348 "the dinosaurs of old. There is no one, on either the right or the left, who "
12349 "should endorse this use of the law. And yet there is practically no one, on "
12350 "either the right or the left, who is doing anything effective to prevent it."
12353 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
12354 #: freeculture.xml:9608
12355 msgid "Corrupting Citizens"
12358 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12359 #: freeculture.xml:9610
12361 "Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives "
12362 "dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity "
12363 "for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables."
12366 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12367 #: freeculture.xml:9616
12369 "In addition to these important harms, there is one more that was important "
12370 "to our forebears, but seems forgotten today. Overregulation corrupts "
12371 "citizens and weakens the rule of law."
12375 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12376 #: freeculture.xml:9625
12378 "Mike Graziano and Lee Rainie, \"The Music Downloading Deluge,\" Pew Internet "
12379 "and American Life Project (24 April 2001), available at <ulink "
12380 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #46</ulink>. The Pew Internet "
12381 "and American Life Project reported that 37 million Americans had downloaded "
12382 "music files from the Internet by early 2001."
12386 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12387 #: freeculture.xml:9621
12389 "The war that is being waged today is a war of prohibition. As with every war "
12390 "of prohibition, it is targeted against the behavior of a very large number "
12391 "of citizens. According to The New York Times, 43 million Americans "
12392 "downloaded music in May 2002.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
12393 "According to the RIAA, the behavior of those 43 million Americans is a "
12394 "felony. We thus have a set of rules that transform 20 percent of America "
12395 "into criminals. As the RIAA launches lawsuits against not only the Napsters "
12396 "and Kazaas of the world, but against students building search engines, and "
12397 "increasingly against ordinary users downloading content, the technologies "
12398 "for sharing will advance to further protect and hide illegal use. It is an "
12399 "arms race or a civil war, with the extremes of one side inviting a more "
12400 "extreme response by the other."
12404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12405 #: freeculture.xml:9659
12407 "Alex Pham, \"The Labels Strike Back: N.Y. Girl Settles RIAA Case,\" Los "
12408 "Angeles Times, 10 September 2003, Business."
12411 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12412 #: freeculture.xml:9646
12414 "The content industry's tactics exploit the failings of the American legal "
12415 "system. When the RIAA brought suit against Jesse Jordan, it knew that in "
12416 "Jordan it had found a scapegoat, not a defendant. The threat of having to "
12417 "pay either all the money in the world in damages ($15,000,000) or almost all "
12418 "the money in the world to defend against paying all the money in the world "
12419 "in damages ($250,000 in legal fees) led Jordan to choose to pay all the "
12420 "money he had in the world ($12,000) to make the suit go away. The same "
12421 "strategy animates the RIAA's suits against individual users. In September "
12422 "2003, the RIAA sued 261 individuals—including a twelve-year-old girl "
12423 "living in public housing and a seventy-year-old man who had no idea what "
12424 "file sharing was.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As these "
12425 "scapegoats discovered, it will always cost more to defend against these "
12426 "suits than it would cost to simply settle. (The twelve year old, for "
12427 "example, like Jesse Jordan, paid her life savings of $2,000 to settle the "
12428 "case.) Our law is an awful system for defending rights. It is an "
12429 "embarrassment to our tradition. And the consequence of our law as it is, is "
12430 "that those with the power can use the law to quash any rights they oppose."
12434 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12435 #: freeculture.xml:9681
12437 "Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel, \"Alcohol Consumption During "
12438 "Prohibition,\" American Economic Review 81, no. 2 (1991): 242."
12442 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12443 #: freeculture.xml:9689
12445 "National Drug Control Policy: Hearing Before the House Government Reform "
12446 "Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (5 March 2003) (statement of John "
12447 "P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy)."
12451 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12452 #: freeculture.xml:9699
12454 "See James Andreoni, Brian Erard, and Jonathon Feinstein, \"Tax Compliance,\" "
12455 "Journal of Economic Literature 36 (1998): 818 (survey of compliance "
12459 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12460 #: freeculture.xml:9671
12462 "Wars of prohibition are nothing new in America. This one is just something "
12463 "more extreme than anything we've seen before. We experimented with alcohol "
12464 "prohibition, at a time when the per capita consumption of alcohol was 1.5 "
12465 "gallons per capita per year. The war against drinking initially reduced that "
12466 "consumption to just 30 percent of its preprohibition levels, but by the end "
12467 "of prohibition, consumption was up to 70 percent of the preprohibition "
12468 "level. Americans were drinking just about as much, but now, a vast number "
12469 "were criminals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We have launched a "
12470 "war on drugs aimed at reducing the consumption of regulated narcotics that 7 "
12471 "percent (or 16 million) Americans now use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
12472 "id=\"1\"/> That is a drop from the high (so to speak) in 1979 of 14 percent "
12473 "of the population. We regulate automobiles to the point where the vast "
12474 "majority of Americans violate the law every day. We run such a complex tax "
12475 "system that a majority of cash businesses regularly cheat.<placeholder "
12476 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> We pride ourselves on our \"free society,\" but "
12477 "an endless array of ordinary behavior is regulated within our society. And "
12478 "as a result, a huge proportion of Americans regularly violate at least some "
12482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12483 #: freeculture.xml:9708
12485 "This state of affairs is not without consequence. It is a particularly "
12486 "salient issue for teachers like me, whose job it is to teach law students "
12487 "about the importance of \"ethics.\" As my colleague Charlie Nesson told a "
12488 "class at Stanford, each year law schools admit thousands of students who "
12489 "have illegally downloaded music, illegally consumed alcohol and sometimes "
12490 "drugs, illegally worked without paying taxes, illegally driven cars. These "
12491 "are kids for whom behaving illegally is increasingly the norm. And then we, "
12492 "as law professors, are supposed to teach them how to behave "
12493 "ethically—how to say no to bribes, or keep client funds separate, or "
12494 "honor a demand to disclose a document that will mean that your case is "
12495 "over. Generations of Americans—more significantly in some parts of "
12496 "America than in others, but still, everywhere in America today—can't "
12497 "live their lives both normally and legally, since \"normally\" entails a "
12498 "certain degree of illegality."
12501 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12502 #: freeculture.xml:9725
12504 "The response to this general illegality is either to enforce the law more "
12505 "severely or to change the law. We, as a society, have to learn how to make "
12506 "that choice more rationally. Whether a law makes sense depends, in part, at "
12507 "least, upon whether the costs of the law, both intended and collateral, "
12508 "outweigh the benefits. If the costs, intended and collateral, do outweigh "
12509 "the benefits, then the law ought to be changed. Alternatively, if the costs "
12510 "of the existing system are much greater than the costs of an alternative, "
12511 "then we have a good reason to consider the alternative."
12515 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12516 #: freeculture.xml:9738
12518 "My point is not the idiotic one: Just because people violate a law, we "
12519 "should therefore repeal it. Obviously, we could reduce murder statistics "
12520 "dramatically by legalizing murder on Wednesdays and Fridays. But that "
12521 "wouldn't make any sense, since murder is wrong every day of the week. A "
12522 "society is right to ban murder always and everywhere."
12525 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12526 #: freeculture.xml:9745
12528 "My point is instead one that democracies understood for generations, but "
12529 "that we recently have learned to forget. The rule of law depends upon people "
12530 "obeying the law. The more often, and more repeatedly, we as citizens "
12531 "experience violating the law, the less we respect the law. Obviously, in "
12532 "most cases, the important issue is the law, not respect for the law. I don't "
12533 "care whether the rapist respects the law or not; I want to catch and "
12534 "incarcerate the rapist. But I do care whether my students respect the "
12535 "law. And I do care if the rules of law sow increasing disrespect because of "
12536 "the extreme of regulation they impose. Twenty million Americans have come "
12537 "of age since the Internet introduced this different idea of \"sharing.\" We "
12538 "need to be able to call these twenty million Americans \"citizens,\" not "
12542 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12543 #: freeculture.xml:9759
12545 "When at least forty-three million citizens download content from the "
12546 "Internet, and when they use tools to combine that content in ways "
12547 "unauthorized by copyright holders, the first question we should be asking is "
12548 "not how best to involve the FBI. The first question should be whether this "
12549 "particular prohibition is really necessary in order to achieve the proper "
12550 "ends that copyright law serves. Is there another way to assure that artists "
12551 "get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? "
12552 "Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure that artists get paid "
12553 "without transforming America into a nation of felons?"
12556 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12557 #: freeculture.xml:9771
12558 msgid "This abstract point can be made more clear with a particular example."
12562 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12563 #: freeculture.xml:9774
12565 "We all own CDs. Many of us still own phonograph records. These pieces of "
12566 "plastic encode music that in a certain sense we have bought. The law "
12567 "protects our right to buy and sell that plastic: It is not a copyright "
12568 "infringement for me to sell all my classical records at a used record store "
12569 "and buy jazz records to replace them. That \"use\" of the recordings is "
12573 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12574 #: freeculture.xml:9785
12576 "But as the MP3 craze has demonstrated, there is another use of phonograph "
12577 "records that is effectively free. Because these recordings were made without "
12578 "copy-protection technologies, I am \"free\" to copy, or \"rip,\" music from "
12579 "my records onto a computer hard disk. Indeed, Apple Corporation went so far "
12580 "as to suggest that \"freedom\" was a right: In a series of commercials, "
12581 "Apple endorsed the \"Rip, Mix, Burn\" capacities of digital technologies."
12584 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
12585 #: freeculture.xml:9793
12589 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12590 #: freeculture.xml:9795
12592 "This \"use\" of my records is certainly valuable. I have begun a large "
12593 "process at home of ripping all of my and my wife's CDs, and storing them in "
12594 "one archive. Then, using Apple's iTunes, or a wonderful program called "
12595 "Andromeda, we can build different play lists of our music: Bach, Baroque, "
12596 "Love Songs, Love Songs of Significant Others—the potential is "
12597 "endless. And by reducing the costs of mixing play lists, these technologies "
12598 "help build a creativity with play lists that is itself independently "
12599 "valuable. Compilations of songs are creative and meaningful in their own "
12603 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12604 #: freeculture.xml:9806
12606 "This use is enabled by unprotected media—either CDs or records. But "
12607 "unprotected media also enable file sharing. File sharing threatens (or so "
12608 "the content industry believes) the ability of creators to earn a fair return "
12609 "from their creativity. And thus, many are beginning to experiment with "
12610 "technologies to eliminate unprotected media. These technologies, for "
12611 "example, would enable CDs that could not be ripped. Or they might enable spy "
12612 "programs to identify ripped content on people's machines."
12616 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12617 #: freeculture.xml:9816
12619 "If these technologies took off, then the building of large archives of your "
12620 "own music would become quite difficult. You might hang in hacker circles, "
12621 "and get technology to disable the technologies that protect the "
12622 "content. Trading in those technologies is illegal, but maybe that doesn't "
12623 "bother you much. In any case, for the vast majority of people, these "
12624 "protection technologies would effectively destroy the archiving use of "
12625 "CDs. The technology, in other words, would force us all back to the world "
12626 "where we either listened to music by manipulating pieces of plastic or were "
12627 "part of a massively complex \"digital rights management\" system."
12630 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12631 #: freeculture.xml:9830
12633 "If the only way to assure that artists get paid were the elimination of the "
12634 "ability to freely move content, then these technologies to interfere with "
12635 "the freedom to move content would be justifiable. But what if there were "
12636 "another way to assure that artists are paid, without locking down any "
12637 "content? What if, in other words, a different system could assure "
12638 "compensation to artists while also preserving the freedom to move content "
12642 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12643 #: freeculture.xml:9839
12645 "My point just now is not to prove that there is such a system. I offer a "
12646 "version of such a system in the last chapter of this book. For now, the only "
12647 "point is the relatively uncontroversial one: If a different system achieved "
12648 "the same legitimate objectives that the existing copyright system achieved, "
12649 "but left consumers and creators much more free, then we'd have a very good "
12650 "reason to pursue this alternative—namely, freedom. The choice, in "
12651 "other words, would not be between property and piracy; the choice would be "
12652 "between different property systems and the freedoms each allowed."
12655 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12656 #: freeculture.xml:9850
12658 "I believe there is a way to assure that artists are paid without turning "
12659 "forty-three million Americans into felons. But the salient feature of this "
12660 "alternative is that it would lead to a very different market for producing "
12661 "and distributing creativity. The dominant few, who today control the vast "
12662 "majority of the distribution of content in the world, would no longer "
12663 "exercise this extreme of control. Rather, they would go the way of the "
12664 "horse-drawn buggy."
12667 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12668 #: freeculture.xml:9859
12670 "Except that this generation's buggy manufacturers have already saddled "
12671 "Congress, and are riding the law to protect themselves against this new form "
12672 "of competition. For them the choice is between fortythree million Americans "
12673 "as criminals and their own survival."
12676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12677 #: freeculture.xml:9865
12679 "It is understandable why they choose as they do. It is not understandable "
12680 "why we as a democracy continue to choose as we do. Jack Valenti is charming; "
12681 "but not so charming as to justify giving up a tradition as deep and "
12682 "important as our tradition of free culture. There's one more aspect to this "
12683 "corruption that is particularly important to civil liberties, and follows "
12684 "directly from any war of prohibition. As Electronic Frontier Foundation "
12685 "attorney Fred von Lohmann describes, this is the \"collateral damage\" that "
12686 "\"arises whenever you turn a very large percentage of the population into "
12687 "criminals.\" This is the collateral damage to civil liberties generally. "
12688 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12691 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12692 #: freeculture.xml:9882
12693 msgid "\"If you can treat someone as a putative lawbreaker,\" von Lohmann explains,"
12696 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
12697 #: freeculture.xml:9887
12699 "then all of a sudden a lot of basic civil liberty protections evaporate to "
12700 "one degree or another. . . . If you're a copyright infringer, how can you "
12701 "hope to have any privacy rights? If you're a copyright infringer, how can "
12702 "you hope to be secure against seizures of your computer? How can you hope to "
12703 "continue to receive Internet access? . . . Our sensibilities change as soon "
12704 "as we think, \"Oh, well, but that person's a criminal, a lawbreaker.\" Well, "
12705 "what this campaign against file sharing has done is turn a remarkable "
12706 "percentage of the American Internet-using population into \"lawbreakers.\""
12709 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12710 #: freeculture.xml:9899
12712 "And the consequence of this transformation of the American public into "
12713 "criminals is that it becomes trivial, as a matter of due process, to "
12714 "effectively erase much of the privacy most would presume."
12717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12718 #: freeculture.xml:9904
12720 "Users of the Internet began to see this generally in 2003 as the RIAA "
12721 "launched its campaign to force Internet service providers to turn over the "
12722 "names of customers who the RIAA believed were violating copyright "
12723 "law. Verizon fought that demand and lost. With a simple request to a judge, "
12724 "and without any notice to the customer at all, the identity of an Internet "
12725 "user is revealed."
12729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12730 #: freeculture.xml:9922
12732 "See Frank Ahrens, \"RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single Mother in "
12733 "Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl in N.Y. Among Defendants,\" Washington Post, 10 "
12734 "September 2003, E1; Chris Cobbs, \"Worried Parents Pull Plug on File "
12735 "`Stealing'; With the Music Industry Cracking Down on File Swapping, Parents "
12736 "are Yanking Software from Home PCs to Avoid Being Sued,\" Orlando Sentinel "
12737 "Tribune, 30 August 2003, C1; Jefferson Graham, \"Recording Industry Sues "
12738 "Parents,\" USA Today, 15 September 2003, 4D; John Schwartz, \"She Says She's "
12739 "No Music Pirate. No Snoop Fan, Either,\" New York Times, 25 September 2003, "
12740 "C1; Margo Varadi, \"Is Brianna a Criminal?\" Toronto Star, 18 September "
12744 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12745 #: freeculture.xml:9913
12747 "The RIAA then expanded this campaign, by announcing a general strategy to "
12748 "sue individual users of the Internet who are alleged to have downloaded "
12749 "copyrighted music from file-sharing systems. But as we've seen, the "
12750 "potential damages from these suits are astronomical: If a family's computer "
12751 "is used to download a single CD's worth of music, the family could be liable "
12752 "for $2 million in damages. That didn't stop the RIAA from suing a number of "
12753 "these families, just as they had sued Jesse Jordan.<placeholder "
12754 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12758 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12759 #: freeculture.xml:9940
12761 "See \"Revealed: How RIAA Tracks Downloaders: Music Industry Discloses Some "
12762 "Methods Used,\" CNN.com, available at <ulink "
12763 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #47</ulink>."
12766 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12767 #: freeculture.xml:9936
12769 "Even this understates the espionage that is being waged by the RIAA. A "
12770 "report from CNN late last summer described a strategy the RIAA had adopted "
12771 "to track Napster users.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Using a "
12772 "sophisticated hashing algorithm, the RIAA took what is in effect a "
12773 "fingerprint of every song in the Napster catalog. Any copy of one of those "
12774 "MP3s will have the same \"fingerprint.\""
12778 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
12779 #: freeculture.xml:9961
12781 "See Jeff Adler, \"Cambridge: On Campus, Pirates Are Not Penitent,\" Boston "
12782 "Globe, 18 May 2003, City Weekly, 1; Frank Ahrens, \"Four Students Sued over "
12783 "Music Sites; Industry Group Targets File Sharing at Colleges,\" Washington "
12784 "Post, 4 April 2003, E1; Elizabeth Armstrong, \"Students `Rip, Mix, Burn' at "
12785 "Their Own Risk,\" Christian Science Monitor, 2 September 2003, 20; Robert "
12786 "Becker and Angela Rozas, \"Music Pirate Hunt Turns to Loyola; Two Students "
12787 "Names Are Handed Over; Lawsuit Possible,\" Chicago Tribune, 16 July 2003, "
12788 "1C; Beth Cox, \"RIAA Trains Antipiracy Guns on Universities,\" Internet "
12789 "News, 30 January 2003, available at <ulink "
12790 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #48</ulink>; Benny Evangelista, "
12791 "\"Download Warning 101: Freshman Orientation This Fall to Include Record "
12792 "Industry Warnings Against File Sharing,\" San Francisco Chronicle, 11 August "
12793 "2003, E11; \"Raid, Letters Are Weapons at Universities,\" USA Today, 26 "
12794 "September 2000, 3D."
12797 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12798 #: freeculture.xml:9949
12800 "So imagine the following not-implausible scenario: Imagine a friend gives a "
12801 "CD to your daughter—a collection of songs just like the cassettes you "
12802 "used to make as a kid. You don't know, and neither does your daughter, where "
12803 "these songs came from. But she copies these songs onto her computer. She "
12804 "then takes her computer to college and connects it to a college network, and "
12805 "if the college network is \"cooperating\" with the RIAA's espionage, and she "
12806 "hasn't properly protected her content from the network (do you know how to "
12807 "do that yourself ?), then the RIAA will be able to identify your daughter as "
12808 "a \"criminal.\" And under the rules that universities are beginning to "
12809 "deploy,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> your daughter can lose the "
12810 "right to use the university's computer network. She can, in some cases, be "
12815 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12816 #: freeculture.xml:9980
12818 "Now, of course, she'll have the right to defend herself. You can hire a "
12819 "lawyer for her (at $300 per hour, if you're lucky), and she can plead that "
12820 "she didn't know anything about the source of the songs or that they came "
12821 "from Napster. And it may well be that the university believes her. But the "
12822 "university might not believe her. It might treat this \"contraband\" as "
12823 "presumptive of guilt. And as any number of college students have already "
12824 "learned, our presumptions about innocence disappear in the middle of wars of "
12825 "prohibition. This war is no different. Says von Lohmann,"
12828 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
12829 #: freeculture.xml:9995
12831 "So when we're talking about numbers like forty to sixty million Americans "
12832 "that are essentially copyright infringers, you create a situation where the "
12833 "civil liberties of those people are very much in peril in a general "
12834 "matter. [I don't] think [there is any] analog where you could randomly "
12835 "choose any person off the street and be confident that they were committing "
12836 "an unlawful act that could put them on the hook for potential felony "
12837 "liability or hundreds of millions of dollars of civil liability. Certainly "
12838 "we all speed, but speeding isn't the kind of an act for which we routinely "
12839 "forfeit civil liberties. Some people use drugs, and I think that's the "
12840 "closest analog, [but] many have noted that the war against drugs has eroded "
12841 "all of our civil liberties because it's treated so many Americans as "
12842 "criminals. Well, I think it's fair to say that file sharing is an order of "
12843 "magnitude larger number of Americans than drug use. . . . If forty to sixty "
12844 "million Americans have become lawbreakers, then we're really on a slippery "
12845 "slope to lose a lot of civil liberties for all forty to sixty million of "
12849 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
12850 #: freeculture.xml:10015
12852 "When forty to sixty million Americans are considered \"criminals\" under the "
12853 "law, and when the law could achieve the same objective— securing "
12854 "rights to authors—without these millions being considered "
12855 "\"criminals,\" who is the villain? Americans or the law? Which is American, "
12856 "a constant war on our own people or a concerted effort through our democracy "
12857 "to change our law?"
12860 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
12861 #: freeculture.xml:10028
12865 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12866 #: freeculture.xml:10032
12868 "So here's the picture: You're standing at the side of the road. Your car is "
12869 "on fire. You are angry and upset because in part you helped start the "
12870 "fire. Now you don't know how to put it out. Next to you is a bucket, filled "
12871 "with gasoline. Obviously, gasoline won't put the fire out."
12874 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12875 #: freeculture.xml:10038
12877 "As you ponder the mess, someone else comes along. In a panic, she grabs the "
12878 "bucket. Before you have a chance to tell her to stop—or before she "
12879 "understands just why she should stop—the bucket is in the air. The "
12880 "gasoline is about to hit the blazing car. And the fire that gasoline will "
12881 "ignite is about to ignite everything around."
12884 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12885 #: freeculture.xml:10046
12887 "A war about copyright rages all around—and we're all focusing on the "
12888 "wrong thing. No doubt, current technologies threaten existing businesses. "
12889 "No doubt they may threaten artists. But technologies change. The industry "
12890 "and technologists have plenty of ways to use technology to protect "
12891 "themselves against the current threats of the Internet. This is a fire that "
12892 "if let alone would burn itself out."
12896 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12897 #: freeculture.xml:10055
12899 "Yet policy makers are not willing to leave this fire to itself. Primed with "
12900 "plenty of lobbyists' money, they are keen to intervene to eliminate the "
12901 "problem they perceive. But the problem they perceive is not the real threat "
12902 "this culture faces. For while we watch this small fire in the corner, there "
12903 "is a massive change in the way culture is made that is happening all around."
12906 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12907 #: freeculture.xml:10063
12909 "Somehow we have to find a way to turn attention to this more important and "
12910 "fundamental issue. Somehow we have to find a way to avoid pouring gasoline "
12914 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12915 #: freeculture.xml:10068
12917 "We have not found that way yet. Instead, we seem trapped in a simpler, "
12918 "binary view. However much many people push to frame this debate more "
12919 "broadly, it is the simple, binary view that remains. We rubberneck to look "
12920 "at the fire when we should be keeping our eyes on the road."
12923 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
12924 #: freeculture.xml:10074
12926 "This challenge has been my life these last few years. It has also been my "
12927 "failure. In the two chapters that follow, I describe one small brace of "
12928 "efforts, so far failed, to find a way to refocus this debate. We must "
12929 "understand these failures if we're to understand what success will require."
12932 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
12933 #: freeculture.xml:10083
12934 msgid "CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Eldred"
12937 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
12938 #: freeculture.xml:10085
12940 "In 1995, a father was frustrated that his daughters didn't seem to like "
12941 "Hawthorne. No doubt there was more than one such father, but at least one "
12942 "did something about it. Eric Eldred, a retired computer programmer living in "
12943 "New Hampshire, decided to put Hawthorne on the Web. An electronic version, "
12944 "Eldred thought, with links to pictures and explanatory text, would make this "
12945 "nineteenth-century author's work come alive."
12948 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
12949 #: freeculture.xml:10094
12951 "It didn't work—at least for his daughters. They didn't find Hawthorne "
12952 "any more interesting than before. But Eldred's experiment gave birth to a "
12953 "hobby, and his hobby begat a cause: Eldred would build a library of public "
12954 "domain works by scanning these works and making them available for free."
12958 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
12959 #: freeculture.xml:10101
12961 "Eldred's library was not simply a copy of certain public domain works, "
12962 "though even a copy would have been of great value to people across the world "
12963 "who can't get access to printed versions of these works. Instead, Eldred was "
12964 "producing derivative works from these public domain works. Just as Disney "
12965 "turned Grimm into stories more accessible to the twentieth century, Eldred "
12966 "transformed Hawthorne, and many others, into a form more "
12967 "accessible—technically accessible—today."
12970 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
12971 #: freeculture.xml:10112
12973 "Eldred's freedom to do this with Hawthorne's work grew from the same source "
12974 "as Disney's. Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter had passed into the public domain in "
12975 "1907. It was free for anyone to take without the permission of the Hawthorne "
12976 "estate or anyone else. Some, such as Dover Press and Penguin Classics, take "
12977 "works from the public domain and produce printed editions, which they sell "
12978 "in bookstores across the country. Others, such as Disney, take these stories "
12979 "and turn them into animated cartoons, sometimes successfully (Cinderella), "
12980 "sometimes not (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Treasure Planet). These are all "
12981 "commercial publications of public domain works."
12985 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
12986 #: freeculture.xml:10135
12988 "There's a parallel here with pornography that is a bit hard to describe, but "
12989 "it's a strong one. One phenomenon that the Internet created was a world of "
12990 "noncommercial pornographers—people who were distributing porn but were "
12991 "not making money directly or indirectly from that distribution. Such a "
12992 "class didn't exist before the Internet came into being because the costs of "
12993 "distributing porn were so high. Yet this new class of distributors got "
12994 "special attention in the Supreme Court, when the Court struck down the "
12995 "Communications Decency Act of 1996. It was partly because of the burden on "
12996 "noncommercial speakers that the statute was found to exceed Congress's "
12997 "power. The same point could have been made about noncommercial publishers "
12998 "after the advent of the Internet. The Eric Eldreds of the world before the "
12999 "Internet were extremely few. Yet one would think it at least as important to "
13000 "protect the Eldreds of the world as to protect noncommercial pornographers."
13003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13004 #: freeculture.xml:10124
13006 "The Internet created the possibility of noncommercial publications of public "
13007 "domain works. Eldred's is just one example. There are literally thousands of "
13008 "others. Hundreds of thousands from across the world have discovered this "
13009 "platform of expression and now use it to share works that are, by law, free "
13010 "for the taking. This has produced what we might call the \"noncommercial "
13011 "publishing industry,\" which before the Internet was limited to people with "
13012 "large egos or with political or social causes. But with the Internet, it "
13013 "includes a wide range of individuals and groups dedicated to spreading "
13014 "culture generally.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13017 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13018 #: freeculture.xml:10152
13020 "As I said, Eldred lives in New Hampshire. In 1998, Robert Frost's collection "
13021 "of poems New Hampshire was slated to pass into the public domain. Eldred "
13022 "wanted to post that collection in his free public library. But Congress got "
13023 "in the way. As I described in chapter 10, in 1998, for the eleventh time in "
13024 "forty years, Congress extended the terms of existing copyrights—this "
13025 "time by twenty years. Eldred would not be free to add any works more recent "
13026 "than 1923 to his collection until 2019. Indeed, no copyrighted work would "
13027 "pass into the public domain until that year (and not even then, if Congress "
13028 "extends the term again). By contrast, in the same period, more than 1 "
13029 "million patents will pass into the public domain."
13033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13034 #: freeculture.xml:10172
13036 "The full text is: \"Sonny [Bono] wanted the term of copyright protection to "
13037 "last forever. I am informed by staff that such a change would violate the "
13038 "Constitution. I invite all of you to work with me to strengthen our "
13039 "copyright laws in all of the ways available to us. As you know, there is "
13040 "also Jack Valenti's proposal for a term to last forever less one "
13041 "day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress,\" 144 "
13042 "Cong. Rec. H9946, 9951-2 (October 7, 1998)."
