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4 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
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36 msgid "<abbrev>\"freeculture\"</abbrev>"
39 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
40 #: freeculture.xml:21 freeculture.xml:177
42 "HOW BIG MEDIA USES TECHNOLOGY AND THE LAW TO LOCK DOWN CULTURE AND CONTROL "
46 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
48 msgid "<pubdate>2004-03-25</pubdate>"
51 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><releaseinfo>
53 msgid "Version 2004-02-10"
56 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><authorgroup><author><firstname>
61 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><authorgroup><author><surname>
66 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
68 msgid "Intellectual property—United States."
71 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
73 msgid "Mass media—United States."
76 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
78 msgid "Technological innovations—United States."
81 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><subjectset><subject><subjectterm>
83 msgid "Art—United States."
86 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><publisher><address>
89 msgid "<city>New York</city>"
92 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo>
95 "<publisher> <publishername>The Penguin Press</publishername> <placeholder "
96 "type=\"address\" id=\"0\"/> </publisher> <copyright> <year>2004</year> "
97 "<holder>Lawrence Lessig</holder> </copyright>"
100 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para><inlinemediaobject>
101 #: freeculture.xml:66
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110 #: freeculture.xml:73
111 msgid "Creative Commons, Some rights reserved"
114 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
115 #: freeculture.xml:65
116 msgid "<placeholder type=\"inlinemediaobject\" id=\"0\"/>"
119 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><legalnotice><para>
120 #: freeculture.xml:79
122 "This version of <citetitle>Free Culture</citetitle> is licensed under a "
123 "Creative Commons license. This license permits non-commercial use of this "
124 "work, so long as attribution is given. For more information about the "
125 "license, click the icon above, or visit <ulink "
126 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/\">http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/1.0/</ulink>"
129 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><title>
130 #: freeculture.xml:88
131 msgid "ABOUT THE AUTHOR"
134 #. type: Content of: <book><bookinfo><abstract><para>
135 #: freeculture.xml:90
137 "LAWRENCE LESSIG (<ulink "
138 "url=\"http://www.lessig.org\">http://www.lessig.org</ulink>), professor of "
139 "law and a John A. Wilson Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Stanford Law "
140 "School, is founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and is "
141 "chairman of the Creative Commons (<ulink "
142 "url=\"http://creativecommons.org\">http://creativecommons.org</ulink>). The "
143 "author of The Future of Ideas (Random House, 2001) and Code: And Other Laws "
144 "of Cyberspace (Basic Books, 1999), Lessig is a member of the boards of the "
145 "Public Library of Science, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Public "
146 "Knowledge. He was the winner of the Free Software Foundation's Award for the "
147 "Advancement of Free Software, twice listed in BusinessWeek's <quote>e.biz "
148 "25,</quote> and named one of Scientific American's <quote>50 "
149 "visionaries.</quote> A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge "
150 "University, and Yale Law School, Lessig clerked for Judge Richard Posner of "
151 "the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals."
154 #. testing different ways to tag the cover page
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168 #: freeculture.xml:111
170 "<imageobject remap=\"lrg\" role=\"front-large\"> <imagedata "
171 "fileref=\"images/cover.png\" format=\"PNG\" width=\"444\" /> </imageobject>"
175 #. http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v3=1&DB=local&CMD=010a+2003063276&CNT=10+records+per+page
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178 #: freeculture.xml:109
180 " <placeholder type=\"mediaobject\" id=\"0\"/> <biblioid "
181 "class=\"isbn\">1-59420-006-8</biblioid> <biblioid "
182 "class=\"libraryofcongress\">2003063276</biblioid>"
185 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
186 #: freeculture.xml:139
187 msgid "You can buy a copy of this book by clicking on one of the links below:"
190 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
191 #: freeculture.xml:142
192 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.amazon.com/\">Amazon</ulink>"
195 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
196 #: freeculture.xml:143
197 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.barnesandnoble.com/\">B&N</ulink>"
200 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><itemizedlist><listitem><para>
201 #: freeculture.xml:144
202 msgid "<ulink url=\"http://www.penguin.com/\">Penguin</ulink>"
205 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
206 #: freeculture.xml:153
207 msgid "ALSO BY LAWRENCE LESSIG"
210 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
211 #: freeculture.xml:156
212 msgid "The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World"
215 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
216 #: freeculture.xml:159
217 msgid "Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace"
220 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
221 #: freeculture.xml:166
222 msgid "THE PENGUIN PRESS, NEW YORK"
225 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
226 #: freeculture.xml:173
230 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
231 #: freeculture.xml:183
232 msgid "LAWRENCE LESSIG"
235 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
236 #: freeculture.xml:189
238 "THE PENGUIN PRESS, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 375 Hudson Street "
242 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
243 #: freeculture.xml:193
244 msgid "Copyright © Lawrence Lessig. All rights reserved."
247 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
248 #: freeculture.xml:196
250 "Excerpt from an editorial titled <quote>The Coming of Copyright "
251 "Perpetuity,</quote> <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, January 16, "
252 "2003. Copyright © 2003 by The New York Times Co. Reprinted with "
256 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
257 #: freeculture.xml:201
259 "Cartoon in <xref linkend=\"fig-1711\"/> by Paul Conrad, copyright Tribune "
260 "Media Services, Inc. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission."
263 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
264 #: freeculture.xml:205
266 "Diagram in <xref linkend=\"fig-1761\"/> courtesy of the office of FCC "
267 "Commissioner, Michael J. Copps."
270 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
271 #: freeculture.xml:209
272 msgid "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data"
275 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
276 #: freeculture.xml:212
278 "Lessig, Lawrence. Free culture : how big media uses technology and the law "
279 "to lock down culture and control creativity / Lawrence Lessig."
282 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
283 #: freeculture.xml:217
287 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
288 #: freeculture.xml:220
289 msgid "Includes index."
292 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
293 #: freeculture.xml:223
294 msgid "ISBN 1-59420-006-8 (hardcover)"
297 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
298 #: freeculture.xml:227
300 "1. Intellectual property—United States. 2. Mass media—United "
304 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
305 #: freeculture.xml:230
307 "3. Technological innovations—United States. 4. Art—United "
311 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
312 #: freeculture.xml:233
316 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
317 #: freeculture.xml:236
318 msgid "343.7309'9—dc22"
321 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
322 #: freeculture.xml:239
323 msgid "This book is printed on acid-free paper."
326 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
327 #: freeculture.xml:242
328 msgid "Printed in the United States of America"
331 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
332 #: freeculture.xml:245
333 msgid "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4"
336 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
337 #: freeculture.xml:248
338 msgid "Designed by Marysarah Quinn"
341 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
342 #: freeculture.xml:252
343 msgid "&translationblock;"
346 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
347 #: freeculture.xml:256
349 "Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this "
350 "publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval "
351 "system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, "
352 "photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission "
353 "of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book."
356 #. type: Content of: <book><colophon><para>
357 #: freeculture.xml:264
359 "The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or "
360 "via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and "
361 "punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and "
362 "do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted "
363 "materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated."
366 #. type: Content of: <book><dedication><para>
367 #: freeculture.xml:276
369 "To Eric Eldred—whose work first drew me to this cause, and for whom it "
373 #. type: Content of: <book><lot><title>
374 #: freeculture.xml:284
375 msgid "List of figures"
378 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><title>
379 #: freeculture.xml:346
383 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><indexterm><primary>
384 #: freeculture.xml:348
388 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
389 #: freeculture.xml:351
391 "<emphasis role=\"bold\">At the end</emphasis> of his review of my first "
392 "book, <citetitle>Code: And Other Laws of Cyberspace</citetitle>, David "
393 "Pogue, a brilliant writer and author of countless technical and "
394 "computer-related texts, wrote this:"
397 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
398 #: freeculture.xml:362
400 "David Pogue, <quote>Don't Just Chat, Do Something,</quote> <citetitle>New "
401 "York Times</citetitle>, 30 January 2000."
404 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
405 #: freeculture.xml:358
407 "Unlike actual law, Internet software has no capacity to punish. It doesn't "
408 "affect people who aren't online (and only a tiny minority of the world "
409 "population is). And if you don't like the Internet's system, you can always "
410 "flip off the modem.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
413 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
414 #: freeculture.xml:367
416 "Pogue was skeptical of the core argument of the book—that software, or "
417 "<quote>code,</quote> functioned as a kind of law—and his review "
418 "suggested the happy thought that if life in cyberspace got bad, we could "
419 "always <quote>drizzle, drazzle, druzzle, drome</quote>-like simply flip a "
420 "switch and be back home. Turn off the modem, unplug the computer, and any "
421 "troubles that exist in <emphasis>that</emphasis> space wouldn't "
422 "<quote>affect</quote> us anymore."
426 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
427 #: freeculture.xml:376
429 "Pogue might have been right in 1999—I'm skeptical, but maybe. But "
430 "even if he was right then, the point is not right now: <citetitle>Free "
431 "Culture</citetitle> is about the troubles the Internet causes even after the "
432 "modem is turned off. It is an argument about how the battles that now rage "
433 "regarding life on-line have fundamentally affected <quote>people who aren't "
434 "online.</quote> There is no switch that will insulate us from the Internet's "
438 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
439 #: freeculture.xml:387
441 "But unlike <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, the argument here is not much about "
442 "the Internet itself. It is instead about the consequence of the Internet to "
443 "a part of our tradition that is much more fundamental, and, as hard as this "
444 "is for a geek-wanna-be to admit, much more important."
447 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para><footnote><para>
448 #: freeculture.xml:399
450 "Richard M. Stallman, <citetitle>Free Software, Free Societies</citetitle> 57 "
451 "(Joshua Gay, ed. 2002)."
454 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
455 #: freeculture.xml:394
457 "That tradition is the way our culture gets made. As I explain in the pages "
458 "that follow, we come from a tradition of <quote>free "
459 "culture</quote>—not <quote>free</quote> as in <quote>free beer</quote> "
460 "(to borrow a phrase from the founder of the free software "
461 "movement<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), but <quote>free</quote> "
462 "as in <quote>free speech,</quote> <quote>free markets,</quote> <quote>free "
463 "trade,</quote> <quote>free enterprise,</quote> <quote>free will,</quote> and "
464 "<quote>free elections.</quote> A free culture supports and protects creators "
465 "and innovators. It does this directly by granting intellectual property "
466 "rights. But it does so indirectly by limiting the reach of those rights, to "
467 "guarantee that follow-on creators and innovators remain <emphasis>as free as "
468 "possible</emphasis> from the control of the past. A free culture is not a "
469 "culture without property, just as a free market is not a market in which "
470 "everything is free. The opposite of a free culture is a <quote>permission "
471 "culture</quote>—a culture in which creators get to create only with "
472 "the permission of the powerful, or of creators from the past."
475 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
476 #: freeculture.xml:414
478 "If we understood this change, I believe we would resist it. Not "
479 "<quote>we</quote> on the Left or <quote>you</quote> on the Right, but we who "
480 "have no stake in the particular industries of culture that defined the "
481 "twentieth century. Whether you are on the Left or the Right, if you are in "
482 "this sense disinterested, then the story I tell here will trouble you. For "
483 "the changes I describe affect values that both sides of our political "
484 "culture deem fundamental."
487 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
488 #: freeculture.xml:422 freeculture.xml:13045
489 msgid "CodePink Women in Peace"
492 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
493 #: freeculture.xml:433 freeculture.xml:443 freeculture.xml:13058
494 msgid "Safire, William"
497 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
498 #: freeculture.xml:424
500 "We saw a glimpse of this bipartisan outrage in the early summer of 2003. As "
501 "the FCC considered changes in media ownership rules that would relax limits "
502 "on media concentration, an extraordinary coalition generated more than "
503 "700,000 letters to the FCC opposing the change. As William Safire described "
504 "marching <quote>uncomfortably alongside CodePink Women for Peace and the "
505 "National Rifle Association, between liberal Olympia Snowe and conservative "
506 "Ted Stevens,</quote> he formulated perhaps most simply just what was at "
507 "stake: the concentration of power. And as he asked, <placeholder "
508 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
511 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
512 #: freeculture.xml:441
514 "William Safire, <quote>The Great Media Gulp,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
515 "Times</citetitle>, 22 May 2003. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
518 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><blockquote><para>
519 #: freeculture.xml:437
521 "Does that sound unconservative? Not to me. The concentration of "
522 "power—political, corporate, media, cultural—should be anathema "
523 "to conservatives. The diffusion of power through local control, thereby "
524 "encouraging individual participation, is the essence of federalism and the "
525 "greatest expression of democracy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
528 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
529 #: freeculture.xml:448
531 "This idea is an element of the argument of <citetitle>Free "
532 "Culture</citetitle>, though my focus is not just on the concentration of "
533 "power produced by concentrations in ownership, but more importantly, if "
534 "because less visibly, on the concentration of power produced by a radical "
535 "change in the effective scope of the law. The law is changing; that change "
536 "is altering the way our culture gets made; that change should worry "
537 "you—whether or not you care about the Internet, and whether you're on "
538 "Safire's left or on his right. The inspiration for the title and for much "
539 "of the argument of this book comes from the work of Richard Stallman and the "
540 "Free Software Foundation. Indeed, as I reread Stallman's own work, "
541 "especially the essays in <citetitle>Free Software, Free Society</citetitle>, "
542 "I realize that all of the theoretical insights I develop here are insights "
543 "Stallman described decades ago. One could thus well argue that this work is "
544 "<quote>merely</quote> derivative."
548 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
549 #: freeculture.xml:464
551 "I accept that criticism, if indeed it is a criticism. The work of a lawyer "
552 "is always derivative, and I mean to do nothing more in this book than to "
553 "remind a culture about a tradition that has always been its own. Like "
554 "Stallman, I defend that tradition on the basis of values. Like Stallman, I "
555 "believe those are the values of freedom. And like Stallman, I believe those "
556 "are values of our past that will need to be defended in our future. A free "
557 "culture has been our past, but it will only be our future if we change the "
558 "path we are on right now. Like Stallman's arguments for free software, an "
559 "argument for free culture stumbles on a confusion that is hard to avoid, and "
560 "even harder to understand. A free culture is not a culture without property; "
561 "it is not a culture in which artists don't get paid. A culture without "
562 "property, or in which creators can't get paid, is anarchy, not "
563 "freedom. Anarchy is not what I advance here."
566 #. type: Content of: <book><preface><para>
567 #: freeculture.xml:482
569 "Instead, the free culture that I defend in this book is a balance between "
570 "anarchy and control. A free culture, like a free market, is filled with "
571 "property. It is filled with rules of property and contract that get enforced "
572 "by the state. But just as a free market is perverted if its property becomes "
573 "feudal, so too can a free culture be queered by extremism in the property "
574 "rights that define it. That is what I fear about our culture today. It is "
575 "against that extremism that this book is written."
578 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
579 #: freeculture.xml:497
583 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
584 #: freeculture.xml:499
585 msgid "air traffic, land ownership vs."
588 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
589 #: freeculture.xml:502 freeculture.xml:14033
590 msgid "land ownership, air traffic and"
593 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
594 #: freeculture.xml:505 freeculture.xml:14035
595 msgid "property rights"
598 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
599 #: freeculture.xml:506 freeculture.xml:14036
600 msgid "air traffic vs."
603 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
604 #: freeculture.xml:508 freeculture.xml:604 freeculture.xml:1032
605 msgid "Wright brothers"
608 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
609 #: freeculture.xml:510
611 "On December 17, 1903, on a windy North Carolina beach for just shy of one "
612 "hundred seconds, the Wright brothers demonstrated that a heavier-than-air, "
613 "self-propelled vehicle could fly. The moment was electric and its importance "
614 "widely understood. Almost immediately, there was an explosion of interest in "
615 "this newfound technology of manned flight, and a gaggle of innovators began "
619 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
620 #: freeculture.xml:522
622 "St. George Tucker, <citetitle>Blackstone's Commentaries</citetitle> 3 (South "
623 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1969), 18."
626 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
627 #: freeculture.xml:518
629 "At the time the Wright brothers invented the airplane, American law held "
630 "that a property owner presumptively owned not just the surface of his land, "
631 "but all the land below, down to the center of the earth, and all the space "
632 "above, to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards.</quote><placeholder "
633 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> For many years, scholars had puzzled about how "
634 "best to interpret the idea that rights in land ran to the heavens. Did that "
635 "mean that you owned the stars? Could you prosecute geese for their willful "
636 "and regular trespass?"
639 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
640 #: freeculture.xml:531
642 "Then came airplanes, and for the first time, this principle of American "
643 "law—deep within the foundations of our tradition, and acknowledged by "
644 "the most important legal thinkers of our past—mattered. If my land "
645 "reaches to the heavens, what happens when United flies over my field? Do I "
646 "have the right to banish it from my property? Am I allowed to enter into an "
647 "exclusive license with Delta Airlines? Could we set up an auction to decide "
648 "how much these rights are worth?"
651 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
652 #: freeculture.xml:539 freeculture.xml:552 freeculture.xml:583 freeculture.xml:602 freeculture.xml:1013 freeculture.xml:1030 freeculture.xml:1077 freeculture.xml:8988 freeculture.xml:12422 freeculture.xml:13149
653 msgid "Causby, Thomas Lee"
656 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
657 #: freeculture.xml:540 freeculture.xml:553 freeculture.xml:584 freeculture.xml:603 freeculture.xml:1014 freeculture.xml:1031 freeculture.xml:1078 freeculture.xml:8989 freeculture.xml:12423 freeculture.xml:13150
658 msgid "Causby, Tinie"
661 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
662 #: freeculture.xml:542
664 "In 1945, these questions became a federal case. When North Carolina farmers "
665 "Thomas Lee and Tinie Causby started losing chickens because of low-flying "
666 "military aircraft (the terrified chickens apparently flew into the barn "
667 "walls and died), the Causbys filed a lawsuit saying that the government was "
668 "trespassing on their land. The airplanes, of course, never touched the "
669 "surface of the Causbys' land. But if, as Blackstone, Kent, and Coke had "
670 "said, their land reached to <quote>an indefinite extent, upwards,</quote> "
671 "then the government was trespassing on their property, and the Causbys "
675 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
676 #: freeculture.xml:555
678 "The Supreme Court agreed to hear the Causbys' case. Congress had declared "
679 "the airways public, but if one's property really extended to the heavens, "
680 "then Congress's declaration could well have been an unconstitutional "
681 "<quote>taking</quote> of property without compensation. The Court "
682 "acknowledged that <quote>it is ancient doctrine that common law ownership of "
683 "the land extended to the periphery of the universe.</quote> But Justice "
684 "Douglas had no patience for ancient doctrine. In a single paragraph, "
685 "hundreds of years of property law were erased. As he wrote for the Court,"
688 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
689 #: freeculture.xml:575
691 "United States v. Causby, U.S. 328 (1946): 256, 261. The Court did find that "
692 "there could be a <quote>taking</quote> if the government's use of its land "
693 "effectively destroyed the value of the Causbys' land. This example was "
694 "suggested to me by Keith Aoki's wonderful piece, <quote>(Intellectual) "
695 "Property and Sovereignty: Notes Toward a Cultural Geography of "
696 "Authorship,</quote> <citetitle>Stanford Law Review</citetitle> 48 (1996): "
697 "1293, 1333. See also Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Real Property</citetitle> "
698 "(Mineola, N.Y.: Foundation Press, 1984), 1112–13. <placeholder "
699 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
702 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
703 #: freeculture.xml:566
705 "[The] doctrine has no place in the modern world. The air is a public "
706 "highway, as Congress has declared. Were that not true, every "
707 "transcontinental flight would subject the operator to countless trespass "
708 "suits. Common sense revolts at the idea. To recognize such private claims to "
709 "the airspace would clog these highways, seriously interfere with their "
710 "control and development in the public interest, and transfer into private "
711 "ownership that to which only the public has a just claim.<placeholder "
712 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
715 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
716 #: freeculture.xml:589
717 msgid "<quote>Common sense revolts at the idea.</quote>"
721 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
722 #: freeculture.xml:592
724 "This is how the law usually works. Not often this abruptly or impatiently, "
725 "but eventually, this is how it works. It was Douglas's style not to "
726 "dither. Other justices would have blathered on for pages to reach the "
727 "conclusion that Douglas holds in a single line: <quote>Common sense revolts "
728 "at the idea.</quote> But whether it takes pages or a few words, it is the "
729 "special genius of a common law system, as ours is, that the law adjusts to "
730 "the technologies of the time. And as it adjusts, it changes. Ideas that were "
731 "as solid as rock in one age crumble in another."
734 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
735 #: freeculture.xml:606
737 "Or at least, this is how things happen when there's no one powerful on the "
738 "other side of the change. The Causbys were just farmers. And though there "
739 "were no doubt many like them who were upset by the growing traffic in the "
740 "air (though one hopes not many chickens flew themselves into walls), the "
741 "Causbys of the world would find it very hard to unite and stop the idea, and "
742 "the technology, that the Wright brothers had birthed. The Wright brothers "
743 "spat airplanes into the technological meme pool; the idea then spread like a "
744 "virus in a chicken coop; farmers like the Causbys found themselves "
745 "surrounded by <quote>what seemed reasonable</quote> given the technology "
746 "that the Wrights had produced. They could stand on their farms, dead "
747 "chickens in hand, and shake their fists at these newfangled technologies all "
748 "they wanted. They could call their representatives or even file a "
749 "lawsuit. But in the end, the force of what seems <quote>obvious</quote> to "
750 "everyone else—the power of <quote>common sense</quote>—would "
751 "prevail. Their <quote>private interest</quote> would not be allowed to "
752 "defeat an obvious public gain."
755 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
756 #: freeculture.xml:627 freeculture.xml:8996 freeculture.xml:9643
757 msgid "Armstrong, Edwin Howard"
760 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
761 #: freeculture.xml:641
762 msgid "Bell, Alexander Graham"
765 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
766 #: freeculture.xml:642
767 msgid "Edison, Thomas"
770 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
771 #: freeculture.xml:643
772 msgid "Faraday, Michael"
775 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
776 #: freeculture.xml:630
778 "<emphasis role='strong'>Edwin Howard Armstrong</emphasis> is one of "
779 "America's forgotten inventor geniuses. He came to the great American "
780 "inventor scene just after the titans Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham "
781 "Bell. But his work in the area of radio technology was perhaps the most "
782 "important of any single inventor in the first fifty years of radio. He was "
783 "better educated than Michael Faraday, who as a bookbinder's apprentice had "
784 "discovered electric induction in 1831. But he had the same intuition about "
785 "how the world of radio worked, and on at least three occasions, Armstrong "
786 "invented profoundly important technologies that advanced our understanding "
787 "of radio. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
788 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
791 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
792 #: freeculture.xml:646
794 "On the day after Christmas, 1933, four patents were issued to Armstrong for "
795 "his most significant invention—FM radio. Until then, consumer radio "
796 "had been amplitude-modulated (AM) radio. The theorists of the day had said "
797 "that frequency-modulated (FM) radio could never work. They were right about "
798 "FM radio in a narrow band of spectrum. But Armstrong discovered that "
799 "frequency-modulated radio in a wide band of spectrum would deliver an "
800 "astonishing fidelity of sound, with much less transmitter power and static."
803 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
804 #: freeculture.xml:656
806 "On November 5, 1935, he demonstrated the technology at a meeting of the "
807 "Institute of Radio Engineers at the Empire State Building in New York "
808 "City. He tuned his radio dial across a range of AM stations, until the radio "
809 "locked on a broadcast that he had arranged from seventeen miles away. The "
810 "radio fell totally silent, as if dead, and then with a clarity no one else "
811 "in that room had ever heard from an electrical device, it produced the sound "
812 "of an announcer's voice: <quote>This is amateur station W2AG at Yonkers, New "
813 "York, operating on frequency modulation at two and a half meters.</quote>"
816 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
817 #: freeculture.xml:667
818 msgid "The audience was hearing something no one had thought possible:"
821 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
822 #: freeculture.xml:678
824 "Lawrence Lessing, <citetitle>Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard "
825 "Armstrong</citetitle> (Philadelphia: J. B. Lipincott Company, 1956), 209."
828 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
829 #: freeculture.xml:671
831 "A glass of water was poured before the microphone in Yonkers; it sounded "
832 "like a glass of water being poured. … A paper was crumpled and torn; "
833 "it sounded like paper and not like a crackling forest fire. … Sousa "
834 "marches were played from records and a piano solo and guitar number were "
835 "performed. … The music was projected with a live-ness rarely if ever "
836 "heard before from a radio <quote>music box.</quote><placeholder "
837 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
841 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
842 #: freeculture.xml:684
844 "As our own common sense tells us, Armstrong had discovered a vastly superior "
845 "radio technology. But at the time of his invention, Armstrong was working "
846 "for RCA. RCA was the dominant player in the then dominant AM radio "
847 "market. By 1935, there were a thousand radio stations across the United "
848 "States, but the stations in large cities were all owned by a handful of "
852 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
853 #: freeculture.xml:698 freeculture.xml:718
854 msgid "Sarnoff, David"
857 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
858 #: freeculture.xml:693
860 "RCA's president, David Sarnoff, a friend of Armstrong's, was eager that "
861 "Armstrong discover a way to remove static from AM radio. So Sarnoff was "
862 "quite excited when Armstrong told him he had a device that removed static "
863 "from <quote>radio.</quote> But when Armstrong demonstrated his invention, "
864 "Sarnoff was not pleased. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
867 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
868 #: freeculture.xml:705
870 "See <quote>Saints: The Heroes and Geniuses of the Electronic Era,</quote> "
871 "First Electronic Church of America, at www.webstationone.com/fecha, "
872 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #1</ulink>."
875 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
876 #: freeculture.xml:702
878 "I thought Armstrong would invent some kind of a filter to remove static from "
879 "our AM radio. I didn't think he'd start a revolution— start up a whole "
880 "damn new industry to compete with RCA.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
884 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
885 #: freeculture.xml:714
887 "Armstrong's invention threatened RCA's AM empire, so the company launched a "
888 "campaign to smother FM radio. While FM may have been a superior technology, "
889 "Sarnoff was a superior tactician. As one author described, <placeholder "
890 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
893 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
894 #: freeculture.xml:727
895 msgid "Lessing, 226."
898 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
899 #: freeculture.xml:722
901 "The forces for FM, largely engineering, could not overcome the weight of "
902 "strategy devised by the sales, patent, and legal offices to subdue this "
903 "threat to corporate position. For FM, if allowed to develop unrestrained, "
904 "posed … a complete reordering of radio power … and the "
905 "eventual overthrow of the carefully restricted AM system on which RCA had "
906 "grown to power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
909 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
910 #: freeculture.xml:732
912 "RCA at first kept the technology in house, insisting that further tests were "
913 "needed. When, after two years of testing, Armstrong grew impatient, RCA "
914 "began to use its power with the government to stall FM radio's deployment "
915 "generally. In 1936, RCA hired the former head of the FCC and assigned him "
916 "the task of assuring that the FCC assign spectrum in a way that would "
917 "castrate FM—principally by moving FM radio to a different band of "
918 "spectrum. At first, these efforts failed. But when Armstrong and the nation "
919 "were distracted by World War II, RCA's work began to be more "
920 "successful. Soon after the war ended, the FCC announced a set of policies "
921 "that would have one clear effect: FM radio would be crippled. As Lawrence "
922 "Lessing described it,"
925 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
926 #: freeculture.xml:751
927 msgid "Lessing, 256."
930 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
931 #: freeculture.xml:747
933 "The series of body blows that FM radio received right after the war, in a "
934 "series of rulings manipulated through the FCC by the big radio interests, "
935 "were almost incredible in their force and deviousness.<placeholder "
936 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
939 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
940 #: freeculture.xml:755
944 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
945 #: freeculture.xml:757
947 "To make room in the spectrum for RCA's latest gamble, television, FM radio "
948 "users were to be moved to a totally new spectrum band. The power of FM radio "
949 "stations was also cut, meaning FM could no longer be used to beam programs "
950 "from one part of the country to another. (This change was strongly "
951 "supported by AT&T, because the loss of FM relaying stations would mean "
952 "radio stations would have to buy wired links from AT&T.) The spread of "
953 "FM radio was thus choked, at least temporarily."
956 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
957 #: freeculture.xml:767
959 "Armstrong resisted RCA's efforts. In response, RCA resisted Armstrong's "
960 "patents. After incorporating FM technology into the emerging standard for "
961 "television, RCA declared the patents invalid—baselessly, and almost "
962 "fifteen years after they were issued. It thus refused to pay him "
963 "royalties. For six years, Armstrong fought an expensive war of litigation to "
964 "defend the patents. Finally, just as the patents expired, RCA offered a "
965 "settlement so low that it would not even cover Armstrong's lawyers' "
966 "fees. Defeated, broken, and now broke, in 1954 Armstrong wrote a short note "
967 "to his wife and then stepped out of a thirteenth-story window to his death."
971 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
972 #: freeculture.xml:780
974 "This is how the law sometimes works. Not often this tragically, and rarely "
975 "with heroic drama, but sometimes, this is how it works. From the beginning, "
976 "government and government agencies have been subject to capture. They are "
977 "more likely captured when a powerful interest is threatened by either a "
978 "legal or technical change. That powerful interest too often exerts its "
979 "influence within the government to get the government to protect it. The "
980 "rhetoric of this protection is of course always public spirited; the reality "
981 "is something different. Ideas that were as solid as rock in one age, but "
982 "that, left to themselves, would crumble in another, are sustained through "
983 "this subtle corruption of our political process. RCA had what the Causbys "
984 "did not: the power to stifle the effect of technological change."
987 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
988 #: freeculture.xml:802
990 "Amanda Lenhart, <quote>The Ever-Shifting Internet Population: A New Look at "
991 "Internet Access and the Digital Divide,</quote> Pew Internet and American "
992 "Life Project, 15 April 2003: 6, available at <ulink "
993 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #2</ulink>."
996 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
997 #: freeculture.xml:796
999 "There's no single inventor of the Internet. Nor is there any good date upon "
1000 "which to mark its birth. Yet in a very short time, the Internet has become "
1001 "part of ordinary American life. According to the Pew Internet and American "
1002 "Life Project, 58 percent of Americans had access to the Internet in 2002, up "
1003 "from 49 percent two years before.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1004 "That number could well exceed two thirds of the nation by the end of 2004."
1007 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1008 #: freeculture.xml:811
1010 "As the Internet has been integrated into ordinary life, it has changed "
1011 "things. Some of these changes are technical—the Internet has made "
1012 "communication faster, it has lowered the cost of gathering data, and so "
1013 "on. These technical changes are not the focus of this book. They are "
1014 "important. They are not well understood. But they are the sort of thing that "
1015 "would simply go away if we all just switched the Internet off. They don't "
1016 "affect people who don't use the Internet, or at least they don't affect them "
1017 "directly. They are the proper subject of a book about the Internet. But this "
1018 "is not a book about the Internet."
1021 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1022 #: freeculture.xml:822
1024 "Instead, this book is about an effect of the Internet beyond the Internet "
1025 "itself: an effect upon how culture is made. My claim is that the Internet "
1026 "has induced an important and unrecognized change in that process. That "
1027 "change will radically transform a tradition that is as old as the Republic "
1028 "itself. Most, if they recognized this change, would reject it. Yet most "
1029 "don't even see the change that the Internet has introduced."
1032 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1033 #: freeculture.xml:841
1034 msgid "Barlow, Joel"
1037 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1038 #: freeculture.xml:842
1039 msgid "Webster, Noah"
1042 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1043 #: freeculture.xml:831
1045 "We can glimpse a sense of this change by distinguishing between commercial "
1046 "and noncommercial culture, and by mapping the law's regulation of each. By "
1047 "<quote>commercial culture</quote> I mean that part of our culture that is "
1048 "produced and sold or produced to be sold. By <quote>noncommercial "
1049 "culture</quote> I mean all the rest. When old men sat around parks or on "
1050 "street corners telling stories that kids and others consumed, that was "
1051 "noncommercial culture. When Noah Webster published his "
1052 "<quote>Reader,</quote> or Joel Barlow his poetry, that was commercial "
1053 "culture. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
1054 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
1057 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1058 #: freeculture.xml:845
1060 "At the beginning of our history, and for just about the whole of our "
1061 "tradition, noncommercial culture was essentially unregulated. Of course, if "
1062 "your stories were lewd, or if your song disturbed the peace, then the law "
1063 "might intervene. But the law was never directly concerned with the creation "
1064 "or spread of this form of culture, and it left this culture "
1065 "<quote>free.</quote> The ordinary ways in which ordinary individuals shared "
1066 "and transformed their culture—telling stories, reenacting scenes from "
1067 "plays or TV, participating in fan clubs, sharing music, making "
1068 "tapes—were left alone by the law."
1071 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1072 #: freeculture.xml:870 freeculture.xml:1899 freeculture.xml:1910
1073 msgid "Brandeis, Louis D."
1076 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1077 #: freeculture.xml:862
1079 "This is not the only purpose of copyright, though it is the overwhelmingly "
1080 "primary purpose of the copyright established in the federal constitution. "
1081 "State copyright law historically protected not just the commercial interest "
1082 "in publication, but also a privacy interest. By granting authors the "
1083 "exclusive right to first publication, state copyright law gave authors the "
1084 "power to control the spread of facts about them. See Samuel D. Warren and "
1085 "Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> Harvard Law Review 4 "
1086 "(1890): 193, 198–200. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1089 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1090 #: freeculture.xml:856
1092 "The focus of the law was on commercial creativity. At first slightly, then "
1093 "quite extensively, the law protected the incentives of creators by granting "
1094 "them exclusive rights to their creative work, so that they could sell those "
1095 "exclusive rights in a commercial marketplace.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
1096 "id=\"0\"/> This is also, of course, an important part of creativity and "
1097 "culture, and it has become an increasingly important part in America. But in "
1098 "no sense was it dominant within our tradition. It was instead just one part, "
1099 "a controlled part, balanced with the free."
1102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1103 #: freeculture.xml:882 freeculture.xml:9535
1104 msgid "Litman, Jessica"
1107 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1108 #: freeculture.xml:880
1110 "See Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (New York: "
1111 "Prometheus Books, 2001), ch. 13. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1114 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1115 #: freeculture.xml:878
1117 "This rough divide between the free and the controlled has now been "
1118 "erased.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Internet has set the "
1119 "stage for this erasure and, pushed by big media, the law has now affected "
1120 "it. For the first time in our tradition, the ordinary ways in which "
1121 "individuals create and share culture fall within the reach of the regulation "
1122 "of the law, which has expanded to draw within its control a vast amount of "
1123 "culture and creativity that it never reached before. The technology that "
1124 "preserved the balance of our history—between uses of our culture that "
1125 "were free and uses of our culture that were only upon permission—has "
1126 "been undone. The consequence is that we are less and less a free culture, "
1127 "more and more a permission culture."
1130 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1131 #: freeculture.xml:897
1133 "This change gets justified as necessary to protect commercial creativity. "
1134 "And indeed, protectionism is precisely its motivation. But the protectionism "
1135 "that justifies the changes that I will describe below is not the limited and "
1136 "balanced sort that has defined the law in the past. This is not a "
1137 "protectionism to protect artists. It is instead a protectionism to protect "
1138 "certain forms of business. Corporations threatened by the potential of the "
1139 "Internet to change the way both commercial and noncommercial culture are "
1140 "made and shared have united to induce lawmakers to use the law to protect "
1141 "them. It is the story of RCA and Armstrong; it is the dream of the Causbys."
1144 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1145 #: freeculture.xml:910
1147 "For the Internet has unleashed an extraordinary possibility for many to "
1148 "participate in the process of building and cultivating a culture that "
1149 "reaches far beyond local boundaries. That power has changed the marketplace "
1150 "for making and cultivating culture generally, and that change in turn "
1151 "threatens established content industries. The Internet is thus to the "
1152 "industries that built and distributed content in the twentieth century what "
1153 "FM radio was to AM radio, or what the truck was to the railroad industry of "
1154 "the nineteenth century: the beginning of the end, or at least a substantial "
1155 "transformation. Digital technologies, tied to the Internet, could produce a "
1156 "vastly more competitive and vibrant market for building and cultivating "
1157 "culture; that market could include a much wider and more diverse range of "
1158 "creators; those creators could produce and distribute a much more vibrant "
1159 "range of creativity; and depending upon a few important factors, those "
1160 "creators could earn more on average from this system than creators do "
1161 "today—all so long as the RCAs of our day don't use the law to protect "
1162 "themselves against this competition."
1165 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1166 #: freeculture.xml:929
1168 "Yet, as I argue in the pages that follow, that is precisely what is "
1169 "happening in our culture today. These modern-day equivalents of the early "
1170 "twentieth-century radio or nineteenth-century railroads are using their "
1171 "power to get the law to protect them against this new, more efficient, more "
1172 "vibrant technology for building culture. They are succeeding in their plan "
1173 "to remake the Internet before the Internet remakes them."
1176 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1177 #: freeculture.xml:946
1179 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Black Hawk Download: Moving Beyond Music, Pirates Use New "
1180 "Tools to Turn the Net into an Illicit Video Club,</quote> <citetitle>New "
1181 "York Times</citetitle>, 17 January 2002."
1184 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1185 #: freeculture.xml:938
1187 "It doesn't seem this way to many. The battles over copyright and the "
1188 "Internet seem remote to most. To the few who follow them, they seem mainly "
1189 "about a much simpler brace of questions—whether <quote>piracy</quote> "
1190 "will be permitted, and whether <quote>property</quote> will be "
1191 "protected. The <quote>war</quote> that has been waged against the "
1192 "technologies of the Internet—what Motion Picture Association of "
1193 "America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti calls his <quote>own terrorist "
1194 "war</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—has been framed "
1195 "as a battle about the rule of law and respect for property. To know which "
1196 "side to take in this war, most think that we need only decide whether we're "
1197 "for property or against it."
1200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1201 #: freeculture.xml:955
1203 "If those really were the choices, then I would be with Jack Valenti and the "
1204 "content industry. I, too, am a believer in property, and especially in the "
1205 "importance of what Mr. Valenti nicely calls <quote>creative "
1206 "property.</quote> I believe that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that "
1207 "the law, properly tuned, should punish <quote>piracy,</quote> whether on or "
1211 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1212 #: freeculture.xml:963
1214 "But those simple beliefs mask a much more fundamental question and a much "
1215 "more dramatic change. My fear is that unless we come to see this change, the "
1216 "war to rid the world of Internet <quote>pirates</quote> will also rid our "
1217 "culture of values that have been integral to our tradition from the start."
1220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1221 #: freeculture.xml:977 freeculture.xml:14433
1222 msgid "Netanel, Neil Weinstock"
1225 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1226 #: freeculture.xml:975
1228 "Neil W. Netanel, <quote>Copyright and a Democratic Civil Society,</quote> "
1229 "<citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 106 (1996): 283. <placeholder "
1230 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1233 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1234 #: freeculture.xml:969
1236 "These values built a tradition that, for at least the first 180 years of our "
1237 "Republic, guaranteed creators the right to build freely upon their past, and "
1238 "protected creators and innovators from either state or private control. The "
1239 "First Amendment protected creators against state control. And as Professor "
1240 "Neil Netanel powerfully argues,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1241 "copyright law, properly balanced, protected creators against private "
1242 "control. Our tradition was thus neither Soviet nor the tradition of "
1243 "patrons. It instead carved out a wide berth within which creators could "
1244 "cultivate and extend our culture."
1247 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1248 #: freeculture.xml:985
1250 "Yet the law's response to the Internet, when tied to changes in the "
1251 "technology of the Internet itself, has massively increased the effective "
1252 "regulation of creativity in America. To build upon or critique the culture "
1253 "around us one must ask, Oliver Twist–like, for permission first. "
1254 "Permission is, of course, often granted—but it is not often granted to "
1255 "the critical or the independent. We have built a kind of cultural nobility; "
1256 "those within the noble class live easily; those outside it don't. But it is "
1257 "nobility of any form that is alien to our tradition."
1260 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1261 #: freeculture.xml:997
1263 "The story that follows is about this war. Is it not about the "
1264 "<quote>centrality of technology</quote> to ordinary life. I don't believe in "
1265 "gods, digital or otherwise. Nor is it an effort to demonize any individual "
1266 "or group, for neither do I believe in a devil, corporate or otherwise. It is "
1267 "not a morality tale. Nor is it a call to jihad against an industry."
1270 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1271 #: freeculture.xml:1005
1273 "It is instead an effort to understand a hopelessly destructive war inspired "
1274 "by the technologies of the Internet but reaching far beyond its code. And by "
1275 "understanding this battle, it is an effort to map peace. There is no good "
1276 "reason for the current struggle around Internet technologies to "
1277 "continue. There will be great harm to our tradition and culture if it is "
1278 "allowed to continue unchecked. We must come to understand the source of this "
1279 "war. We must resolve it soon."
1282 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1283 #: freeculture.xml:1016
1285 "Like the Causbys' battle, this war is, in part, about "
1286 "<quote>property.</quote> The property of this war is not as tangible as the "
1287 "Causbys', and no innocent chicken has yet to lose its life. Yet the ideas "
1288 "surrounding this <quote>property</quote> are as obvious to most as the "
1289 "Causbys' claim about the sacredness of their farm was to them. We are the "
1290 "Causbys. Most of us take for granted the extraordinarily powerful claims "
1291 "that the owners of <quote>intellectual property</quote> now assert. Most of "
1292 "us, like the Causbys, treat these claims as obvious. And hence we, like the "
1293 "Causbys, object when a new technology interferes with this property. It is "
1294 "as plain to us as it was to them that the new technologies of the Internet "
1295 "are <quote>trespassing</quote> upon legitimate claims of "
1296 "<quote>property.</quote> It is as plain to us as it was to them that the law "
1297 "should intervene to stop this trespass."
1301 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1302 #: freeculture.xml:1034
1304 "And thus, when geeks and technologists defend their Armstrong or Wright "
1305 "brothers technology, most of us are simply unsympathetic. Common sense does "
1306 "not revolt. Unlike in the case of the unlucky Causbys, common sense is on "
1307 "the side of the property owners in this war. Unlike the lucky Wright "
1308 "brothers, the Internet has not inspired a revolution on its side."
1311 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1312 #: freeculture.xml:1044
1314 "My hope is to push this common sense along. I have become increasingly "
1315 "amazed by the power of this idea of intellectual property and, more "
1316 "importantly, its power to disable critical thought by policy makers and "
1317 "citizens. There has never been a time in our history when more of our "
1318 "<quote>culture</quote> was as <quote>owned</quote> as it is now. And yet "
1319 "there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the "
1320 "<emphasis>uses</emphasis> of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as "
1324 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1325 #: freeculture.xml:1054
1327 "The puzzle is, Why? Is it because we have come to understand a truth about "
1328 "the value and importance of absolute property over ideas and culture? Is it "
1329 "because we have discovered that our tradition of rejecting such an absolute "
1333 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1334 #: freeculture.xml:1060
1336 "Or is it because the idea of absolute property over ideas and culture "
1337 "benefits the RCAs of our time and fits our own unreflective intuitions?"
1340 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1341 #: freeculture.xml:1064
1343 "Is the radical shift away from our tradition of free culture an instance of "
1344 "America correcting a mistake from its past, as we did after a bloody war "
1345 "with slavery, and as we are slowly doing with inequality? Or is the radical "
1346 "shift away from our tradition of free culture yet another example of a "
1347 "political system captured by a few powerful special interests?"
1350 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1351 #: freeculture.xml:1071
1353 "Does common sense lead to the extremes on this question because common sense "
1354 "actually believes in these extremes? Or does common sense stand silent in "
1355 "the face of these extremes because, as with Armstrong versus RCA, the more "
1356 "powerful side has ensured that it has the more powerful view?"
1360 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1361 #: freeculture.xml:1080
1363 "I don't mean to be mysterious. My own views are resolved. I believe it was "
1364 "right for common sense to revolt against the extremism of the Causbys. I "
1365 "believe it would be right for common sense to revolt against the extreme "
1366 "claims made today on behalf of <quote>intellectual property.</quote> What "
1367 "the law demands today is increasingly as silly as a sheriff arresting an "
1368 "airplane for trespass. But the consequences of this silliness will be much "
1372 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1373 #: freeculture.xml:1090
1375 "The struggle that rages just now centers on two ideas: <quote>piracy</quote> "
1376 "and <quote>property.</quote> My aim in this book's next two parts is to "
1377 "explore these two ideas."
1380 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1381 #: freeculture.xml:1095
1383 "My method is not the usual method of an academic. I don't want to plunge you "
1384 "into a complex argument, buttressed with references to obscure French "
1385 "theorists—however natural that is for the weird sort we academics have "
1386 "become. Instead I begin in each part with a collection of stories that set a "
1387 "context within which these apparently simple ideas can be more fully "
1391 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1392 #: freeculture.xml:1103
1394 "The two sections set up the core claim of this book: that while the Internet "
1395 "has indeed produced something fantastic and new, our government, pushed by "
1396 "big media to respond to this <quote>something new,</quote> is destroying "
1397 "something very old. Rather than understanding the changes the Internet might "
1398 "permit, and rather than taking time to let <quote>common sense</quote> "
1399 "resolve how best to respond, we are allowing those most threatened by the "
1400 "changes to use their power to change the law—and more importantly, to "
1401 "use their power to change something fundamental about who we have always "
1405 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
1406 #: freeculture.xml:1114
1408 "We allow this, I believe, not because it is right, and not because most of "
1409 "us really believe in these changes. We allow it because the interests most "
1410 "threatened are among the most powerful players in our depressingly "
1411 "compromised process of making law. This book is the story of one more "
1412 "consequence of this form of corruption—a consequence to which most of "
1413 "us remain oblivious."
1416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
1417 #: freeculture.xml:1124
1418 msgid "<quote>PIRACY</quote>"
1421 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1422 #: freeculture.xml:1128 freeculture.xml:4812
1423 msgid "Mansfield, William Murray, Lord"
1426 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1427 #: freeculture.xml:1131
1429 "Since the inception of the law regulating creative property, there has been "
1430 "a war against <quote>piracy.</quote> The precise contours of this concept, "
1431 "<quote>piracy,</quote> are hard to sketch, but the animating injustice is "
1432 "easy to capture. As Lord Mansfield wrote in a case that extended the reach "
1433 "of English copyright law to include sheet music,"
1437 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1438 #: freeculture.xml:1143
1440 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
1441 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777) (Mansfield)."
1444 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1445 #: freeculture.xml:1139
1447 "A person may use the copy by playing it, but he has no right to rob the "
1448 "author of the profit, by multiplying copies and disposing of them for his "
1449 "own use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1453 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1454 #: freeculture.xml:1149
1456 "Today we are in the middle of another <quote>war</quote> against "
1457 "<quote>piracy.</quote> The Internet has provoked this war. The Internet "
1458 "makes possible the efficient spread of content. Peer-to-peer (p2p) file "
1459 "sharing is among the most efficient of the efficient technologies the "
1460 "Internet enables. Using distributed intelligence, p2p systems facilitate the "
1461 "easy spread of content in a way unimagined a generation ago."
1464 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1465 #: freeculture.xml:1158
1467 "This efficiency does not respect the traditional lines of copyright. The "
1468 "network doesn't discriminate between the sharing of copyrighted and "
1469 "uncopyrighted content. Thus has there been a vast amount of sharing of "
1470 "copyrighted content. That sharing in turn has excited the war, as copyright "
1471 "owners fear the sharing will <quote>rob the author of the profit.</quote>"
1474 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1475 #: freeculture.xml:1166
1477 "The warriors have turned to the courts, to the legislatures, and "
1478 "increasingly to technology to defend their <quote>property</quote> against "
1479 "this <quote>piracy.</quote> A generation of Americans, the warriors warn, is "
1480 "being raised to believe that <quote>property</quote> should be "
1481 "<quote>free.</quote> Forget tattoos, never mind body piercing—our kids "
1482 "are becoming <emphasis>thieves</emphasis>!"
1485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1486 #: freeculture.xml:1174
1488 "There's no doubt that <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong, and that pirates "
1489 "should be punished. But before we summon the executioners, we should put "
1490 "this notion of <quote>piracy</quote> in some context. For as the concept is "
1491 "increasingly used, at its core is an extraordinary idea that is almost "
1495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1496 #: freeculture.xml:1180
1497 msgid "The idea goes something like this:"
1500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><blockquote><para>
1501 #: freeculture.xml:1184
1503 "Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative "
1504 "work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take "
1505 "something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The "
1506 "taking of something of value from someone else without permission is "
1507 "wrong. It is a form of piracy."
1510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1511 #: freeculture.xml:1192
1512 msgid "Dreyfuss, Rochelle"
1516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1517 #: freeculture.xml:1198
1519 "See Rochelle Dreyfuss, <quote>Expressive Genericity: Trademarks as Language "
1520 "in the Pepsi Generation,</quote> <citetitle>Notre Dame Law "
1521 "Review</citetitle> 65 (1990): 397."
1524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1525 #: freeculture.xml:1211 freeculture.xml:6946
1526 msgid "Zittrain, Jonathan"
1529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1530 #: freeculture.xml:1206
1532 "Lisa Bannon, <quote>The Birds May Sing, but Campers Can't Unless They Pay "
1533 "Up,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 21 August 1996, "
1534 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #3</ulink>; "
1535 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>Calling Off the Copyright War: In Battle of "
1536 "Property vs. Free Speech, No One Wins,</quote> <citetitle>Boston "
1537 "Globe</citetitle>, 24 November 2002. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
1541 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1542 #: freeculture.xml:1194
1544 "This view runs deep within the current debates. It is what NYU law professor "
1545 "Rochelle Dreyfuss criticizes as the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1546 "theory of creative property<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
1547 "—if there is value, then someone must have a right to that value. It "
1548 "is the perspective that led a composers' rights organization, ASCAP, to sue "
1549 "the Girl Scouts for failing to pay for the songs that girls sang around Girl "
1550 "Scout campfires.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> There was "
1551 "<quote>value</quote> (the songs) so there must have been a "
1552 "<quote>right</quote>—even against the Girl Scouts."
1555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><indexterm><primary>
1556 #: freeculture.xml:1216
1561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1562 #: freeculture.xml:1218
1564 "This idea is certainly a possible understanding of how creative property "
1565 "should work. It might well be a possible design for a system of law "
1566 "protecting creative property. But the <quote>if value, then right</quote> "
1567 "theory of creative property has never been America's theory of creative "
1568 "property. It has never taken hold within our law."
1571 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1572 #: freeculture.xml:1226
1574 "Instead, in our tradition, intellectual property is an instrument. It sets "
1575 "the groundwork for a richly creative society but remains subservient to the "
1576 "value of creativity. The current debate has this turned around. We have "
1577 "become so concerned with protecting the instrument that we are losing sight "
1581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1582 #: freeculture.xml:1233
1584 "The source of this confusion is a distinction that the law no longer takes "
1585 "care to draw—the distinction between republishing someone's work on "
1586 "the one hand and building upon or transforming that work on the "
1587 "other. Copyright law at its birth had only publishing as its concern; "
1588 "copyright law today regulates both."
1591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1592 #: freeculture.xml:1240
1594 "Before the technologies of the Internet, this conflation didn't matter all "
1595 "that much. The technologies of publishing were expensive; that meant the "
1596 "vast majority of publishing was commercial. Commercial entities could bear "
1597 "the burden of the law—even the burden of the Byzantine complexity that "
1598 "copyright law has become. It was just one more expense of doing business."
1601 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1602 #: freeculture.xml:1247 freeculture.xml:1278
1603 msgid "Florida, Richard"
1606 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
1607 #: freeculture.xml:1248 freeculture.xml:1279
1608 msgid "Rise of the Creative Class, The (Florida)"
1611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
1612 #: freeculture.xml:1270
1614 "In <citetitle>The Rise of the Creative Class</citetitle> (New York: Basic "
1615 "Books, 2002), Richard Florida documents a shift in the nature of labor "
1616 "toward a labor of creativity. His work, however, doesn't directly address "
1617 "the legal conditions under which that creativity is enabled or stifled. I "
1618 "certainly agree with him about the importance and significance of this "
1619 "change, but I also believe the conditions under which it will be enabled are "
1620 "much more tenuous. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
1621 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
1624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1625 #: freeculture.xml:1250
1627 "But with the birth of the Internet, this natural limit to the reach of the "
1628 "law has disappeared. The law controls not just the creativity of commercial "
1629 "creators but effectively that of anyone. Although that expansion would not "
1630 "matter much if copyright law regulated only <quote>copying,</quote> when the "
1631 "law regulates as broadly and obscurely as it does, the extension matters a "
1632 "lot. The burden of this law now vastly outweighs any original "
1633 "benefit—certainly as it affects noncommercial creativity, and "
1634 "increasingly as it affects commercial creativity as well. Thus, as we'll see "
1635 "more clearly in the chapters below, the law's role is less and less to "
1636 "support creativity, and more and more to protect certain industries against "
1637 "competition. Just at the time digital technology could unleash an "
1638 "extraordinary range of commercial and noncommercial creativity, the law "
1639 "burdens this creativity with insanely complex and vague rules and with the "
1640 "threat of obscenely severe penalties. We may be seeing, as Richard Florida "
1641 "writes, the <quote>Rise of the Creative Class.</quote><placeholder "
1642 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Unfortunately, we are also seeing an "
1643 "extraordinary rise of regulation of this creative class."
1646 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
1647 #: freeculture.xml:1285
1649 "These burdens make no sense in our tradition. We should begin by "
1650 "understanding that tradition a bit more and by placing in their proper "
1651 "context the current battles about behavior labeled <quote>piracy.</quote>"
1654 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
1655 #: freeculture.xml:1293
1656 msgid "CHAPTER ONE: Creators"
1659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
1660 #: freeculture.xml:1295
1661 msgid "animated cartoons"
1664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1665 #: freeculture.xml:1298
1667 "In 1928, a cartoon character was born. An early Mickey Mouse made his debut "
1668 "in May of that year, in a silent flop called <citetitle>Plane "
1669 "Crazy</citetitle>. In November, in New York City's Colony Theater, in the "
1670 "first widely distributed cartoon synchronized with sound, "
1671 "<citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle> brought to life the character that "
1672 "would become Mickey Mouse."
1675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1676 #: freeculture.xml:1305
1678 "Synchronized sound had been introduced to film a year earlier in the movie "
1679 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle>. That success led Walt Disney to copy "
1680 "the technique and mix sound with cartoons. No one knew whether it would work "
1681 "or, if it did work, whether it would win an audience. But when Disney ran a "
1682 "test in the summer of 1928, the results were unambiguous. As Disney "
1683 "describes that first experiment,"
1687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1688 #: freeculture.xml:1314
1690 "A couple of my boys could read music, and one of them could play a mouth "
1691 "organ. We put them in a room where they could not see the screen and "
1692 "arranged to pipe their sound into the room where our wives and friends were "
1693 "going to see the picture."
1696 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1697 #: freeculture.xml:1321
1699 "The boys worked from a music and sound-effects score. After several false "
1700 "starts, sound and action got off with the gun. The mouth organist played the "
1701 "tune, the rest of us in the sound department bammed tin pans and blew slide "
1702 "whistles on the beat. The synchronization was pretty close."
1706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
1707 #: freeculture.xml:1334
1709 "Leonard Maltin, <citetitle>Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated "
1710 "Cartoons</citetitle> (New York: Penguin Books, 1987), 34–35."
1713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
1714 #: freeculture.xml:1328
1716 "The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They "
1717 "responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion. I thought "
1718 "they were kidding me. So they put me in the audience and ran the action "
1719 "again. It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something "
1720 "new!<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
1723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
1724 #: freeculture.xml:1343
1728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1729 #: freeculture.xml:1340
1731 "Disney's then partner, and one of animation's most extraordinary talents, Ub "
1732 "Iwerks, put it more strongly: <quote>I have never been so thrilled in my "
1733 "life. Nothing since has ever equaled it.</quote> <placeholder "
1734 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
1737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1738 #: freeculture.xml:1346
1740 "Disney had created something very new, based upon something relatively "
1741 "new. Synchronized sound brought life to a form of creativity that had "
1742 "rarely—except in Disney's hands—been anything more than filler "
1743 "for other films. Throughout animation's early history, it was Disney's "
1744 "invention that set the standard that others struggled to match. And quite "
1745 "often, Disney's great genius, his spark of creativity, was built upon the "
1749 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1750 #: freeculture.xml:1355
1752 "This much is familiar. What you might not know is that 1928 also marks "
1753 "another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to cartoon) "
1754 "genius created his last independently produced silent film. That genius was "
1755 "Buster Keaton. The film was <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>."
1758 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1759 #: freeculture.xml:1361
1761 "Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in 1895. In the era of silent film, "
1762 "he had mastered using broad physical comedy as a way to spark uncontrollable "
1763 "laughter from his audience. <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. was a "
1764 "classic of this form, famous among film buffs for its incredible stunts. "
1765 "The film was classic Keaton—wildly popular and among the best of its "
1770 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1771 #: freeculture.xml:1375
1773 "I am grateful to David Gerstein and his careful history, described at <ulink "
1774 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #4</ulink>. According to Dave "
1775 "Smith of the Disney Archives, Disney paid royalties to use the music for "
1776 "five songs in <citetitle>Steamboat Willie</citetitle>: <quote>Steamboat "
1777 "Bill,</quote> <quote>The Simpleton</quote> (Delille), <quote>Mischief "
1778 "Makers</quote> (Carbonara), <quote>Joyful Hurry No. 1</quote> (Baron), and "
1779 "<quote>Gawky Rube</quote> (Lakay). A sixth song, <quote>The Turkey in the "
1780 "Straw,</quote> was already in the public domain. Letter from David Smith to "
1781 "Harry Surden, 10 July 2003, on file with author."
1784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1785 #: freeculture.xml:1369
1787 "<citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. appeared before Disney's cartoon "
1788 "Steamboat Willie. The coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat "
1789 "Willie is a direct cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill,<placeholder "
1790 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and both are built upon a common song as a "
1791 "source. It is not just from the invention of synchronized sound in "
1792 "<citetitle>The Jazz Singer</citetitle> that we get <citetitle>Steamboat "
1793 "Willie</citetitle>. It is also from Buster Keaton's invention of Steamboat "
1794 "Bill, Jr., itself inspired by the song <quote>Steamboat Bill,</quote> that "
1795 "we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse."
1799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1800 #: freeculture.xml:1396
1802 "He was also a fan of the public domain. See Chris Sprigman, <quote>The Mouse "
1803 "that Ate the Public Domain,</quote> Findlaw, 5 March 2002, at <ulink "
1804 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #5</ulink>."
1807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1808 #: freeculture.xml:1392
1810 "This <quote>borrowing</quote> was nothing unique, either for Disney or for "
1811 "the industry. Disney was always parroting the feature-length mainstream "
1812 "films of his day.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> So did many "
1813 "others. Early cartoons are filled with knockoffs—slight variations on "
1814 "winning themes; retellings of ancient stories. The key to success was the "
1815 "brilliance of the differences. With Disney, it was sound that gave his "
1816 "animation its spark. Later, it was the quality of his work relative to the "
1817 "production-line cartoons with which he competed. Yet these additions were "
1818 "built upon a base that was borrowed. Disney added to the work of others "
1819 "before him, creating something new out of something just barely old."
1822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1823 #: freeculture.xml:1411
1825 "Sometimes this borrowing was slight. Sometimes it was significant. Think "
1826 "about the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm. If you're as oblivious as I "
1827 "was, you're likely to think that these tales are happy, sweet stories, "
1828 "appropriate for any child at bedtime. In fact, the Grimm fairy tales are, "
1829 "well, for us, grim. It is a rare and perhaps overly ambitious parent who "
1830 "would dare to read these bloody, moralistic stories to his or her child, at "
1831 "bedtime or anytime."
1835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1836 #: freeculture.xml:1420
1838 "Disney took these stories and retold them in a way that carried them into a "
1839 "new age. He animated the stories, with both characters and light. Without "
1840 "removing the elements of fear and danger altogether, he made funny what was "
1841 "dark and injected a genuine emotion of compassion where before there was "
1842 "fear. And not just with the work of the Brothers Grimm. Indeed, the catalog "
1843 "of Disney work drawing upon the work of others is astonishing when set "
1844 "together: <citetitle>Snow White</citetitle> (1937), "
1845 "<citetitle>Fantasia</citetitle> (1940), <citetitle>Pinocchio</citetitle> "
1846 "(1940), <citetitle>Dumbo</citetitle> (1941), <citetitle>Bambi</citetitle> "
1847 "(1942), <citetitle>Song of the South</citetitle> (1946), "
1848 "<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle> (1950), <citetitle>Alice in "
1849 "Wonderland</citetitle> (1951), <citetitle>Robin Hood</citetitle> (1952), "
1850 "<citetitle>Peter Pan</citetitle> (1953), <citetitle>Lady and the "
1851 "Tramp</citetitle> (1955), <citetitle>Mulan</citetitle> (1998), "
1852 "<citetitle>Sleeping Beauty</citetitle> (1959), <citetitle>101 "
1853 "Dalmatians</citetitle> (1961), <citetitle>The Sword in the Stone</citetitle> "
1854 "(1963), and <citetitle>The Jungle Book</citetitle> (1967)—not to "
1855 "mention a recent example that we should perhaps quickly forget, "
1856 "<citetitle>Treasure Planet</citetitle> (2003). In all of these cases, Disney "
1857 "(or Disney, Inc.) ripped creativity from the culture around him, mixed that "
1858 "creativity with his own extraordinary talent, and then burned that mix into "
1859 "the soul of his culture. Rip, mix, and burn."
1862 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1863 #: freeculture.xml:1443
1865 "This is a kind of creativity. It is a creativity that we should remember and "
1866 "celebrate. There are some who would say that there is no creativity except "
1867 "this kind. We don't need to go that far to recognize its importance. We "
1868 "could call this <quote>Disney creativity,</quote> though that would be a bit "
1869 "misleading. It is, more precisely, <quote>Walt Disney "
1870 "creativity</quote>—a form of expression and genius that builds upon "
1871 "the culture around us and makes it something different."
1875 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
1876 #: freeculture.xml:1457
1878 "Until 1976, copyright law granted an author the possibility of two terms: an "
1879 "initial term and a renewal term. I have calculated the "
1880 "<quote>average</quote> term by determining the weighted average of total "
1881 "registrations for any particular year, and the proportion renewing. Thus, if "
1882 "100 copyrights are registered in year 1, and only 15 are renewed, and the "
1883 "renewal term is 28 years, then the average term is 32.2 years. For the "
1884 "renewal data and other relevant data, see the Web site associated with this "
1885 "book, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
1889 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1890 #: freeculture.xml:1451
1892 "In 1928, the culture that Disney was free to draw upon was relatively "
1893 "fresh. The public domain in 1928 was not very old and was therefore quite "
1894 "vibrant. The average term of copyright was just around thirty "
1895 "years—for that minority of creative work that was in fact "
1896 "copyrighted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That means that for "
1897 "thirty years, on average, the authors or copyright holders of a creative "
1898 "work had an <quote>exclusive right</quote> to control certain uses of the "
1899 "work. To use this copyrighted work in limited ways required the permission "
1900 "of the copyright owner."
1903 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1904 #: freeculture.xml:1474
1906 "At the end of a copyright term, a work passes into the public domain. No "
1907 "permission is then needed to draw upon or use that work. No permission and, "
1908 "hence, no lawyers. The public domain is a <quote>lawyer-free zone.</quote> "
1909 "Thus, most of the content from the nineteenth century was free for Disney to "
1910 "use and build upon in 1928. It was free for anyone— whether connected "
1911 "or not, whether rich or not, whether approved or not—to use and build "
1916 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1917 #: freeculture.xml:1483
1919 "This is the ways things always were—until quite recently. For most of "
1920 "our history, the public domain was just over the horizon. From until 1978, "
1921 "the average copyright term was never more than thirty-two years, meaning "
1922 "that most culture just a generation and a half old was free for anyone to "
1923 "build upon without the permission of anyone else. Today's equivalent would "
1924 "be for creative work from the 1960s and 1970s to now be free for the next "
1925 "Walt Disney to build upon without permission. Yet today, the public domain "
1926 "is presumptive only for content from before the Great Depression."
1929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1930 #: freeculture.xml:1496
1932 "Of course, Walt Disney had no monopoly on <quote>Walt Disney "
1933 "creativity.</quote> Nor does America. The norm of free culture has, until "
1934 "recently, and except within totalitarian nations, been broadly exploited and "
1938 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1939 #: freeculture.xml:1502
1941 "Consider, for example, a form of creativity that seems strange to many "
1942 "Americans but that is inescapable within Japanese culture: "
1943 "<citetitle>manga</citetitle>, or comics. The Japanese are fanatics about "
1944 "comics. Some 40 percent of publications are comics, and 30 percent of "
1945 "publication revenue derives from comics. They are everywhere in Japanese "
1946 "society, at every magazine stand, carried by a large proportion of commuters "
1947 "on Japan's extraordinary system of public transportation."
1950 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1951 #: freeculture.xml:1511
1953 "Americans tend to look down upon this form of culture. That's an "
1954 "unattractive characteristic of ours. We're likely to misunderstand much "
1955 "about manga, because few of us have ever read anything close to the stories "
1956 "that these <quote>graphic novels</quote> tell. For the Japanese, manga cover "
1957 "every aspect of social life. For us, comics are <quote>men in "
1958 "tights.</quote> And anyway, it's not as if the New York subways are filled "
1959 "with readers of Joyce or even Hemingway. People of different cultures "
1960 "distract themselves in different ways, the Japanese in this interestingly "
1964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1965 #: freeculture.xml:1522
1967 "But my purpose here is not to understand manga. It is to describe a variant "
1968 "on manga that from a lawyer's perspective is quite odd, but from a Disney "
1969 "perspective is quite familiar."
1973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1974 #: freeculture.xml:1527
1976 "This is the phenomenon of <citetitle>doujinshi</citetitle>. Doujinshi are "
1977 "also comics, but they are a kind of copycat comic. A rich ethic governs the "
1978 "creation of doujinshi. It is not doujinshi if it is "
1979 "<emphasis>just</emphasis> a copy; the artist must make a contribution to the "
1980 "art he copies, by transforming it either subtly or significantly. A "
1981 "doujinshi comic can thus take a mainstream comic and develop it "
1982 "differently—with a different story line. Or the comic can keep the "
1983 "character in character but change its look slightly. There is no formula for "
1984 "what makes the doujinshi sufficiently <quote>different.</quote> But they "
1985 "must be different if they are to be considered true doujinshi. Indeed, there "
1986 "are committees that review doujinshi for inclusion within shows and reject "
1987 "any copycat comic that is merely a copy."
1990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
1991 #: freeculture.xml:1542
1993 "These copycat comics are not a tiny part of the manga market. They are "
1994 "huge. More than 33,000 <quote>circles</quote> of creators from across Japan "
1995 "produce these bits of Walt Disney creativity. More than 450,000 Japanese "
1996 "come together twice a year, in the largest public gathering in the country, "
1997 "to exchange and sell them. This market exists in parallel to the mainstream "
1998 "commercial manga market. In some ways, it obviously competes with that "
1999 "market, but there is no sustained effort by those who control the commercial "
2000 "manga market to shut the doujinshi market down. It flourishes, despite the "
2001 "competition and despite the law."
2004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2005 #: freeculture.xml:1553
2007 "The most puzzling feature of the doujinshi market, for those trained in the "
2008 "law, at least, is that it is allowed to exist at all. Under Japanese "
2009 "copyright law, which in this respect (on paper) mirrors American copyright "
2010 "law, the doujinshi market is an illegal one. Doujinshi are plainly "
2011 "<quote>derivative works.</quote> There is no general practice by doujinshi "
2012 "artists of securing the permission of the manga creators. Instead, the "
2013 "practice is simply to take and modify the creations of others, as Walt "
2014 "Disney did with <citetitle>Steamboat Bill, Jr</citetitle>. Under both "
2015 "Japanese and American law, that <quote>taking</quote> without the permission "
2016 "of the original copyright owner is illegal. It is an infringement of the "
2017 "original copyright to make a copy or a derivative work without the original "
2018 "copyright owner's permission."
2021 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2022 #: freeculture.xml:1567
2023 msgid "Winick, Judd"
2027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2028 #: freeculture.xml:1580
2030 "For an excellent history, see Scott McCloud, <citetitle>Reinventing "
2031 "Comics</citetitle> (New York: Perennial, 2000)."
2034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2035 #: freeculture.xml:1570
2037 "Yet this illegal market exists and indeed flourishes in Japan, and in the "
2038 "view of many, it is precisely because it exists that Japanese manga "
2039 "flourish. As American graphic novelist Judd Winick said to me, <quote>The "
2040 "early days of comics in America are very much like what's going on in Japan "
2041 "now. … American comics were born out of copying each other. … "
2042 "That's how [the artists] learn to draw—by going into comic books and "
2043 "not tracing them, but looking at them and copying them</quote> and building "
2044 "from them.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2047 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2048 #: freeculture.xml:1585
2050 "American comics now are quite different, Winick explains, in part because of "
2051 "the legal difficulty of adapting comics the way doujinshi are "
2052 "allowed. Speaking of Superman, Winick told me, <quote>there are these rules "
2053 "and you have to stick to them.</quote> There are things Superman "
2054 "<quote>cannot</quote> do. <quote>As a creator, it's frustrating having to "
2055 "stick to some parameters which are fifty years old.</quote>"
2059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2060 #: freeculture.xml:1602
2062 "See Salil K. Mehra, <quote>Copyright and Comics in Japan: Does Law Explain "
2063 "Why All the Comics My Kid Watches Are Japanese Imports?</quote> "
2064 "<citetitle>Rutgers Law Review</citetitle> 55 (2002): 155, "
2065 "182. <quote>[T]here might be a collective economic rationality that would "
2066 "lead manga and anime artists to forgo bringing legal actions for "
2067 "infringement. One hypothesis is that all manga artists may be better off "
2068 "collectively if they set aside their individual self-interest and decide not "
2069 "to press their legal rights. This is essentially a prisoner's dilemma "
2073 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2074 #: freeculture.xml:1594
2076 "The norm in Japan mitigates this legal difficulty. Some say it is precisely "
2077 "the benefit accruing to the Japanese manga market that explains the "
2078 "mitigation. Temple University law professor Salil Mehra, for example, "
2079 "hypothesizes that the manga market accepts these technical violations "
2080 "because they spur the manga market to be more wealthy and "
2081 "productive. Everyone would be worse off if doujinshi were banned, so the law "
2082 "does not ban doujinshi.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2085 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2086 #: freeculture.xml:1613
2088 "The problem with this story, however, as Mehra plainly acknowledges, is that "
2089 "the mechanism producing this laissez faire response is not clear. It may "
2090 "well be that the market as a whole is better off if doujinshi are permitted "
2091 "rather than banned, but that doesn't explain why individual copyright owners "
2092 "don't sue nonetheless. If the law has no general exception for doujinshi, "
2093 "and indeed in some cases individual manga artists have sued doujinshi "
2094 "artists, why is there not a more general pattern of blocking this "
2095 "<quote>free taking</quote> by the doujinshi culture?"
2098 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2099 #: freeculture.xml:1624
2101 "I spent four wonderful months in Japan, and I asked this question as often "
2102 "as I could. Perhaps the best account in the end was offered by a friend from "
2103 "a major Japanese law firm. <quote>We don't have enough lawyers,</quote> he "
2104 "told me one afternoon. There <quote>just aren't enough resources to "
2105 "prosecute cases like this.</quote>"
2109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2110 #: freeculture.xml:1631
2112 "This is a theme to which we will return: that regulation by law is a "
2113 "function of both the words on the books and the costs of making those words "
2114 "have effect. For now, focus on the obvious question that is begged: Would "
2115 "Japan be better off with more lawyers? Would manga be richer if doujinshi "
2116 "artists were regularly prosecuted? Would the Japanese gain something "
2117 "important if they could end this practice of uncompensated sharing? Does "
2118 "piracy here hurt the victims of the piracy, or does it help them? Would "
2119 "lawyers fighting this piracy help their clients or hurt them? Let's pause "
2123 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2124 #: freeculture.xml:1644
2126 "If you're like I was a decade ago, or like most people are when they first "
2127 "start thinking about these issues, then just about now you should be puzzled "
2128 "about something you hadn't thought through before."
2131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2132 #: freeculture.xml:1661 freeculture.xml:2870 freeculture.xml:4521 freeculture.xml:4743 freeculture.xml:7332 freeculture.xml:8451
2133 msgid "Vaidhyanathan, Siva"
2136 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2137 #: freeculture.xml:1654
2139 "The term <citetitle>intellectual property</citetitle> is of relatively "
2140 "recent origin. See Siva Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
2141 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 11 (New York: New York University Press, 2001). See "
2142 "also Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> (New York: "
2143 "Random House, 2001), 293 n. 26. The term accurately describes a set of "
2144 "<quote>property</quote> rights—copyright, patents, trademark, and "
2145 "trade-secret—but the nature of those rights is very different. "
2146 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2149 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2150 #: freeculture.xml:1649
2152 "We live in a world that celebrates <quote>property.</quote> I am one of "
2153 "those celebrants. I believe in the value of property in general, and I also "
2154 "believe in the value of that weird form of property that lawyers call "
2155 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2156 "id=\"0\"/> A large, diverse society cannot survive without property; a "
2157 "large, diverse, and modern society cannot flourish without intellectual "
2161 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2162 #: freeculture.xml:1668
2164 "But it takes just a second's reflection to realize that there is plenty of "
2165 "value out there that <quote>property</quote> doesn't capture. I don't mean "
2166 "<quote>money can't buy you love,</quote> but rather, value that is plainly "
2167 "part of a process of production, including commercial as well as "
2168 "noncommercial production. If Disney animators had stolen a set of pencils "
2169 "to draw Steamboat Willie, we'd have no hesitation in condemning that taking "
2170 "as wrong— even though trivial, even if unnoticed. Yet there was "
2171 "nothing wrong, at least under the law of the day, with Disney's taking from "
2172 "Buster Keaton or from the Brothers Grimm. There was nothing wrong with the "
2173 "taking from Keaton because Disney's use would have been considered "
2174 "<quote>fair.</quote> There was nothing wrong with the taking from the Grimms "
2175 "because the Grimms' work was in the public domain."
2179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2180 #: freeculture.xml:1683
2182 "Thus, even though the things that Disney took—or more generally, the "
2183 "things taken by anyone exercising Walt Disney creativity—are valuable, "
2184 "our tradition does not treat those takings as wrong. Some things remain free "
2185 "for the taking within a free culture, and that freedom is good."
2188 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2189 #: freeculture.xml:1692
2191 "The same with the doujinshi culture. If a doujinshi artist broke into a "
2192 "publisher's office and ran off with a thousand copies of his latest "
2193 "work—or even one copy—without paying, we'd have no hesitation in "
2194 "saying the artist was wrong. In addition to having trespassed, he would have "
2195 "stolen something of value. The law bans that stealing in whatever form, "
2196 "whether large or small."
2199 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2200 #: freeculture.xml:1700
2202 "Yet there is an obvious reluctance, even among Japanese lawyers, to say that "
2203 "the copycat comic artists are <quote>stealing.</quote> This form of Walt "
2204 "Disney creativity is seen as fair and right, even if lawyers in particular "
2205 "find it hard to say why."
2208 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2209 #: freeculture.xml:1706
2211 "It's the same with a thousand examples that appear everywhere once you begin "
2212 "to look. Scientists build upon the work of other scientists without asking "
2213 "or paying for the privilege. (<quote>Excuse me, Professor Einstein, but may "
2214 "I have permission to use your theory of relativity to show that you were "
2215 "wrong about quantum physics?</quote>) Acting companies perform adaptations "
2216 "of the works of Shakespeare without securing permission from anyone. (Does "
2217 "<emphasis>anyone</emphasis> believe Shakespeare would be better spread "
2218 "within our culture if there were a central Shakespeare rights clearinghouse "
2219 "that all productions of Shakespeare must appeal to first?) And Hollywood "
2220 "goes through cycles with a certain kind of movie: five asteroid films in the "
2221 "late 1990s; two volcano disaster films in 1997."
2225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2226 #: freeculture.xml:1720
2228 "Creators here and everywhere are always and at all times building upon the "
2229 "creativity that went before and that surrounds them now. That building is "
2230 "always and everywhere at least partially done without permission and without "
2231 "compensating the original creator. No society, free or controlled, has ever "
2232 "demanded that every use be paid for or that permission for Walt Disney "
2233 "creativity must always be sought. Instead, every society has left a certain "
2234 "bit of its culture free for the taking—free societies more fully than "
2235 "unfree, perhaps, but all societies to some degree."
2238 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2239 #: freeculture.xml:1731
2241 "The hard question is therefore not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> a culture is "
2242 "free. All cultures are free to some degree. The hard question instead is "
2243 "<quote><emphasis>How</emphasis> free is this culture?</quote> How much, and "
2244 "how broadly, is the culture free for others to take and build upon? Is that "
2245 "freedom limited to party members? To members of the royal family? To the top "
2246 "ten corporations on the New York Stock Exchange? Or is that freedom spread "
2247 "broadly? To artists generally, whether affiliated with the Met or not? To "
2248 "musicians generally, whether white or not? To filmmakers generally, whether "
2249 "affiliated with a studio or not?"
2252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2253 #: freeculture.xml:1743
2255 "Free cultures are cultures that leave a great deal open for others to build "
2256 "upon; unfree, or permission, cultures leave much less. Ours was a free "
2257 "culture. It is becoming much less so."
2260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
2261 #: freeculture.xml:1751
2262 msgid "CHAPTER TWO: <quote>Mere Copyists</quote>"
2265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2266 #: freeculture.xml:1753
2270 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2271 #: freeculture.xml:1763
2272 msgid "Daguerre, Louis"
2275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2276 #: freeculture.xml:1756
2278 "In 1839, Louis Daguerre invented the first practical technology for "
2279 "producing what we would call <quote>photographs.</quote> Appropriately "
2280 "enough, they were called <quote>daguerreotypes.</quote> The process was "
2281 "complicated and expensive, and the field was thus limited to professionals "
2282 "and a few zealous and wealthy amateurs. (There was even an American Daguerre "
2283 "Association that helped regulate the industry, as do all such associations, "
2284 "by keeping competition down so as to keep prices up.) <placeholder "
2285 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2289 #: freeculture.xml:1775
2290 msgid "Talbot, William"
2293 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2294 #: freeculture.xml:1766
2296 "Yet despite high prices, the demand for daguerreotypes was strong. This "
2297 "pushed inventors to find simpler and cheaper ways to make <quote>automatic "
2298 "pictures.</quote> William Talbot soon discovered a process for making "
2299 "<quote>negatives.</quote> But because the negatives were glass, and had to "
2300 "be kept wet, the process still remained expensive and cumbersome. In the "
2301 "1870s, dry plates were developed, making it easier to separate the taking of "
2302 "a picture from its developing. These were still plates of glass, and thus it "
2303 "was still not a process within reach of most amateurs. <placeholder "
2304 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2307 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2308 #: freeculture.xml:1778
2309 msgid "Eastman, George"
2313 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2314 #: freeculture.xml:1781
2316 "The technological change that made mass photography possible didn't happen "
2317 "until 1888, and was the creation of a single man. George Eastman, himself an "
2318 "amateur photographer, was frustrated by the technology of photographs made "
2319 "with plates. In a flash of insight (so to speak), Eastman saw that if the "
2320 "film could be made to be flexible, it could be held on a single "
2321 "spindle. That roll could then be sent to a developer, driving the costs of "
2322 "photography down substantially. By lowering the costs, Eastman expected he "
2323 "could dramatically broaden the population of photographers."
2327 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2328 #: freeculture.xml:1798
2330 "Reese V. Jenkins, <citetitle>Images and Enterprise</citetitle> (Baltimore: "
2331 "Johns Hopkins University Press, 1975), 112."
2334 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2335 #: freeculture.xml:1800
2336 msgid "Kodak Primer, The (Eastman)"
2339 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2340 #: freeculture.xml:1793
2342 "Eastman developed flexible, emulsion-coated paper film and placed rolls of "
2343 "it in small, simple cameras: the Kodak. The device was marketed on the basis "
2344 "of its simplicity. <quote>You press the button and we do the "
2345 "rest.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As he described in "
2346 "<citetitle>The Kodak Primer</citetitle>: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
2350 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2351 #: freeculture.xml:1817 freeculture.xml:1840
2355 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
2356 #: freeculture.xml:1815
2358 "Brian Coe, <citetitle>The Birth of Photography</citetitle> (New York: "
2359 "Taplinger Publishing, 1977), 53. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2363 #: freeculture.xml:1804
2365 "The principle of the Kodak system is the separation of the work that any "
2366 "person whomsoever can do in making a photograph, from the work that only an "
2367 "expert can do. … We furnish anybody, man, woman or child, who has "
2368 "sufficient intelligence to point a box straight and press a button, with an "
2369 "instrument which altogether removes from the practice of photography the "
2370 "necessity for exceptional facilities or, in fact, any special knowledge of "
2371 "the art. It can be employed without preliminary study, without a darkroom "
2372 "and without chemicals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2376 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2377 #: freeculture.xml:1833
2378 msgid "Jenkins, 177."
2382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2383 #: freeculture.xml:1837
2384 msgid "Based on a chart in Jenkins, p. 178."
2387 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2388 #: freeculture.xml:1822
2390 "For $25, anyone could make pictures. The camera came preloaded with film, "
2391 "and when it had been used, the camera was returned to an Eastman factory, "
2392 "where the film was developed. Over time, of course, the cost of the camera "
2393 "and the ease with which it could be used both improved. Roll film thus "
2394 "became the basis for the explosive growth of popular photography. Eastman's "
2395 "camera first went on sale in 1888; one year later, Kodak was printing more "
2396 "than six thousand negatives a day. From 1888 through 1909, while industrial "
2397 "production was rising by 4.7 percent, photographic equipment and material "
2398 "sales increased by 11 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
2399 "Eastman Kodak's sales during the same period experienced an average annual "
2400 "increase of over 17 percent.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2404 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2405 #: freeculture.xml:1855
2409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2410 #: freeculture.xml:1844
2412 "The real significance of Eastman's invention, however, was not economic. It "
2413 "was social. Professional photography gave individuals a glimpse of places "
2414 "they would never otherwise see. Amateur photography gave them the ability to "
2415 "record their own lives in a way they had never been able to do before. As "
2416 "author Brian Coe notes, <quote>For the first time the snapshot album "
2417 "provided the man on the street with a permanent record of his family and its "
2418 "activities. … For the first time in history there exists an authentic "
2419 "visual record of the appearance and activities of the common man made "
2420 "without [literary] interpretation or bias.</quote><placeholder "
2421 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2425 #: freeculture.xml:1859
2427 "In this way, the Kodak camera and film were technologies of expression. The "
2428 "pencil or paintbrush was also a technology of expression, of course. But it "
2429 "took years of training before they could be deployed by amateurs in any "
2430 "useful or effective way. With the Kodak, expression was possible much sooner "
2431 "and more simply. The barrier to expression was lowered. Snobs would sneer at "
2432 "its <quote>quality</quote>; professionals would discount it as "
2433 "irrelevant. But watch a child study how best to frame a picture and you get "
2434 "a sense of the experience of creativity that the Kodak enabled. Democratic "
2435 "tools gave ordinary people a way to express themselves more easily than any "
2436 "tools could have before."
2440 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2441 #: freeculture.xml:1881
2443 "For illustrative cases, see, for example, <citetitle>Pavesich</citetitle> "
2444 "v. <citetitle>N.E. Life Ins. Co</citetitle>., 50 S.E. 68 (Ga. 1905); "
2445 "<citetitle>Foster-Milburn Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Chinn</citetitle>, "
2446 "123090 S.W. 364, 366 (Ky. 1909); <citetitle>Corliss</citetitle> "
2447 "v. <citetitle>Walker</citetitle>, 64 F. 280 (Mass. Dist. Ct. 1894)."
2450 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2451 #: freeculture.xml:1872
2453 "What was required for this technology to flourish? Obviously, Eastman's "
2454 "genius was an important part. But also important was the legal environment "
2455 "within which Eastman's invention grew. For early in the history of "
2456 "photography, there was a series of judicial decisions that could well have "
2457 "changed the course of photography substantially. Courts were asked whether "
2458 "the photographer, amateur or professional, required permission before he "
2459 "could capture and print whatever image he wanted. Their answer was "
2460 "no.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
2464 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2465 #: freeculture.xml:1889
2467 "The arguments in favor of requiring permission will sound surprisingly "
2468 "familiar. The photographer was <quote>taking</quote> something from the "
2469 "person or building whose photograph he shot—pirating something of "
2470 "value. Some even thought he was taking the target's soul. Just as Disney was "
2471 "not free to take the pencils that his animators used to draw Mickey, so, "
2472 "too, should these photographers not be free to take images that they thought "
2476 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2477 #: freeculture.xml:1911
2478 msgid "Warren, Samuel D."
2481 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2482 #: freeculture.xml:1908
2484 "Samuel D. Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, <quote>The Right to Privacy,</quote> "
2485 "<citetitle>Harvard Law Review</citetitle> 4 (1890): 193. <placeholder "
2486 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
2489 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2490 #: freeculture.xml:1901
2492 "On the other side was an argument that should be familiar, as well. Sure, "
2493 "there may be something of value being used. But citizens should have the "
2494 "right to capture at least those images that stand in public view. (Louis "
2495 "Brandeis, who would become a Supreme Court Justice, thought the rule should "
2496 "be different for images from private spaces.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2497 "id=\"0\"/>) It may be that this means that the photographer gets something "
2498 "for nothing. Just as Disney could take inspiration from <citetitle>Steamboat "
2499 "Bill, Jr</citetitle>. or the Brothers Grimm, the photographer should be free "
2500 "to capture an image without compensating the source."
2504 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2505 #: freeculture.xml:1928
2507 "See Melville B. Nimmer, <quote>The Right of Publicity,</quote> "
2508 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 19 (1954): 203; William "
2509 "L. Prosser, <quote>Privacy,</quote> <citetitle>California Law "
2510 "Review</citetitle> 48 (1960) 398–407; <citetitle>White</citetitle> "
2511 "v. <citetitle>Samsung Electronics America, Inc</citetitle>., 971 F. 2d 1395 "
2512 "(9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 508 U.S. 951 (1993)."
2515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2516 #: freeculture.xml:1918
2518 "Fortunately for Mr. Eastman, and for photography in general, these early "
2519 "decisions went in favor of the pirates. In general, no permission would be "
2520 "required before an image could be captured and shared with others. Instead, "
2521 "permission was presumed. Freedom was the default. (The law would eventually "
2522 "craft an exception for famous people: commercial photographers who snap "
2523 "pictures of famous people for commercial purposes have more restrictions "
2524 "than the rest of us. But in the ordinary case, the image can be captured "
2525 "without clearing the rights to do the capturing.<placeholder "
2526 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>)"
2529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2530 #: freeculture.xml:1936
2532 "We can only speculate about how photography would have developed had the law "
2533 "gone the other way. If the presumption had been against the photographer, "
2534 "then the photographer would have had to demonstrate permission. Perhaps "
2535 "Eastman Kodak would have had to demonstrate permission, too, before it "
2536 "developed the film upon which images were captured. After all, if permission "
2537 "were not granted, then Eastman Kodak would be benefiting from the "
2538 "<quote>theft</quote> committed by the photographer. Just as Napster "
2539 "benefited from the copyright infringements committed by Napster users, Kodak "
2540 "would be benefiting from the <quote>image-right</quote> infringement of its "
2541 "photographers. We could imagine the law then requiring that some form of "
2542 "permission be demonstrated before a company developed pictures. We could "
2543 "imagine a system developing to demonstrate that permission."
2547 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2548 #: freeculture.xml:1953
2550 "But though we could imagine this system of permission, it would be very hard "
2551 "to see how photography could have flourished as it did if the requirement "
2552 "for permission had been built into the rules that govern it. Photography "
2553 "would have existed. It would have grown in importance over "
2554 "time. Professionals would have continued to use the technology as they "
2555 "did—since professionals could have more easily borne the burdens of "
2556 "the permission system. But the spread of photography to ordinary people "
2557 "would not have occurred. Nothing like that growth would have been "
2558 "realized. And certainly, nothing like that growth in a democratic technology "
2559 "of expression would have been realized. If you drive through San "
2560 "Francisco's Presidio, you might see two gaudy yellow school buses painted "
2561 "over with colorful and striking images, and the logo <quote>Just "
2562 "Think!</quote> in place of the name of a school. But there's little that's "
2563 "<quote>just</quote> cerebral in the projects that these busses enable. "
2564 "These buses are filled with technologies that teach kids to tinker with "
2565 "film. Not the film of Eastman. Not even the film of your VCR. Rather the "
2566 "<quote>film</quote> of digital cameras. Just Think! is a project that "
2567 "enables kids to make films, as a way to understand and critique the filmed "
2568 "culture that they find all around them. Each year, these busses travel to "
2569 "more than thirty schools and enable three hundred to five hundred children "
2570 "to learn something about media by doing something with media. By doing, "
2571 "they think. By tinkering, they learn."
2575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2576 #: freeculture.xml:1986
2578 "H. Edward Goldberg, <quote>Essential Presentation Tools: Hardware and "
2579 "Software You Need to Create Digital Multimedia Presentations,</quote> "
2580 "cadalyst, February 2002, available at <ulink "
2581 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #7</ulink>."
2584 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2585 #: freeculture.xml:1980
2587 "These buses are not cheap, but the technology they carry is increasingly "
2588 "so. The cost of a high-quality digital video system has fallen "
2589 "dramatically. As one analyst puts it, <quote>Five years ago, a good "
2590 "real-time digital video editing system cost $25,000. Today you can get "
2591 "professional quality for $595.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
2592 "id=\"0\"/> These buses are filled with technology that would have cost "
2593 "hundreds of thousands just ten years ago. And it is now feasible to imagine "
2594 "not just buses like this, but classrooms across the country where kids are "
2595 "learning more and more of something teachers call <quote>media "
2599 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
2600 #: freeculture.xml:2003
2601 msgid "Yanofsky, Dave"
2604 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2605 #: freeculture.xml:1998
2607 "<quote>Media literacy,</quote> as Dave Yanofsky, the executive director of "
2608 "Just Think!, puts it, <quote>is the ability … to understand, analyze, "
2609 "and deconstruct media images. Its aim is to make [kids] literate about the "
2610 "way media works, the way it's constructed, the way it's delivered, and the "
2611 "way people access it.</quote> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2614 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2615 #: freeculture.xml:2006
2617 "This may seem like an odd way to think about <quote>literacy.</quote> For "
2618 "most people, literacy is about reading and writing. Faulkner and Hemingway "
2619 "and noticing split infinitives are the things that <quote>literate</quote> "
2620 "people know about."
2623 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2624 #: freeculture.xml:2011 freeculture.xml:2505 freeculture.xml:6366 freeculture.xml:7196 freeculture.xml:8282 freeculture.xml:8354
2629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2630 #: freeculture.xml:2017
2632 "Judith Van Evra, <citetitle>Television and Child Development</citetitle> "
2633 "(Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1990); <quote>Findings on "
2634 "Family and TV Study,</quote> <citetitle>Denver Post</citetitle>, 25 May "
2638 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2639 #: freeculture.xml:2013
2641 "Maybe. But in a world where children see on average 390 hours of television "
2642 "commercials per year, or between 20,000 and 45,000 commercials "
2643 "generally,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it is increasingly "
2644 "important to understand the <quote>grammar</quote> of media. For just as "
2645 "there is a grammar for the written word, so, too, is there one for "
2646 "media. And just as kids learn how to write by writing lots of terrible "
2647 "prose, kids learn how to write media by constructing lots of (at least at "
2648 "first) terrible media."
2651 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2652 #: freeculture.xml:2028
2654 "A growing field of academics and activists sees this form of literacy as "
2655 "crucial to the next generation of culture. For though anyone who has written "
2656 "understands how difficult writing is—how difficult it is to sequence "
2657 "the story, to keep a reader's attention, to craft language to be "
2658 "understandable—few of us have any real sense of how difficult media "
2659 "is. Or more fundamentally, few of us have a sense of how media works, how it "
2660 "holds an audience or leads it through a story, how it triggers emotion or "
2664 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2665 #: freeculture.xml:2038
2667 "It took filmmaking a generation before it could do these things well. But "
2668 "even then, the knowledge was in the filming, not in writing about the "
2669 "film. The skill came from experiencing the making of a film, not from "
2670 "reading a book about it. One learns to write by writing and then reflecting "
2671 "upon what one has written. One learns to write with images by making them "
2672 "and then reflecting upon what one has created."
2675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2676 #: freeculture.xml:2045
2677 msgid "Crichton, Michael"
2680 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2681 #: freeculture.xml:2059 freeculture.xml:2119 freeculture.xml:2126 freeculture.xml:2568
2682 msgid "Barish, Stephanie"
2685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2686 #: freeculture.xml:2060
2687 msgid "Daley, Elizabeth"
2690 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2691 #: freeculture.xml:2057
2693 "Interview with Elizabeth Daley and Stephanie Barish, 13 December 2002. "
2694 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
2699 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2700 #: freeculture.xml:2071
2702 "See Scott Steinberg, <quote>Crichton Gets Medieval on PCs,</quote> E!online, "
2703 "4 November 2000, available at <ulink "
2704 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #8</ulink>; "
2705 "<quote>Timeline,</quote> 22 November 2000, available at <ulink "
2706 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #9</ulink>."
2709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2710 #: freeculture.xml:2047
2712 "This grammar has changed as media has changed. When it was just film, as "
2713 "Elizabeth Daley, executive director of the University of Southern "
2714 "California's Annenberg Center for Communication and dean of the USC School "
2715 "of Cinema-Television, explained to me, the grammar was about <quote>the "
2716 "placement of objects, color, … rhythm, pacing, and "
2717 "texture.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But as computers "
2718 "open up an interactive space where a story is <quote>played</quote> as well "
2719 "as experienced, that grammar changes. The simple control of narrative is "
2720 "lost, and so other techniques are necessary. Author Michael Crichton had "
2721 "mastered the narrative of science fiction. But when he tried to design a "
2722 "computer game based on one of his works, it was a new craft he had to "
2723 "learn. How to lead people through a game without their feeling they have "
2724 "been led was not obvious, even to a wildly successful author.<placeholder "
2725 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2729 #: freeculture.xml:2078
2730 msgid "computer games"
2733 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2734 #: freeculture.xml:2080
2736 "This skill is precisely the craft a filmmaker learns. As Daley describes, "
2737 "<quote>people are very surprised about how they are led through a film. [I]t "
2738 "is perfectly constructed to keep you from seeing it, so you have no idea. If "
2739 "a filmmaker succeeds you do not know how you were led.</quote> If you know "
2740 "you were led through a film, the film has failed."
2743 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2744 #: freeculture.xml:2087
2746 "Yet the push for an expanded literacy—one that goes beyond text to "
2747 "include audio and visual elements—is not about making better film "
2748 "directors. The aim is not to improve the profession of filmmaking at all. "
2749 "Instead, as Daley explained,"
2752 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2753 #: freeculture.xml:2094
2755 "From my perspective, probably the most important digital divide is not "
2756 "access to a box. It's the ability to be empowered with the language that "
2757 "that box works in. Otherwise only a very few people can write with this "
2758 "language, and all the rest of us are reduced to being read-only."
2761 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2762 #: freeculture.xml:2102
2764 "<quote>Read-only.</quote> Passive recipients of culture produced elsewhere. "
2765 "Couch potatoes. Consumers. This is the world of media from the twentieth "
2769 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
2770 #: freeculture.xml:2118
2771 msgid "Interview with Daley and Barish. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
2775 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
2776 #: freeculture.xml:2123 freeculture.xml:3884 freeculture.xml:4931 freeculture.xml:8170
2780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2781 #: freeculture.xml:2107
2783 "The twenty-first century could be different. This is the crucial point: It "
2784 "could be both read and write. Or at least reading and better understanding "
2785 "the craft of writing. Or best, reading and understanding the tools that "
2786 "enable the writing to lead or mislead. The aim of any literacy, and this "
2787 "literacy in particular, is to <quote>empower people to choose the "
2788 "appropriate language for what they need to create or "
2789 "express.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It is to enable "
2790 "students <quote>to communicate in the language of the twenty-first "
2791 "century.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
2794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2795 #: freeculture.xml:2128
2797 "As with any language, this language comes more easily to some than to "
2798 "others. It doesn't necessarily come more easily to those who excel in "
2799 "written language. Daley and Stephanie Barish, director of the Institute for "
2800 "Multimedia Literacy at the Annenberg Center, describe one particularly "
2801 "poignant example of a project they ran in a high school. The high school "
2802 "was a very poor inner-city Los Angeles school. In all the traditional "
2803 "measures of success, this school was a failure. But Daley and Barish ran a "
2804 "program that gave kids an opportunity to use film to express meaning about "
2805 "something the students know something about—gun violence."
2808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2809 #: freeculture.xml:2140
2811 "The class was held on Friday afternoons, and it created a relatively new "
2812 "problem for the school. While the challenge in most classes was getting the "
2813 "kids to come, the challenge in this class was keeping them away. The "
2814 "<quote>kids were showing up at 6 A.M. and leaving at 5 at night,</quote> "
2815 "said Barish. They were working harder than in any other class to do what "
2816 "education should be about—learning how to express themselves."
2819 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2820 #: freeculture.xml:2148
2822 "Using whatever <quote>free web stuff they could find,</quote> and relatively "
2823 "simple tools to enable the kids to mix <quote>image, sound, and "
2824 "text,</quote> Barish said this class produced a series of projects that "
2825 "showed something about gun violence that few would otherwise "
2826 "understand. This was an issue close to the lives of these students. The "
2827 "project <quote>gave them a tool and empowered them to be able to both "
2828 "understand it and talk about it,</quote> Barish explained. That tool "
2829 "succeeded in creating expression—far more successfully and powerfully "
2830 "than could have been created using only text. <quote>If you had said to "
2831 "these students, `you have to do it in text,' they would've just thrown their "
2832 "hands up and gone and done something else,</quote> Barish described, in "
2833 "part, no doubt, because expressing themselves in text is not something these "
2834 "students can do well. Yet neither is text a form in which "
2835 "<emphasis>these</emphasis> ideas can be expressed well. The power of this "
2836 "message depended upon its connection to this form of expression."
2840 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2841 #: freeculture.xml:2167
2843 "<quote>But isn't education about teaching kids to write?</quote> I asked. In "
2844 "part, of course, it is. But why are we teaching kids to write? Education, "
2845 "Daley explained, is about giving students a way of <quote>constructing "
2846 "meaning.</quote> To say that that means just writing is like saying teaching "
2847 "writing is only about teaching kids how to spell. Text is one part—and "
2848 "increasingly, not the most powerful part—of constructing meaning. As "
2849 "Daley explained in the most moving part of our interview,"
2852 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2853 #: freeculture.xml:2178
2855 "What you want is to give these students ways of constructing meaning. If all "
2856 "you give them is text, they're not going to do it. Because they can't. You "
2857 "know, you've got Johnny who can look at a video, he can play a video game, "
2858 "he can do graffiti all over your walls, he can take your car apart, and he "
2859 "can do all sorts of other things. He just can't read your text. So Johnny "
2860 "comes to school and you say, <quote>Johnny, you're illiterate. Nothing you "
2861 "can do matters.</quote> Well, Johnny then has two choices: He can dismiss "
2862 "you or he [can] dismiss himself. If his ego is healthy at all, he's going to "
2863 "dismiss you. [But i]nstead, if you say, <quote>Well, with all these things "
2864 "that you can do, let's talk about this issue. Play for me music that you "
2865 "think reflects that, or show me images that you think reflect that, or draw "
2866 "for me something that reflects that.</quote> Not by giving a kid a video "
2867 "camera and … saying, <quote>Let's go have fun with the video camera "
2868 "and make a little movie.</quote> But instead, really help you take these "
2869 "elements that you understand, that are your language, and construct meaning "
2870 "about the topic.…"
2873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2874 #: freeculture.xml:2197
2876 "That empowers enormously. And then what happens, of course, is eventually, "
2877 "as it has happened in all these classes, they bump up against the fact, "
2878 "<quote>I need to explain this and I really need to write something.</quote> "
2879 "And as one of the teachers told Stephanie, they would rewrite a paragraph 5, "
2880 "6, 7, 8 times, till they got it right."
2884 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
2885 #: freeculture.xml:2204
2887 "Because they needed to. There was a reason for doing it. They needed to say "
2888 "something, as opposed to just jumping through your hoops. They actually "
2889 "needed to use a language that they didn't speak very well. But they had come "
2890 "to understand that they had a lot of power with this language."
2893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2894 #: freeculture.xml:2215
2896 "When two planes crashed into the World Trade Center, another into the "
2897 "Pentagon, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania field, all media around the world "
2898 "shifted to this news. Every moment of just about every day for that week, "
2899 "and for weeks after, television in particular, and media generally, retold "
2900 "the story of the events we had just witnessed. The telling was a retelling, "
2901 "because we had seen the events that were described. The genius of this awful "
2902 "act of terrorism was that the delayed second attack was perfectly timed to "
2903 "assure that the whole world would be watching."
2906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2907 #: freeculture.xml:2226
2909 "These retellings had an increasingly familiar feel. There was music scored "
2910 "for the intermissions, and fancy graphics that flashed across the "
2911 "screen. There was a formula to interviews. There was <quote>balance,</quote> "
2912 "and seriousness. This was news choreographed in the way we have increasingly "
2913 "come to expect it, <quote>news as entertainment,</quote> even if the "
2914 "entertainment is tragedy."
2917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
2918 #: freeculture.xml:2233 freeculture.xml:8109 freeculture.xml:8348
2922 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
2923 #: freeculture.xml:2234
2927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2928 #: freeculture.xml:2236
2930 "But in addition to this produced news about the <quote>tragedy of September "
2931 "11,</quote> those of us tied to the Internet came to see a very different "
2932 "production as well. The Internet was filled with accounts of the same "
2933 "events. Yet these Internet accounts had a very different flavor. Some people "
2934 "constructed photo pages that captured images from around the world and "
2935 "presented them as slide shows with text. Some offered open letters. There "
2936 "were sound recordings. There was anger and frustration. There were attempts "
2937 "to provide context. There was, in short, an extraordinary worldwide barn "
2938 "raising, in the sense Mike Godwin uses the term in his book <citetitle>Cyber "
2939 "Rights</citetitle>, around a news event that had captured the attention of "
2940 "the world. There was ABC and CBS, but there was also the Internet."
2944 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2945 #: freeculture.xml:2250
2947 "I don't mean simply to praise the Internet—though I do think the "
2948 "people who supported this form of speech should be praised. I mean instead "
2949 "to point to a significance in this form of speech. For like a Kodak, the "
2950 "Internet enables people to capture images. And like in a movie by a student "
2951 "on the <quote>Just Think!</quote> bus, the visual images could be mixed with "
2955 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2956 #: freeculture.xml:2260
2958 "But unlike any technology for simply capturing images, the Internet allows "
2959 "these creations to be shared with an extraordinary number of people, "
2960 "practically instantaneously. This is something new in our "
2961 "tradition—not just that culture can be captured mechanically, and "
2962 "obviously not just that events are commented upon critically, but that this "
2963 "mix of captured images, sound, and commentary can be widely spread "
2964 "practically instantaneously."
2967 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2968 #: freeculture.xml:2269
2970 "September 11 was not an aberration. It was a beginning. Around the same "
2971 "time, a form of communication that has grown dramatically was just beginning "
2972 "to come into public consciousness: the Web-log, or blog. The blog is a kind "
2973 "of public diary, and within some cultures, such as in Japan, it functions "
2974 "very much like a diary. In those cultures, it records private facts in a "
2975 "public way—it's a kind of electronic <citetitle>Jerry "
2976 "Springer</citetitle>, available anywhere in the world."
2979 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2980 #: freeculture.xml:2278
2982 "But in the United States, blogs have taken on a very different character. "
2983 "There are some who use the space simply to talk about their private "
2984 "life. But there are many who use the space to engage in public "
2985 "discourse. Discussing matters of public import, criticizing others who are "
2986 "mistaken in their views, criticizing politicians about the decisions they "
2987 "make, offering solutions to problems we all see: blogs create the sense of a "
2988 "virtual public meeting, but one in which we don't all hope to be there at "
2989 "the same time and in which conversations are not necessarily linked. The "
2990 "best of the blog entries are relatively short; they point directly to words "
2991 "used by others, criticizing with or adding to them. They are arguably the "
2992 "most important form of unchoreographed public discourse that we have."
2996 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
2997 #: freeculture.xml:2292
2999 "That's a strong statement. Yet it says as much about our democracy as it "
3000 "does about blogs. This is the part of America that is most difficult for "
3001 "those of us who love America to accept: Our democracy has atrophied. Of "
3002 "course we have elections, and most of the time the courts allow those "
3003 "elections to count. A relatively small number of people vote in those "
3004 "elections. The cycle of these elections has become totally professionalized "
3005 "and routinized. Most of us think this is democracy."
3009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3010 #: freeculture.xml:2318
3012 "See, for example, Alexis de Tocqueville, <citetitle>Democracy in "
3013 "America</citetitle>, bk. 1, trans. Henry Reeve (New York: Bantam Books, "
3017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3018 #: freeculture.xml:2303
3020 "But democracy has never just been about elections. Democracy means rule by "
3021 "the people, but rule means something more than mere elections. In our "
3022 "tradition, it also means control through reasoned discourse. This was the "
3023 "idea that captured the imagination of Alexis de Tocqueville, the "
3024 "nineteenth-century French lawyer who wrote the most important account of "
3025 "early <quote>Democracy in America.</quote> It wasn't popular elections that "
3026 "fascinated him—it was the jury, an institution that gave ordinary "
3027 "people the right to choose life or death for other citizens. And most "
3028 "fascinating for him was that the jury didn't just vote about the outcome "
3029 "they would impose. They deliberated. Members argued about the "
3030 "<quote>right</quote> result; they tried to persuade each other of the "
3031 "<quote>right</quote> result, and in criminal cases at least, they had to "
3032 "agree upon a unanimous result for the process to come to an end.<placeholder "
3033 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
3037 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3038 #: freeculture.xml:2327
3040 "Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin, <quote>Deliberation Day,</quote> "
3041 "<citetitle>Journal of Political Philosophy</citetitle> 10 (2) (2002): 129."
3044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3045 #: freeculture.xml:2323
3047 "Yet even this institution flags in American life today. And in its place, "
3048 "there is no systematic effort to enable citizen deliberation. Some are "
3049 "pushing to create just such an institution.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3050 "id=\"0\"/> And in some towns in New England, something close to deliberation "
3051 "remains. But for most of us for most of the time, there is no time or place "
3052 "for <quote>democratic deliberation</quote> to occur."
3056 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3057 #: freeculture.xml:2342
3059 "Cass Sunstein, <citetitle>Republic.com</citetitle> (Princeton: Princeton "
3060 "University Press, 2001), 65–80, 175, 182, 183, 192."
3063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3064 #: freeculture.xml:2335
3066 "More bizarrely, there is generally not even permission for it to occur. We, "
3067 "the most powerful democracy in the world, have developed a strong norm "
3068 "against talking about politics. It's fine to talk about politics with people "
3069 "you agree with. But it is rude to argue about politics with people you "
3070 "disagree with. Political discourse becomes isolated, and isolated discourse "
3071 "becomes more extreme.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We say what "
3072 "our friends want to hear, and hear very little beyond what our friends say."
3076 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3077 #: freeculture.xml:2348
3079 "Enter the blog. The blog's very architecture solves one part of this "
3080 "problem. People post when they want to post, and people read when they want "
3081 "to read. The most difficult time is synchronous time. Technologies that "
3082 "enable asynchronous communication, such as e-mail, increase the opportunity "
3083 "for communication. Blogs allow for public discourse without the public ever "
3084 "needing to gather in a single public place."
3087 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3088 #: freeculture.xml:2359
3090 "But beyond architecture, blogs also have solved the problem of "
3091 "norms. There's no norm (yet) in blog space not to talk about politics. "
3092 "Indeed, the space is filled with political speech, on both the right and the "
3093 "left. Some of the most popular sites are conservative or libertarian, but "
3094 "there are many of all political stripes. And even blogs that are not "
3095 "political cover political issues when the occasion merits."
3098 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
3099 #: freeculture.xml:2371
3100 msgid "Dean, Howard"
3103 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3104 #: freeculture.xml:2367
3106 "The significance of these blogs is tiny now, though not so tiny. The name "
3107 "Howard Dean may well have faded from the 2004 presidential race but for "
3108 "blogs. Yet even if the number of readers is small, the reading is having an "
3109 "effect. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3114 #: freeculture.xml:2385
3116 "Noah Shachtman, <quote>With Incessant Postings, a Pundit Stirs the "
3117 "Pot,</quote> New York Times, 16 January 2003, G5."
3120 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
3121 #: freeculture.xml:2388
3125 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3126 #: freeculture.xml:2374
3128 "One direct effect is on stories that had a different life cycle in the "
3129 "mainstream media. The Trent Lott affair is an example. When Lott "
3130 "<quote>misspoke</quote> at a party for Senator Strom Thurmond, essentially "
3131 "praising Thurmond's segregationist policies, he calculated correctly that "
3132 "this story would disappear from the mainstream press within forty-eight "
3133 "hours. It did. But he didn't calculate its life cycle in blog space. The "
3134 "bloggers kept researching the story. Over time, more and more instances of "
3135 "the same <quote>misspeaking</quote> emerged. Finally, the story broke back "
3136 "into the mainstream press. In the end, Lott was forced to resign as senate "
3137 "majority leader.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
3138 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
3141 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3142 #: freeculture.xml:2391
3144 "This different cycle is possible because the same commercial pressures don't "
3145 "exist with blogs as with other ventures. Television and newspapers are "
3146 "commercial entities. They must work to keep attention. If they lose "
3147 "readers, they lose revenue. Like sharks, they must move on."
3150 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3151 #: freeculture.xml:2398
3153 "But bloggers don't have a similar constraint. They can obsess, they can "
3154 "focus, they can get serious. If a particular blogger writes a particularly "
3155 "interesting story, more and more people link to that story. And as the "
3156 "number of links to a particular story increases, it rises in the ranks of "
3157 "stories. People read what is popular; what is popular has been selected by a "
3158 "very democratic process of peer-generated rankings."
3161 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3162 #: freeculture.xml:2407
3167 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3168 #: freeculture.xml:2410
3170 "There's a second way, as well, in which blogs have a different cycle from "
3171 "the mainstream press. As Dave Winer, one of the fathers of this movement and "
3172 "a software author for many decades, told me, another difference is the "
3173 "absence of a financial <quote>conflict of interest.</quote> <quote>I think "
3174 "you have to take the conflict of interest</quote> out of journalism, Winer "
3175 "told me. <quote>An amateur journalist simply doesn't have a conflict of "
3176 "interest, or the conflict of interest is so easily disclosed that you know "
3177 "you can sort of get it out of the way.</quote>"
3180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3181 #: freeculture.xml:2420 freeculture.xml:2473
3186 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3187 #: freeculture.xml:2428
3188 msgid "Telephone interview with David Winer, 16 April 2003."
3191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3192 #: freeculture.xml:2422
3194 "These conflicts become more important as media becomes more concentrated "
3195 "(more on this below). A concentrated media can hide more from the public "
3196 "than an unconcentrated media can—as CNN admitted it did after the Iraq "
3197 "war because it was afraid of the consequences to its own "
3198 "employees.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It also needs to sustain "
3199 "a more coherent account. (In the middle of the Iraq war, I read a post on "
3200 "the Internet from someone who was at that time listening to a satellite "
3201 "uplink with a reporter in Iraq. The New York headquarters was telling the "
3202 "reporter over and over that her account of the war was too bleak: She needed "
3203 "to offer a more optimistic story. When she told New York that wasn't "
3204 "warranted, they told her that <emphasis>they</emphasis> were writing "
3205 "<quote>the story.</quote>)"
3209 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3210 #: freeculture.xml:2446
3212 "John Schwartz, <quote>Loss of the Shuttle: The Internet; A Wealth of "
3213 "Information Online,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 2 "
3214 "February 2003, A28; Staci D. Kramer, <quote>Shuttle Disaster Coverage Mixed, "
3215 "but Strong Overall,</quote> Online Journalism Review, 2 February 2003, "
3216 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #10</ulink>."
3219 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3220 #: freeculture.xml:2438
3222 "Blog space gives amateurs a way to enter the "
3223 "debate—<quote>amateur</quote> not in the sense of inexperienced, but "
3224 "in the sense of an Olympic athlete, meaning not paid by anyone to give their "
3225 "reports. It allows for a much broader range of input into a story, as "
3226 "reporting on the Columbia disaster revealed, when hundreds from across the "
3227 "southwest United States turned to the Internet to retell what they had "
3228 "seen.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And it drives readers to read "
3229 "across the range of accounts and <quote>triangulate,</quote> as Winer puts "
3230 "it, the truth. Blogs, Winer says, are <quote>communicating directly with our "
3231 "constituency, and the middle man is out of it</quote>—with all the "
3232 "benefits, and costs, that might entail."