13045 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13046 #: freeculture.xml:10167
13048 "This was the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), enacted in "
13049 "memory of the congressman and former musician Sonny Bono, who, his widow, "
13050 "Mary Bono, says, believed that \"copyrights should be forever.\"<placeholder "
13051 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13054 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13055 #: freeculture.xml:10183
13057 "Eldred decided to fight this law. He first resolved to fight it through "
13058 "civil disobedience. In a series of interviews, Eldred announced that he "
13059 "would publish as planned, CTEA notwithstanding. But because of a second law "
13060 "passed in 1998, the NET (No Electronic Theft) Act, his act of publishing "
13061 "would make Eldred a felon—whether or not anyone complained. This was a "
13062 "dangerous strategy for a disabled programmer to undertake."
13065 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13066 #: freeculture.xml:10192
13068 "It was here that I became involved in Eldred's battle. I was a "
13069 "constitutional scholar whose first passion was constitutional "
13070 "interpretation. And though constitutional law courses never focus upon the "
13071 "Progress Clause of the Constitution, it had always struck me as importantly "
13072 "different. As you know, the Constitution says,"
13075 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
13076 #: freeculture.xml:10203
13078 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science . . . by securing "
13079 "for limited Times to Authors . . . exclusive Right to their "
13080 ". . . Writings. . . ."
13083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13084 #: freeculture.xml:10209
13086 "As I've described, this clause is unique within the power-granting clause of "
13087 "Article I, section 8 of our Constitution. Every other clause granting power "
13088 "to Congress simply says Congress has the power to do something—for "
13089 "example, to regulate \"commerce among the several states\" or \"declare "
13090 "War.\" But here, the \"something\" is something quite specific—to "
13091 "\"promote . . . Progress\"—through means that are also specific— "
13092 "by \"securing\" \"exclusive Rights\" (i.e., copyrights) \"for limited "
13096 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
13097 #: freeculture.xml:10228 freeculture.xml:11678
13098 msgid "Jaszi, Peter"
13101 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13102 #: freeculture.xml:10219
13104 "In the past forty years, Congress has gotten into the practice of extending "
13105 "existing terms of copyright protection. What puzzled me about this was, if "
13106 "Congress has the power to extend existing terms, then the Constitution's "
13107 "requirement that terms be \"limited\" will have no practical effect. If "
13108 "every time a copyright is about to expire, Congress has the power to extend "
13109 "its term, then Congress can achieve what the Constitution plainly "
13110 "forbids—perpetual terms \"on the installment plan,\" as Professor "
13111 "Peter Jaszi so nicely put it. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13114 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13115 #: freeculture.xml:10231
13117 "As an academic, my first response was to hit the books. I remember sitting "
13118 "late at the office, scouring on-line databases for any serious consideration "
13119 "of the question. No one had ever challenged Congress's practice of extending "
13120 "existing terms. That failure may in part be why Congress seemed so "
13121 "untroubled in its habit. That, and the fact that the practice had become so "
13122 "lucrative for Congress. Congress knows that copyright owners will be willing "
13123 "to pay a great deal of money to see their copyright terms extended. And so "
13124 "Congress is quite happy to keep this gravy train going."
13127 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13128 #: freeculture.xml:10242
13130 "For this is the core of the corruption in our present system of "
13131 "government. \"Corruption\" not in the sense that representatives are "
13132 "bribed. Rather, \"corruption\" in the sense that the system induces the "
13133 "beneficiaries of Congress's acts to raise and give money to Congress to "
13134 "induce it to act. There's only so much time; there's only so much Congress "
13135 "can do. Why not limit its actions to those things it must do—and those "
13136 "things that pay? Extending copyright terms pays."
13139 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13140 #: freeculture.xml:10251
13142 "If that's not obvious to you, consider the following: Say you're one of the "
13143 "very few lucky copyright owners whose copyright continues to make money one "
13144 "hundred years after it was created. The Estate of Robert Frost is a good "
13145 "example. Frost died in 1963. His poetry continues to be extraordinarily "
13146 "valuable. Thus the Robert Frost estate benefits greatly from any extension "
13147 "of copyright, since no publisher would pay the estate any money if the poems "
13148 "Frost wrote could be published by anyone for free."
13151 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13152 #: freeculture.xml:10261
13154 "So imagine the Robert Frost estate is earning $100,000 a year from three of "
13155 "Frost's poems. And imagine the copyright for those poems is about to "
13156 "expire. You sit on the board of the Robert Frost estate. Your financial "
13157 "adviser comes to your board meeting with a very grim report:"
13161 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13162 #: freeculture.xml:10268
13164 "\"Next year,\" the adviser announces, \"our copyrights in works A, B, and C "
13165 "will expire. That means that after next year, we will no longer be receiving "
13166 "the annual royalty check of $100,000 from the publishers of those works."
13169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13170 #: freeculture.xml:10276
13172 "\"There's a proposal in Congress, however,\" she continues, \"that could "
13173 "change this. A few congressmen are floating a bill to extend the terms of "
13174 "copyright by twenty years. That bill would be extraordinarily valuable to "
13175 "us. So we should hope this bill passes.\""
13178 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13179 #: freeculture.xml:10282
13181 "\"Hope?\" a fellow board member says. \"Can't we be doing something about "
13185 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13186 #: freeculture.xml:10286
13188 "\"Well, obviously, yes,\" the adviser responds. \"We could contribute to the "
13189 "campaigns of a number of representatives to try to assure that they support "
13193 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13194 #: freeculture.xml:10291
13196 "You hate politics. You hate contributing to campaigns. So you want to know "
13197 "whether this disgusting practice is worth it. \"How much would we get if "
13198 "this extension were passed?\" you ask the adviser. \"How much is it worth?\""
13201 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13202 #: freeculture.xml:10297
13204 "\"Well,\" the adviser says, \"if you're confident that you will continue to "
13205 "get at least $100,000 a year from these copyrights, and you use the "
13206 "`discount rate' that we use to evaluate estate investments (6 percent), then "
13207 "this law would be worth $1,146,000 to the estate.\""
13210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13211 #: freeculture.xml:10303
13213 "You're a bit shocked by the number, but you quickly come to the correct "
13217 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13218 #: freeculture.xml:10307
13220 "\"So you're saying it would be worth it for us to pay more than $1,000,000 "
13221 "in campaign contributions if we were confident those contributions would "
13222 "assure that the bill was passed?\""
13225 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13226 #: freeculture.xml:10313
13228 "\"Absolutely,\" the adviser responds. \"It is worth it to you to contribute "
13229 "up to the `present value' of the income you expect from these "
13230 "copyrights. Which for us means over $1,000,000.\""
13234 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13235 #: freeculture.xml:10319
13237 "You quickly get the point—you as the member of the board and, I trust, "
13238 "you the reader. Each time copyrights are about to expire, every beneficiary "
13239 "in the position of the Robert Frost estate faces the same choice: If they "
13240 "can contribute to get a law passed to extend copyrights, they will benefit "
13241 "greatly from that extension. And so each time copyrights are about to "
13242 "expire, there is a massive amount of lobbying to get the copyright term "
13246 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13247 #: freeculture.xml:10330
13249 "Thus a congressional perpetual motion machine: So long as legislation can be "
13250 "bought (albeit indirectly), there will be all the incentive in the world to "
13251 "buy further extensions of copyright."
13255 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13256 #: freeculture.xml:10343
13258 "Associated Press, \"Disney Lobbying for Copyright Extension No Mickey Mouse "
13259 "Effort; Congress OKs Bill Granting Creators 20 More Years,\" Chicago "
13260 "Tribune, 17 October 1998, 22."
13264 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13265 #: freeculture.xml:10350
13267 "See Nick Brown, \"Fair Use No More?: Copyright in the Information Age,\" "
13268 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #49</ulink>."
13272 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13273 #: freeculture.xml:10357
13275 "Alan K. Ota, \"Disney in Washington: The Mouse That Roars,\" Congressional "
13276 "Quarterly This Week, 8 August 1990, available at <ulink "
13277 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #50</ulink>."
13280 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13281 #: freeculture.xml:10336
13283 "In the lobbying that led to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term "
13284 "Extension Act, this \"theory\" about incentives was proved real. Ten of the "
13285 "thirteen original sponsors of the act in the House received the maximum "
13286 "contribution from Disney's political action committee; in the Senate, eight "
13287 "of the twelve sponsors received contributions.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13288 "id=\"0\"/> The RIAA and the MPAA are estimated to have spent over $1.5 "
13289 "million lobbying in the 1998 election cycle. They paid out more than "
13290 "$200,000 in campaign contributions.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
13291 "Disney is estimated to have contributed more than $800,000 to reelection "
13292 "campaigns in the cycle.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
13295 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13296 #: freeculture.xml:10365
13298 "Constitutional law is not oblivious to the obvious. Or at least, it need not "
13299 "be. So when I was considering Eldred's complaint, this reality about the "
13300 "never-ending incentives to increase the copyright term was central to my "
13301 "thinking. In my view, a pragmatic court committed to interpreting and "
13302 "applying the Constitution of our framers would see that if Congress has the "
13303 "power to extend existing terms, then there would be no effective "
13304 "constitutional requirement that terms be \"limited.\" If they could extend "
13305 "it once, they would extend it again and again and again."
13309 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13310 #: freeculture.xml:10378
13312 "It was also my judgment that this Supreme Court would not allow Congress to "
13313 "extend existing terms. As anyone close to the Supreme Court's work knows, "
13314 "this Court has increasingly restricted the power of Congress when it has "
13315 "viewed Congress's actions as exceeding the power granted to it by the "
13316 "Constitution. Among constitutional scholars, the most famous example of this "
13317 "trend was the Supreme Court's decision in 1995 to strike down a law that "
13318 "banned the possession of guns near schools."
13321 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13322 #: freeculture.xml:10391
13324 "Since 1937, the Supreme Court had interpreted Congress's granted powers very "
13325 "broadly; so, while the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate "
13326 "only \"commerce among the several states\" (aka \"interstate commerce\"), "
13327 "the Supreme Court had interpreted that power to include the power to "
13328 "regulate any activity that merely affected interstate commerce."
13331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13332 #: freeculture.xml:10401
13334 "As the economy grew, this standard increasingly meant that there was no "
13335 "limit to Congress's power to regulate, since just about every activity, when "
13336 "considered on a national scale, affects interstate commerce. A Constitution "
13337 "designed to limit Congress's power was instead interpreted to impose no "
13341 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13342 #: freeculture.xml:10410
13344 "The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Rehnquist's command, changed that in "
13345 "United States v. Lopez. The government had argued that possessing guns near "
13346 "schools affected interstate commerce. Guns near schools increase crime, "
13347 "crime lowers property values, and so on. In the oral argument, the Chief "
13348 "Justice asked the government whether there was any activity that would not "
13349 "affect interstate commerce under the reasoning the government advanced. The "
13350 "government said there was not; if Congress says an activity affects "
13351 "interstate commerce, then that activity affects interstate commerce. The "
13352 "Supreme Court, the government said, was not in the position to second-guess "
13357 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13358 #: freeculture.xml:10426
13359 msgid "United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549, 564 (1995)."
13363 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13364 #: freeculture.xml:10432
13365 msgid "United States v. Morrison, 529 U.S. 598 (2000)."
13368 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13369 #: freeculture.xml:10423
13371 "\"We pause to consider the implications of the government's arguments,\" the "
13372 "Chief Justice wrote.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> If anything "
13373 "Congress says is interstate commerce must therefore be considered interstate "
13374 "commerce, then there would be no limit to Congress's power. The decision in "
13375 "Lopez was reaffirmed five years later in United States "
13376 "v. Morrison.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
13380 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13381 #: freeculture.xml:10439
13383 "If it is a principle about enumerated powers, then the principle carries "
13384 "from one enumerated power to another. The animating point in the context of "
13385 "the Commerce Clause was that the interpretation offered by the government "
13386 "would allow the government unending power to regulate commerce—the "
13387 "limitation to interstate commerce notwithstanding. The same point is true in "
13388 "the context of the Copyright Clause. Here, too, the government's "
13389 "interpretation would allow the government unending power to regulate "
13390 "copyrights—the limitation to \"limited times\" notwithstanding."
13394 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13395 #: freeculture.xml:10437
13397 "If a principle were at work here, then it should apply to the Progress "
13398 "Clause as much as the Commerce Clause.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13399 "id=\"0\"/> And if it is applied to the Progress Clause, the principle should "
13400 "yield the conclusion that Congress can't extend an existing term. If "
13401 "Congress could extend an existing term, then there would be no \"stopping "
13402 "point\" to Congress's power over terms, though the Constitution expressly "
13403 "states that there is such a limit. Thus, the same principle applied to the "
13404 "power to grant copyrights should entail that Congress is not allowed to "
13405 "extend the term of existing copyrights."
13408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13409 #: freeculture.xml:10463
13411 "If, that is, the principle announced in Lopez stood for a principle. Many "
13412 "believed the decision in Lopez stood for politics—a conservative "
13413 "Supreme Court, which believed in states' rights, using its power over "
13414 "Congress to advance its own personal political preferences. But I rejected "
13415 "that view of the Supreme Court's decision. Indeed, shortly after the "
13416 "decision, I wrote an article demonstrating the \"fidelity\" in such an "
13417 "interpretation of the Constitution. The idea that the Supreme Court decides "
13418 "cases based upon its politics struck me as extraordinarily boring. I was "
13419 "not going to devote my life to teaching constitutional law if these nine "
13420 "Justices were going to be petty politicians."
13423 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13424 #: freeculture.xml:10477
13426 "Now let's pause for a moment to make sure we understand what the argument in "
13427 "Eldred was not about. By insisting on the Constitution's limits to "
13428 "copyright, obviously Eldred was not endorsing piracy. Indeed, in an obvious "
13429 "sense, he was fighting a kind of piracy—piracy of the public "
13430 "domain. When Robert Frost wrote his work and when Walt Disney created Mickey "
13431 "Mouse, the maximum copyright term was just fifty-six years. Because of "
13432 "interim changes, Frost and Disney had already enjoyed a seventy-five-year "
13433 "monopoly for their work. They had gotten the benefit of the bargain that the "
13434 "Constitution envisions: In exchange for a monopoly protected for fifty-six "
13435 "years, they created new work. But now these entities were using their "
13436 "power—expressed through the power of lobbyists' money—to get "
13437 "another twenty-year dollop of monopoly. That twenty-year dollop would be "
13438 "taken from the public domain. Eric Eldred was fighting a piracy that affects "
13443 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13444 #: freeculture.xml:10500
13446 "Brief of the Nashville Songwriters Association, Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 "
13447 "U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01-618), n.10, available at <ulink "
13448 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #51</ulink>."
13451 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13452 #: freeculture.xml:10495
13454 "Some people view the public domain with contempt. In their brief before the "
13455 "Supreme Court, the Nashville Songwriters Association wrote that the public "
13456 "domain is nothing more than \"legal piracy.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13457 "id=\"0\"/> But it is not piracy when the law allows it; and in our "
13458 "constitutional system, our law requires it. Some may not like the "
13459 "Constitution's requirements, but that doesn't make the Constitution a "
13460 "pirate's charter."
13463 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13464 #: freeculture.xml:10510
13466 "As we've seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a "
13467 "way to assure that copyright holders do not too heavily influence the "
13468 "development and distribution of our culture. Yet, as Eric Eldred discovered, "
13469 "we have set up a system that assures that copyright terms will be repeatedly "
13470 "extended, and extended, and extended. We have created the perfect storm for "
13471 "the public domain. Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long "
13472 "as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again."
13475 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13476 #: freeculture.xml:10522
13478 "It is valuable copyrights that are responsible for terms being extended. "
13479 "Mickey Mouse and \"Rhapsody in Blue.\" These works are too valuable for "
13480 "copyright owners to ignore. But the real harm to our society from copyright "
13481 "extensions is not that Mickey Mouse remains Disney's. Forget Mickey "
13482 "Mouse. Forget Robert Frost. Forget all the works from the 1920s and 1930s "
13483 "that have continuing commercial value. The real harm of term extension comes "
13484 "not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are not "
13485 "famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result."
13489 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13490 #: freeculture.xml:10543
13492 "The figure of 2 percent is an extrapolation from the study by the "
13493 "Congressional Research Service, in light of the estimated renewal "
13494 "ranges. See Brief of Petitioners, Eldred v. Ashcroft, 7, available at <ulink "
13495 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #52</ulink>."
13498 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13499 #: freeculture.xml:10537
13501 "If you look at the work created in the first twenty years (1923 to 1942) "
13502 "affected by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, 2 percent of that "
13503 "work has any continuing commercial value. It was the copyright holders for "
13504 "that 2 percent who pushed the CTEA through. But the law and its effect were "
13505 "not limited to that 2 percent. The law extended the terms of copyright "
13506 "generally.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13510 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13511 #: freeculture.xml:10552
13513 "Think practically about the consequence of this extension—practically, "
13514 "as a businessperson, and not as a lawyer eager for more legal work. In 1930, "
13515 "10,047 books were published. In 2000, 174 of those books were still in "
13516 "print. Let's say you were Brewster Kahle, and you wanted to make available "
13517 "to the world in your iArchive project the remaining 9,873. What would you "
13521 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13522 #: freeculture.xml:10564
13524 "Well, first, you'd have to determine which of the 9,873 books were still "
13525 "under copyright. That requires going to a library (these data are not "
13526 "on-line) and paging through tomes of books, cross-checking the titles and "
13527 "authors of the 9,873 books with the copyright registration and renewal "
13528 "records for works published in 1930. That will produce a list of books still "
13532 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13533 #: freeculture.xml:10572
13535 "Then for the books still under copyright, you would need to locate the "
13536 "current copyright owners. How would you do that?"
13539 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13540 #: freeculture.xml:10576
13542 "Most people think that there must be a list of these copyright owners "
13543 "somewhere. Practical people think this way. How could there be thousands and "
13544 "thousands of government monopolies without there being at least a list?"
13547 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13548 #: freeculture.xml:10583
13550 "But there is no list. There may be a name from 1930, and then in 1959, of "
13551 "the person who registered the copyright. But just think practically about "
13552 "how impossibly difficult it would be to track down thousands of such "
13553 "records—especially since the person who registered is not necessarily "
13554 "the current owner. And we're just talking about 1930!"
13557 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13558 #: freeculture.xml:10592
13560 "\"But there isn't a list of who owns property generally,\" the apologists "
13561 "for the system respond. \"Why should there be a list of copyright owners?\""
13564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13565 #: freeculture.xml:10598
13567 "Well, actually, if you think about it, there are plenty of lists of who owns "
13568 "what property. Think about deeds on houses, or titles to cars. And where "
13569 "there isn't a list, the code of real space is pretty good at suggesting who "
13570 "the owner of a bit of property is. (A swing set in your backyard is probably "
13571 "yours.) So formally or informally, we have a pretty good way to know who "
13572 "owns what tangible property."
13576 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13577 #: freeculture.xml:10607
13579 "So: You walk down a street and see a house. You can know who owns the house "
13580 "by looking it up in the courthouse registry. If you see a car, there is "
13581 "ordinarily a license plate that will link the owner to the car. If you see a "
13582 "bunch of children's toys sitting on the front lawn of a house, it's fairly "
13583 "easy to determine who owns the toys. And if you happen to see a baseball "
13584 "lying in a gutter on the side of the road, look around for a second for some "
13585 "kids playing ball. If you don't see any kids, then okay: Here's a bit of "
13586 "property whose owner we can't easily determine. It is the exception that "
13587 "proves the rule: that we ordinarily know quite well who owns what property."
13590 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13591 #: freeculture.xml:10622
13593 "Compare this story to intangible property. You go into a library. The "
13594 "library owns the books. But who owns the copyrights? As I've already "
13595 "described, there's no list of copyright owners. There are authors' names, of "
13596 "course, but their copyrights could have been assigned, or passed down in an "
13597 "estate like Grandma's old jewelry. To know who owns what, you would have to "
13598 "hire a private detective. The bottom line: The owner cannot easily be "
13599 "located. And in a regime like ours, in which it is a felony to use such "
13600 "property without the property owner's permission, the property isn't going "
13604 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13605 #: freeculture.xml:10634
13607 "The consequence with respect to old books is that they won't be digitized, "
13608 "and hence will simply rot away on shelves. But the consequence for other "
13609 "creative works is much more dire."
13612 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
13613 #: freeculture.xml:10639
13614 msgid "Agee, Michael"
13618 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13619 #: freeculture.xml:10652
13621 "See David G. Savage, \"High Court Scene of Showdown on Copyright Law,\" Los "
13622 "Angeles Times, 6 October 2002; David Streitfeld, \"Classic Movies, Songs, "
13623 "Books at Stake; Supreme Court Hears Arguments Today on Striking Down "
13624 "Copyright Extension,\" Orlando Sentinel Tribune, 9 October 2002."
13627 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13628 #: freeculture.xml:10641
13630 "Consider the story of Michael Agee, chairman of Hal Roach Studios, which "
13631 "owns the copyrights for the Laurel and Hardy films. Agee is a direct "
13632 "beneficiary of the Bono Act. The Laurel and Hardy films were made between "
13633 "1921 and 1951. Only one of these films, The Lucky Dog, is currently out of "
13634 "copyright. But for the CTEA, films made after 1923 would have begun entering "
13635 "the public domain. Because Agee controls the exclusive rights for these "
13636 "popular films, he makes a great deal of money. According to one estimate, "
13637 "\"Roach has sold about 60,000 videocassettes and 50,000 DVDs of the duo's "
13638 "silent films.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13641 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13642 #: freeculture.xml:10660
13644 "Yet Agee opposed the CTEA. His reasons demonstrate a rare virtue in this "
13645 "culture: selflessness. He argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that "
13646 "the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act will, if left standing, destroy "
13647 "a whole generation of American film."
13651 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13652 #: freeculture.xml:10666
13654 "His argument is straightforward. A tiny fraction of this work has any "
13655 "continuing commercial value. The rest—to the extent it survives at "
13656 "all—sits in vaults gathering dust. It may be that some of this work "
13657 "not now commercially valuable will be deemed to be valuable by the owners of "
13658 "the vaults. For this to occur, however, the commercial benefit from the work "
13659 "must exceed the costs of making the work available for distribution."
13663 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13664 #: freeculture.xml:10683
13666 "Brief of Hal Roach Studios and Michael Agee as Amicus Curiae Supporting the "
13667 "Petitoners, Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01- 618), 12. See "
13668 "also Brief of Amicus Curiae filed on behalf of Petitioners by the Internet "
13669 "Archive, Eldred v. Ashcroft, available at <ulink "
13670 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #53</ulink>."
13673 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13674 #: freeculture.xml:10677
13676 "We can't know the benefits, but we do know a lot about the costs. For most "
13677 "of the history of film, the costs of restoring film were very high; digital "
13678 "technology has lowered these costs substantially. While it cost more than "
13679 "$10,000 to restore a ninety-minute black-and-white film in 1993, it can now "
13680 "cost as little as $100 to digitize one hour of mm film.<placeholder "
13681 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13684 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13685 #: freeculture.xml:10693
13687 "Restoration technology is not the only cost, nor the most important. "
13688 "Lawyers, too, are a cost, and increasingly, a very important one. In "
13689 "addition to preserving the film, a distributor needs to secure the rights. "
13690 "And to secure the rights for a film that is under copyright, you need to "
13691 "locate the copyright owner."
13694 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13695 #: freeculture.xml:10701
13697 "Or more accurately, owners. As we've seen, there isn't only a single "
13698 "copyright associated with a film; there are many. There isn't a single "
13699 "person whom you can contact about those copyrights; there are as many as can "
13700 "hold the rights, which turns out to be an extremely large number. Thus the "
13701 "costs of clearing the rights to these films is exceptionally high."
13704 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13705 #: freeculture.xml:10710
13707 "\"But can't you just restore the film, distribute it, and then pay the "
13708 "copyright owner when she shows up?\" Sure, if you want to commit a "
13709 "felony. And even if you're not worried about committing a felony, when she "
13710 "does show up, she'll have the right to sue you for all the profits you have "
13711 "made. So, if you're successful, you can be fairly confident you'll be "
13712 "getting a call from someone's lawyer. And if you're not successful, you "
13713 "won't make enough to cover the costs of your own lawyer. Either way, you "
13714 "have to talk to a lawyer. And as is too often the case, saying you have to "
13715 "talk to a lawyer is the same as saying you won't make any money."
13719 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13720 #: freeculture.xml:10721
13722 "For some films, the benefit of releasing the film may well exceed these "
13723 "costs. But for the vast majority of them, there is no way the benefit would "
13724 "outweigh the legal costs. Thus, for the vast majority of old films, Agee "
13725 "argued, the film will not be restored and distributed until the copyright "
13729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13730 #: freeculture.xml:10731
13732 "But by the time the copyright for these films expires, the film will have "
13733 "expired. These films were produced on nitrate-based stock, and nitrate stock "
13734 "dissolves over time. They will be gone, and the metal canisters in which "
13735 "they are now stored will be filled with nothing more than dust."
13738 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13739 #: freeculture.xml:10739
13741 "Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has "
13742 "continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a "
13743 "crucially important legal device. For that tiny fraction, the copyright "
13744 "creates incentives to produce and distribute the creative work. For that "
13745 "tiny fraction, the copyright acts as an \"engine of free expression.\""
13748 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13749 #: freeculture.xml:10748
13751 "But even for that tiny fraction, the actual time during which the creative "
13752 "work has a commercial life is extremely short. As I've indicated, most books "
13753 "go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and "
13754 "film. Commercial culture is sharklike. It must keep moving. And when a "
13755 "creative work falls out of favor with the commercial distributors, the "
13756 "commercial life ends."
13759 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13760 #: freeculture.xml:10758
13762 "Yet that doesn't mean the life of the creative work ends. We don't keep "
13763 "libraries of books in order to compete with Barnes & Noble, and we don't "
13764 "have archives of films because we expect people to choose between spending "
13765 "Friday night watching new movies and spending Friday night watching a 1930 "
13766 "news documentary. The noncommercial life of culture is important and "
13767 "valuable—for entertainment but also, and more importantly, for "
13768 "knowledge. To understand who we are, and where we came from, and how we have "
13769 "made the mistakes that we have, we need to have access to this history."
13773 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13774 #: freeculture.xml:10771
13776 "Copyrights in this context do not drive an engine of free expression. In "
13777 "this context, there is no need for an exclusive right. Copyrights in this "
13778 "context do no good."
13781 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13782 #: freeculture.xml:10778
13784 "Yet, for most of our history, they also did little harm. For most of our "
13785 "history, when a work ended its commercial life, there was no "
13786 "copyright-related use that would be inhibited by an exclusive right. When a "
13787 "book went out of print, you could not buy it from a publisher. But you "
13788 "could still buy it from a used book store, and when a used book store sells "
13789 "it, in America, at least, there is no need to pay the copyright owner "
13790 "anything. Thus, the ordinary use of a book after its commercial life ended "
13791 "was a use that was independent of copyright law."
13794 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13795 #: freeculture.xml:10788
13797 "The same was effectively true of film. Because the costs of restoring a "
13798 "film—the real economic costs, not the lawyer costs—were so high, "
13799 "it was never at all feasible to preserve or restore film. Like the remains "
13800 "of a great dinner, when it's over, it's over. Once a film passed out of its "
13801 "commercial life, it may have been archived for a bit, but that was the end "
13802 "of its life so long as the market didn't have more to offer."
13805 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13806 #: freeculture.xml:10797
13808 "In other words, though copyright has been relatively short for most of our "
13809 "history, long copyrights wouldn't have mattered for the works that lost "
13810 "their commercial value. Long copyrights for these works would not have "
13811 "interfered with anything."
13814 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13815 #: freeculture.xml:10803
13816 msgid "But this situation has now changed."
13819 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13820 #: freeculture.xml:10806
13822 "One crucially important consequence of the emergence of digital technologies "
13823 "is to enable the archive that Brewster Kahle dreams of. Digital "
13824 "technologies now make it possible to preserve and give access to all sorts "
13825 "of knowledge. Once a book goes out of print, we can now imagine digitizing "
13826 "it and making it available to everyone, forever. Once a film goes out of "
13827 "distribution, we could digitize it and make it available to everyone, "
13828 "forever. Digital technologies give new life to copyrighted material after it "
13829 "passes out of its commercial life. It is now possible to preserve and assure "
13830 "universal access to this knowledge and culture, whereas before it was not."
13834 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13835 #: freeculture.xml:10819
13837 "And now copyright law does get in the way. Every step of producing this "
13838 "digital archive of our culture infringes on the exclusive right of "
13839 "copyright. To digitize a book is to copy it. To do that requires permission "
13840 "of the copyright owner. The same with music, film, or any other aspect of "
13841 "our culture protected by copyright. The effort to make these things "
13842 "available to history, or to researchers, or to those who just want to "
13843 "explore, is now inhibited by a set of rules that were written for a "
13844 "radically different context."
13847 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13848 #: freeculture.xml:10829
13850 "Here is the core of the harm that comes from extending terms: Now that "
13851 "technology enables us to rebuild the library of Alexandria, the law gets in "
13852 "the way. And it doesn't get in the way for any useful copyright purpose, for "
13853 "the purpose of copyright is to enable the commercial market that spreads "
13854 "culture. No, we are talking about culture after it has lived its commercial "
13855 "life. In this context, copyright is serving no purpose at all related to the "
13856 "spread of knowledge. In this context, copyright is not an engine of free "
13857 "expression. Copyright is a brake."
13860 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13861 #: freeculture.xml:10840
13863 "You may well ask, \"But if digital technologies lower the costs for Brewster "
13864 "Kahle, then they will lower the costs for Random House, too. So won't "
13865 "Random House do as well as Brewster Kahle in spreading culture widely?\""
13868 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13869 #: freeculture.xml:10846
13871 "Maybe. Someday. But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that "
13872 "publishers would be as complete as libraries. If Barnes & Noble offered "
13873 "to lend books from its stores for a low price, would that eliminate the need "
13874 "for libraries? Only if you think that the only role of a library is to serve "
13875 "what \"the market\" would demand. But if you think the role of a library is "
13876 "bigger than this—if you think its role is to archive culture, whether "
13877 "there's a demand for any particular bit of that culture or not—then we "
13878 "can't count on the commercial market to do our library work for us."
13882 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
13883 #: freeculture.xml:10869
13885 "Jason Schultz, \"The Myth of the 1976 Copyright `Chaos' Theory,\" 20 "
13886 "December 2002, available at <ulink "
13887 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #54</ulink>."
13890 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13891 #: freeculture.xml:10857
13893 "I would be the first to agree that it should do as much as it can: We should "
13894 "rely upon the market as much as possible to spread and enable culture. My "
13895 "message is absolutely not antimarket. But where we see the market is not "
13896 "doing the job, then we should allow nonmarket forces the freedom to fill the "
13897 "gaps. As one researcher calculated for American culture, 94 percent of the "
13898 "films, books, and music produced between and 1946 is not commercially "
13899 "available. However much you love the commercial market, if access is a "
13900 "value, then 6 percent is a failure to provide that value.<placeholder "
13901 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13904 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13905 #: freeculture.xml:10876
13907 "In January 1999, we filed a lawsuit on Eric Eldred's behalf in federal "
13908 "district court in Washington, D.C., asking the court to declare the Sonny "
13909 "Bono Copyright Term Extension Act unconstitutional. The two central claims "
13910 "that we made were (1) that extending existing terms violated the "
13911 "Constitution's \"limited Times\" requirement, and (2) that extending terms "
13912 "by another twenty years violated the First Amendment."
13915 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13916 #: freeculture.xml:10884
13918 "The district court dismissed our claims without even hearing an argument. A "
13919 "panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also dismissed our "
13920 "claims, though after hearing an extensive argument. But that decision at "
13921 "least had a dissent, by one of the most conservative judges on that "
13922 "court. That dissent gave our claims life."
13925 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13926 #: freeculture.xml:10891
13928 "Judge David Sentelle said the CTEA violated the requirement that copyrights "
13929 "be for \"limited Times\" only. His argument was as elegant as it was simple: "
13930 "If Congress can extend existing terms, then there is no \"stopping point\" "
13931 "to Congress's power under the Copyright Clause. The power to extend existing "
13932 "terms means Congress is not required to grant terms that are \"limited.\" "
13933 "Thus, Judge Sentelle argued, the court had to interpret the term \"limited "
13934 "Times\" to give it meaning. And the best interpretation, Judge Sentelle "
13935 "argued, would be to deny Congress the power to extend existing terms."
13938 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13939 #: freeculture.xml:10902
13941 "We asked the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as a whole to hear the "
13942 "case. Cases are ordinarily heard in panels of three, except for important "
13943 "cases or cases that raise issues specific to the circuit as a whole, where "
13944 "the court will sit \"en banc\" to hear the case."
13948 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13949 #: freeculture.xml:10908
13951 "The Court of Appeals rejected our request to hear the case en banc. This "
13952 "time, Judge Sentelle was joined by the most liberal member of the "
13953 "D.C. Circuit, Judge David Tatel. Both the most conservative and the most "
13954 "liberal judges in the D.C. Circuit believed Congress had overstepped its "
13958 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13959 #: freeculture.xml:10917
13961 "It was here that most expected Eldred v. Ashcroft would die, for the Supreme "
13962 "Court rarely reviews any decision by a court of appeals. (It hears about one "
13963 "hundred cases a year, out of more than five thousand appeals.) And it "
13964 "practically never reviews a decision that upholds a statute when no other "
13965 "court has yet reviewed the statute."
13968 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13969 #: freeculture.xml:10924
13971 "But in February 2002, the Supreme Court surprised the world by granting our "
13972 "petition to review the D.C. Circuit opinion. Argument was set for October of "
13973 "2002. The summer would be spent writing briefs and preparing for argument."
13976 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13977 #: freeculture.xml:10930
13979 "It is over a year later as I write these words. It is still astonishingly "
13980 "hard. If you know anything at all about this story, you know that we lost "
13981 "the appeal. And if you know something more than just the minimum, you "
13982 "probably think there was no way this case could have been won. After our "
13983 "defeat, I received literally thousands of missives by well-wishers and "
13984 "supporters, thanking me for my work on behalf of this noble but doomed "
13985 "cause. And none from this pile was more significant to me than the e-mail "
13986 "from my client, Eric Eldred."
13989 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
13990 #: freeculture.xml:10940
13992 "But my client and these friends were wrong. This case could have been "
13993 "won. It should have been won. And no matter how hard I try to retell this "
13994 "story to myself, I can never escape believing that my own mistake lost it."
13997 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
13998 #: freeculture.xml:10945 freeculture.xml:10959
13999 msgid "Steward, Geoffrey"
14003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14004 #: freeculture.xml:10947
14006 "The mistake was made early, though it became obvious only at the very "
14007 "end. Our case had been supported from the very beginning by an extraordinary "
14008 "lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, and by the law firm he had moved to, Jones, Day, "
14009 "Reavis and Pogue. Jones Day took a great deal of heat from its "
14010 "copyright-protectionist clients for supporting us. They ignored this "
14011 "pressure (something that few law firms today would ever do), and throughout "
14012 "the case, they gave it everything they could."
14015 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14016 #: freeculture.xml:10957 freeculture.xml:11298 freeculture.xml:11313 freeculture.xml:11407 freeculture.xml:11621 freeculture.xml:11652 freeculture.xml:11740
14020 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14021 #: freeculture.xml:10958
14022 msgid "Bromberg, Dan"
14025 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14026 #: freeculture.xml:10961
14028 "There were three key lawyers on the case from Jones Day. Geoff Stewart was "
14029 "the first, but then Dan Bromberg and Don Ayer became quite "
14030 "involved. Bromberg and Ayer in particular had a common view about how this "
14031 "case would be won: We would only win, they repeatedly told me, if we could "
14032 "make the issue seem \"important\" to the Supreme Court. It had to seem as if "
14033 "dramatic harm were being done to free speech and free culture; otherwise, "
14034 "they would never vote against \"the most powerful media companies in the "
14038 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14039 #: freeculture.xml:10971
14041 "I hate this view of the law. Of course I thought the Sonny Bono Act was a "
14042 "dramatic harm to free speech and free culture. Of course I still think it "
14043 "is. But the idea that the Supreme Court decides the law based on how "
14044 "important they believe the issues are is just wrong. It might be \"right\" "
14045 "as in \"true,\" I thought, but it is \"wrong\" as in \"it just shouldn't be "
14046 "that way.\" As I believed that any faithful interpretation of what the "
14047 "framers of our Constitution did would yield the conclusion that the CTEA was "
14048 "unconstitutional, and as I believed that any faithful interpretation of what "
14049 "the First Amendment means would yield the conclusion that the power to "
14050 "extend existing copyright terms is unconstitutional, I was not persuaded "
14051 "that we had to sell our case like soap. Just as a law that bans the "
14052 "swastika is unconstitutional not because the Court likes Nazis but because "
14053 "such a law would violate the Constitution, so too, in my view, would the "
14054 "Court decide whether Congress's law was constitutional based on the "
14055 "Constitution, not based on whether they liked the values that the framers "
14056 "put in the Constitution."
14059 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14060 #: freeculture.xml:10992
14062 "In any case, I thought, the Court must already see the danger and the harm "
14063 "caused by this sort of law. Why else would they grant review? There was no "
14064 "reason to hear the case in the Supreme Court if they weren't convinced that "
14065 "this regulation was harmful. So in my view, we didn't need to persuade them "
14066 "that this law was bad, we needed to show why it was unconstitutional."
14070 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14071 #: freeculture.xml:11000
14073 "There was one way, however, in which I felt politics would matter and in "
14074 "which I thought a response was appropriate. I was convinced that the Court "
14075 "would not hear our arguments if it thought these were just the arguments of "
14076 "a group of lefty loons. This Supreme Court was not about to launch into a "
14077 "new field of judicial review if it seemed that this field of review was "
14078 "simply the preference of a small political minority. Although my focus in "
14079 "the case was not to demonstrate how bad the Sonny Bono Act was but to "
14080 "demonstrate that it was unconstitutional, my hope was to make this argument "
14081 "against a background of briefs that covered the full range of political "
14082 "views. To show that this claim against the CTEA was grounded in law and not "
14083 "politics, then, we tried to gather the widest range of credible "
14084 "critics—credible not because they were rich and famous, but because "
14085 "they, in the aggregate, demonstrated that this law was unconstitutional "
14086 "regardless of one's politics."
14089 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
14090 #: freeculture.xml:11031 freeculture.xml:11054
14091 msgid "Eagle Forum"
14094 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
14095 #: freeculture.xml:11032
14096 msgid "Schlafly, Phyllis"
14099 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14100 #: freeculture.xml:11019
14102 "The first step happened all by itself. Phyllis Schlafly's organization, "
14103 "Eagle Forum, had been an opponent of the CTEA from the very beginning. "
14104 "Mrs. Schlafly viewed the CTEA as a sellout by Congress. In November 1998, "
14105 "she wrote a stinging editorial attacking the Republican Congress for "
14106 "allowing the law to pass. As she wrote, \"Do you sometimes wonder why bills "
14107 "that create a financial windfall to narrow special interests slide easily "
14108 "through the intricate legislative process, while bills that benefit the "
14109 "general public seem to get bogged down?\" The answer, as the editorial "
14110 "documented, was the power of money. Schlafly enumerated Disney's "
14111 "contributions to the key players on the committees. It was money, not "
14112 "justice, that gave Mickey Mouse twenty more years in Disney's control, "
14113 "Schlafly argued. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
14114 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14117 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14118 #: freeculture.xml:11035
14120 "In the Court of Appeals, Eagle Forum was eager to file a brief supporting "
14121 "our position. Their brief made the argument that became the core claim in "
14122 "the Supreme Court: If Congress can extend the term of existing copyrights, "
14123 "there is no limit to Congress's power to set terms. That strong "
14124 "conservative argument persuaded a strong conservative judge, Judge Sentelle."
14127 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14128 #: freeculture.xml:11043
14130 "In the Supreme Court, the briefs on our side were about as diverse as it "
14131 "gets. They included an extraordinary historical brief by the Free Software "
14132 "Foundation (home of the GNU project that made GNU/ Linux possible). They "
14133 "included a powerful brief about the costs of uncertainty by Intel. There "
14134 "were two law professors' briefs, one by copyright scholars and one by First "
14135 "Amendment scholars. There was an exhaustive and uncontroverted brief by the "
14136 "world's experts in the history of the Progress Clause. And of course, there "
14137 "was a new brief by Eagle Forum, repeating and strengthening its arguments. "
14138 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
14141 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14142 #: freeculture.xml:11057
14144 "Those briefs framed a legal argument. Then to support the legal argument, "
14145 "there were a number of powerful briefs by libraries and archives, including "
14146 "the Internet Archive, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the "
14147 "National Writers Union."
14150 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14151 #: freeculture.xml:11063
14153 "But two briefs captured the policy argument best. One made the argument I've "
14154 "already described: A brief by Hal Roach Studios argued that unless the law "
14155 "was struck, a whole generation of American film would disappear. The other "
14156 "made the economic argument absolutely clear."
14159 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14160 #: freeculture.xml:11069
14161 msgid "Akerlof, George"
14164 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14165 #: freeculture.xml:11070
14166 msgid "Arrow, Kenneth"
14169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14170 #: freeculture.xml:11071
14171 msgid "Buchanan, James"
14174 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14175 #: freeculture.xml:11072
14176 msgid "Coase, Ronald"
14179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14180 #: freeculture.xml:11073
14181 msgid "Friedman, Milton"
14184 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14185 #: freeculture.xml:11075
14187 "This economists' brief was signed by seventeen economists, including five "
14188 "Nobel Prize winners, including Ronald Coase, James Buchanan, Milton "
14189 "Friedman, Kenneth Arrow, and George Akerlof. The economists, as the list of "
14190 "Nobel winners demonstrates, spanned the political spectrum. Their "
14191 "conclusions were powerful: There was no plausible claim that extending the "
14192 "terms of existing copyrights would do anything to increase incentives to "
14193 "create. Such extensions were nothing more than \"rent-seeking\"—the "
14194 "fancy term economists use to describe special-interest legislation gone "
14198 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
14199 #: freeculture.xml:11098 freeculture.xml:11111 freeculture.xml:11304 freeculture.xml:11657
14200 msgid "Fried, Charles"
14203 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14204 #: freeculture.xml:11086
14206 "The same effort at balance was reflected in the legal team we gathered to "
14207 "write our briefs in the case. The Jones Day lawyers had been with us from "
14208 "the start. But when the case got to the Supreme Court, we added three "
14209 "lawyers to help us frame this argument to this Court: Alan Morrison, a "
14210 "lawyer from Public Citizen, a Washington group that had made constitutional "
14211 "history with a series of seminal victories in the Supreme Court defending "
14212 "individual rights; my colleague and dean, Kathleen Sullivan, who had argued "
14213 "many cases in the Court, and who had advised us early on about a First "
14214 "Amendment strategy; and finally, former solicitor general Charles Fried. "
14215 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
14218 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14219 #: freeculture.xml:11101
14221 "Fried was a special victory for our side. Every other former solicitor "
14222 "general was hired by the other side to defend Congress's power to give media "
14223 "companies the special favor of extended copyright terms. Fried was the only "
14224 "one who turned down that lucrative assignment to stand up for something he "
14225 "believed in. He had been Ronald Reagan's chief lawyer in the Supreme "
14226 "Court. He had helped craft the line of cases that limited Congress's power "
14227 "in the context of the Commerce Clause. And while he had argued many "
14228 "positions in the Supreme Court that I personally disagreed with, his joining "
14229 "the cause was a vote of confidence in our argument. <placeholder "
14230 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
14233 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14234 #: freeculture.xml:11114
14236 "The government, in defending the statute, had its collection of friends, as "
14237 "well. Significantly, however, none of these \"friends\" included historians "
14238 "or economists. The briefs on the other side of the case were written "
14239 "exclusively by major media companies, congressmen, and copyright holders."
14242 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14243 #: freeculture.xml:11121
14245 "The media companies were not surprising. They had the most to gain from the "
14246 "law. The congressmen were not surprising either—they were defending "
14247 "their power and, indirectly, the gravy train of contributions such power "
14248 "induced. And of course it was not surprising that the copyright holders "
14249 "would defend the idea that they should continue to have the right to control "
14250 "who did what with content they wanted to control."
14254 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
14255 #: freeculture.xml:11137
14257 "Brief of Amici Dr. Seuss Enterprise et al., Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. "
14258 "(2003) (No. 01-618), 19."
14262 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
14263 #: freeculture.xml:11145
14265 "Dinitia Smith, \"Immortal Words, Immortal Royalties? Even Mickey Mouse Joins "
14266 "the Fray,\" New York Times, 28 March 1998, B7."
14269 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
14270 #: freeculture.xml:11152
14271 msgid "Gershwin, George"
14274 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14275 #: freeculture.xml:11130
14277 "Dr. Seuss's representatives, for example, argued that it was better for the "
14278 "Dr. Seuss estate to control what happened to Dr. Seuss's work— better "
14279 "than allowing it to fall into the public domain—because if this "
14280 "creativity were in the public domain, then people could use it to \"glorify "
14281 "drugs or to create pornography.\"<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
14282 "That was also the motive of the Gershwin estate, which defended its "
14283 "\"protection\" of the work of George Gershwin. They refuse, for example, to "
14284 "license Porgy and Bess to anyone who refuses to use African Americans in the "
14285 "cast.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> That's their view of how this "
14286 "part of American culture should be controlled, and they wanted this law to "
14287 "help them effect that control. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
14290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14291 #: freeculture.xml:11155
14293 "This argument made clear a theme that is rarely noticed in this debate. "
14294 "When Congress decides to extend the term of existing copyrights, Congress is "
14295 "making a choice about which speakers it will favor. Famous and beloved "
14296 "copyright owners, such as the Gershwin estate and Dr. Seuss, come to "
14297 "Congress and say, \"Give us twenty years to control the speech about these "
14298 "icons of American culture. We'll do better with them than anyone else.\" "
14299 "Congress of course likes to reward the popular and famous by giving them "
14300 "what they want. But when Congress gives people an exclusive right to speak "
14301 "in a certain way, that's just what the First Amendment is traditionally "
14305 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14306 #: freeculture.xml:11167
14308 "We argued as much in a final brief. Not only would upholding the CTEA mean "
14309 "that there was no limit to the power of Congress to extend "
14310 "copyrights—extensions that would further concentrate the market; it "
14311 "would also mean that there was no limit to Congress's power to play "
14312 "favorites, through copyright, with who has the right to speak. Between "
14313 "February and October, there was little I did beyond preparing for this "
14314 "case. Early on, as I said, I set the strategy."
14317 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14318 #: freeculture.xml:11176
14320 "The Supreme Court was divided into two important camps. One camp we called "
14321 "\"the Conservatives.\" The other we called \"the Rest.\" The Conservatives "
14322 "included Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice O'Connor, Justice Scalia, Justice "
14323 "Kennedy, and Justice Thomas. These five had been the most consistent in "
14324 "limiting Congress's power. They were the five who had supported the "
14325 "Lopez/Morrison line of cases that said that an enumerated power had to be "
14326 "interpreted to assure that Congress's powers had limits."
14329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
14330 #: freeculture.xml:11185 freeculture.xml:11209 freeculture.xml:11550 freeculture.xml:11562
14331 msgid "Breyer, Stephen"
14335 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14336 #: freeculture.xml:11187
14338 "The Rest were the four Justices who had strongly opposed limits on "
14339 "Congress's power. These four—Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice "
14340 "Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer—had repeatedly argued that the "
14341 "Constitution gives Congress broad discretion to decide how best to implement "
14342 "its powers. In case after case, these justices had argued that the Court's "
14343 "role should be one of deference. Though the votes of these four justices "
14344 "were the votes that I personally had most consistently agreed with, they "
14345 "were also the votes that we were least likely to get."
14348 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14349 #: freeculture.xml:11199
14351 "In particular, the least likely was Justice Ginsburg's. In addition to her "
14352 "general view about deference to Congress (except where issues of gender are "
14353 "involved), she had been particularly deferential in the context of "
14354 "intellectual property protections. She and her daughter (an excellent and "
14355 "well-known intellectual property scholar) were cut from the same "
14356 "intellectual property cloth. We expected she would agree with the writings "
14357 "of her daughter: that Congress had the power in this context to do as it "
14358 "wished, even if what Congress wished made little sense."
14361 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14362 #: freeculture.xml:11211
14364 "Close behind Justice Ginsburg were two justices whom we also viewed as "
14365 "unlikely allies, though possible surprises. Justice Souter strongly favored "
14366 "deference to Congress, as did Justice Breyer. But both were also very "
14367 "sensitive to free speech concerns. And as we strongly believed, there was a "
14368 "very important free speech argument against these retrospective extensions."
14371 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14372 #: freeculture.xml:11219
14374 "The only vote we could be confident about was that of Justice "
14375 "Stevens. History will record Justice Stevens as one of the greatest judges "
14376 "on this Court. His votes are consistently eclectic, which just means that no "
14377 "simple ideology explains where he will stand. But he had consistently argued "
14378 "for limits in the context of intellectual property generally. We were fairly "
14379 "confident he would recognize limits here."
14382 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14383 #: freeculture.xml:11227
14385 "This analysis of \"the Rest\" showed most clearly where our focus had to be: "
14386 "on the Conservatives. To win this case, we had to crack open these five and "
14387 "get at least a majority to go our way. Thus, the single overriding argument "
14388 "that animated our claim rested on the Conservatives' most important "
14389 "jurisprudential innovation—the argument that Judge Sentelle had relied "
14390 "upon in the Court of Appeals, that Congress's power must be interpreted so "
14391 "that its enumerated powers have limits."
14395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14396 #: freeculture.xml:11237
14398 "This then was the core of our strategy—a strategy for which I am "
14399 "responsible. We would get the Court to see that just as with the Lopez case, "
14400 "under the government's argument here, Congress would always have unlimited "
14401 "power to extend existing terms. If anything was plain about Congress's power "
14402 "under the Progress Clause, it was that this power was supposed to be "
14403 "\"limited.\" Our aim would be to get the Court to reconcile Eldred with "
14404 "Lopez: If Congress's power to regulate commerce was limited, then so, too, "
14405 "must Congress's power to regulate copyright be limited."
14408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14409 #: freeculture.xml:11250
14411 "The argument on the government's side came down to this: Congress has done "
14412 "it before. It should be allowed to do it again. The government claimed that "
14413 "from the very beginning, Congress has been extending the term of existing "
14414 "copyrights. So, the government argued, the Court should not now say that "
14415 "practice is unconstitutional."
14418 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14419 #: freeculture.xml:11259
14421 "There was some truth to the government's claim, but not much. We certainly "
14422 "agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in and in 1909. And of "
14423 "course, in 1962, Congress began extending existing terms "
14424 "regularly—eleven times in forty years."
14428 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14429 #: freeculture.xml:11266
14431 "But this \"consistency\" should be kept in perspective. Congress extended "
14432 "existing terms once in the first hundred years of the Republic. It then "
14433 "extended existing terms once again in the next fifty. Those rare extensions "
14434 "are in contrast to the now regular practice of extending existing "
14435 "terms. Whatever restraint Congress had had in the past, that restraint was "
14436 "now gone. Congress was now in a cycle of extensions; there was no reason to "
14437 "expect that cycle would end. This Court had not hesitated to intervene where "
14438 "Congress was in a similar cycle of extension. There was no reason it "
14439 "couldn't intervene here. Oral argument was scheduled for the first week in "
14440 "October. I arrived in D.C. two weeks before the argument. During those two "
14441 "weeks, I was repeatedly \"mooted\" by lawyers who had volunteered to help in "
14442 "the case. Such \"moots\" are basically practice rounds, where wannabe "
14443 "justices fire questions at wannabe winners."
14446 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14447 #: freeculture.xml:11289
14449 "I was convinced that to win, I had to keep the Court focused on a single "
14450 "point: that if this extension is permitted, then there is no limit to the "
14451 "power to set terms. Going with the government would mean that terms would be "
14452 "effectively unlimited; going with us would give Congress a clear line to "
14453 "follow: Don't extend existing terms. The moots were an effective practice; I "
14454 "found ways to take every question back to this central idea."
14457 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14458 #: freeculture.xml:11300
14460 "One moot was before the lawyers at Jones Day. Don Ayer was the skeptic. He "
14461 "had served in the Reagan Justice Department with Solicitor General Charles "
14462 "Fried. He had argued many cases before the Supreme Court. And in his review "
14463 "of the moot, he let his concern speak: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14467 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14468 #: freeculture.xml:11307
14470 "\"I'm just afraid that unless they really see the harm, they won't be "
14471 "willing to upset this practice that the government says has been a "
14472 "consistent practice for two hundred years. You have to make them see the "
14473 "harm—passionately get them to see the harm. For if they don't see "
14474 "that, then we haven't any chance of winning.\""
14478 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14479 #: freeculture.xml:11315
14481 "He may have argued many cases before this Court, I thought, but he didn't "
14482 "understand its soul. As a clerk, I had seen the Justices do the right "
14483 "thing—not because of politics but because it was right. As a law "
14484 "professor, I had spent my life teaching my students that this Court does the "
14485 "right thing—not because of politics but because it is right. As I "
14486 "listened to Ayer's plea for passion in pressing politics, I understood his "
14487 "point, and I rejected it. Our argument was right. That was enough. Let the "
14488 "politicians learn to see that it was also good. The night before the "
14489 "argument, a line of people began to form in front of the Supreme Court. The "
14490 "case had become a focus of the press and of the movement to free "
14491 "culture. Hundreds stood in line for the chance to see the "
14492 "proceedings. Scores spent the night on the Supreme Court steps so that they "
14493 "would be assured a seat."
14496 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14497 #: freeculture.xml:11332
14499 "Not everyone has to wait in line. People who know the Justices can ask for "
14500 "seats they control. (I asked Justice Scalia's chambers for seats for my "
14501 "parents, for example.) Members of the Supreme Court bar can get a seat in a "
14502 "special section reserved for them. And senators and congressmen have a "
14503 "special place where they get to sit, too. And finally, of course, the press "
14504 "has a gallery, as do clerks working for the Justices on the Court. As we "
14505 "entered that morning, there was no place that was not taken. This was an "
14506 "argument about intellectual property law, yet the halls were filled. As I "
14507 "walked in to take my seat at the front of the Court, I saw my parents "
14508 "sitting on the left. As I sat down at the table, I saw Jack Valenti sitting "
14509 "in the special section ordinarily reserved for family of the Justices."
14512 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14513 #: freeculture.xml:11347
14515 "When the Chief Justice called me to begin my argument, I began where I "
14516 "intended to stay: on the question of the limits on Congress's power. This "
14517 "was a case about enumerated powers, I said, and whether those enumerated "
14518 "powers had any limit."
14521 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14522 #: freeculture.xml:11353
14524 "Justice O'Connor stopped me within one minute of my opening. The history "
14525 "was bothering her."
14528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14529 #: freeculture.xml:11358
14531 "justice o'connor: Congress has extended the term so often through the years, "
14532 "and if you are right, don't we run the risk of upsetting previous extensions "
14533 "of time? I mean, this seems to be a practice that began with the very first "
14537 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14538 #: freeculture.xml:11365
14540 "She was quite willing to concede \"that this flies directly in the face of "
14541 "what the framers had in mind.\" But my response again and again was to "
14542 "emphasize limits on Congress's power."
14546 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14547 #: freeculture.xml:11371
14549 "mr. lessig: Well, if it flies in the face of what the framers had in mind, "
14550 "then the question is, is there a way of interpreting their words that gives "
14551 "effect to what they had in mind, and the answer is yes."
14554 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14555 #: freeculture.xml:11379
14557 "There were two points in this argument when I should have seen where the "
14558 "Court was going. The first was a question by Justice Kennedy, who observed,"
14561 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14562 #: freeculture.xml:11385
14564 "justice kennedy: Well, I suppose implicit in the argument that the '76 act, "
14565 "too, should have been declared void, and that we might leave it alone "
14566 "because of the disruption, is that for all these years the act has impeded "
14567 "progress in science and the useful arts. I just don't see any empirical "
14568 "evidence for that."