3235 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3236 #: freeculture.xml:2474
3237 msgid "Olafson, Steve"
3240 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3241 #: freeculture.xml:2465
3243 "See Michael Falcone, <quote>Does an Editor's Pencil Ruin a Web Log?</quote> "
3244 "<citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 29 September 2003, C4. (<quote>Not "
3245 "all news organizations have been as accepting of employees who blog. Kevin "
3246 "Sites, a CNN correspondent in Iraq who started a blog about his reporting of "
3247 "the war on March 9, stopped posting 12 days later at his bosses' "
3248 "request. Last year Steve Olafson, a <citetitle>Houston Chronicle</citetitle> "
3249 "reporter, was fired for keeping a personal Web log, published under a "
3250 "pseudonym, that dealt with some of the issues and people he was "
3251 "covering.</quote>) <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
3252 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
3256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3257 #: freeculture.xml:2458
3259 "Winer is optimistic about the future of journalism infected with "
3260 "blogs. <quote>It's going to become an essential skill,</quote> Winer "
3261 "predicts, for public figures and increasingly for private figures as "
3262 "well. It's not clear that <quote>journalism</quote> is happy about "
3263 "this—some journalists have been told to curtail their "
3264 "blogging.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is clear that we "
3265 "are still in transition. <quote>A lot of what we are doing now is warm-up "
3266 "exercises,</quote> Winer told me. There is a lot that must mature before "
3267 "this space has its mature effect. And as the inclusion of content in this "
3268 "space is the least infringing use of the Internet (meaning infringing on "
3269 "copyright), Winer said, <quote>we will be the last thing that gets shut "
3273 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3274 #: freeculture.xml:2486
3276 "This speech affects democracy. Winer thinks that happens because <quote>you "
3277 "don't have to work for somebody who controls, [for] a gatekeeper.</quote> "
3278 "That is true. But it affects democracy in another way as well. As more and "
3279 "more citizens express what they think, and defend it in writing, that will "
3280 "change the way people understand public issues. It is easy to be wrong and "
3281 "misguided in your head. It is harder when the product of your mind can be "
3282 "criticized by others. Of course, it is a rare human who admits that he has "
3283 "been persuaded that he is wrong. But it is even rarer for a human to ignore "
3284 "when he has been proven wrong. The writing of ideas, arguments, and "
3285 "criticism improves democracy. Today there are probably a couple of million "
3286 "blogs where such writing happens. When there are ten million, there will be "
3287 "something extraordinary to report."
3290 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3291 #: freeculture.xml:2502
3292 msgid "Brown, John Seely"
3295 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3296 #: freeculture.xml:2508
3298 "John Seely Brown is the chief scientist of the Xerox Corporation. His work, "
3299 "as his Web site describes it, is <quote>human learning and … the "
3300 "creation of knowledge ecologies for creating … innovation.</quote>"
3303 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3304 #: freeculture.xml:2513
3306 "Brown thus looks at these technologies of digital creativity a bit "
3307 "differently from the perspectives I've sketched so far. I'm sure he would be "
3308 "excited about any technology that might improve democracy. But his real "
3309 "excitement comes from how these technologies affect learning."
3313 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3314 #: freeculture.xml:2520
3316 "As Brown believes, we learn by tinkering. When <quote>a lot of us grew "
3317 "up,</quote> he explains, that tinkering was done <quote>on motorcycle "
3318 "engines, lawnmower engines, automobiles, radios, and so on.</quote> But "
3319 "digital technologies enable a different kind of tinkering—with "
3320 "abstract ideas though in concrete form. The kids at Just Think! not only "
3321 "think about how a commercial portrays a politician; using digital "
3322 "technology, they can take the commercial apart and manipulate it, tinker "
3323 "with it to see how it does what it does. Digital technologies launch a kind "
3324 "of bricolage, or <quote>free collage,</quote> as Brown calls it. Many get to "
3325 "add to or transform the tinkering of many others."
3328 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3329 #: freeculture.xml:2533
3331 "The best large-scale example of this kind of tinkering so far is free "
3332 "software or open-source software (FS/OSS). FS/OSS is software whose source "
3333 "code is shared. Anyone can download the technology that makes a FS/OSS "
3334 "program run. And anyone eager to learn how a particular bit of FS/OSS "
3335 "technology works can tinker with the code."
3338 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3339 #: freeculture.xml:2540
3341 "This opportunity creates a <quote>completely new kind of learning "
3342 "platform,</quote> as Brown describes. <quote>As soon as you start doing "
3343 "that, you … unleash a free collage on the community, so that other "
3344 "people can start looking at your code, tinkering with it, trying it out, "
3345 "seeing if they can improve it.</quote> Each effort is a kind of "
3346 "apprenticeship. <quote>Open source becomes a major apprenticeship "
3350 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3351 #: freeculture.xml:2548
3353 "In this process, <quote>the concrete things you tinker with are abstract. "
3354 "They are code.</quote> Kids are <quote>shifting to the ability to tinker in "
3355 "the abstract, and this tinkering is no longer an isolated activity that "
3356 "you're doing in your garage. You are tinkering with a community "
3357 "platform. … You are tinkering with other people's stuff. The more you "
3358 "tinker the more you improve.</quote> The more you improve, the more you "
3362 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3363 #: freeculture.xml:2557
3365 "This same thing happens with content, too. And it happens in the same "
3366 "collaborative way when that content is part of the Web. As Brown puts it, "
3367 "<quote>the Web [is] the first medium that truly honors multiple forms of "
3368 "intelligence.</quote> Earlier technologies, such as the typewriter or word "
3369 "processors, helped amplify text. But the Web amplifies much more than "
3370 "text. <quote>The Web … says if you are musical, if you are artistic, "
3371 "if you are visual, if you are interested in film … [then] there is a "
3372 "lot you can start to do on this medium. [It] can now amplify and honor these "
3373 "multiple forms of intelligence.</quote>"
3377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3378 #: freeculture.xml:2570
3380 "Brown is talking about what Elizabeth Daley, Stephanie Barish, and Just "
3381 "Think! teach: that this tinkering with culture teaches as well as "
3382 "creates. It develops talents differently, and it builds a different kind of "
3386 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3387 #: freeculture.xml:2578
3389 "Yet the freedom to tinker with these objects is not guaranteed. Indeed, as "
3390 "we'll see through the course of this book, that freedom is increasingly "
3391 "highly contested. While there's no doubt that your father had the right to "
3392 "tinker with the car engine, there's great doubt that your child will have "
3393 "the right to tinker with the images she finds all around. The law and, "
3394 "increasingly, technology interfere with a freedom that technology, and "
3395 "curiosity, would otherwise ensure."
3399 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3400 #: freeculture.xml:2594
3402 "See, for example, Edward Felten and Andrew Appel, <quote>Technological "
3403 "Access Control Interferes with Noninfringing Scholarship,</quote> "
3404 "<citetitle>Communications of the Association for Computer "
3405 "Machinery</citetitle> 43 (2000): 9."
3408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3409 #: freeculture.xml:2587
3411 "These restrictions have become the focus of researchers and scholars. "
3412 "Professor Ed Felten of Princeton (whom we'll see more of in chapter <xref "
3413 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>) has developed a "
3414 "powerful argument in favor of the <quote>right to tinker</quote> as it "
3415 "applies to computer science and to knowledge in general.<placeholder "
3416 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But Brown's concern is earlier, or younger, or "
3417 "more fundamental. It is about the learning that kids can do, or can't do, "
3418 "because of the law."
3421 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3422 #: freeculture.xml:2602
3424 "<quote>This is where education in the twenty-first century is going,</quote> "
3425 "Brown explains. We need to <quote>understand how kids who grow up digital "
3426 "think and want to learn.</quote>"
3429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3430 #: freeculture.xml:2607
3432 "<quote>Yet,</quote> as Brown continued, and as the balance of this book will "
3433 "evince, <quote>we are building a legal system that completely suppresses the "
3434 "natural tendencies of today's digital kids. … We're building an "
3435 "architecture that unleashes 60 percent of the brain [and] a legal system "
3436 "that closes down that part of the brain.</quote>"
3439 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3440 #: freeculture.xml:2615
3442 "We're building a technology that takes the magic of Kodak, mixes moving "
3443 "images and sound, and adds a space for commentary and an opportunity to "
3444 "spread that creativity everywhere. But we're building the law to close down "
3448 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3449 #: freeculture.xml:2621
3451 "<quote>No way to run a culture,</quote> as Brewster Kahle, whom we'll meet "
3452 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"collectors\"/>, "
3453 "quipped to me in a rare moment of despondence."
3456 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
3457 #: freeculture.xml:2628
3458 msgid "CHAPTER THREE: Catalogs"
3461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3462 #: freeculture.xml:2629
3466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3467 #: freeculture.xml:2629 freeculture.xml:2631
3468 msgid "Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)"
3471 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3472 #: freeculture.xml:2634
3474 "In the fall of 2002, Jesse Jordan of Oceanside, New York, enrolled as a "
3475 "freshman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, in Troy, New York. His major "
3476 "at RPI was information technology. Though he is not a programmer, in October "
3477 "Jesse decided to begin to tinker with search engine technology that was "
3478 "available on the RPI network."
3481 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3482 #: freeculture.xml:2641
3484 "RPI is one of America's foremost technological research institutions. It "
3485 "offers degrees in fields ranging from architecture and engineering to "
3486 "information sciences. More than 65 percent of its five thousand "
3487 "undergraduates finished in the top 10 percent of their high school "
3488 "class. The school is thus a perfect mix of talent and experience to imagine "
3489 "and then build, a generation for the network age."
3492 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3493 #: freeculture.xml:2649
3495 "RPI's computer network links students, faculty, and administration to one "
3496 "another. It also links RPI to the Internet. Not everything available on the "
3497 "RPI network is available on the Internet. But the network is designed to "
3498 "enable students to get access to the Internet, as well as more intimate "
3499 "access to other members of the RPI community."
3503 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3504 #: freeculture.xml:2656
3506 "Search engines are a measure of a network's intimacy. Google brought the "
3507 "Internet much closer to all of us by fantastically improving the quality of "
3508 "search on the network. Specialty search engines can do this even better. The "
3509 "idea of <quote>intranet</quote> search engines, search engines that search "
3510 "within the network of a particular institution, is to provide users of that "
3511 "institution with better access to material from that institution. "
3512 "Businesses do this all the time, enabling employees to have access to "
3513 "material that people outside the business can't get. Universities do it as "
3517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3518 #: freeculture.xml:2668
3520 "These engines are enabled by the network technology itself. Microsoft, for "
3521 "example, has a network file system that makes it very easy for search "
3522 "engines tuned to that network to query the system for information about the "
3523 "publicly (within that network) available content. Jesse's search engine was "
3524 "built to take advantage of this technology. It used Microsoft's network file "
3525 "system to build an index of all the files available within the RPI network."
3528 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3529 #: freeculture.xml:2677
3531 "Jesse's wasn't the first search engine built for the RPI network. Indeed, "
3532 "his engine was a simple modification of engines that others had built. His "
3533 "single most important improvement over those engines was to fix a bug within "
3534 "the Microsoft file-sharing system that could cause a user's computer to "
3535 "crash. With the engines that existed before, if you tried to access a file "
3536 "through a Windows browser that was on a computer that was off-line, your "
3537 "computer could crash. Jesse modified the system a bit to fix that problem, "
3538 "by adding a button that a user could click to see if the machine holding the "
3539 "file was still on-line."
3542 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3543 #: freeculture.xml:2689
3545 "Jesse's engine went on-line in late October. Over the following six months, "
3546 "he continued to tweak it to improve its functionality. By March, the system "
3547 "was functioning quite well. Jesse had more than one million files in his "
3548 "directory, including every type of content that might be on users' "
3553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3554 #: freeculture.xml:2696
3556 "Thus the index his search engine produced included pictures, which students "
3557 "could use to put on their own Web sites; copies of notes or research; copies "
3558 "of information pamphlets; movie clips that students might have created; "
3559 "university brochures—basically anything that users of the RPI network "
3560 "made available in a public folder of their computer."
3563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3564 #: freeculture.xml:2705
3566 "But the index also included music files. In fact, one quarter of the files "
3567 "that Jesse's search engine listed were music files. But that means, of "
3568 "course, that three quarters were not, and—so that this point is "
3569 "absolutely clear—Jesse did nothing to induce people to put music files "
3570 "in their public folders. He did nothing to target the search engine to these "
3571 "files. He was a kid tinkering with a Google-like technology at a university "
3572 "where he was studying information science, and hence, tinkering was the "
3573 "aim. Unlike Google, or Microsoft, for that matter, he made no money from "
3574 "this tinkering; he was not connected to any business that would make any "
3575 "money from this experiment. He was a kid tinkering with technology in an "
3576 "environment where tinkering with technology was precisely what he was "
3580 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3581 #: freeculture.xml:2720
3583 "On April 3, 2003, Jesse was contacted by the dean of students at RPI. The "
3584 "dean informed Jesse that the Recording Industry Association of America, the "
3585 "RIAA, would be filing a lawsuit against him and three other students whom he "
3586 "didn't even know, two of them at other universities. A few hours later, "
3587 "Jesse was served with papers from the suit. As he read these papers and "
3588 "watched the news reports about them, he was increasingly astonished."
3591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3592 #: freeculture.xml:2729
3594 "<quote>It was absurd,</quote> he told me. <quote>I don't think I did "
3595 "anything wrong. … I don't think there's anything wrong with the "
3596 "search engine that I ran or … what I had done to it. I mean, I hadn't "
3597 "modified it in any way that promoted or enhanced the work of pirates. I just "
3598 "modified the search engine in a way that would make it easier to "
3599 "use</quote>—again, a <emphasis>search engine</emphasis>, which Jesse "
3600 "had not himself built, using the Windows filesharing system, which Jesse had "
3601 "not himself built, to enable members of the RPI community to get access to "
3602 "content, which Jesse had not himself created or posted, and the vast "
3603 "majority of which had nothing to do with music."
3607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3608 #: freeculture.xml:2742
3610 "But the RIAA branded Jesse a pirate. They claimed he operated a network and "
3611 "had therefore <quote>willfully</quote> violated copyright laws. They "
3612 "demanded that he pay them the damages for his wrong. For cases of "
3613 "<quote>willful infringement,</quote> the Copyright Act specifies something "
3614 "lawyers call <quote>statutory damages.</quote> These damages permit a "
3615 "copyright owner to claim $150,000 per infringement. As the RIAA alleged more "
3616 "than one hundred specific copyright infringements, they therefore demanded "
3617 "that Jesse pay them at least $15,000,000."
3621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3622 #: freeculture.xml:2765
3624 "Tim Goral, <quote>Recording Industry Goes After Campus P-2-P Networks: Suit "
3625 "Alleges $97.8 Billion in Damages,</quote> <citetitle>Professional Media "
3626 "Group LCC</citetitle> 6 (2003): 5, available at 2003 WL 55179443."
3629 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3630 #: freeculture.xml:2753
3632 "Similar lawsuits were brought against three other students: one other "
3633 "student at RPI, one at Michigan Technical University, and one at "
3634 "Princeton. Their situations were similar to Jesse's. Though each case was "
3635 "different in detail, the bottom line in each was exactly the same: huge "
3636 "demands for <quote>damages</quote> that the RIAA claimed it was entitled "
3637 "to. If you added up the claims, these four lawsuits were asking courts in "
3638 "the United States to award the plaintiffs close to $100 "
3639 "<emphasis>billion</emphasis>—six times the <emphasis>total</emphasis> "
3640 "profit of the film industry in 2001.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
3644 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3645 #: freeculture.xml:2772
3647 "Jesse called his parents. They were supportive but a bit frightened. An "
3648 "uncle was a lawyer. He began negotiations with the RIAA. They demanded to "
3649 "know how much money Jesse had. Jesse had saved $12,000 from summer jobs and "
3650 "other employment. They demanded $12,000 to dismiss the case."
3653 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
3654 #: freeculture.xml:2778
3655 msgid "Oppenheimer, Matt"
3658 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3659 #: freeculture.xml:2780
3661 "The RIAA wanted Jesse to admit to doing something wrong. He refused. They "
3662 "wanted him to agree to an injunction that would essentially make it "
3663 "impossible for him to work in many fields of technology for the rest of his "
3664 "life. He refused. They made him understand that this process of being sued "
3665 "was not going to be pleasant. (As Jesse's father recounted to me, the chief "
3666 "lawyer on the case, Matt Oppenheimer, told Jesse, <quote>You don't want to "
3667 "pay another visit to a dentist like me.</quote>) And throughout, the RIAA "
3668 "insisted it would not settle the case until it took every penny Jesse had "
3673 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3674 #: freeculture.xml:2791
3676 "Jesse's family was outraged at these claims. They wanted to fight. But "
3677 "Jesse's uncle worked to educate the family about the nature of the American "
3678 "legal system. Jesse could fight the RIAA. He might even win. But the cost of "
3679 "fighting a lawsuit like this, Jesse was told, would be at least $250,000. If "
3680 "he won, he would not recover that money. If he won, he would have a piece of "
3681 "paper saying he had won, and a piece of paper saying he and his family were "
3685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3686 #: freeculture.xml:2801
3688 "So Jesse faced a mafia-like choice: $250,000 and a chance at winning, or "
3689 "$12,000 and a settlement."
3692 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
3693 #: freeculture.xml:2805 freeculture.xml:3159 freeculture.xml:4080 freeculture.xml:5176 freeculture.xml:5227 freeculture.xml:9593 freeculture.xml:9694 freeculture.xml:9868 freeculture.xml:14396 freeculture.xml:14464
3697 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><secondary>
3698 #: freeculture.xml:2806 freeculture.xml:3160 freeculture.xml:4081 freeculture.xml:9594 freeculture.xml:9695 freeculture.xml:9869 freeculture.xml:14397 freeculture.xml:14465
3699 msgid "recording industry payments to"
3703 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3704 #: freeculture.xml:2817
3706 "Occupational Employment Survey, U.S. Dept. of Labor (2001) "
3707 "(27–2042—Musicians and Singers). See also National Endowment for "
3708 "the Arts, <citetitle>More Than One in a Blue Moon</citetitle> (2000)."
3712 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
3713 #: freeculture.xml:2825
3715 "Douglas Lichtman makes a related point in <quote>KaZaA and "
3716 "Punishment,</quote> <citetitle>Wall Street Journal</citetitle>, 10 September "
3720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3721 #: freeculture.xml:2809
3723 "The recording industry insists this is a matter of law and morality. Let's "
3724 "put the law aside for a moment and think about the morality. Where is the "
3725 "morality in a lawsuit like this? What is the virtue in scapegoatism? The "
3726 "RIAA is an extraordinarily powerful lobby. The president of the RIAA is "
3727 "reported to make more than $1 million a year. Artists, on the other hand, "
3728 "are not well paid. The average recording artist makes $45,900.<placeholder "
3729 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There are plenty of ways for the RIAA to affect "
3730 "and direct policy. So where is the morality in taking money from a student "
3731 "for running a search engine?<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
3734 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3735 #: freeculture.xml:2830
3737 "On June 23, Jesse wired his savings to the lawyer working for the RIAA. The "
3738 "case against him was then dismissed. And with this, this kid who had "
3739 "tinkered a computer into a $15 million lawsuit became an activist:"
3742 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
3743 #: freeculture.xml:2837
3745 "I was definitely not an activist [before]. I never really meant to be an "
3746 "activist. … [But] I've been pushed into this. In no way did I ever "
3747 "foresee anything like this, but I think it's just completely absurd what the "
3751 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3752 #: freeculture.xml:2844
3754 "Jesse's parents betray a certain pride in their reluctant activist. As his "
3755 "father told me, Jesse <quote>considers himself very conservative, and so do "
3756 "I. … He's not a tree hugger. … I think it's bizarre that they "
3757 "would pick on him. But he wants to let people know that they're sending the "
3758 "wrong message. And he wants to correct the record.</quote>"
3761 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
3762 #: freeculture.xml:2853
3763 msgid "CHAPTER FOUR: <quote>Pirates</quote>"
3766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
3767 #: freeculture.xml:2855
3769 "If <quote>piracy</quote> means using the creative property of others without "
3770 "their permission—if <quote>if value, then right</quote> is "
3771 "true—then the history of the content industry is a history of "
3772 "piracy. Every important sector of <quote>big media</quote> today—film, "
3773 "records, radio, and cable TV—was born of a kind of piracy so "
3774 "defined. The consistent story is how last generation's pirates join this "
3775 "generation's country club—until now."
3778 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
3779 #: freeculture.xml:2863
3783 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3784 #: freeculture.xml:2867
3786 "I am grateful to Peter DiMauro for pointing me to this extraordinary "
3787 "history. See also Siva Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
3788 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 87–93, which details Edison's "
3789 "<quote>adventures</quote> with copyright and patent. <placeholder "
3790 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3795 #: freeculture.xml:2865
3797 "The film industry of Hollywood was built by fleeing pirates.<placeholder "
3798 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Creators and directors migrated from the East "
3799 "Coast to California in the early twentieth century in part to escape "
3800 "controls that patents granted the inventor of filmmaking, Thomas "
3801 "Edison. These controls were exercised through a monopoly "
3802 "<quote>trust,</quote> the Motion Pictures Patents Company, and were based on "
3803 "Thomas Edison's creative property—patents. Edison formed the MPPC to "
3804 "exercise the rights this creative property gave him, and the MPPC was "
3805 "serious about the control it demanded."
3808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3809 #: freeculture.xml:2883
3810 msgid "As one commentator tells one part of the story,"
3813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3814 #: freeculture.xml:2887
3816 "A January 1909 deadline was set for all companies to comply with the "
3817 "license. By February, unlicensed outlaws, who referred to themselves as "
3818 "independents protested the trust and carried on business without submitting "
3819 "to the Edison monopoly. In the summer of 1909 the independent movement was "
3820 "in full-swing, with producers and theater owners using illegal equipment and "
3821 "imported film stock to create their own underground market."
3824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3825 #: freeculture.xml:2918 freeculture.xml:4293 freeculture.xml:9470 freeculture.xml:9587
3826 msgid "broadcast flag"
3829 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3830 #: freeculture.xml:2907
3832 "J. A. Aberdeen, <citetitle>Hollywood Renegades: The Society of Independent "
3833 "Motion Picture Producers</citetitle> (Cobblestone Entertainment, 2000) and "
3834 "expanded texts posted at <quote>The Edison Movie Monopoly: The Motion "
3835 "Picture Patents Company vs. the Independent Outlaws,</quote> available at "
3836 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #11</ulink>. For a "
3837 "discussion of the economic motive behind both these limits and the limits "
3838 "imposed by Victor on phonographs, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison "
3839 "to the Broadcast Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the "
3840 "Propertization of Copyright</quote> (September 2002), University of Chicago "
3841 "Law School, James M. Olin Program in Law and Economics, Working Paper "
3842 "No. 159. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
3846 #: freeculture.xml:2920
3847 msgid "Fox, William"
3850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
3851 #: freeculture.xml:2921
3852 msgid "General Film Company"
3855 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3856 #: freeculture.xml:2922 freeculture.xml:3179 freeculture.xml:4294 freeculture.xml:9738
3857 msgid "Picker, Randal C."
3860 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3861 #: freeculture.xml:2896
3863 "With the country experiencing a tremendous expansion in the number of "
3864 "nickelodeons, the Patents Company reacted to the independent movement by "
3865 "forming a strong-arm subsidiary known as the General Film Company to block "
3866 "the entry of non-licensed independents. With coercive tactics that have "
3867 "become legendary, General Film confiscated unlicensed equipment, "
3868 "discontinued product supply to theaters which showed unlicensed films, and "
3869 "effectively monopolized distribution with the acquisition of all U.S. film "
3870 "exchanges, except for the one owned by the independent William Fox who "
3871 "defied the Trust even after his license was revoked.<placeholder "
3872 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
3873 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3878 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
3879 #: freeculture.xml:2932
3881 "Marc Wanamaker, <quote>The First Studios,</quote> <citetitle>The Silents "
3882 "Majority</citetitle>, archived at <ulink "
3883 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #12</ulink>."
3886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3887 #: freeculture.xml:2926
3889 "The Napsters of those days, the <quote>independents,</quote> were companies "
3890 "like Fox. And no less than today, these independents were vigorously "
3891 "resisted. <quote>Shooting was disrupted by machinery stolen, and "
3892 "`accidents' resulting in loss of negatives, equipment, buildings and "
3893 "sometimes life and limb frequently occurred.</quote><placeholder "
3894 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That led the independents to flee the East "
3895 "Coast. California was remote enough from Edison's reach that filmmakers "
3896 "there could pirate his inventions without fear of the law. And the leaders "
3897 "of Hollywood filmmaking, Fox most prominently, did just that."
3901 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3902 #: freeculture.xml:2942
3904 "Of course, California grew quickly, and the effective enforcement of federal "
3905 "law eventually spread west. But because patents grant the patent holder a "
3906 "truly <quote>limited</quote> monopoly (just seventeen years at that time), "
3907 "by the time enough federal marshals appeared, the patents had expired. A new "
3908 "industry had been born, in part from the piracy of Edison's creative "
3912 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
3913 #: freeculture.xml:2953
3914 msgid "Recorded Music"
3917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3918 #: freeculture.xml:2955
3920 "The record industry was born of another kind of piracy, though to see how "
3921 "requires a bit of detail about the way the law regulates music."
3924 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3925 #: freeculture.xml:2959
3926 msgid "Fourneaux, Henri"
3929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
3930 #: freeculture.xml:2961
3931 msgid "Russel, Phil"
3934 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3935 #: freeculture.xml:2963
3937 "At the time that Edison and Henri Fourneaux invented machines for "
3938 "reproducing music (Edison the phonograph, Fourneaux the player piano), the "
3939 "law gave composers the exclusive right to control copies of their music and "
3940 "the exclusive right to control public performances of their music. In other "
3941 "words, in 1900, if I wanted a copy of Phil Russel's 1899 hit <quote>Happy "
3942 "Mose,</quote> the law said I would have to pay for the right to get a copy "
3943 "of the musical score, and I would also have to pay for the right to perform "
3947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
3948 #: freeculture.xml:2972 freeculture.xml:3120
3952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3953 #: freeculture.xml:2974
3955 "But what if I wanted to record <quote>Happy Mose,</quote> using Edison's "
3956 "phonograph or Fourneaux's player piano? Here the law stumbled. It was clear "
3957 "enough that I would have to buy any copy of the musical score that I "
3958 "performed in making this recording. And it was clear enough that I would "
3959 "have to pay for any public performance of the work I was recording. But it "
3960 "wasn't totally clear that I would have to pay for a <quote>public "
3961 "performance</quote> if I recorded the song in my own house (even today, you "
3962 "don't owe the Beatles anything if you sing their songs in the shower), or if "
3963 "I recorded the song from memory (copies in your brain are "
3964 "not—yet— regulated by copyright law). So if I simply sang the "
3965 "song into a recording device in the privacy of my own home, it wasn't clear "
3966 "that I owed the composer anything. And more importantly, it wasn't clear "
3967 "whether I owed the composer anything if I then made copies of those "
3968 "recordings. Because of this gap in the law, then, I could effectively "
3969 "pirate someone else's song without paying its composer anything."
3972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
3973 #: freeculture.xml:2997 freeculture.xml:3014
3974 msgid "Kittredge, Alfred"
3977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
3978 #: freeculture.xml:2993
3980 "The composers (and publishers) were none too happy about this capacity to "
3981 "pirate. As South Dakota senator Alfred Kittredge put it, <placeholder "
3982 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
3985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
3986 #: freeculture.xml:3008
3988 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright: Hearings on S. 6330 "
3989 "and H.R. 19853 Before the ( Joint) Committees on Patents, 59th Cong. 59, 1st "
3990 "sess. (1906) (statement of Senator Alfred B. Kittredge, of South Dakota, "
3991 "chairman), reprinted in <citetitle>Legislative History of the Copyright "
3992 "Act</citetitle>, E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South "
3993 "Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman Reprints, 1976). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
3997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
3998 #: freeculture.xml:3001
4000 "Imagine the injustice of the thing. A composer writes a song or an opera. A "
4001 "publisher buys at great expense the rights to the same and copyrights "
4002 "it. Along come the phonographic companies and companies who cut music rolls "
4003 "and deliberately steal the work of the brain of the composer and publisher "
4004 "without any regard for [their] rights.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4010 #: freeculture.xml:3023
4012 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 223 (statement of "
4013 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
4017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4018 #: freeculture.xml:3029
4020 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 226 (statement of "
4021 "Nathan Burkan, attorney for the Music Publishers Association)."
4025 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4026 #: freeculture.xml:3036
4028 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 23 (statement of "
4029 "John Philip Sousa, composer)."
4032 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4033 #: freeculture.xml:3019
4035 "The innovators who developed the technology to record other people's works "
4036 "were <quote>sponging upon the toil, the work, the talent, and genius of "
4037 "American composers,</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> and the "
4038 "<quote>music publishing industry</quote> was thereby <quote>at the complete "
4039 "mercy of this one pirate.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
4040 "As John Philip Sousa put it, in as direct a way as possible, <quote>When "
4041 "they make money out of my pieces, I want a share of it.</quote><placeholder "
4042 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
4046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4047 #: freeculture.xml:3049
4049 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 283–84 "
4050 "(statement of Albert Walker, representative of the Auto-Music Perforating "
4051 "Company of New York)."
4055 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4056 #: freeculture.xml:3060
4058 "To Amend and Consolidate the Acts Respecting Copyright, 376 (prepared "
4059 "memorandum of Philip Mauro, general patent counsel of the American "
4060 "Graphophone Company Association)."
4063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4064 #: freeculture.xml:3064
4065 msgid "American Graphophone Company"
4068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4069 #: freeculture.xml:3041
4071 "These arguments have familiar echoes in the wars of our day. So, too, do the "
4072 "arguments on the other side. The innovators who developed the player piano "
4073 "argued that <quote>it is perfectly demonstrable that the introduction of "
4074 "automatic music players has not deprived any composer of anything he had "
4075 "before their introduction.</quote> Rather, the machines increased the sales "
4076 "of sheet music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In any case, the "
4077 "innovators argued, the job of Congress was <quote>to consider first the "
4078 "interest of [the public], whom they represent, and whose servants they "
4079 "are.</quote> <quote>All talk about `theft,'</quote> the general counsel of "
4080 "the American Graphophone Company wrote, <quote>is the merest claptrap, for "
4081 "there exists no property in ideas musical, literary or artistic, except as "
4082 "defined by statute.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
4083 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
4087 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4088 #: freeculture.xml:3067
4090 "The law soon resolved this battle in favor of the composer "
4091 "<emphasis>and</emphasis> the recording artist. Congress amended the law to "
4092 "make sure that composers would be paid for the <quote>mechanical "
4093 "reproductions</quote> of their music. But rather than simply granting the "
4094 "composer complete control over the right to make mechanical reproductions, "
4095 "Congress gave recording artists a right to record the music, at a price set "
4096 "by Congress, once the composer allowed it to be recorded once. This is the "
4097 "part of copyright law that makes cover songs possible. Once a composer "
4098 "authorizes a recording of his song, others are free to record the same song, "
4099 "so long as they pay the original composer a fee set by the law."
4102 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4103 #: freeculture.xml:3082
4105 "American law ordinarily calls this a <quote>compulsory license,</quote> but "
4106 "I will refer to it as a <quote>statutory license.</quote> A statutory "
4107 "license is a license whose key terms are set by law. After Congress's "
4108 "amendment of the Copyright Act in 1909, record companies were free to "
4109 "distribute copies of recordings so long as they paid the composer (or "
4110 "copyright holder) the fee set by the statute."
4113 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4114 #: freeculture.xml:3097 freeculture.xml:14096
4115 msgid "Grisham, John"
4118 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4119 #: freeculture.xml:3090
4121 "This is an exception within the law of copyright. When John Grisham writes a "
4122 "novel, a publisher is free to publish that novel only if Grisham gives the "
4123 "publisher permission. Grisham, in turn, is free to charge whatever he wants "
4124 "for that permission. The price to publish Grisham is thus set by Grisham, "
4125 "and copyright law ordinarily says you have no permission to use Grisham's "
4126 "work except with permission of Grisham. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4132 #: freeculture.xml:3114
4134 "Copyright Law Revision: Hearings on S. 2499, S. 2900, H.R. 243, and "
4135 "H.R. 11794 Before the ( Joint) Committee on Patents, 60th Cong., 1st sess., "
4136 "217 (1908) (statement of Senator Reed Smoot, chairman), reprinted in "
4137 "<citetitle>Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act</citetitle>, "
4138 "E. Fulton Brylawski and Abe Goldman, eds. (South Hackensack, N.J.: Rothman "
4142 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4143 #: freeculture.xml:3100
4145 "But the law governing recordings gives recording artists less. And thus, in "
4146 "effect, the law <emphasis>subsidizes</emphasis> the recording industry "
4147 "through a kind of piracy—by giving recording artists a weaker right "
4148 "than it otherwise gives creative authors. The Beatles have less control over "
4149 "their creative work than Grisham does. And the beneficiaries of this less "
4150 "control are the recording industry and the public. The recording industry "
4151 "gets something of value for less than it otherwise would pay; the public "
4152 "gets access to a much wider range of musical creativity. Indeed, Congress "
4153 "was quite explicit about its reasons for granting this right. Its fear was "
4154 "the monopoly power of rights holders, and that that power would stifle "
4155 "follow-on creativity.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4156 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4160 #: freeculture.xml:3123
4162 "While the recording industry has been quite coy about this recently, "
4163 "historically it has been quite a supporter of the statutory license for "
4164 "records. As a 1967 report from the House Committee on the Judiciary relates,"
4168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4169 #: freeculture.xml:3145
4171 "Copyright Law Revision: Report to Accompany H.R. 2512, House Committee on "
4172 "the Judiciary, 90th Cong., 1st sess., House Document no. 83, (8 March "
4173 "1967). I am grateful to Glenn Brown for drawing my attention to this report."
4176 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4177 #: freeculture.xml:3130
4179 "the record producers argued vigorously that the compulsory license system "
4180 "must be retained. They asserted that the record industry is a "
4181 "half-billion-dollar business of great economic importance in the United "
4182 "States and throughout the world; records today are the principal means of "
4183 "disseminating music, and this creates special problems, since performers "
4184 "need unhampered access to musical material on nondiscriminatory "
4185 "terms. Historically, the record producers pointed out, there were no "
4186 "recording rights before 1909 and the 1909 statute adopted the compulsory "
4187 "license as a deliberate anti-monopoly condition on the grant of these "
4188 "rights. They argue that the result has been an outpouring of recorded music, "
4189 "with the public being given lower prices, improved quality, and a greater "
4190 "choice.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4193 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4194 #: freeculture.xml:3152
4196 "By limiting the rights musicians have, by partially pirating their creative "
4197 "work, the record producers, and the public, benefit."
4200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4201 #: freeculture.xml:3157 freeculture.xml:4258
4205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4206 #: freeculture.xml:3163
4207 msgid "Radio was also born of piracy."
4210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4211 #: freeculture.xml:3178
4212 msgid "Hand, Learned"
4215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4216 #: freeculture.xml:3169
4218 "See 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, sections 106 and 110. At "
4219 "the beginning, record companies printed <quote>Not Licensed for Radio "
4220 "Broadcast</quote> and other messages purporting to restrict the ability to "
4221 "play a record on a radio station. Judge Learned Hand rejected the argument "
4222 "that a warning attached to a record might restrict the rights of the radio "
4223 "station. See <citetitle>RCA Manufacturing "
4224 "Co</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Whiteman</citetitle>, 114 F. 2d 86 (2nd "
4225 "Cir. 1940). See also Randal C. Picker, <quote>From Edison to the Broadcast "
4226 "Flag: Mechanisms of Consent and Refusal and the Propertization of "
4227 "Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> "
4228 "70 (2003): 281. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4229 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4232 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4233 #: freeculture.xml:3166
4235 "When a radio station plays a record on the air, that constitutes a "
4236 "<quote>public performance</quote> of the composer's work.<placeholder "
4237 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As I described above, the law gives the "
4238 "composer (or copyright holder) an exclusive right to public performances of "
4239 "his work. The radio station thus owes the composer money for that "
4243 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4244 #: freeculture.xml:3196 freeculture.xml:8814 freeculture.xml:9275 freeculture.xml:12237
4245 msgid "Lovett, Lyle"
4249 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4250 #: freeculture.xml:3186
4252 "But when the radio station plays a record, it is not only performing a copy "
4253 "of the <emphasis>composer's</emphasis> work. The radio station is also "
4254 "performing a copy of the <emphasis>recording artist's</emphasis> work. It's "
4255 "one thing to have <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> sung on the radio by the "
4256 "local children's choir; it's quite another to have it sung by the Rolling "
4257 "Stones or Lyle Lovett. The recording artist is adding to the value of the "
4258 "composition performed on the radio station. And if the law were perfectly "
4259 "consistent, the radio station would have to pay the recording artist for his "
4260 "work, just as it pays the composer of the music for his work. <placeholder "
4261 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4265 #: freeculture.xml:3201
4267 "But it doesn't. Under the law governing radio performances, the radio "
4268 "station does not have to pay the recording artist. The radio station need "
4269 "only pay the composer. The radio station thus gets a bit of something for "
4270 "nothing. It gets to perform the recording artist's work for free, even if it "
4271 "must pay the composer something for the privilege of playing the song."
4274 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
4275 #: freeculture.xml:3209 freeculture.xml:3716 freeculture.xml:6120
4279 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4280 #: freeculture.xml:3212
4282 "This difference can be huge. Imagine you compose a piece of music. Imagine "
4283 "it is your first. You own the exclusive right to authorize public "
4284 "performances of that music. So if Madonna wants to sing your song in public, "
4285 "she has to get your permission."
4288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4289 #: freeculture.xml:3218
4291 "Imagine she does sing your song, and imagine she likes it a lot. She then "
4292 "decides to make a recording of your song, and it becomes a top hit. Under "
4293 "our law, every time a radio station plays your song, you get some money. But "
4294 "Madonna gets nothing, save the indirect effect on the sale of her CDs. The "
4295 "public performance of her recording is not a <quote>protected</quote> "
4296 "right. The radio station thus gets to <emphasis>pirate</emphasis> the value "
4297 "of Madonna's work without paying her anything."
4300 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4301 #: freeculture.xml:3229
4303 "No doubt, one might argue that, on balance, the recording artists "
4304 "benefit. On average, the promotion they get is worth more than the "
4305 "performance rights they give up. Maybe. But even if so, the law ordinarily "
4306 "gives the creator the right to make this choice. By making the choice for "
4307 "him or her, the law gives the radio station the right to take something for "
4311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
4312 #: freeculture.xml:3239 freeculture.xml:4264
4316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4317 #: freeculture.xml:3242
4318 msgid "Cable TV was also born of a kind of piracy."
4322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4323 #: freeculture.xml:3245
4325 "When cable entrepreneurs first started wiring communities with cable "
4326 "television in 1948, most refused to pay broadcasters for the content that "
4327 "they echoed to their customers. Even when the cable companies started "
4328 "selling access to television broadcasts, they refused to pay for what they "
4329 "sold. Cable companies were thus Napsterizing broadcasters' content, but more "
4330 "egregiously than anything Napster ever did— Napster never charged for "
4331 "the content it enabled others to give away."
4334 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4335 #: freeculture.xml:3255
4336 msgid "Anello, Douglas"
4339 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
4340 #: freeculture.xml:3256
4341 msgid "Burdick, Quentin"
4344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4345 #: freeculture.xml:3257 freeculture.xml:3268
4346 msgid "Hyde, Rosel H."
4349 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4350 #: freeculture.xml:3263
4352 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV: Hearing on S. 1006 Before the "
4353 "Subcommittee on Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights of the Senate Committee "
4354 "on the Judiciary, 89th Cong., 2nd sess., 78 (1966) (statement of Rosel "
4355 "H. Hyde, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission). <placeholder "
4356 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4360 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4361 #: freeculture.xml:3275
4363 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 116 (statement of Douglas A. Anello, "
4364 "general counsel of the National Association of Broadcasters)."
4367 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4368 #: freeculture.xml:3259
4370 "Broadcasters and copyright owners were quick to attack this theft. Rosel "
4371 "Hyde, chairman of the FCC, viewed the practice as a kind of <quote>unfair "
4372 "and potentially destructive competition.</quote><placeholder "
4373 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> There may have been a <quote>public "
4374 "interest</quote> in spreading the reach of cable TV, but as Douglas Anello, "
4375 "general counsel to the National Association of Broadcasters, asked Senator "
4376 "Quentin Burdick during testimony, <quote>Does public interest dictate that "
4377 "you use somebody else's property?</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
4378 "id=\"1\"/> As another broadcaster put it,"
4382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4383 #: freeculture.xml:3286
4385 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 126 (statement of Ernest W. Jennes, "
4386 "general counsel of the Association of Maximum Service Telecasters, Inc.)."
4389 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4390 #: freeculture.xml:3282
4392 "The extraordinary thing about the CATV business is that it is the only "
4393 "business I know of where the product that is being sold is not paid "
4394 "for.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4397 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4398 #: freeculture.xml:3292
4399 msgid "Again, the demand of the copyright holders seemed reasonable enough:"
4403 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4404 #: freeculture.xml:3301
4406 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 169 (joint statement of Arthur B. Krim, "
4407 "president of United Artists Corp., and John Sinn, president of United "
4408 "Artists Television, Inc.)."
4411 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4412 #: freeculture.xml:3296
4414 "All we are asking for is a very simple thing, that people who now take our "
4415 "property for nothing pay for it. We are trying to stop piracy and I don't "
4416 "think there is any lesser word to describe it. I think there are harsher "
4417 "words which would fit it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4421 #: freeculture.xml:3307 freeculture.xml:3315
4422 msgid "Heston, Charlton"
4425 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4426 #: freeculture.xml:3313
4428 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 209 (statement of Charlton Heston, "
4429 "president of the Screen Actors Guild). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4433 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4434 #: freeculture.xml:3309
4436 "These were <quote>free-ride[rs],</quote> Screen Actor's Guild president "
4437 "Charlton Heston said, who were <quote>depriving actors of "
4438 "compensation.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4442 #: freeculture.xml:3320
4444 "But again, there was another side to the debate. As Assistant Attorney "
4445 "General Edwin Zimmerman put it,"
4448 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><indexterm><primary>
4449 #: freeculture.xml:3336 freeculture.xml:3338
4450 msgid "Zimmerman, Edwin"
4453 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
4454 #: freeculture.xml:3334
4456 "Copyright Law Revision—CATV, 216 (statement of Edwin M. Zimmerman, "
4457 "acting assistant attorney general). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
4462 #: freeculture.xml:3325
4464 "Our point here is that unlike the problem of whether you have any copyright "
4465 "protection at all, the problem here is whether copyright holders who are "
4466 "already compensated, who already have a monopoly, should be permitted to "
4467 "extend that monopoly. … The question here is how much compensation "
4468 "they should have and how far back they should carry their right to "
4469 "compensation.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4470 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4474 #: freeculture.xml:3342
4476 "Copyright owners took the cable companies to court. Twice the Supreme Court "
4477 "held that the cable companies owed the copyright owners nothing."
4480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4481 #: freeculture.xml:3346
4483 "It took Congress almost thirty years before it resolved the question of "
4484 "whether cable companies had to pay for the content they "
4485 "<quote>pirated.</quote> In the end, Congress resolved this question in the "
4486 "same way that it resolved the question about record players and player "
4487 "pianos. Yes, cable companies would have to pay for the content that they "
4488 "broadcast; but the price they would have to pay was not set by the copyright "
4489 "owner. The price was set by law, so that the broadcasters couldn't exercise "
4490 "veto power over the emerging technologies of cable. Cable companies thus "
4491 "built their empire in part upon a <quote>piracy</quote> of the value created "
4492 "by broadcasters' content."
4496 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4497 #: freeculture.xml:3363
4499 "See, for example, National Music Publisher's Association, <citetitle>The "
4500 "Engine of Free Expression: Copyright on the Internet—The Myth of Free "
4501 "Information</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
4502 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #13</ulink>. <quote>The threat of "
4503 "piracy—the use of someone else's creative work without permission or "
4504 "compensation—has grown with the Internet.</quote>"
4507 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4508 #: freeculture.xml:3358
4510 "These separate stories sing a common theme. If <quote>piracy</quote> means "
4511 "using value from someone else's creative property without permission from "
4512 "that creator—as it is increasingly described today<placeholder "
4513 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> — then <emphasis>every</emphasis> "
4514 "industry affected by copyright today is the product and beneficiary of a "
4515 "certain kind of piracy. Film, records, radio, cable TV. … The list is "
4516 "long and could well be expanded. Every generation welcomes the pirates from "
4517 "the last. Every generation—until now."
4520 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
4521 #: freeculture.xml:3380
4522 msgid "CHAPTER FIVE: <quote>Piracy</quote>"
4525 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4526 #: freeculture.xml:3382
4528 "There is piracy of copyrighted material. Lots of it. This piracy comes in "
4529 "many forms. The most significant is commercial piracy, the unauthorized "
4530 "taking of other people's content within a commercial context. Despite the "
4531 "many justifications that are offered in its defense, this taking is "
4532 "wrong. No one should condone it, and the law should stop it."
4536 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
4537 #: freeculture.xml:3390
4539 "But as well as copy-shop piracy, there is another kind of "
4540 "<quote>taking</quote> that is more directly related to the Internet. That "
4541 "taking, too, seems wrong to many, and it is wrong much of the time. Before "
4542 "we paint this taking <quote>piracy,</quote> however, we should understand "
4543 "its nature a bit more. For the harm of this taking is significantly more "
4544 "ambiguous than outright copying, and the law should account for that "
4545 "ambiguity, as it has so often done in the past."
4548 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4549 #: freeculture.xml:3400
4553 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
4554 #: freeculture.xml:3401 freeculture.xml:3480 freeculture.xml:3529 freeculture.xml:14496
4555 msgid "Asia, commercial piracy in"
4559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4560 #: freeculture.xml:3409
4562 "See IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), "
4563 "<citetitle>The Recording Industry Commercial Piracy Report 2003</citetitle>, "
4564 "July 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
4565 "#14</ulink>. See also Ben Hunt, <quote>Companies Warned on Music Piracy "
4566 "Risk,</quote> <citetitle>Financial Times</citetitle>, 14 February 2003, 11."
4569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4570 #: freeculture.xml:3403
4572 "All across the world, but especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, there are "
4573 "businesses that do nothing but take others people's copyrighted content, "
4574 "copy it, and sell it—all without the permission of a copyright "
4575 "owner. The recording industry estimates that it loses about $4.6 billion "
4576 "every year to physical piracy<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> (that "
4577 "works out to one in three CDs sold worldwide). The MPAA estimates that it "
4578 "loses $3 billion annually worldwide to piracy."
4581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4582 #: freeculture.xml:3419
4584 "This is piracy plain and simple. Nothing in the argument of this book, nor "
4585 "in the argument that most people make when talking about the subject of this "
4586 "book, should draw into doubt this simple point: This piracy is wrong."
4589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4590 #: freeculture.xml:3425
4592 "Which is not to say that excuses and justifications couldn't be made for "
4593 "it. We could, for example, remind ourselves that for the first one hundred "
4594 "years of the American Republic, America did not honor foreign copyrights. We "
4595 "were born, in this sense, a pirate nation. It might therefore seem "
4596 "hypocritical for us to insist so strongly that other developing nations "
4597 "treat as wrong what we, for the first hundred years of our existence, "
4601 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4602 #: freeculture.xml:3434
4604 "That excuse isn't terribly strong. Technically, our law did not ban the "
4605 "taking of foreign works. It explicitly limited itself to American "
4606 "works. Thus the American publishers who published foreign works without the "
4607 "permission of foreign authors were not violating any rule. The copy shops "
4608 "in Asia, by contrast, are violating Asian law. Asian law does protect "
4609 "foreign copyrights, and the actions of the copy shops violate that law. So "
4610 "the wrong of piracy that they engage in is not just a moral wrong, but a "
4611 "legal wrong, and not just an internationally legal wrong, but a locally "
4612 "legal wrong as well."
4615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4616 #: freeculture.xml:3445
4618 "True, these local rules have, in effect, been imposed upon these "
4619 "countries. No country can be part of the world economy and choose <beginpage "
4620 "pagenum=\"77\"/> not to protect copyright internationally. We may have been "
4621 "born a pirate nation, but we will not allow any other nation to have a "
4622 "similar childhood."
4625 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4626 #: freeculture.xml:3473
4627 msgid "agricultural patents"
4630 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4631 #: freeculture.xml:3474 freeculture.xml:12526 freeculture.xml:12969 freeculture.xml:12976
4632 msgid "Drahos, Peter"
4635 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4636 #: freeculture.xml:3458
4638 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: "
4639 "<citetitle>Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New "
4640 "Press, 2003), 10–13, 209. The Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual "
4641 "Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement obligates member nations to create "
4642 "administrative and enforcement mechanisms for intellectual property rights, "
4643 "a costly proposition for developing countries. Additionally, patent rights "
4644 "may lead to higher prices for staple industries such as agriculture. Critics "
4645 "of TRIPS question the disparity between burdens imposed upon developing "
4646 "countries and benefits conferred to industrialized nations. TRIPS does "
4647 "permit governments to use patents for public, noncommercial uses without "
4648 "first obtaining the patent holder's permission. Developing nations may be "
4649 "able to use this to gain the benefits of foreign patents at lower "
4650 "prices. This is a promising strategy for developing nations within the TRIPS "
4651 "framework. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
4652 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4656 #: freeculture.xml:3453
4658 "If a country is to be treated as a sovereign, however, then its laws are its "
4659 "laws regardless of their source. The international law under which these "
4660 "nations live gives them some opportunities to escape the burden of "
4661 "intellectual property law.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In my "
4662 "view, more developing nations should take advantage of that opportunity, but "
4663 "when they don't, then their laws should be respected. And under the laws of "
4664 "these nations, this piracy is wrong."
4667 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
4668 #: freeculture.xml:3495 freeculture.xml:3763 freeculture.xml:14640
4669 msgid "Liebowitz, Stan"
4672 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4673 #: freeculture.xml:3488
4675 "For an analysis of the economic impact of copying technology, see Stan "
4676 "Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle> (New York: "
4677 "Amacom, 2002), 144–90. <quote>In some instances … the impact of "
4678 "piracy on the copyright holder's ability to appropriate the value of the "
4679 "work will be negligible. One obvious instance is the case where the "
4680 "individual engaging in pirating would not have purchased an original even if "
4681 "pirating were not an option.</quote> Ibid., 149. <placeholder "
4682 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4686 #: freeculture.xml:3482
4688 "Alternatively, we could try to excuse this piracy by noting that in any "
4689 "case, it does no harm to the industry. The Chinese who get access to "
4690 "American CDs at 50 cents a copy are not people who would have bought those "
4691 "American CDs at $15 a copy. So no one really has any less money than they "
4692 "otherwise would have had.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
4695 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4696 #: freeculture.xml:3499
4698 "This is often true (though I have friends who have purchased many thousands "
4699 "of pirated DVDs who certainly have enough money to pay for the content they "
4700 "have taken), and it does mitigate to some degree the harm caused by such "
4701 "taking. Extremists in this debate love to say, <quote>You wouldn't go into "
4702 "Barnes & Noble and take a book off of the shelf without paying; why "
4703 "should it be any different with on-line music?</quote> The difference is, of "
4704 "course, that when you take a book from Barnes & Noble, it has one less "
4705 "book to sell. By contrast, when you take an MP3 from a computer network, "
4706 "there is not one less CD that can be sold. The physics of piracy of the "
4707 "intangible are different from the physics of piracy of the tangible."
4711 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4712 #: freeculture.xml:3512
4714 "This argument is still very weak. However, although copyright is a property "
4715 "right of a very special sort, it <emphasis>is</emphasis> a property "
4716 "right. Like all property rights, the copyright gives the owner the right to "
4717 "decide the terms under which content is shared. If the copyright owner "
4718 "doesn't want to sell, she doesn't have to. There are exceptions: important "
4719 "statutory licenses that apply to copyrighted content regardless of the wish "
4720 "of the copyright owner. Those licenses give people the right to "
4721 "<quote>take</quote> copyrighted content whether or not the copyright owner "
4722 "wants to sell. But where the law does not give people the right to take "
4723 "content, it is wrong to take that content even if the wrong does no harm. If "
4724 "we have a property system, and that system is properly balanced to the "
4725 "technology of a time, then it is wrong to take property without the "
4726 "permission of a property owner. That is exactly what <quote>property</quote> "
4730 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4731 #: freeculture.xml:3542 freeculture.xml:3570 freeculture.xml:11358 freeculture.xml:12850 freeculture.xml:13404
4732 msgid "GNU/Linux operating system"
4735 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4736 #: freeculture.xml:3543 freeculture.xml:3573 freeculture.xml:11360 freeculture.xml:12851 freeculture.xml:13405
4737 msgid "Linux operating system"
4740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4741 #: freeculture.xml:3545
4745 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><secondary>
4746 #: freeculture.xml:3546
4747 msgid "Windows operating system of"
4750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4751 #: freeculture.xml:3548
4755 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4756 #: freeculture.xml:3531
4758 "Finally, we could try to excuse this piracy with the argument that the "
4759 "piracy actually helps the copyright owner. When the Chinese "
4760 "<quote>steal</quote> Windows, that makes the Chinese dependent on "
4761 "Microsoft. Microsoft loses the value of the software that was taken. But it "
4762 "gains users who are used to life in the Microsoft world. Over time, as the "
4763 "nation grows more wealthy, more and more people will buy software rather "
4764 "than steal it. And hence over time, because that buying will benefit "
4765 "Microsoft, Microsoft benefits from the piracy. If instead of pirating "
4766 "Microsoft Windows, the Chinese used the free GNU/Linux operating system, "
4767 "then these Chinese users would not eventually be buying Microsoft. Without "
4768 "piracy, then, Microsoft would lose. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4769 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
4770 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
4773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4774 #: freeculture.xml:3551
4776 "This argument, too, is somewhat true. The addiction strategy is a good "
4777 "one. Many businesses practice it. Some thrive because of it. Law students, "
4778 "for example, are given free access to the two largest legal databases. The "
4779 "companies marketing both hope the students will become so used to their "
4780 "service that they will want to use it and not the other when they become "
4781 "lawyers (and must pay high subscription fees)."
4784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4785 #: freeculture.xml:3571
4786 msgid "Internet Explorer"
4789 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4790 #: freeculture.xml:3572
4794 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4795 #: freeculture.xml:3559
4797 "Still, the argument is not terribly persuasive. We don't give the alcoholic "
4798 "a defense when he steals his first beer, merely because that will make it "
4799 "more likely that he will buy the next three. Instead, we ordinarily allow "
4800 "businesses to decide for themselves when it is best to give their product "
4801 "away. If Microsoft fears the competition of GNU/Linux, then Microsoft can "
4802 "give its product away, as it did, for example, with Internet Explorer to "
4803 "fight Netscape. A property right means giving the property owner the right "
4804 "to say who gets access to what—at least ordinarily. And if the law "
4805 "properly balances the rights of the copyright owner with the rights of "
4806 "access, then violating the law is still wrong. <placeholder "
4807 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
4808 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
4813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4814 #: freeculture.xml:3577
4816 "Thus, while I understand the pull of these justifications for piracy, and I "
4817 "certainly see the motivation, in my view, in the end, these efforts at "
4818 "justifying commercial piracy simply don't cut it. This kind of piracy is "
4819 "rampant and just plain wrong. It doesn't transform the content it steals; it "
4820 "doesn't transform the market it competes in. It merely gives someone access "
4821 "to something that the law says he should not have. Nothing has changed to "
4822 "draw that law into doubt. This form of piracy is flat out wrong."
4825 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4826 #: freeculture.xml:3587
4828 "But as the examples from the four chapters that introduced this part "
4829 "suggest, even if some piracy is plainly wrong, not all <quote>piracy</quote> "
4830 "is. Or at least, not all <quote>piracy</quote> is wrong if that term is "
4831 "understood in the way it is increasingly used today. Many kinds of "
4832 "<quote>piracy</quote> are useful and productive, to produce either new "
4833 "content or new ways of doing business. Neither our tradition nor any "
4834 "tradition has ever banned all <quote>piracy</quote> in that sense of the "
4838 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4839 #: freeculture.xml:3596
4841 "This doesn't mean that there are no questions raised by the latest piracy "
4842 "concern, peer-to-peer file sharing. But it does mean that we need to "
4843 "understand the harm in peer-to-peer sharing a bit more before we condemn it "
4844 "to the gallows with the charge of piracy."
4847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4848 #: freeculture.xml:3602
4850 "For (1) like the original Hollywood, p2p sharing escapes an overly "
4851 "controlling industry; and (2) like the original recording industry, it "
4852 "simply exploits a new way to distribute content; but (3) unlike cable TV, no "
4853 "one is selling the content that is shared on p2p services."
4856 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4857 #: freeculture.xml:3608
4859 "These differences distinguish p2p sharing from true piracy. They should push "
4860 "us to find a way to protect artists while enabling this sharing to survive."
4863 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
4864 #: freeculture.xml:3614
4869 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4870 #: freeculture.xml:3619
4872 "<citetitle>Bach</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Longman</citetitle>, 98 "
4873 "Eng. Rep. 1274 (1777)."
4877 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4878 #: freeculture.xml:3616
4880 "The key to the <quote>piracy</quote> that the law aims to quash is a use "
4881 "that <quote>rob[s] the author of [his] profit.</quote><placeholder "
4882 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This means we must determine whether and how "
4883 "much p2p sharing harms before we know how strongly the law should seek to "
4884 "either prevent it or find an alternative to assure the author of his profit."
4887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4888 #: freeculture.xml:3642 freeculture.xml:8239
4889 msgid "Christensen, Clayton M."
4892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4893 #: freeculture.xml:3633
4895 "See Clayton M. Christensen, <citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The "
4896 "Revolutionary National Bestseller That Changed the Way We Do "
4897 "Business</citetitle> (New York: HarperBusiness, 2000). Professor Christensen "
4898 "examines why companies that give rise to and dominate a product area are "
4899 "frequently unable to come up with the most creative, paradigm-shifting uses "
4900 "for their own products. This job usually falls to outside innovators, who "
4901 "reassemble existing technology in inventive ways. For a discussion of "
4902 "Christensen's ideas, see Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>Future</citetitle>, "
4903 "89–92, 139. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
4906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
4907 #: freeculture.xml:3645
4908 msgid "Fanning, Shawn"
4911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4912 #: freeculture.xml:3628
4914 "Peer-to-peer sharing was made famous by Napster. But the inventors of the "
4915 "Napster technology had not made any major technological innovations. Like "
4916 "every great advance in innovation on the Internet (and, arguably, off the "
4917 "Internet as well<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), Shawn Fanning "
4918 "and crew had simply put together components that had been developed "
4919 "independently. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
4923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4924 #: freeculture.xml:3653
4926 "See Carolyn Lochhead, <quote>Silicon Valley Dream, Hollywood "
4927 "Nightmare,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 "
4928 "September 2002, A1; <quote>Rock 'n' Roll Suicide,</quote> <citetitle>New "
4929 "Scientist</citetitle>, 6 July 2002, 42; Benny Evangelista, <quote>Napster "
4930 "Names CEO, Secures New Financing,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
4931 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 23 May 2003, C1; <quote>Napster's Wake-Up "
4932 "Call,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 24 June 2000, 23; John "
4933 "Naughton, <quote>Hollywood at War with the Internet</quote> (London) "
4934 "<citetitle>Times</citetitle>, 26 July 2002, 18."
4937 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4938 #: freeculture.xml:3648
4940 "The result was spontaneous combustion. Launched in July 1999, Napster "
4941 "amassed over 10 million users within nine months. After eighteen months, "
4942 "there were close to 80 million registered users of the system.<placeholder "
4943 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Courts quickly shut Napster down, but other "
4944 "services emerged to take its place. (Kazaa is currently the most popular p2p "
4945 "service. It boasts over 100 million members.) These services' systems are "
4946 "different architecturally, though not very different in function: Each "
4947 "enables users to make content available to any number of other users. With a "
4948 "p2p system, you can share your favorite songs with your best friend— "
4949 "or your 20,000 best friends."
4953 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4954 #: freeculture.xml:3675
4956 "See Ipsos-Insight, <citetitle>TEMPO: Keeping Pace with Online Music "
4957 "Distribution</citetitle> (September 2002), reporting that 28 percent of "
4958 "Americans aged twelve and older have downloaded music off of the Internet "
4959 "and 30 percent have listened to digital music files stored on their "
4964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
4965 #: freeculture.xml:3684
4967 "Amy Harmon, <quote>Industry Offers a Carrot in Online Music Fight,</quote> "
4968 "<citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 6 June 2003, A1."
4971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4972 #: freeculture.xml:3669
4974 "According to a number of estimates, a huge proportion of Americans have "
4975 "tasted file-sharing technology. A study by Ipsos-Insight in September 2002 "
4976 "estimated that 60 million Americans had downloaded music—28 percent of "
4977 "Americans older than 12.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A survey "
4978 "by the NPD group quoted in <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> "
4979 "estimated that 43 million citizens used file-sharing networks to exchange "
4980 "content in May 2003.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The vast "
4981 "majority of these are not kids. Whatever the actual figure, a massive "
4982 "quantity of content is being <quote>taken</quote> on these networks. The "
4983 "ease and inexpensiveness of file-sharing networks have inspired millions to "
4984 "enjoy music in a way that they hadn't before."
4987 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
4988 #: freeculture.xml:3693
4990 "Some of this enjoying involves copyright infringement. Some of it does "
4991 "not. And even among the part that is technically copyright infringement, "
4992 "calculating the actual harm to copyright owners is more complicated than one "
4993 "might think. So consider—a bit more carefully than the polarized "
4994 "voices around this debate usually do—the kinds of sharing that file "
4995 "sharing enables, and the kinds of harm it entails."
4999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5000 #: freeculture.xml:3703
5002 "File sharers share different kinds of content. We can divide these different "
5003 "kinds into four types."
5006 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5007 #: freeculture.xml:3709
5009 "There are some who use sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
5010 "content. Thus, when a new Madonna CD is released, rather than buying the CD, "
5011 "these users simply take it. We might quibble about whether everyone who "
5012 "takes it would actually have bought it if sharing didn't make it available "
5013 "for free. Most probably wouldn't have, but clearly there are some who "
5014 "would. The latter are the target of category A: users who download instead "
5015 "of purchasing. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5019 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5020 #: freeculture.xml:3720
5022 "There are some who use sharing networks to sample music before purchasing "
5023 "it. Thus, a friend sends another friend an MP3 of an artist he's not heard "
5024 "of. The other friend then buys CDs by that artist. This is a kind of "
5025 "targeted advertising, quite likely to succeed. If the friend recommending "
5026 "the album gains nothing from a bad recommendation, then one could expect "
5027 "that the recommendations will actually be quite good. The net effect of this "
5028 "sharing could increase the quantity of music purchased."
5032 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5033 #: freeculture.xml:3731
5035 "There are many who use sharing networks to get access to copyrighted content "
5036 "that is no longer sold or that they would not have purchased because the "
5037 "transaction costs off the Net are too high. This use of sharing networks is "
5038 "among the most rewarding for many. Songs that were part of your childhood "
5039 "but have long vanished from the marketplace magically appear again on the "
5040 "network. (One friend told me that when she discovered Napster, she spent a "
5041 "solid weekend <quote>recalling</quote> old songs. She was astonished at the "
5042 "range and mix of content that was available.) For content not sold, this is "
5043 "still technically a violation of copyright, though because the copyright "
5044 "owner is not selling the content anymore, the economic harm is "
5045 "zero—the same harm that occurs when I sell my collection of 1960s "
5046 "45-rpm records to a local collector."
5051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
5052 #: freeculture.xml:3748
5054 "Finally, there are many who use sharing networks to get access to content "
5055 "that is not copyrighted or that the copyright owner wants to give away."
5058 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5059 #: freeculture.xml:3754
5060 msgid "How do these different types of sharing balance out?"
5063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5064 #: freeculture.xml:3762
5066 "See Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network Economy</citetitle>, "
5067 "148–49. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5071 #: freeculture.xml:3757
5073 "Let's start with some simple but important points. From the perspective of "
5074 "the law, only type D sharing is clearly legal. From the perspective of "
5075 "economics, only type A sharing is clearly harmful.<placeholder "
5076 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Type B sharing is illegal but plainly "
5077 "beneficial. Type C sharing is illegal, yet good for society (since more "
5078 "exposure to music is good) and harmless to the artist (since the work is "
5079 "not otherwise available). So how sharing matters on balance is a hard "
5080 "question to answer—and certainly much more difficult than the current "
5081 "rhetoric around the issue suggests."
5084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5085 #: freeculture.xml:3773
5087 "Whether on balance sharing is harmful depends importantly on how harmful "
5088 "type A sharing is. Just as Edison complained about Hollywood, composers "
5089 "complained about piano rolls, recording artists complained about radio, and "
5090 "broadcasters complained about cable TV, the music industry complains that "
5091 "type A sharing is a kind of <quote>theft</quote> that is "
5092 "<quote>devastating</quote> the industry."
5096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5097 #: freeculture.xml:3788
5099 "See Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, <citetitle>Technology Evolution and the "
5100 "Music Industry's Business Model Crisis</citetitle> (2003), 3. This report "
5101 "describes the music industry's effort to stigmatize the budding practice of "
5102 "cassette taping in the 1970s, including an advertising campaign featuring a "
5103 "cassette-shape skull and the caption <quote>Home taping is killing "
5104 "music.</quote> At the time digital audio tape became a threat, the Office of "
5105 "Technical Assessment conducted a survey of consumer behavior. In 1988, 40 "
5106 "percent of consumers older than ten had taped music to a cassette "
5107 "format. U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, "
5108 "<citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying: Technology Challenges the "
5109 "Law</citetitle>, OTA-CIT-422 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing "
5110 "Office, October 1989), 145–56."
5113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5114 #: freeculture.xml:3781
5116 "While the numbers do suggest that sharing is harmful, how harmful is harder "
5117 "to reckon. It has long been the recording industry's practice to blame "
5118 "technology for any drop in sales. The history of cassette recording is a "
5119 "good example. As a study by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young put it, "
5120 "<quote>Rather than exploiting this new, popular technology, the labels "
5121 "fought it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The labels "
5122 "claimed that every album taped was an album unsold, and when record sales "
5123 "fell by 11.4 percent in 1981, the industry claimed that its point was "
5124 "proved. Technology was the problem, and banning or regulating technology was "
5129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5130 #: freeculture.xml:3814
5131 msgid "U.S. Congress, <citetitle>Copyright and Home Copying</citetitle>, 4."
5134 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5135 #: freeculture.xml:3806
5137 "Yet soon thereafter, and before Congress was given an opportunity to enact "
5138 "regulation, MTV was launched, and the industry had a record "
5139 "turnaround. <quote>In the end,</quote> Cap Gemini concludes, <quote>the "
5140 "`crisis' … was not the fault of the tapers—who did not [stop "
5141 "after MTV came into being]—but had to a large extent resulted from "
5142 "stagnation in musical innovation at the major labels.</quote><placeholder "
5143 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5147 #: freeculture.xml:3818
5149 "But just because the industry was wrong before does not mean it is wrong "
5150 "today. To evaluate the real threat that p2p sharing presents to the industry "
5151 "in particular, and society in general—or at least the society that "
5152 "inherits the tradition that gave us the film industry, the record industry, "
5153 "the radio industry, cable TV, and the VCR—the question is not simply "
5154 "whether type A sharing is harmful. The question is also "
5155 "<emphasis>how</emphasis> harmful type A sharing is, and how beneficial the "
5156 "other types of sharing are."
5159 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5160 #: freeculture.xml:3828
5162 "We start to answer this question by focusing on the net harm, from the "
5163 "standpoint of the industry as a whole, that sharing networks cause. The "
5164 "<quote>net harm</quote> to the industry as a whole is the amount by which "
5165 "type A sharing exceeds type B. If the record companies sold more records "
5166 "through sampling than they lost through substitution, then sharing networks "
5167 "would actually benefit music companies on balance. They would therefore have "
5168 "little <emphasis>static</emphasis> reason to resist them."
5171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5172 #: freeculture.xml:3839
5174 "Could that be true? Could the industry as a whole be gaining because of file "
5175 "sharing? Odd as that might sound, the data about CD sales actually suggest "
5176 "it might be close."
5180 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5181 #: freeculture.xml:3848
5183 "See Recording Industry Association of America, <citetitle>2002 Yearend "
5184 "Statistics</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
5185 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #15</ulink>. A later report "
5186 "indicates even greater losses. See Recording Industry Association of "
5187 "America, <citetitle>Some Facts About Music Piracy</citetitle>, 25 June 2003, "
5188 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #16</ulink>: "
5189 "<quote>In the past four years, unit shipments of recorded music have fallen "
5190 "by 26 percent from 1.16 billion units in to 860 million units in 2002 in the "
5191 "United States (based on units shipped). In terms of sales, revenues are "
5192 "down 14 percent, from $14.6 billion in to $12.6 billion last year (based on "
5193 "U.S. dollar value of shipments). The music industry worldwide has gone from "
5194 "a $39 billion industry in 2000 down to a $32 billion industry in 2002 (based "
5195 "on U.S. dollar value of shipments).</quote>"
5198 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
5199 #: freeculture.xml:3875
5203 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5204 #: freeculture.xml:3872
5206 "Jane Black, <quote>Big Music's Broken Record,</quote> BusinessWeek online, "
5207 "13 February 2003, available at <ulink "
5208 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #17</ulink>. <placeholder "
5209 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
5212 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5213 #: freeculture.xml:3844
5215 "In 2002, the RIAA reported that CD sales had fallen by 8.9 percent, from 882 "
5216 "million to 803 million units; revenues fell 6.7 percent.<placeholder "
5217 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This confirms a trend over the past few "
5218 "years. The RIAA blames Internet piracy for the trend, though there are many "
5219 "other causes that could account for this drop. SoundScan, for example, "
5220 "reports a more than 20 percent drop in the number of CDs released since "
5221 "1999. That no doubt accounts for some of the decrease in sales. Rising "
5222 "prices could account for at least some of the loss. <quote>From 1999 to "
5223 "2001, the average price of a CD rose 7.2 percent, from $13.04 to "
5224 "$14.19.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Competition from "
5225 "other forms of media could also account for some of the decline. As Jane "
5226 "Black of <citetitle>BusinessWeek</citetitle> notes, <quote>The soundtrack to "
5227 "the film <citetitle>High Fidelity</citetitle> has a list price of "
5228 "$18.98. You could get the whole movie [on DVD] for "
5229 "$19.99.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
5233 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5234 #: freeculture.xml:3890
5236 "But let's assume the RIAA is right, and all of the decline in CD sales is "
5237 "because of Internet sharing. Here's the rub: In the same period that the "
5238 "RIAA estimates that 803 million CDs were sold, the RIAA estimates that 2.1 "
5239 "billion CDs were downloaded for free. Thus, although 2.6 times the total "
5240 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, sales revenue fell by just 6.7 "
5244 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5245 #: freeculture.xml:3898
5247 "There are too many different things happening at the same time to explain "
5248 "these numbers definitively, but one conclusion is unavoidable: The recording "
5249 "industry constantly asks, <quote>What's the difference between downloading a "
5250 "song and stealing a CD?</quote>—but their own numbers reveal the "
5251 "difference. If I steal a CD, then there is one less CD to sell. Every taking "
5252 "is a lost sale. But on the basis of the numbers the RIAA provides, it is "
5253 "absolutely clear that the same is not true of downloads. If every download "
5254 "were a lost sale—if every use of Kazaa <quote>rob[bed] the author of "
5255 "[his] profit</quote>—then the industry would have suffered a 100 "
5256 "percent drop in sales last year, not a 7 percent drop. If 2.6 times the "
5257 "number of CDs sold were downloaded for free, and yet sales revenue dropped "
5258 "by just 6.7 percent, then there is a huge difference between "
5259 "<quote>downloading a song and stealing a CD.</quote>"
5262 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5263 #: freeculture.xml:3913
5265 "These are the harms—alleged and perhaps exaggerated but, let's assume, "
5266 "real. What of the benefits? File sharing may impose costs on the recording "
5267 "industry. What value does it produce in addition to these costs?"
5271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5272 #: freeculture.xml:3925
5274 "By one estimate, 75 percent of the music released by the major labels is no "
5275 "longer in print. See Online Entertainment and Copyright Law—Coming "
5276 "Soon to a Digital Device Near You: Hearing Before the Senate Committee on "
5277 "the Judiciary, 107th Cong., 1st sess. (3 April 2001) (prepared statement of "
5278 "the Future of Music Coalition), available at <ulink "
5279 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #18</ulink>."
5282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5283 #: freeculture.xml:3919
5285 "One benefit is type C sharing—making available content that is "
5286 "technically still under copyright but is no longer commercially available. "
5287 "This is not a small category of content. There are millions of tracks that "
5288 "are no longer commercially available.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5289 "id=\"0\"/> And while it's conceivable that some of this content is not "
5290 "available because the artist producing the content doesn't want it to be "
5291 "made available, the vast majority of it is unavailable solely because the "
5292 "publisher or the distributor has decided it no longer makes economic sense "
5293 "<emphasis>to the company</emphasis> to make it available."
5297 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5298 #: freeculture.xml:3945
5300 "While there are not good estimates of the number of used record stores in "
5301 "existence, in 2002, there were 7,198 used book dealers in the United States, "
5302 "an increase of 20 percent since 1993. See Book Hunter Press, <citetitle>The "
5303 "Quiet Revolution: The Expansion of the Used Book Market</citetitle> (2002), "
5304 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
5305 "#19</ulink>. Used records accounted for $260 million in sales in 2002. See "
5306 "National Association of Recording Merchandisers, <quote>2002 Annual Survey "
5307 "Results,</quote> available at <ulink "
5308 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #20</ulink>."
5311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5312 #: freeculture.xml:3939
5314 "In real space—long before the Internet—the market had a simple "
5315 "response to this problem: used book and record stores. There are thousands "
5316 "of used book and used record stores in America today.<placeholder "
5317 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These stores buy content from owners, then sell "
5318 "the content they buy. And under American copyright law, when they buy and "
5319 "sell this content, <emphasis>even if the content is still under "
5320 "copyright</emphasis>, the copyright owner doesn't get a dime. Used book and "
5321 "record stores are commercial entities; their owners make money from the "
5322 "content they sell; but as with cable companies before statutory licensing, "
5323 "they don't have to pay the copyright owner for the content they sell."
5326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5327 #: freeculture.xml:3965
5328 msgid "Bernstein, Leonard"
5331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5332 #: freeculture.xml:3967
5334 "Type C sharing, then, is very much like used book stores or used record "
5335 "stores. It is different, of course, because the person making the content "
5336 "available isn't making money from making the content available. It is also "
5337 "different, of course, because in real space, when I sell a record, I don't "
5338 "have it anymore, while in cyberspace, when someone shares my 1949 recording "
5339 "of Bernstein's <quote>Two Love Songs,</quote> I still have it. That "
5340 "difference would matter economically if the owner of the copyright were "
5341 "selling the record in competition to my sharing. But we're talking about the "
5342 "class of content that is not currently commercially available. The Internet "
5343 "is making it available, through cooperative sharing, without competing with "
5347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5348 #: freeculture.xml:3980
5350 "It may well be, all things considered, that it would be better if the "
5351 "copyright owner got something from this trade. But just because it may well "
5352 "be better, it doesn't follow that it would be good to ban used book "
5353 "stores. Or put differently, if you think that type C sharing should be "
5354 "stopped, do you think that libraries and used book stores should be shut as "
5359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5360 #: freeculture.xml:3988
5362 "Finally, and perhaps most importantly, file-sharing networks enable type D "
5363 "sharing to occur—the sharing of content that copyright owners want to "
5364 "have shared or for which there is no continuing copyright. This sharing "
5365 "clearly benefits authors and society. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow, "
5366 "for example, released his first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
5367 "Kingdom</citetitle>, both free on-line and in bookstores on the same "
5368 "day. His (and his publisher's) thinking was that the on-line distribution "
5369 "would be a great advertisement for the <quote>real</quote> book. People "
5370 "would read part on-line, and then decide whether they liked the book or "
5371 "not. If they liked it, they would be more likely to buy it. Doctorow's "
5372 "content is type D content. If sharing networks enable his work to be spread, "
5373 "then both he and society are better off. (Actually, much better off: It is a "
5377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5378 #: freeculture.xml:4005
5380 "Likewise for work in the public domain: This sharing benefits society with "
5381 "no legal harm to authors at all. If efforts to solve the problem of type A "
5382 "sharing destroy the opportunity for type D sharing, then we lose something "
5383 "important in order to protect type A content."
5386 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5387 #: freeculture.xml:4011
5389 "The point throughout is this: While the recording industry understandably "
5390 "says, <quote>This is how much we've lost,</quote> we must also ask, "
5391 "<quote>How much has society gained from p2p sharing? What are the "
5392 "efficiencies? What is the content that otherwise would be "
5393 "unavailable?</quote>"
5396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5397 #: freeculture.xml:4018
5399 "For unlike the piracy I described in the first section of this chapter, much "
5400 "of the <quote>piracy</quote> that file sharing enables is plainly legal and "
5401 "good. And like the piracy I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
5402 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"pirates\"/>, much of this piracy is motivated by a "
5403 "new way of spreading content caused by changes in the technology of "
5404 "distribution. Thus, consistent with the tradition that gave us Hollywood, "
5405 "radio, the recording industry, and cable TV, the question we should be "
5406 "asking about file sharing is how best to preserve its benefits while "
5407 "minimizing (to the extent possible) the wrongful harm it causes artists. The "
5408 "question is one of balance. The law should seek that balance, and that "
5409 "balance will be found only with time."
5412 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5413 #: freeculture.xml:4032
5415 "<quote>But isn't the war just a war against illegal sharing? Isn't the "
5416 "target just what you call type A sharing?</quote>"
5420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5421 #: freeculture.xml:4049
5423 "See Transcript of Proceedings, In Re: Napster Copyright Litigation at 34- 35 "
5424 "(N.D. Cal., 11 July 2001), nos. MDL-00-1369 MHP, C 99-5183 MHP, available at "
5425 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #21</ulink>. For an "
5426 "account of the litigation and its toll on Napster, see Joseph Menn, "
5427 "<citetitle>All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's "
5428 "Napster</citetitle> (New York: Crown Business, 2003), 269–82."
5431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5432 #: freeculture.xml:4036
5434 "You would think. And we should hope. But so far, it is not. The effect of "
5435 "the war purportedly on type A sharing alone has been felt far beyond that "
5436 "one class of sharing. That much is obvious from the Napster case "
5437 "itself. When Napster told the district court that it had developed a "
5438 "technology to block the transfer of 99.4 percent of identified infringing "
5439 "material, the district court told counsel for Napster 99.4 percent was not "
5440 "good enough. Napster had to push the infringements <quote>down to "
5441 "zero.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5444 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5445 #: freeculture.xml:4060
5447 "If 99.4 percent is not good enough, then this is a war on file-sharing "
5448 "technologies, not a war on copyright infringement. There is no way to assure "
5449 "that a p2p system is used 100 percent of the time in compliance with the "
5450 "law, any more than there is a way to assure that 100 percent of VCRs or 100 "
5451 "percent of Xerox machines or 100 percent of handguns are used in compliance "
5452 "with the law. Zero tolerance means zero p2p. The court's ruling means that "
5453 "we as a society must lose the benefits of p2p, even for the totally legal "
5454 "and beneficial uses they serve, simply to assure that there are zero "
5455 "copyright infringements caused by p2p."
5458 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5459 #: freeculture.xml:4071
5461 "Zero tolerance has not been our history. It has not produced the content "
5462 "industry that we know today. The history of American law has been a process "
5463 "of balance. As new technologies changed the way content was distributed, the "
5464 "law adjusted, after some time, to the new technology. In this adjustment, "
5465 "the law sought to ensure the legitimate rights of creators while protecting "
5466 "innovation. Sometimes this has meant more rights for creators. Sometimes "
5470 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5471 #: freeculture.xml:4084
5473 "So, as we've seen, when <quote>mechanical reproduction</quote> threatened "
5474 "the interests of composers, Congress balanced the rights of composers "
5475 "against the interests of the recording industry. It granted rights to "
5476 "composers, but also to the recording artists: Composers were to be paid, but "
5477 "at a price set by Congress. But when radio started broadcasting the "
5478 "recordings made by these recording artists, and they complained to Congress "
5479 "that their <quote>creative property</quote> was not being respected (since "
5480 "the radio station did not have to pay them for the creativity it broadcast), "
5481 "Congress rejected their claim. An indirect benefit was enough."
5484 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5485 #: freeculture.xml:4096
5487 "Cable TV followed the pattern of record albums. When the courts rejected the "
5488 "claim that cable broadcasters had to pay for the content they rebroadcast, "
5489 "Congress responded by giving broadcasters a right to compensation, but at a "
5490 "level set by the law. It likewise gave cable companies the right to the "
5491 "content, so long as they paid the statutory price."
5495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5496 #: freeculture.xml:4106
5498 "This compromise, like the compromise affecting records and player pianos, "
5499 "served two important goals—indeed, the two central goals of any "
5500 "copyright legislation. First, the law assured that new innovators would have "
5501 "the freedom to develop new ways to deliver content. Second, the law assured "
5502 "that copyright holders would be paid for the content that was "
5503 "distributed. One fear was that if Congress simply required cable TV to pay "
5504 "copyright holders whatever they demanded for their content, then copyright "
5505 "holders associated with broadcasters would use their power to stifle this "
5506 "new technology, cable. But if Congress had permitted cable to use "
5507 "broadcasters' content for free, then it would have unfairly subsidized "
5508 "cable. Thus Congress chose a path that would assure "
5509 "<emphasis>compensation</emphasis> without giving the past (broadcasters) "
5510 "control over the future (cable)."
5513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
5514 #: freeculture.xml:4121
5518 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5519 #: freeculture.xml:4123
5521 "In the same year that Congress struck this balance, two major producers and "
5522 "distributors of film content filed a lawsuit against another technology, the "
5523 "video tape recorder (VTR, or as we refer to them today, VCRs) that Sony had "
5524 "produced, the Betamax. Disney's and Universal's claim against Sony was "
5525 "relatively simple: Sony produced a device, Disney and Universal claimed, "
5526 "that enabled consumers to engage in copyright infringement. Because the "
5527 "device that Sony built had a <quote>record</quote> button, the device could "
5528 "be used to record copyrighted movies and shows. Sony was therefore "
5529 "benefiting from the copyright infringement of its customers. It should "
5530 "therefore, Disney and Universal claimed, be partially liable for that "
5535 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5536 #: freeculture.xml:4136
5538 "There was something to Disney's and Universal's claim. Sony did decide to "
5539 "design its machine to make it very simple to record television shows. It "
5540 "could have built the machine to block or inhibit any direct copying from a "
5541 "television broadcast. Or possibly, it could have built the machine to copy "
5542 "only if there were a special <quote>copy me</quote> signal on the line. It "
5543 "was clear that there were many television shows that did not grant anyone "
5544 "permission to copy. Indeed, if anyone had asked, no doubt the majority of "
5545 "shows would not have authorized copying. And in the face of this obvious "
5546 "preference, Sony could have designed its system to minimize the opportunity "
5547 "for copyright infringement. It did not, and for that, Disney and Universal "
5548 "wanted to hold it responsible for the architecture it chose."
5552 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5553 #: freeculture.xml:4158
5555 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders): Hearing on S. 1758 "
5556 "Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 97th Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., "
5557 "459 (1982) (testimony of Jack Valenti, president, Motion Picture Association "
5558 "of America, Inc.)."
5562 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5563 #: freeculture.xml:4170
5564 msgid "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 475."
5568 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5569 #: freeculture.xml:4175
5571 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
5572 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 480 F. Supp. 429, (C.D. Cal., 1979)."
5576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5577 #: freeculture.xml:4186
5579 "Copyright Infringements (Audio and Video Recorders), 485 (testimony of Jack "
5583 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5584 #: freeculture.xml:4151
5586 "MPAA president Jack Valenti became the studios' most vocal champion. Valenti "
5587 "called VCRs <quote>tapeworms.</quote> He warned, <quote>When there are 20, "
5588 "30, 40 million of these VCRs in the land, we will be invaded by millions of "
5589 "`tapeworms,' eating away at the very heart and essence of the most precious "
5590 "asset the copyright owner has, his copyright.</quote><placeholder "
5591 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <quote>One does not have to be trained in "
5592 "sophisticated marketing and creative judgment,</quote> he told Congress, "
5593 "<quote>to understand the devastation on the after-theater marketplace caused "
5594 "by the hundreds of millions of tapings that will adversely impact on the "
5595 "future of the creative community in this country. It is simply a question of "
5596 "basic economics and plain common sense.</quote><placeholder "
5597 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Indeed, as surveys would later show, percent of "
5598 "VCR owners had movie libraries of ten videos or more<placeholder "
5599 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> — a use the Court would later hold was "
5600 "not <quote>fair.</quote> By <quote>allowing VCR owners to copy freely by the "
5601 "means of an exemption from copyright infringementwithout creating a "
5602 "mechanism to compensate copyrightowners,</quote> Valenti testified, Congress "
5603 "would <quote>take from the owners the very essence of their property: the "
5604 "exclusive right to control who may use their work, that is, who may copy it "
5605 "and thereby profit from its reproduction.</quote><placeholder "
5606 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"3\"/>"
5610 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5611 #: freeculture.xml:4203
5613 "<citetitle>Universal City Studios, Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Sony "
5614 "Corp. of America</citetitle>, 659 F. 2d 963 (9th Cir. 1981)."
5617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
5618 #: freeculture.xml:4206
5619 msgid "Kozinski, Alex"
5622 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5623 #: freeculture.xml:4191
5625 "It took eight years for this case to be resolved by the Supreme Court. In "
5626 "the interim, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Hollywood in "
5627 "its jurisdiction—leading Judge Alex Kozinski, who sits on that court, "
5628 "refers to it as the <quote>Hollywood Circuit</quote>—held that Sony "
5629 "would be liable for the copyright infringement made possible by its "
5630 "machines. Under the Ninth Circuit's rule, this totally familiar "
5631 "technology—which Jack Valenti had called <quote>the Boston Strangler "
5632 "of the American film industry</quote> (worse yet, it was a "
5633 "<emphasis>Japanese</emphasis> Boston Strangler of the American film "
5634 "industry)—was an illegal technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5635 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5639 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5640 #: freeculture.xml:4209
5642 "But the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit. And in "
5643 "its reversal, the Court clearly articulated its understanding of when and "
5644 "whether courts should intervene in such disputes. As the Court wrote,"
5648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
5649 #: freeculture.xml:4228
5651 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
5652 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, 431 (1984)."
5655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
5656 #: freeculture.xml:4218
5658 "Sound policy, as well as history, supports our consistent deference to "
5659 "Congress when major technological innovations alter the market for "
5660 "copyrighted materials. Congress has the constitutional authority and the "
5661 "institutional ability to accommodate fully the varied permutations of "
5662 "competing interests that are inevitably implicated by such new "
5663 "technology.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5667 #: freeculture.xml:4233
5669 "Congress was asked to respond to the Supreme Court's decision. But as with "
5670 "the plea of recording artists about radio broadcasts, Congress ignored the "
5671 "request. Congress was convinced that American film got enough, this "
5672 "<quote>taking</quote> notwithstanding. If we put these cases together, a "
5676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5677 #: freeculture.xml:4244
5681 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5682 #: freeculture.xml:4245
5683 msgid "WHOSE VALUE WAS <quote>PIRATED</quote>"
5686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5687 #: freeculture.xml:4246
5688 msgid "RESPONSE OF THE COURTS"
5691 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
5692 #: freeculture.xml:4247
5693 msgid "RESPONSE OF CONGRESS"
5696 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5697 #: freeculture.xml:4252
5701 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5702 #: freeculture.xml:4253
5706 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5707 #: freeculture.xml:4254 freeculture.xml:4266 freeculture.xml:4272
5708 msgid "No protection"
5711 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5712 #: freeculture.xml:4255 freeculture.xml:4267
5713 msgid "Statutory license"
5716 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5717 #: freeculture.xml:4259
5718 msgid "Recording artists"
5721 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5722 #: freeculture.xml:4260
5726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5727 #: freeculture.xml:4261 freeculture.xml:4273
5731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5732 #: freeculture.xml:4265
5733 msgid "Broadcasters"
5736 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5737 #: freeculture.xml:4270
5741 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
5742 #: freeculture.xml:4271
5743 msgid "Film creators"
5746 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5747 #: freeculture.xml:4283
5749 "These are the most important instances in our history, but there are other "
5750 "cases as well. The technology of digital audio tape (DAT), for example, was "
5751 "regulated by Congress to minimize the risk of piracy. The remedy Congress "
5752 "imposed did burden DAT producers, by taxing tape sales and controlling the "
5753 "technology of DAT. See Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (Title 17 of the "
5754 "<citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>), Pub. L. No. 102-563, 106 Stat. "
5755 "4237, codified at 17 U.S.C. §1001. Again, however, this regulation did not "
5756 "eliminate the opportunity for free riding in the sense I've described. See "
5757 "Lessig, <citetitle>Future</citetitle>, 71. See also Picker, <quote>From "
5758 "Edison to the Broadcast Flag,</quote> <citetitle>University of Chicago Law "
5759 "Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 293–96. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
5760 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
5763 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5764 #: freeculture.xml:4280
5766 "In each case throughout our history, a new technology changed the way "
5767 "content was distributed.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In each "
5768 "case, throughout our history, that change meant that someone got a "
5769 "<quote>free ride</quote> on someone else's work."
5773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5774 #: freeculture.xml:4301
5776 "In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these cases did either the courts or "
5777 "Congress eliminate all free riding. In <emphasis>none</emphasis> of these "
5778 "cases did the courts or Congress insist that the law should assure that the "
5779 "copyright holder get all the value that his copyright created. In every "
5780 "case, the copyright owners complained of <quote>piracy.</quote> In every "
5781 "case, Congress acted to recognize some of the legitimacy in the behavior of "
5782 "the <quote>pirates.</quote> In each case, Congress allowed some new "
5783 "technology to benefit from content made before. It balanced the interests at "
5787 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5788 #: freeculture.xml:4313
5790 "When you think across these examples, and the other examples that make up "
5791 "the first four chapters of this section, this balance makes sense. Was Walt "
5792 "Disney a pirate? Would doujinshi be better if creators had to ask "
5793 "permission? Should tools that enable others to capture and spread images as "
5794 "a way to cultivate or criticize our culture be better regulated? Is it "
5795 "really right that building a search engine should expose you to $15 million "
5796 "in damages? Would it have been better if Edison had controlled film? Should "
5797 "every cover band have to hire a lawyer to get permission to record a song?"
5801 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5802 #: freeculture.xml:4330
5804 "<citetitle>Sony Corp. of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal City "
5805 "Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, (1984)."
5808 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5809 #: freeculture.xml:4325
5811 "We could answer yes to each of these questions, but our tradition has "
5812 "answered no. In our tradition, as the Supreme Court has stated, copyright "
5813 "<quote>has never accorded the copyright owner complete control over all "
5814 "possible uses of his work.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
5815 "Instead, the particular uses that the law regulates have been defined by "
5816 "balancing the good that comes from granting an exclusive right against the "
5817 "burdens such an exclusive right creates. And this balancing has historically "
5818 "been done <emphasis>after</emphasis> a technology has matured, or settled "
5819 "into the mix of technologies that facilitate the distribution of content."
5822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5823 #: freeculture.xml:4341
5825 "We should be doing the same thing today. The technology of the Internet is "
5826 "changing quickly. The way people connect to the Internet (wires "
5827 "vs. wireless) is changing very quickly. No doubt the network should not "
5828 "become a tool for <quote>stealing</quote> from artists. But neither should "
5829 "the law become a tool to entrench one particular way in which artists (or "
5830 "more accurately, distributors) get paid. As I describe in some detail in the "
5831 "last chapter of this book, we should be securing income to artists while we "
5832 "allow the market to secure the most efficient way to promote and distribute "
5833 "content. This will require changes in the law, at least in the "
5834 "interim. These changes should be designed to balance the protection of the "
5835 "law against the strong public interest that innovation continue."
5839 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
5840 #: freeculture.xml:4365
5842 "John Schwartz, <quote>New Economy: The Attack on Peer-to-Peer Software "
5843 "Echoes Past Efforts,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 22 "
5844 "September 2003, C3."
5847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5848 #: freeculture.xml:4357
5850 "This is especially true when a new technology enables a vastly superior mode "
5851 "of distribution. And this p2p has done. P2p technologies can be ideally "
5852 "efficient in moving content across a widely diverse network. Left to "
5853 "develop, they could make the network vastly more efficient. Yet these "
5854 "<quote>potential public benefits,</quote> as John Schwartz writes in "
5855 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, <quote>could be delayed in the "
5856 "P2P fight.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Yet when anyone "
5857 "begins to talk about <quote>balance,</quote> the copyright warriors raise a "
5858 "different argument. <quote>All this hand waving about balance and "
5859 "incentives,</quote> they say, <quote>misses a fundamental point. Our "
5860 "content,</quote> the warriors insist, <quote>is our "
5861 "<emphasis>property</emphasis>. Why should we wait for Congress to "
5862 "`rebalance' our property rights? Do you have to wait before calling the "
5863 "police when your car has been stolen? And why should Congress deliberate at "
5864 "all about the merits of this theft? Do we ask whether the car thief had a "
5865 "good use for the car before we arrest him?</quote>"
5868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
5869 #: freeculture.xml:4379
5871 "<quote>It is <emphasis>our property</emphasis>,</quote> the warriors "
5872 "insist. <quote>And it should be protected just as any other property is "
5873 "protected.</quote>"
5876 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
5877 #: freeculture.xml:4388
5878 msgid "<quote>PROPERTY</quote>"
5882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5883 #: freeculture.xml:4393
5885 "The copyright warriors are right: A copyright is a kind of property. It can "
5886 "be owned and sold, and the law protects against its theft. Ordinarily, the "
5887 "copyright owner gets to hold out for any price he wants. Markets reckon the "
5888 "supply and demand that partially determine the price she can get."
5891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5892 #: freeculture.xml:4400
5894 "But in ordinary language, to call a copyright a <quote>property</quote> "
5895 "right is a bit misleading, for the property of copyright is an odd kind of "
5896 "property. Indeed, the very idea of property in any idea or any expression "
5897 "is very odd. I understand what I am taking when I take the picnic table you "
5898 "put in your backyard. I am taking a thing, the picnic table, and after I "
5899 "take it, you don't have it. But what am I taking when I take the good "
5900 "<emphasis>idea</emphasis> you had to put a picnic table in the "
5901 "backyard—by, for example, going to Sears, buying a table, and putting "
5902 "it in my backyard? What is the thing I am taking then?"
5906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
5907 #: freeculture.xml:4425
5909 "Letter from Thomas Jefferson to Isaac McPherson (13 August 1813) in "
5910 "<citetitle>The Writings of Thomas Jefferson</citetitle>, vol. 6 (Andrew "
5911 "A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, eds., 1903), 330, 333–34."
5914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5915 #: freeculture.xml:4412
5917 "The point is not just about the thingness of picnic tables versus ideas, "
5918 "though that's an important difference. The point instead is that in the "
5919 "ordinary case—indeed, in practically every case except for a narrow "
5920 "range of exceptions—ideas released to the world are free. I don't take "
5921 "anything from you when I copy the way you dress—though I might seem "
5922 "weird if I did it every day, and especially weird if you are a "
5923 "woman. Instead, as Thomas Jefferson said (and as is especially true when I "
5924 "copy the way someone else dresses), <quote>He who receives an idea from me, "
5925 "receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his "
5926 "taper at mine, receives light without darkening me.</quote><placeholder "
5927 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
5930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5931 #: freeculture.xml:4431
5933 "The exceptions to free use are ideas and expressions within the reach of the "
5934 "law of patent and copyright, and a few other domains that I won't discuss "
5935 "here. Here the law says you can't take my idea or expression without my "
5936 "permission: The law turns the intangible into property."
5940 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para><footnote><para>
5941 #: freeculture.xml:4444
5943 "As the legal realists taught American law, all property rights are "
5944 "intangible. A property right is simply a right that an individual has "
5945 "against the world to do or not do certain things that may or may not attach "
5946 "to a physical object. The right itself is intangible, even if the object to "
5947 "which it is (metaphorically) attached is tangible. See Adam Mossoff, "
5948 "<quote>What Is Property? Putting the Pieces Back Together,</quote> "
5949 "<citetitle>Arizona Law Review</citetitle> 45 (2003): 373, 429 n. 241."
5952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5953 #: freeculture.xml:4439
5955 "But how, and to what extent, and in what form—the details, in other "
5956 "words—matter. To get a good sense of how this practice of turning the "
5957 "intangible into property emerged, we need to place this "
5958 "<quote>property</quote> in its proper context.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
5962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
5963 #: freeculture.xml:4454
5965 "My strategy in doing this will be the same as my strategy in the preceding "
5966 "part. I offer four stories to help put the idea of <quote>copyright material "
5967 "is property</quote> in context. Where did the idea come from? What are its "
5968 "limits? How does it function in practice? After these stories, the "
5969 "significance of this true statement—<quote>copyright material is "
5970 "property</quote>— will be a bit more clear, and its implications will "
5971 "be revealed as quite different from the implications that the copyright "
5972 "warriors would have us draw."
5975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
5976 #: freeculture.xml:4467
5977 msgid "CHAPTER SIX: Founders"
5980 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
5981 #: freeculture.xml:4468
5985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
5986 #: freeculture.xml:4469 freeculture.xml:4609
5987 msgid "Branagh, Kenneth"
5990 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
5991 #: freeculture.xml:4471
5993 "William Shakespeare wrote <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> in "
5994 "1595. The play was first published in 1597. It was the eleventh major play "
5995 "that Shakespeare had written. He would continue to write plays through 1613, "
5996 "and the plays that he wrote have continued to define Anglo-American culture "
5997 "ever since. So deeply have the works of a sixteenth-century writer seeped "
5998 "into our culture that we often don't even recognize their source. I once "
5999 "overheard someone commenting on Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Henry V: "
6000 "<quote>I liked it, but Shakespeare is so full of clichés.</quote>"
6004 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6005 #: freeculture.xml:4486
6007 "Jacob Tonson is typically remembered for his associations with prominent "
6008 "eighteenth-century literary figures, especially John Dryden, and for his "
6009 "handsome <quote>definitive editions</quote> of classic works. In addition to "
6010 "<citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle>, he published an astonishing array "
6011 "of works that still remain at the heart of the English canon, including "
6012 "collected works of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Milton, and John "
6013 "Dryden. See Keith Walker, <quote>Jacob Tonson, Bookseller,</quote> "
6014 "<citetitle>American Scholar</citetitle> 61:3 (1992): 424–31."
6018 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6019 #: freeculture.xml:4497
6021 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <citetitle>Copyright in Historical "
6022 "Perspective</citetitle> (Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 1968), "
6027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6028 #: freeculture.xml:4482
6030 "In 1774, almost 180 years after <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> was "
6031 "written, the <quote>copy-right</quote> for the work was still thought by "
6032 "many to be the exclusive right of a single London publisher, Jacob "
6033 "Tonson.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Tonson was the most "
6034 "prominent of a small group of publishers called the Conger<placeholder "
6035 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> who controlled bookselling in England during "
6036 "the eighteenth century. The Conger claimed a perpetual right to control the "
6037 "<quote>copy</quote> of books that they had acquired from authors. That "
6038 "perpetual right meant that no one else could publish copies of a book to "
6039 "which they held the copyright. Prices of the classics were thus kept high; "
6040 "competition to produce better or cheaper editions was eliminated."
6043 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6044 #: freeculture.xml:4519
6046 "As Siva Vaidhyanathan nicely argues, it is erroneous to call this a "
6047 "<quote>copyright law.</quote> See Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
6048 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 40. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6052 #: freeculture.xml:4510
6054 "Now, there's something puzzling about the year 1774 to anyone who knows a "
6055 "little about copyright law. The better-known year in the history of "
6056 "copyright is 1710, the year that the British Parliament adopted the first "
6057 "<quote>copyright</quote> act. Known as the Statute of Anne, the act stated "
6058 "that all published works would get a copyright term of fourteen years, "
6059 "renewable once if the author was alive, and that all works already published "
6060 "by 1710 would get a single term of twenty-one additional years.<placeholder "
6061 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Under this law, <citetitle>Romeo and "
6062 "Juliet</citetitle> should have been free in 1731. So why was there any issue "
6063 "about it still being under Tonson's control in 1774?"
6066 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6067 #: freeculture.xml:4536
6068 msgid "Licensing Act (1662)"
6071 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6072 #: freeculture.xml:4527
6074 "The reason is that the English hadn't yet agreed on what a "
6075 "<quote>copyright</quote> was—indeed, no one had. At the time the "
6076 "English passed the Statute of Anne, there was no other legislation governing "
6077 "copyrights. The last law regulating publishers, the Licensing Act of 1662, "
6078 "had expired in 1695. That law gave publishers a monopoly over publishing, as "
6079 "a way to make it easier for the Crown to control what was published. But "
6080 "after it expired, there was no positive law that said that the publishers, "
6081 "or <quote>Stationers,</quote> had an exclusive right to print books. "
6082 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6085 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6086 #: freeculture.xml:4539
6088 "There was no <emphasis>positive</emphasis> law, but that didn't mean that "
6089 "there was no law. The Anglo-American legal tradition looks to both the words "
6090 "of legislatures and the words of judges to know the rules that are to govern "
6091 "how people are to behave. We call the words from legislatures "
6092 "<quote>positive law.</quote> We call the words from judges <quote>common "
6093 "law.</quote> The common law sets the background against which legislatures "
6094 "legislate; the legislature, ordinarily, can trump that background only if it "
6095 "passes a law to displace it. And so the real question after the licensing "
6096 "statutes had expired was whether the common law protected a copyright, "
6097 "independent of any positive law."
6101 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6102 #: freeculture.xml:4551
6104 "This question was important to the publishers, or "
6105 "<quote>booksellers,</quote> as they were called, because there was growing "
6106 "competition from foreign publishers. The Scottish, in particular, were "
6107 "increasingly publishing and exporting books to England. That competition "
6108 "reduced the profits of the Conger, which reacted by demanding that "
6109 "Parliament pass a law to again give them exclusive control over "
6110 "publishing. That demand ultimately resulted in the Statute of Anne."
6113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6114 #: freeculture.xml:4563
6116 "The Statute of Anne granted the author or <quote>proprietor</quote> of a "
6117 "book an exclusive right to print that book. In an important limitation, "
6118 "however, and to the horror of the booksellers, the law gave the bookseller "
6119 "that right for a limited term. At the end of that term, the copyright "
6120 "<quote>expired,</quote> and the work would then be free and could be "
6121 "published by anyone. Or so the legislature is thought to have believed."
6124 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6125 #: freeculture.xml:4572
6127 "Now, the thing to puzzle about for a moment is this: Why would Parliament "
6128 "limit the exclusive right? Not why would they limit it to the particular "
6129 "limit they set, but why would they limit the right <emphasis>at "
6133 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6134 #: freeculture.xml:4578
6136 "For the booksellers, and the authors whom they represented, had a very "
6137 "strong claim. Take <citetitle>Romeo and Juliet</citetitle> as an example: "
6138 "That play was written by Shakespeare. It was his genius that brought it into "
6139 "the world. He didn't take anybody's property when he created this play "
6140 "(that's a controversial claim, but never mind), and by his creating this "
6141 "play, he didn't make it any harder for others to craft a play. So why is it "
6142 "that the law would ever allow someone else to come along and take "
6143 "Shakespeare's play without his, or his estate's, permission? What reason is "
6144 "there to allow someone else to <quote>steal</quote> Shakespeare's work?"
6147 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6148 #: freeculture.xml:4589
6150 "The answer comes in two parts. We first need to see something special about "
6151 "the notion of <quote>copyright</quote> that existed at the time of the "
6152 "Statute of Anne. Second, we have to see something important about "
6153 "<quote>booksellers.</quote>"
6157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6158 #: freeculture.xml:4595
6160 "First, about copyright. In the last three hundred years, we have come to "
6161 "apply the concept of <quote>copyright</quote> ever more broadly. But in "
6162 "1710, it wasn't so much a concept as it was a very particular right. The "
6163 "copyright was born as a very specific set of restrictions: It forbade others "
6164 "from reprinting a book. In 1710, the <quote>copy-right</quote> was a right "
6165 "to use a particular machine to replicate a particular work. It did not go "
6166 "beyond that very narrow right. It did not control any more generally how a "
6167 "work could be <emphasis>used</emphasis>. Today the right includes a large "
6168 "collection of restrictions on the freedom of others: It grants the author "
6169 "the exclusive right to copy, the exclusive right to distribute, the "
6170 "exclusive right to perform, and so on."
6173 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6174 #: freeculture.xml:4611
6176 "So, for example, even if the copyright to Shakespeare's works were "
6177 "perpetual, all that would have meant under the original meaning of the term "
6178 "was that no one could reprint Shakespeare's work without the permission of "
6179 "the Shakespeare estate. It would not have controlled anything, for example, "
6180 "about how the work could be performed, whether the work could be translated, "
6181 "or whether Kenneth Branagh would be allowed to make his films. The "
6182 "<quote>copy-right</quote> was only an exclusive right to print—no "
6183 "less, of course, but also no more."
6186 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6187 #: freeculture.xml:4620
6188 msgid "Henry VIII, King of England"
6191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6192 #: freeculture.xml:4622
6194 "Even that limited right was viewed with skepticism by the British. They had "
6195 "had a long and ugly experience with <quote>exclusive rights,</quote> "
6196 "especially <quote>exclusive rights</quote> granted by the Crown. The English "
6197 "had fought a civil war in part about the Crown's practice of handing out "
6198 "monopolies—especially monopolies for works that already existed. King "
6199 "Henry VIII granted a patent to print the Bible and a monopoly to Darcy to "
6200 "print playing cards. The English Parliament began to fight back against this "
6201 "power of the Crown. In 1656, it passed the Statute of Monopolies, limiting "
6202 "monopolies to patents for new inventions. And by 1710, Parliament was eager "
6203 "to deal with the growing monopoly in publishing."
6206 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6207 #: freeculture.xml:4635
6209 "Thus the <quote>copy-right,</quote> when viewed as a monopoly right, was "
6210 "naturally viewed as a right that should be limited. (However convincing the "
6211 "claim that <quote>it's my property, and I should have it forever,</quote> "
6212 "try sounding convincing when uttering, <quote>It's my monopoly, and I should "
6213 "have it forever.</quote>) The state would protect the exclusive right, but "
6214 "only so long as it benefited society. The British saw the harms from "
6215 "specialinterest favors; they passed a law to stop them."
6219 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6220 #: freeculture.xml:4659
6222 "Philip Wittenberg, <citetitle>The Protection and Marketing of Literary "
6223 "Property</citetitle> (New York: J. Messner, Inc., 1937), 31."
6226 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6227 #: freeculture.xml:4644
6229 "Second, about booksellers. It wasn't just that the copyright was a "
6230 "monopoly. It was also that it was a monopoly held by the booksellers. "
6231 "Booksellers sound quaint and harmless to us. They were not viewed as "
6232 "harmless in seventeenth-century England. Members of the Conger were "
6233 "increasingly seen as monopolists of the worst kind—tools of the "
6234 "Crown's repression, selling the liberty of England to guarantee themselves a "
6235 "monopoly profit. The attacks against these monopolists were harsh: Milton "
6236 "described them as <quote>old patentees and monopolizers in the trade of "
6237 "book-selling</quote>; they were <quote>men who do not therefore labour in an "
6238 "honest profession to which learning is indetted.</quote><placeholder "
6239 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6243 #: freeculture.xml:4664
6245 "Many believed the power the booksellers exercised over the spread of "
6246 "knowledge was harming that spread, just at the time the Enlightenment was "
6247 "teaching the importance of education and knowledge spread generally. The "
6248 "idea that knowledge should be free was a hallmark of the time, and these "
6249 "powerful commercial interests were interfering with that idea."
6252 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6253 #: freeculture.xml:4672
6255 "To balance this power, Parliament decided to increase competition among "
6256 "booksellers, and the simplest way to do that was to spread the wealth of "
6257 "valuable books. Parliament therefore limited the term of copyrights, and "
6258 "thereby guaranteed that valuable books would become open to any publisher to "
6259 "publish after a limited time. Thus the setting of the term for existing "
6260 "works to just twenty-one years was a compromise to fight the power of the "
6261 "booksellers. The limitation on terms was an indirect way to assure "
6262 "competition among publishers, and thus the construction and spread of "
6266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6267 #: freeculture.xml:4684
6269 "When 1731 (1710 + 21) came along, however, the booksellers were getting "
6270 "anxious. They saw the consequences of more competition, and like every "
6271 "competitor, they didn't like them. At first booksellers simply ignored the "
6272 "Statute of Anne, continuing to insist on the perpetual right to control "
6273 "publication. But in 1735 and 1737, they tried to persuade Parliament to "
6274 "extend their terms. Twenty-one years was not enough, they said; they needed "
6278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6279 #: freeculture.xml:4693
6281 "Parliament rejected their requests. As one pamphleteer put it, in words that "
6286 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
6287 #: freeculture.xml:4708
6289 "A Letter to a Member of Parliament concerning the Bill now depending in the "
6290 "House of Commons, for making more effectual an Act in the Eighth Year of the "
6291 "Reign of Queen Anne, entitled, An Act for the Encouragement of Learning, by "
6292 "Vesting the Copies of Printed Books in the Authors or Purchasers of such "
6293 "Copies, during the Times therein mentioned (London, 1735), in Brief Amici "
6294 "Curiae of Tyler T. Ochoa et al., 8, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
6295 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01-618)."
6298 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6299 #: freeculture.xml:4698
6301 "I see no Reason for granting a further Term now, which will not hold as well "
6302 "for granting it again and again, as often as the Old ones Expire; so that "
6303 "should this Bill pass, it will in Effect be establishing a perpetual "
6304 "Monopoly, a Thing deservedly odious in the Eye of the Law; it will be a "
6305 "great Cramp to Trade, a Discouragement to Learning, no Benefit to the "
6306 "Authors, but a general Tax on the Publick; and all this only to increase the "
6307 "private Gain of the Booksellers.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6310 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6311 #: freeculture.xml:4719
6313 "Having failed in Parliament, the publishers turned to the courts in a series "
6314 "of cases. Their argument was simple and direct: The Statute of Anne gave "
6315 "authors certain protections through positive law, but those protections were "
6316 "not intended as replacements for the common law. Instead, they were "
6317 "intended simply to supplement the common law. Under common law, it was "
6318 "already wrong to take another person's creative <quote>property</quote> and "
6319 "use it without his permission. The Statute of Anne, the booksellers argued, "
6320 "didn't change that. Therefore, just because the protections of the Statute "
6321 "of Anne expired, that didn't mean the protections of the common law expired: "
6322 "Under the common law they had the right to ban the publication of a book, "
6323 "even if its Statute of Anne copyright had expired. This, they argued, was "
6324 "the only way to protect authors."
6327 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6328 #: freeculture.xml:4740
6330 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <quote>Free Speech, Copyright, and Fair Use,</quote> "
6331 "<citetitle>Vanderbilt Law Review</citetitle> 40 (1987): 28. For a "
6332 "wonderfully compelling account, see Vaidhyanathan, 37–48. "
6333 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6336 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6337 #: freeculture.xml:4734
6339 "This was a clever argument, and one that had the support of some of the "
6340 "leading jurists of the day. It also displayed extraordinary chutzpah. Until "
6341 "then, as law professor Raymond Patterson has put it, <quote>The publishers "
6342 "… had as much concern for authors as a cattle rancher has for "
6343 "cattle.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The bookseller "
6344 "didn't care squat for the rights of the author. His concern was the "
6345 "monopoly profit that the author's work gave."
6349 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6350 #: freeculture.xml:4753
6352 "For a compelling account, see David Saunders, <citetitle>Authorship and "
6353 "Copyright</citetitle> (London: Routledge, 1992), 62–69."
6356 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6357 #: freeculture.xml:4749
6359 "The booksellers' argument was not accepted without a fight. The hero of "
6360 "this fight was a Scottish bookseller named Alexander Donaldson.<placeholder "
6361 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6365 #: freeculture.xml:4765 freeculture.xml:14732
6369 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6370 #: freeculture.xml:4763
6372 "Mark Rose, <citetitle>Authors and Owners</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard "
6373 "University Press, 1993), 92. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6377 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6378 #: freeculture.xml:4774
6382 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6383 #: freeculture.xml:4776
6384 msgid "Boswell, James"
6387 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6388 #: freeculture.xml:4777
6389 msgid "Erskine, Andrew"
6392 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6393 #: freeculture.xml:4758
6395 "Donaldson was an outsider to the London Conger. He began his career in "
6396 "Edinburgh in 1750. The focus of his business was inexpensive reprints "
6397 "<quote>of standard works whose copyright term had expired,</quote> at least "
6398 "under the Statute of Anne.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
6399 "Donaldson's publishing house prospered and became <quote>something of a "
6400 "center for literary Scotsmen.</quote> <quote>[A]mong them,</quote> Professor "
6401 "Mark Rose writes, was <quote>the young James Boswell who, together with his "
6402 "friend Andrew Erskine, published an anthology of contemporary Scottish poems "
6403 "with Donaldson.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> "
6404 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6410 #: freeculture.xml:4786
6412 "Lyman Ray Patterson, <citetitle>Copyright in Historical "
6413 "Perspective</citetitle>, 167 (quoting Borwell)."
6416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6417 #: freeculture.xml:4780
6419 "When the London booksellers tried to shut down Donaldson's shop in Scotland, "
6420 "he responded by moving his shop to London, where he sold inexpensive "
6421 "editions <quote>of the most popular English books, in defiance of the "
6422 "supposed common law right of Literary Property.</quote><placeholder "
6423 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His books undercut the Conger prices by 30 to "
6424 "50 percent, and he rested his right to compete upon the ground that, under "
6425 "the Statute of Anne, the works he was selling had passed out of protection."