14571 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14572 #: freeculture.xml:11393
14574 "Here follows my clear mistake. Like a professor correcting a student, I "
14578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14579 #: freeculture.xml:11399
14581 "mr. lessig: Justice, we are not making an empirical claim at all. Nothing "
14582 "in our Copyright Clause claim hangs upon the empirical assertion about "
14583 "impeding progress. Our only argument is this is a structural limit necessary "
14584 "to assure that what would be an effectively perpetual term not be permitted "
14585 "under the copyright laws."
14588 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14589 #: freeculture.xml:11409
14591 "That was a correct answer, but it wasn't the right answer. The right answer "
14592 "was instead that there was an obvious and profound harm. Any number of "
14593 "briefs had been written about it. He wanted to hear it. And here was the "
14594 "place Don Ayer's advice should have mattered. This was a softball; my answer "
14595 "was a swing and a miss."
14598 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14599 #: freeculture.xml:11416
14601 "The second came from the Chief, for whom the whole case had been "
14602 "crafted. For the Chief Justice had crafted the Lopez ruling, and we hoped "
14603 "that he would see this case as its second cousin."
14607 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14608 #: freeculture.xml:11421
14610 "It was clear a second into his question that he wasn't at all sympathetic. "
14611 "To him, we were a bunch of anarchists. As he asked:"
14614 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14615 #: freeculture.xml:11429
14617 "chief justice: Well, but you want more than that. You want the right to copy "
14618 "verbatim other people's books, don't you?"
14621 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14622 #: freeculture.xml:11433
14624 "mr. lessig: We want the right to copy verbatim works that should be in the "
14625 "public domain and would be in the public domain but for a statute that "
14626 "cannot be justified under ordinary First Amendment analysis or under a "
14627 "proper reading of the limits built into the Copyright Clause."
14630 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14631 #: freeculture.xml:11442
14633 "Things went better for us when the government gave its argument; for now the "
14634 "Court picked up on the core of our claim. As Justice Scalia asked Solicitor "
14638 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14639 #: freeculture.xml:11448
14641 "justice scalia: You say that the functional equivalent of an unlimited time "
14642 "would be a violation [of the Constitution], but that's precisely the "
14643 "argument that's being made by petitioners here, that a limited time which is "
14644 "extendable is the functional equivalent of an unlimited time."
14647 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14648 #: freeculture.xml:11456
14650 "When Olson was finished, it was my turn to give a closing rebuttal. Olson's "
14651 "flailing had revived my anger. But my anger still was directed to the "
14652 "academic, not the practical. The government was arguing as if this were the "
14653 "first case ever to consider limits on Congress's Copyright and Patent Clause "
14654 "power. Ever the professor and not the advocate, I closed by pointing out the "
14655 "long history of the Court imposing limits on Congress's power in the name of "
14656 "the Copyright and Patent Clause— indeed, the very first case striking "
14657 "a law of Congress as exceeding a specific enumerated power was based upon "
14658 "the Copyright and Patent Clause. All true. But it wasn't going to move the "
14659 "Court to my side."
14663 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14664 #: freeculture.xml:11469
14666 "As I left the court that day, I knew there were a hundred points I wished I "
14667 "could remake. There were a hundred questions I wished I had answered "
14668 "differently. But one way of thinking about this case left me optimistic."
14671 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14672 #: freeculture.xml:11477
14674 "The government had been asked over and over again, what is the limit? Over "
14675 "and over again, it had answered there is no limit. This was precisely the "
14676 "answer I wanted the Court to hear. For I could not imagine how the Court "
14677 "could understand that the government believed Congress's power was unlimited "
14678 "under the terms of the Copyright Clause, and sustain the government's "
14679 "argument. The solicitor general had made my argument for me. No matter how "
14680 "often I tried, I could not understand how the Court could find that "
14681 "Congress's power under the Commerce Clause was limited, but under the "
14682 "Copyright Clause, unlimited. In those rare moments when I let myself believe "
14683 "that we may have prevailed, it was because I felt this Court—in "
14684 "particular, the Conservatives—would feel itself constrained by the "
14685 "rule of law that it had established elsewhere."
14688 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14689 #: freeculture.xml:11492
14691 "The morning of January 15, 2003, I was five minutes late to the office and "
14692 "missed the 7:00 A.M. call from the Supreme Court clerk. Listening to the "
14693 "message, I could tell in an instant that she had bad news to report.The "
14694 "Supreme Court had affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Seven "
14695 "justices had voted in the majority. There were two dissents."
14698 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14699 #: freeculture.xml:11499
14701 "A few seconds later, the opinions arrived by e-mail. I took the phone off "
14702 "the hook, posted an announcement to our blog, and sat down to see where I "
14703 "had been wrong in my reasoning."
14706 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14707 #: freeculture.xml:11504
14709 "My reasoning. Here was a case that pitted all the money in the world against "
14710 "reasoning. And here was the last naïve law professor, scouring the pages, "
14711 "looking for reasoning."
14714 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14715 #: freeculture.xml:11509
14717 "I first scoured the opinion, looking for how the Court would distinguish the "
14718 "principle in this case from the principle in Lopez. The argument was nowhere "
14719 "to be found. The case was not even cited. The argument that was the core "
14720 "argument of our case did not even appear in the Court's opinion."
14724 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14725 #: freeculture.xml:11518
14727 "Justice Ginsburg simply ignored the enumerated powers argument. Consistent "
14728 "with her view that Congress's power was not limited generally, she had found "
14729 "Congress's power not limited here."
14732 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14733 #: freeculture.xml:11523
14735 "Her opinion was perfectly reasonable—for her, and for Justice "
14736 "Souter. Neither believes in Lopez. It would be too much to expect them to "
14737 "write an opinion that recognized, much less explained, the doctrine they had "
14738 "worked so hard to defeat."
14741 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14742 #: freeculture.xml:11529
14744 "But as I realized what had happened, I couldn't quite believe what I was "
14745 "reading. I had said there was no way this Court could reconcile limited "
14746 "powers with the Commerce Clause and unlimited powers with the Progress "
14747 "Clause. It had never even occurred to me that they could reconcile the two "
14748 "simply by not addressing the argument. There was no inconsistency because "
14749 "they would not talk about the two together. There was therefore no "
14750 "principle that followed from the Lopez case: In that context, Congress's "
14751 "power would be limited, but in this context it would not."
14754 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14755 #: freeculture.xml:11540
14757 "Yet by what right did they get to choose which of the framers' values they "
14758 "would respect? By what right did they—the silent five—get to "
14759 "select the part of the Constitution they would enforce based on the values "
14760 "they thought important? We were right back to the argument that I said I "
14761 "hated at the start: I had failed to convince them that the issue here was "
14762 "important, and I had failed to recognize that however much I might hate a "
14763 "system in which the Court gets to pick the constitutional values that it "
14764 "will respect, that is the system we have."
14767 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14768 #: freeculture.xml:11552
14770 "Justices Breyer and Stevens wrote very strong dissents. Stevens's opinion "
14771 "was crafted internal to the law: He argued that the tradition of "
14772 "intellectual property law should not support this unjustified extension of "
14773 "terms. He based his argument on a parallel analysis that had governed in the "
14774 "context of patents (so had we). But the rest of the Court discounted the "
14775 "parallel—without explaining how the very same words in the Progress "
14776 "Clause could come to mean totally different things depending upon whether "
14777 "the words were about patents or copyrights. The Court let Justice Stevens's "
14778 "charge go unanswered."
14782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14783 #: freeculture.xml:11565
14785 "Justice Breyer's opinion, perhaps the best opinion he has ever written, was "
14786 "external to the Constitution. He argued that the term of copyrights has "
14787 "become so long as to be effectively unlimited. We had said that under the "
14788 "current term, a copyright gave an author 99.8 percent of the value of a "
14789 "perpetual term. Breyer said we were wrong, that the actual number was "
14790 "99.9997 percent of a perpetual term. Either way, the point was clear: If the "
14791 "Constitution said a term had to be \"limited,\" and the existing term was so "
14792 "long as to be effectively unlimited, then it was unconstitutional."
14795 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14796 #: freeculture.xml:11576
14798 "These two justices understood all the arguments we had made. But because "
14799 "neither believed in the Lopez case, neither was willing to push it as a "
14800 "reason to reject this extension. The case was decided without anyone having "
14801 "addressed the argument that we had carried from Judge Sentelle. It was "
14802 "Hamlet without the Prince."
14805 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14806 #: freeculture.xml:11583
14808 "Defeat brings depression. They say it is a sign of health when depression "
14809 "gives way to anger. My anger came quickly, but it didn't cure the "
14810 "depression. This anger was of two sorts."
14813 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14814 #: freeculture.xml:11588
14816 "It was first anger with the five \"Conservatives.\" It would have been one "
14817 "thing for them to have explained why the principle of Lopez didn't apply in "
14818 "this case. That wouldn't have been a very convincing argument, I don't "
14819 "believe, having read it made by others, and having tried to make it "
14820 "myself. But it at least would have been an act of integrity. These justices "
14821 "in particular have repeatedly said that the proper mode of interpreting the "
14822 "Constitution is \"originalism\"—to first understand the framers' text, "
14823 "interpreted in their context, in light of the structure of the "
14824 "Constitution. That method had produced Lopez and many other \"originalist\" "
14825 "rulings. Where was their \"originalism\" now?"
14829 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14830 #: freeculture.xml:11601
14832 "Here, they had joined an opinion that never once tried to explain what the "
14833 "framers had meant by crafting the Progress Clause as they did; they joined "
14834 "an opinion that never once tried to explain how the structure of that clause "
14835 "would affect the interpretation of Congress's power. And they joined an "
14836 "opinion that didn't even try to explain why this grant of power could be "
14837 "unlimited, whereas the Commerce Clause would be limited. In short, they had "
14838 "joined an opinion that did not apply to, and was inconsistent with, their "
14839 "own method for interpreting the Constitution. This opinion may well have "
14840 "yielded a result that they liked. It did not produce a reason that was "
14841 "consistent with their own principles."
14844 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14845 #: freeculture.xml:11616
14847 "My anger with the Conservatives quickly yielded to anger with myself. For I "
14848 "had let a view of the law that I liked interfere with a view of the law as "
14852 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14853 #: freeculture.xml:11623
14855 "Most lawyers, and most law professors, have little patience for idealism "
14856 "about courts in general and this Supreme Court in particular. Most have a "
14857 "much more pragmatic view. When Don Ayer said that this case would be won "
14858 "based on whether I could convince the Justices that the framers' values were "
14859 "important, I fought the idea, because I didn't want to believe that that is "
14860 "how this Court decides. I insisted on arguing this case as if it were a "
14861 "simple application of a set of principles. I had an argument that followed "
14862 "in logic. I didn't need to waste my time showing it should also follow in "
14867 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14868 #: freeculture.xml:11634
14870 "As I read back over the transcript from that argument in October, I can see "
14871 "a hundred places where the answers could have taken the conversation in "
14872 "different directions, where the truth about the harm that this unchecked "
14873 "power will cause could have been made clear to this Court. Justice Kennedy "
14874 "in good faith wanted to be shown. I, idiotically, corrected his "
14875 "question. Justice Souter in good faith wanted to be shown the First "
14876 "Amendment harms. I, like a math teacher, reframed the question to make the "
14877 "logical point. I had shown them how they could strike this law of Congress "
14878 "if they wanted to. There were a hundred places where I could have helped "
14879 "them want to, yet my stubbornness, my refusal to give in, stopped me. I have "
14880 "stood before hundreds of audiences trying to persuade; I have used passion "
14881 "in that effort to persuade; but I refused to stand before this audience and "
14882 "try to persuade with the passion I had used elsewhere. It was not the basis "
14883 "on which a court should decide the issue."
14886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14887 #: freeculture.xml:11654
14889 "Would it have been different if I had argued it differently? Would it have "
14890 "been different if Don Ayer had argued it? Or Charles Fried? Or Kathleen "
14891 "Sullivan? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
14894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14895 #: freeculture.xml:11660
14897 "My friends huddled around me to insist it would not. The Court was not "
14898 "ready, my friends insisted. This was a loss that was destined. It would take "
14899 "a great deal more to show our society why our framers were right. And when "
14900 "we do that, we will be able to show that Court."
14903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14904 #: freeculture.xml:11666
14906 "Maybe, but I doubt it. These Justices have no financial interest in doing "
14907 "anything except the right thing. They are not lobbied. They have little "
14908 "reason to resist doing right. I can't help but think that if I had stepped "
14909 "down from this pretty picture of dispassionate justice, I could have "
14913 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14914 #: freeculture.xml:11673
14916 "And even if I couldn't, then that doesn't excuse what happened in "
14917 "January. For at the start of this case, one of America's leading "
14918 "intellectual property professors stated publicly that my bringing this case "
14919 "was a mistake. \"The Court is not ready,\" Peter Jaszi said; this issue "
14920 "should not be raised until it is. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
14925 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14926 #: freeculture.xml:11681
14928 "After the argument and after the decision, Peter said to me, and publicly, "
14929 "that he was wrong. But if indeed that Court could not have been persuaded, "
14930 "then that is all the evidence that's needed to know that here again Peter "
14931 "was right. Either I was not ready to argue this case in a way that would do "
14932 "some good or they were not ready to hear this case in a way that would do "
14933 "some good. Either way, the decision to bring this case—a decision I "
14934 "had made four years before—was wrong. While the reaction to the Sonny "
14935 "Bono Act itself was almost unanimously negative, the reaction to the Court's "
14936 "decision was mixed. No one, at least in the press, tried to say that "
14937 "extending the term of copyright was a good idea. We had won that battle over "
14938 "ideas. Where the decision was praised, it was praised by papers that had "
14939 "been skeptical of the Court's activism in other cases. Deference was a good "
14940 "thing, even if it left standing a silly law. But where the decision was "
14941 "attacked, it was attacked because it left standing a silly and harmful "
14942 "law. The New York Times wrote in its editorial,"
14945 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><blockquote><para>
14946 #: freeculture.xml:11702
14948 "In effect, the Supreme Court's decision makes it likely that we are seeing "
14949 "the beginning of the end of public domain and the birth of copyright "
14950 "perpetuity. The public domain has been a grand experiment, one that should "
14951 "not be allowed to die. The ability to draw freely on the entire creative "
14952 "output of humanity is one of the reasons we live in a time of such fruitful "
14953 "creative ferment."
14956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><indexterm><primary>
14957 #: freeculture.xml:11716
14958 msgid "Bolling, Ruben"
14961 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14962 #: freeculture.xml:11711
14964 "The best responses were in the cartoons. There was a gaggle of hilarious "
14965 "images—of Mickey in jail and the like. The best, from my view of the "
14966 "case, was Ruben Bolling's, reproduced on the next page. The \"powerful and "
14967 "wealthy\" line is a bit unfair. But the punch in the face felt exactly like "
14968 "that. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
14971 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14972 #: freeculture.xml:11719
14974 "The image that will always stick in my head is that evoked by the quote from "
14975 "The New York Times. That \"grand experiment\" we call the \"public domain\" "
14976 "is over? When I can make light of it, I think, \"Honey, I shrunk the "
14977 "Constitution.\" But I can rarely make light of it. We had in our "
14978 "Constitution a commitment to free culture. In the case that I fathered, the "
14979 "Supreme Court effectively renounced that commitment. A better lawyer would "
14980 "have made them see differently."
14983 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
14984 #: freeculture.xml:11730
14985 msgid "CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Eldred II"
14988 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
14989 #: freeculture.xml:11732
14991 "The day Eldred was decided, fate would have it that I was to travel to "
14992 "Washington, D.C. (The day the rehearing petition in Eldred was "
14993 "denied—meaning the case was really finally over—fate would have "
14994 "it that I was giving a speech to technologists at Disney World.) This was a "
14995 "particularly long flight to my least favorite city. The drive into the city "
14996 "from Dulles was delayed because of traffic, so I opened up my computer and "
14997 "wrote an op-ed piece."
15000 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15001 #: freeculture.xml:11742
15003 "It was an act of contrition. During the whole of the flight from San "
15004 "Francisco to Washington, I had heard over and over again in my head the same "
15005 "advice from Don Ayer: You need to make them see why it is important. And "
15006 "alternating with that command was the question of Justice Kennedy: \"For all "
15007 "these years the act has impeded progress in science and the useful arts. I "
15008 "just don't see any empirical evidence for that.\" And so, having failed in "
15009 "the argument of constitutional principle, finally, I turned to an argument "
15014 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15015 #: freeculture.xml:11752
15017 "The New York Times published the piece. In it, I proposed a simple fix: "
15018 "Fifty years after a work has been published, the copyright owner would be "
15019 "required to register the work and pay a small fee. If he paid the fee, he "
15020 "got the benefit of the full term of copyright. If he did not, the work "
15021 "passed into the public domain."
15024 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15025 #: freeculture.xml:11760
15027 "We called this the Eldred Act, but that was just to give it a name. Eric "
15028 "Eldred was kind enough to let his name be used once again, but as he said "
15029 "early on, it won't get passed unless it has another name."
15032 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15033 #: freeculture.xml:11765
15035 "Or another two names. For depending upon your perspective, this is either "
15036 "the \"Public Domain Enhancement Act\" or the \"Copyright Term Deregulation "
15037 "Act.\" Either way, the essence of the idea is clear and obvious: Remove "
15038 "copyright where it is doing nothing except blocking access and the spread of "
15039 "knowledge. Leave it for as long as Congress allows for those works where its "
15040 "worth is at least $1. But for everything else, let the content go."
15043 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
15044 #: freeculture.xml:11773 freeculture.xml:11971
15045 msgid "Forbes, Steve"
15048 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15049 #: freeculture.xml:11775
15051 "The reaction to this idea was amazingly strong. Steve Forbes endorsed it in "
15052 "an editorial. I received an avalanche of e-mail and letters expressing "
15053 "support. When you focus the issue on lost creativity, people can see the "
15054 "copyright system makes no sense. As a good Republican might say, here "
15055 "government regulation is simply getting in the way of innovation and "
15056 "creativity. And as a good Democrat might say, here the government is "
15057 "blocking access and the spread of knowledge for no good reason. Indeed, "
15058 "there is no real difference between Democrats and Republicans on this "
15059 "issue. Anyone can recognize the stupid harm of the present system."
15062 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15063 #: freeculture.xml:11787
15065 "Indeed, many recognized the obvious benefit of the registration "
15066 "requirement. For one of the hardest things about the current system for "
15067 "people who want to license content is that there is no obvious place to look "
15068 "for the current copyright owners. Since registration is not required, since "
15069 "marking content is not required, since no formality at all is required, it "
15070 "is often impossibly hard to locate copyright owners to ask permission to use "
15071 "or license their work. This system would lower these costs, by establishing "
15072 "at least one registry where copyright owners could be identified."
15075 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
15076 #: freeculture.xml:11797
15077 msgid "Berlin Act (1908)"
15080 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><indexterm><primary>
15081 #: freeculture.xml:11798 freeculture.xml:11837
15082 msgid "Berne Convention (1908)"
15086 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para><footnote><para>
15087 #: freeculture.xml:11805
15089 "Until the 1908 Berlin Act of the Berne Convention, national copyright "
15090 "legislation sometimes made protection depend upon compliance with "
15091 "formalities such as registration, deposit, and affixation of notice of the "
15092 "author's claim of copyright. However, starting with the 1908 act, every text "
15093 "of the Convention has provided that \"the enjoyment and the exercise\" of "
15094 "rights guaranteed by the Convention \"shall not be subject to any "
15095 "formality.\" The prohibition against formalities is presently embodied in "
15096 "Article 5(2) of the Paris Text of the Berne Convention. Many countries "
15097 "continue to impose some form of deposit or registration requirement, albeit "
15098 "not as a condition of copyright. French law, for example, requires the "
15099 "deposit of copies of works in national repositories, principally the "
15100 "National Museum. Copies of books published in the United Kingdom must be "
15101 "deposited in the British Library. The German Copyright Act provides for a "
15102 "Registrar of Authors where the author's true name can be filed in the case "
15103 "of anonymous or pseudonymous works. Paul Goldstein, International "
15104 "Intellectual Property Law, Cases and Materials (New York: Foundation Press, "
15105 "2001), 153–54."
15108 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15109 #: freeculture.xml:11801
15111 "As I described in chapter 10, formalities in copyright law were removed in "
15112 "1976, when Congress followed the Europeans by abandoning any formal "
15113 "requirement before a copyright is granted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
15114 "id=\"0\"/> The Europeans are said to view copyright as a \"natural right.\" "
15115 "Natural rights don't need forms to exist. Traditions, like the "
15116 "Anglo-American tradition that required copyright owners to follow form if "
15117 "their rights were to be protected, did not, the Europeans thought, properly "
15118 "respect the dignity of the author. My right as a creator turns on my "
15119 "creativity, not upon the special favor of the government."
15122 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15123 #: freeculture.xml:11831
15125 "That's great rhetoric. It sounds wonderfully romantic. But it is absurd "
15126 "copyright policy. It is absurd especially for authors, because a world "
15127 "without formalities harms the creator. The ability to spread \"Walt Disney "
15128 "creativity\" is destroyed when there is no simple way to know what's "
15129 "protected and what's not."
15132 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15133 #: freeculture.xml:11839
15135 "The fight against formalities achieved its first real victory in Berlin in "
15136 "1908. International copyright lawyers amended the Berne Convention in 1908, "
15137 "to require copyright terms of life plus fifty years, as well as the "
15138 "abolition of copyright formalities. The formalities were hated because the "
15139 "stories of inadvertent loss were increasingly common. It was as if a Charles "
15140 "Dickens character ran all copyright offices, and the failure to dot an i or "
15141 "cross a t resulted in the loss of widows' only income."
15144 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15145 #: freeculture.xml:11849
15147 "These complaints were real and sensible. And the strictness of the "
15148 "formalities, especially in the United States, was absurd. The law should "
15149 "always have ways of forgiving innocent mistakes. There is no reason "
15150 "copyright law couldn't, as well. Rather than abandoning formalities totally, "
15151 "the response in Berlin should have been to embrace a more equitable system "
15155 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15156 #: freeculture.xml:11857
15158 "Even that would have been resisted, however, because registration in the "
15159 "nineteenth and twentieth centuries was still expensive. It was also a "
15160 "hassle. The abolishment of formalities promised not only to save the "
15161 "starving widows, but also to lighten an unnecessary regulatory burden "
15162 "imposed upon creators."
15166 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15167 #: freeculture.xml:11865
15169 "In addition to the practical complaint of authors in 1908, there was a moral "
15170 "claim as well. There was no reason that creative property should be a "
15171 "second-class form of property. If a carpenter builds a table, his rights "
15172 "over the table don't depend upon filing a form with the government. He has "
15173 "a property right over the table \"naturally,\" and he can assert that right "
15174 "against anyone who would steal the table, whether or not he has informed the "
15175 "government of his ownership of the table."
15178 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15179 #: freeculture.xml:11877
15181 "This argument is correct, but its implications are misleading. For the "
15182 "argument in favor of formalities does not depend upon creative property "
15183 "being second-class property. The argument in favor of formalities turns upon "
15184 "the special problems that creative property presents. The law of "
15185 "formalities responds to the special physics of creative property, to assure "
15186 "that it can be efficiently and fairly spread."
15189 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15190 #: freeculture.xml:11886
15192 "No one thinks, for example, that land is second-class property just because "
15193 "you have to register a deed with a court if your sale of land is to be "
15194 "effective. And few would think a car is second-class property just because "
15195 "you must register the car with the state and tag it with a license. In both "
15196 "of those cases, everyone sees that there is an important reason to secure "
15197 "registration—both because it makes the markets more efficient and "
15198 "because it better secures the rights of the owner. Without a registration "
15199 "system for land, landowners would perpetually have to guard their "
15200 "property. With registration, they can simply point the police to a "
15201 "deed. Without a registration system for cars, auto theft would be much "
15202 "easier. With a registration system, the thief has a high burden to sell a "
15203 "stolen car. A slight burden is placed on the property owner, but those "
15204 "burdens produce a much better system of protection for property generally."
15208 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15209 #: freeculture.xml:11902
15211 "It is similarly special physics that makes formalities important in "
15212 "copyright law. Unlike a carpenter's table, there's nothing in nature that "
15213 "makes it relatively obvious who might own a particular bit of creative "
15214 "property. A recording of Lyle Lovett's latest album can exist in a billion "
15215 "places without anything necessarily linking it back to a particular "
15216 "owner. And like a car, there's no way to buy and sell creative property with "
15217 "confidence unless there is some simple way to authenticate who is the author "
15218 "and what rights he has. Simple transactions are destroyed in a world without "
15219 "formalities. Complex, expensive, lawyer transactions take their place."
15222 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15223 #: freeculture.xml:11916
15225 "This was the understanding of the problem with the Sonny Bono Act that we "
15226 "tried to demonstrate to the Court. This was the part it didn't \"get.\" "
15227 "Because we live in a system without formalities, there is no way easily to "
15228 "build upon or use culture from our past. If copyright terms were, as Justice "
15229 "Story said they would be, \"short,\" then this wouldn't matter much. For "
15230 "fourteen years, under the framers' system, a work would be presumptively "
15231 "controlled. After fourteen years, it would be presumptively uncontrolled."
15234 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15235 #: freeculture.xml:11926
15237 "But now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to "
15238 "know what is protected and what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious "
15239 "burden on the creative process. If the only way a library can offer an "
15240 "Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear the rights "
15241 "to every image and sound, then the copyright system is burdening creativity "
15242 "in a way that has never been seen before because there are no formalities."
15245 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15246 #: freeculture.xml:11935
15248 "The Eldred Act was designed to respond to exactly this problem. If it is "
15249 "worth $1 to you, then register your work and you can get the longer "
15250 "term. Others will know how to contact you and, therefore, how to get your "
15251 "permission if they want to use your work. And you will get the benefit of an "
15252 "extended copyright term."
15255 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15256 #: freeculture.xml:11942
15258 "If it isn't worth it to you to register to get the benefit of an extended "
15259 "term, then it shouldn't be worth it for the government to defend your "
15260 "monopoly over that work either. The work should pass into the public domain "
15261 "where anyone can copy it, or build archives with it, or create a movie based "
15262 "on it. It should become free if it is not worth $1 to you."
15265 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15266 #: freeculture.xml:11949
15268 "Some worry about the burden on authors. Won't the burden of registering the "
15269 "work mean that the $1 is really misleading? Isn't the hassle worth more than "
15270 "$1? Isn't that the real problem with registration?"
15274 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15275 #: freeculture.xml:11955
15277 "It is. The hassle is terrible. The system that exists now is awful. I "
15278 "completely agree that the Copyright Office has done a terrible job (no doubt "
15279 "because they are terribly funded) in enabling simple and cheap "
15280 "registrations. Any real solution to the problem of formalities must address "
15281 "the real problem of governments standing at the core of any system of "
15282 "formalities. In this book, I offer such a solution. That solution "
15283 "essentially remakes the Copyright Office. For now, assume it was Amazon that "
15284 "ran the registration system. Assume it was one-click registration. The "
15285 "Eldred Act would propose a simple, one-click registration fifty years after "
15286 "a work was published. Based upon historical data, that system would move up "
15287 "to 98 percent of commercial work, commercial work that no longer had a "
15288 "commercial life, into the public domain within fifty years. What do you "
15292 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15293 #: freeculture.xml:11973
15295 "When Steve Forbes endorsed the idea, some in Washington began to pay "
15296 "attention. Many people contacted me pointing to representatives who might be "
15297 "willing to introduce the Eldred Act. And I had a few who directly suggested "
15298 "that they might be willing to take the first step."
15301 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15302 #: freeculture.xml:11979
15304 "One representative, Zoe Lofgren of California, went so far as to get the "
15305 "bill drafted. The draft solved any problem with international law. It "
15306 "imposed the simplest requirement upon copyright owners possible. In May "
15307 "2003, it looked as if the bill would be introduced. On May 16, I posted on "
15308 "the Eldred Act blog, \"we are close.\" There was a general reaction in the "
15309 "blog community that something good might happen here."