6428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6429 #: freeculture.xml:4794
6431 "The London booksellers quickly brought suit to block <quote>piracy</quote> "
6432 "like Donaldson's. A number of actions were successful against the "
6433 "<quote>pirates,</quote> the most important early victory being "
6434 "<citetitle>Millar</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Taylor</citetitle>."
6438 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6439 #: freeculture.xml:4806
6441 "Howard B. Abrams, <quote>The Historic Foundation of American Copyright Law: "
6442 "Exploding the Myth of Common Law Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Wayne Law "
6443 "Review</citetitle> 29 (1983): 1152."
6446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6447 #: freeculture.xml:4799
6449 "Millar was a bookseller who in 1729 had purchased the rights to James "
6450 "Thomson's poem <quote>The Seasons.</quote> Millar complied with the "
6451 "requirements of the Statute of Anne, and therefore received the full "
6452 "protection of the statute. After the term of copyright ended, Robert Taylor "
6453 "began printing a competing volume. Millar sued, claiming a perpetual common "
6454 "law right, the Statute of Anne notwithstanding.<placeholder "
6455 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6458 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6459 #: freeculture.xml:4815
6461 "Astonishingly to modern lawyers, one of the greatest judges in English "
6462 "history, Lord Mansfield, agreed with the booksellers. Whatever protection "
6463 "the Statute of Anne gave booksellers, it did not, he held, extinguish any "
6464 "common law right. The question was whether the common law would protect the "
6465 "author against subsequent <quote>pirates.</quote> Mansfield's answer was "
6466 "yes: The common law would bar Taylor from reprinting Thomson's poem without "
6467 "Millar's permission. That common law rule thus effectively gave the "
6468 "booksellers a perpetual right to control the publication of any book "
6473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6474 #: freeculture.xml:4826
6476 "Considered as a matter of abstract justice—reasoning as if justice "
6477 "were just a matter of logical deduction from first "
6478 "principles—Mansfield's conclusion might make some sense. But what it "
6479 "ignored was the larger issue that Parliament had struggled with in 1710: How "
6480 "best to limit the monopoly power of publishers? Parliament's strategy was to "
6481 "offer a term for existing works that was long enough to buy peace in 1710, "
6482 "but short enough to assure that culture would pass into competition within a "
6483 "reasonable period of time. Within twenty-one years, Parliament believed, "
6484 "Britain would mature from the controlled culture that the Crown coveted to "
6485 "the free culture that we inherited."
6488 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6489 #: freeculture.xml:4841
6491 "The fight to defend the limits of the Statute of Anne was not to end there, "
6492 "however, and it is here that Donaldson enters the mix."
6495 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6496 #: freeculture.xml:4844
6497 msgid "Beckett, Thomas"
6501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6502 #: freeculture.xml:4850
6503 msgid "Ibid., 1156."
6506 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6507 #: freeculture.xml:4846
6509 "Millar died soon after his victory, so his case was not appealed. His estate "
6510 "sold Thomson's poems to a syndicate of printers that included Thomas "
6511 "Beckett.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Donaldson then released an "
6512 "unauthorized edition of Thomson's works. Beckett, on the strength of the "
6513 "decision in <citetitle>Millar</citetitle>, got an injunction against "
6514 "Donaldson. Donaldson appealed the case to the House of Lords, which "
6515 "functioned much like our own Supreme Court. In February of 1774, that body "
6516 "had the chance to interpret the meaning of Parliament's limits from sixty "
6520 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6521 #: freeculture.xml:4860
6523 "As few legal cases ever do, <citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> "
6524 "v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle> drew an enormous amount of attention "
6525 "throughout Britain. Donaldson's lawyers argued that whatever rights may have "
6526 "existed under the common law, the Statute of Anne terminated those "
6527 "rights. After passage of the Statute of Anne, the only legal protection for "
6528 "an exclusive right to control publication came from that statute. Thus, they "
6529 "argued, after the term specified in the Statute of Anne expired, works that "
6530 "had been protected by the statute were no longer protected."
6533 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6534 #: freeculture.xml:4870
6536 "The House of Lords was an odd institution. Legal questions were presented to "
6537 "the House and voted upon first by the <quote>law lords,</quote> members of "
6538 "special legal distinction who functioned much like the Justices in our "
6539 "Supreme Court. Then, after the law lords voted, the House of Lords generally "
6544 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6545 #: freeculture.xml:4877
6547 "The reports about the law lords' votes are mixed. On some counts, it looks "
6548 "as if perpetual copyright prevailed. But there is no ambiguity about how the "
6549 "House of Lords voted as whole. By a two-to-one majority (22 to 11) they "
6550 "voted to reject the idea of perpetual copyrights. Whatever one's "
6551 "understanding of the common law, now a copyright was fixed for a limited "
6552 "time, after which the work protected by copyright passed into the public "
6556 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6557 #: freeculture.xml:4895
6558 msgid "Bacon, Francis"
6561 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6562 #: freeculture.xml:4896
6563 msgid "Bunyan, John"
6566 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6567 #: freeculture.xml:4897
6568 msgid "Johnson, Samuel"
6571 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6572 #: freeculture.xml:4898
6573 msgid "Milton, John"
6576 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6577 #: freeculture.xml:4899
6578 msgid "Shakespeare, William"
6581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6582 #: freeculture.xml:4887
6584 "<quote>The public domain.</quote> Before the case of "
6585 "<citetitle>Donaldson</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Beckett</citetitle>, there "
6586 "was no clear idea of a public domain in England. Before 1774, there was a "
6587 "strong argument that common law copyrights were perpetual. After 1774, the "
6588 "public domain was born. For the first time in Anglo-American history, the "
6589 "legal control over creative works expired, and the greatest works in English "
6590 "history—including those of Shakespeare, Bacon, Milton, Johnson, and "
6591 "Bunyan—were free of legal restraint. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6592 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder "
6593 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> "
6594 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/>"
6598 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6599 #: freeculture.xml:4912
6603 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6604 #: freeculture.xml:4902
6606 "It is hard for us to imagine, but this decision by the House of Lords fueled "
6607 "an extraordinarily popular and political reaction. In Scotland, where most "
6608 "of the <quote>pirate publishers</quote> did their work, people celebrated "
6609 "the decision in the streets. As the <citetitle>Edinburgh "
6610 "Advertiser</citetitle> reported, <quote>No private cause has so much "
6611 "engrossed the attention of the public, and none has been tried before the "
6612 "House of Lords in the decision of which so many individuals were "
6613 "interested.</quote> <quote>Great rejoicing in Edinburgh upon victory over "
6614 "literary property: bonfires and illuminations.</quote><placeholder "
6615 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
6618 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6619 #: freeculture.xml:4916
6621 "In London, however, at least among publishers, the reaction was equally "
6622 "strong in the opposite direction. The <citetitle>Morning "
6623 "Chronicle</citetitle> reported:"
6626 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6627 #: freeculture.xml:4922
6629 "By the above decision … near 200,000 pounds worth of what was "
6630 "honestly purchased at public sale, and which was yesterday thought property "
6631 "is now reduced to nothing. The Booksellers of London and Westminster, many "
6632 "of whom sold estates and houses to purchase Copy-right, are in a manner "
6633 "ruined, and those who after many years industry thought they had acquired a "
6634 "competency to provide for their families now find themselves without a "
6635 "shilling to devise to their successors.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
6640 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6641 #: freeculture.xml:4937
6643 "<quote>Ruined</quote> is a bit of an exaggeration. But it is not an "
6644 "exaggeration to say that the change was profound. The decision of the House "
6645 "of Lords meant that the booksellers could no longer control how culture in "
6646 "England would grow and develop. Culture in England was thereafter "
6647 "<emphasis>free</emphasis>. Not in the sense that copyrights would not be "
6648 "respected, for of course, for a limited time after a work was published, the "
6649 "bookseller had an exclusive right to control the publication of that "
6650 "book. And not in the sense that books could be stolen, for even after a "
6651 "copyright expired, you still had to buy the book from someone. But "
6652 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> in the sense that the culture and its growth would "
6653 "no longer be controlled by a small group of publishers. As every free market "
6654 "does, this free market of free culture would grow as the consumers and "
6655 "producers chose. English culture would develop as the many English readers "
6656 "chose to let it develop— chose in the books they bought and wrote; "
6657 "chose in the memes they repeated and endorsed. Chose in a "
6658 "<emphasis>competitive context</emphasis>, not a context in which the choices "
6659 "about what culture is available to people and how they get access to it are "
6660 "made by the few despite the wishes of the many."
6663 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6664 #: freeculture.xml:4958
6666 "At least, this was the rule in a world where the Parliament is antimonopoly, "
6667 "resistant to the protectionist pleas of publishers. In a world where the "
6668 "Parliament is more pliant, free culture would be less protected."
6671 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
6672 #: freeculture.xml:4966
6673 msgid "CHAPTER SEVEN: Recorders"
6676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6677 #: freeculture.xml:4968
6679 "Jon Else is a filmmaker. He is best known for his documentaries and has been "
6680 "very successful in spreading his art. He is also a teacher, and as a teacher "
6681 "myself, I envy the loyalty and admiration that his students feel for him. (I "
6682 "met, by accident, two of his students at a dinner party. He was their god.)"
6685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6686 #: freeculture.xml:4975
6688 "Else worked on a documentary that I was involved in. At a break, he told me "
6689 "a story about the freedom to create with film in America today."
6692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6693 #: freeculture.xml:4986 freeculture.xml:5055
6694 msgid "San Francisco Opera"
6697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6698 #: freeculture.xml:4980
6700 "In 1990, Else was working on a documentary about Wagner's Ring Cycle. The "
6701 "focus was stagehands at the San Francisco Opera. Stagehands are a "
6702 "particularly funny and colorful element of an opera. During a show, they "
6703 "hang out below the stage in the grips' lounge and in the lighting loft. They "
6704 "make a perfect contrast to the art on the stage. <placeholder "
6705 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6710 #: freeculture.xml:4989
6712 "During one of the performances, Else was shooting some stagehands playing "
6713 "checkers. In one corner of the room was a television set. Playing on the "
6714 "television set, while the stagehands played checkers and the opera company "
6715 "played Wagner, was <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. As Else judged it, "
6716 "this touch of cartoon helped capture the flavor of what was special about "
6720 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6721 #: freeculture.xml:4998
6723 "Years later, when he finally got funding to complete the film, Else "
6724 "attempted to clear the rights for those few seconds of <citetitle>The "
6725 "Simpsons</citetitle>. For of course, those few seconds are copyrighted; and "
6726 "of course, to use copyrighted material you need the permission of the "
6727 "copyright owner, unless <quote>fair use</quote> or some other privilege "
6731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6732 #: freeculture.xml:5010 freeculture.xml:5018
6733 msgid "Gracie Films"
6736 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6737 #: freeculture.xml:5005
6739 "Else called <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> creator Matt Groening's office "
6740 "to get permission. Groening approved the shot. The shot was a "
6741 "four-and-a-halfsecond image on a tiny television set in the corner of the "
6742 "room. How could it hurt? Groening was happy to have it in the film, but he "
6743 "told Else to contact Gracie Films, the company that produces the program. "
6744 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6747 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6748 #: freeculture.xml:5013
6750 "Gracie Films was okay with it, too, but they, like Groening, wanted to be "
6751 "careful. So they told Else to contact Fox, Gracie's parent company. Else "
6752 "called Fox and told them about the clip in the corner of the one room shot "
6753 "of the film. Matt Groening had already given permission, Else said. He was "
6754 "just confirming the permission with Fox. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
6758 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6759 #: freeculture.xml:5021
6761 "Then, as Else told me, <quote>two things happened. First we discovered "
6762 "… that Matt Groening doesn't own his own creation—or at least "
6763 "that someone [at Fox] believes he doesn't own his own creation.</quote> And "
6764 "second, Fox <quote>wanted ten thousand dollars as a licensing fee for us to "
6765 "use this four-point-five seconds of … entirely unsolicited "
6766 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> which was in the corner of the shot.</quote>"
6769 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6770 #: freeculture.xml:5029
6772 "Else was certain there was a mistake. He worked his way up to someone he "
6773 "thought was a vice president for licensing, Rebecca Herrera. He explained "
6774 "to her, <quote>There must be some mistake here. … We're asking for "
6775 "your educational rate on this.</quote> That was the educational rate, "
6776 "Herrera told Else. A day or so later, Else called again to confirm what he "
6781 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6782 #: freeculture.xml:5037
6784 "<quote>I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight,</quote> he told "
6785 "me. <quote>Yes, you have your facts straight,</quote> she said. It would "
6786 "cost $10,000 to use the clip of <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle> in the "
6787 "corner of a shot in a documentary film about Wagner's Ring Cycle. And then, "
6788 "astonishingly, Herrera told Else, <quote>And if you quote me, I'll turn you "
6789 "over to our attorneys.</quote> As an assistant to Herrera told Else later "
6790 "on, <quote>They don't give a shit. They just want the money.</quote>"
6793 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
6794 #: freeculture.xml:5056
6795 msgid "Day After Trinity, The"
6798 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6799 #: freeculture.xml:5049
6801 "Else didn't have the money to buy the right to replay what was playing on "
6802 "the television backstage at the San Francisco Opera. To reproduce this "
6803 "reality was beyond the documentary filmmaker's budget. At the very last "
6804 "minute before the film was to be released, Else digitally replaced the shot "
6805 "with a clip from another film that he had worked on, <citetitle>The Day "
6806 "After Trinity</citetitle>, from ten years before. <placeholder "
6807 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
6810 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6811 #: freeculture.xml:5059
6813 "There's no doubt that someone, whether Matt Groening or Fox, owns the "
6814 "copyright to <citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>. That copyright is their "
6815 "property. To use that copyrighted material thus sometimes requires the "
6816 "permission of the copyright owner. If the use that Else wanted to make of "
6817 "the <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> copyright were one of the uses "
6818 "restricted by the law, then he would need to get the permission of the "
6819 "copyright owner before he could use the work in that way. And in a free "
6820 "market, it is the owner of the copyright who gets to set the price for any "
6821 "use that the law says the owner gets to control."
6824 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6825 #: freeculture.xml:5070
6827 "For example, <quote>public performance</quote> is a use of <citetitle>The "
6828 "Simpsons</citetitle> that the copyright owner gets to control. If you take a "
6829 "selection of favorite episodes, rent a movie theater, and charge for tickets "
6830 "to come see <quote>My Favorite <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>,</quote> then "
6831 "you need to get permission from the copyright owner. And the copyright owner "
6832 "(rightly, in my view) can charge whatever she wants—$10 or "
6833 "$1,000,000. That's her right, as set by the law."
6837 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
6838 #: freeculture.xml:5082
6840 "For an excellent argument that such use is <quote>fair use,</quote> but that "
6841 "lawyers don't permit recognition that it is <quote>fair use,</quote> see "
6842 "Richard A. Posner with William F. Patry, <quote>Fair Use and Statutory "
6843 "Reform in the Wake of <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle></quote> (draft on file "
6844 "with author), University of Chicago Law School, 5 August 2003."
6847 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6848 #: freeculture.xml:5079
6850 "But when lawyers hear this story about Jon Else and Fox, their first thought "
6851 "is <quote>fair use.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Else's "
6852 "use of just 4.5 seconds of an indirect shot of a "
6853 "<citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> episode is clearly a fair use of "
6854 "<citetitle>The Simpsons</citetitle>—and fair use does not require the "
6855 "permission of anyone."
6859 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6860 #: freeculture.xml:5094
6862 "So I asked Else why he didn't just rely upon <quote>fair use.</quote> Here's "
6866 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
6867 #: freeculture.xml:5098
6869 "The <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> fiasco was for me a great lesson in the "
6870 "gulf between what lawyers find irrelevant in some abstract sense, and what "
6871 "is crushingly relevant in practice to those of us actually trying to make "
6872 "and broadcast documentaries. I never had any doubt that it was "
6873 "<quote>clearly fair use</quote> in an absolute legal sense. But I couldn't "
6874 "rely on the concept in any concrete way. Here's why:"
6878 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6879 #: freeculture.xml:5108
6881 "Before our films can be broadcast, the network requires that we buy Errors "
6882 "and Omissions insurance. The carriers require a detailed <quote>visual cue "
6883 "sheet</quote> listing the source and licensing status of each shot in the "
6884 "film. They take a dim view of <quote>fair use,</quote> and a claim of "
6885 "<quote>fair use</quote> can grind the application process to a halt."
6888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para><indexterm><primary>
6889 #: freeculture.xml:5125
6890 msgid "Lucas, George"
6893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6894 #: freeculture.xml:5116
6896 "I probably never should have asked Matt Groening in the first place. But I "
6897 "knew (at least from folklore) that Fox had a history of tracking down and "
6898 "stopping unlicensed <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle> usage, just as George "
6899 "Lucas had a very high profile litigating <citetitle>Star Wars</citetitle> "
6900 "usage. So I decided to play by the book, thinking that we would be granted "
6901 "free or cheap license to four seconds of <citetitle>Simpsons</citetitle>. As "
6902 "a documentary producer working to exhaustion on a shoestring, the last thing "
6903 "I wanted was to risk legal trouble, even nuisance legal trouble, and even to "
6904 "defend a principle. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
6909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6910 #: freeculture.xml:5129
6912 "I did, in fact, speak with one of your colleagues at Stanford Law School "
6913 "… who confirmed that it was fair use. He also confirmed that Fox "
6914 "would <quote>depose and litigate you to within an inch of your life,</quote> "
6915 "regardless of the merits of my claim. He made clear that it would boil down "
6916 "to who had the bigger legal department and the deeper pockets, me or them."
6920 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><orderedlist><listitem><para>
6921 #: freeculture.xml:5139
6923 "The question of fair use usually comes up at the end of the project, when we "
6924 "are up against a release deadline and out of money."
6927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6928 #: freeculture.xml:5146
6930 "In theory, fair use means you need no permission. The theory therefore "
6931 "supports free culture and insulates against a permission culture. But in "
6932 "practice, fair use functions very differently. The fuzzy lines of the law, "
6933 "tied to the extraordinary liability if lines are crossed, means that the "
6934 "effective fair use for many types of creators is slight. The law has the "
6935 "right aim; practice has defeated the aim."
6938 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6939 #: freeculture.xml:5154
6941 "This practice shows just how far the law has come from its "
6942 "eighteenth-century roots. The law was born as a shield to protect "
6943 "publishers' profits against the unfair competition of a pirate. It has "
6944 "matured into a sword that interferes with any use, transformative or not."
6947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
6948 #: freeculture.xml:5163
6949 msgid "CHAPTER EIGHT: Transformers"
6952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
6953 #: freeculture.xml:5164
6957 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
6958 #: freeculture.xml:5166 freeculture.xml:5230 freeculture.xml:5413 freeculture.xml:9844 freeculture.xml:14111
6962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6963 #: freeculture.xml:5169
6965 "In 1993, Alex Alben was a lawyer working at Starwave, Inc. Starwave was an "
6966 "innovative company founded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen to develop "
6967 "digital entertainment. Long before the Internet became popular, Starwave "
6968 "began investing in new technology for delivering entertainment in "
6969 "anticipation of the power of networks."
6972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><secondary>
6973 #: freeculture.xml:5177
6974 msgid "retrospective compilations on"
6977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6978 #: freeculture.xml:5180
6980 "Alben had a special interest in new technology. He was intrigued by the "
6981 "emerging market for CD-ROM technology—not to distribute film, but to "
6982 "do things with film that otherwise would be very difficult. In 1993, he "
6983 "launched an initiative to develop a product to build retrospectives on the "
6984 "work of particular actors. The first actor chosen was Clint Eastwood. The "
6985 "idea was to showcase all of the work of Eastwood, with clips from his films "
6986 "and interviews with figures important to his career."
6989 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
6990 #: freeculture.xml:5190
6992 "At that time, Eastwood had made more than fifty films, as an actor and as a "
6993 "director. Alben began with a series of interviews with Eastwood, asking him "
6994 "about his career. Because Starwave produced those interviews, it was free to "
6995 "include them on the CD."
6999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7000 #: freeculture.xml:5197
7002 "That alone would not have made a very interesting product, so Starwave "
7003 "wanted to add content from the movies in Eastwood's career: posters, "
7004 "scripts, and other material relating to the films Eastwood made. Most of his "
7005 "career was spent at Warner Brothers, and so it was relatively easy to get "
7006 "permission for that content."
7009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7010 #: freeculture.xml:5204
7012 "Then Alben and his team decided to include actual film clips. <quote>Our "
7013 "goal was that we were going to have a clip from every one of Eastwood's "
7014 "films,</quote> Alben told me. It was here that the problem arose. <quote>No "
7015 "one had ever really done this before,</quote> Alben explained. <quote>No one "
7016 "had ever tried to do this in the context of an artistic look at an actor's "
7020 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7021 #: freeculture.xml:5212
7023 "Alben brought the idea to Michael Slade, the CEO of Starwave. Slade asked, "
7024 "<quote>Well, what will it take?</quote>"
7027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><secondary>
7028 #: freeculture.xml:5228
7029 msgid "publicity rights on images of"
7032 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7033 #: freeculture.xml:5222
7035 "Technically, the rights that Alben had to clear were mainly those of "
7036 "publicity—rights an artist has to control the commercial exploitation "
7037 "of his image. But these rights, too, burden <quote>Rip, Mix, Burn</quote> "
7038 "creativity, as this chapter evinces. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7039 "id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
7042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7043 #: freeculture.xml:5216
7045 "Alben replied, <quote>Well, we're going to have to clear rights from "
7046 "everyone who appears in these films, and the music and everything else that "
7047 "we want to use in these film clips.</quote> Slade said, <quote>Great! Go for "
7048 "it.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7052 #: freeculture.xml:5234
7054 "The problem was that neither Alben nor Slade had any idea what clearing "
7055 "those rights would mean. Every actor in each of the films could have a claim "
7056 "to royalties for the reuse of that film. But CD- ROMs had not been specified "
7057 "in the contracts for the actors, so there was no clear way to know just what "
7058 "Starwave was to do."
7061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7062 #: freeculture.xml:5241
7064 "I asked Alben how he dealt with the problem. With an obvious pride in his "
7065 "resourcefulness that obscured the obvious bizarreness of his tale, Alben "
7066 "recounted just what they did:"
7069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7070 #: freeculture.xml:5247
7072 "So we very mechanically went about looking up the film clips. We made some "
7073 "artistic decisions about what film clips to include—of course we were "
7074 "going to use the <quote>Make my day</quote> clip from <citetitle>Dirty "
7075 "Harry</citetitle>. But you then need to get the guy on the ground who's "
7076 "wiggling under the gun and you need to get his permission. And then you "
7077 "have to decide what you are going to pay him."
7081 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7082 #: freeculture.xml:5256
7084 "We decided that it would be fair if we offered them the dayplayer rate for "
7085 "the right to reuse that performance. We're talking about a clip of less than "
7086 "a minute, but to reuse that performance in the CD-ROM the rate at the time "
7087 "was about $600. So we had to identify the people—some of them were "
7088 "hard to identify because in Eastwood movies you can't tell who's the guy "
7089 "crashing through the glass—is it the actor or is it the stuntman? And "
7090 "then we just, we put together a team, my assistant and some others, and we "
7091 "just started calling people."
7094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7095 #: freeculture.xml:5268
7097 "Some actors were glad to help—Donald Sutherland, for example, followed "
7098 "up himself to be sure that the rights had been cleared. Others were "
7099 "dumbfounded at their good fortune. Alben would ask, <quote>Hey, can I pay "
7100 "you $600 or maybe if you were in two films, you know, $1,200?</quote> And "
7101 "they would say, <quote>Are you for real? Hey, I'd love to get "
7102 "$1,200.</quote> And some of course were a bit difficult (estranged ex-wives, "
7103 "in particular). But eventually, Alben and his team had cleared the rights to "
7104 "this retrospective CD-ROM on Clint Eastwood's career."
7107 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7108 #: freeculture.xml:5279
7110 "It was one <emphasis>year</emphasis> later—<quote>and even then we "
7111 "weren't sure whether we were totally in the clear.</quote>"
7114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7115 #: freeculture.xml:5283
7117 "Alben is proud of his work. The project was the first of its kind and the "
7118 "only time he knew of that a team had undertaken such a massive project for "
7119 "the purpose of releasing a retrospective."
7122 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7123 #: freeculture.xml:5289
7125 "Everyone thought it would be too hard. Everyone just threw up their hands "
7126 "and said, <quote>Oh, my gosh, a film, it's so many copyrights, there's the "
7127 "music, there's the screenplay, there's the director, there's the "
7128 "actors.</quote> But we just broke it down. We just put it into its "
7129 "constituent parts and said, <quote>Okay, there's this many actors, this many "
7130 "directors, … this many musicians,</quote> and we just went at it very "
7131 "systematically and cleared the rights."
7135 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7136 #: freeculture.xml:5301
7138 "And no doubt, the product itself was exceptionally good. Eastwood loved it, "
7139 "and it sold very well."
7142 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7143 #: freeculture.xml:5304
7144 msgid "Drucker, Peter"
7148 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7149 #: freeculture.xml:5312
7151 "U.S. Department of Commerce Office of Acquisition Management, "
7152 "<citetitle>Seven Steps to Performance-Based Services "
7153 "Acquisition</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
7154 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #22</ulink>."
7157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7158 #: freeculture.xml:5306
7160 "But I pressed Alben about how weird it seems that it would have to take a "
7161 "year's work simply to clear rights. No doubt Alben had done this "
7162 "efficiently, but as Peter Drucker has famously quipped, <quote>There is "
7163 "nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at "
7164 "all.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Did it make sense, I "
7165 "asked Alben, that this is the way a new work has to be made?"
7168 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7169 #: freeculture.xml:5320
7171 "For, as he acknowledged, <quote>very few … have the time and "
7172 "resources, and the will to do this,</quote> and thus, very few such works "
7173 "would ever be made. Does it make sense, I asked him, from the standpoint of "
7174 "what anybody really thought they were ever giving rights for originally, "
7175 "that you would have to go clear rights for these kinds of clips?"
7178 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7179 #: freeculture.xml:5328
7181 "I don't think so. When an actor renders a performance in a movie, he or she "
7182 "gets paid very well. … And then when 30 seconds of that performance "
7183 "is used in a new product that is a retrospective of somebody's career, I "
7184 "don't think that that person … should be compensated for that."
7187 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7188 #: freeculture.xml:5336
7190 "Or at least, is this <emphasis>how</emphasis> the artist should be "
7191 "compensated? Would it make sense, I asked, for there to be some kind of "
7192 "statutory license that someone could pay and be free to make derivative use "
7193 "of clips like this? Did it really make sense that a follow-on creator would "
7194 "have to track down every artist, actor, director, musician, and get explicit "
7195 "permission from each? Wouldn't a lot more be created if the legal part of "
7196 "the creative process could be made to be more clean?"
7200 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7201 #: freeculture.xml:5347
7203 "Absolutely. I think that if there were some fair-licensing "
7204 "mechanism—where you weren't subject to hold-ups and you weren't "
7205 "subject to estranged former spouses—you'd see a lot more of this work, "
7206 "because it wouldn't be so daunting to try to put together a retrospective of "
7207 "someone's career and meaningfully illustrate it with lots of media from that "
7208 "person's career. You'd build in a cost as the producer of one of these "
7209 "things. You'd build in a cost of paying X dollars to the talent that "
7210 "performed. But it would be a known cost. That's the thing that trips "
7211 "everybody up and makes this kind of product hard to get off the ground. If "
7212 "you knew I have a hundred minutes of film in this product and it's going to "
7213 "cost me X, then you build your budget around it, and you can get investments "
7214 "and everything else that you need to produce it. But if you say, <quote>Oh, "
7215 "I want a hundred minutes of something and I have no idea what it's going to "
7216 "cost me, and a certain number of people are going to hold me up for "
7217 "money,</quote> then it becomes difficult to put one of these things "
7221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7222 #: freeculture.xml:5367
7224 "Alben worked for a big company. His company was backed by some of the "
7225 "richest investors in the world. He therefore had authority and access that "
7226 "the average Web designer would not have. So if it took him a year, how long "
7227 "would it take someone else? And how much creativity is never made just "
7228 "because the costs of clearing the rights are so high?"
7231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7232 #: freeculture.xml:5375
7234 "These costs are the burdens of a kind of regulation. Put on a Republican hat "
7235 "for a moment, and get angry for a bit. The government defines the scope of "
7236 "these rights, and the scope defined determines how much it's going to cost "
7237 "to negotiate them. (Remember the idea that land runs to the heavens, and "
7238 "imagine the pilot purchasing flythrough rights as he negotiates to fly from "
7239 "Los Angeles to San Francisco.) These rights might well have once made "
7240 "sense; but as circumstances change, they make no sense at all. Or at least, "
7241 "a well-trained, regulationminimizing Republican should look at the rights "
7242 "and ask, <quote>Does this still make sense?</quote>"
7246 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7247 #: freeculture.xml:5388
7249 "I've seen the flash of recognition when people get this point, but only a "
7250 "few times. The first was at a conference of federal judges in California. "
7251 "The judges were gathered to discuss the emerging topic of cyber-law. I was "
7252 "asked to be on the panel. Harvey Saferstein, a well-respected lawyer from an "
7253 "L.A. firm, introduced the panel with a video that he and a friend, Robert "
7254 "Fairbank, had produced."
7257 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7258 #: freeculture.xml:5398
7260 "The video was a brilliant collage of film from every period in the twentieth "
7261 "century, all framed around the idea of a <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> "
7262 "episode. The execution was perfect, down to the sixty-minute stopwatch. The "
7263 "judges loved every minute of it."
7266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7267 #: freeculture.xml:5403
7268 msgid "Nimmer, David"
7271 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7272 #: freeculture.xml:5405
7274 "When the lights came up, I looked over to my copanelist, David Nimmer, "
7275 "perhaps the leading copyright scholar and practitioner in the nation. He had "
7276 "an astonished look on his face, as he peered across the room of over 250 "
7277 "well-entertained judges. Taking an ominous tone, he began his talk with a "
7278 "question: <quote>Do you know how many federal laws were just violated in "
7279 "this room?</quote>"
7282 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7283 #: freeculture.xml:5412
7284 msgid "Boies, David"
7287 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7288 #: freeculture.xml:5415
7290 "For of course, the two brilliantly talented creators who made this film "
7291 "hadn't done what Alben did. They hadn't spent a year clearing the rights to "
7292 "these clips; technically, what they had done violated the law. Of course, "
7293 "it wasn't as if they or anyone were going to be prosecuted for this "
7294 "violation (the presence of 250 judges and a gaggle of federal marshals "
7295 "notwithstanding). But Nimmer was making an important point: A year before "
7296 "anyone would have heard of the word Napster, and two years before another "
7297 "member of our panel, David Boies, would defend Napster before the Ninth "
7298 "Circuit Court of Appeals, Nimmer was trying to get the judges to see that "
7299 "the law would not be friendly to the capacities that this technology would "
7300 "enable. Technology means you can now do amazing things easily; but you "
7301 "couldn't easily do them legally."
7304 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7305 #: freeculture.xml:5430
7307 "We live in a <quote>cut and paste</quote> culture enabled by "
7308 "technology. Anyone building a presentation knows the extraordinary freedom "
7309 "that the cut and paste architecture of the Internet created—in a "
7310 "second you can find just about any image you want; in another second, you "
7311 "can have it planted in your presentation."
7314 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7315 #: freeculture.xml:5436
7320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7321 #: freeculture.xml:5438
7323 "But presentations are just a tiny beginning. Using the Internet and its "
7324 "archives, musicians are able to string together mixes of sound never before "
7325 "imagined; filmmakers are able to build movies out of clips on computers "
7326 "around the world. An extraordinary site in Sweden takes images of "
7327 "politicians and blends them with music to create biting political "
7328 "commentary. A site called Camp Chaos has produced some of the most biting "
7329 "criticism of the record industry that there is through the mixing of Flash! "
7333 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7334 #: freeculture.xml:5449
7336 "All of these creations are technically illegal. Even if the creators wanted "
7337 "to be <quote>legal,</quote> the cost of complying with the law is impossibly "
7338 "high. Therefore, for the law-abiding sorts, a wealth of creativity is never "
7339 "made. And for that part that is made, if it doesn't follow the clearance "
7340 "rules, it doesn't get released."
7343 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7344 #: freeculture.xml:5456
7346 "To some, these stories suggest a solution: Let's alter the mix of rights so "
7347 "that people are free to build upon our culture. Free to add or mix as they "
7348 "see fit. We could even make this change without necessarily requiring that "
7349 "the <quote>free</quote> use be free as in <quote>free beer.</quote> Instead, "
7350 "the system could simply make it easy for follow-on creators to compensate "
7351 "artists without requiring an army of lawyers to come along: a rule, for "
7352 "example, that says <quote>the royalty owed the copyright owner of an "
7353 "unregistered work for the derivative reuse of his work will be a flat 1 "
7354 "percent of net revenues, to be held in escrow for the copyright "
7355 "owner.</quote> Under this rule, the copyright owner could benefit from some "
7356 "royalty, but he would not have the benefit of a full property right (meaning "
7357 "the right to name his own price) unless he registers the work."
7360 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7361 #: freeculture.xml:5471
7363 "Who could possibly object to this? And what reason would there be for "
7364 "objecting? We're talking about work that is not now being made; which if "
7365 "made, under this plan, would produce new income for artists. What reason "
7366 "would anyone have to oppose it?"
7370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7371 #: freeculture.xml:5477
7373 "In February 2003, DreamWorks studios announced an agreement with Mike Myers, "
7374 "the comic genius of <citetitle>Saturday Night Live</citetitle> and Austin "
7375 "Powers. According to the announcement, Myers and Dream-Works would work "
7376 "together to form a <quote>unique filmmaking pact.</quote> Under the "
7377 "agreement, DreamWorks <quote>will acquire the rights to existing motion "
7378 "picture hits and classics, write new storylines and—with the use of "
7379 "stateof-the-art digital technology—insert Myers and other actors into "
7380 "the film, thereby creating an entirely new piece of entertainment.</quote>"
7383 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7384 #: freeculture.xml:5489
7386 "The announcement called this <quote>film sampling.</quote> As Myers "
7387 "explained, <quote>Film Sampling is an exciting way to put an original spin "
7388 "on existing films and allow audiences to see old movies in a new light. Rap "
7389 "artists have been doing this for years with music and now we are able to "
7390 "take that same concept and apply it to film.</quote> Steven Spielberg is "
7391 "quoted as saying, <quote>If anyone can create a way to bring old films to "
7392 "new audiences, it is Mike.</quote>"
7395 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7396 #: freeculture.xml:5498
7398 "Spielberg is right. Film sampling by Myers will be brilliant. But if you "
7399 "don't think about it, you might miss the truly astonishing point about this "
7400 "announcement. As the vast majority of our film heritage remains under "
7401 "copyright, the real meaning of the DreamWorks announcement is just this: It "
7402 "is Mike Myers and only Mike Myers who is free to sample. Any general freedom "
7403 "to build upon the film archive of our culture, a freedom in other contexts "
7404 "presumed for us all, is now a privilege reserved for the funny and "
7405 "famous—and presumably rich."
7408 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7409 #: freeculture.xml:5508
7411 "This privilege becomes reserved for two sorts of reasons. The first "
7412 "continues the story of the last chapter: the vagueness of <quote>fair "
7413 "use.</quote> Much of <quote>sampling</quote> should be considered "
7414 "<quote>fair use.</quote> But few would rely upon so weak a doctrine to "
7415 "create. That leads to the second reason that the privilege is reserved for "
7416 "the few: The costs of negotiating the legal rights for the creative reuse of "
7417 "content are astronomically high. These costs mirror the costs with fair "
7418 "use: You either pay a lawyer to defend your fair use rights or pay a lawyer "
7419 "to track down permissions so you don't have to rely upon fair use "
7420 "rights. Either way, the creative process is a process of paying "
7421 "lawyers—again a privilege, or perhaps a curse, reserved for the few."
7424 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7425 #: freeculture.xml:5523
7426 msgid "CHAPTER NINE: Collectors"
7429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7430 #: freeculture.xml:5525 freeculture.xml:8646 freeculture.xml:10856 freeculture.xml:11106
7431 msgid "archives, digital"
7434 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7435 #: freeculture.xml:5528
7437 "In April 1996, millions of <quote>bots</quote>—computer codes designed "
7438 "to <quote>spider,</quote> or automatically search the Internet and copy "
7439 "content—began running across the Net. Page by page, these bots copied "
7440 "Internet-based information onto a small set of computers located in a "
7441 "basement in San Francisco's Presidio. Once the bots finished the whole of "
7442 "the Internet, they started again. Over and over again, once every two "
7443 "months, these bits of code took copies of the Internet and stored them."
7446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7447 #: freeculture.xml:5537
7449 "By October 2001, the bots had collected more than five years of copies. And "
7450 "at a small announcement in Berkeley, California, the archive that these "
7451 "copies created, the Internet Archive, was opened to the world. Using a "
7452 "technology called <quote>the Way Back Machine,</quote> you could enter a Web "
7453 "page, and see all of its copies going back to 1996, as well as when those "
7457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7458 #: freeculture.xml:5545
7459 msgid "Orwell, George"
7462 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7463 #: freeculture.xml:5548
7465 "This is the thing about the Internet that Orwell would have appreciated. In "
7466 "the dystopia described in <citetitle>1984</citetitle>, old newspapers were "
7467 "constantly updated to assure that the current view of the world, approved of "
7468 "by the government, was not contradicted by previous news reports."
7472 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7473 #: freeculture.xml:5556
7475 "Thousands of workers constantly reedited the past, meaning there was no way "
7476 "ever to know whether the story you were reading today was the story that was "
7477 "printed on the date published on the paper."
7480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7481 #: freeculture.xml:5561
7483 "It's the same with the Internet. If you go to a Web page today, there's no "
7484 "way for you to know whether the content you are reading is the same as the "
7485 "content you read before. The page may seem the same, but the content could "
7486 "easily be different. The Internet is Orwell's library—constantly "
7487 "updated, without any reliable memory."
7491 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7492 #: freeculture.xml:5575
7494 "The temptations remain, however. Brewster Kahle reports that the White House "
7495 "changes its own press releases without notice. A May 13, 2003, press release "
7496 "stated, <quote>Combat Operations in Iraq Have Ended.</quote> That was later "
7497 "changed, without notice, to <quote>Major Combat Operations in Iraq Have "
7498 "Ended.</quote> E-mail from Brewster Kahle, 1 December 2003."
7501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7502 #: freeculture.xml:5569
7504 "Until the Way Back Machine, at least. With the Way Back Machine, and the "
7505 "Internet Archive underlying it, you can see what the Internet was. You have "
7506 "the power to see what you remember. More importantly, perhaps, you also have "
7507 "the power to find what you don't remember and what others might prefer you "
7508 "forget.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7511 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7512 #: freeculture.xml:5583
7514 "We take it for granted that we can go back to see what we remember "
7515 "reading. Think about newspapers. If you wanted to study the reaction of your "
7516 "hometown newspaper to the race riots in Watts in 1965, or to Bull Connor's "
7517 "water cannon in 1963, you could go to your public library and look at the "
7518 "newspapers. Those papers probably exist on microfiche. If you're lucky, they "
7519 "exist in paper, too. Either way, you are free, using a library, to go back "
7520 "and remember—not just what it is convenient to remember, but remember "
7521 "something close to the truth."
7524 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7525 #: freeculture.xml:5594
7527 "It is said that those who fail to remember history are doomed to repeat "
7528 "it. That's not quite correct. We <emphasis>all</emphasis> forget "
7529 "history. The key is whether we have a way to go back to rediscover what we "
7530 "forget. More directly, the key is whether an objective past can keep us "
7531 "honest. Libraries help do that, by collecting content and keeping it, for "
7532 "schoolchildren, for researchers, for grandma. A free society presumes this "
7537 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7538 #: freeculture.xml:5603
7540 "The Internet was an exception to this presumption. Until the Internet "
7541 "Archive, there was no way to go back. The Internet was the quintessentially "
7542 "transitory medium. And yet, as it becomes more important in forming and "
7543 "reforming society, it becomes more and more important to maintain in some "
7544 "historical form. It's just bizarre to think that we have scads of archives "
7545 "of newspapers from tiny towns around the world, yet there is but one copy of "
7546 "the Internet—the one kept by the Internet Archive."
7549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7550 #: freeculture.xml:5614
7552 "Brewster Kahle is the founder of the Internet Archive. He was a very "
7553 "successful Internet entrepreneur after he was a successful computer "
7554 "researcher. In the 1990s, Kahle decided he had had enough business "
7555 "success. It was time to become a different kind of success. So he launched "
7556 "a series of projects designed to archive human knowledge. The Internet "
7557 "Archive was just the first of the projects of this Andrew Carnegie of the "
7558 "Internet. By December of 2002, the archive had over 10 billion pages, and it "
7559 "was growing at about a billion pages a month."
7562 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7563 #: freeculture.xml:5624
7565 "The Way Back Machine is the largest archive of human knowledge in human "
7566 "history. At the end of 2002, it held <quote>two hundred and thirty terabytes "
7567 "of material</quote>—and was <quote>ten times larger than the Library "
7568 "of Congress.</quote> And this was just the first of the archives that Kahle "
7569 "set out to build. In addition to the Internet Archive, Kahle has been "
7570 "constructing the Television Archive. Television, it turns out, is even more "
7571 "ephemeral than the Internet. While much of twentieth-century culture was "
7572 "constructed through television, only a tiny proportion of that culture is "
7573 "available for anyone to see today. Three hours of news are recorded each "
7574 "evening by Vanderbilt University—thanks to a specific exemption in the "
7575 "copyright law. That content is indexed, and is available to scholars for a "
7576 "very low fee. <quote>But other than that, [television] is almost "
7577 "unavailable,</quote> Kahle told me. <quote>If you were Barbara Walters you "
7578 "could get access to [the archives], but if you are just a graduate "
7579 "student?</quote> As Kahle put it,"
7582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
7583 #: freeculture.xml:5641
7588 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7589 #: freeculture.xml:5643
7591 "Do you remember when Dan Quayle was interacting with Murphy Brown? Remember "
7592 "that back and forth surreal experience of a politician interacting with a "
7593 "fictional television character? If you were a graduate student wanting to "
7594 "study that, and you wanted to get those original back and forth exchanges "
7595 "between the two, the <citetitle>60 Minutes</citetitle> episode that came out "
7596 "after it … it would be almost impossible. … Those materials "
7597 "are almost unfindable. …"
7600 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7601 #: freeculture.xml:5655
7603 "Why is that? Why is it that the part of our culture that is recorded in "
7604 "newspapers remains perpetually accessible, while the part that is recorded "
7605 "on videotape is not? How is it that we've created a world where researchers "
7606 "trying to understand the effect of media on nineteenthcentury America will "
7607 "have an easier time than researchers trying to understand the effect of "
7608 "media on twentieth-century America?"
7611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7612 #: freeculture.xml:5663
7614 "In part, this is because of the law. Early in American copyright law, "
7615 "copyright owners were required to deposit copies of their work in "
7616 "libraries. These copies were intended both to facilitate the spread of "
7617 "knowledge and to assure that a copy of the work would be around once the "
7618 "copyright expired, so that others might access and copy the work."
7622 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7623 #: freeculture.xml:5680
7625 "Doug Herrick, <quote>Toward a National Film Collection: Motion Pictures at "
7626 "the Library of Congress,</quote> <citetitle>Film Library "
7627 "Quarterly</citetitle> 13 nos. 2–3 (1980): 5; Anthony Slide, "
7628 "<citetitle>Nitrate Won't Wait: A History of Film Preservation in the United "
7629 "States</citetitle> ( Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1992), 36."
7632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7633 #: freeculture.xml:5671
7635 "These rules applied to film as well. But in 1915, the Library of Congress "
7636 "made an exception for film. Film could be copyrighted so long as such "
7637 "deposits were made. But the filmmaker was then allowed to borrow back the "
7638 "deposits—for an unlimited time at no cost. In 1915 alone, there were "
7639 "more than 5,475 films deposited and <quote>borrowed back.</quote> Thus, when "
7640 "the copyrights to films expire, there is no copy held by any library. The "
7641 "copy exists—if it exists at all—in the library archive of the "
7642 "film company.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
7645 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7646 #: freeculture.xml:5688
7648 "The same is generally true about television. Television broadcasts were "
7649 "originally not copyrighted—there was no way to capture the broadcasts, "
7650 "so there was no fear of <quote>theft.</quote> But as technology enabled "
7651 "capturing, broadcasters relied increasingly upon the law. The law required "
7652 "they make a copy of each broadcast for the work to be "
7653 "<quote>copyrighted.</quote> But those copies were simply kept by the "
7654 "broadcasters. No library had any right to them; the government didn't demand "
7655 "them. The content of this part of American culture is practically invisible "
7656 "to anyone who would look."
7660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7661 #: freeculture.xml:5699
7663 "Kahle was eager to correct this. Before September 11, 2001, he and his "
7664 "allies had started capturing television. They selected twenty stations from "
7665 "around the world and hit the Record button. After September 11, Kahle, "
7666 "working with dozens of others, selected twenty stations from around the "
7667 "world and, beginning October 11, 2001, made their coverage during the week "
7668 "of September 11 available free on-line. Anyone could see how news reports "
7669 "from around the world covered the events of that day."
7672 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7673 #: freeculture.xml:5709
7674 msgid "Movie Archive"
7677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
7678 #: freeculture.xml:5711
7682 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><seealso>
7683 #: freeculture.xml:5712
7684 msgid "Internet Archive"
7687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7688 #: freeculture.xml:5715
7690 "Kahle had the same idea with film. Working with Rick Prelinger, whose "
7691 "archive of film includes close to 45,000 <quote>ephemeral films</quote> "
7692 "(meaning films other than Hollywood movies, films that were never "
7693 "copyrighted), Kahle established the Movie Archive. Prelinger let Kahle "
7694 "digitize 1,300 films in this archive and post those films on the Internet to "
7695 "be downloaded for free. Prelinger's is a for-profit company. It sells copies "
7696 "of these films as stock footage. What he has discovered is that after he "
7697 "made a significant chunk available for free, his stock footage sales went up "
7698 "dramatically. People could easily find the material they wanted to use. Some "
7699 "downloaded that material and made films on their own. Others purchased "
7700 "copies to enable other films to be made. Either way, the archive enabled "
7701 "access to this important part of our culture. Want to see a copy of the "
7702 "<quote>Duck and Cover</quote> film that instructed children how to save "
7703 "themselves in the middle of nuclear attack? Go to archive.org, and you can "
7704 "download the film in a few minutes—for free."
7707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7708 #: freeculture.xml:5733
7710 "Here again, Kahle is providing access to a part of our culture that we "
7711 "otherwise could not get easily, if at all. It is yet another part of what "
7712 "defines the twentieth century that we have lost to history. The law doesn't "
7713 "require these copies to be kept by anyone, or to be deposited in an archive "
7714 "by anyone. Therefore, there is no simple way to find them."
7717 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7718 #: freeculture.xml:5741
7720 "The key here is access, not price. Kahle wants to enable free access to this "
7721 "content, but he also wants to enable others to sell access to it. His aim is "
7722 "to ensure competition in access to this important part of our culture. Not "
7723 "during the commercial life of a bit of creative property, but during a "
7724 "second life that all creative property has—a noncommercial life."
7728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7729 #: freeculture.xml:5749
7731 "For here is an idea that we should more clearly recognize. Every bit of "
7732 "creative property goes through different <quote>lives.</quote> In its first "
7733 "life, if the creator is lucky, the content is sold. In such cases the "
7734 "commercial market is successful for the creator. The vast majority of "
7735 "creative property doesn't enjoy such success, but some clearly does. For "
7736 "that content, commercial life is extremely important. Without this "
7737 "commercial market, there would be, many argue, much less creativity."
7740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7741 #: freeculture.xml:5761
7743 "After the commercial life of creative property has ended, our tradition has "
7744 "always supported a second life as well. A newspaper delivers the news every "
7745 "day to the doorsteps of America. The very next day, it is used to wrap fish "
7746 "or to fill boxes with fragile gifts or to build an archive of knowledge "
7747 "about our history. In this second life, the content can continue to inform "
7748 "even if that information is no longer sold."
7752 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
7753 #: freeculture.xml:5773
7755 "Dave Barns, <quote>Fledgling Career in Antique Books: Woodstock Landlord, "
7756 "Bar Owner Starts a New Chapter by Adopting Business,</quote> "
7757 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 5 September 1997, at Metro Lake "
7758 "1L. Of books published between 1927 and 1946, only 2.2 percent were in print "
7759 "in 2002. R. Anthony Reese, <quote>The First Sale Doctrine in the Era of "
7760 "Digital Networks,</quote> <citetitle>Boston College Law Review</citetitle> "
7761 "44 (2003): 593 n. 51."
7764 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7765 #: freeculture.xml:5770
7767 "The same has always been true about books. A book goes out of print very "
7768 "quickly (the average today is after about a year<placeholder "
7769 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>). After it is out of print, it can be sold in "
7770 "used book stores without the copyright owner getting anything and stored in "
7771 "libraries, where many get to read the book, also for free. Used book stores "
7772 "and libraries are thus the second life of a book. That second life is "
7773 "extremely important to the spread and stability of culture."
7776 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7777 #: freeculture.xml:5787
7779 "Yet increasingly, any assumption about a stable second life for creative "
7780 "property does not hold true with the most important components of popular "
7781 "culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For "
7782 "these—television, movies, music, radio, the Internet—there is no "
7783 "guarantee of a second life. For these sorts of culture, it is as if we've "
7784 "replaced libraries with Barnes & Noble superstores. With this culture, "
7785 "what's accessible is nothing but what a certain limited market demands. "
7786 "Beyond that, culture disappears."
7790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7791 #: freeculture.xml:5798
7793 "For most of the twentieth century, it was economics that made this so. It "
7794 "would have been insanely expensive to collect and make accessible all "
7795 "television and film and music: The cost of analog copies is extraordinarily "
7796 "high. So even though the law in principle would have restricted the ability "
7797 "of a Brewster Kahle to copy culture generally, the real restriction was "
7798 "economics. The market made it impossibly difficult to do anything about this "
7799 "ephemeral culture; the law had little practical effect."
7802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7803 #: freeculture.xml:5810
7805 "Perhaps the single most important feature of the digital revolution is that "
7806 "for the first time since the Library of Alexandria, it is feasible to "
7807 "imagine constructing archives that hold all culture produced or distributed "
7808 "publicly. Technology makes it possible to imagine an archive of all books "
7809 "published, and increasingly makes it possible to imagine an archive of all "
7810 "moving images and sound."
7813 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7814 #: freeculture.xml:5818
7816 "The scale of this potential archive is something we've never imagined "
7817 "before. The Brewster Kahles of our history have dreamed about it; but we are "
7818 "for the first time at a point where that dream is possible. As Kahle "
7822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
7823 #: freeculture.xml:5825
7827 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><indexterm><secondary>
7828 #: freeculture.xml:5826
7829 msgid "total number of"
7832 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
7833 #: freeculture.xml:5829
7835 "It looks like there's about two to three million recordings of music. "
7836 "Ever. There are about a hundred thousand theatrical releases of movies, "
7837 "… and about one to two million movies [distributed] during the "
7838 "twentieth century. There are about twenty-six million different titles of "
7839 "books. All of these would fit on computers that would fit in this room and "
7840 "be able to be afforded by a small company. So we're at a turning point in "
7841 "our history. Universal access is the goal. And the opportunity of leading a "
7842 "different life, based on this, is … thrilling. It could be one of the "
7843 "things humankind would be most proud of. Up there with the Library of "
7844 "Alexandria, putting a man on the moon, and the invention of the printing "
7849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7850 #: freeculture.xml:5843
7852 "Kahle is not the only librarian. The Internet Archive is not the only "
7853 "archive. But Kahle and the Internet Archive suggest what the future of "
7854 "libraries or archives could be. <emphasis>When</emphasis> the commercial "
7855 "life of creative property ends, I don't know. But it does. And whenever it "
7856 "does, Kahle and his archive hint at a world where this knowledge, and "
7857 "culture, remains perpetually available. Some will draw upon it to understand "
7858 "it; some to criticize it. Some will use it, as Walt Disney did, to re-create "
7859 "the past for the future. These technologies promise something that had "
7860 "become unimaginable for much of our past—a future "
7861 "<emphasis>for</emphasis> our past. The technology of digital arts could make "
7862 "the dream of the Library of Alexandria real again."
7865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7866 #: freeculture.xml:5858
7868 "Technologists have thus removed the economic costs of building such an "
7869 "archive. But lawyers' costs remain. For as much as we might like to call "
7870 "these <quote>archives,</quote> as warm as the idea of a "
7871 "<quote>library</quote> might seem, the <quote>content</quote> that is "
7872 "collected in these digital spaces is also someone's <quote>property.</quote> "
7873 "And the law of property restricts the freedoms that Kahle and others would "
7877 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
7878 #: freeculture.xml:5869
7879 msgid "CHAPTER TEN: <quote>Property</quote>"
7882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7883 #: freeculture.xml:5878
7884 msgid "Johnson, Lyndon"
7887 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
7888 #: freeculture.xml:5879 freeculture.xml:9608
7889 msgid "Kennedy, John F."
7892 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7893 #: freeculture.xml:5871
7895 "Jack Valenti has been the president of the Motion Picture Association of "
7896 "America since 1966. He first came to Washington, D.C., with Lyndon Johnson's "
7897 "administration—literally. The famous picture of Johnson's swearing-in "
7898 "on Air Force One after the assassination of President Kennedy has Valenti in "
7899 "the background. In his almost forty years of running the MPAA, Valenti has "
7900 "established himself as perhaps the most prominent and effective lobbyist in "
7901 "Washington. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
7902 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
7905 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7906 #: freeculture.xml:5892
7907 msgid "Disney, Inc."
7910 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7911 #: freeculture.xml:5893
7912 msgid "Sony Pictures Entertainment"
7915 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7916 #: freeculture.xml:5894
7920 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7921 #: freeculture.xml:5895
7922 msgid "Paramount Pictures"
7925 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7926 #: freeculture.xml:5896
7927 msgid "Twentieth Century Fox"
7930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
7931 #: freeculture.xml:5897
7932 msgid "Universal Pictures"
7935 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
7936 #: freeculture.xml:5898 freeculture.xml:7310
7937 msgid "Warner Brothers"
7940 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7941 #: freeculture.xml:5882
7943 "The MPAA is the American branch of the international Motion Picture "
7944 "Association. It was formed in 1922 as a trade association whose goal was to "
7945 "defend American movies against increasing domestic criticism. The "
7946 "organization now represents not only filmmakers but producers and "
7947 "distributors of entertainment for television, video, and cable. Its board is "
7948 "made up of the chairmen and presidents of the seven major producers and "
7949 "distributors of motion picture and television programs in the United States: "
7950 "Walt Disney, Sony Pictures Entertainment, MGM, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth "
7951 "Century Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Brothers. <placeholder "
7952 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
7953 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
7954 "id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> <placeholder "
7955 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"6\"/>"
7959 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7960 #: freeculture.xml:5902
7962 "Valenti is only the third president of the MPAA. No president before him has "
7963 "had as much influence over that organization, or over Washington. As a "
7964 "Texan, Valenti has mastered the single most important political skill of a "
7965 "Southerner—the ability to appear simple and slow while hiding a "
7966 "lightning-fast intellect. To this day, Valenti plays the simple, humble "
7967 "man. But this Harvard MBA, and author of four books, who finished high "
7968 "school at the age of fifteen and flew more than fifty combat missions in "
7969 "World War II, is no Mr. Smith. When Valenti went to Washington, he mastered "
7970 "the city in a quintessentially Washingtonian way."
7973 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7974 #: freeculture.xml:5914
7976 "In defending artistic liberty and the freedom of speech that our culture "
7977 "depends upon, the MPAA has done important good. In crafting the MPAA rating "
7978 "system, it has probably avoided a great deal of speech-regulating harm. But "
7979 "there is an aspect to the organization's mission that is both the most "
7980 "radical and the most important. This is the organization's effort, "
7981 "epitomized in Valenti's every act, to redefine the meaning of "
7982 "<quote>creative property.</quote>"
7985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
7986 #: freeculture.xml:5923
7987 msgid "In 1982, Valenti's testimony to Congress captured the strategy perfectly:"
7991 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
7992 #: freeculture.xml:5937
7994 "Home Recording of Copyrighted Works: Hearings on H.R. 4783, H.R. 4794, "
7995 "H.R. 4808, H.R. 5250, H.R. 5488, and H.R. 5705 Before the Subcommittee on "
7996 "Courts, Civil Liberties, and the Administration of Justice of the Committee "
7997 "on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, 97th Cong., 2nd "
7998 "sess. (1982): 65 (testimony of Jack Valenti)."