15312 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15313 #: freeculture.xml:11988
15315 "But at this stage, the lobbyists began to intervene. Jack Valenti and the "
15316 "MPAA general counsel came to the congresswoman's office to give the view of "
15317 "the MPAA. Aided by his lawyer, as Valenti told me, Valenti informed the "
15318 "congresswoman that the MPAA would oppose the Eldred Act. The reasons are "
15319 "embarrassingly thin. More importantly, their thinness shows something clear "
15320 "about what this debate is really about."
15324 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15325 #: freeculture.xml:11996
15327 "The MPAA argued first that Congress had \"firmly rejected the central "
15328 "concept in the proposed bill\"—that copyrights be renewed. That was "
15329 "true, but irrelevant, as Congress's \"firm rejection\" had occurred long "
15330 "before the Internet made subsequent uses much more likely. Second, they "
15331 "argued that the proposal would harm poor copyright owners—apparently "
15332 "those who could not afford the $1 fee. Third, they argued that Congress had "
15333 "determined that extending a copyright term would encourage restoration "
15334 "work. Maybe in the case of the small percentage of work covered by copyright "
15335 "law that is still commercially valuable, but again this was irrelevant, as "
15336 "the proposal would not cut off the extended term unless the $1 fee was not "
15337 "paid. Fourth, the MPAA argued that the bill would impose \"enormous\" costs, "
15338 "since a registration system is not free. True enough, but those costs are "
15339 "certainly less than the costs of clearing the rights for a copyright whose "
15340 "owner is not known. Fifth, they worried about the risks if the copyright to "
15341 "a story underlying a film were to pass into the public domain. But what risk "
15342 "is that? If it is in the public domain, then the film is a valid derivative "
15346 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15347 #: freeculture.xml:12017
15349 "Finally, the MPAA argued that existing law enabled copyright owners to do "
15350 "this if they wanted. But the whole point is that there are thousands of "
15351 "copyright owners who don't even know they have a copyright to give. Whether "
15352 "they are free to give away their copyright or not—a controversial "
15353 "claim in any case—unless they know about a copyright, they're not "
15357 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15358 #: freeculture.xml:12025
15360 "At the beginning of this book, I told two stories about the law reacting to "
15361 "changes in technology. In the one, common sense prevailed. In the other, "
15362 "common sense was delayed. The difference between the two stories was the "
15363 "power of the opposition—the power of the side that fought to defend "
15364 "the status quo. In both cases, a new technology threatened old "
15365 "interests. But in only one case did those interest's have the power to "
15366 "protect themselves against this new competitive threat."
15369 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15370 #: freeculture.xml:12035
15372 "I used these two cases as a way to frame the war that this book has been "
15373 "about. For here, too, a new technology is forcing the law to react. And "
15374 "here, too, we should ask, is the law following or resisting common sense? If "
15375 "common sense supports the law, what explains this common sense?"
15379 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15380 #: freeculture.xml:12044
15382 "When the issue is piracy, it is right for the law to back the copyright "
15383 "owners. The commercial piracy that I described is wrong and harmful, and the "
15384 "law should work to eliminate it. When the issue is p2p sharing, it is easy "
15385 "to understand why the law backs the owners still: Much of this sharing is "
15386 "wrong, even if much is harmless. When the issue is copyright terms for the "
15387 "Mickey Mouses of the world, it is possible still to understand why the law "
15388 "favors Hollywood: Most people don't recognize the reasons for limiting "
15389 "copyright terms; it is thus still possible to see good faith within the "
15393 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15394 #: freeculture.xml:12055
15396 "But when the copyright owners oppose a proposal such as the Eldred Act, "
15397 "then, finally, there is an example that lays bare the naked selfinterest "
15398 "driving this war. This act would free an extraordinary range of content that "
15399 "is otherwise unused. It wouldn't interfere with any copyright owner's desire "
15400 "to exercise continued control over his content. It would simply liberate "
15401 "what Kevin Kelly calls the \"Dark Content\" that fills archives around the "
15402 "world. So when the warriors oppose a change like this, we should ask one "
15406 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15407 #: freeculture.xml:12065
15408 msgid "What does this industry really want?"
15411 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15412 #: freeculture.xml:12068
15414 "With very little effort, the warriors could protect their content. So the "
15415 "effort to block something like the Eldred Act is not really about protecting "
15416 "their content. The effort to block the Eldred Act is an effort to assure "
15417 "that nothing more passes into the public domain. It is another step to "
15418 "assure that the public domain will never compete, that there will be no use "
15419 "of content that is not commercially controlled, and that there will be no "
15420 "commercial use of content that doesn't require their permission first."
15423 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15424 #: freeculture.xml:12078
15426 "The opposition to the Eldred Act reveals how extreme the other side is. The "
15427 "most powerful and sexy and well loved of lobbies really has as its aim not "
15428 "the protection of \"property\" but the rejection of a tradition. Their aim "
15429 "is not simply to protect what is theirs. Their aim is to assure that all "
15430 "there is is what is theirs."
15434 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15435 #: freeculture.xml:12085
15437 "It is not hard to understand why the warriors take this view. It is not hard "
15438 "to see why it would benefit them if the competition of the public domain "
15439 "tied to the Internet could somehow be quashed. Just as RCA feared the "
15440 "competition of FM, they fear the competition of a public domain connected to "
15441 "a public that now has the means to create with it and to share its own "
15445 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15446 #: freeculture.xml:12097
15448 "What is hard to understand is why the public takes this view. It is as if "
15449 "the law made airplanes trespassers. The MPAA stands with the Causbys and "
15450 "demands that their remote and useless property rights be respected, so that "
15451 "these remote and forgotten copyright holders might block the progress of "
15455 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
15456 #: freeculture.xml:12104
15458 "All this seems to follow easily from this untroubled acceptance of the "
15459 "\"property\" in intellectual property. Common sense supports it, and so long "
15460 "as it does, the assaults will rain down upon the technologies of the "
15461 "Internet. The consequence will be an increasing \"permission society.\" The "
15462 "past can be cultivated only if you can identify the owner and gain "
15463 "permission to build upon his work. The future will be controlled by this "
15464 "dead (and often unfindable) hand of the past."
15467 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
15468 #: freeculture.xml:12116
15472 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15473 #: freeculture.xml:12118
15475 "There are more than 35 million people with the AIDS virus "
15476 "worldwide. Twenty-five million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. "
15477 "Seventeen million have already died. Seventeen million Africans is "
15478 "proportional percentage-wise to seven million Americans. More importantly, "
15479 "it is seventeen million Africans."
15482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15483 #: freeculture.xml:12125
15485 "There is no cure for AIDS, but there are drugs to slow its progression. "
15486 "These antiretroviral therapies are still experimental, but they have already "
15487 "had a dramatic effect. In the United States, AIDS patients who regularly "
15488 "take a cocktail of these drugs increase their life expectancy by ten to "
15489 "twenty years. For some, the drugs make the disease almost invisible."
15493 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15494 #: freeculture.xml:12140
15496 "Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, \"Final Report: Integrating "
15497 "Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy\" (London, 2002), "
15498 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
15499 "#55</ulink>. According to a World Health Organization press release issued 9 "
15500 "July 2002, only 230,000 of the 6 million who need drugs in the developing "
15501 "world receive them—and half of them are in Brazil."
15504 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15505 #: freeculture.xml:12133
15507 "These drugs are expensive. When they were first introduced in the United "
15508 "States, they cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per person per year. Today, "
15509 "some cost $25,000 per year. At these prices, of course, no African nation "
15510 "can afford the drugs for the vast majority of its population: $15,000 is "
15511 "thirty times the per capita gross national product of Zimbabwe. At these "
15512 "prices, the drugs are totally unavailable.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
15517 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15518 #: freeculture.xml:12151
15520 "These prices are not high because the ingredients of the drugs are "
15521 "expensive. These prices are high because the drugs are protected by "
15522 "patents. The drug companies that produced these life-saving mixes enjoy at "
15523 "least a twenty-year monopoly for their inventions. They use that monopoly "
15524 "power to extract the most they can from the market. That power is in turn "
15525 "used to keep the prices high."
15528 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15529 #: freeculture.xml:12159
15531 "There are many who are skeptical of patents, especially drug patents. I am "
15532 "not. Indeed, of all the areas of research that might be supported by "
15533 "patents, drug research is, in my view, the clearest case where patents are "
15534 "needed. The patent gives the drug company some assurance that if it is "
15535 "successful in inventing a new drug to treat a disease, it will be able to "
15536 "earn back its investment and more. This is socially an extremely valuable "
15537 "incentive. I am the last person who would argue that the law should abolish "
15538 "it, at least without other changes."
15541 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15542 #: freeculture.xml:12170
15544 "But it is one thing to support patents, even drug patents. It is another "
15545 "thing to determine how best to deal with a crisis. And as African leaders "
15546 "began to recognize the devastation that AIDS was bringing, they started "
15547 "looking for ways to import HIV treatments at costs significantly below the "
15551 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15552 #: freeculture.xml:12188 freeculture.xml:12619
15553 msgid "Braithwaite, John"
15556 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15557 #: freeculture.xml:12186
15559 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: Who Owns the "
15560 "Knowledge Economy? (New York: The New Press, 2003), 37. <placeholder "
15561 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
15564 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15565 #: freeculture.xml:12177
15567 "In 1997, South Africa tried one tack. It passed a law to allow the "
15568 "importation of patented medicines that had been produced or sold in another "
15569 "nation's market with the consent of the patent owner. For example, if the "
15570 "drug was sold in India, it could be imported into Africa from India. This is "
15571 "called \"parallel importation,\" and it is generally permitted under "
15572 "international trade law and is specifically permitted within the European "
15573 "Union.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
15577 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15578 #: freeculture.xml:12198
15580 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), Patent Protection and "
15581 "Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a Report Prepared "
15582 "for the World Intellectual Property Organization (Washington, D.C., 2000), "
15583 "14, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
15584 "#56</ulink>. For a firsthand account of the struggle over South Africa, see "
15585 "Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human "
15586 "Resources, House Committee on Government Reform, H. Rep., 1st sess., "
15587 "Ser. No. 106-126 (22 July 1999), 150–57 (statement of James Love)."
15591 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15592 #: freeculture.xml:12230
15594 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), Patent Protection and "
15595 "Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a Report Prepared "
15596 "for the World Intellectual Property Organization (Washington, D.C., 2000), "
15600 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15601 #: freeculture.xml:12193
15603 "However, the United States government opposed the bill. Indeed, more than "
15604 "opposed. As the International Intellectual Property Association "
15605 "characterized it, \"The U.S. government pressured South Africa . . . not to "
15606 "permit compulsory licensing or parallel imports.\"<placeholder "
15607 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Through the Office of the United States Trade "
15608 "Representative, the government asked South Africa to change the "
15609 "law—and to add pressure to that request, in 1998, the USTR listed "
15610 "South Africa for possible trade sanctions. That same year, more than forty "
15611 "pharmaceutical companies began proceedings in the South African courts to "
15612 "challenge the government's actions. The United States was then joined by "
15613 "other governments from the EU. Their claim, and the claim of the "
15614 "pharmaceutical companies, was that South Africa was violating its "
15615 "obligations under international law by discriminating against a particular "
15616 "kind of patent— pharmaceutical patents. The demand of these "
15617 "governments, with the United States in the lead, was that South Africa "
15618 "respect these patents as it respects any other patent, regardless of any "
15619 "effect on the treatment of AIDS within South Africa.<placeholder "
15620 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
15623 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15624 #: freeculture.xml:12236
15626 "We should place the intervention by the United States in context. No doubt "
15627 "patents are not the most important reason that Africans don't have access to "
15628 "drugs. Poverty and the total absence of an effective health care "
15629 "infrastructure matter more. But whether patents are the most important "
15630 "reason or not, the price of drugs has an effect on their demand, and patents "
15631 "affect price. And so, whether massive or marginal, there was an effect from "
15632 "our government's intervention to stop the flow of medications into Africa."
15635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15636 #: freeculture.xml:12246
15638 "By stopping the flow of HIV treatment into Africa, the United States "
15639 "government was not saving drugs for United States citizens. This is not "
15640 "like wheat (if they eat it, we can't); instead, the flow that the United "
15641 "States intervened to stop was, in effect, a flow of knowledge: information "
15642 "about how to take chemicals that exist within Africa, and turn those "
15643 "chemicals into drugs that would save 15 to 30 million lives."
15646 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15647 #: freeculture.xml:12254
15649 "Nor was the intervention by the United States going to protect the profits "
15650 "of United States drug companies—at least, not substantially. It was "
15651 "not as if these countries were in the position to buy the drugs for the "
15652 "prices the drug companies were charging. Again, the Africans are wildly too "
15653 "poor to afford these drugs at the offered prices. Stopping the parallel "
15654 "import of these drugs would not substantially increase the sales by "
15660 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15661 #: freeculture.xml:12269
15663 "See Sabin Russell, \"New Crusade to Lower AIDS Drug Costs: Africa's Needs at "
15664 "Odds with Firms' Profit Motive,\" San Francisco Chronicle, 24 May 1999, A1, "
15665 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #57</ulink> "
15666 "(\"compulsory licenses and gray markets pose a threat to the entire system "
15667 "of intellectual property protection\"); Robert Weissman, \"AIDS and "
15668 "Developing Countries: Democratizing Access to Essential Medicines,\" Foreign "
15669 "Policy in Focus 4:23 (August 1999), available at <ulink "
15670 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #58</ulink> (describing "
15671 "U.S. policy); John A. Harrelson, \"TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents, and the "
15672 "HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual Property "
15673 "Rights and Compassion, a Synopsis,\" Widener Law Symposium Journal (Spring "
15677 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15678 #: freeculture.xml:12263
15680 "Instead, the argument in favor of restricting this flow of information, "
15681 "which was needed to save the lives of millions, was an argument about the "
15682 "sanctity of property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It was "
15683 "because \"intellectual property\" would be violated that these drugs should "
15684 "not flow into Africa. It was a principle about the importance of "
15685 "\"intellectual property\" that led these government actors to intervene "
15686 "against the South African response to AIDS."
15689 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15690 #: freeculture.xml:12290
15692 "Now just step back for a moment. There will be a time thirty years from now "
15693 "when our children look back at us and ask, how could we have let this "
15694 "happen? How could we allow a policy to be pursued whose direct cost would be "
15695 "to speed the death of 15 to 30 million Africans, and whose only real benefit "
15696 "would be to uphold the \"sanctity\" of an idea? What possible justification "
15697 "could there ever be for a policy that results in so many deaths? What "
15698 "exactly is the insanity that would allow so many to die for such an "
15702 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15703 #: freeculture.xml:12300
15705 "Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their "
15706 "managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push a "
15707 "certain patent policy not because of ideals, but because it is the policy "
15708 "that makes them the most money. And it only makes them the most money "
15709 "because of a certain corruption within our political system— a "
15710 "corruption the drug companies are certainly not responsible for."
15713 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15714 #: freeculture.xml:12308
15716 "The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. For the drug "
15717 "companies would love—they say, and I believe them—to sell their "
15718 "drugs as cheaply as they can to countries in Africa and elsewhere. There "
15719 "are issues they'd have to resolve to make sure the drugs didn't get back "
15720 "into the United States, but those are mere problems of technology. They "
15721 "could be overcome."
15725 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15726 #: freeculture.xml:12316
15728 "A different problem, however, could not be overcome. This is the fear of the "
15729 "grandstanding politician who would call the presidents of the drug companies "
15730 "before a Senate or House hearing, and ask, \"How is it you can sell this HIV "
15731 "drug in Africa for only $1 a pill, but the same drug would cost an American "
15732 "$1,500?\" Because there is no \"sound bite\" answer to that question, its "
15733 "effect would be to induce regulation of prices in America. The drug "
15734 "companies thus avoid this spiral by avoiding the first step. They reinforce "
15735 "the idea that property should be sacred. They adopt a rational strategy in "
15736 "an irrational context, with the unintended consequence that perhaps millions "
15737 "die. And that rational strategy thus becomes framed in terms of this "
15738 "ideal—the sanctity of an idea called \"intellectual property.\""
15741 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15742 #: freeculture.xml:12331
15744 "So when the common sense of your child confronts you, what will you say? "
15745 "When the common sense of a generation finally revolts against what we have "
15746 "done, how will we justify what we have done? What is the argument?"
15749 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15750 #: freeculture.xml:12337
15752 "A sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly support the patent "
15753 "system without having to reach everyone everywhere in exactly the same "
15754 "way. Just as a sensible copyright policy could endorse and strongly support "
15755 "a copyright system without having to regulate the spread of culture "
15756 "perfectly and forever, a sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly "
15757 "support a patent system without having to block the spread of drugs to a "
15758 "country not rich enough to afford market prices in any case. A sensible "
15759 "policy, in other words, could be a balanced policy. For most of our history, "
15760 "both copyright and patent policies were balanced in just this sense."
15764 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15765 #: freeculture.xml:12349
15767 "But we as a culture have lost this sense of balance. We have lost the "
15768 "critical eye that helps us see the difference between truth and extremism. "
15769 "A certain property fundamentalism, having no connection to our tradition, "
15770 "now reigns in this culture—bizarrely, and with consequences more grave "
15771 "to the spread of ideas and culture than almost any other single policy "
15772 "decision that we as a democracy will make. A simple idea blinds us, and "
15773 "under the cover of darkness, much happens that most of us would reject if "
15774 "any of us looked. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in ideas "
15775 "that we don't even notice how monstrous it is to deny ideas to a people who "
15776 "are dying without them. So uncritically do we accept the idea of property in "
15777 "culture that we don't even question when the control of that property "
15778 "removes our ability, as a people, to develop our culture "
15779 "democratically. Blindness becomes our common sense. And the challenge for "
15780 "anyone who would reclaim the right to cultivate our culture is to find a way "
15781 "to make this common sense open its eyes."
15784 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15785 #: freeculture.xml:12369
15787 "So far, common sense sleeps. There is no revolt. Common sense does not yet "
15788 "see what there could be to revolt about. The extremism that now dominates "
15789 "this debate fits with ideas that seem natural, and that fit is reinforced by "
15790 "the RCAs of our day. They wage a frantic war to fight \"piracy,\" and "
15791 "devastate a culture for creativity. They defend the idea of \"creative "
15792 "property,\" while transforming real creators into modern-day "
15793 "sharecroppers. They are insulted by the idea that rights should be balanced, "
15794 "even though each of the major players in this content war was itself a "
15795 "beneficiary of a more balanced ideal. The hypocrisy reeks. Yet in a city "
15796 "like Washington, hypocrisy is not even noticed. Powerful lobbies, complex "
15797 "issues, and MTV attention spans produce the \"perfect storm\" for free "
15802 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15803 #: freeculture.xml:12386
15805 "Jonathan Krim, \"The Quiet War over Open-Source,\" Washington Post, August "
15806 "2003, E1, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
15807 "#59</ulink>; William New, \"Global Group's Shift on `Open Source' Meeting "
15808 "Spurs Stir,\" National Journal's Technology Daily, 19 August 2003, available "
15809 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #60</ulink>; William "
15810 "New, \"U.S. Official Opposes `Open Source' Talks at WIPO,\" National "
15811 "Journal's Technology Daily, 19 August 2003, available at <ulink "
15812 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #61</ulink>."
15815 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
15816 #: freeculture.xml:12414 freeculture.xml:13134
15817 msgid "PLoS (Public Library of Science)"
15820 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15821 #: freeculture.xml:12383
15823 "In August 2003, a fight broke out in the United States about a decision by "
15824 "the World Intellectual Property Organization to cancel a "
15825 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> At the request of a wide "
15826 "range of interests, WIPO had decided to hold a meeting to discuss \"open and "
15827 "collaborative projects to create public goods.\" These are projects that "
15828 "have been successful in producing public goods without relying exclusively "
15829 "upon a proprietary use of intellectual property. Examples include the "
15830 "Internet and the World Wide Web, both of which were developed on the basis "
15831 "of protocols in the public domain. It included an emerging trend to support "
15832 "open academic journals, including the Public Library of Science project that "
15833 "I describe in the Afterword. It included a project to develop single "
15834 "nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which are thought to have great "
15835 "significance in biomedical research. (That nonprofit project comprised a "
15836 "consortium of the Wellcome Trust and pharmaceutical and technological "
15837 "companies, including Amersham Biosciences, AstraZeneca, Aventis, Bayer, "
15838 "Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffmann-La Roche, Glaxo-SmithKline, IBM, Motorola, "
15839 "Novartis, Pfizer, and Searle.) It included the Global Positioning System, "
15840 "which Ronald Reagan set free in the early 1980s. And it included \"open "
15841 "source and free software.\" <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
15844 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15845 #: freeculture.xml:12417
15847 "The aim of the meeting was to consider this wide range of projects from one "
15848 "common perspective: that none of these projects relied upon intellectual "
15849 "property extremism. Instead, in all of them, intellectual property was "
15850 "balanced by agreements to keep access open or to impose limitations on the "
15851 "way in which proprietary claims might be used."
15855 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15856 #: freeculture.xml:12425
15858 "I should disclose that I was one of the people who asked WIPO for the "
15862 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15863 #: freeculture.xml:12424
15865 "From the perspective of this book, then, the conference was "
15866 "ideal.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The projects within its "
15867 "scope included both commercial and noncommercial work. They primarily "
15868 "involved science, but from many perspectives. And WIPO was an ideal venue "
15869 "for this discussion, since WIPO is the preeminent international body dealing "
15870 "with intellectual property issues."
15874 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15875 #: freeculture.xml:12435
15877 "Indeed, I was once publicly scolded for not recognizing this fact about "
15878 "WIPO. In February 2003, I delivered a keynote address to a preparatory "
15879 "conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At a "
15880 "press conference before the address, I was asked what I would say. I "
15881 "responded that I would be talking a little about the importance of balance "
15882 "in intellectual property for the development of an information society. The "
15883 "moderator for the event then promptly interrupted to inform me and the "
15884 "assembled reporters that no question about intellectual property would be "
15885 "discussed by WSIS, since those questions were the exclusive domain of "
15886 "WIPO. In the talk that I had prepared, I had actually made the issue of "
15887 "intellectual property relatively minor. But after this astonishing "
15888 "statement, I made intellectual property the sole focus of my talk. There was "
15889 "no way to talk about an \"Information Society\" unless one also talked about "
15890 "the range of information and culture that would be free. My talk did not "
15891 "make my immoderate moderator very happy. And she was no doubt correct that "
15892 "the scope of intellectual property protections was ordinarily the stuff of "
15893 "WIPO. But in my view, there couldn't be too much of a conversation about how "
15894 "much intellectual property is needed, since in my view, the very idea of "
15895 "balance in intellectual property had been lost."
15898 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15899 #: freeculture.xml:12459
15901 "So whether or not WSIS can discuss balance in intellectual property, I had "
15902 "thought it was taken for granted that WIPO could and should. And thus the "
15903 "meeting about \"open and collaborative projects to create public goods\" "
15904 "seemed perfectly appropriate within the WIPO agenda."
15907 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15908 #: freeculture.xml:12465
15910 "But there is one project within that list that is highly controversial, at "
15911 "least among lobbyists. That project is \"open source and free software.\" "
15912 "Microsoft in particular is wary of discussion of the subject. From its "
15913 "perspective, a conference to discuss open source and free software would be "
15914 "like a conference to discuss Apple's operating system. Both open source and "
15915 "free software compete with Microsoft's software. And internationally, many "
15916 "governments have begun to explore requirements that they use open source or "
15917 "free software, rather than \"proprietary software,\" for their own internal "
15922 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15923 #: freeculture.xml:12487
15925 "Microsoft's position about free and open source software is more "
15926 "sophisticated. As it has repeatedly asserted, it has no problem with \"open "
15927 "source\" software or software in the public domain. Microsoft's principal "
15928 "opposition is to \"free software\" licensed under a \"copyleft\" license, "
15929 "meaning a license that requires the licensee to adopt the same terms on any "
15930 "derivative work. See Bradford L. Smith, \"The Future of Software: Enabling "
15931 "the Marketplace to Decide,\" Government Policy Toward Open Source Software "
15932 "(Washington, D.C.: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies, "
15933 "American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 2002), 69, "
15934 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
15935 "#62</ulink>. See also Craig Mundie, Microsoft senior vice president, The "
15936 "Commercial Software Model, discussion at New York University Stern School of "
15937 "Business (3 May 2001), available at <ulink "
15938 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #63</ulink>."
15941 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15942 #: freeculture.xml:12476
15944 "I don't mean to enter that debate here. It is important only to make clear "
15945 "that the distinction is not between commercial and noncommercial "
15946 "software. There are many important companies that depend fundamentally upon "
15947 "open source and free software, IBM being the most prominent. IBM is "
15948 "increasingly shifting its focus to the GNU/Linux operating system, the most "
15949 "famous bit of \"free software\"—and IBM is emphatically a commercial "
15950 "entity. Thus, to support \"open source and free software\" is not to oppose "
15951 "commercial entities. It is, instead, to support a mode of software "
15952 "development that is different from Microsoft's.<placeholder "
15953 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
15957 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15958 #: freeculture.xml:12505
15960 "More important for our purposes, to support \"open source and free "
15961 "software\" is not to oppose copyright. \"Open source and free software\" is "
15962 "not software in the public domain. Instead, like Microsoft's software, the "
15963 "copyright owners of free and open source software insist quite strongly that "
15964 "the terms of their software license be respected by adopters of free and "
15965 "open source software. The terms of that license are no doubt different from "
15966 "the terms of a proprietary software license. Free software licensed under "
15967 "the General Public License (GPL), for example, requires that the source code "
15968 "for the software be made available by anyone who modifies and redistributes "
15969 "the software. But that requirement is effective only if copyright governs "
15970 "software. If copyright did not govern software, then free software could not "
15971 "impose the same kind of requirements on its adopters. It thus depends upon "
15972 "copyright law just as Microsoft does."
15976 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15977 #: freeculture.xml:12531
15979 "Krim, \"The Quiet War over Open-Source,\" available at <ulink "
15980 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #64</ulink>."
15983 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15984 #: freeculture.xml:12523
15986 "It is therefore understandable that as a proprietary software developer, "
15987 "Microsoft would oppose this WIPO meeting, and understandable that it would "
15988 "use its lobbyists to get the United States government to oppose it, as "
15989 "well. And indeed, that is just what was reported to have happened. According "
15990 "to Jonathan Krim of the Washington Post, Microsoft's lobbyists succeeded in "
15991 "getting the United States government to veto the meeting.<placeholder "
15992 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And without U.S. backing, the meeting was "
15996 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
15997 #: freeculture.xml:12537
15999 "I don't blame Microsoft for doing what it can to advance its own interests, "
16000 "consistent with the law. And lobbying governments is plainly consistent with "
16001 "the law. There was nothing surprising about its lobbying here, and nothing "
16002 "terribly surprising about the most powerful software producer in the United "
16003 "States having succeeded in its lobbying efforts."
16006 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16007 #: freeculture.xml:12545
16009 "What was surprising was the United States government's reason for opposing "
16010 "the meeting. Again, as reported by Krim, Lois Boland, acting director of "
16011 "international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, explained "
16012 "that \"open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which is to "
16013 "promote intellectual-property rights.\" She is quoted as saying, \"To hold a "
16014 "meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights seems to "
16015 "us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO.\""
16018 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16019 #: freeculture.xml:12555
16020 msgid "These statements are astonishing on a number of levels."
16023 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16024 #: freeculture.xml:12559
16026 "First, they are just flat wrong. As I described, most open source and free "
16027 "software relies fundamentally upon the intellectual property right called "
16028 "\"copyright\". Without it, restrictions imposed by those licenses wouldn't "
16029 "work. Thus, to say it \"runs counter\" to the mission of promoting "
16030 "intellectual property rights reveals an extraordinary gap in "
16031 "understanding—the sort of mistake that is excusable in a first-year "
16032 "law student, but an embarrassment from a high government official dealing "
16033 "with intellectual property issues."
16036 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16037 #: freeculture.xml:12569
16039 "Second, who ever said that WIPO's exclusive aim was to \"promote\" "
16040 "intellectual property maximally? As I had been scolded at the preparatory "
16041 "conference of WSIS, WIPO is to consider not only how best to protect "
16042 "intellectual property, but also what the best balance of intellectual "
16043 "property is. As every economist and lawyer knows, the hard question in "
16044 "intellectual property law is to find that balance. But that there should be "
16045 "limits is, I had thought, uncontested. One wants to ask Ms. Boland, are "
16046 "generic drugs (drugs based on drugs whose patent has expired) contrary to "
16047 "the WIPO mission? Does the public domain weaken intellectual property? Would "
16048 "it have been better if the protocols of the Internet had been patented?"
16051 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16052 #: freeculture.xml:12582
16054 "Third, even if one believed that the purpose of WIPO was to maximize "
16055 "intellectual property rights, in our tradition, intellectual property rights "
16056 "are held by individuals and corporations. They get to decide what to do with "
16057 "those rights because, again, they are their rights. If they want to "
16058 "\"waive\" or \"disclaim\" their rights, that is, within our tradition, "
16059 "totally appropriate. When Bill Gates gives away more than $20 billion to do "
16060 "good in the world, that is not inconsistent with the objectives of the "
16061 "property system. That is, on the contrary, just what a property system is "
16062 "supposed to be about: giving individuals the right to decide what to do with "
16063 "their property. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16067 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16068 #: freeculture.xml:12595
16070 "When Ms. Boland says that there is something wrong with a meeting \"which "
16071 "has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights,\" she's saying that "
16072 "WIPO has an interest in interfering with the choices of the individuals who "
16073 "own intellectual property rights. That somehow, WIPO's objective should be "
16074 "to stop an individual from \"waiving\" or \"disclaiming\" an intellectual "
16075 "property right. That the interest of WIPO is not just that intellectual "
16076 "property rights be maximized, but that they also should be exercised in the "
16077 "most extreme and restrictive way possible."
16080 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16081 #: freeculture.xml:12607
16083 "There is a history of just such a property system that is well known in the "
16084 "Anglo-American tradition. It is called \"feudalism.\" Under feudalism, not "
16085 "only was property held by a relatively small number of individuals and "
16086 "entities. And not only were the rights that ran with that property powerful "
16087 "and extensive. But the feudal system had a strong interest in assuring that "
16088 "property holders within that system not weaken feudalism by liberating "
16089 "people or property within their control to the free market. Feudalism "
16090 "depended upon maximum control and concentration. It fought any freedom that "
16091 "might interfere with that control."
16094 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16095 #: freeculture.xml:12624
16097 "See Drahos with Braithwaite, Information Feudalism, 210–20. "
16098 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16101 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16102 #: freeculture.xml:12621
16104 "As Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite relate, this is precisely the choice we "
16105 "are now making about intellectual property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16106 "id=\"0\"/> We will have an information society. That much is certain. Our "
16107 "only choice now is whether that information society will be free or "
16108 "feudal. The trend is toward the feudal."
16111 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16112 #: freeculture.xml:12632
16114 "When this battle broke, I blogged it. A spirited debate within the comment "
16115 "section ensued. Ms. Boland had a number of supporters who tried to show why "
16116 "her comments made sense. But there was one comment that was particularly "
16117 "depressing for me. An anonymous poster wrote,"
16121 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
16122 #: freeculture.xml:12639
16124 "George, you misunderstand Lessig: He's only talking about the world as it "
16125 "should be (\"the goal of WIPO, and the goal of any government, should be to "
16126 "promote the right balance of intellectual property rights, not simply to "
16127 "promote intellectual property rights\"), not as it is. If we were talking "
16128 "about the world as it is, then of course Boland didn't say anything "
16129 "wrong. But in the world as Lessig would have it, then of course she "
16130 "did. Always pay attention to the distinction between Lessig's world and "
16134 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16135 #: freeculture.xml:12651
16137 "I missed the irony the first time I read it. I read it quickly and thought "
16138 "the poster was supporting the idea that seeking balance was what our "
16139 "government should be doing. (Of course, my criticism of Ms. Boland was not "
16140 "about whether she was seeking balance or not; my criticism was that her "
16141 "comments betrayed a first-year law student's mistake. I have no illusion "
16142 "about the extremism of our government, whether Republican or Democrat. My "
16143 "only illusion apparently is about whether our government should speak the "
16147 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16148 #: freeculture.xml:12661
16150 "Obviously, however, the poster was not supporting that idea. Instead, the "
16151 "poster was ridiculing the very idea that in the real world, the \"goal\" of "
16152 "a government should be \"to promote the right balance\" of intellectual "
16153 "property. That was obviously silly to him. And it obviously betrayed, he "
16154 "believed, my own silly utopianism. \"Typical for an academic,\" the poster "
16155 "might well have continued."
16158 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16159 #: freeculture.xml:12669
16161 "I understand criticism of academic utopianism. I think utopianism is silly, "
16162 "too, and I'd be the first to poke fun at the absurdly unrealistic ideals of "
16163 "academics throughout history (and not just in our own country's history)."
16166 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16167 #: freeculture.xml:12675
16169 "But when it has become silly to suppose that the role of our government "
16170 "should be to \"seek balance,\" then count me with the silly, for that means "
16171 "that this has become quite serious indeed. If it should be obvious to "
16172 "everyone that the government does not seek balance, that the government is "
16173 "simply the tool of the most powerful lobbyists, that the idea of holding the "
16174 "government to a different standard is absurd, that the idea of demanding of "
16175 "the government that it speak truth and not lies is just naïve, then who "
16176 "have we, the most powerful democracy in the world, become?"
16180 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16181 #: freeculture.xml:12686
16183 "It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the "
16184 "truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be something "
16185 "more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It might be crazy "
16186 "to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has been part of our "
16187 "tradition for most of our history—free culture."
16190 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16191 #: freeculture.xml:12705
16192 msgid "Turner, Ted"
16195 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16196 #: freeculture.xml:12695
16198 "If this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon. There are moments "
16199 "of hope in this struggle. And moments that surprise. When the FCC was "
16200 "considering relaxing ownership rules, which would thereby further increase "
16201 "the concentration in media ownership, an extraordinary bipartisan coalition "
16202 "formed to fight this change. For perhaps the first time in history, "
16203 "interests as diverse as the NRA, the ACLU, Moveon.org, William Safire, Ted "
16204 "Turner, and CodePink Women for Peace organized to oppose this change in FCC "
16205 "policy. An astonishing 700,000 letters were sent to the FCC, demanding more "
16206 "hearings and a different result. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
16207 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
16210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16211 #: freeculture.xml:12709
16213 "This activism did not stop the FCC, but soon after, a broad coalition in the "
16214 "Senate voted to reverse the FCC decision. The hostile hearings leading up to "
16215 "that vote revealed just how powerful this movement had become. There was no "
16216 "substantial support for the FCC's decision, and there was broad and "
16217 "sustained support for fighting further concentration in the media."
16220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16221 #: freeculture.xml:12717
16223 "But even this movement misses an important piece of the puzzle. Largeness "
16224 "as such is not bad. Freedom is not threatened just because some become very "
16225 "rich, or because there are only a handful of big players. The poor quality "
16226 "of Big Macs or Quarter Pounders does not mean that you can't get a good "
16227 "hamburger from somewhere else."
16230 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16231 #: freeculture.xml:12724
16233 "The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but "
16234 "instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in "
16235 "copyright, produces. It is not just that there are a few powerful companies "
16236 "that control an ever expanding slice of the media. It is that this "
16237 "concentration can call upon an equally bloated range of "
16238 "rights—property rights of a historically extreme form—that makes "
16239 "their bigness bad."
16242 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16243 #: freeculture.xml:12734
16245 "It is therefore significant that so many would rally to demand competition "
16246 "and increased diversity. Still, if the rally is understood as being about "
16247 "bigness alone, it is not terribly surprising. We Americans have a long "
16248 "history of fighting \"big,\" wisely or not. That we could be motivated to "
16249 "fight \"big\" again is not something new."
16252 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16253 #: freeculture.xml:12741
16255 "It would be something new, and something very important, if an equal number "
16256 "could be rallied to fight the increasing extremism built within the idea of "
16257 "\"intellectual property.\" Not because balance is alien to our tradition; "
16258 "indeed, as I've argued, balance is our tradition. But because the muscle to "
16259 "think critically about the scope of anything called \"property\" is not well "
16260 "exercised within this tradition anymore."
16263 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16264 #: freeculture.xml:12749
16266 "If we were Achilles, this would be our heel. This would be the place of our "
16270 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16271 #: freeculture.xml:12752
16276 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16277 #: freeculture.xml:12757
16279 "John Borland, \"RIAA Sues 261 File Swappers,\" CNET News.com, September "
16280 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16281 "#65</ulink>; Paul R. La Monica, \"Music Industry Sues Swappers,\" CNN/Money, "
16282 "8 September 2003, available at <ulink "
16283 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #66</ulink>; Soni Sangha and "
16284 "Phyllis Furman with Robert Gearty, \"Sued for a Song, N.Y.C. 12-Yr-Old Among "
16285 "261 Cited as Sharers,\" New York Daily News, 9 September 2003, 3; Frank "
16286 "Ahrens, \"RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single Mother in Calif., "
16287 "12-Year-Old Girl in N.Y. Among Defendants,\" Washington Post, 10 September "
16288 "2003, E1; Katie Dean, \"Schoolgirl Settles with RIAA,\" Wired News, 10 "
16289 "September 2003, available at <ulink "
16290 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #67</ulink>."
16294 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16295 #: freeculture.xml:12775
16297 "Jon Wiederhorn, \"Eminem Gets Sued . . . by a Little Old Lady,\" mtv.com, 17 "
16298 "September 2003, available at <ulink "
16299 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #68</ulink>."
16304 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16305 #: freeculture.xml:12782
16307 "Kenji Hall, Associated Press, \"Japanese Book May Be Inspiration for Dylan "
16308 "Songs,\" Kansascity.com, 9 July 2003, available at <ulink "
16309 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #69</ulink>."
16312 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16313 #: freeculture.xml:12754
16315 "As I write these final words, the news is filled with stories about the RIAA "
16316 "lawsuits against almost three hundred individuals.<placeholder "
16317 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Eminem has just been sued for \"sampling\" "
16318 "someone else's music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The story "
16319 "about Bob Dylan \"stealing\" from a Japanese author has just finished making "
16320 "the rounds.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> An insider from "
16321 "Hollywood—who insists he must remain anonymous—reports \"an "
16322 "amazing conversation with these studio guys. They've got extraordinary [old] "
16323 "content that they'd love to use but can't because they can't begin to clear "
16324 "the rights. They've got scores of kids who could do amazing things with the "
16325 "content, but it would take scores of lawyers to clean it first.\" "
16326 "Congressmen are talking about deputizing computer viruses to bring down "
16327 "computers thought to violate the law. Universities are threatening expulsion "
16328 "for kids who use a computer to share content."
16331 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
16332 #: freeculture.xml:12799 freeculture.xml:13150
16333 msgid "Creative Commons"
16336 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16337 #: freeculture.xml:12800
16338 msgid "Gil, Gilberto"
16342 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16343 #: freeculture.xml:12805
16345 "\"BBC Plans to Open Up Its Archive to the Public,\" BBC press release, 24 "
16346 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16351 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16352 #: freeculture.xml:12814
16354 "\"Creative Commons and Brazil,\" Creative Commons Weblog, 6 August 2003, "
16355 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #71</ulink>."
16359 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16360 #: freeculture.xml:12802
16362 "Yet on the other side of the Atlantic, the BBC has just announced that it "
16363 "will build a \"Creative Archive,\" from which British citizens can download "
16364 "BBC content, and rip, mix, and burn it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16365 "id=\"0\"/> And in Brazil, the culture minister, Gilberto Gil, himself a folk "
16366 "hero of Brazilian music, has joined with Creative Commons to release content "
16367 "and free licenses in that Latin American country.<placeholder "
16368 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> I've told a dark story. The truth is more "
16369 "mixed. A technology has given us a new freedom. Slowly, some begin to "
16370 "understand that this freedom need not mean anarchy. We can carry a free "
16371 "culture into the twenty-first century, without artists losing and without "
16372 "the potential of digital technology being destroyed. It will take some "
16373 "thought, and more importantly, it will take some will to transform the RCAs "
16374 "of our day into the Causbys."
16378 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16379 #: freeculture.xml:12828
16381 "Common sense must revolt. It must act to free culture. Soon, if this "
16382 "potential is ever to be realized."
16385 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
16386 #: freeculture.xml:12836
16391 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16392 #: freeculture.xml:12840
16394 "At least some who have read this far will agree with me that something must "
16395 "be done to change where we are heading. The balance of this book maps what "
16399 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16400 #: freeculture.xml:12845
16402 "I divide this map into two parts: that which anyone can do now, and that "
16403 "which requires the help of lawmakers. If there is one lesson that we can "
16404 "draw from the history of remaking common sense, it is that it requires "
16405 "remaking how many people think about the very same issue."
16408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16409 #: freeculture.xml:12851
16411 "That means this movement must begin in the streets. It must recruit a "
16412 "significant number of parents, teachers, librarians, creators, authors, "
16413 "musicians, filmmakers, scientists—all to tell this story in their own "
16414 "words, and to tell their neighbors why this battle is so important."
16417 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16418 #: freeculture.xml:12858
16420 "Once this movement has its effect in the streets, it has some hope of having "
16421 "an effect in Washington. We are still a democracy. What people think "
16422 "matters. Not as much as it should, at least when an RCA stands opposed, but "
16423 "still, it matters. And thus, in the second part below, I sketch changes that "
16424 "Congress could make to better secure a free culture."
16427 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
16428 #: freeculture.xml:12867
16432 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
16433 #: freeculture.xml:12869
16435 "Common sense is with the copyright warriors because the debate so far has "
16436 "been framed at the extremes—as a grand either/or: either property or "
16437 "anarchy, either total control or artists won't be paid. If that really is "
16438 "the choice, then the warriors should win."
16441 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
16442 #: freeculture.xml:12875
16444 "The mistake here is the error of the excluded middle. There are extremes in "
16445 "this debate, but the extremes are not all that there is. There are those who "
16446 "believe in maximal copyright—\"All Rights Reserved\"— and those "
16447 "who reject copyright—\"No Rights Reserved.\" The \"All Rights "
16448 "Reserved\" sorts believe that you should ask permission before you \"use\" a "
16449 "copyrighted work in any way. The \"No Rights Reserved\" sorts believe you "
16450 "should be able to do with content as you wish, regardless of whether you "
16451 "have permission or not."
16455 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
16456 #: freeculture.xml:12885
16458 "When the Internet was first born, its initial architecture effectively "
16459 "tilted in the \"no rights reserved\" direction. Content could be copied "
16460 "perfectly and cheaply; rights could not easily be controlled. Thus, "
16461 "regardless of anyone's desire, the effective regime of copyright under the "
16462 "original design of the Internet was \"no rights reserved.\" Content was "
16463 "\"taken\" regardless of the rights. Any rights were effectively unprotected."
16466 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
16467 #: freeculture.xml:12897
16469 "This initial character produced a reaction (opposite, but not quite equal) "
16470 "by copyright owners. That reaction has been the topic of this book. Through "
16471 "legislation, litigation, and changes to the network's design, copyright "
16472 "holders have been able to change the essential character of the environment "
16473 "of the original Internet. If the original architecture made the effective "
16474 "default \"no rights reserved,\" the future architecture will make the "
16475 "effective default \"all rights reserved.\" The architecture and law that "
16476 "surround the Internet's design will increasingly produce an environment "
16477 "where all use of content requires permission. The \"cut and paste\" world "
16478 "that defines the Internet today will become a \"get permission to cut and "
16479 "paste\" world that is a creator's nightmare."
16482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
16483 #: freeculture.xml:12911
16485 "What's needed is a way to say something in the middle—neither \"all "
16486 "rights reserved\" nor \"no rights reserved\" but \"some rights "
16487 "reserved\"— and thus a way to respect copyrights but enable creators "
16488 "to free content as they see fit. In other words, we need a way to restore a "
16489 "set of freedoms that we could just take for granted before."
16492 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
16493 #: freeculture.xml:12920
16494 msgid "Rebuilding Freedoms Previously Presumed: Examples"
16497 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16498 #: freeculture.xml:12922
16500 "If you step back from the battle I've been describing here, you will "
16501 "recognize this problem from other contexts. Think about privacy. Before the "
16502 "Internet, most of us didn't have to worry much about data about our lives "
16503 "that we broadcast to the world. If you walked into a bookstore and browsed "
16504 "through some of the works of Karl Marx, you didn't need to worry about "
16505 "explaining your browsing habits to your neighbors or boss. The \"privacy\" "
16506 "of your browsing habits was assured."
16509 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16510 #: freeculture.xml:12932
16511 msgid "What made it assured?"
16514 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16515 #: freeculture.xml:12936
16517 "Well, if we think in terms of the modalities I described in chapter 10, your "
16518 "privacy was assured because of an inefficient architecture for gathering "
16519 "data and hence a market constraint (cost) on anyone who wanted to gather "
16520 "that data. If you were a suspected spy for North Korea, working for the CIA, "
16521 "no doubt your privacy would not be assured. But that's because the CIA "
16522 "would (we hope) find it valuable enough to spend the thousands required to "
16523 "track you. But for most of us (again, we can hope), spying doesn't pay. The "
16524 "highly inefficient architecture of real space means we all enjoy a fairly "
16525 "robust amount of privacy. That privacy is guaranteed to us by friction. Not "
16526 "by law (there is no law protecting \"privacy\" in public places), and in "
16527 "many places, not by norms (snooping and gossip are just fun), but instead, "
16528 "by the costs that friction imposes on anyone who would want to spy."
16531 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
16532 #: freeculture.xml:12950
16536 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16537 #: freeculture.xml:12952
16539 "Enter the Internet, where the cost of tracking browsing in particular has "
16540 "become quite tiny. If you're a customer at Amazon, then as you browse the "
16541 "pages, Amazon collects the data about what you've looked at. You know this "
16542 "because at the side of the page, there's a list of \"recently viewed\" "
16543 "pages. Now, because of the architecture of the Net and the function of "
16544 "cookies on the Net, it is easier to collect the data than not. The friction "
16545 "has disappeared, and hence any \"privacy\" protected by the friction "
16549 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16550 #: freeculture.xml:12962
16552 "Amazon, of course, is not the problem. But we might begin to worry about "
16553 "libraries. If you're one of those crazy lefties who thinks that people "
16554 "should have the \"right\" to browse in a library without the government "
16555 "knowing which books you look at (I'm one of those lefties, too), then this "
16556 "change in the technology of monitoring might concern you. If it becomes "
16557 "simple to gather and sort who does what in electronic spaces, then the "
16558 "friction-induced privacy of yesterday disappears."
16562 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
16563 #: freeculture.xml:12978
16565 "See, for example, Marc Rotenberg, \"Fair Information Practices and the "
16566 "Architecture of Privacy (What Larry Doesn't Get),\" Stanford Technology Law "
16567 "Review 1 (2001): par. 6–18, available at <ulink "
16568 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink> (describing examples "
16569 "in which technology defines privacy policy). See also Jeffrey Rosen, The "
16570 "Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious Age (New York: "
16571 "Random House, 2004) (mapping tradeoffs between technology and privacy)."
16575 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16576 #: freeculture.xml:12972
16578 "It is this reality that explains the push of many to define \"privacy\" on "
16579 "the Internet. It is the recognition that technology can remove what friction "
16580 "before gave us that leads many to push for laws to do what friction "
16581 "did.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And whether you're in favor of "
16582 "those laws or not, it is the pattern that is important here. We must take "
16583 "affirmative steps to secure a kind of freedom that was passively provided "
16584 "before. A change in technology now forces those who believe in privacy to "
16585 "affirmatively act where, before, privacy was given by default."
16588 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16589 #: freeculture.xml:12996
16591 "A similar story could be told about the birth of the free software "
16592 "movement. When computers with software were first made available "
16593 "commercially, the software—both the source code and the "
16594 "binaries— was free. You couldn't run a program written for a Data "
16595 "General machine on an IBM machine, so Data General and IBM didn't care much "
16596 "about controlling their software."
16599 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><indexterm><primary>
16600 #: freeculture.xml:13003
16601 msgid "Stallman, Richard"
16604 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16605 #: freeculture.xml:13005
16607 "That was the world Richard Stallman was born into, and while he was a "
16608 "researcher at MIT, he grew to love the community that developed when one was "
16609 "free to explore and tinker with the software that ran on machines. Being a "
16610 "smart sort himself, and a talented programmer, Stallman grew to depend upon "
16611 "the freedom to add to or modify other people's work."
16614 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16615 #: freeculture.xml:13013
16617 "In an academic setting, at least, that's not a terribly radical idea. In a "
16618 "math department, anyone would be free to tinker with a proof that someone "
16619 "offered. If you thought you had a better way to prove a theorem, you could "
16620 "take what someone else did and change it. In a classics department, if you "
16621 "believed a colleague's translation of a recently discovered text was flawed, "
16622 "you were free to improve it. Thus, to Stallman, it seemed obvious that you "
16623 "should be free to tinker with and improve the code that ran a machine. This, "
16624 "too, was knowledge. Why shouldn't it be open for criticism like anything "
16628 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16629 #: freeculture.xml:13025
16631 "No one answered that question. Instead, the architecture of revenue for "
16632 "computing changed. As it became possible to import programs from one system "
16633 "to another, it became economically attractive (at least in the view of some) "
16634 "to hide the code of your program. So, too, as companies started selling "
16635 "peripherals for mainframe systems. If I could just take your printer driver "
16636 "and copy it, then that would make it easier for me to sell a printer to the "
16637 "market than it was for you."
16641 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16642 #: freeculture.xml:13034
16644 "Thus, the practice of proprietary code began to spread, and by the early "
16645 "1980s, Stallman found himself surrounded by proprietary code. The world of "
16646 "free software had been erased by a change in the economics of computing. And "
16647 "as he believed, if he did nothing about it, then the freedom to change and "
16648 "share software would be fundamentally weakened."
16651 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16652 #: freeculture.xml:13043
16654 "Therefore, in 1984, Stallman began a project to build a free operating "
16655 "system, so that at least a strain of free software would survive. That was "
16656 "the birth of the GNU project, into which Linus Torvalds's \"Linux\" kernel "
16657 "was added to produce the GNU/Linux operating system."
16660 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16661 #: freeculture.xml:13049
16663 "Stallman's technique was to use copyright law to build a world of software "
16664 "that must be kept free. Software licensed under the Free Software "
16665 "Foundation's GPL cannot be modified and distributed unless the source code "
16666 "for that software is made available as well. Thus, anyone building upon "
16667 "GPL'd software would have to make their buildings free as well. This would "
16668 "assure, Stallman believed, that an ecology of code would develop that "
16669 "remained free for others to build upon. His fundamental goal was freedom; "
16670 "innovative creative code was a byproduct."
16673 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16674 #: freeculture.xml:13060
16676 "Stallman was thus doing for software what privacy advocates now do for "
16677 "privacy. He was seeking a way to rebuild a kind of freedom that was taken "
16678 "for granted before. Through the affirmative use of licenses that bind "
16679 "copyrighted code, Stallman was affirmatively reclaiming a space where free "
16680 "software would survive. He was actively protecting what before had been "
16681 "passively guaranteed."
16684 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16685 #: freeculture.xml:13068
16687 "Finally, consider a very recent example that more directly resonates with "
16688 "the story of this book. This is the shift in the way academic and scientific "
16689 "journals are produced."
16693 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16694 #: freeculture.xml:13073
16696 "As digital technologies develop, it is becoming obvious to many that "
16697 "printing thousands of copies of journals every month and sending them to "
16698 "libraries is perhaps not the most efficient way to distribute "
16699 "knowledge. Instead, journals are increasingly becoming electronic, and "
16700 "libraries and their users are given access to these electronic journals "
16701 "through password-protected sites. Something similar to this has been "
16702 "happening in law for almost thirty years: Lexis and Westlaw have had "
16703 "electronic versions of case reports available to subscribers to their "
16704 "service. Although a Supreme Court opinion is not copyrighted, and anyone is "
16705 "free to go to a library and read it, Lexis and Westlaw are also free to "
16706 "charge users for the privilege of gaining access to that Supreme Court "
16707 "opinion through their respective services."
16710 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16711 #: freeculture.xml:13089
16713 "There's nothing wrong in general with this, and indeed, the ability to "
16714 "charge for access to even public domain materials is a good incentive for "
16715 "people to develop new and innovative ways to spread knowledge. The law has "
16716 "agreed, which is why Lexis and Westlaw have been allowed to flourish. And if "
16717 "there's nothing wrong with selling the public domain, then there could be "
16718 "nothing wrong, in principle, with selling access to material that is not in "
16719 "the public domain."
16722 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16723 #: freeculture.xml:13098
16725 "But what if the only way to get access to social and scientific data was "
16726 "through proprietary services? What if no one had the ability to browse this "
16727 "data except by paying for a subscription?"
16730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16731 #: freeculture.xml:13103
16733 "As many are beginning to notice, this is increasingly the reality with "
16734 "scientific journals. When these journals were distributed in paper form, "
16735 "libraries could make the journals available to anyone who had access to the "
16736 "library. Thus, patients with cancer could become cancer experts because the "
16737 "library gave them access. Or patients trying to understand the risks of a "
16738 "certain treatment could research those risks by reading all available "
16739 "articles about that treatment. This freedom was therefore a function of the "
16740 "institution of libraries (norms) and the technology of paper journals "
16741 "(architecture)—namely, that it was very hard to control access to a "
16745 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16746 #: freeculture.xml:13115
16748 "As journals become electronic, however, the publishers are demanding that "
16749 "libraries not give the general public access to the journals. This means "
16750 "that the freedoms provided by print journals in public libraries begin to "
16751 "disappear. Thus, as with privacy and with software, a changing technology "
16752 "and market shrink a freedom taken for granted before."
16755 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16756 #: freeculture.xml:13123
16758 "This shrinking freedom has led many to take affirmative steps to restore the "
16759 "freedom that has been lost. The Public Library of Science (PLoS), for "
16760 "example, is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making scientific research "
16761 "available to anyone with a Web connection. Authors of scientific work submit "
16762 "that work to the Public Library of Science. That work is then subject to "
16763 "peer review. If accepted, the work is then deposited in a public, electronic "
16764 "archive and made permanently available for free. PLoS also sells a print "
16765 "version of its work, but the copyright for the print journal does not "
16766 "inhibit the right of anyone to redistribute the work for free. <placeholder "
16767 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16770 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16771 #: freeculture.xml:13137
16773 "This is one of many such efforts to restore a freedom taken for granted "
16774 "before, but now threatened by changing technology and markets. There's no "
16775 "doubt that this alternative competes with the traditional publishers and "
16776 "their efforts to make money from the exclusive distribution of content. But "
16777 "competition in our tradition is presumptively a good—especially when "
16778 "it helps spread knowledge and science."
16781 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
16782 #: freeculture.xml:13148
16783 msgid "Rebuilding Free Culture: One Idea"
16786 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16787 #: freeculture.xml:13153
16789 "The same strategy could be applied to culture, as a response to the "
16790 "increasing control effected through law and technology."