8001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
8002 #: freeculture.xml:5928
8004 "No matter the lengthy arguments made, no matter the charges and the "
8005 "counter-charges, no matter the tumult and the shouting, reasonable men and "
8006 "women will keep returning to the fundamental issue, the central theme which "
8007 "animates this entire debate: <emphasis>Creative property owners must be "
8008 "accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other property "
8009 "owners in the nation</emphasis>. That is the issue. That is the "
8010 "question. And that is the rostrum on which this entire hearing and the "
8011 "debates to follow must rest.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8016 #: freeculture.xml:5947
8018 "The strategy of this rhetoric, like the strategy of most of Valenti's "
8019 "rhetoric, is brilliant and simple and brilliant because simple. The "
8020 "<quote>central theme</quote> to which <quote>reasonable men and "
8021 "women</quote> will return is this: <quote>Creative property owners must be "
8022 "accorded the same rights and protections resident in all other property "
8023 "owners in the nation.</quote> There are no second-class citizens, Valenti "
8024 "might have continued. There should be no second-class property owners."
8027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8028 #: freeculture.xml:5958
8030 "This claim has an obvious and powerful intuitive pull. It is stated with "
8031 "such clarity as to make the idea as obvious as the notion that we use "
8032 "elections to pick presidents. But in fact, there is no more extreme a claim "
8033 "made by <emphasis>anyone</emphasis> who is serious in this debate than this "
8034 "claim of Valenti's. Jack Valenti, however sweet and however brilliant, is "
8035 "perhaps the nation's foremost extremist when it comes to the nature and "
8036 "scope of <quote>creative property.</quote> His views have "
8037 "<emphasis>no</emphasis> reasonable connection to our actual legal tradition, "
8038 "even if the subtle pull of his Texan charm has slowly redefined that "
8039 "tradition, at least in Washington."
8043 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8044 #: freeculture.xml:5973
8046 "Lawyers speak of <quote>property</quote> not as an absolute thing, but as a "
8047 "bundle of rights that are sometimes associated with a particular "
8048 "object. Thus, my <quote>property right</quote> to my car gives me the right "
8049 "to exclusive use, but not the right to drive at 150 miles an hour. For the "
8050 "best effort to connect the ordinary meaning of <quote>property</quote> to "
8051 "<quote>lawyer talk,</quote> see Bruce Ackerman, <citetitle>Private Property "
8052 "and the Constitution</citetitle> (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), "
8056 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8057 #: freeculture.xml:5970
8059 "While <quote>creative property</quote> is certainly <quote>property</quote> "
8060 "in a nerdy and precise sense that lawyers are trained to "
8061 "understand,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> it has never been the "
8062 "case, nor should it be, that <quote>creative property owners</quote> have "
8063 "been <quote>accorded the same rights and protection resident in all other "
8064 "property owners.</quote> Indeed, if creative property owners were given the "
8065 "same rights as all other property owners, that would effect a radical, and "
8066 "radically undesirable, change in our tradition."
8069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8070 #: freeculture.xml:5988
8072 "Valenti knows this. But he speaks for an industry that cares squat for our "
8073 "tradition and the values it represents. He speaks for an industry that is "
8074 "instead fighting to restore the tradition that the British overturned in "
8075 "1710. In the world that Valenti's changes would create, a powerful few would "
8076 "exercise powerful control over how our creative culture would develop."
8080 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8081 #: freeculture.xml:5996
8083 "I have two purposes in this chapter. The first is to convince you that, "
8084 "historically, Valenti's claim is absolutely wrong. The second is to convince "
8085 "you that it would be terribly wrong for us to reject our history. We have "
8086 "always treated rights in creative property differently from the rights "
8087 "resident in all other property owners. They have never been the same. And "
8088 "they should never be the same, because, however counterintuitive this may "
8089 "seem, to make them the same would be to fundamentally weaken the opportunity "
8090 "for new creators to create. Creativity depends upon the owners of "
8091 "creativity having less than perfect control."
8094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8095 #: freeculture.xml:6011
8097 "Organizations such as the MPAA, whose board includes the most powerful of "
8098 "the old guard, have little interest, their rhetoric notwithstanding, in "
8099 "assuring that the new can displace them. No organization does. No person "
8100 "does. (Ask me about tenure, for example.) But what's good for the MPAA is "
8101 "not necessarily good for America. A society that defends the ideals of free "
8102 "culture must preserve precisely the opportunity for new creativity to "
8103 "threaten the old. To get just a hint that there is something fundamentally "
8104 "wrong in Valenti's argument, we need look no further than the United States "
8105 "Constitution itself."
8108 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8109 #: freeculture.xml:6023
8111 "The framers of our Constitution loved <quote>property.</quote> Indeed, so "
8112 "strongly did they love property that they built into the Constitution an "
8113 "important requirement. If the government takes your property—if it "
8114 "condemns your house, or acquires a slice of land from your farm—it is "
8115 "required, under the Fifth Amendment's <quote>Takings Clause,</quote> to pay "
8116 "you <quote>just compensation</quote> for that taking. The Constitution thus "
8117 "guarantees that property is, in a certain sense, sacred. It cannot "
8118 "<emphasis>ever</emphasis> be taken from the property owner unless the "
8119 "government pays for the privilege."
8123 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8124 #: freeculture.xml:6034
8126 "Yet the very same Constitution speaks very differently about what Valenti "
8127 "calls <quote>creative property.</quote> In the clause granting Congress the "
8128 "power to create <quote>creative property,</quote> the Constitution "
8129 "<emphasis>requires</emphasis> that after a <quote>limited time,</quote> "
8130 "Congress take back the rights that it has granted and set the "
8131 "<quote>creative property</quote> free to the public domain. Yet when "
8132 "Congress does this, when the expiration of a copyright term "
8133 "<quote>takes</quote> your copyright and turns it over to the public domain, "
8134 "Congress does not have any obligation to pay <quote>just "
8135 "compensation</quote> for this <quote>taking.</quote> Instead, the same "
8136 "Constitution that requires compensation for your land requires that you lose "
8137 "your <quote>creative property</quote> right without any compensation at all."
8140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8141 #: freeculture.xml:6049
8143 "The Constitution thus on its face states that these two forms of property "
8144 "are not to be accorded the same rights. They are plainly to be treated "
8145 "differently. Valenti is therefore not just asking for a change in our "
8146 "tradition when he argues that creative-property owners should be accorded "
8147 "the same rights as every other property-right owner. He is effectively "
8148 "arguing for a change in our Constitution itself."
8151 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8152 #: freeculture.xml:6058
8154 "Arguing for a change in our Constitution is not necessarily wrong. There "
8155 "was much in our original Constitution that was plainly wrong. The "
8156 "Constitution of 1789 entrenched slavery; it left senators to be appointed "
8157 "rather than elected; it made it possible for the electoral college to "
8158 "produce a tie between the president and his own vice president (as it did in "
8159 "1800). The framers were no doubt extraordinary, but I would be the first to "
8160 "admit that they made big mistakes. We have since rejected some of those "
8161 "mistakes; no doubt there could be others that we should reject as well. So "
8162 "my argument is not simply that because Jefferson did it, we should, too."
8165 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8166 #: freeculture.xml:6070
8168 "Instead, my argument is that because Jefferson did it, we should at least "
8169 "try to understand <emphasis>why</emphasis>. Why did the framers, fanatical "
8170 "property types that they were, reject the claim that creative property be "
8171 "given the same rights as all other property? Why did they require that for "
8172 "creative property there must be a public domain?"
8175 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8176 #: freeculture.xml:6078
8178 "To answer this question, we need to get some perspective on the history of "
8179 "these <quote>creative property</quote> rights, and the control that they "
8180 "enabled. Once we see clearly how differently these rights have been "
8181 "defined, we will be in a better position to ask the question that should be "
8182 "at the core of this war: Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> creative property "
8183 "should be protected, but how. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> we will "
8184 "enforce the rights the law gives to creative-property owners, but what the "
8185 "particular mix of rights ought to be. Not <emphasis>whether</emphasis> "
8186 "artists should be paid, but whether institutions designed to assure that "
8187 "artists get paid need also control how culture develops."
8191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8192 #: freeculture.xml:6093
8194 "To answer these questions, we need a more general way to talk about how "
8195 "property is protected. More precisely, we need a more general way than the "
8196 "narrow language of the law allows. In <citetitle>Code and Other Laws of "
8197 "Cyberspace</citetitle>, I used a simple model to capture this more general "
8198 "perspective. For any particular right or regulation, this model asks how "
8199 "four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken the "
8200 "right or regulation. I represented it with this diagram:"
8203 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
8204 #: freeculture.xml:6102
8206 "How four different modalities of regulation interact to support or weaken "
8207 "the right or regulation."
8210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8211 #: freeculture.xml:6103 freeculture.xml:6289 freeculture.xml:6596
8212 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1331.png\"></graphic>"
8215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8216 #: freeculture.xml:6106
8218 "At the center of this picture is a regulated dot: the individual or group "
8219 "that is the target of regulation, or the holder of a right. (In each case "
8220 "throughout, we can describe this either as regulation or as a right. For "
8221 "simplicity's sake, I will speak only of regulations.) The ovals represent "
8222 "four ways in which the individual or group might be regulated— either "
8223 "constrained or, alternatively, enabled. Law is the most obvious constraint "
8224 "(to lawyers, at least). It constrains by threatening punishments after the "
8225 "fact if the rules set in advance are violated. So if, for example, you "
8226 "willfully infringe Madonna's copyright by copying a song from her latest CD "
8227 "and posting it on the Web, you can be punished with a $150,000 fine. The "
8228 "fine is an ex post punishment for violating an ex ante rule. It is imposed "
8229 "by the state. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8232 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8233 #: freeculture.xml:6122 freeculture.xml:6183 freeculture.xml:6292
8234 msgid "norms, regulatory influence of"
8237 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8238 #: freeculture.xml:6124
8240 "Norms are a different kind of constraint. They, too, punish an individual "
8241 "for violating a rule. But the punishment of a norm is imposed by a "
8242 "community, not (or not only) by the state. There may be no law against "
8243 "spitting, but that doesn't mean you won't be punished if you spit on the "
8244 "ground while standing in line at a movie. The punishment might not be harsh, "
8245 "though depending upon the community, it could easily be more harsh than many "
8246 "of the punishments imposed by the state. The mark of the difference is not "
8247 "the severity of the rule, but the source of the enforcement."
8250 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8251 #: freeculture.xml:6134 freeculture.xml:6182 freeculture.xml:6272 freeculture.xml:6291 freeculture.xml:9227 freeculture.xml:9425
8252 msgid "market constraints"
8255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8256 #: freeculture.xml:6136
8258 "The market is a third type of constraint. Its constraint is effected through "
8259 "conditions: You can do X if you pay Y; you'll be paid M if you do N. These "
8260 "constraints are obviously not independent of law or norms—it is "
8261 "property law that defines what must be bought if it is to be taken legally; "
8262 "it is norms that say what is appropriately sold. But given a set of norms, "
8263 "and a background of property and contract law, the market imposes a "
8264 "simultaneous constraint upon how an individual or group might behave."
8267 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8268 #: freeculture.xml:6145 freeculture.xml:6181 freeculture.xml:6230 freeculture.xml:6271
8269 msgid "architecture, constraint effected through"
8272 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8273 #: freeculture.xml:6147
8275 "Finally, and for the moment, perhaps, most mysteriously, "
8276 "<quote>architecture</quote>—the physical world as one finds "
8277 "it—is a constraint on behavior. A fallen bridge might constrain your "
8278 "ability to get across a river. Railroad tracks might constrain the ability "
8279 "of a community to integrate its social life. As with the market, "
8280 "architecture does not effect its constraint through ex post "
8281 "punishments. Instead, also as with the market, architecture effects its "
8282 "constraint through simultaneous conditions. These conditions are imposed not "
8283 "by courts enforcing contracts, or by police punishing theft, but by nature, "
8284 "by <quote>architecture.</quote> If a 500-pound boulder blocks your way, it "
8285 "is the law of gravity that enforces this constraint. If a $500 airplane "
8286 "ticket stands between you and a flight to New York, it is the market that "
8287 "enforces this constraint."
8291 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8292 #: freeculture.xml:6164
8294 "So the first point about these four modalities of regulation is obvious: "
8295 "They interact. Restrictions imposed by one might be reinforced by "
8296 "another. Or restrictions imposed by one might be undermined by another."
8299 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8300 #: freeculture.xml:6170
8302 "The second point follows directly: If we want to understand the effective "
8303 "freedom that anyone has at a given moment to do any particular thing, we "
8304 "have to consider how these four modalities interact. Whether or not there "
8305 "are other constraints (there may well be; my claim is not about "
8306 "comprehensiveness), these four are among the most significant, and any "
8307 "regulator (whether controlling or freeing) must consider how these four in "
8308 "particular interact."
8311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
8312 #: freeculture.xml:6179
8313 msgid "driving speed, constraints on"
8316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8317 #: freeculture.xml:6185
8319 "So, for example, consider the <quote>freedom</quote> to drive a car at a "
8320 "high speed. That freedom is in part restricted by laws: speed limits that "
8321 "say how fast you can drive in particular places at particular times. It is "
8322 "in part restricted by architecture: speed bumps, for example, slow most "
8323 "rational drivers; governors in buses, as another example, set the maximum "
8324 "rate at which the driver can drive. The freedom is in part restricted by the "
8325 "market: Fuel efficiency drops as speed increases, thus the price of gasoline "
8326 "indirectly constrains speed. And finally, the norms of a community may or "
8327 "may not constrain the freedom to speed. Drive at 50 mph by a school in your "
8328 "own neighborhood and you're likely to be punished by the neighbors. The same "
8329 "norm wouldn't be as effective in a different town, or at night."
8333 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8334 #: freeculture.xml:6203
8336 "By describing the way law affects the other three modalities, I don't mean "
8337 "to suggest that the other three don't affect law. Obviously, they do. Law's "
8338 "only distinction is that it alone speaks as if it has a right "
8339 "self-consciously to change the other three. The right of the other three is "
8340 "more timidly expressed. See Lawrence Lessig, <citetitle>Code: And Other "
8341 "Laws of Cyberspace</citetitle> (New York: Basic Books, 1999): 90–95; "
8342 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>The New Chicago School,</quote> <citetitle>Journal "
8343 "of Legal Studies</citetitle>, June 1998."
8347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8348 #: freeculture.xml:6199
8350 "The final point about this simple model should also be fairly clear: While "
8351 "these four modalities are analytically independent, law has a special role "
8352 "in affecting the three.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The law, in "
8353 "other words, sometimes operates to increase or decrease the constraint of a "
8354 "particular modality. Thus, the law might be used to increase taxes on "
8355 "gasoline, so as to increase the incentives to drive more slowly. The law "
8356 "might be used to mandate more speed bumps, so as to increase the difficulty "
8357 "of driving rapidly. The law might be used to fund ads that stigmatize "
8358 "reckless driving. Or the law might be used to require that other laws be "
8359 "more strict—a federal requirement that states decrease the speed "
8360 "limit, for example—so as to decrease the attractiveness of fast "
8364 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
8365 #: freeculture.xml:6227
8366 msgid "Law has a special role in affecting the three."
8369 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
8370 #: freeculture.xml:6228
8371 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1361.png\"></graphic>"
8374 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8375 #: freeculture.xml:6269
8376 msgid "Americans with Disabilities Act (1990)"
8379 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8380 #: freeculture.xml:6270
8381 msgid "Commons, John R."
8384 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
8385 #: freeculture.xml:6240
8387 "Some people object to this way of talking about <quote>liberty.</quote> They "
8388 "object because their focus when considering the constraints that exist at "
8389 "any particular moment are constraints imposed exclusively by the "
8390 "government. For instance, if a storm destroys a bridge, these people think "
8391 "it is meaningless to say that one's liberty has been restrained. A bridge "
8392 "has washed out, and it's harder to get from one place to another. To talk "
8393 "about this as a loss of freedom, they say, is to confuse the stuff of "
8394 "politics with the vagaries of ordinary life. I don't mean to deny the value "
8395 "in this narrower view, which depends upon the context of the inquiry. I do, "
8396 "however, mean to argue against any insistence that this narrower view is the "
8397 "only proper view of liberty. As I argued in <citetitle>Code</citetitle>, we "
8398 "come from a long tradition of political thought with a broader focus than "
8399 "the narrow question of what the government did when. John Stuart Mill "
8400 "defended freedom of speech, for example, from the tyranny of narrow minds, "
8401 "not from the fear of government prosecution; John Stuart Mill, <citetitle>On "
8402 "Liberty</citetitle> (Indiana: Hackett Publishing Co., 1978), 19. John "
8403 "R. Commons famously defended the economic freedom of labor from constraints "
8404 "imposed by the market; John R. Commons, <quote>The Right to Work,</quote> in "
8405 "Malcom Rutherford and Warren J. Samuels, eds., <citetitle>John R. Commons: "
8406 "Selected Essays</citetitle> (London: Routledge: 1997), 62. The Americans "
8407 "with Disabilities Act increases the liberty of people with physical "
8408 "disabilities by changing the architecture of certain public places, thereby "
8409 "making access to those places easier; 42 <citetitle>United States "
8410 "Code</citetitle>, section 12101 (2000). Each of these interventions to "
8411 "change existing conditions changes the liberty of a particular group. The "
8412 "effect of those interventions should be accounted for in order to understand "
8413 "the effective liberty that each of these groups might face. <placeholder "
8414 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
8415 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
8419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
8420 #: freeculture.xml:6232
8422 "These constraints can thus change, and they can be changed. To understand "
8423 "the effective protection of liberty or protection of property at any "
8424 "particular moment, we must track these changes over time. A restriction "
8425 "imposed by one modality might be erased by another. A freedom enabled by one "
8426 "modality might be displaced by another.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
8430 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8431 #: freeculture.xml:6276
8432 msgid "Why Hollywood Is Right"
8435 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8436 #: freeculture.xml:6278
8438 "The most obvious point that this model reveals is just why, or just how, "
8439 "Hollywood is right. The copyright warriors have rallied Congress and the "
8440 "courts to defend copyright. This model helps us see why that rallying makes "
8444 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8445 #: freeculture.xml:6284
8446 msgid "Let's say this is the picture of copyright's regulation before the Internet:"
8449 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8450 #: freeculture.xml:6288 freeculture.xml:6595
8451 msgid "Copyright's regulation before the Internet."
8455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8456 #: freeculture.xml:6295
8458 "There is balance between law, norms, market, and architecture. The law "
8459 "limits the ability to copy and share content, by imposing penalties on those "
8460 "who copy and share content. Those penalties are reinforced by technologies "
8461 "that make it hard to copy and share content (architecture) and expensive to "
8462 "copy and share content (market). Finally, those penalties are mitigated by "
8463 "norms we all recognize—kids, for example, taping other kids' "
8464 "records. These uses of copyrighted material may well be infringement, but "
8465 "the norms of our society (before the Internet, at least) had no problem with "
8466 "this form of infringement."
8469 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8470 #: freeculture.xml:6307
8472 "Enter the Internet, or, more precisely, technologies such as MP3s and p2p "
8473 "sharing. Now the constraint of architecture changes dramatically, as does "
8474 "the constraint of the market. And as both the market and architecture relax "
8475 "the regulation of copyright, norms pile on. The happy balance (for the "
8476 "warriors, at least) of life before the Internet becomes an effective state "
8477 "of anarchy after the Internet."
8481 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8482 #: freeculture.xml:6315
8484 "Thus the sense of, and justification for, the warriors' response. "
8485 "Technology has changed, the warriors say, and the effect of this change, "
8486 "when ramified through the market and norms, is that a balance of protection "
8487 "for the copyright owners' rights has been lost. This is Iraq after the fall "
8488 "of Saddam, but this time no government is justifying the looting that "
8492 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8493 #: freeculture.xml:6325
8494 msgid "effective state of anarchy after the Internet."
8497 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8498 #: freeculture.xml:6326
8499 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1381.png\"></graphic>"
8502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8503 #: freeculture.xml:6329
8505 "Neither this analysis nor the conclusions that follow are new to the "
8506 "warriors. Indeed, in a <quote>White Paper</quote> prepared by the Commerce "
8507 "Department (one heavily influenced by the copyright warriors) in 1995, this "
8508 "mix of regulatory modalities had already been identified and the strategy to "
8509 "respond already mapped. In response to the changes the Internet had "
8510 "effected, the White Paper argued (1) Congress should strengthen intellectual "
8511 "property law, (2) businesses should adopt innovative marketing techniques, "
8512 "(3) technologists should push to develop code to protect copyrighted "
8513 "material, and (4) educators should educate kids to better protect copyright."
8517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8518 #: freeculture.xml:6341
8520 "This mixed strategy is just what copyright needed—if it was to "
8521 "preserve the particular balance that existed before the change induced by "
8522 "the Internet. And it's just what we should expect the content industry to "
8523 "push for. It is as American as apple pie to consider the happy life you have "
8524 "as an entitlement, and to look to the law to protect it if something comes "
8525 "along to change that happy life. Homeowners living in a flood plain have no "
8526 "hesitation appealing to the government to rebuild (and rebuild again) when a "
8527 "flood (architecture) wipes away their property (law). Farmers have no "
8528 "hesitation appealing to the government to bail them out when a virus "
8529 "(architecture) devastates their crop. Unions have no hesitation appealing to "
8530 "the government to bail them out when imports (market) wipe out the "
8531 "U.S. steel industry."
8534 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8535 #: freeculture.xml:6358
8537 "Thus, there's nothing wrong or surprising in the content industry's campaign "
8538 "to protect itself from the harmful consequences of a technological "
8539 "innovation. And I would be the last person to argue that the changing "
8540 "technology of the Internet has not had a profound effect on the content "
8541 "industry's way of doing business, or as John Seely Brown describes it, its "
8542 "<quote>architecture of revenue.</quote>"
8545 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8546 #: freeculture.xml:6365
8547 msgid "railroad industry"
8551 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8552 #: freeculture.xml:6376
8554 "See Geoffrey Smith, <quote>Film vs. Digital: Can Kodak Build a "
8555 "Bridge?</quote> BusinessWeek online, 2 August 1999, available at <ulink "
8556 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #23</ulink>. For a more recent "
8557 "analysis of Kodak's place in the market, see Chana R. Schoenberger, "
8558 "<quote>Can Kodak Make Up for Lost Moments?</quote> Forbes.com, 6 October "
8559 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
8563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8564 #: freeculture.xml:6368
8566 "But just because a particular interest asks for government support, it "
8567 "doesn't follow that support should be granted. And just because technology "
8568 "has weakened a particular way of doing business, it doesn't follow that the "
8569 "government should intervene to support that old way of doing "
8570 "business. Kodak, for example, has lost perhaps as much as 20 percent of "
8571 "their traditional film market to the emerging technologies of digital "
8572 "cameras.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Does anyone believe the "
8573 "government should ban digital cameras just to support Kodak? Highways have "
8574 "weakened the freight business for railroads. Does anyone think we should ban "
8575 "trucks from roads <emphasis>for the purpose of</emphasis> protecting the "
8576 "railroads? Closer to the subject of this book, remote channel changers have "
8577 "weakened the <quote>stickiness</quote> of television advertising (if a "
8578 "boring commercial comes on the TV, the remote makes it easy to surf ), and "
8579 "it may well be that this change has weakened the television advertising "
8580 "market. But does anyone believe we should regulate remotes to reinforce "
8581 "commercial television? (Maybe by limiting them to function only once a "
8582 "second, or to switch to only ten channels within an hour?)"
8585 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
8586 #: freeculture.xml:6397 freeculture.xml:14679
8587 msgid "Brezhnev, Leonid"
8590 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
8591 #: freeculture.xml:6398 freeculture.xml:12943
8596 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8597 #: freeculture.xml:6410
8599 "Fred Warshofsky, <citetitle>The Patent Wars</citetitle> (New York: Wiley, "
8600 "1994), 170–71."
8603 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8604 #: freeculture.xml:6400
8606 "The obvious answer to these obviously rhetorical questions is no. In a free "
8607 "society, with a free market, supported by free enterprise and free trade, "
8608 "the government's role is not to support one way of doing business against "
8609 "others. Its role is not to pick winners and protect them against loss. If "
8610 "the government did this generally, then we would never have any progress. As "
8611 "Microsoft chairman Bill Gates wrote in 1991, in a memo criticizing software "
8612 "patents, <quote>established companies have an interest in excluding future "
8613 "competitors.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And relative "
8614 "to a startup, established companies also have the means. (Think RCA and FM "
8615 "radio.) A world in which competitors with new ideas must fight not only the "
8616 "market but also the government is a world in which competitors with new "
8617 "ideas will not succeed. It is a world of stasis and increasingly "
8618 "concentrated stagnation. It is the Soviet Union under Brezhnev."
8621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8622 #: freeculture.xml:6421
8624 "Thus, while it is understandable for industries threatened with new "
8625 "technologies that change the way they do business to look to the government "
8626 "for protection, it is the special duty of policy makers to guarantee that "
8627 "that protection not become a deterrent to progress. It is the duty of policy "
8628 "makers, in other words, to assure that the changes they create, in response "
8629 "to the request of those hurt by changing technology, are changes that "
8630 "preserve the incentives and opportunities for innovation and change."
8633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8634 #: freeculture.xml:6431
8636 "In the context of laws regulating speech—which include, obviously, "
8637 "copyright law—that duty is even stronger. When the industry "
8638 "complaining about changing technologies is asking Congress to respond in a "
8639 "way that burdens speech and creativity, policy makers should be especially "
8640 "wary of the request. It is always a bad deal for the government to get into "
8641 "the business of regulating speech markets. The risks and dangers of that "
8642 "game are precisely why our framers created the First Amendment to our "
8643 "Constitution: <quote>Congress shall make no law … abridging the "
8644 "freedom of speech.</quote> So when Congress is being asked to pass laws that "
8645 "would <quote>abridge</quote> the freedom of speech, it should ask— "
8646 "carefully—whether such regulation is justified."
8650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8651 #: freeculture.xml:6445
8653 "My argument just now, however, has nothing to do with whether the changes "
8654 "that are being pushed by the copyright warriors are "
8655 "<quote>justified.</quote> My argument is about their effect. For before we "
8656 "get to the question of justification, a hard question that depends a great "
8657 "deal upon your values, we should first ask whether we understand the effect "
8658 "of the changes the content industry wants."
8661 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8662 #: freeculture.xml:6454
8663 msgid "Here's the metaphor that will capture the argument to follow."
8666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8667 #: freeculture.xml:6457
8671 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
8672 #: freeculture.xml:6465
8673 msgid "Müller, Paul Hermann"
8676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8677 #: freeculture.xml:6460
8679 "In 1873, the chemical DDT was first synthesized. In 1948, Swiss chemist Paul "
8680 "Hermann Müller won the Nobel Prize for his work demonstrating the "
8681 "insecticidal properties of DDT. By the 1950s, the insecticide was widely "
8682 "used around the world to kill disease-carrying pests. It was also used to "
8683 "increase farm production. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8687 #: freeculture.xml:6468
8689 "No one doubts that killing disease-carrying pests or increasing crop "
8690 "production is a good thing. No one doubts that the work of Müller was "
8691 "important and valuable and probably saved lives, possibly millions."
8694 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8695 #: freeculture.xml:6472
8696 msgid "Carson, Rachel"
8699 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8700 #: freeculture.xml:6473
8701 msgid "Silent Sprint (Carson)"
8704 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8705 #: freeculture.xml:6475
8707 "But in 1962, Rachel Carson published <citetitle>Silent Spring</citetitle>, "
8708 "which argued that DDT, whatever its primary benefits, was also having "
8709 "unintended environmental consequences. Birds were losing the ability to "
8710 "reproduce. Whole chains of the ecology were being destroyed."
8713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8714 #: freeculture.xml:6481
8716 "No one set out to destroy the environment. Paul Müller certainly did not aim "
8717 "to harm any birds. But the effort to solve one set of problems produced "
8718 "another set which, in the view of some, was far worse than the problems that "
8719 "were originally attacked. Or more accurately, the problems DDT caused were "
8720 "worse than the problems it solved, at least when considering the other, more "
8721 "environmentally friendly ways to solve the problems that DDT was meant to "
8725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
8726 #: freeculture.xml:6489
8727 msgid "Boyle, James"
8731 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8732 #: freeculture.xml:6495
8734 "See, for example, James Boyle, <quote>A Politics of Intellectual Property: "
8735 "Environmentalism for the Net?</quote> <citetitle>Duke Law "
8736 "Journal</citetitle> 47 (1997): 87."
8740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8741 #: freeculture.xml:6491
8743 "It is to this image precisely that Duke University law professor James Boyle "
8744 "appeals when he argues that we need an <quote>environmentalism</quote> for "
8745 "culture.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His point, and the point I "
8746 "want to develop in the balance of this chapter, is not that the aims of "
8747 "copyright are flawed. Or that authors should not be paid for their work. Or "
8748 "that music should be given away <quote>for free.</quote> The point is that "
8749 "some of the ways in which we might protect authors will have unintended "
8750 "consequences for the cultural environment, much like DDT had for the natural "
8751 "environment. And just as criticism of DDT is not an endorsement of malaria "
8752 "or an attack on farmers, so, too, is criticism of one particular set of "
8753 "regulations protecting copyright not an endorsement of anarchy or an attack "
8754 "on authors. It is an environment of creativity that we seek, and we should "
8755 "be aware of our actions' effects on the environment."
8758 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8759 #: freeculture.xml:6512
8761 "My argument, in the balance of this chapter, tries to map exactly this "
8762 "effect. No doubt the technology of the Internet has had a dramatic effect on "
8763 "the ability of copyright owners to protect their content. But there should "
8764 "also be little doubt that when you add together the changes in copyright law "
8765 "over time, plus the change in technology that the Internet is undergoing "
8766 "just now, the net effect of these changes will not be only that copyrighted "
8767 "work is effectively protected. Also, and generally missed, the net effect of "
8768 "this massive increase in protection will be devastating to the environment "
8772 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8773 #: freeculture.xml:6523
8775 "In a line: To kill a gnat, we are spraying DDT with consequences for free "
8776 "culture that will be far more devastating than that this gnat will be lost."
8779 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8780 #: freeculture.xml:6530
8784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8785 #: freeculture.xml:6532
8787 "America copied English copyright law. Actually, we copied and improved "
8788 "English copyright law. Our Constitution makes the purpose of <quote>creative "
8789 "property</quote> rights clear; its express limitations reinforce the English "
8790 "aim to avoid overly powerful publishers."
8793 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8794 #: freeculture.xml:6538
8796 "The power to establish <quote>creative property</quote> rights is granted to "
8797 "Congress in a way that, for our Constitution, at least, is very odd. Article "
8798 "I, section 8, clause 8 of our Constitution states that:"
8802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8803 #: freeculture.xml:6543
8805 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, "
8806 "by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right "
8807 "to their respective Writings and Discoveries. We can call this the "
8808 "<quote>Progress Clause,</quote> for notice what this clause does not say. It "
8809 "does not say Congress has the power to grant <quote>creative property "
8810 "rights.</quote> It says that Congress has the power <emphasis>to promote "
8811 "progress</emphasis>. The grant of power is its purpose, and its purpose is a "
8812 "public one, not the purpose of enriching publishers, nor even primarily the "
8813 "purpose of rewarding authors."
8816 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8817 #: freeculture.xml:6556
8819 "The Progress Clause expressly limits the term of copyrights. As we saw in "
8820 "chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"founders\"/>, the "
8821 "English limited the term of copyright so as to assure that a few would not "
8822 "exercise disproportionate control over culture by exercising "
8823 "disproportionate control over publishing. We can assume the framers followed "
8824 "the English for a similar purpose. Indeed, unlike the English, the framers "
8825 "reinforced that objective, by requiring that copyrights extend <quote>to "
8826 "Authors</quote> only."
8829 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8830 #: freeculture.xml:6566
8832 "The design of the Progress Clause reflects something about the "
8833 "Constitution's design in general. To avoid a problem, the framers built "
8834 "structure. To prevent the concentrated power of publishers, they built a "
8835 "structure that kept copyrights away from publishers and kept them short. To "
8836 "prevent the concentrated power of a church, they banned the federal "
8837 "government from establishing a church. To prevent concentrating power in the "
8838 "federal government, they built structures to reinforce the power of the "
8839 "states—including the Senate, whose members were at the time selected "
8840 "by the states, and an electoral college, also selected by the states, to "
8841 "select the president. In each case, a <emphasis>structure</emphasis> built "
8842 "checks and balances into the constitutional frame, structured to prevent "
8843 "otherwise inevitable concentrations of power."
8846 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8847 #: freeculture.xml:6581
8849 "I doubt the framers would recognize the regulation we call "
8850 "<quote>copyright</quote> today. The scope of that regulation is far beyond "
8851 "anything they ever considered. To begin to understand what they did, we need "
8852 "to put our <quote>copyright</quote> in context: We need to see how it has "
8853 "changed in the 210 years since they first struck its design."
8857 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8858 #: freeculture.xml:6588
8860 "Some of these changes come from the law: some in light of changes in "
8861 "technology, and some in light of changes in technology given a particular "
8862 "concentration of market power. In terms of our model, we started here:"
8865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8866 #: freeculture.xml:6599
8867 msgid "We will end here:"
8870 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
8871 #: freeculture.xml:6602
8872 msgid "<quote>Copyright</quote> today."
8875 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
8876 #: freeculture.xml:6603
8877 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1442.png\"></graphic>"
8881 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8882 #: freeculture.xml:6606
8883 msgid "Let me explain how."
8886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
8887 #: freeculture.xml:6611
8888 msgid "Law: Duration"
8891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
8892 #: freeculture.xml:6627
8893 msgid "Crosskey, William W."
8896 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8897 #: freeculture.xml:6621
8899 "William W. Crosskey, <citetitle>Politics and the Constitution in the History "
8900 "of the United States</citetitle> (London: Cambridge University Press, 1953), "
8901 "vol. 1, 485–86: <quote>extinguish[ing], by plain implication of `the "
8902 "supreme Law of the Land,' <emphasis>the perpetual rights which authors had, "
8903 "or were supposed by some to have, under the Common Law</emphasis></quote> "
8904 "(emphasis added). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
8907 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8908 #: freeculture.xml:6613
8910 "When the first Congress enacted laws to protect creative property, it faced "
8911 "the same uncertainty about the status of creative property that the English "
8912 "had confronted in 1774. Many states had passed laws protecting creative "
8913 "property, and some believed that these laws simply supplemented common law "
8914 "rights that already protected creative authorship.<placeholder "
8915 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> This meant that there was no guaranteed public "
8916 "domain in the United States in 1790. If copyrights were protected by the "
8917 "common law, then there was no simple way to know whether a work published in "
8918 "the United States was controlled or free. Just as in England, this lingering "
8919 "uncertainty would make it hard for publishers to rely upon a public domain "
8920 "to reprint and distribute works."
8923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8924 #: freeculture.xml:6637
8926 "That uncertainty ended after Congress passed legislation granting "
8927 "copyrights. Because federal law overrides any contrary state law, federal "
8928 "protections for copyrighted works displaced any state law protections. Just "
8929 "as in England the Statute of Anne eventually meant that the copyrights for "
8930 "all English works expired, a federal statute meant that any state copyrights "
8934 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8935 #: freeculture.xml:6645
8937 "In 1790, Congress enacted the first copyright law. It created a federal "
8938 "copyright and secured that copyright for fourteen years. If the author was "
8939 "alive at the end of that fourteen years, then he could opt to renew the "
8940 "copyright for another fourteen years. If he did not renew the copyright, his "
8941 "work passed into the public domain."
8945 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8946 #: freeculture.xml:6660
8948 "Although 13,000 titles were published in the United States from 1790 to "
8949 "1799, only 556 copyright registrations were filed; John Tebbel, <citetitle>A "
8950 "History of Book Publishing in the United States</citetitle>, vol. 1, "
8951 "<citetitle>The Creation of an Industry, 1630–1865</citetitle> (New "
8952 "York: Bowker, 1972), 141. Of the 21,000 imprints recorded before 1790, only "
8953 "twelve were copyrighted under the 1790 act; William J. Maher, "
8954 "<citetitle>Copyright Term, Retrospective Extension and the Copyright Law of "
8955 "1790 in Historical Context</citetitle>, 7–10 (2002), available at "
8956 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #25</ulink>. Thus, the "
8957 "overwhelming majority of works fell immediately into the public domain. Even "
8958 "those works that were copyrighted fell into the public domain quickly, "
8959 "because the term of copyright was short. The initial term of copyright was "
8960 "fourteen years, with the option of renewal for an additional fourteen "
8961 "years. Copyright Act of May 31, 1790, §1, 1 stat. 124."
8964 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8965 #: freeculture.xml:6652
8967 "While there were many works created in the United States in the first ten "
8968 "years of the Republic, only 5 percent of the works were actually registered "
8969 "under the federal copyright regime. Of all the work created in the United "
8970 "States both before 1790 and from 1790 through 1800, 95 percent immediately "
8971 "passed into the public domain; the balance would pass into the pubic domain "
8972 "within twenty-eight years at most, and more likely within fourteen "
8973 "years.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
8977 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
8978 #: freeculture.xml:6676
8980 "This system of renewal was a crucial part of the American system of "
8981 "copyright. It assured that the maximum terms of copyright would be granted "
8982 "only for works where they were wanted. After the initial term of fourteen "
8983 "years, if it wasn't worth it to an author to renew his copyright, then it "
8984 "wasn't worth it to society to insist on the copyright, either."
8988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
8989 #: freeculture.xml:6691
8991 "Few copyright holders ever chose to renew their copyrights. For instance, of "
8992 "the 25,006 copyrights registered in 1883, only 894 were renewed in 1910. For "
8993 "a year-by-year analysis of copyright renewal rates, see Barbara A. Ringer, "
8994 "<quote>Study No. 31: Renewal of Copyright,</quote> <citetitle>Studies on "
8995 "Copyright</citetitle>, vol. 1 (New York: Practicing Law Institute, 1963), "
8996 "618. For a more recent and comprehensive analysis, see William M. Landes and "
8997 "Richard A. Posner, <quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> "
8998 "<citetitle>University of Chicago Law Review</citetitle> 70 (2003): 471, "
8999 "498–501, and accompanying figures."
9002 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9003 #: freeculture.xml:6685
9005 "Fourteen years may not seem long to us, but for the vast majority of "
9006 "copyright owners at that time, it was long enough: Only a small minority of "
9007 "them renewed their copyright after fourteen years; the balance allowed their "
9008 "work to pass into the public domain.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
9013 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9014 #: freeculture.xml:6706
9015 msgid "See Ringer, ch. 9, n. 2."
9018 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9019 #: freeculture.xml:6702
9021 "Even today, this structure would make sense. Most creative work has an "
9022 "actual commercial life of just a couple of years. Most books fall out of "
9023 "print after one year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When that "
9024 "happens, the used books are traded free of copyright regulation. Thus the "
9025 "books are no longer <emphasis>effectively</emphasis> controlled by "
9026 "copyright. The only practical commercial use of the books at that time is to "
9027 "sell the books as used books; that use—because it does not involve "
9028 "publication—is effectively free."
9031 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9032 #: freeculture.xml:6714
9034 "In the first hundred years of the Republic, the term of copyright was "
9035 "changed once. In 1831, the term was increased from a maximum of 28 years to "
9036 "a maximum of 42 by increasing the initial term of copyright from 14 years to "
9037 "28 years. In the next fifty years of the Republic, the term increased once "
9038 "again. In 1909, Congress extended the renewal term of 14 years to 28 years, "
9039 "setting a maximum term of 56 years."
9042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9043 #: freeculture.xml:6722
9045 "Then, beginning in 1962, Congress started a practice that has defined "
9046 "copyright law since. Eleven times in the last forty years, Congress has "
9047 "extended the terms of existing copyrights; twice in those forty years, "
9048 "Congress extended the term of future copyrights. Initially, the extensions "
9049 "of existing copyrights were short, a mere one to two years. In 1976, "
9050 "Congress extended all existing copyrights by nineteen years. And in 1998, "
9051 "in the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, Congress extended the term "
9052 "of existing and future copyrights by twenty years."
9056 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9057 #: freeculture.xml:6732
9059 "The effect of these extensions is simply to toll, or delay, the passing of "
9060 "works into the public domain. This latest extension means that the public "
9061 "domain will have been tolled for thirty-nine out of fifty-five years, or 70 "
9062 "percent of the time since 1962. Thus, in the twenty years after the Sonny "
9063 "Bono Act, while one million patents will pass into the public domain, zero "
9064 "copyrights will pass into the public domain by virtue of the expiration of a "
9068 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9069 #: freeculture.xml:6743
9071 "The effect of these extensions has been exacerbated by another, "
9072 "little-noticed change in the copyright law. Remember I said that the framers "
9073 "established a two-part copyright regime, requiring a copyright owner to "
9074 "renew his copyright after an initial term. The requirement of renewal meant "
9075 "that works that no longer needed copyright protection would pass more "
9076 "quickly into the public domain. The works remaining under protection would "
9077 "be those that had some continuing commercial value."
9080 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9081 #: freeculture.xml:6753
9083 "The United States abandoned this sensible system in 1976. For all works "
9084 "created after 1978, there was only one copyright term—the maximum "
9085 "term. For <quote>natural</quote> authors, that term was life plus fifty "
9086 "years. For corporations, the term was seventy-five years. Then, in 1992, "
9087 "Congress abandoned the renewal requirement for all works created before "
9088 "1978. All works still under copyright would be accorded the maximum term "
9089 "then available. After the Sonny Bono Act, that term was ninety-five years."
9092 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9093 #: freeculture.xml:6763
9095 "This change meant that American law no longer had an automatic way to assure "
9096 "that works that were no longer exploited passed into the public domain. And "
9097 "indeed, after these changes, it is unclear whether it is even possible to "
9098 "put works into the public domain. The public domain is orphaned by these "
9099 "changes in copyright law. Despite the requirement that terms be "
9100 "<quote>limited,</quote> we have no evidence that anything will limit them."
9104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9105 #: freeculture.xml:6780
9107 "These statistics are understated. Between the years 1910 and 1962 (the first "
9108 "year the renewal term was extended), the average term was never more than "
9109 "thirty-two years, and averaged thirty years. See Landes and Posner, "
9110 "<quote>Indefinitely Renewable Copyright,</quote> loc. cit."
9113 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9114 #: freeculture.xml:6772
9116 "The effect of these changes on the average duration of copyright is "
9117 "dramatic. In 1973, more than 85 percent of copyright owners failed to renew "
9118 "their copyright. That meant that the average term of copyright in 1973 was "
9119 "just 32.2 years. Because of the elimination of the renewal requirement, the "
9120 "average term of copyright is now the maximum term. In thirty years, then, "
9121 "the average term has tripled, from 32.2 years to 95 years.<placeholder "
9122 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9125 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9126 #: freeculture.xml:6789
9130 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9131 #: freeculture.xml:6791
9133 "The <quote>scope</quote> of a copyright is the range of rights granted by "
9134 "the law. The scope of American copyright has changed dramatically. Those "
9135 "changes are not necessarily bad. But we should understand the extent of the "
9136 "changes if we're to keep this debate in context."
9139 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9140 #: freeculture.xml:6797
9142 "In 1790, that scope was very narrow. Copyright covered only <quote>maps, "
9143 "charts, and books.</quote> That means it didn't cover, for example, music or "
9144 "architecture. More significantly, the right granted by a copyright gave the "
9145 "author the exclusive right to <quote>publish</quote> copyrighted works. That "
9146 "means someone else violated the copyright only if he republished the work "
9147 "without the copyright owner's permission. Finally, the right granted by a "
9148 "copyright was an exclusive right to that particular book. The right did not "
9149 "extend to what lawyers call <quote>derivative works.</quote> It would not, "
9150 "therefore, interfere with the right of someone other than the author to "
9151 "translate a copyrighted book, or to adapt the story to a different form "
9152 "(such as a drama based on a published book)."
9155 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9156 #: freeculture.xml:6810
9158 "This, too, has changed dramatically. While the contours of copyright today "
9159 "are extremely hard to describe simply, in general terms, the right covers "
9160 "practically any creative work that is reduced to a tangible form. It covers "
9161 "music as well as architecture, drama as well as computer programs. It gives "
9162 "the copyright owner of that creative work not only the exclusive right to "
9163 "<quote>publish</quote> the work, but also the exclusive right of control "
9164 "over any <quote>copies</quote> of that work. And most significant for our "
9165 "purposes here, the right gives the copyright owner control over not only his "
9166 "or her particular work, but also any <quote>derivative work</quote> that "
9167 "might grow out of the original work. In this way, the right covers more "
9168 "creative work, protects the creative work more broadly, and protects works "
9169 "that are based in a significant way on the initial creative work."
9173 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9174 #: freeculture.xml:6825
9176 "At the same time that the scope of copyright has expanded, procedural "
9177 "limitations on the right have been relaxed. I've already described the "
9178 "complete removal of the renewal requirement in 1992. In addition to the "
9179 "renewal requirement, for most of the history of American copyright law, "
9180 "there was a requirement that a work be registered before it could receive "
9181 "the protection of a copyright. There was also a requirement that any "
9182 "copyrighted work be marked either with that famous © or the word "
9183 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis>. And for most of the history of American "
9184 "copyright law, there was a requirement that works be deposited with the "
9185 "government before a copyright could be secured."
9188 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9189 #: freeculture.xml:6839
9191 "The reason for the registration requirement was the sensible understanding "
9192 "that for most works, no copyright was required. Again, in the first ten "
9193 "years of the Republic, 95 percent of works eligible for copyright were never "
9194 "copyrighted. Thus, the rule reflected the norm: Most works apparently didn't "
9195 "need copyright, so registration narrowed the regulation of the law to the "
9196 "few that did. The same reasoning justified the requirement that a work be "
9197 "marked as copyrighted—that way it was easy to know whether a copyright "
9198 "was being claimed. The requirement that works be deposited was to assure "
9199 "that after the copyright expired, there would be a copy of the work "
9200 "somewhere so that it could be copied by others without locating the original "
9204 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9205 #: freeculture.xml:6853
9207 "All of these <quote>formalities</quote> were abolished in the American "
9208 "system when we decided to follow European copyright law. There is no "
9209 "requirement that you register a work to get a copyright; the copyright now "
9210 "is automatic; the copyright exists whether or not you mark your work with a "
9211 "©; and the copyright exists whether or not you actually make a copy "
9212 "available for others to copy."
9215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9216 #: freeculture.xml:6861
9217 msgid "Consider a practical example to understand the scope of these differences."
9221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9222 #: freeculture.xml:6872
9224 "See Thomas Bender and David Sampliner, <quote>Poets, Pirates, and the "
9225 "Creation of American Literature,</quote> 29 <citetitle>New York University "
9226 "Journal of International Law and Politics</citetitle> 255 (1997), and James "
9227 "Gilraeth, ed., Federal Copyright Records, 1790–1800 (U.S. G.P.O., "
9231 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9232 #: freeculture.xml:6865
9234 "If, in 1790, you wrote a book and you were one of the 5 percent who actually "
9235 "copyrighted that book, then the copyright law protected you against another "
9236 "publisher's taking your book and republishing it without your "
9237 "permission. The aim of the act was to regulate publishers so as to prevent "
9238 "that kind of unfair competition. In 1790, there were 174 publishers in the "
9239 "United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Copyright Act "
9240 "was thus a tiny regulation of a tiny proportion of a tiny part of the "
9241 "creative market in the United States—publishers."
9245 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9246 #: freeculture.xml:6884
9248 "The act left other creators totally unregulated. If I copied your poem by "
9249 "hand, over and over again, as a way to learn it by heart, my act was totally "
9250 "unregulated by the 1790 act. If I took your novel and made a play based upon "
9251 "it, or if I translated it or abridged it, none of those activities were "
9252 "regulated by the original copyright act. These creative activities remained "
9253 "free, while the activities of publishers were restrained."
9256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9257 #: freeculture.xml:6893
9259 "Today the story is very different: If you write a book, your book is "
9260 "automatically protected. Indeed, not just your book. Every e-mail, every "
9261 "note to your spouse, every doodle, <emphasis>every</emphasis> creative act "
9262 "that's reduced to a tangible form—all of this is automatically "
9263 "copyrighted. There is no need to register or mark your work. The protection "
9264 "follows the creation, not the steps you take to protect it."
9267 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9268 #: freeculture.xml:6902
9270 "That protection gives you the right (subject to a narrow range of fair use "
9271 "exceptions) to control how others copy the work, whether they copy it to "
9272 "republish it or to share an excerpt."
9275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9276 #: freeculture.xml:6907
9278 "That much is the obvious part. Any system of copyright would control "
9279 "competing publishing. But there's a second part to the copyright of today "
9280 "that is not at all obvious. This is the protection of <quote>derivative "
9281 "rights.</quote> If you write a book, no one can make a movie out of your "
9282 "book without permission. No one can translate it without permission. "
9283 "CliffsNotes can't make an abridgment unless permission is granted. All of "
9284 "these derivative uses of your original work are controlled by the copyright "
9285 "holder. The copyright, in other words, is now not just an exclusive right to "
9286 "your writings, but an exclusive right to your writings and a large "
9287 "proportion of the writings inspired by them."
9290 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9291 #: freeculture.xml:6921
9293 "It is this derivative right that would seem most bizarre to our framers, "
9294 "though it has become second nature to us. Initially, this expansion was "
9295 "created to deal with obvious evasions of a narrower copyright. If I write a "
9296 "book, can you change one word and then claim a copyright in a new and "
9297 "different book? Obviously that would make a joke of the copyright, so the "
9298 "law was properly expanded to include those slight modifications as well as "
9299 "the verbatim original work."
9302 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9303 #: freeculture.xml:6943
9305 "Jonathan Zittrain, <quote>The Copyright Cage,</quote> <citetitle>Legal "
9306 "Affairs</citetitle>, July/August 2003, available at <ulink "
9307 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #26</ulink>. <placeholder "
9308 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9311 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9312 #: freeculture.xml:6933
9314 "In preventing that joke, the law created an astonishing power within a free "
9315 "culture—at least, it's astonishing when you understand that the law "
9316 "applies not just to the commercial publisher but to anyone with a "
9317 "computer. I understand the wrong in duplicating and selling someone else's "
9318 "work. But whatever <emphasis>that</emphasis> wrong is, transforming someone "
9319 "else's work is a different wrong. Some view transformation as no wrong at "
9320 "all—they believe that our law, as the framers penned it, should not "
9321 "protect derivative rights at all.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9322 "Whether or not you go that far, it seems plain that whatever wrong is "
9323 "involved is fundamentally different from the wrong of direct piracy."
9326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
9327 #: freeculture.xml:6965
9328 msgid "Rubenfeld, Jeb"
9331 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9332 #: freeculture.xml:6958
9334 "Professor Rubenfeld has presented a powerful constitutional argument about "
9335 "the difference that copyright law should draw (from the perspective of the "
9336 "First Amendment) between mere <quote>copies</quote> and derivative "
9337 "works. See Jed Rubenfeld, <quote>The Freedom of Imagination: Copyright's "
9338 "Constitutionality,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law Journal</citetitle> 112 "
9339 "(2002): 1–60 (see especially pp. 53–59). <placeholder "
9340 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
9343 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9344 #: freeculture.xml:6953
9346 "Yet copyright law treats these two different wrongs in the same way. I can "
9347 "go to court and get an injunction against your pirating my book. I can go to "
9348 "court and get an injunction against your transformative use of my "
9349 "book.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> These two different uses of "
9350 "my creative work are treated the same."
9353 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9354 #: freeculture.xml:6970
9356 "This again may seem right to you. If I wrote a book, then why should you be "
9357 "able to write a movie that takes my story and makes money from it without "
9358 "paying me or crediting me? Or if Disney creates a creature called "
9359 "<quote>Mickey Mouse,</quote> why should you be able to make Mickey Mouse "
9360 "toys and be the one to trade on the value that Disney originally created?"
9363 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9364 #: freeculture.xml:6978
9366 "These are good arguments, and, in general, my point is not that the "
9367 "derivative right is unjustified. My aim just now is much narrower: simply to "
9368 "make clear that this expansion is a significant change from the rights "
9369 "originally granted."
9372 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9373 #: freeculture.xml:6985
9374 msgid "Law and Architecture: Reach"
9378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9379 #: freeculture.xml:6992
9381 "This is a simplification of the law, but not much of one. The law certainly "
9382 "regulates more than <quote>copies</quote>—a public performance of a "
9383 "copyrighted song, for example, is regulated even though performance per se "
9384 "doesn't make a copy; 17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section "
9385 "106(4). And it certainly sometimes doesn't regulate a <quote>copy</quote>; "
9386 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 112(a). But the "
9387 "presumption under the existing law (which regulates <quote>copies;</quote> "
9388 "17 <citetitle>United States Code</citetitle>, section 102) is that if there "
9389 "is a copy, there is a right."
9392 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9393 #: freeculture.xml:6987
9395 "Whereas originally the law regulated only publishers, the change in "
9396 "copyright's scope means that the law today regulates publishers, users, and "
9397 "authors. It regulates them because all three are capable of making copies, "
9398 "and the core of the regulation of copyright law is copies.<placeholder "
9399 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9403 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9404 #: freeculture.xml:7004
9406 "<quote>Copies.</quote> That certainly sounds like the obvious thing for "
9407 "<emphasis>copy</emphasis>right law to regulate. But as with Jack Valenti's "
9408 "argument at the start of this chapter, that <quote>creative property</quote> "
9409 "deserves the <quote>same rights</quote> as all other property, it is the "
9410 "<emphasis>obvious</emphasis> that we need to be most careful about. For "
9411 "while it may be obvious that in the world before the Internet, copies were "
9412 "the obvious trigger for copyright law, upon reflection, it should be obvious "
9413 "that in the world with the Internet, copies should <emphasis>not</emphasis> "
9414 "be the trigger for copyright law. More precisely, they should not "
9415 "<emphasis>always</emphasis> be the trigger for copyright law."
9419 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9420 #: freeculture.xml:7022
9422 "Thus, my argument is not that in each place that copyright law extends, we "
9423 "should repeal it. It is instead that we should have a good argument for its "
9424 "extending where it does, and should not determine its reach on the basis of "
9425 "arbitrary and automatic changes caused by technology."
9428 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9429 #: freeculture.xml:7017
9431 "This is perhaps the central claim of this book, so let me take this very "
9432 "slowly so that the point is not easily missed. My claim is that the Internet "
9433 "should at least force us to rethink the conditions under which the law of "
9434 "copyright automatically applies,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9435 "because it is clear that the current reach of copyright was never "
9436 "contemplated, much less chosen, by the legislators who enacted copyright "
9440 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9441 #: freeculture.xml:7033
9443 "We can see this point abstractly by beginning with this largely empty "
9447 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9448 #: freeculture.xml:7037
9449 msgid "All potential uses of a book."
9452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9453 #: freeculture.xml:7038
9454 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1521.png\"></graphic>"
9458 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9459 #: freeculture.xml:7042
9461 "Think about a book in real space, and imagine this circle to represent all "
9462 "its potential <emphasis>uses</emphasis>. Most of these uses are unregulated "
9463 "by copyright law, because the uses don't create a copy. If you read a book, "
9464 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you give someone the book, "
9465 "that act is not regulated by copyright law. If you resell a book, that act "
9466 "is not regulated (copyright law expressly states that after the first sale "
9467 "of a book, the copyright owner can impose no further conditions on the "
9468 "disposition of the book). If you sleep on the book or use it to hold up a "
9469 "lamp or let your puppy chew it up, those acts are not regulated by copyright "
9470 "law, because those acts do not make a copy."
9473 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9474 #: freeculture.xml:7055
9475 msgid "Examples of unregulated uses of a book."
9478 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9479 #: freeculture.xml:7056
9480 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1531.png\"></graphic>"
9483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9484 #: freeculture.xml:7059
9486 "Obviously, however, some uses of a copyrighted book are regulated by "
9487 "copyright law. Republishing the book, for example, makes a copy. It is "
9488 "therefore regulated by copyright law. Indeed, this particular use stands at "
9489 "the core of this circle of possible uses of a copyrighted work. It is the "
9490 "paradigmatic use properly regulated by copyright regulation (see first "
9491 "diagram on next page)."
9494 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9495 #: freeculture.xml:7067
9497 "Finally, there is a tiny sliver of otherwise regulated copying uses that "
9498 "remain unregulated because the law considers these <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
9501 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9502 #: freeculture.xml:7072
9504 "Republishing stands at the core of this circle of possible uses of a "
9508 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9509 #: freeculture.xml:7073
9510 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1541.png\"></graphic>"
9513 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9514 #: freeculture.xml:7076
9516 "These are uses that themselves involve copying, but which the law treats as "
9517 "unregulated because public policy demands that they remain unregulated. You "
9518 "are free to quote from this book, even in a review that is quite negative, "
9519 "without my permission, even though that quoting makes a copy. That copy "
9520 "would ordinarily give the copyright owner the exclusive right to say whether "
9521 "the copy is allowed or not, but the law denies the owner any exclusive right "
9522 "over such <quote>fair uses</quote> for public policy (and possibly First "
9523 "Amendment) reasons."