16793 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16794 #: freeculture.xml:13157
16796 "Enter the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation "
16797 "established in Massachusetts, but with its home at Stanford University. Its "
16798 "aim is to build a layer of reasonable copyright on top of the extremes that "
16799 "now reign. It does this by making it easy for people to build upon other "
16800 "people's work, by making it simple for creators to express the freedom for "
16801 "others to take and build upon their work. Simple tags, tied to "
16802 "human-readable descriptions, tied to bulletproof licenses, make this "
16807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16808 #: freeculture.xml:13167
16810 "Simple—which means without a middleman, or without a lawyer. By "
16811 "developing a free set of licenses that people can attach to their content, "
16812 "Creative Commons aims to mark a range of content that can easily, and "
16813 "reliably, be built upon. These tags are then linked to machine-readable "
16814 "versions of the license that enable computers automatically to identify "
16815 "content that can easily be shared. These three expressions together—a "
16816 "legal license, a human-readable description, and machine-readable "
16817 "tags—constitute a Creative Commons license. A Creative Commons license "
16818 "constitutes a grant of freedom to anyone who accesses the license, and more "
16819 "importantly, an expression of the ideal that the person associated with the "
16820 "license believes in something different than the \"All\" or \"No\" "
16821 "extremes. Content is marked with the CC mark, which does not mean that "
16822 "copyright is waived, but that certain freedoms are given."
16825 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16826 #: freeculture.xml:13185
16828 "These freedoms are beyond the freedoms promised by fair use. Their precise "
16829 "contours depend upon the choices the creator makes. The creator can choose a "
16830 "license that permits any use, so long as attribution is given. She can "
16831 "choose a license that permits only noncommercial use. She can choose a "
16832 "license that permits any use so long as the same freedoms are given to other "
16833 "uses (\"share and share alike\"). Or any use so long as no derivative use is "
16834 "made. Or any use at all within developing nations. Or any sampling use, so "
16835 "long as full copies are not made. Or lastly, any educational use."
16838 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16839 #: freeculture.xml:13196
16841 "These choices thus establish a range of freedoms beyond the default of "
16842 "copyright law. They also enable freedoms that go beyond traditional fair "
16843 "use. And most importantly, they express these freedoms in a way that "
16844 "subsequent users can use and rely upon without the need to hire a "
16845 "lawyer. Creative Commons thus aims to build a layer of content, governed by "
16846 "a layer of reasonable copyright law, that others can build upon. Voluntary "
16847 "choice of individuals and creators will make this content available. And "
16848 "that content will in turn enable us to rebuild a public domain."
16851 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><indexterm><primary>
16852 #: freeculture.xml:13217
16853 msgid "Garlick, Mia"
16856 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16857 #: freeculture.xml:13207
16859 "This is just one project among many within the Creative Commons. And of "
16860 "course, Creative Commons is not the only organization pursuing such "
16861 "freedoms. But the point that distinguishes the Creative Commons from many is "
16862 "that we are not interested only in talking about a public domain or in "
16863 "getting legislators to help build a public domain. Our aim is to build a "
16864 "movement of consumers and producers of content (\"content conducers,\" as "
16865 "attorney Mia Garlick calls them) who help build the public domain and, by "
16866 "their work, demonstrate the importance of the public domain to other "
16867 "creativity. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16870 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16871 #: freeculture.xml:13220
16873 "The aim is not to fight the \"All Rights Reserved\" sorts. The aim is to "
16874 "complement them. The problems that the law creates for us as a culture are "
16875 "produced by insane and unintended consequences of laws written centuries "
16876 "ago, applied to a technology that only Jefferson could have imagined. The "
16877 "rules may well have made sense against a background of technologies from "
16878 "centuries ago, but they do not make sense against the background of digital "
16879 "technologies. New rules—with different freedoms, expressed in ways so "
16880 "that humans without lawyers can use them—are needed. Creative Commons "
16881 "gives people a way effectively to begin to build those rules."
16884 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16885 #: freeculture.xml:13232
16887 "Why would creators participate in giving up total control? Some participate "
16888 "to better spread their content. Cory Doctorow, for example, is a science "
16889 "fiction author. His first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was "
16890 "released on-line and for free, under a Creative Commons license, on the same "
16891 "day that it went on sale in bookstores."
16894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16895 #: freeculture.xml:13239
16897 "Why would a publisher ever agree to this? I suspect his publisher reasoned "
16898 "like this: There are two groups of people out there: (1) those who will buy "
16899 "Cory's book whether or not it's on the Internet, and (2) those who may never "
16900 "hear of Cory's book, if it isn't made available for free on the "
16901 "Internet. Some part of (1) will download Cory's book instead of buying "
16902 "it. Call them bad-(1)s. Some part of (2) will download Cory's book, like "
16903 "it, and then decide to buy it. Call them (2)-goods. If there are more "
16904 "(2)-goods than bad-(1)s, the strategy of releasing Cory's book free on-line "
16905 "will probably increase sales of Cory's book."
16908 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16909 #: freeculture.xml:13251
16911 "Indeed, the experience of his publisher clearly supports that conclusion. "
16912 "The book's first printing was exhausted months before the publisher had "
16913 "expected. This first novel of a science fiction author was a total success."
16917 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16918 #: freeculture.xml:13257
16920 "The idea that free content might increase the value of nonfree content was "
16921 "confirmed by the experience of another author. Peter Wayner, who wrote a "
16922 "book about the free software movement titled Free for All, made an "
16923 "electronic version of his book free on-line under a Creative Commons license "
16924 "after the book went out of print. He then monitored used book store prices "
16925 "for the book. As predicted, as the number of downloads increased, the used "
16926 "book price for his book increased, as well."
16930 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
16931 #: freeculture.xml:13283
16933 "Willful Infringement: A Report from the Front Lines of the Real Culture Wars "
16934 "(2003), produced by Jed Horovitz, directed by Greg Hittelman, a Fiat Lucre "
16935 "production, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16939 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16940 #: freeculture.xml:13268
16942 "These are examples of using the Commons to better spread proprietary "
16943 "content. I believe that is a wonderful and common use of the Commons. There "
16944 "are others who use Creative Commons licenses for other reasons. Many who use "
16945 "the \"sampling license\" do so because anything else would be "
16946 "hypocritical. The sampling license says that others are free, for commercial "
16947 "or noncommercial purposes, to sample content from the licensed work; they "
16948 "are just not free to make full copies of the licensed work available to "
16949 "others. This is consistent with their own art—they, too, sample from "
16950 "others. Because the legal costs of sampling are so high (Walter Leaphart, "
16951 "manager of the rap group Public Enemy, which was born sampling the music of "
16952 "others, has stated that he does not \"allow\" Public Enemy to sample "
16953 "anymore, because the legal costs are so high<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16954 "id=\"0\"/>), these artists release into the creative environment content "
16955 "that others can build upon, so that their form of creativity might grow."
16958 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16959 #: freeculture.xml:13292
16961 "Finally, there are many who mark their content with a Creative Commons "
16962 "license just because they want to express to others the importance of "
16963 "balance in this debate. If you just go along with the system as it is, you "
16964 "are effectively saying you believe in the \"All Rights Reserved\" "
16965 "model. Good for you, but many do not. Many believe that however appropriate "
16966 "that rule is for Hollywood and freaks, it is not an appropriate description "
16967 "of how most creators view the rights associated with their content. The "
16968 "Creative Commons license expresses this notion of \"Some Rights Reserved,\" "
16969 "and gives many the chance to say it to others."
16973 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16974 #: freeculture.xml:13304
16976 "In the first six months of the Creative Commons experiment, over 1 million "
16977 "objects were licensed with these free-culture licenses. The next step is "
16978 "partnerships with middleware content providers to help them build into their "
16979 "technologies simple ways for users to mark their content with Creative "
16980 "Commons freedoms. Then the next step is to watch and celebrate creators who "
16981 "build content based upon content set free."
16984 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16985 #: freeculture.xml:13314
16987 "These are first steps to rebuilding a public domain. They are not mere "
16988 "arguments; they are action. Building a public domain is the first step to "
16989 "showing people how important that domain is to creativity and "
16990 "innovation. Creative Commons relies upon voluntary steps to achieve this "
16991 "rebuilding. They will lead to a world in which more than voluntary steps are "
16995 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
16996 #: freeculture.xml:13322
16998 "Creative Commons is just one example of voluntary efforts by individuals and "
16999 "creators to change the mix of rights that now govern the creative field. The "
17000 "project does not compete with copyright; it complements it. Its aim is not "
17001 "to defeat the rights of authors, but to make it easier for authors and "
17002 "creators to exercise their rights more flexibly and cheaply. That "
17003 "difference, we believe, will enable creativity to spread more easily."
17006 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><title>
17007 #: freeculture.xml:13336
17011 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
17012 #: freeculture.xml:13338
17014 "We will not reclaim a free culture by individual action alone. It will also "
17015 "take important reforms of laws. We have a long way to go before the "
17016 "politicians will listen to these ideas and implement these reforms. But "
17017 "that also means that we have time to build awareness around the changes that "
17021 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><para>
17022 #: freeculture.xml:13345
17024 "In this chapter, I outline five kinds of changes: four that are general, and "
17025 "one that's specific to the most heated battle of the day, music. Each is a "
17026 "step, not an end. But any of these steps would carry us a long way to our "
17030 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
17031 #: freeculture.xml:13352
17032 msgid "1. More Formalities"
17035 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17036 #: freeculture.xml:13354
17038 "If you buy a house, you have to record the sale in a deed. If you buy land "
17039 "upon which to build a house, you have to record the purchase in a deed. If "
17040 "you buy a car, you get a bill of sale and register the car. If you buy an "
17041 "airplane ticket, it has your name on it."
17045 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17046 #: freeculture.xml:13361
17048 "These are all formalities associated with property. They are requirements "
17049 "that we all must bear if we want our property to be protected."
17052 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17053 #: freeculture.xml:13366
17055 "In contrast, under current copyright law, you automatically get a copyright, "
17056 "regardless of whether you comply with any formality. You don't have to "
17057 "register. You don't even have to mark your content. The default is control, "
17058 "and \"formalities\" are banished."
17061 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17062 #: freeculture.xml:13372
17066 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17067 #: freeculture.xml:13375
17069 "As I suggested in chapter 10, the motivation to abolish formalities was a "
17070 "good one. In the world before digital technologies, formalities imposed a "
17071 "burden on copyright holders without much benefit. Thus, it was progress when "
17072 "the law relaxed the formal requirements that a copyright owner must bear to "
17073 "protect and secure his work. Those formalities were getting in the way."
17076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17077 #: freeculture.xml:13383
17079 "But the Internet changes all this. Formalities today need not be a "
17080 "burden. Rather, the world without formalities is the world that burdens "
17081 "creativity. Today, there is no simple way to know who owns what, or with "
17082 "whom one must deal in order to use or build upon the creative work of "
17083 "others. There are no records, there is no system to trace— there is no "
17084 "simple way to know how to get permission. Yet given the massive increase in "
17085 "the scope of copyright's rule, getting permission is a necessary step for "
17086 "any work that builds upon our past. And thus, the lack of formalities forces "
17087 "many into silence where they otherwise could speak."
17091 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17092 #: freeculture.xml:13397
17094 "The proposal I am advancing here would apply to American works only. "
17095 "Obviously, I believe it would be beneficial for the same idea to be adopted "
17096 "by other countries as well."
17099 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17100 #: freeculture.xml:13395
17102 "The law should therefore change this requirement<placeholder "
17103 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—but it should not change it by going back "
17104 "to the old, broken system. We should require formalities, but we should "
17105 "establish a system that will create the incentives to minimize the burden of "
17106 "these formalities."
17109 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17110 #: freeculture.xml:13405
17112 "The important formalities are three: marking copyrighted work, registering "
17113 "copyrights, and renewing the claim to copyright. Traditionally, the first of "
17114 "these three was something the copyright owner did; the second two were "
17115 "something the government did. But a revised system of formalities would "
17116 "banish the government from the process, except for the sole purpose of "
17117 "approving standards developed by others."
17120 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><title>
17121 #: freeculture.xml:13417
17122 msgid "REGISTRATION AND RENEWAL"
17125 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17126 #: freeculture.xml:13419
17128 "Under the old system, a copyright owner had to file a registration with the "
17129 "Copyright Office to register or renew a copyright. When filing that "
17130 "registration, the copyright owner paid a fee. As with most government "
17131 "agencies, the Copyright Office had little incentive to minimize the burden "
17132 "of registration; it also had little incentive to minimize the fee. And as "
17133 "the Copyright Office is not a main target of government policymaking, the "
17134 "office has historically been terribly underfunded. Thus, when people who "
17135 "know something about the process hear this idea about formalities, their "
17136 "first reaction is panic—nothing could be worse than forcing people to "
17137 "deal with the mess that is the Copyright Office."
17140 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17141 #: freeculture.xml:13432
17143 "Yet it is always astonishing to me that we, who come from a tradition of "
17144 "extraordinary innovation in governmental design, can no longer think "
17145 "innovatively about how governmental functions can be designed. Just because "
17146 "there is a public purpose to a government role, it doesn't follow that the "
17147 "government must actually administer the role. Instead, we should be creating "
17148 "incentives for private parties to serve the public, subject to standards "
17149 "that the government sets."
17152 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17153 #: freeculture.xml:13441
17155 "In the context of registration, one obvious model is the Internet. There "
17156 "are at least 32 million Web sites registered around the world. Domain name "
17157 "owners for these Web sites have to pay a fee to keep their registration "
17158 "alive. In the main top-level domains (.com, .org, .net), there is a central "
17159 "registry. The actual registrations are, however, performed by many competing "
17160 "registrars. That competition drives the cost of registering down, and more "
17161 "importantly, it drives the ease with which registration occurs up."
17165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17166 #: freeculture.xml:13451
17168 "We should adopt a similar model for the registration and renewal of "
17169 "copyrights. The Copyright Office may well serve as the central registry, but "
17170 "it should not be in the registrar business. Instead, it should establish a "
17171 "database, and a set of standards for registrars. It should approve "
17172 "registrars that meet its standards. Those registrars would then compete with "
17173 "one another to deliver the cheapest and simplest systems for registering and "
17174 "renewing copyrights. That competition would substantially lower the burden "
17175 "of this formality—while producing a database of registrations that "
17176 "would facilitate the licensing of content."
17179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><title>
17180 #: freeculture.xml:13466
17184 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17185 #: freeculture.xml:13468
17187 "It used to be that the failure to include a copyright notice on a creative "
17188 "work meant that the copyright was forfeited. That was a harsh punishment for "
17189 "failing to comply with a regulatory rule—akin to imposing the death "
17190 "penalty for a parking ticket in the world of creative rights. Here again, "
17191 "there is no reason that a marking requirement needs to be enforced in this "
17192 "way. And more importantly, there is no reason a marking requirement needs to "
17193 "be enforced uniformly across all media."
17196 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17197 #: freeculture.xml:13478
17199 "The aim of marking is to signal to the public that this work is copyrighted "
17200 "and that the author wants to enforce his rights. The mark also makes it easy "
17201 "to locate a copyright owner to secure permission to use the work."
17204 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17205 #: freeculture.xml:13484
17207 "One of the problems the copyright system confronted early on was that "
17208 "different copyrighted works had to be differently marked. It wasn't clear "
17209 "how or where a statue was to be marked, or a record, or a film. A new "
17210 "marking requirement could solve these problems by recognizing the "
17211 "differences in media, and by allowing the system of marking to evolve as "
17212 "technologies enable it to. The system could enable a special signal from the "
17213 "failure to mark—not the loss of the copyright, but the loss of the "
17214 "right to punish someone for failing to get permission first."
17218 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para><footnote><para>
17219 #: freeculture.xml:13501
17221 "There would be a complication with derivative works that I have not solved "
17222 "here. In my view, the law of derivatives creates a more complicated system "
17223 "than is justified by the marginal incentive it creates."
17227 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17228 #: freeculture.xml:13494
17230 "Let's start with the last point. If a copyright owner allows his work to be "
17231 "published without a copyright notice, the consequence of that failure need "
17232 "not be that the copyright is lost. The consequence could instead be that "
17233 "anyone has the right to use this work, until the copyright owner complains "
17234 "and demonstrates that it is his work and he doesn't give "
17235 "permission.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The meaning of an "
17236 "unmarked work would therefore be \"use unless someone complains.\" If "
17237 "someone does complain, then the obligation would be to stop using the work "
17238 "in any new work from then on though no penalty would attach for existing "
17239 "uses. This would create a strong incentive for copyright owners to mark "
17243 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17244 #: freeculture.xml:13514
17246 "That in turn raises the question about how work should best be marked. Here "
17247 "again, the system needs to adjust as the technologies evolve. The best way "
17248 "to ensure that the system evolves is to limit the Copyright Office's role to "
17249 "that of approving standards for marking content that have been crafted "
17253 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17254 #: freeculture.xml:13521
17256 "For example, if a recording industry association devises a method for "
17257 "marking CDs, it would propose that to the Copyright Office. The Copyright "
17258 "Office would hold a hearing, at which other proposals could be made. The "
17259 "Copyright Office would then select the proposal that it judged preferable, "
17260 "and it would base that choice solely upon the consideration of which method "
17261 "could best be integrated into the registration and renewal system. We would "
17262 "not count on the government to innovate; but we would count on the "
17263 "government to keep the product of innovation in line with its other "
17264 "important functions."
17267 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17268 #: freeculture.xml:13532
17270 "Finally, marking content clearly would simplify registration requirements. "
17271 "If photographs were marked by author and year, there would be little reason "
17272 "not to allow a photographer to reregister, for example, all photographs "
17273 "taken in a particular year in one quick step. The aim of the formality is "
17274 "not to burden the creator; the system itself should be kept as simple as "
17278 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17279 #: freeculture.xml:13540
17281 "The objective of formalities is to make things clear. The existing system "
17282 "does nothing to make things clear. Indeed, it seems designed to make things "
17286 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><sect3><para>
17287 #: freeculture.xml:13545
17289 "If formalities such as registration were reinstated, one of the most "
17290 "difficult aspects of relying upon the public domain would be removed. It "
17291 "would be simple to identify what content is presumptively free; it would be "
17292 "simple to identify who controls the rights for a particular kind of content; "
17293 "it would be simple to assert those rights, and to renew that assertion at "
17294 "the appropriate time."
17297 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
17298 #: freeculture.xml:13557
17299 msgid "2. Shorter Terms"
17302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17303 #: freeculture.xml:13559
17305 "The term of copyright has gone from fourteen years to ninety-five years for "
17306 "corporate authors, and life of the author plus seventy years for natural "
17311 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17312 #: freeculture.xml:13571
17314 "\"A Radical Rethink,\" Economist, 366:8308 (25 January 2003): 15, available "
17315 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #74</ulink>."
17318 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17319 #: freeculture.xml:13564
17321 "In The Future of Ideas, I proposed a seventy-five-year term, granted in "
17322 "five-year increments with a requirement of renewal every five years. That "
17323 "seemed radical enough at the time. But after we lost Eldred v. Ashcroft, "
17324 "the proposals became even more radical. The Economist endorsed a proposal "
17325 "for a fourteen-year copyright term.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
17326 "Others have proposed tying the term to the term for patents."
17329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17330 #: freeculture.xml:13578
17332 "I agree with those who believe that we need a radical change in copyright's "
17333 "term. But whether fourteen years or seventy-five, there are four principles "
17334 "that are important to keep in mind about copyright terms."
17338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17339 #: freeculture.xml:13586
17341 "Keep it short: The term should be as long as necessary to give incentives to "
17342 "create, but no longer. If it were tied to very strong protections for "
17343 "authors (so authors were able to reclaim rights from publishers), rights to "
17344 "the same work (not derivative works) might be extended further. The key is "
17345 "not to tie the work up with legal regulations when it no longer benefits an "
17351 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17352 #: freeculture.xml:13594
17354 "Keep it simple: The line between the public domain and protected content "
17355 "must be kept clear. Lawyers like the fuzziness of \"fair use,\" and the "
17356 "distinction between \"ideas\" and \"expression.\" That kind of law gives "
17357 "them lots of work. But our framers had a simpler idea in mind: protected "
17358 "versus unprotected. The value of short terms is that there is little need "
17359 "to build exceptions into copyright when the term itself is kept short. A "
17360 "clear and active \"lawyer-free zone\" makes the complexities of \"fair use\" "
17361 "and \"idea/expression\" less necessary to navigate."
17365 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para><footnote><para>
17366 #: freeculture.xml:13614
17368 "Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran's Application for Compensation "
17369 "and/or Pension, VA Form 21-526 (OMB Approved No. 2900-0001), available at "
17370 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #75</ulink>."
17373 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17374 #: freeculture.xml:13607
17376 "Keep it alive: Copyright should have to be renewed. Especially if the "
17377 "maximum term is long, the copyright owner should be required to signal "
17378 "periodically that he wants the protection continued. This need not be an "
17379 "onerous burden, but there is no reason this monopoly protection has to be "
17380 "granted for free. On average, it takes ninety minutes for a veteran to apply "
17381 "for a pension.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> If we make veterans "
17382 "suffer that burden, I don't see why we couldn't require authors to spend ten "
17383 "minutes every fifty years to file a single form."
17387 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17388 #: freeculture.xml:13625
17390 "Keep it prospective: Whatever the term of copyright should be, the clearest "
17391 "lesson that economists teach is that a term once given should not be "
17392 "extended. It might have been a mistake in 1923 for the law to offer authors "
17393 "only a fifty-six-year term. I don't think so, but it's possible. If it was a "
17394 "mistake, then the consequence was that we got fewer authors to create in "
17395 "1923 than we otherwise would have. But we can't correct that mistake today "
17396 "by increasing the term. No matter what we do today, we will not increase the "
17397 "number of authors who wrote in 1923. Of course, we can increase the reward "
17398 "that those who write now get (or alternatively, increase the copyright "
17399 "burden that smothers many works that are today invisible). But increasing "
17400 "their reward will not increase their creativity in 1923. What's not done is "
17401 "not done, and there's nothing we can do about that now."
17404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17405 #: freeculture.xml:13640
17407 "These changes together should produce an average copyright term that is much "
17408 "shorter than the current term. Until 1976, the average term was just 32.2 "
17409 "years. We should be aiming for the same."
17412 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17413 #: freeculture.xml:13645
17415 "No doubt the extremists will call these ideas \"radical.\" (After all, I "
17416 "call them \"extremists.\") But again, the term I recommended was longer than "
17417 "the term under Richard Nixon. How \"radical\" can it be to ask for a more "
17418 "generous copyright law than Richard Nixon presided over?"
17421 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
17422 #: freeculture.xml:13655
17423 msgid "3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use"
17426 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17427 #: freeculture.xml:13657
17429 "As I observed at the beginning of this book, property law originally granted "
17430 "property owners the right to control their property from the ground to the "
17431 "heavens. The airplane came along. The scope of property rights quickly "
17432 "changed. There was no fuss, no constitutional challenge. It made no sense "
17433 "anymore to grant that much control, given the emergence of that new "
17437 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17438 #: freeculture.xml:13665
17440 "Our Constitution gives Congress the power to give authors \"exclusive "
17441 "right\" to \"their writings.\" Congress has given authors an exclusive right "
17442 "to \"their writings\" plus any derivative writings (made by others) that are "
17443 "sufficiently close to the author's original work. Thus, if I write a book, "
17444 "and you base a movie on that book, I have the power to deny you the right to "
17445 "release that movie, even though that movie is not \"my writing.\""
17449 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17450 #: freeculture.xml:13678
17452 "Benjamin Kaplan, An Unhurried View of Copyright (New York: Columbia "
17453 "University Press, 1967), 32."
17456 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17457 #: freeculture.xml:13674
17459 "Congress granted the beginnings of this right in 1870, when it expanded the "
17460 "exclusive right of copyright to include a right to control translations and "
17461 "dramatizations of a work.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
17462 "courts have expanded it slowly through judicial interpretation ever "
17463 "since. This expansion has been commented upon by one of the law's greatest "
17464 "judges, Judge Benjamin Kaplan."
17468 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
17469 #: freeculture.xml:13691
17473 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><blockquote><para>
17474 #: freeculture.xml:13687
17476 "So inured have we become to the extension of the monopoly to a large range "
17477 "of so-called derivative works, that we no longer sense the oddity of "
17478 "accepting such an enlargement of copyright while yet intoning the "
17479 "abracadabra of idea and expression.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
17482 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17483 #: freeculture.xml:13696
17485 "I think it's time to recognize that there are airplanes in this field and "
17486 "the expansiveness of these rights of derivative use no longer make "
17487 "sense. More precisely, they don't make sense for the period of time that a "
17488 "copyright runs. And they don't make sense as an amorphous grant. Consider "
17489 "each limitation in turn."
17492 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17493 #: freeculture.xml:13703
17495 "Term: If Congress wants to grant a derivative right, then that right should "
17496 "be for a much shorter term. It makes sense to protect John Grisham's right "
17497 "to sell the movie rights to his latest novel (or at least I'm willing to "
17498 "assume it does); but it does not make sense for that right to run for the "
17499 "same term as the underlying copyright. The derivative right could be "
17500 "important in inducing creativity; it is not important long after the "
17501 "creative work is done. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17504 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17505 #: freeculture.xml:13715
17507 "Scope: Likewise should the scope of derivative rights be narrowed. Again, "
17508 "there are some cases in which derivative rights are important. Those should "
17509 "be specified. But the law should draw clear lines around regulated and "
17510 "unregulated uses of copyrighted material. When all \"reuse\" of creative "
17511 "material was within the control of businesses, perhaps it made sense to "
17512 "require lawyers to negotiate the lines. It no longer makes sense for lawyers "
17513 "to negotiate the lines. Think about all the creative possibilities that "
17514 "digital technologies enable; now imagine pouring molasses into the "
17515 "machines. That's what this general requirement of permission does to the "
17516 "creative process. Smothers it."
17519 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17520 #: freeculture.xml:13727
17522 "This was the point that Alben made when describing the making of the Clint "
17523 "Eastwood CD. While it makes sense to require negotiation for foreseeable "
17524 "derivative rights—turning a book into a movie, or a poem into a "
17525 "musical score—it doesn't make sense to require negotiation for the "
17526 "unforeseeable. Here, a statutory right would make much more sense."
17529 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
17530 #: freeculture.xml:13743
17531 msgid "Goldstein, Paul"
17534 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17535 #: freeculture.xml:13741
17537 "Paul Goldstein, Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the Celestial Jukebox "
17538 "(Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), 187–216. <placeholder "
17539 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17542 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17543 #: freeculture.xml:13735
17545 "In each of these cases, the law should mark the uses that are protected, and "
17546 "the presumption should be that other uses are not protected. This is the "
17547 "reverse of the recommendation of my colleague Paul Goldstein.<placeholder "
17548 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His view is that the law should be written so "
17549 "that expanded protections follow expanded uses."
17552 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17553 #: freeculture.xml:13749
17555 "Goldstein's analysis would make perfect sense if the cost of the legal "
17556 "system were small. But as we are currently seeing in the context of the "
17557 "Internet, the uncertainty about the scope of protection, and the incentives "
17558 "to protect existing architectures of revenue, combined with a strong "
17559 "copyright, weaken the process of innovation."
17563 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17564 #: freeculture.xml:13756
17566 "The law could remedy this problem either by removing protection beyond the "
17567 "part explicitly drawn or by granting reuse rights upon certain statutory "
17568 "conditions. Either way, the effect would be to free a great deal of culture "
17569 "to others to cultivate. And under a statutory rights regime, that reuse "
17570 "would earn artists more income."
17573 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
17574 #: freeculture.xml:13766
17575 msgid "4. Liberate the Music—Again"
17578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17579 #: freeculture.xml:13768
17581 "The battle that got this whole war going was about music, so it wouldn't be "
17582 "fair to end this book without addressing the issue that is, to most people, "
17583 "most pressing—music. There is no other policy issue that better "
17584 "teaches the lessons of this book than the battles around the sharing of "
17588 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17589 #: freeculture.xml:13775
17591 "The appeal of file-sharing music was the crack cocaine of the Internet's "
17592 "growth. It drove demand for access to the Internet more powerfully than any "
17593 "other single application. It was the Internet's killer app—possibly in "
17594 "two senses of that word. It no doubt was the application that drove demand "
17595 "for bandwidth. It may well be the application that drives demand for "
17596 "regulations that in the end kill innovation on the network."
17599 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17600 #: freeculture.xml:13784
17602 "The aim of copyright, with respect to content in general and music in "
17603 "particular, is to create the incentives for music to be composed, performed, "
17604 "and, most importantly, spread. The law does this by giving an exclusive "
17605 "right to a composer to control public performances of his work, and to a "
17606 "performing artist to control copies of her performance."