9526 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9527 #: freeculture.xml:7086
9528 msgid "Unregulated copying considered <quote>fair uses.</quote>"
9531 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9532 #: freeculture.xml:7087
9533 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1542.png\"></graphic>"
9536 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9537 #: freeculture.xml:7091
9539 "Uses that before were presumptively unregulated are now presumptively "
9543 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9544 #: freeculture.xml:7092
9545 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1551.png\"></graphic>"
9549 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9550 #: freeculture.xml:7096
9552 "In real space, then, the possible uses of a book are divided into three "
9553 "sorts: (1) unregulated uses, (2) regulated uses, and (3) regulated uses that "
9554 "are nonetheless deemed <quote>fair</quote> regardless of the copyright "
9559 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9560 #: freeculture.xml:7104
9562 "I don't mean <quote>nature</quote> in the sense that it couldn't be "
9563 "different, but rather that its present instantiation entails a copy. Optical "
9564 "networks need not make copies of content they transmit, and a digital "
9565 "network could be designed to delete anything it copies so that the same "
9566 "number of copies remain."
9569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9570 #: freeculture.xml:7101
9572 "Enter the Internet—a distributed, digital network where every use of a "
9573 "copyrighted work produces a copy.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
9574 "And because of this single, arbitrary feature of the design of a digital "
9575 "network, the scope of category 1 changes dramatically. Uses that before were "
9576 "presumptively unregulated are now presumptively regulated. No longer is "
9577 "there a set of presumptively unregulated uses that define a freedom "
9578 "associated with a copyrighted work. Instead, each use is now subject to the "
9579 "copyright, because each use also makes a copy—category 1 gets sucked "
9580 "into category 2. And those who would defend the unregulated uses of "
9581 "copyrighted work must look exclusively to category 3, fair uses, to bear the "
9582 "burden of this shift."
9586 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9587 #: freeculture.xml:7122
9589 "So let's be very specific to make this general point clear. Before the "
9590 "Internet, if you purchased a book and read it ten times, there would be no "
9591 "plausible <emphasis>copyright</emphasis>-related argument that the copyright "
9592 "owner could make to control that use of her book. Copyright law would have "
9593 "nothing to say about whether you read the book once, ten times, or every "
9594 "night before you went to bed. None of those instances of "
9595 "use—reading— could be regulated by copyright law because none of "
9596 "those uses produced a copy."
9599 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9600 #: freeculture.xml:7134
9602 "But the same book as an e-book is effectively governed by a different set of "
9603 "rules. Now if the copyright owner says you may read the book only once or "
9604 "only once a month, then <emphasis>copyright law</emphasis> would aid the "
9605 "copyright owner in exercising this degree of control, because of the "
9606 "accidental feature of copyright law that triggers its application upon there "
9607 "being a copy. Now if you read the book ten times and the license says you "
9608 "may read it only five times, then whenever you read the book (or any portion "
9609 "of it) beyond the fifth time, you are making a copy of the book contrary to "
9610 "the copyright owner's wish."
9613 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9614 #: freeculture.xml:7146
9616 "There are some people who think this makes perfect sense. My aim just now is "
9617 "not to argue about whether it makes sense or not. My aim is only to make "
9618 "clear the change. Once you see this point, a few other points also become "
9622 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9623 #: freeculture.xml:7152
9625 "First, making category 1 disappear is not anything any policy maker ever "
9626 "intended. Congress did not think through the collapse of the presumptively "
9627 "unregulated uses of copyrighted works. There is no evidence at all that "
9628 "policy makers had this idea in mind when they allowed our policy here to "
9629 "shift. Unregulated uses were an important part of free culture before the "
9633 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9634 #: freeculture.xml:7160
9636 "Second, this shift is especially troubling in the context of transformative "
9637 "uses of creative content. Again, we can all understand the wrong in "
9638 "commercial piracy. But the law now purports to regulate "
9639 "<emphasis>any</emphasis> transformation you make of creative work using a "
9640 "machine. <quote>Copy and paste</quote> and <quote>cut and paste</quote> "
9641 "become crimes. Tinkering with a story and releasing it to others exposes the "
9642 "tinkerer to at least a requirement of justification. However troubling the "
9643 "expansion with respect to copying a particular work, it is extraordinarily "
9644 "troubling with respect to transformative uses of creative work."
9648 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9649 #: freeculture.xml:7172
9651 "Third, this shift from category 1 to category 2 puts an extraordinary burden "
9652 "on category 3 (<quote>fair use</quote>) that fair use never before had to "
9653 "bear. If a copyright owner now tried to control how many times I could read "
9654 "a book on-line, the natural response would be to argue that this is a "
9655 "violation of my fair use rights. But there has never been any litigation "
9656 "about whether I have a fair use right to read, because before the Internet, "
9657 "reading did not trigger the application of copyright law and hence the need "
9658 "for a fair use defense. The right to read was effectively protected before "
9659 "because reading was not regulated."
9662 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9663 #: freeculture.xml:7186
9665 "This point about fair use is totally ignored, even by advocates for free "
9666 "culture. We have been cornered into arguing that our rights depend upon fair "
9667 "use—never even addressing the earlier question about the expansion in "
9668 "effective regulation. A thin protection grounded in fair use makes sense "
9669 "when the vast majority of uses are <emphasis>unregulated</emphasis>. But "
9670 "when everything becomes presumptively regulated, then the protections of "
9671 "fair use are not enough."
9674 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9675 #: freeculture.xml:7199
9677 "The case of Video Pipeline is a good example. Video Pipeline was in the "
9678 "business of making <quote>trailer</quote> advertisements for movies "
9679 "available to video stores. The video stores displayed the trailers as a way "
9680 "to sell videos. Video Pipeline got the trailers from the film distributors, "
9681 "put the trailers on tape, and sold the tapes to the retail stores."
9684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9685 #: freeculture.xml:7206
9687 "The company did this for about fifteen years. Then, in 1997, it began to "
9688 "think about the Internet as another way to distribute these previews. The "
9689 "idea was to expand their <quote>selling by sampling</quote> technique by "
9690 "giving on-line stores the same ability to enable <quote>browsing.</quote> "
9691 "Just as in a bookstore you can read a few pages of a book before you buy the "
9692 "book, so, too, you would be able to sample a bit from the movie on-line "
9693 "before you bought it."
9697 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9698 #: freeculture.xml:7215
9700 "In 1998, Video Pipeline informed Disney and other film distributors that it "
9701 "intended to distribute the trailers through the Internet (rather than "
9702 "sending the tapes) to distributors of their videos. Two years later, Disney "
9703 "told Video Pipeline to stop. The owner of Video Pipeline asked Disney to "
9704 "talk about the matter—he had built a business on distributing this "
9705 "content as a way to help sell Disney films; he had customers who depended "
9706 "upon his delivering this content. Disney would agree to talk only if Video "
9707 "Pipeline stopped the distribution immediately. Video Pipeline thought it "
9708 "was within their <quote>fair use</quote> rights to distribute the clips as "
9709 "they had. So they filed a lawsuit to ask the court to declare that these "
9710 "rights were in fact their rights."
9713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9714 #: freeculture.xml:7230
9716 "Disney countersued—for $100 million in damages. Those damages were "
9717 "predicated upon a claim that Video Pipeline had <quote>willfully "
9718 "infringed</quote> on Disney's copyright. When a court makes a finding of "
9719 "willful infringement, it can award damages not on the basis of the actual "
9720 "harm to the copyright owner, but on the basis of an amount set in the "
9721 "statute. Because Video Pipeline had distributed seven hundred clips of "
9722 "Disney movies to enable video stores to sell copies of those movies, Disney "
9723 "was now suing Video Pipeline for $100 million."
9726 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9727 #: freeculture.xml:7240
9729 "Disney has the right to control its property, of course. But the video "
9730 "stores that were selling Disney's films also had some sort of right to be "
9731 "able to sell the films that they had bought from Disney. Disney's claim in "
9732 "court was that the stores were allowed to sell the films and they were "
9733 "permitted to list the titles of the films they were selling, but they were "
9734 "not allowed to show clips of the films as a way of selling them without "
9735 "Disney's permission."
9738 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9739 #: freeculture.xml:7250
9741 "Now, you might think this is a close case, and I think the courts would "
9742 "consider it a close case. My point here is to map the change that gives "
9743 "Disney this power. Before the Internet, Disney couldn't really control how "
9744 "people got access to their content. Once a video was in the marketplace, the "
9745 "<quote>first-sale doctrine</quote> would free the seller to use the video as "
9746 "he wished, including showing portions of it in order to engender sales of "
9747 "the entire movie video. But with the Internet, it becomes possible for "
9748 "Disney to centralize control over access to this content. Because each use "
9749 "of the Internet produces a copy, use on the Internet becomes subject to the "
9750 "copyright owner's control. The technology expands the scope of effective "
9751 "control, because the technology builds a copy into every transaction."
9754 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9755 #: freeculture.xml:7263
9756 msgid "Barnes & Noble"
9760 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9761 #: freeculture.xml:7266
9763 "No doubt, a potential is not yet an abuse, and so the potential for control "
9764 "is not yet the abuse of control. Barnes & Noble has the right to say you "
9765 "can't touch a book in their store; property law gives them that right. But "
9766 "the market effectively protects against that abuse. If Barnes & Noble "
9767 "banned browsing, then consumers would choose other bookstores. Competition "
9768 "protects against the extremes. And it may well be (my argument so far does "
9769 "not even question this) that competition would prevent any similar danger "
9770 "when it comes to copyright. Sure, publishers exercising the rights that "
9771 "authors have assigned to them might try to regulate how many times you read "
9772 "a book, or try to stop you from sharing the book with anyone. But in a "
9773 "competitive market such as the book market, the dangers of this happening "
9777 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9778 #: freeculture.xml:7281
9780 "Again, my aim so far is simply to map the changes that this changed "
9781 "architecture enables. Enabling technology to enforce the control of "
9782 "copyright means that the control of copyright is no longer defined by "
9783 "balanced policy. The control of copyright is simply what private owners "
9784 "choose. In some contexts, at least, that fact is harmless. But in some "
9785 "contexts it is a recipe for disaster."
9788 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
9789 #: freeculture.xml:7290
9790 msgid "Architecture and Law: Force"
9793 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9794 #: freeculture.xml:7292
9796 "The disappearance of unregulated uses would be change enough, but a second "
9797 "important change brought about by the Internet magnifies its "
9798 "significance. This second change does not affect the reach of copyright "
9799 "regulation; it affects how such regulation is enforced."
9802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9803 #: freeculture.xml:7298
9805 "In the world before digital technology, it was generally the law that "
9806 "controlled whether and how someone was regulated by copyright law. The law, "
9807 "meaning a court, meaning a judge: In the end, it was a human, trained in the "
9808 "tradition of the law and cognizant of the balances that tradition embraced, "
9809 "who said whether and how the law would restrict your freedom."
9812 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9813 #: freeculture.xml:7305
9817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9818 #: freeculture.xml:7307 freeculture.xml:7486
9819 msgid "Marx Brothers"
9823 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9824 #: freeculture.xml:7321
9826 "See David Lange, <quote>Recognizing the Public Domain,</quote> "
9827 "<citetitle>Law and Contemporary Problems</citetitle> 44 (1981): "
9831 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9832 #: freeculture.xml:7313
9834 "There's a famous story about a battle between the Marx Brothers and Warner "
9835 "Brothers. The Marxes intended to make a parody of "
9836 "<citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>. Warner Brothers objected. They wrote a "
9837 "nasty letter to the Marxes, warning them that there would be serious legal "
9838 "consequences if they went forward with their plan.<placeholder "
9839 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
9842 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
9843 #: freeculture.xml:7330
9845 "Ibid. See also Vaidhyanathan, <citetitle>Copyrights and "
9846 "Copywrongs</citetitle>, 1–3. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
9850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9851 #: freeculture.xml:7326
9853 "This led the Marx Brothers to respond in kind. They warned Warner Brothers "
9854 "that the Marx Brothers <quote>were brothers long before you "
9855 "were.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The Marx Brothers "
9856 "therefore owned the word <citetitle>brothers</citetitle>, and if Warner "
9857 "Brothers insisted on trying to control <citetitle>Casablanca</citetitle>, "
9858 "then the Marx Brothers would insist on control over "
9859 "<citetitle>brothers</citetitle>."
9862 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9863 #: freeculture.xml:7340
9865 "An absurd and hollow threat, of course, because Warner Brothers, like the "
9866 "Marx Brothers, knew that no court would ever enforce such a silly "
9867 "claim. This extremism was irrelevant to the real freedoms anyone (including "
9868 "Warner Brothers) enjoyed."
9871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9872 #: freeculture.xml:7346
9874 "On the Internet, however, there is no check on silly rules, because on the "
9875 "Internet, increasingly, rules are enforced not by a human but by a machine: "
9876 "Increasingly, the rules of copyright law, as interpreted by the copyright "
9877 "owner, get built into the technology that delivers copyrighted content. It "
9878 "is code, rather than law, that rules. And the problem with code regulations "
9879 "is that, unlike law, code has no shame. Code would not get the humor of the "
9880 "Marx Brothers. The consequence of that is not at all funny."
9883 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
9884 #: freeculture.xml:7359
9885 msgid "Adobe eBook Reader"
9888 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9889 #: freeculture.xml:7362
9890 msgid "Consider the life of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9894 #: freeculture.xml:7365
9896 "An e-book is a book delivered in electronic form. An Adobe eBook is not a "
9897 "book that Adobe has published; Adobe simply produces the software that "
9898 "publishers use to deliver e-books. It provides the technology, and the "
9899 "publisher delivers the content by using the technology."
9902 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9903 #: freeculture.xml:7372
9904 msgid "On the next page is a picture of an old version of my Adobe eBook Reader."
9908 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9909 #: freeculture.xml:7376
9911 "As you can see, I have a small collection of e-books within this e-book "
9912 "library. Some of these books reproduce content that is in the public domain: "
9913 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, for example, is in the public domain. "
9914 "Some of them reproduce content that is not in the public domain: My own book "
9915 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> is not yet within the public "
9916 "domain. Consider <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> first. If you click on "
9917 "my e-book copy of <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle>, you'll see a fancy "
9918 "cover, and then a button at the bottom called Permissions."
9921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9922 #: freeculture.xml:7389
9923 msgid "Picture of an old version of Adobe eBook Reader"
9926 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9927 #: freeculture.xml:7390
9928 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1611.png\"></graphic>"
9931 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9932 #: freeculture.xml:7393
9934 "If you click on the Permissions button, you'll see a list of the permissions "
9935 "that the publisher purports to grant with this book."
9938 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9939 #: freeculture.xml:7397
9940 msgid "List of the permissions that the publisher purports to grant."
9943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9944 #: freeculture.xml:7398
9945 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1612.png\"></graphic>"
9949 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9950 #: freeculture.xml:7402
9952 "According to my eBook Reader, I have the permission to copy to the clipboard "
9953 "of the computer ten text selections every ten days. (So far, I've copied no "
9954 "text to the clipboard.) I also have the permission to print ten pages from "
9955 "the book every ten days. Lastly, I have the permission to use the Read Aloud "
9956 "button to hear <citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> read aloud through the "
9960 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9961 #: freeculture.xml:7412
9965 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
9966 #: freeculture.xml:7413
9967 msgid "<citetitle>Politics</citetitle>, (Aristotle)"
9970 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9971 #: freeculture.xml:7410
9973 "Here's the e-book for another work in the public domain (including the "
9974 "translation): Aristotle's <citetitle>Politics</citetitle>. <placeholder "
9975 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
9978 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9979 #: freeculture.xml:7416
9980 msgid "E-book of Aristotle;s <quote>Politics</quote>"
9983 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
9984 #: freeculture.xml:7417
9985 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1621.png\"></graphic>"
9988 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
9989 #: freeculture.xml:7420
9991 "According to its permissions, no printing or copying is permitted at "
9992 "all. But fortunately, you can use the Read Aloud button to hear the book."
9995 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
9996 #: freeculture.xml:7425
9997 msgid "List of the permissions for Aristotle;s <quote>Politics</quote>."
10000 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10001 #: freeculture.xml:7426
10002 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1622.png\"></graphic>"
10005 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10006 #: freeculture.xml:7429
10008 "Finally (and most embarrassingly), here are the permissions for the original "
10009 "e-book version of my last book, <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>:"
10012 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10013 #: freeculture.xml:7435
10014 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>The Future of Ideas</quote>."
10017 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10018 #: freeculture.xml:7436
10019 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1631.png\"></graphic>"
10022 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10023 #: freeculture.xml:7439
10024 msgid "No copying, no printing, and don't you dare try to listen to this book!"
10028 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10029 #: freeculture.xml:7449
10031 "In principle, a contract might impose a requirement on me. I might, for "
10032 "example, buy a book from you that includes a contract that says I will read "
10033 "it only three times, or that I promise to read it three times. But that "
10034 "obligation (and the limits for creating that obligation) would come from the "
10035 "contract, not from copyright law, and the obligations of contract would not "
10036 "necessarily pass to anyone who subsequently acquired the book."
10039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10040 #: freeculture.xml:7442
10042 "Now, the Adobe eBook Reader calls these controls "
10043 "<quote>permissions</quote>— as if the publisher has the power to "
10044 "control how you use these works. For works under copyright, the copyright "
10045 "owner certainly does have the power—up to the limits of the copyright "
10046 "law. But for work not under copyright, there is no such copyright "
10047 "power.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> When my e-book of "
10048 "<citetitle>Middlemarch</citetitle> says I have the permission to copy only "
10049 "ten text selections into the memory every ten days, what that really means "
10050 "is that the eBook Reader has enabled the publisher to control how I use the "
10051 "book on my computer, far beyond the control that the law would enable."
10054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10055 #: freeculture.xml:7464
10057 "The control comes instead from the code—from the technology within "
10058 "which the e-book <quote>lives.</quote> Though the e-book says that these are "
10059 "permissions, they are not the sort of <quote>permissions</quote> that most "
10060 "of us deal with. When a teenager gets <quote>permission</quote> to stay out "
10061 "till midnight, she knows (unless she's Cinderella) that she can stay out "
10062 "till 2 A.M., but will suffer a punishment if she's caught. But when the "
10063 "Adobe eBook Reader says I have the permission to make ten copies of the text "
10064 "into the computer's memory, that means that after I've made ten copies, the "
10065 "computer will not make any more. The same with the printing restrictions: "
10066 "After ten pages, the eBook Reader will not print any more pages. It's the "
10067 "same with the silly restriction that says that you can't use the Read Aloud "
10068 "button to read my book aloud—it's not that the company will sue you if "
10069 "you do; instead, if you push the Read Aloud button with my book, the machine "
10070 "simply won't read aloud."
10073 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10074 #: freeculture.xml:7482
10076 "These are <emphasis>controls</emphasis>, not permissions. Imagine a world "
10077 "where the Marx Brothers sold word processing software that, when you tried "
10078 "to type <quote>Warner Brothers,</quote> erased <quote>Brothers</quote> from "
10079 "the sentence. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10082 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10083 #: freeculture.xml:7489
10085 "This is the future of copyright law: not so much copyright "
10086 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> as copyright <emphasis>code</emphasis>. The "
10087 "controls over access to content will not be controls that are ratified by "
10088 "courts; the controls over access to content will be controls that are coded "
10089 "by programmers. And whereas the controls that are built into the law are "
10090 "always to be checked by a judge, the controls that are built into the "
10091 "technology have no similar built-in check."
10094 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10095 #: freeculture.xml:7498
10097 "How significant is this? Isn't it always possible to get around the controls "
10098 "built into the technology? Software used to be sold with technologies that "
10099 "limited the ability of users to copy the software, but those were trivial "
10100 "protections to defeat. Why won't it be trivial to defeat these protections "
10104 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10105 #: freeculture.xml:7505
10107 "We've only scratched the surface of this story. Return to the Adobe eBook "
10111 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10112 #: freeculture.xml:7515
10113 msgid "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Carroll)"
10116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10117 #: freeculture.xml:7509
10119 "Early in the life of the Adobe eBook Reader, Adobe suffered a public "
10120 "relations nightmare. Among the books that you could download for free on the "
10121 "Adobe site was a copy of <citetitle>Alice's Adventures in "
10122 "Wonderland</citetitle>. This wonderful book is in the public domain. Yet "
10123 "when you clicked on Permissions for that book, you got the following report: "
10124 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10127 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10128 #: freeculture.xml:7518
10129 msgid "List of the permissions for <quote>Alice's Adventures in Wonderland</quote>."
10132 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10133 #: freeculture.xml:7520
10134 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1641.png\"></graphic>"
10137 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10138 #: freeculture.xml:7524
10140 "Here was a public domain children's book that you were not allowed to copy, "
10141 "not allowed to lend, not allowed to give, and, as the "
10142 "<quote>permissions</quote> indicated, not allowed to <quote>read "
10146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10147 #: freeculture.xml:7529
10149 "The public relations nightmare attached to that final permission. For the "
10150 "text did not say that you were not permitted to use the Read Aloud button; "
10151 "it said you did not have the permission to read the book aloud. That led "
10152 "some people to think that Adobe was restricting the right of parents, for "
10153 "example, to read the book to their children, which seemed, to say the least, "
10157 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10158 #: freeculture.xml:7537
10160 "Adobe responded quickly that it was absurd to think that it was trying to "
10161 "restrict the right to read a book aloud. Obviously it was only restricting "
10162 "the ability to use the Read Aloud button to have the book read aloud. But "
10163 "the question Adobe never did answer is this: Would Adobe thus agree that a "
10164 "consumer was free to use software to hack around the restrictions built into "
10165 "the eBook Reader? If some company (call it Elcomsoft) developed a program to "
10166 "disable the technological protection built into an Adobe eBook so that a "
10167 "blind person, say, could use a computer to read the book aloud, would Adobe "
10168 "agree that such a use of an eBook Reader was fair? Adobe didn't answer "
10169 "because the answer, however absurd it might seem, is no."
10172 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10173 #: freeculture.xml:7550
10175 "The point is not to blame Adobe. Indeed, Adobe is among the most innovative "
10176 "companies developing strategies to balance open access to content with "
10177 "incentives for companies to innovate. But Adobe's technology enables "
10178 "control, and Adobe has an incentive to defend this control. That incentive "
10179 "is understandable, yet what it creates is often crazy."
10182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10183 #: freeculture.xml:7559
10185 "To see the point in a particularly absurd context, consider a favorite story "
10186 "of mine that makes the same point."
10189 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10190 #: freeculture.xml:7563 freeculture.xml:7712 freeculture.xml:7783 freeculture.xml:7889
10191 msgid "Aibo robotic dog"
10194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10195 #: freeculture.xml:7566 freeculture.xml:7715 freeculture.xml:7784 freeculture.xml:7890
10196 msgid "robotic dog"
10199 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10200 #: freeculture.xml:7569 freeculture.xml:7718 freeculture.xml:7786 freeculture.xml:7892
10204 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><secondary>
10205 #: freeculture.xml:7570 freeculture.xml:7719 freeculture.xml:7787 freeculture.xml:7893
10206 msgid "Aibo robotic dog produced by"
10209 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10210 #: freeculture.xml:7573
10212 "Consider the robotic dog made by Sony named <quote>Aibo.</quote> The Aibo "
10213 "learns tricks, cuddles, and follows you around. It eats only electricity and "
10214 "that doesn't leave that much of a mess (at least in your house)."
10217 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10218 #: freeculture.xml:7578
10220 "The Aibo is expensive and popular. Fans from around the world have set up "
10221 "clubs to trade stories. One fan in particular set up a Web site to enable "
10222 "information about the Aibo dog to be shared. This fan set <beginpage "
10223 "pagenum=\"165\"/> up aibopet.com (and aibohack.com, but that resolves to the "
10224 "same site), and on that site he provided information about how to teach an "
10225 "Aibo to do tricks in addition to the ones Sony had taught it."
10228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10229 #: freeculture.xml:7587
10231 "<quote>Teach</quote> here has a special meaning. Aibos are just cute "
10232 "computers. You teach a computer how to do something by programming it "
10233 "differently. So to say that aibopet.com was giving information about how to "
10234 "teach the dog to do new tricks is just to say that aibopet.com was giving "
10235 "information to users of the Aibo pet about how to hack their computer "
10236 "<quote>dog</quote> to make it do new tricks (thus, aibohack.com)."
10239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10240 #: freeculture.xml:7595
10242 "If you're not a programmer or don't know many programmers, the word "
10243 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> has a particularly unfriendly "
10244 "connotation. Nonprogrammers hack bushes or weeds. Nonprogrammers in horror "
10245 "movies do even worse. But to programmers, or coders, as I call them, "
10246 "<citetitle>hack</citetitle> is a much more positive "
10247 "term. <citetitle>Hack</citetitle> just means code that enables the program "
10248 "to do something it wasn't originally intended or enabled to do. If you buy a "
10249 "new printer for an old computer, you might find the old computer doesn't "
10250 "run, or <quote>drive,</quote> the printer. If you discovered that, you'd "
10251 "later be happy to discover a hack on the Net by someone who has written a "
10252 "driver to enable the computer to drive the printer you just bought."
10255 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10256 #: freeculture.xml:7609
10258 "Some hacks are easy. Some are unbelievably hard. Hackers as a community like "
10259 "to challenge themselves and others with increasingly difficult "
10260 "tasks. There's a certain respect that goes with the talent to hack "
10261 "well. There's a well-deserved respect that goes with the talent to hack "
10265 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10266 #: freeculture.xml:7616
10268 "The Aibo fan was displaying a bit of both when he hacked the program and "
10269 "offered to the world a bit of code that would enable the Aibo to dance "
10270 "jazz. The dog wasn't programmed to dance jazz. It was a clever bit of "
10271 "tinkering that turned the dog into a more talented creature than Sony had "
10276 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10277 #: freeculture.xml:7626
10279 "I've told this story in many contexts, both inside and outside the United "
10280 "States. Once I was asked by a puzzled member of the audience, is it "
10281 "permissible for a dog to dance jazz in the United States? We forget that "
10282 "stories about the backcountry still flow across much of the world. So let's "
10283 "just be clear before we continue: It's not a crime anywhere (anymore) to "
10284 "dance jazz. Nor is it a crime to teach your dog to dance jazz. Nor should it "
10285 "be a crime (though we don't have a lot to go on here) to teach your robot "
10286 "dog to dance jazz. Dancing jazz is a completely legal activity. One imagines "
10287 "that the owner of aibopet.com thought, <emphasis>What possible problem could "
10288 "there be with teaching a robot dog to dance?</emphasis>"
10291 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10292 #: freeculture.xml:7642
10294 "Let's put the dog to sleep for a minute, and turn to a pony show— not "
10295 "literally a pony show, but rather a paper that a Princeton academic named Ed "
10296 "Felten prepared for a conference. This Princeton academic is well known and "
10297 "respected. He was hired by the government in the Microsoft case to test "
10298 "Microsoft's claims about what could and could not be done with its own "
10299 "code. In that trial, he demonstrated both his brilliance and his "
10300 "coolness. Under heavy badgering by Microsoft lawyers, Ed Felten stood his "
10301 "ground. He was not about to be bullied into being silent about something he "
10305 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10306 #: freeculture.xml:7665 freeculture.xml:10164
10307 msgid "Electronic Frontier Foundation"
10310 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10311 #: freeculture.xml:7655
10313 "See Pamela Samuelson, <quote>Anticircumvention Rules: Threat to "
10314 "Science,</quote> <citetitle>Science</citetitle> 293 (2001): 2028; Brendan "
10315 "I. Koerner, <quote>Play Dead: Sony Muzzles the Techies Who Teach a Robot Dog "
10316 "New Tricks,</quote> <citetitle>American Prospect</citetitle>, January 2002; "
10317 "<quote>Court Dismisses Computer Scientists' Challenge to DMCA,</quote> "
10318 "<citetitle>Intellectual Property Litigation Reporter</citetitle>, 11 "
10319 "December 2001; Bill Holland, <quote>Copyright Act Raising Free-Speech "
10320 "Concerns,</quote> <citetitle>Billboard</citetitle>, May 2001; Janelle Brown, "
10321 "<quote>Is the RIAA Running Scared?</quote> Salon.com, April 2001; Electronic "
10322 "Frontier Foundation, <quote>Frequently Asked Questions about "
10323 "<citetitle>Felten and USENIX</citetitle> v. <citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> "
10324 "Legal Case,</quote> available at <ulink "
10325 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #27</ulink>. <placeholder "
10326 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10329 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10330 #: freeculture.xml:7653
10332 "But Felten's bravery was really tested in April 2001.<placeholder "
10333 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> He and a group of colleagues were working on a "
10334 "paper to be submitted at conference. The paper was intended to describe the "
10335 "weakness in an encryption system being developed by the Secure Digital Music "
10336 "Initiative as a technique to control the distribution of music."
10339 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10340 #: freeculture.xml:7673
10342 "The SDMI coalition had as its goal a technology to enable content owners to "
10343 "exercise much better control over their content than the Internet, as it "
10344 "originally stood, granted them. Using encryption, SDMI hoped to develop a "
10345 "standard that would allow the content owner to say <quote>this music cannot "
10346 "be copied,</quote> and have a computer respect that command. The technology "
10347 "was to be part of a <quote>trusted system</quote> of control that would get "
10348 "content owners to trust the system of the Internet much more."
10351 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10352 #: freeculture.xml:7683
10354 "When SDMI thought it was close to a standard, it set up a competition. In "
10355 "exchange for providing contestants with the code to an SDMI-encrypted bit of "
10356 "content, contestants were to try to crack it and, if they did, report the "
10357 "problems to the consortium."
10361 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10362 #: freeculture.xml:7690
10364 "Felten and his team figured out the encryption system quickly. He and the "
10365 "team saw the weakness of this system as a type: Many encryption systems "
10366 "would suffer the same weakness, and Felten and his team thought it "
10367 "worthwhile to point this out to those who study encryption."
10370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10371 #: freeculture.xml:7696
10373 "Let's review just what Felten was doing. Again, this is the United "
10374 "States. We have a principle of free speech. We have this principle not just "
10375 "because it is the law, but also because it is a really great idea. A "
10376 "strongly protected tradition of free speech is likely to encourage a wide "
10377 "range of criticism. That criticism is likely, in turn, to improve the "
10378 "systems or people or ideas criticized."
10381 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10382 #: freeculture.xml:7704
10384 "What Felten and his colleagues were doing was publishing a paper describing "
10385 "the weakness in a technology. They were not spreading free music, or "
10386 "building and deploying this technology. The paper was an academic essay, "
10387 "unintelligible to most people. But it clearly showed the weakness in the "
10388 "SDMI system, and why SDMI would not, as presently constituted, succeed."
10391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10392 #: freeculture.xml:7722
10394 "What links these two, aibopet.com and Felten, is the letters they then "
10395 "received. Aibopet.com received a letter from Sony about the aibopet.com "
10396 "hack. Though a jazz-dancing dog is perfectly legal, Sony wrote:"
10399 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10400 #: freeculture.xml:7729
10402 "Your site contains information providing the means to circumvent AIBO-ware's "
10403 "copy protection protocol constituting a violation of the anti-circumvention "
10404 "provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act."
10407 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10408 #: freeculture.xml:7738
10410 "And though an academic paper describing the weakness in a system of "
10411 "encryption should also be perfectly legal, Felten received a letter from an "
10412 "RIAA lawyer that read:"
10416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10417 #: freeculture.xml:7744
10419 "Any disclosure of information gained from participating in the Public "
10420 "Challenge would be outside the scope of activities permitted by the "
10421 "Agreement and could subject you and your research team to actions under the "
10422 "Digital Millennium Copyright Act (<quote>DMCA</quote>)."
10425 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10426 #: freeculture.xml:7752
10428 "In both cases, this weirdly Orwellian law was invoked to control the spread "
10429 "of information. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act made spreading such "
10430 "information an offense."
10433 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10434 #: freeculture.xml:7757
10436 "The DMCA was enacted as a response to copyright owners' first fear about "
10437 "cyberspace. The fear was that copyright control was effectively dead; the "
10438 "response was to find technologies that might compensate. These new "
10439 "technologies would be copyright protection technologies— technologies "
10440 "to control the replication and distribution of copyrighted material. They "
10441 "were designed as <emphasis>code</emphasis> to modify the original "
10442 "<emphasis>code</emphasis> of the Internet, to reestablish some protection "
10443 "for copyright owners."
10446 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10447 #: freeculture.xml:7768
10449 "The DMCA was a bit of law intended to back up the protection of this code "
10450 "designed to protect copyrighted material. It was, we could say, "
10451 "<emphasis>legal code</emphasis> intended to buttress <emphasis>software "
10452 "code</emphasis> which itself was intended to support the <emphasis>legal "
10453 "code of copyright</emphasis>."
10456 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10457 #: freeculture.xml:7775
10459 "But the DMCA was not designed merely to protect copyrighted works to the "
10460 "extent copyright law protected them. Its protection, that is, did not end at "
10461 "the line that copyright law drew. The DMCA regulated devices that were "
10462 "designed to circumvent copyright protection measures. It was designed to ban "
10463 "those devices, whether or not the use of the copyrighted material made "
10464 "possible by that circumvention would have been a copyright violation."
10468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10469 #: freeculture.xml:7790
10471 "Aibopet.com and Felten make the point. The Aibo hack circumvented a "
10472 "copyright protection system for the purpose of enabling the dog to dance "
10473 "jazz. That enablement no doubt involved the use of copyrighted material. But "
10474 "as aibopet.com's site was noncommercial, and the use did not enable "
10475 "subsequent copyright infringements, there's no doubt that aibopet.com's hack "
10476 "was fair use of Sony's copyrighted material. Yet fair use is not a defense "
10477 "to the DMCA. The question is not whether the use of the copyrighted material "
10478 "was a copyright violation. The question is whether a copyright protection "
10479 "system was circumvented."
10482 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10483 #: freeculture.xml:7802
10485 "The threat against Felten was more attenuated, but it followed the same line "
10486 "of reasoning. By publishing a paper describing how a copyright protection "
10487 "system could be circumvented, the RIAA lawyer suggested, Felten himself was "
10488 "distributing a circumvention technology. Thus, even though he was not "
10489 "himself infringing anyone's copyright, his academic paper was enabling "
10490 "others to infringe others' copyright."
10493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10494 #: freeculture.xml:7809 freeculture.xml:7842
10495 msgid "Rogers, Fred"
10498 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10499 #: freeculture.xml:7819 freeculture.xml:7855 freeculture.xml:7887
10500 msgid "Conrad, Paul"
10503 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10504 #: freeculture.xml:7811
10506 "The bizarreness of these arguments is captured in a cartoon drawn in 1981 by "
10507 "Paul Conrad. At that time, a court in California had held that the VCR could "
10508 "be banned because it was a copyright-infringing technology: It enabled "
10509 "consumers to copy films without the permission of the copyright owner. No "
10510 "doubt there were uses of the technology that were legal: Fred Rogers, aka "
10511 "<quote><citetitle>Mr. Rogers</citetitle>,</quote> for example, had testified "
10512 "in that case that he wanted people to feel free to tape Mr. Rogers' "
10513 "Neighborhood. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10517 #: freeculture.xml:7838
10519 "<citetitle>Sony Corporation of America</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Universal "
10520 "City Studios, Inc</citetitle>., 464 U.S. 417, 455 fn. 27 (1984). Rogers "
10521 "never changed his view about the VCR. See James Lardner, <citetitle>Fast "
10522 "Forward: Hollywood, the Japanese, and the Onslaught of the VCR</citetitle> "
10523 "(New York: W. W. Norton, 1987), 270–71. <placeholder "
10524 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10528 #: freeculture.xml:7823
10530 "Some public stations, as well as commercial stations, program the "
10531 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> at hours when some children cannot use it. I "
10532 "think that it's a real service to families to be able to record such "
10533 "programs and show them at appropriate times. I have always felt that with "
10534 "the advent of all of this new technology that allows people to tape the "
10535 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> off-the-air, and I'm speaking for the "
10536 "<quote>Neighborhood</quote> because that's what I produce, that they then "
10537 "become much more active in the programming of their family's television "
10538 "life. Very frankly, I am opposed to people being programmed by others. My "
10539 "whole approach in broadcasting has always been <quote>You are an important "
10540 "person just the way you are. You can make healthy decisions.</quote> Maybe "
10541 "I'm going on too long, but I just feel that anything that allows a person to "
10542 "be more active in the control of his or her life, in a healthy way, is "
10543 "important.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10547 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10548 #: freeculture.xml:7848
10550 "Even though there were uses that were legal, because there were some uses "
10551 "that were illegal, the court held the companies producing the VCR "
10555 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10556 #: freeculture.xml:7853
10558 "This led Conrad to draw the cartoon below, which we can adopt to the DMCA. "
10559 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10562 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10563 #: freeculture.xml:7858
10564 msgid "No argument I have can top this picture, but let me try to get close."
10567 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10568 #: freeculture.xml:7861
10570 "The anticircumvention provisions of the DMCA target copyright circumvention "
10571 "technologies. Circumvention technologies can be used for different "
10572 "ends. They can be used, for example, to enable massive pirating of "
10573 "copyrighted material—a bad end. Or they can be used to enable the use "
10574 "of particular copyrighted materials in ways that would be considered fair "
10575 "use—a good end."
10579 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10580 #: freeculture.xml:7869
10582 "A handgun can be used to shoot a police officer or a child. Most would agree "
10583 "such a use is bad. Or a handgun can be used for target practice or to "
10584 "protect against an intruder. At least some would say that such a use would "
10585 "be good. It, too, is a technology that has both good and bad uses."
10588 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10589 #: freeculture.xml:7877
10590 msgid "VCR/handgun cartoon."
10593 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10594 #: freeculture.xml:7878
10595 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1711.png\"></graphic>"
10598 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10599 #: freeculture.xml:7881
10601 "The obvious point of Conrad's cartoon is the weirdness of a world where guns "
10602 "are legal, despite the harm they can do, while VCRs (and circumvention "
10603 "technologies) are illegal. Flash: <emphasis>No one ever died from copyright "
10604 "circumvention</emphasis>. Yet the law bans circumvention technologies "
10605 "absolutely, despite the potential that they might do some good, but permits "
10606 "guns, despite the obvious and tragic harm they do. <placeholder "
10607 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10610 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10611 #: freeculture.xml:7896
10613 "The Aibo and RIAA examples demonstrate how copyright owners are changing the "
10614 "balance that copyright law grants. Using code, copyright owners restrict "
10615 "fair use; using the DMCA, they punish those who would attempt to evade the "
10616 "restrictions on fair use that they impose through code. Technology becomes a "
10617 "means by which fair use can be erased; the law of the DMCA backs up that "
10621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10622 #: freeculture.xml:7904
10624 "This is how <emphasis>code</emphasis> becomes <emphasis>law</emphasis>. The "
10625 "controls built into the technology of copy and access protection become "
10626 "rules the violation of which is also a violation of the law. In this way, "
10627 "the code extends the law—increasing its regulation, even if the "
10628 "subject it regulates (activities that would otherwise plainly constitute "
10629 "fair use) is beyond the reach of the law. Code becomes law; code extends the "
10630 "law; code thus extends the control that copyright owners effect—at "
10631 "least for those copyright holders with the lawyers who can write the nasty "
10632 "letters that Felten and aibopet.com received."
10635 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10636 #: freeculture.xml:7916
10638 "There is one final aspect of the interaction between architecture and law "
10639 "that contributes to the force of copyright's regulation. This is the ease "
10640 "with which infringements of the law can be detected. For contrary to the "
10641 "rhetoric common at the birth of cyberspace that on the Internet, no one "
10642 "knows you're a dog, increasingly, given changing technologies deployed on "
10643 "the Internet, it is easy to find the dog who committed a legal wrong. The "
10644 "technologies of the Internet are open to snoops as well as sharers, and the "
10645 "snoops are increasingly good at tracking down the identity of those who "
10646 "violate the rules."
10650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10651 #: freeculture.xml:7935
10653 "For an early and prescient analysis, see Rebecca Tushnet, <quote>Legal "
10654 "Fictions, Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law,</quote> "
10655 "<citetitle>Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal</citetitle> 17 "
10659 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10660 #: freeculture.xml:7929
10662 "For example, imagine you were part of a <citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> fan "
10663 "club. You gathered every month to share trivia, and maybe to enact a kind of "
10664 "fan fiction about the show. One person would play Spock, another, Captain "
10665 "Kirk. The characters would begin with a plot from a real story, then simply "
10666 "continue it.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10670 #: freeculture.xml:7941
10672 "Before the Internet, this was, in effect, a totally unregulated activity. "
10673 "No matter what happened inside your club room, you would never be interfered "
10674 "with by the copyright police. You were free in that space to do as you "
10675 "wished with this part of our culture. You were allowed to build on it as you "
10676 "wished without fear of legal control."
10679 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10680 #: freeculture.xml:7948
10682 "But if you moved your club onto the Internet, and made it generally "
10683 "available for others to join, the story would be very different. Bots "
10684 "scouring the Net for trademark and copyright infringement would quickly find "
10685 "your site. Your posting of fan fiction, depending upon the ownership of the "
10686 "series that you're depicting, could well inspire a lawyer's threat. And "
10687 "ignoring the lawyer's threat would be extremely costly indeed. The law of "
10688 "copyright is extremely efficient. The penalties are severe, and the process "
10692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10693 #: freeculture.xml:7958
10695 "This change in the effective force of the law is caused by a change in the "
10696 "ease with which the law can be enforced. That change too shifts the law's "
10697 "balance radically. It is as if your car transmitted the speed at which you "
10698 "traveled at every moment that you drove; that would be just one step before "
10699 "the state started issuing tickets based upon the data you transmitted. That "
10700 "is, in effect, what is happening here."
10703 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
10704 #: freeculture.xml:7967
10705 msgid "Market: Concentration"
10709 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10710 #: freeculture.xml:7969
10712 "So copyright's duration has increased dramatically—tripled in the past "
10713 "thirty years. And copyright's scope has increased as well—from "
10714 "regulating only publishers to now regulating just about everyone. And "
10715 "copyright's reach has changed, as every action becomes a copy and hence "
10716 "presumptively regulated. And as technologists find better ways to control "
10717 "the use of content, and as copyright is increasingly enforced through "
10718 "technology, copyright's force changes, too. Misuse is easier to find and "
10719 "easier to control. This regulation of the creative process, which began as a "
10720 "tiny regulation governing a tiny part of the market for creative work, has "
10721 "become the single most important regulator of creativity there is. It is a "
10722 "massive expansion in the scope of the government's control over innovation "
10723 "and creativity; it would be totally unrecognizable to those who gave birth "
10724 "to copyright's control."
10727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10728 #: freeculture.xml:7987
10730 "Still, in my view, all of these changes would not matter much if it weren't "
10731 "for one more change that we must also consider. This is a change that is in "
10732 "some sense the most familiar, though its significance and scope are not well "
10733 "understood. It is the one that creates precisely the reason to be concerned "
10734 "about all the other changes I have described."
10737 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10738 #: freeculture.xml:7994
10740 "This is the change in the concentration and integration of the media. In "
10741 "the past twenty years, the nature of media ownership has undergone a radical "
10742 "alteration, caused by changes in legal rules governing the media. Before "
10743 "this change happened, the different forms of media were owned by separate "
10744 "media companies. Now, the media is increasingly owned by only a few "
10745 "companies. Indeed, after the changes that the FCC announced in June 2003, "
10746 "most expect that within a few years, we will live in a world where just "
10747 "three companies control more than percent of the media."
10750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10751 #: freeculture.xml:8005
10752 msgid "These changes are of two sorts: the scope of concentration, and its nature."
10756 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10757 #: freeculture.xml:8013
10759 "FCC Oversight: Hearing Before the Senate Commerce, Science and "
10760 "Transportation Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (22 May 2003) (statement "
10761 "of Senator John McCain)."
10765 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10766 #: freeculture.xml:8020
10768 "Lynette Holloway, <quote>Despite a Marketing Blitz, CD Sales Continue to "
10769 "Slide,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 23 December 2002."
10773 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10774 #: freeculture.xml:8026
10776 "Molly Ivins, <quote>Media Consolidation Must Be Stopped,</quote> "
10777 "<citetitle>Charleston Gazette</citetitle>, 31 May 2003."
10780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10781 #: freeculture.xml:8029
10785 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10786 #: freeculture.xml:8030 freeculture.xml:9378
10790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10791 #: freeculture.xml:8031
10792 msgid "McCain, John"
10795 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10796 #: freeculture.xml:8032 freeculture.xml:9379
10797 msgid "Universal Music Group"
10800 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
10801 #: freeculture.xml:8033
10802 msgid "Warner Music Group"
10805 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10806 #: freeculture.xml:8009
10808 "Changes in scope are the easier ones to describe. As Senator John McCain "
10809 "summarized the data produced in the FCC's review of media ownership, "
10810 "<quote>five companies control 85 percent of our media "
10811 "sources.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The five recording "
10812 "labels of Universal Music Group, BMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music "
10813 "Group, and EMI control 84.8 percent of the U.S. music market.<placeholder "
10814 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> The <quote>five largest cable companies pipe "
10815 "programming to 74 percent of the cable subscribers "
10816 "nationwide.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
10817 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> "
10818 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10819 "id=\"6\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"7\"/>"
10823 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10824 #: freeculture.xml:8036
10826 "The story with radio is even more dramatic. Before deregulation, the "
10827 "nation's largest radio broadcasting conglomerate owned fewer than "
10828 "seventy-five stations. Today <emphasis>one</emphasis> company owns more than "
10829 "1,200 stations. During that period of consolidation, the total number of "
10830 "radio owners dropped by 34 percent. Today, in most markets, the two largest "
10831 "broadcasters control 74 percent of that market's revenues. Overall, just "
10832 "four companies control 90 percent of the nation's radio advertising "
10836 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10837 #: freeculture.xml:8047
10839 "Newspaper ownership is becoming more concentrated as well. Today, there are "
10840 "six hundred fewer daily newspapers in the United States than there were "
10841 "eighty years ago, and ten companies control half of the nation's "
10842 "circulation. There are twenty major newspaper publishers in the United "
10843 "States. The top ten film studios receive 99 percent of all film revenue. The "
10844 "ten largest cable companies account for 85 percent of all cable "
10845 "revenue. This is a market far from the free press the framers sought to "
10846 "protect. Indeed, it is a market that is quite well protected— by the "
10850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
10851 #: freeculture.xml:8061 freeculture.xml:8078
10852 msgid "Fallows, James"
10855 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10856 #: freeculture.xml:8058
10858 "Concentration in size alone is one thing. The more invidious change is in "
10859 "the nature of that concentration. As author James Fallows put it in a recent "
10860 "article about Rupert Murdoch, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
10863 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
10864 #: freeculture.xml:8076
10866 "James Fallows, <quote>The Age of Murdoch,</quote> <citetitle>Atlantic "
10867 "Monthly</citetitle> (September 2003): 89. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
10871 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
10872 #: freeculture.xml:8065
10874 "Murdoch's companies now constitute a production system unmatched in its "
10875 "integration. They supply content—Fox movies … Fox TV shows "
10876 "… Fox-controlled sports broadcasts, plus newspapers and books. They "
10877 "sell the content to the public and to advertisers—in newspapers, on "
10878 "the broadcast network, on the cable channels. And they operate the physical "
10879 "distribution system through which the content reaches the "
10880 "customers. Murdoch's satellite systems now distribute News Corp. content in "
10881 "Europe and Asia; if Murdoch becomes DirecTV's largest single owner, that "
10882 "system will serve the same function in the United States.<placeholder "
10883 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10887 #: freeculture.xml:8083
10889 "The pattern with Murdoch is the pattern of modern media. Not just large "
10890 "companies owning many radio stations, but a few companies owning as many "
10891 "outlets of media as possible. A picture describes this pattern better than a "
10892 "thousand words could do:"
10895 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure><title>
10896 #: freeculture.xml:8089
10897 msgid "Pattern of modern media ownership."
10900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><figure>
10901 #: freeculture.xml:8090
10902 msgid "<graphic fileref=\"images/1761.png\"></graphic>"
10906 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10907 #: freeculture.xml:8094
10909 "Does this concentration matter? Will it affect what is made, or what is "
10910 "distributed? Or is it merely a more efficient way to produce and distribute "
10914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10915 #: freeculture.xml:8099
10917 "My view was that concentration wouldn't matter. I thought it was nothing "
10918 "more than a more efficient financial structure. But now, after reading and "
10919 "listening to a barrage of creators try to convince me to the contrary, I am "
10920 "beginning to change my mind."
10923 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10924 #: freeculture.xml:8105
10926 "Here's a representative story that begins to suggest how this integration "
10930 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10931 #: freeculture.xml:8108
10932 msgid "Lear, Norman"
10935 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
10936 #: freeculture.xml:8110 freeculture.xml:8173
10937 msgid "All in the Family"
10940 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10941 #: freeculture.xml:8112
10943 "In 1969, Norman Lear created a pilot for <citetitle>All in the "
10944 "Family</citetitle>. He took the pilot to ABC. The network didn't like it. It "
10945 "was too edgy, they told Lear. Make it again. Lear made a second pilot, more "
10946 "edgy than the first. ABC was exasperated. You're missing the point, they "
10947 "told Lear. We wanted less edgy, not more."
10951 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10952 #: freeculture.xml:8124
10954 "Leonard Hill, <quote>The Axis of Access,</quote> remarks before Weidenbaum "
10955 "Center Forum, <quote>Entertainment Economics: The Movie Industry,</quote> "
10956 "St. Louis, Missouri, 3 April 2003 (transcript of prepared remarks available "
10957 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #28</ulink>; for the "
10958 "Lear story, not included in the prepared remarks, see <ulink "
10959 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #29</ulink>)."
10962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10963 #: freeculture.xml:8119
10965 "Rather than comply, Lear simply took the show elsewhere. CBS was happy to "
10966 "have the series; ABC could not stop Lear from walking. The copyrights that "
10967 "Lear held assured an independence from network control.<placeholder "
10968 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
10972 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10973 #: freeculture.xml:8135
10975 "The network did not control those copyrights because the law forbade the "
10976 "networks from controlling the content they syndicated. The law required a "
10977 "separation between the networks and the content producers; that separation "
10978 "would guarantee Lear freedom. And as late as 1992, because of these rules, "
10979 "the vast majority of prime time television—75 percent of it—was "
10980 "<quote>independent</quote> of the networks."
10984 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
10985 #: freeculture.xml:8154
10987 "NewsCorp./DirecTV Merger and Media Consolidation: Hearings on Media "
10988 "Ownership Before the Senate Commerce Committee, 108th Cong., 1st "
10989 "sess. (2003) (testimony of Gene Kimmelman on behalf of Consumers Union and "
10990 "the Consumer Federation of America), available at <ulink "
10991 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #30</ulink>. Kimmelman quotes "
10992 "Victoria Riskin, president of Writers Guild of America, West, in her Remarks "
10993 "at FCC En Banc Hearing, Richmond, Virginia, 27 February 2003."
10996 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
10997 #: freeculture.xml:8144
10999 "In 1994, the FCC abandoned the rules that required this independence. After "
11000 "that change, the networks quickly changed the balance. In 1985, there were "
11001 "twenty-five independent television production studios; in 2002, only five "
11002 "independent television studios remained. <quote>In 1992, only 15 percent of "
11003 "new series were produced for a network by a company it controlled. Last "
11004 "year, the percentage of shows produced by controlled companies more than "
11005 "quintupled to 77 percent.</quote> <quote>In 1992, 16 new series were "
11006 "produced independently of conglomerate control, last year there was "
11007 "one.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> In 2002, 75 percent of "
11008 "prime time television was owned by the networks that ran it. <quote>In the "
11009 "ten-year period between 1992 and 2002, the number of prime time television "
11010 "hours per week produced by network studios increased over 200%, whereas the "
11011 "number of prime time television hours per week produced by independent "
11012 "studios decreased 63%.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
11015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11016 #: freeculture.xml:8175
11018 "Today, another Norman Lear with another <citetitle>All in the "
11019 "Family</citetitle> would find that he had the choice either to make the show "
11020 "less edgy or to be fired: The content of any show developed for a network is "
11021 "increasingly owned by the network."
11024 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
11025 #: freeculture.xml:8184
11026 msgid "Diller, Barry"
11029 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
11030 #: freeculture.xml:8185
11031 msgid "Moyers, Bill"
11034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11035 #: freeculture.xml:8181
11037 "While the number of channels has increased dramatically, the ownership of "
11038 "those channels has narrowed to an ever smaller and smaller few. As Barry "
11039 "Diller said to Bill Moyers, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
11040 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
11044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
11045 #: freeculture.xml:8198
11047 "<quote>Barry Diller Takes on Media Deregulation,</quote> <citetitle>Now with "
11048 "Bill Moyers</citetitle>, Bill Moyers, 25 April 2003, edited transcript "
11049 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #31</ulink>."
11052 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
11053 #: freeculture.xml:8189
11055 "Well, if you have companies that produce, that finance, that air on their "
11056 "channel and then distribute worldwide everything that goes through their "
11057 "controlled distribution system, then what you get is fewer and fewer actual "
11058 "voices participating in the process. [We u]sed to have dozens and dozens of "
11059 "thriving independent production companies producing television programs. Now "
11060 "you have less than a handful.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11063 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11064 #: freeculture.xml:8205
11066 "This narrowing has an effect on what is produced. The product of such large "
11067 "and concentrated networks is increasingly homogenous. Increasingly "
11068 "safe. Increasingly sterile. The product of news shows from networks like "
11069 "this is increasingly tailored to the message the network wants to "
11070 "convey. This is not the communist party, though from the inside, it must "
11071 "feel a bit like the communist party. No one can question without risk of "
11072 "consequence—not necessarily banishment to Siberia, but punishment "
11073 "nonetheless. Independent, critical, different views are quashed. This is not "
11074 "the environment for a democracy."
11077 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11078 #: freeculture.xml:8216
11079 msgid "Clark, Kim B."
11083 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11084 #: freeculture.xml:8225
11086 "Clayton M. Christensen, <citetitle>The Innovator's Dilemma: The "
11087 "Revolutionary National Bestseller that Changed the Way We Do "
11088 "Business</citetitle> (Cambridge: Harvard Business School Press, "
11089 "1997). Christensen acknowledges that the idea was first suggested by Dean "
11090 "Kim Clark. See Kim B. Clark, <quote>The Interaction of Design Hierarchies "
11091 "and Market Concepts in Technological Evolution,</quote> <citetitle>Research "
11092 "Policy</citetitle> 14 (1985): 235–51. For a more recent study, see "
11093 "Richard Foster and Sarah Kaplan, <citetitle>Creative Destruction: Why "
11094 "Companies That Are Built to Last Underperform the Market—and How to "
11095 "Successfully Transform Them</citetitle> (New York: Currency/Doubleday, "
11099 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11100 #: freeculture.xml:8218
11102 "Economics itself offers a parallel that explains why this integration "
11103 "affects creativity. Clay Christensen has written about the "
11104 "<quote>Innovator's Dilemma</quote>: the fact that large traditional firms "
11105 "find it rational to ignore new, breakthrough technologies that compete with "
11106 "their core business. The same analysis could help explain why large, "
11107 "traditional media companies would find it rational to ignore new cultural "
11108 "trends.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Lumbering giants not only "
11109 "don't, but should not, sprint. Yet if the field is only open to the giants, "
11110 "there will be far too little sprinting. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
11114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11115 #: freeculture.xml:8242
11117 "I don't think we know enough about the economics of the media market to say "
11118 "with certainty what concentration and integration will do. The efficiencies "
11119 "are important, and the effect on culture is hard to measure."
11122 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11123 #: freeculture.xml:8248
11125 "But there is a quintessentially obvious example that does strongly suggest "
11129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11130 #: freeculture.xml:8252
11132 "In addition to the copyright wars, we're in the middle of the drug "
11133 "wars. Government policy is strongly directed against the drug cartels; "
11134 "criminal and civil courts are filled with the consequences of this battle."
11138 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11139 #: freeculture.xml:8257
11141 "Let me hereby disqualify myself from any possible appointment to any "
11142 "position in government by saying I believe this war is a profound mistake. I "
11143 "am not pro drugs. Indeed, I come from a family once wrecked by "
11144 "drugs—though the drugs that wrecked my family were all quite legal. I "
11145 "believe this war is a profound mistake because the collateral damage from it "
11146 "is so great as to make waging the war insane. When you add together the "
11147 "burdens on the criminal justice system, the desperation of generations of "
11148 "kids whose only real economic opportunities are as drug warriors, the "
11149 "queering of constitutional protections because of the constant surveillance "
11150 "this war requires, and, most profoundly, the total destruction of the legal "
11151 "systems of many South American nations because of the power of the local "
11152 "drug cartels, I find it impossible to believe that the marginal benefit in "
11153 "reduced drug consumption by Americans could possibly outweigh these costs."
11156 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11157 #: freeculture.xml:8276
11159 "You may not be convinced. That's fine. We live in a democracy, and it is "
11160 "through votes that we are to choose policy. But to do that, we depend "
11161 "fundamentally upon the press to help inform Americans about these issues."