17609 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17610 #: freeculture.xml:13791
17612 "File-sharing networks complicate this model by enabling the spread of "
17613 "content for which the performer has not been paid. But of course, that's not "
17614 "all the file-sharing networks do. As I described in chapter 5, they enable "
17615 "four different kinds of sharing:"
17619 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17620 #: freeculture.xml:13799
17622 "There are some who are using sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
17627 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17628 #: freeculture.xml:13804
17630 "There are also some who are using sharing networks to sample, on the way to "
17636 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17637 #: freeculture.xml:13810
17639 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
17640 "that is no longer sold but is still under copyright or that would have been "
17641 "too cumbersome to buy off the Net."
17645 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
17646 #: freeculture.xml:13816
17648 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
17649 "that is not copyrighted or to get access that the copyright owner plainly "
17653 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17654 #: freeculture.xml:13822
17656 "Any reform of the law needs to keep these different uses in focus. It must "
17657 "avoid burdening type D even if it aims to eliminate type A. The eagerness "
17658 "with which the law aims to eliminate type A, moreover, should depend upon "
17659 "the magnitude of type B. As with VCRs, if the net effect of sharing is "
17660 "actually not very harmful, the need for regulation is significantly "
17664 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17665 #: freeculture.xml:13830
17667 "As I said in chapter 5, the actual harm caused by sharing is controversial. "
17668 "For the purposes of this chapter, however, I assume the harm is real. I "
17669 "assume, in other words, that type A sharing is significantly greater than "
17670 "type B, and is the dominant use of sharing networks."
17673 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17674 #: freeculture.xml:13837
17676 "Nonetheless, there is a crucial fact about the current technological context "
17677 "that we must keep in mind if we are to understand how the law should "
17681 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17682 #: freeculture.xml:13842
17684 "Today, file sharing is addictive. In ten years, it won't be. It is addictive "
17685 "today because it is the easiest way to gain access to a broad range of "
17686 "content. It won't be the easiest way to get access to a broad range of "
17687 "content in ten years. Today, access to the Internet is cumbersome and "
17688 "slow—we in the United States are lucky to have broadband service at "
17689 "1.5 MBs, and very rarely do we get service at that speed both up and "
17690 "down. Although wireless access is growing, most of us still get access "
17691 "across wires. Most only gain access through a machine with a keyboard. The "
17692 "idea of the always on, always connected Internet is mainly just an idea."
17696 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17697 #: freeculture.xml:13854
17699 "But it will become a reality, and that means the way we get access to the "
17700 "Internet today is a technology in transition. Policy makers should not make "
17701 "policy on the basis of technology in transition. They should make policy on "
17702 "the basis of where the technology is going. The question should not be, how "
17703 "should the law regulate sharing in this world? The question should be, what "
17704 "law will we require when the network becomes the network it is clearly "
17705 "becoming? That network is one in which every machine with electricity is "
17706 "essentially on the Net; where everywhere you are—except maybe the "
17707 "desert or the Rockies—you can instantaneously be connected to the "
17708 "Internet. Imagine the Internet as ubiquitous as the best cell-phone service, "
17709 "where with the flip of a device, you are connected."
17713 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17714 #: freeculture.xml:13886
17716 "See, for example, \"Music Media Watch,\" The J@pan Inc. Newsletter, 3 April "
17717 "2002, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
17721 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17722 #: freeculture.xml:13869
17724 "In that world, it will be extremely easy to connect to services that give "
17725 "you access to content on the fly—such as Internet radio, content that "
17726 "is streamed to the user when the user demands. Here, then, is the critical "
17727 "point: When it is extremely easy to connect to services that give access to "
17728 "content, it will be easier to connect to services that give you access to "
17729 "content than it will be to download and store content on the many devices "
17730 "you will have for playing content. It will be easier, in other words, to "
17731 "subscribe than it will be to be a database manager, as everyone in the "
17732 "download-sharing world of Napster-like technologies essentially is. Content "
17733 "services will compete with content sharing, even if the services charge "
17734 "money for the content they give access to. Already cell-phone services in "
17735 "Japan offer music (for a fee) streamed over cell phones (enhanced with plugs "
17736 "for headphones). The Japanese are paying for this content even though "
17737 "\"free\" content is available in the form of MP3s across the "
17738 "Web.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
17742 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17743 #: freeculture.xml:13893
17745 "This point about the future is meant to suggest a perspective on the "
17746 "present: It is emphatically temporary. The \"problem\" with file "
17747 "sharing—to the extent there is a real problem—is a problem that "
17748 "will increasingly disappear as it becomes easier to connect to the "
17749 "Internet. And thus it is an extraordinary mistake for policy makers today "
17750 "to be \"solving\" this problem in light of a technology that will be gone "
17751 "tomorrow. The question should not be how to regulate the Internet to "
17752 "eliminate file sharing (the Net will evolve that problem away). The question "
17753 "instead should be how to assure that artists get paid, during this "
17754 "transition between twentieth-century models for doing business and "
17755 "twenty-first-century technologies."
17758 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17759 #: freeculture.xml:13909
17761 "The answer begins with recognizing that there are different \"problems\" "
17762 "here to solve. Let's start with type D content—uncopyrighted content "
17763 "or copyrighted content that the artist wants shared. The \"problem\" with "
17764 "this content is to make sure that the technology that would enable this kind "
17765 "of sharing is not rendered illegal. You can think of it this way: Pay phones "
17766 "are used to deliver ransom demands, no doubt. But there are many who need "
17767 "to use pay phones who have nothing to do with ransoms. It would be wrong to "
17768 "ban pay phones in order to eliminate kidnapping."
17771 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17772 #: freeculture.xml:13920
17774 "Type C content raises a different \"problem.\" This is content that was, at "
17775 "one time, published and is no longer available. It may be unavailable "
17776 "because the artist is no longer valuable enough for the record label he "
17777 "signed with to carry his work. Or it may be unavailable because the work is "
17778 "forgotten. Either way, the aim of the law should be to facilitate the access "
17779 "to this content, ideally in a way that returns something to the artist."
17782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17783 #: freeculture.xml:13929
17785 "Again, the model here is the used book store. Once a book goes out of print, "
17786 "it may still be available in libraries and used book stores. But libraries "
17787 "and used book stores don't pay the copyright owner when someone reads or "
17788 "buys an out-of-print book. That makes total sense, of course, since any "
17789 "other system would be so burdensome as to eliminate the possibility of used "
17790 "book stores' existing. But from the author's perspective, this \"sharing\" "
17791 "of his content without his being compensated is less than ideal."
17794 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17795 #: freeculture.xml:13939
17797 "The model of used book stores suggests that the law could simply deem "
17798 "out-of-print music fair game. If the publisher does not make copies of the "
17799 "music available for sale, then commercial and noncommercial providers would "
17800 "be free, under this rule, to \"share\" that content, even though the sharing "
17801 "involved making a copy. The copy here would be incidental to the trade; in a "
17802 "context where commercial publishing has ended, trading music should be as "
17803 "free as trading books."
17807 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17808 #: freeculture.xml:13950
17810 "Alternatively, the law could create a statutory license that would ensure "
17811 "that artists get something from the trade of their work. For example, if the "
17812 "law set a low statutory rate for the commercial sharing of content that was "
17813 "not offered for sale by a commercial publisher, and if that rate were "
17814 "automatically transferred to a trust for the benefit of the artist, then "
17815 "businesses could develop around the idea of trading this content, and "
17816 "artists would benefit from this trade."
17819 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17820 #: freeculture.xml:13960
17822 "This system would also create an incentive for publishers to keep works "
17823 "available commercially. Works that are available commercially would not be "
17824 "subject to this license. Thus, publishers could protect the right to charge "
17825 "whatever they want for content if they kept the work commercially "
17826 "available. But if they don't keep it available, and instead, the computer "
17827 "hard disks of fans around the world keep it alive, then any royalty owed for "
17828 "such copying should be much less than the amount owed a commercial "
17832 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17833 #: freeculture.xml:13970
17835 "The hard case is content of types A and B, and again, this case is hard only "
17836 "because the extent of the problem will change over time, as the technologies "
17837 "for gaining access to content change. The law's solution should be as "
17838 "flexible as the problem is, understanding that we are in the middle of a "
17839 "radical transformation in the technology for delivering and accessing "
17843 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17844 #: freeculture.xml:13978
17846 "So here's a solution that will at first seem very strange to both sides in "
17847 "this war, but which upon reflection, I suggest, should make some sense."
17850 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17851 #: freeculture.xml:13982
17853 "Stripped of the rhetoric about the sanctity of property, the basic claim of "
17854 "the content industry is this: A new technology (the Internet) has harmed a "
17855 "set of rights that secure copyright. If those rights are to be protected, "
17856 "then the content industry should be compensated for that harm. Just as the "
17857 "technology of tobacco harmed the health of millions of Americans, or the "
17858 "technology of asbestos caused grave illness to thousands of miners, so, too, "
17859 "has the technology of digital networks harmed the interests of the content "
17864 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17865 #: freeculture.xml:13993
17867 "I love the Internet, and so I don't like likening it to tobacco or "
17868 "asbestos. But the analogy is a fair one from the perspective of the law. "
17869 "And it suggests a fair response: Rather than seeking to destroy the "
17870 "Internet, or the p2p technologies that are currently harming content "
17871 "providers on the Internet, we should find a relatively simple way to "
17872 "compensate those who are harmed."
17875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
17876 #: freeculture.xml:14037
17877 msgid "Fisher, William"
17880 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
17881 #: freeculture.xml:14004
17883 "William Fisher, Digital Music: Problems and Possibilities (last revised: 10 "
17884 "October 2000), available at <ulink "
17885 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #77</ulink>; William Fisher, "
17886 "Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of Entertainment "
17887 "(forthcoming) (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004), ch. 6, available "
17888 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #78</ulink>. Professor "
17889 "Netanel has proposed a related idea that would exempt noncommercial sharing "
17890 "from the reach of copyright and would establish compensation to artists to "
17891 "balance any loss. See Neil Weinstock Netanel, \"Impose a Noncommercial Use "
17892 "Levy to Allow Free P2P File Sharing,\" available at <ulink "
17893 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #79</ulink>. For other proposals, "
17894 "see Lawrence Lessig, \"Who's Holding Back Broadband?\" Washington Post, 8 "
17895 "January 2002, A17; Philip S. Corwin on behalf of Sharman Networks, A Letter "
17896 "to Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations "
17897 "Committee, 26 February 2002, available at <ulink "
17898 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #80</ulink>; Serguei Osokine, A "
17899 "Quick Case for Intellectual Property Use Fee (IPUF), 3 March 2002, available "
17900 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #81</ulink>; Jefferson "
17901 "Graham, \"Kazaa, Verizon Propose to Pay Artists Directly,\" USA Today, 13 "
17902 "May 2002, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
17903 "#82</ulink>; Steven M. Cherry, \"Getting Copyright Right,\" IEEE Spectrum "
17904 "Online, 1 July 2002, available at <ulink "
17905 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #83</ulink>; Declan McCullagh, "
17906 "\"Verizon's Copyright Campaign,\" CNET News.com, 27 August 2002, available "
17907 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #84</ulink>. Fisher's "
17908 "proposal is very similar to Richard Stallman's proposal for DAT. Unlike "
17909 "Fisher's, Stallman's proposal would not pay artists directly proportionally, "
17910 "though more popular artists would get more than the less popular. As is "
17911 "typical with Stallman, his proposal predates the current debate by about a "
17912 "decade. See <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #85</ulink>. "
17913 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17917 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17918 #: freeculture.xml:14001
17920 "The idea would be a modification of a proposal that has been floated by "
17921 "Harvard law professor William Fisher.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17922 "id=\"0\"/> Fisher suggests a very clever way around the current impasse of "
17923 "the Internet. Under his plan, all content capable of digital transmission "
17924 "would (1) be marked with a digital watermark (don't worry about how easy it "
17925 "is to evade these marks; as you'll see, there's no incentive to evade "
17926 "them). Once the content is marked, then entrepreneurs would develop (2) "
17927 "systems to monitor how many items of each content were distributed. On the "
17928 "basis of those numbers, then (3) artists would be compensated. The "
17929 "compensation would be paid for by (4) an appropriate tax."
17932 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17933 #: freeculture.xml:14050
17935 "Fisher's proposal is careful and comprehensive. It raises a million "
17936 "questions, most of which he answers well in his upcoming book, Promises to "
17937 "Keep. The modification that I would make is relatively simple: Fisher "
17938 "imagines his proposal replacing the existing copyright system. I imagine it "
17939 "complementing the existing system. The aim of the proposal would be to "
17940 "facilitate compensation to the extent that harm could be shown. This "
17941 "compensation would be temporary, aimed at facilitating a transition between "
17942 "regimes. And it would require renewal after a period of years. If it "
17943 "continues to make sense to facilitate free exchange of content, supported "
17944 "through a taxation system, then it can be continued. If this form of "
17945 "protection is no longer necessary, then the system could lapse into the old "
17946 "system of controlling access."
17950 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17951 #: freeculture.xml:14065
17953 "Fisher would balk at the idea of allowing the system to lapse. His aim is "
17954 "not just to ensure that artists are paid, but also to ensure that the system "
17955 "supports the widest range of \"semiotic democracy\" possible. But the aims "
17956 "of semiotic democracy would be satisfied if the other changes I described "
17957 "were accomplished—in particular, the limits on derivative uses. A "
17958 "system that simply charges for access would not greatly burden semiotic "
17959 "democracy if there were few limitations on what one was allowed to do with "
17960 "the content itself."
17963 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17964 #: freeculture.xml:14078
17966 "No doubt it would be difficult to calculate the proper measure of \"harm\" "
17967 "to an industry. But the difficulty of making that calculation would be "
17968 "outweighed by the benefit of facilitating innovation. This background system "
17969 "to compensate would also not need to interfere with innovative proposals "
17970 "such as Apple's MusicStore. As experts predicted when Apple launched the "
17971 "MusicStore, it could beat \"free\" by being easier than free is. This has "
17972 "proven correct: Apple has sold millions of songs at even the very high price "
17973 "of 99 cents a song. (At 99 cents, the cost is the equivalent of a per-song "
17974 "CD price, though the labels have none of the costs of a CD to pay.) Apple's "
17975 "move was countered by Real Networks, offering music at just 79 cents a "
17976 "song. And no doubt there will be a great deal of competition to offer and "
17977 "sell music on-line."
17980 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17981 #: freeculture.xml:14093
17983 "This competition has already occurred against the background of \"free\" "
17984 "music from p2p systems. As the sellers of cable television have known for "
17985 "thirty years, and the sellers of bottled water for much more than that, "
17986 "there is nothing impossible at all about \"competing with free.\" Indeed, if "
17987 "anything, the competition spurs the competitors to offer new and better "
17988 "products. This is precisely what the competitive market was to be "
17989 "about. Thus in Singapore, though piracy is rampant, movie theaters are often "
17990 "luxurious—with \"first class\" seats, and meals served while you watch "
17991 "a movie—as they struggle and succeed in finding ways to compete with "
17995 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
17996 #: freeculture.xml:14105
17998 "This regime of competition, with a backstop to assure that artists don't "
17999 "lose, would facilitate a great deal of innovation in the delivery of "
18000 "content. That competition would continue to shrink type A sharing. It would "
18001 "inspire an extraordinary range of new innovators—ones who would have a "
18002 "right to the content, and would no longer fear the uncertain and "
18003 "barbarically severe punishments of the law."
18006 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18007 #: freeculture.xml:14114
18008 msgid "In summary, then, my proposal is this:"
18012 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18013 #: freeculture.xml:14119
18015 "The Internet is in transition. We should not be regulating a technology in "
18016 "transition. We should instead be regulating to minimize the harm to "
18017 "interests affected by this technological change, while enabling, and "
18018 "encouraging, the most efficient technology we can create."
18021 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18022 #: freeculture.xml:14126
18023 msgid "We can minimize that harm while maximizing the benefit to innovation by"
18027 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18028 #: freeculture.xml:14132
18029 msgid "guaranteeing the right to engage in type D sharing;"
18033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18034 #: freeculture.xml:14136
18036 "permitting noncommercial type C sharing without liability, and commercial "
18037 "type C sharing at a low and fixed rate set by statute;"
18041 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18042 #: freeculture.xml:14142
18044 "while in this transition, taxing and compensating for type A sharing, to the "
18045 "extent actual harm is demonstrated."
18048 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18049 #: freeculture.xml:14147
18051 "But what if \"piracy\" doesn't disappear? What if there is a competitive "
18052 "market providing content at a low cost, but a significant number of "
18053 "consumers continue to \"take\" content for nothing? Should the law do "
18057 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18058 #: freeculture.xml:14153
18060 "Yes, it should. But, again, what it should do depends upon how the facts "
18061 "develop. These changes may not eliminate type A sharing. But the real issue "
18062 "is not whether it eliminates sharing in the abstract. The real issue is its "
18063 "effect on the market. Is it better (a) to have a technology that is 95 "
18064 "percent secure and produces a market of size x, or (b) to have a technology "
18065 "that is 50 percent secure but produces a market of five times x? Less secure "
18066 "might produce more unauthorized sharing, but it is likely to also produce a "
18067 "much bigger market in authorized sharing. The most important thing is to "
18068 "assure artists' compensation without breaking the Internet. Once that's "
18069 "assured, then it may well be appropriate to find ways to track down the "
18074 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18075 #: freeculture.xml:14167
18077 "But we're a long way away from whittling the problem down to this subset of "
18078 "type A sharers. And our focus until we're there should not be on finding "
18079 "ways to break the Internet. Our focus until we're there should be on how to "
18080 "make sure the artists are paid, while protecting the space for innovation "
18081 "and creativity that the Internet is."
18084 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><title>
18085 #: freeculture.xml:14178
18086 msgid "5. Fire Lots of Lawyers"
18089 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18090 #: freeculture.xml:14180
18092 "I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living. I believe in the law. I believe "
18093 "in the law of copyright. Indeed, I have devoted my life to working in law, "
18094 "not because there are big bucks at the end but because there are ideals at "
18095 "the end that I would love to live."
18098 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18099 #: freeculture.xml:14186
18101 "Yet much of this book has been a criticism of lawyers, or the role lawyers "
18102 "have played in this debate. The law speaks to ideals, but it is my view that "
18103 "our profession has become too attuned to the client. And in a world where "
18104 "the rich clients have one strong view, the unwillingness of the profession "
18105 "to question or counter that one strong view queers the law."
18109 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
18110 #: freeculture.xml:14203
18112 "Lawrence Lessig, \"Copyright's First Amendment\" (Melville B. Nimmer "
18113 "Memorial Lecture), UCLA Law Review 48 (2001): 1057, 1069–70."
18116 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18117 #: freeculture.xml:14194
18119 "The evidence of this bending is compelling. I'm attacked as a \"radical\" by "
18120 "many within the profession, yet the positions that I am advocating are "
18121 "precisely the positions of some of the most moderate and significant figures "
18122 "in the history of this branch of the law. Many, for example, thought crazy "
18123 "the challenge that we brought to the Copyright Term Extension Act. Yet just "
18124 "thirty years ago, the dominant scholar and practitioner in the field of "
18125 "copyright, Melville Nimmer, thought it obvious.<placeholder "
18126 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18129 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18130 #: freeculture.xml:14209
18132 "However, my criticism of the role that lawyers have played in this debate is "
18133 "not just about a professional bias. It is more importantly about our failure "
18134 "to actually reckon the costs of the law."
18137 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para><footnote><para>
18138 #: freeculture.xml:14219
18140 "A good example is the work of Professor Stan Liebowitz. Liebowitz is to be "
18141 "commended for his careful review of data about infringement, leading him to "
18142 "question his own publicly stated position—twice. He initially "
18143 "predicted that downloading would substantially harm the industry. He then "
18144 "revised his view in light of the data, and he has since revised his view "
18145 "again. Compare Stan J. Liebowitz, Rethinking the Network Economy: The True "
18146 "Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace (New York: Amacom, 2002), "
18147 "(reviewing his original view but expressing skepticism) with Stan J. "
18148 "Liebowitz, \"Will MP3s Annihilate the Record Industry?\" working paper, June "
18149 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
18150 "#86</ulink>. Liebowitz's careful analysis is extremely valuable in "
18151 "estimating the effect of file-sharing technology. In my view, however, he "
18152 "underestimates the costs of the legal system. See, for example, Rethinking, "
18153 "174–76. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18156 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18157 #: freeculture.xml:14214
18159 "Economists are supposed to be good at reckoning costs and benefits. But "
18160 "more often than not, economists, with no clue about how the legal system "
18161 "actually functions, simply assume that the transaction costs of the legal "
18162 "system are slight.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> They see a "
18163 "system that has been around for hundreds of years, and they assume it works "
18164 "the way their elementary school civics class taught them it works."
18168 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18169 #: freeculture.xml:14243
18171 "But the legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for "
18172 "anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the system is "
18173 "corrupt. I don't think our legal system (at the federal level, at least) is "
18174 "at all corrupt. I mean simply because the costs of our legal system are so "
18175 "astonishingly high that justice can practically never be done."
18178 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18179 #: freeculture.xml:14251
18181 "These costs distort free culture in many ways. A lawyer's time is billed at "
18182 "the largest firms at more than $400 per hour. How much time should such a "
18183 "lawyer spend reading cases carefully, or researching obscure strands of "
18184 "authority? The answer is the increasing reality: very little. The law "
18185 "depended upon the careful articulation and development of doctrine, but the "
18186 "careful articulation and development of legal doctrine depends upon careful "
18187 "work. Yet that careful work costs too much, except in the most high-profile "
18188 "and costly cases."
18191 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18192 #: freeculture.xml:14261
18194 "The costliness and clumsiness and randomness of this system mock our "
18195 "tradition. And lawyers, as well as academics, should consider it their duty "
18196 "to change the way the law works—or better, to change the law so that "
18197 "it works. It is wrong that the system works well only for the top 1 percent "
18198 "of the clients. It could be made radically more efficient, and inexpensive, "
18199 "and hence radically more just."
18202 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18203 #: freeculture.xml:14269
18205 "But until that reform is complete, we as a society should keep the law away "
18206 "from areas that we know it will only harm. And that is precisely what the "
18207 "law will too often do if too much of our culture is left to its review."
18210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18211 #: freeculture.xml:14275
18213 "Think about the amazing things your kid could do or make with digital "
18214 "technology—the film, the music, the Web page, the blog. Or think about "
18215 "the amazing things your community could facilitate with digital "
18216 "technology—a wiki, a barn raising, activism to change something. "
18217 "Think about all those creative things, and then imagine cold molasses poured "
18218 "onto the machines. This is what any regime that requires permission "
18219 "produces. Again, this is the reality of Brezhnev's Russia."
18223 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18224 #: freeculture.xml:14284
18226 "The law should regulate in certain areas of culture—but it should "
18227 "regulate culture only where that regulation does good. Yet lawyers rarely "
18228 "test their power, or the power they promote, against this simple pragmatic "
18229 "question: \"Will it do good?\" When challenged about the expanding reach of "
18230 "the law, the lawyer answers, \"Why not?\""
18233 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><sect1><sect2><para>
18234 #: freeculture.xml:14293
18236 "We should ask, \"Why?\" Show me why your regulation of culture is "
18237 "needed. Show me how it does good. And until you can show me both, keep your "
18241 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
18242 #: freeculture.xml:14302
18246 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18247 #: freeculture.xml:14304
18249 "Throughout this text, there are references to links on the World Wide "
18250 "Web. As anyone who has tried to use the Web knows, these links can be highly "
18251 "unstable. I have tried to remedy the instability by redirecting readers to "
18252 "the original source through the Web site associated with this book. For each "
18253 "link below, you can go to http://free-culture.cc/notes and locate the "
18254 "original source by clicking on the number after the # sign. If the original "
18255 "link remains alive, you will be redirected to that link. If the original "
18256 "link has disappeared, you will be redirected to an appropriate reference for "
18260 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
18261 #: freeculture.xml:14319
18262 msgid "ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"
18265 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18266 #: freeculture.xml:14321
18268 "This book is the product of a long and as yet unsuccessful struggle that "
18269 "began when I read of Eric Eldred's war to keep books free. Eldred's work "
18270 "helped launch a movement, the free culture movement, and it is to him that "
18271 "this book is dedicated."
18274 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18275 #: freeculture.xml:14327
18277 "I received guidance in various places from friends and academics, including "
18278 "Glenn Brown, Peter DiCola, Jennifer Mnookin, Richard Posner, Mark Rose, and "
18279 "Kathleen Sullivan. And I received correction and guidance from many amazing "
18280 "students at Stanford Law School and Stanford University. They included "
18281 "Andrew B. Coan, John Eden, James P. Fellers, Christopher Guzelian, Erica "
18282 "Goldberg, Robert Hallman, Andrew Harris, Matthew Kahn, Brian Link, Ohad "
18283 "Mayblum, Alina Ng, and Erica Platt. I am particularly grateful to Catherine "
18284 "Crump and Harry Surden, who helped direct their research, and to Laura "
18285 "Lynch, who brilliantly managed the army that they assembled, and provided "
18286 "her own critical eye on much of this."
18290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18291 #: freeculture.xml:14340
18293 "Yuko Noguchi helped me to understand the laws of Japan as well as its "
18294 "culture. I am thankful to her, and to the many in Japan who helped me "
18295 "prepare this book: Joi Ito, Takayuki Matsutani, Naoto Misaki, Michihiro "
18296 "Sasaki, Hiromichi Tanaka, Hiroo Yamagata, and Yoshihiro Yonezawa. I am "
18297 "thankful as well as to Professor Nobuhiro Nakayama, and the Tokyo University "
18298 "Business Law Center, for giving me the chance to spend time in Japan, and to "
18299 "Tadashi Shiraishi and Kiyokazu Yamagami for their generous help while I was "
18303 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18304 #: freeculture.xml:14351
18306 "These are the traditional sorts of help that academics regularly draw "
18307 "upon. But in addition to them, the Internet has made it possible to receive "
18308 "advice and correction from many whom I have never even met. Among those who "
18309 "have responded with extremely helpful advice to requests on my blog about "
18310 "the book are Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, David Gerstein, and Peter DiMauro, as "
18311 "well as a long list of those who had specific ideas about ways to develop my "
18312 "argument. They included Richard Bondi, Steven Cherry, David Coe, Nik "
18313 "Cubrilovic, Bob Devine, Charles Eicher, Thomas Guida, Elihu M. Gerson, "
18314 "Jeremy Hunsinger, Vaughn Iverson, John Karabaic, Jeff Keltner, James "
18315 "Lindenschmidt, K. L. Mann, Mark Manning, Nora McCauley, Jeffrey McHugh, Evan "
18316 "McMullen, Fred Norton, John Pormann, Pedro A. D. Rezende, Shabbir Safdar, "
18317 "Saul Schleimer, Clay Shirky, Adam Shostack, Kragen Sitaker, Chris Smith, "
18318 "Bruce Steinberg, Andrzej Jan Taramina, Sean Walsh, Matt Wasserman, Miljenko "
18319 "Williams, \"Wink,\" Roger Wood, \"Ximmbo da Jazz,\" and Richard Yanco. (I "
18320 "apologize if I have missed anyone; with computers come glitches, and a crash "
18321 "of my e-mail system meant I lost a bunch of great replies.)"
18324 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18325 #: freeculture.xml:14371
18327 "Richard Stallman and Michael Carroll each read the whole book in draft, and "
18328 "each provided extremely helpful correction and advice. Michael helped me to "
18329 "see more clearly the significance of the regulation of derivitive works. And "
18330 "Richard corrected an embarrassingly large number of errors. While my work is "
18331 "in part inspired by Stallman's, he does not agree with me in important "
18332 "places throughout this book."
18335 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
18336 #: freeculture.xml:14380
18338 "Finally, and forever, I am thankful to Bettina, who has always insisted that "
18339 "there would be unending happiness away from these battles, and who has "
18340 "always been right. This slow learner is, as ever, grateful for her perpetual "
18341 "patience and love."