11164 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11165 #: freeculture.xml:8285
11167 "Beginning in 1998, the Office of National Drug Control Policy launched a "
11168 "media campaign as part of the <quote>war on drugs.</quote> The campaign "
11169 "produced scores of short film clips about issues related to illegal "
11170 "drugs. In one series (the Nick and Norm series) two men are in a bar, "
11171 "discussing the idea of legalizing drugs as a way to avoid some of the "
11172 "collateral damage from the war. One advances an argument in favor of drug "
11173 "legalization. The other responds in a powerful and effective way against the "
11174 "argument of the first. In the end, the first guy changes his mind (hey, it's "
11175 "television). The plug at the end is a damning attack on the pro-legalization "
11179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11180 #: freeculture.xml:8297
11182 "Fair enough. It's a good ad. Not terribly misleading. It delivers its "
11183 "message well. It's a fair and reasonable message."
11186 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11187 #: freeculture.xml:8301
11189 "But let's say you think it is a wrong message, and you'd like to run a "
11190 "countercommercial. Say you want to run a series of ads that try to "
11191 "demonstrate the extraordinary collateral harm that comes from the drug "
11192 "war. Can you do it?"
11196 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11197 #: freeculture.xml:8307
11199 "Well, obviously, these ads cost lots of money. Assume you raise the "
11200 "money. Assume a group of concerned citizens donates all the money in the "
11201 "world to help you get your message out. Can you be sure your message will be "
11205 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11206 #: freeculture.xml:8349
11210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11211 #: freeculture.xml:8350
11212 msgid "Marijuana Policy Project"
11215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11216 #: freeculture.xml:8351
11220 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11221 #: freeculture.xml:8352
11225 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11226 #: freeculture.xml:8353
11230 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11231 #: freeculture.xml:8324
11233 "The Marijuana Policy Project, in February 2003, sought to place ads that "
11234 "directly responded to the Nick and Norm series on stations within the "
11235 "Washington, D.C., area. Comcast rejected the ads as <quote>against [their] "
11236 "policy.</quote> The local NBC affiliate, WRC, rejected the ads without "
11237 "reviewing them. The local ABC affiliate, WJOA, originally agreed to run the "
11238 "ads and accepted payment to do so, but later decided not to run the ads and "
11239 "returned the collected fees. Interview with Neal Levine, 15 October 2003. "
11240 "These restrictions are, of course, not limited to drug policy. See, for "
11241 "example, Nat Ives, <quote>On the Issue of an Iraq War, Advocacy Ads Meet "
11242 "with Rejection from TV Networks,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
11243 "Times</citetitle>, 13 March 2003, C4. Outside of election-related air time "
11244 "there is very little that the FCC or the courts are willing to do to even "
11245 "the playing field. For a general overview, see Rhonda Brown, <quote>Ad Hoc "
11246 "Access: The Regulation of Editorial Advertising on Television and "
11247 "Radio,</quote> <citetitle>Yale Law and Policy Review</citetitle> 6 (1988): "
11248 "449–79, and for a more recent summary of the stance of the FCC and the "
11249 "courts, see <citetitle>Radio-Television News Directors "
11250 "Association</citetitle> v. <citetitle>FCC</citetitle>, 184 F. 3d 872 "
11251 "(D.C. Cir. 1999). Municipal authorities exercise the same authority as the "
11252 "networks. In a recent example from San Francisco, the San Francisco transit "
11253 "authority rejected an ad that criticized its Muni diesel buses. Phillip "
11254 "Matier and Andrew Ross, <quote>Antidiesel Group Fuming After Muni Rejects "
11255 "Ad,</quote> SFGate.com, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
11256 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #32</ulink>. The ground was that "
11257 "the criticism was <quote>too controversial.</quote> <placeholder "
11258 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
11259 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
11260 "id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"4\"/> <placeholder "
11261 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"5\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"6\"/>"
11264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11265 #: freeculture.xml:8314
11267 "No. You cannot. Television stations have a general policy of avoiding "
11268 "<quote>controversial</quote> ads. Ads sponsored by the government are deemed "
11269 "uncontroversial; ads disagreeing with the government are controversial. "
11270 "This selectivity might be thought inconsistent with the First Amendment, but "
11271 "the Supreme Court has held that stations have the right to choose what they "
11272 "run. Thus, the major channels of commercial media will refuse one side of a "
11273 "crucial debate the opportunity to present its case. And the courts will "
11274 "defend the rights of the stations to be this biased.<placeholder "
11275 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11279 #: freeculture.xml:8358
11281 "I'd be happy to defend the networks' rights, as well—if we lived in a "
11282 "media market that was truly diverse. But concentration in the media throws "
11283 "that condition into doubt. If a handful of companies control access to the "
11284 "media, and that handful of companies gets to decide which political "
11285 "positions it will allow to be promoted on its channels, then in an obvious "
11286 "and important way, concentration matters. You might like the positions the "
11287 "handful of companies selects. But you should not like a world in which a "
11288 "mere few get to decide which issues the rest of us get to know about."
11291 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
11292 #: freeculture.xml:8371
11296 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11297 #: freeculture.xml:8373
11299 "There is something innocent and obvious about the claim of the copyright "
11300 "warriors that the government should <quote>protect my property.</quote> In "
11301 "the abstract, it is obviously true and, ordinarily, totally harmless. No "
11302 "sane sort who is not an anarchist could disagree."
11306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11307 #: freeculture.xml:8379
11309 "But when we see how dramatically this <quote>property</quote> has "
11310 "changed— when we recognize how it might now interact with both "
11311 "technology and markets to mean that the effective constraint on the liberty "
11312 "to cultivate our culture is dramatically different—the claim begins to "
11313 "seem less innocent and obvious. Given (1) the power of technology to "
11314 "supplement the law's control, and (2) the power of concentrated markets to "
11315 "weaken the opportunity for dissent, if strictly enforcing the massively "
11316 "expanded <quote>property</quote> rights granted by copyright fundamentally "
11317 "changes the freedom within this culture to cultivate and build upon our "
11318 "past, then we have to ask whether this property should be redefined."
11321 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11322 #: freeculture.xml:8395
11324 "Not starkly. Or absolutely. My point is not that we should abolish copyright "
11325 "or go back to the eighteenth century. That would be a total mistake, "
11326 "disastrous for the most important creative enterprises within our culture "
11330 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11331 #: freeculture.xml:8401
11333 "But there is a space between zero and one, Internet culture "
11334 "notwithstanding. And these massive shifts in the effective power of "
11335 "copyright regulation, tied to increased concentration of the content "
11336 "industry and resting in the hands of technology that will increasingly "
11337 "enable control over the use of culture, should drive us to consider whether "
11338 "another adjustment is called for. Not an adjustment that increases "
11339 "copyright's power. Not an adjustment that increases its term. Rather, an "
11340 "adjustment to restore the balance that has traditionally defined copyright's "
11341 "regulation—a weakening of that regulation, to strengthen creativity."
11344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11345 #: freeculture.xml:8413
11347 "Copyright law has not been a rock of Gibraltar. It's not a set of constant "
11348 "commitments that, for some mysterious reason, teenagers and geeks now "
11349 "flout. Instead, copyright power has grown dramatically in a short period of "
11350 "time, as the technologies of distribution and creation have changed and as "
11351 "lobbyists have pushed for more control by copyright holders. Changes in the "
11352 "past in response to changes in technology suggest that we may well need "
11353 "similar changes in the future. And these changes have to be "
11354 "<emphasis>reductions</emphasis> in the scope of copyright, in response to "
11355 "the extraordinary increase in control that technology and the market enable."
11359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11360 #: freeculture.xml:8425
11362 "For the single point that is lost in this war on pirates is a point that we "
11363 "see only after surveying the range of these changes. When you add together "
11364 "the effect of changing law, concentrated markets, and changing technology, "
11365 "together they produce an astonishing conclusion: <emphasis>Never in our "
11366 "history have fewer had a legal right to control more of the development of "
11367 "our culture than now</emphasis>."
11370 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11371 #: freeculture.xml:8449
11373 "Siva Vaidhyanathan captures a similar point in his <quote>four "
11374 "surrenders</quote> of copyright law in the digital age. See Vaidhyanathan, "
11375 "159–60. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11379 #: freeculture.xml:8434
11381 "Not when copyrights were perpetual, for when copyrights were perpetual, they "
11382 "affected only that precise creative work. Not when only publishers had the "
11383 "tools to publish, for the market then was much more diverse. Not when there "
11384 "were only three television networks, for even then, newspapers, film "
11385 "studios, radio stations, and publishers were independent of the "
11386 "networks. <emphasis>Never</emphasis> has copyright protected such a wide "
11387 "range of rights, against as broad a range of actors, for a term that was "
11388 "remotely as long. This form of regulation—a tiny regulation of a tiny "
11389 "part of the creative energy of a nation at the founding—is now a "
11390 "massive regulation of the overall creative process. Law plus technology plus "
11391 "the market now interact to turn this historically benign regulation into the "
11392 "most significant regulation of culture that our free society has "
11393 "known.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11397 #: freeculture.xml:8455
11398 msgid "This has been a long chapter. Its point can now be briefly stated."
11401 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11402 #: freeculture.xml:8458
11404 "At the start of this book, I distinguished between commercial and "
11405 "noncommercial culture. In the course of this chapter, I have distinguished "
11406 "between copying a work and transforming it. We can now combine these two "
11407 "distinctions and draw a clear map of the changes that copyright law has "
11408 "undergone. In 1790, the law looked like this:"
11411 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11412 #: freeculture.xml:8470 freeculture.xml:8507
11416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11417 #: freeculture.xml:8471 freeculture.xml:8508 freeculture.xml:8546 freeculture.xml:8578
11421 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11422 #: freeculture.xml:8476 freeculture.xml:8513 freeculture.xml:8551 freeculture.xml:8583
11426 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11427 #: freeculture.xml:8477 freeculture.xml:8514 freeculture.xml:8515 freeculture.xml:8552 freeculture.xml:8553 freeculture.xml:8584 freeculture.xml:8585 freeculture.xml:8589 freeculture.xml:8590
11431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11432 #: freeculture.xml:8478 freeculture.xml:8482 freeculture.xml:8483 freeculture.xml:8519 freeculture.xml:8520 freeculture.xml:8558
11436 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11437 #: freeculture.xml:8481 freeculture.xml:8518 freeculture.xml:8556 freeculture.xml:8588
11438 msgid "Noncommercial"
11442 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11443 #: freeculture.xml:8490
11445 "The act of publishing a map, chart, and book was regulated by copyright "
11446 "law. Nothing else was. Transformations were free. And as copyright attached "
11447 "only with registration, and only those who intended to benefit commercially "
11448 "would register, copying through publishing of noncommercial work was also "
11452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11453 #: freeculture.xml:8499
11454 msgid "By the end of the nineteenth century, the law had changed to this:"
11457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11458 #: freeculture.xml:8527
11460 "Derivative works were now regulated by copyright law—if published, "
11461 "which again, given the economics of publishing at the time, means if offered "
11462 "commercially. But noncommercial publishing and transformation were still "
11463 "essentially free."
11466 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11467 #: freeculture.xml:8533
11469 "In 1909 the law changed to regulate copies, not publishing, and after this "
11470 "change, the scope of the law was tied to technology. As the technology of "
11471 "copying became more prevalent, the reach of the law expanded. Thus by 1975, "
11472 "as photocopying machines became more common, we could say the law began to "
11476 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><thead><row><entry>
11477 #: freeculture.xml:8545 freeculture.xml:8577
11481 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><informaltable><tgroup><tbody><row><entry>
11482 #: freeculture.xml:8557
11483 msgid "©/Free"
11486 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11487 #: freeculture.xml:8565
11489 "The law was interpreted to reach noncommercial copying through, say, copy "
11490 "machines, but still much of copying outside of the commercial market "
11491 "remained free. But the consequence of the emergence of digital technologies, "
11492 "especially in the context of a digital network, means that the law now looks "
11497 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11498 #: freeculture.xml:8597
11500 "Every realm is governed by copyright law, whereas before most creativity was "
11501 "not. The law now regulates the full range of creativity— commercial or "
11502 "not, transformative or not—with the same rules designed to regulate "
11503 "commercial publishers."
11506 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11507 #: freeculture.xml:8605
11509 "Obviously, copyright law is not the enemy. The enemy is regulation that does "
11510 "no good. So the question that we should be asking just now is whether "
11511 "extending the regulations of copyright law into each of these domains "
11512 "actually does any good."
11515 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11516 #: freeculture.xml:8611
11518 "I have no doubt that it does good in regulating commercial copying. But I "
11519 "also have no doubt that it does more harm than good when regulating (as it "
11520 "regulates just now) noncommercial copying and, especially, noncommercial "
11521 "transformation. And increasingly, for the reasons sketched especially in "
11522 "chapters <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/> and "
11523 "<xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"transformers\"/>, one "
11524 "might well wonder whether it does more harm than good for commercial "
11525 "transformation. More commercial transformative work would be created if "
11526 "derivative rights were more sharply restricted."
11529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11530 #: freeculture.xml:8635
11531 msgid "legal realist movement"
11534 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
11535 #: freeculture.xml:8629
11537 "It was the single most important contribution of the legal realist movement "
11538 "to demonstrate that all property rights are always crafted to balance public "
11539 "and private interests. See Thomas C. Grey, <quote>The Disintegration of "
11540 "Property,</quote> in <citetitle>Nomos XXII: Property</citetitle>, J. Roland "
11541 "Pennock and John W. Chapman, eds. (New York: New York University Press, "
11542 "1980). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11545 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11546 #: freeculture.xml:8623
11548 "The issue is therefore not simply whether copyright is property. Of course "
11549 "copyright is a kind of <quote>property,</quote> and of course, as with any "
11550 "property, the state ought to protect it. But first impressions "
11551 "notwithstanding, historically, this property right (as with all property "
11552 "rights<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>) has been crafted to "
11553 "balance the important need to give authors and artists incentives with the "
11554 "equally important need to assure access to creative work. This balance has "
11555 "always been struck in light of new technologies. And for almost half of our "
11556 "tradition, the <quote>copyright</quote> did not control <emphasis>at "
11557 "all</emphasis> the freedom of others to build upon or transform a creative "
11558 "work. American culture was born free, and for almost 180 years our country "
11559 "consistently protected a vibrant and rich free culture."
11563 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11564 #: freeculture.xml:8648
11566 "We achieved that free culture because our law respected important limits on "
11567 "the scope of the interests protected by <quote>property.</quote> The very "
11568 "birth of <quote>copyright</quote> as a statutory right recognized those "
11569 "limits, by granting copyright owners protection for a limited time only (the "
11570 "story of chapter 6). The tradition of <quote>fair use</quote> is animated by "
11571 "a similar concern that is increasingly under strain as the costs of "
11572 "exercising any fair use right become unavoidably high (the story of chapter "
11573 "7). Adding statutory rights where markets might stifle innovation is another "
11574 "familiar limit on the property right that copyright is (chapter 8). And "
11575 "granting archives and libraries a broad freedom to collect, claims of "
11576 "property notwithstanding, is a crucial part of guaranteeing the soul of a "
11577 "culture (chapter 9). Free cultures, like free markets, are built with "
11578 "property. But the nature of the property that builds a free culture is very "
11579 "different from the extremist vision that dominates the debate today."
11582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
11583 #: freeculture.xml:8667
11585 "Free culture is increasingly the casualty in this war on piracy. In response "
11586 "to a real, if not yet quantified, threat that the technologies of the "
11587 "Internet present to twentieth-century business models for producing and "
11588 "distributing culture, the law and technology are being transformed in a way "
11589 "that will undermine our tradition of free culture. The property right that "
11590 "is copyright is no longer the balanced right that it was, or was intended to "
11591 "be. The property right that is copyright has become unbalanced, tilted "
11592 "toward an extreme. The opportunity to create and transform becomes weakened "
11593 "in a world in which creation requires permission and creativity must check "
11597 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
11598 #: freeculture.xml:8684
11602 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
11603 #: freeculture.xml:8688
11604 msgid "CHAPTER ELEVEN: Chimera"
11607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11608 #: freeculture.xml:8690
11612 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11613 #: freeculture.xml:8693
11614 msgid "Wells, H. G."
11617 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
11618 #: freeculture.xml:8696
11619 msgid "<quote>Country of the Blind, The</quote> (Wells)"
11623 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
11624 #: freeculture.xml:8704
11626 "H. G. Wells, <quote>The Country of the Blind</quote> (1904, 1911). See "
11627 "H. G. Wells, <citetitle>The Country of the Blind and Other "
11628 "Stories</citetitle>, Michael Sherborne, ed. (New York: Oxford University "
11632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11633 #: freeculture.xml:8700
11635 "In a well-known short story by H. G. Wells, a mountain climber named Nunez "
11636 "trips (literally, down an ice slope) into an unknown and isolated valley in "
11637 "the Peruvian Andes.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The valley is "
11638 "extraordinarily beautiful, with <quote>sweet water, pasture, an even "
11639 "climate, slopes of rich brown soil with tangles of a shrub that bore an "
11640 "excellent fruit.</quote> But the villagers are all blind. Nunez takes this "
11641 "as an opportunity. <quote>In the Country of the Blind,</quote> he tells "
11642 "himself, <quote>the One-Eyed Man is King.</quote> So he resolves to live "
11643 "with the villagers to explore life as a king."
11646 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11647 #: freeculture.xml:8716
11649 "Things don't go quite as he planned. He tries to explain the idea of sight "
11650 "to the villagers. They don't understand. He tells them they are "
11651 "<quote>blind.</quote> They don't have the word "
11652 "<citetitle>blind</citetitle>. They think he's just thick. Indeed, as they "
11653 "increasingly notice the things he can't do (hear the sound of grass being "
11654 "stepped on, for example), they increasingly try to control him. He, in turn, "
11655 "becomes increasingly frustrated. <quote>`You don't understand,' he cried, in "
11656 "a voice that was meant to be great and resolute, and which broke. `You are "
11657 "blind and I can see. Leave me alone!'</quote>"
11661 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11662 #: freeculture.xml:8728
11664 "The villagers don't leave him alone. Nor do they see (so to speak) the "
11665 "virtue of his special power. Not even the ultimate target of his affection, "
11666 "a young woman who to him seems <quote>the most beautiful thing in the whole "
11667 "of creation,</quote> understands the beauty of sight. Nunez's description of "
11668 "what he sees <quote>seemed to her the most poetical of fancies, and she "
11669 "listened to his description of the stars and the mountains and her own sweet "
11670 "white-lit beauty as though it was a guilty indulgence.</quote> <quote>She "
11671 "did not believe,</quote> Wells tells us, and <quote>she could only half "
11672 "understand, but she was mysteriously delighted.</quote>"
11675 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11676 #: freeculture.xml:8739
11678 "When Nunez announces his desire to marry his <quote>mysteriously "
11679 "delighted</quote> love, the father and the village object. <quote>You see, "
11680 "my dear,</quote> her father instructs, <quote>he's an idiot. He has "
11681 "delusions. He can't do anything right.</quote> They take Nunez to the "
11685 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11686 #: freeculture.xml:8745
11688 "After a careful examination, the doctor gives his opinion. <quote>His brain "
11689 "is affected,</quote> he reports."
11692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11693 #: freeculture.xml:8749
11695 "<quote>What affects it?</quote> the father asks. <quote>Those queer things "
11696 "that are called the eyes … are diseased … in such a way as to "
11697 "affect his brain.</quote>"
11700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11701 #: freeculture.xml:8754
11703 "The doctor continues: <quote>I think I may say with reasonable certainty "
11704 "that in order to cure him completely, all that we need to do is a simple and "
11705 "easy surgical operation—namely, to remove these irritant bodies [the "
11710 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11711 #: freeculture.xml:8760
11713 "<quote>Thank Heaven for science!</quote> says the father to the doctor. They "
11714 "inform Nunez of this condition necessary for him to be allowed his bride. "
11715 "(You'll have to read the original to learn what happens in the end. I "
11716 "believe in free culture, but never in giving away the end of a story.) It "
11717 "sometimes happens that the eggs of twins fuse in the mother's womb. That "
11718 "fusion produces a <quote>chimera.</quote> A chimera is a single creature "
11719 "with two sets of DNA. The DNA in the blood, for example, might be different "
11720 "from the DNA of the skin. This possibility is an underused plot for murder "
11721 "mysteries. <quote>But the DNA shows with 100 percent certainty that she was "
11722 "not the person whose blood was at the scene. …</quote>"
11725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11726 #: freeculture.xml:8777
11728 "Before I had read about chimeras, I would have said they were impossible. A "
11729 "single person can't have two sets of DNA. The very idea of DNA is that it is "
11730 "the code of an individual. Yet in fact, not only can two individuals have "
11731 "the same set of DNA (identical twins), but one person can have two different "
11732 "sets of DNA (a chimera). Our understanding of a <quote>person</quote> should "
11733 "reflect this reality."
11736 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11737 #: freeculture.xml:8785
11739 "The more I work to understand the current struggle over copyright and "
11740 "culture, which I've sometimes called unfairly, and sometimes not unfairly "
11741 "enough, <quote>the copyright wars,</quote> the more I think we're dealing "
11742 "with a chimera. For example, in the battle over the question <quote>What is "
11743 "p2p file sharing?</quote> both sides have it right, and both sides have it "
11744 "wrong. One side says, <quote>File sharing is just like two kids taping each "
11745 "others' records—the sort of thing we've been doing for the last thirty "
11746 "years without any question at all.</quote> That's true, at least in "
11747 "part. When I tell my best friend to try out a new CD that I've bought, but "
11748 "rather than just send the CD, I point him to my p2p server, that is, in all "
11749 "relevant respects, just like what every executive in every recording company "
11750 "no doubt did as a kid: sharing music."
11753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11754 #: freeculture.xml:8799
11756 "But the description is also false in part. For when my p2p server is on a "
11757 "p2p network through which anyone can get access to my music, then sure, my "
11758 "friends can get access, but it stretches the meaning of "
11759 "<quote>friends</quote> beyond recognition to say <quote>my ten thousand best "
11760 "friends</quote> can get access. Whether or not sharing my music with my best "
11761 "friend is what <quote>we have always been allowed to do,</quote> we have not "
11762 "always been allowed to share music with <quote>our ten thousand best "
11766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11767 #: freeculture.xml:8808
11769 "Likewise, when the other side says, <quote>File sharing is just like walking "
11770 "into a Tower Records and taking a CD off the shelf and walking out with "
11771 "it,</quote> that's true, at least in part. If, after Lyle Lovett (finally) "
11772 "releases a new album, rather than buying it, I go to Kazaa and find a free "
11773 "copy to take, that is very much like stealing a copy from Tower. "
11774 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11778 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11779 #: freeculture.xml:8819
11781 "But it is not quite stealing from Tower. After all, when I take a CD from "
11782 "Tower Records, Tower has one less CD to sell. And when I take a CD from "
11783 "Tower Records, I get a bit of plastic and a cover, and something to show on "
11784 "my shelves. (And, while we're at it, we could also note that when I take a "
11785 "CD from Tower Records, the maximum fine that might be imposed on me, under "
11786 "California law, at least, is $1,000. According to the RIAA, by contrast, if "
11787 "I download a ten-song CD, I'm liable for $1,500,000 in damages.)"
11790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11791 #: freeculture.xml:8829
11793 "The point is not that it is as neither side describes. The point is that it "
11794 "is both—both as the RIAA describes it and as Kazaa describes it. It is "
11795 "a chimera. And rather than simply denying what the other side asserts, we "
11796 "need to begin to think about how we should respond to this chimera. What "
11797 "rules should govern it?"
11800 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11801 #: freeculture.xml:8875
11802 msgid "Conyers, John, Jr."
11805 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
11806 #: freeculture.xml:8876 freeculture.xml:9585
11807 msgid "Berman, Howard L."
11810 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
11811 #: freeculture.xml:8845
11813 "For an excellent summary, see the report prepared by GartnerG2 and the "
11814 "Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School, "
11815 "<quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> 27 June "
11816 "2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11817 "#33</ulink>. Reps. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) and Howard L. Berman "
11818 "(D-Calif.) have introduced a bill that would treat unauthorized on-line "
11819 "copying as a felony offense with punishments ranging as high as five years "
11820 "imprisonment; see Jon Healey, <quote>House Bill Aims to Up Stakes on "
11821 "Piracy,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 17 July 2003, "
11822 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
11823 "#34</ulink>. Civil penalties are currently set at $150,000 per copied "
11824 "song. For a recent (and unsuccessful) legal challenge to the RIAA's demand "
11825 "that an ISP reveal the identity of a user accused of sharing more than 600 "
11826 "songs through a family computer, see <citetitle>RIAA</citetitle> "
11827 "v. <citetitle>Verizon Internet Services (In re. Verizon Internet "
11828 "Services)</citetitle>, 240 F. Supp. 2d 24 (D.D.C. 2003). Such a user could "
11829 "face liability ranging as high as $90 million. Such astronomical figures "
11830 "furnish the RIAA with a powerful arsenal in its prosecution of file "
11831 "sharers. Settlements ranging from $12,000 to $17,500 for four students "
11832 "accused of heavy file sharing on university networks must have seemed a mere "
11833 "pittance next to the $98 billion the RIAA could seek should the matter "
11834 "proceed to court. See Elizabeth Young, <quote>Downloading Could Lead to "
11835 "Fines,</quote> redandblack.com, August 2003, available at <ulink "
11836 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #35</ulink>. For an example of "
11837 "the RIAA's targeting of student file sharing, and of the subpoenas issued to "
11838 "universities to reveal student file-sharer identities, see James Collins, "
11839 "<quote>RIAA Steps Up Bid to Force BC, MIT to Name Students,</quote> "
11840 "<citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 8 August 2003, D3, available at <ulink "
11841 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #36</ulink>. <placeholder "
11842 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
11845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11846 #: freeculture.xml:8836
11848 "We could respond by simply pretending that it is not a chimera. We could, "
11849 "with the RIAA, decide that every act of file sharing should be a felony. We "
11850 "could prosecute families for millions of dollars in damages just because "
11851 "file sharing occurred on a family computer. And we can get universities to "
11852 "monitor all computer traffic to make sure that no computer is used to commit "
11853 "this crime. These responses might be extreme, but each of them has either "
11854 "been proposed or actually implemented.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
11858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11859 #: freeculture.xml:8882
11861 "Alternatively, we could respond to file sharing the way many kids act as "
11862 "though we've responded. We could totally legalize it. Let there be no "
11863 "copyright liability, either civil or criminal, for making copyrighted "
11864 "content available on the Net. Make file sharing like gossip: regulated, if "
11865 "at all, by social norms but not by law."
11868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11869 #: freeculture.xml:8889
11871 "Either response is possible. I think either would be a mistake. Rather than "
11872 "embrace one of these two extremes, we should embrace something that "
11873 "recognizes the truth in both. And while I end this book with a sketch of a "
11874 "system that does just that, my aim in the next chapter is to show just how "
11875 "awful it would be for us to adopt the zero-tolerance extreme. I believe "
11876 "<emphasis>either</emphasis> extreme would be worse than a reasonable "
11877 "alternative. But I believe the zero-tolerance solution would be the worse "
11878 "of the two extremes."
11882 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11883 #: freeculture.xml:8901
11885 "Yet zero tolerance is increasingly our government's policy. In the middle of "
11886 "the chaos that the Internet has created, an extraordinary land grab is "
11887 "occurring. The law and technology are being shifted to give content holders "
11888 "a kind of control over our culture that they have never had before. And in "
11889 "this extremism, many an opportunity for new innovation and new creativity "
11893 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11894 #: freeculture.xml:8909
11896 "I'm not talking about the opportunities for kids to <quote>steal</quote> "
11897 "music. My focus instead is the commercial and cultural innovation that this "
11898 "war will also kill. We have never seen the power to innovate spread so "
11899 "broadly among our citizens, and we have just begun to see the innovation "
11900 "that this power will unleash. Yet the Internet has already seen the passing "
11901 "of one cycle of innovation around technologies to distribute content. The "
11902 "law is responsible for this passing. As the vice president for global public "
11903 "policy at one of these new innovators, eMusic.com, put it when criticizing "
11904 "the DMCA's added protection for copyrighted material,"
11907 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11908 #: freeculture.xml:8922
11910 "eMusic opposes music piracy. We are a distributor of copyrighted material, "
11911 "and we want to protect those rights."
11914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11915 #: freeculture.xml:8926
11917 "But building a technology fortress that locks in the clout of the major "
11918 "labels is by no means the only way to protect copyright interests, nor is it "
11919 "necessarily the best. It is simply too early to answer that question. Market "
11920 "forces operating naturally may very well produce a totally different "
11925 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
11926 #: freeculture.xml:8943
11928 "WIPO and the DMCA One Year Later: Assessing Consumer Access to Digital "
11929 "Entertainment on the Internet and Other Media: Hearing Before the "
11930 "Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer Protection, House "
11931 "Committee on Commerce, 106th Cong. 29 (1999) (statement of Peter Harter, "
11932 "vice president, Global Public Policy and Standards, EMusic.com), available "
11933 "in LEXIS, Federal Document Clearing House Congressional Testimony File."
11936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
11937 #: freeculture.xml:8933
11939 "This is a critical point. The choices that industry sectors make with "
11940 "respect to these systems will in many ways directly shape the market for "
11941 "digital media and the manner in which digital media are distributed. This in "
11942 "turn will directly influence the options that are available to consumers, "
11943 "both in terms of the ease with which they will be able to access digital "
11944 "media and the equipment that they will require to do so. Poor choices made "
11945 "this early in the game will retard the growth of this market, hurting "
11946 "everyone's interests.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
11949 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
11950 #: freeculture.xml:8957 freeculture.xml:9311
11951 msgid "Vivendi Universal"
11954 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11955 #: freeculture.xml:8954
11957 "In April 2001, eMusic.com was purchased by Vivendi Universal, one of "
11958 "<quote>the major labels.</quote> Its position on these matters has now "
11959 "changed. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
11962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11963 #: freeculture.xml:8960
11965 "Reversing our tradition of tolerance now will not merely quash piracy. It "
11966 "will sacrifice values that are important to this culture, and will kill "
11967 "opportunities that could be extraordinarily valuable."
11970 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
11971 #: freeculture.xml:8968
11972 msgid "CHAPTER TWELVE: Harms"
11975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11976 #: freeculture.xml:8970
11978 "To fight <quote>piracy,</quote> to protect <quote>property,</quote> the "
11979 "content industry has launched a war. Lobbying and lots of campaign "
11980 "contributions have now brought the government into this war. As with any "
11981 "war, this one will have both direct and collateral damage. As with any war "
11982 "of prohibition, these damages will be suffered most by our own people."
11985 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11986 #: freeculture.xml:8977
11988 "My aim so far has been to describe the consequences of this war, in "
11989 "particular, the consequences for <quote>free culture.</quote> But my aim now "
11990 "is to extend this description of consequences into an argument. Is this war "
11994 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
11995 #: freeculture.xml:8983
11997 "In my view, it is not. There is no good reason why this time, for the first "
11998 "time, the law should defend the old against the new, just when the power of "
11999 "the property called <quote>intellectual property</quote> is at its greatest "
12003 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
12004 #: freeculture.xml:8991
12006 "Yet <quote>common sense</quote> does not see it this way. Common sense is "
12007 "still on the side of the Causbys and the content industry. The extreme "
12008 "claims of control in the name of property still resonate; the uncritical "
12009 "rejection of <quote>piracy</quote> still has play."
12013 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
12014 #: freeculture.xml:8999
12016 "There will be many consequences of continuing this war. I want to describe "
12017 "just three. All three might be said to be unintended. I am quite confident "
12018 "the third is unintended. I'm less sure about the first two. The first two "
12019 "protect modern RCAs, but there is no Howard Armstrong in the wings to fight "
12020 "today's monopolists of culture."
12023 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
12024 #: freeculture.xml:9006
12025 msgid "Constraining Creators"
12028 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12029 #: freeculture.xml:9008
12031 "In the next ten years we will see an explosion of digital technologies. "
12032 "These technologies will enable almost anyone to capture and share "
12033 "content. Capturing and sharing content, of course, is what humans have done "
12034 "since the dawn of man. It is how we learn and communicate. But capturing and "
12035 "sharing through digital technology is different. The fidelity and power are "
12036 "different. You could send an e-mail telling someone about a joke you saw on "
12037 "Comedy Central, or you could send the clip. You could write an essay about "
12038 "the inconsistencies in the arguments of the politician you most love to "
12039 "hate, or you could make a short film that puts statement against "
12040 "statement. You could write a poem to express your love, or you could weave "
12041 "together a string—a mash-up— of songs from your favorite artists "
12042 "in a collage and make it available on the Net."
12045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12046 #: freeculture.xml:9023
12048 "This digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> is in part an extension of "
12049 "the capturing and sharing that has always been integral to our culture, and "
12050 "in part it is something new. It is continuous with the Kodak, but it "
12051 "explodes the boundaries of Kodak-like technologies. The technology of "
12052 "digital <quote>capturing and sharing</quote> promises a world of "
12053 "extraordinarily diverse creativity that can be easily and broadly "
12054 "shared. And as that creativity is applied to democracy, it will enable a "
12055 "broad range of citizens to use technology to express and criticize and "
12056 "contribute to the culture all around."
12060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12061 #: freeculture.xml:9034
12063 "Technology has thus given us an opportunity to do something with culture "
12064 "that has only ever been possible for individuals in small groups, isolated "
12065 "from others. Think about an old man telling a story to a collection of "
12066 "neighbors in a small town. Now imagine that same storytelling extended "
12067 "across the globe."
12070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12071 #: freeculture.xml:9044
12073 "Yet all this is possible only if the activity is presumptively legal. In the "
12074 "current regime of legal regulation, it is not. Forget file sharing for a "
12075 "moment. Think about your favorite amazing sites on the Net. Web sites that "
12076 "offer plot summaries from forgotten television shows; sites that catalog "
12077 "cartoons from the 1960s; sites that mix images and sound to criticize "
12078 "politicians or businesses; sites that gather newspaper articles on remote "
12079 "topics of science or culture. There is a vast amount of creative work spread "
12080 "across the Internet. But as the law is currently crafted, this work is "
12081 "presumptively illegal."
12084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
12085 #: freeculture.xml:9072 freeculture.xml:9093
12089 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12090 #: freeculture.xml:9067
12092 "See Lynne W. Jeter, <citetitle>Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at "
12093 "WorldCom</citetitle> (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), 176, 204; "
12094 "for details of the settlement, see MCI press release, <quote>MCI Wins "
12095 "U.S. District Court Approval for SEC Settlement</quote> (7 July 2003), "
12096 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #37</ulink>. "
12097 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12100 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12101 #: freeculture.xml:9088
12102 msgid "Bush, George W."
12105 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12106 #: freeculture.xml:9079
12108 "The bill, modeled after California's tort reform model, was passed in the "
12109 "House of Representatives but defeated in a Senate vote in July 2003. For an "
12110 "overview, see Tanya Albert, <quote>Measure Stalls in Senate: `We'll Be "
12111 "Back,' Say Tort Reformers,</quote> amednews.com, 28 July 2003, available at "
12112 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #38</ulink>, and "
12113 "<quote>Senate Turns Back Malpractice Caps,</quote> CBSNews.com, 9 July 2003, "
12114 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
12115 "#39</ulink>. President Bush has continued to urge tort reform in recent "
12116 "months. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12119 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12120 #: freeculture.xml:9055
12122 "That presumption will increasingly chill creativity, as the examples of "
12123 "extreme penalties for vague infringements continue to proliferate. It is "
12124 "impossible to get a clear sense of what's allowed and what's not, and at the "
12125 "same time, the penalties for crossing the line are astonishingly harsh. The "
12126 "four students who were threatened by the RIAA ( Jesse Jordan of chapter 3 "
12127 "was just one) were threatened with a $98 billion lawsuit for building search "
12128 "engines that permitted songs to be copied. Yet World-Com—which "
12129 "defrauded investors of $11 billion, resulting in a loss to investors in "
12130 "market capitalization of over $200 billion—received a fine of a mere "
12131 "$750 million.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And under legislation "
12132 "being pushed in Congress right now, a doctor who negligently removes the "
12133 "wrong leg in an operation would be liable for no more than $250,000 in "
12134 "damages for pain and suffering.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> Can "
12135 "common sense recognize the absurdity in a world where the maximum fine for "
12136 "downloading two songs off the Internet is more than the fine for a doctor's "
12137 "negligently butchering a patient? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
12140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12141 #: freeculture.xml:9095
12142 msgid "art, underground"
12146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12147 #: freeculture.xml:9116
12149 "See Danit Lidor, <quote>Artists Just Wanna Be Free,</quote> "
12150 "<citetitle>Wired</citetitle>, 7 July 2003, available at <ulink "
12151 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #40</ulink>. For an overview of "
12152 "the exhibition, see <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
12156 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12157 #: freeculture.xml:9097
12159 "The consequence of this legal uncertainty, tied to these extremely high "
12160 "penalties, is that an extraordinary amount of creativity will either never "
12161 "be exercised, or never be exercised in the open. We drive this creative "
12162 "process underground by branding the modern-day Walt Disneys "
12163 "<quote>pirates.</quote> We make it impossible for businesses to rely upon a "
12164 "public domain, because the boundaries of the public domain are designed to "
12165 "be unclear. It never pays to do anything except pay for the right to create, "
12166 "and hence only those who can pay are allowed to create. As was the case in "
12167 "the Soviet Union, though for very different reasons, we will begin to see a "
12168 "world of underground art—not because the message is necessarily "
12169 "political, or because the subject is controversial, but because the very act "
12170 "of creating the art is legally fraught. Already, exhibits of <quote>illegal "
12171 "art</quote> tour the United States.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
12172 "In what does their <quote>illegality</quote> consist? In the act of mixing "
12173 "the culture around us with an expression that is critical or reflective."
12176 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12177 #: freeculture.xml:9126
12179 "Part of the reason for this fear of illegality has to do with the changing "
12180 "law. I described that change in detail in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: "
12181 "labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>. But an even bigger part has to do "
12182 "with the increasing ease with which infractions can be tracked. As users of "
12183 "file-sharing systems discovered in 2002, it is a trivial matter for "
12184 "copyright owners to get courts to order Internet service providers to reveal "
12185 "who has what content. It is as if your cassette tape player transmitted a "
12186 "list of the songs that you played in the privacy of your own home that "
12187 "anyone could tune into for whatever reason they chose."
12190 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12191 #: freeculture.xml:9138
12193 "Never in our history has a painter had to worry about whether his painting "
12194 "infringed on someone else's work; but the modern-day painter, using the "
12195 "tools of Photoshop, sharing content on the Web, must worry all the "
12196 "time. Images are all around, but the only safe images to use in the act of "
12197 "creation are those purchased from Corbis or another image farm. And in "
12198 "purchasing, censoring happens. There is a free market in pencils; we needn't "
12199 "worry about its effect on creativity. But there is a highly regulated, "
12200 "monopolized market in cultural icons; the right to cultivate and transform "
12201 "them is not similarly free."
12204 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12205 #: freeculture.xml:9149
12207 "Lawyers rarely see this because lawyers are rarely empirical. As I described "
12208 "in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"recorders\"/>, "
12209 "in response to the story about documentary filmmaker Jon Else, I have been "
12210 "lectured again and again by lawyers who insist Else's use was fair use, and "
12211 "hence I am wrong to say that the law regulates such a use."
12215 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12216 #: freeculture.xml:9160
12218 "But fair use in America simply means the right to hire a lawyer to defend "
12219 "your right to create. And as lawyers love to forget, our system for "
12220 "defending rights such as fair use is astonishingly bad—in practically "
12221 "every context, but especially here. It costs too much, it delivers too "
12222 "slowly, and what it delivers often has little connection to the justice "
12223 "underlying the claim. The legal system may be tolerable for the very rich. "
12224 "For everyone else, it is an embarrassment to a tradition that prides itself "
12225 "on the rule of law."
12228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12229 #: freeculture.xml:9170
12231 "Judges and lawyers can tell themselves that fair use provides adequate "
12232 "<quote>breathing room</quote> between regulation by the law and the access "
12233 "the law should allow. But it is a measure of how out of touch our legal "
12234 "system has become that anyone actually believes this. The rules that "
12235 "publishers impose upon writers, the rules that film distributors impose upon "
12236 "filmmakers, the rules that newspapers impose upon journalists— these "
12237 "are the real laws governing creativity. And these rules have little "
12238 "relationship to the <quote>law</quote> with which judges comfort themselves."
12241 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12242 #: freeculture.xml:9181
12244 "For in a world that threatens $150,000 for a single willful infringement of "
12245 "a copyright, and which demands tens of thousands of dollars to even defend "
12246 "against a copyright infringement claim, and which would never return to the "
12247 "wrongfully accused defendant anything of the costs she suffered to defend "
12248 "her right to speak—in that world, the astonishingly broad regulations "
12249 "that pass under the name <quote>copyright</quote> silence speech and "
12250 "creativity. And in that world, it takes a studied blindness for people to "
12251 "continue to believe they live in a culture that is free."
12254 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12255 #: freeculture.xml:9192
12256 msgid "As Jed Horovitz, the businessman behind Video Pipeline, said to me,"
12260 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12261 #: freeculture.xml:9196
12263 "We're losing [creative] opportunities right and left. Creative people are "
12264 "being forced not to express themselves. Thoughts are not being "
12265 "expressed. And while a lot of stuff may [still] be created, it still won't "
12266 "get distributed. Even if the stuff gets made … you're not going to "
12267 "get it distributed in the mainstream media unless you've got a little note "
12268 "from a lawyer saying, <quote>This has been cleared.</quote> You're not even "
12269 "going to get it on PBS without that kind of permission. That's the point at "
12270 "which they control it."
12273 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
12274 #: freeculture.xml:9209
12275 msgid "Constraining Innovators"
12278 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12279 #: freeculture.xml:9211
12281 "The story of the last section was a crunchy-lefty story—creativity "
12282 "quashed, artists who can't speak, yada yada yada. Maybe that doesn't get you "
12283 "going. Maybe you think there's enough weird art out there, and enough "
12284 "expression that is critical of what seems to be just about everything. And "
12285 "if you think that, you might think there's little in this story to worry "
12289 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12290 #: freeculture.xml:9219
12292 "But there's an aspect of this story that is not lefty in any sense. Indeed, "
12293 "it is an aspect that could be written by the most extreme promarket "
12294 "ideologue. And if you're one of these sorts (and a special one at that, 188 "
12295 "pages into a book like this), then you can see this other aspect by "
12296 "substituting <quote>free market</quote> every place I've spoken of "
12297 "<quote>free culture.</quote> The point is the same, even if the interests "
12298 "affecting culture are more fundamental."
12301 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12302 #: freeculture.xml:9229
12304 "The charge I've been making about the regulation of culture is the same "
12305 "charge free marketers make about regulating markets. Everyone, of course, "
12306 "concedes that some regulation of markets is necessary—at a minimum, we "
12307 "need rules of property and contract, and courts to enforce both. Likewise, "
12308 "in this culture debate, everyone concedes that at least some framework of "
12309 "copyright is also required. But both perspectives vehemently insist that "
12310 "just because some regulation is good, it doesn't follow that more regulation "
12311 "is better. And both perspectives are constantly attuned to the ways in which "
12312 "regulation simply enables the powerful industries of today to protect "
12313 "themselves against the competitors of tomorrow."
12316 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12317 #: freeculture.xml:9241 freeculture.xml:9349
12318 msgid "Barry, Hank"
12322 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12323 #: freeculture.xml:9243
12325 "This is the single most dramatic effect of the shift in regulatory strategy "
12326 "that I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12327 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>. The consequence of this massive threat of "
12328 "liability tied to the murky boundaries of copyright law is that innovators "
12329 "who want to innovate in this space can safely innovate only if they have the "
12330 "sign-off from last generation's dominant industries. That lesson has been "
12331 "taught through a series of cases that were designed and executed to teach "
12332 "venture capitalists a lesson. That lesson—what former Napster CEO Hank "
12333 "Barry calls a <quote>nuclear pall</quote> that has fallen over the "
12334 "Valley—has been learned."
12337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12338 #: freeculture.xml:9256
12340 "Consider one example to make the point, a story whose beginning I told in "
12341 "<citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle> and which has progressed in a way "
12342 "that even I (pessimist extraordinaire) would never have predicted."
12345 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12346 #: freeculture.xml:9260
12347 msgid "Roberts, Michael"
12350 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12351 #: freeculture.xml:9262
12353 "In 1997, Michael Roberts launched a company called MP3.com. MP3.com was "
12354 "keen to remake the music business. Their goal was not just to facilitate new "
12355 "ways to get access to content. Their goal was also to facilitate new ways to "
12356 "create content. Unlike the major labels, MP3.com offered creators a venue to "
12357 "distribute their creativity, without demanding an exclusive engagement from "
12361 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12362 #: freeculture.xml:9270
12364 "To make this system work, however, MP3.com needed a reliable way to "
12365 "recommend music to its users. The idea behind this alternative was to "
12366 "leverage the revealed preferences of music listeners to recommend new "
12367 "artists. If you like Lyle Lovett, you're likely to enjoy Bonnie Raitt. And "
12368 "so on. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12371 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12372 #: freeculture.xml:9278
12374 "This idea required a simple way to gather data about user preferences. "
12375 "MP3.com came up with an extraordinarily clever way to gather this preference "
12376 "data. In January 2000, the company launched a service called "
12377 "my.mp3.com. Using software provided by MP3.com, a user would sign into an "
12378 "account and then insert into her computer a CD. The software would identify "
12379 "the CD, and then give the user access to that content. So, for example, if "
12380 "you inserted a CD by Jill Sobule, then wherever you were—at work or at "
12381 "home—you could get access to that music once you signed into your "
12382 "account. The system was therefore a kind of music-lockbox."
12386 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12387 #: freeculture.xml:9290
12389 "No doubt some could use this system to illegally copy content. But that "
12390 "opportunity existed with or without MP3.com. The aim of the my.mp3.com "
12391 "service was to give users access to their own content, and as a by-product, "
12392 "by seeing the content they already owned, to discover the kind of content "
12396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12397 #: freeculture.xml:9299
12399 "To make this system function, however, MP3.com needed to copy 50,000 CDs to "
12400 "a server. (In principle, it could have been the user who uploaded the music, "
12401 "but that would have taken a great deal of time, and would have produced a "
12402 "product of questionable quality.) It therefore purchased 50,000 CDs from a "
12403 "store, and started the process of making copies of those CDs. Again, it "
12404 "would not serve the content from those copies to anyone except those who "
12405 "authenticated that they had a copy of the CD they wanted to access. So while "
12406 "this was 50,000 copies, it was 50,000 copies directed at giving customers "
12407 "something they had already bought."
12410 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12411 #: freeculture.xml:9314
12413 "Nine days after MP3.com launched its service, the five major labels, headed "
12414 "by the RIAA, brought a lawsuit against MP3.com. MP3.com settled with four of "
12415 "the five. Nine months later, a federal judge found MP3.com to have been "
12416 "guilty of willful infringement with respect to the fifth. Applying the law "
12417 "as it is, the judge imposed a fine against MP3.com of $118 million. MP3.com "
12418 "then settled with the remaining plaintiff, Vivendi Universal, paying over "
12419 "$54 million. Vivendi purchased MP3.com just about a year later."
12422 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12423 #: freeculture.xml:9324
12424 msgid "That part of the story I have told before. Now consider its conclusion."
12427 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12428 #: freeculture.xml:9327
12430 "After Vivendi purchased MP3.com, Vivendi turned around and filed a "
12431 "malpractice lawsuit against the lawyers who had advised it that they had a "
12432 "good faith claim that the service they wanted to offer would be considered "
12433 "legal under copyright law. This lawsuit alleged that it should have been "
12434 "obvious that the courts would find this behavior illegal; therefore, this "
12435 "lawsuit sought to punish any lawyer who had dared to suggest that the law "
12436 "was less restrictive than the labels demanded."
12440 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12441 #: freeculture.xml:9337
12443 "The clear purpose of this lawsuit (which was settled for an unspecified "
12444 "amount shortly after the story was no longer covered in the press) was to "
12445 "send an unequivocal message to lawyers advising clients in this space: It is "
12446 "not just your clients who might suffer if the content industry directs its "
12447 "guns against them. It is also you. So those of you who believe the law "
12448 "should be less restrictive should realize that such a view of the law will "
12449 "cost you and your firm dearly."
12452 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12453 #: freeculture.xml:9348
12454 msgid "Hummer, John"
12457 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
12458 #: freeculture.xml:9350
12459 msgid "Hummer Winblad"
12463 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12464 #: freeculture.xml:9358
12466 "See Joseph Menn, <quote>Universal, EMI Sue Napster Investor,</quote> "
12467 "<citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 23 April 2003. For a parallel "
12468 "argument about the effects on innovation in the distribution of music, see "
12469 "Janelle Brown, <quote>The Music Revolution Will Not Be Digitized,</quote> "
12470 "Salon.com, 1 June 2001, available at <ulink "
12471 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #42</ulink>. See also Jon "
12472 "Healey, <quote>Online Music Services Besieged,</quote> <citetitle>Los "
12473 "Angeles Times</citetitle>, 28 May 2001."
12476 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12477 #: freeculture.xml:9352
12479 "This strategy is not just limited to the lawyers. In April 2003, Universal "
12480 "and EMI brought a lawsuit against Hummer Winblad, the venture capital firm "
12481 "(VC) that had funded Napster at a certain stage of its development, its "
12482 "cofounder ( John Hummer), and general partner (Hank Barry).<placeholder "
12483 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The claim here, as well, was that the VC should "
12484 "have recognized the right of the content industry to control how the "
12485 "industry should develop. They should be held personally liable for funding a "
12486 "company whose business turned out to be beyond the law. Here again, the aim "
12487 "of the lawsuit is transparent: Any VC now recognizes that if you fund a "
12488 "company whose business is not approved of by the dinosaurs, you are at risk "
12489 "not just in the marketplace, but in the courtroom as well. Your investment "
12490 "buys you not only a company, it also buys you a lawsuit. So extreme has the "
12491 "environment become that even car manufacturers are afraid of technologies "
12492 "that touch content. In an article in <citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, "
12493 "Rafe Needleman describes a discussion with BMW: <placeholder "
12494 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
12497 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><indexterm><primary>
12498 #: freeculture.xml:9382
12502 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12503 #: freeculture.xml:9397
12504 msgid "Needleman, Rafe"
12507 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12508 #: freeculture.xml:9393
12510 "Rafe Needleman, <quote>Driving in Cars with MP3s,</quote> "
12511 "<citetitle>Business 2.0</citetitle>, 16 June 2003, available at <ulink "
12512 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #43</ulink>. I am grateful to "
12513 "Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli for this example. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
12517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12518 #: freeculture.xml:9384
12520 "I asked why, with all the storage capacity and computer power in the car, "
12521 "there was no way to play MP3 files. I was told that BMW engineers in Germany "
12522 "had rigged a new vehicle to play MP3s via the car's built-in sound system, "
12523 "but that the company's marketing and legal departments weren't comfortable "
12524 "with pushing this forward for release stateside. Even today, no new cars are "
12525 "sold in the United States with bona fide MP3 players. … <placeholder "
12526 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12529 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12530 #: freeculture.xml:9402
12532 "This is the world of the mafia—filled with <quote>your money or your "
12533 "life</quote> offers, governed in the end not by courts but by the threats "
12534 "that the law empowers copyright holders to exercise. It is a system that "
12535 "will obviously and necessarily stifle new innovation. It is hard enough to "
12536 "start a company. It is impossibly hard if that company is constantly "
12537 "threatened by litigation."
12541 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12542 #: freeculture.xml:9412
12544 "The point is not that businesses should have a right to start illegal "
12545 "enterprises. The point is the definition of <quote>illegal.</quote> The law "
12546 "is a mess of uncertainty. We have no good way to know how it should apply to "
12547 "new technologies. Yet by reversing our tradition of judicial deference, and "
12548 "by embracing the astonishingly high penalties that copyright law imposes, "
12549 "that uncertainty now yields a reality which is far more conservative than is "
12550 "right. If the law imposed the death penalty for parking tickets, we'd not "
12551 "only have fewer parking tickets, we'd also have much less driving. The same "
12552 "principle applies to innovation. If innovation is constantly checked by this "
12553 "uncertain and unlimited liability, we will have much less vibrant innovation "
12554 "and much less creativity."
12557 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12558 #: freeculture.xml:9427
12560 "The point is directly parallel to the crunchy-lefty point about fair "
12561 "use. Whatever the <quote>real</quote> law is, realism about the effect of "
12562 "law in both contexts is the same. This wildly punitive system of regulation "
12563 "will systematically stifle creativity and innovation. It will protect some "
12564 "industries and some creators, but it will harm industry and creativity "
12565 "generally. Free market and free culture depend upon vibrant competition. "
12566 "Yet the effect of the law today is to stifle just this kind of competition. "
12567 "The effect is to produce an overregulated culture, just as the effect of too "
12568 "much control in the market is to produce an overregulatedregulated market."
12572 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12573 #: freeculture.xml:9439
12575 "The building of a permission culture, rather than a free culture, is the "
12576 "first important way in which the changes I have described will burden "
12577 "innovation. A permission culture means a lawyer's culture—a culture in "
12578 "which the ability to create requires a call to your lawyer. Again, I am not "
12579 "antilawyer, at least when they're kept in their proper place. I am certainly "
12580 "not antilaw. But our profession has lost the sense of its limits. And "
12581 "leaders in our profession have lost an appreciation of the high costs that "
12582 "our profession imposes upon others. The inefficiency of the law is an "
12583 "embarrassment to our tradition. And while I believe our profession should "
12584 "therefore do everything it can to make the law more efficient, it should at "
12585 "least do everything it can to limit the reach of the law where the law is "
12586 "not doing any good. The transaction costs buried within a permission culture "
12587 "are enough to bury a wide range of creativity. Someone needs to do a lot of "
12588 "justifying to justify that result. The uncertainty of the law is one burden "
12589 "on innovation. There is a second burden that operates more directly. This is "
12590 "the effort by many in the content industry to use the law to directly "
12591 "regulate the technology of the Internet so that it better protects their "
12595 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12596 #: freeculture.xml:9461
12598 "The motivation for this response is obvious. The Internet enables the "
12599 "efficient spread of content. That efficiency is a feature of the Internet's "
12600 "design. But from the perspective of the content industry, this feature is a "
12601 "<quote>bug.</quote> The efficient spread of content means that content "
12602 "distributors have a harder time controlling the distribution of content. "
12603 "One obvious response to this efficiency is thus to make the Internet less "
12604 "efficient. If the Internet enables <quote>piracy,</quote> then, this "
12605 "response says, we should break the kneecaps of the Internet."
12609 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12610 #: freeculture.xml:9476
12612 "<quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a Post-Napster World,</quote> "
12613 "GartnerG2 and the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law "
12614 "School (2003), 33–35, available at <ulink "
12615 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>."
12619 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12620 #: freeculture.xml:9489
12621 msgid "GartnerG2, 26–27."
12624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12625 #: freeculture.xml:9472
12627 "The examples of this form of legislation are many. At the urging of the "
12628 "content industry, some in Congress have threatened legislation that would "
12629 "require computers to determine whether the content they access is protected "
12630 "or not, and to disable the spread of protected content.<placeholder "
12631 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Congress has already launched proceedings to "
12632 "explore a mandatory <quote>broadcast flag</quote> that would be required on "
12633 "any device capable of transmitting digital video (i.e., a computer), and "
12634 "that would disable the copying of any content that is marked with a "
12635 "broadcast flag. Other members of Congress have proposed immunizing content "
12636 "providers from liability for technology they might deploy that would hunt "
12637 "down copyright violators and disable their machines.<placeholder "
12638 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
12642 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12643 #: freeculture.xml:9493
12645 "In one sense, these solutions seem sensible. If the problem is the code, why "
12646 "not regulate the code to remove the problem. But any regulation of technical "
12647 "infrastructure will always be tuned to the particular technology of the "
12648 "day. It will impose significant burdens and costs on the technology, but "
12649 "will likely be eclipsed by advances around exactly those requirements."
12653 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12654 #: freeculture.xml:9507
12656 "See David McGuire, <quote>Tech Execs Square Off Over Piracy,</quote> "
12657 "Newsbytes, February 2002 (Entertainment)."
12660 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
12661 #: freeculture.xml:9513 freeculture.xml:11359
12665 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12666 #: freeculture.xml:9503
12668 "In March 2002, a broad coalition of technology companies, led by Intel, "
12669 "tried to get Congress to see the harm that such legislation would "
12670 "impose.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Their argument was "
12671 "obviously not that copyright should not be protected. Instead, they argued, "
12672 "any protection should not do more harm than good. <placeholder "
12673 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12677 #: freeculture.xml:9516
12679 "There is one more obvious way in which this war has harmed "
12680 "innovation—again, a story that will be quite familiar to the free "
12684 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12685 #: freeculture.xml:9521
12687 "Copyright may be property, but like all property, it is also a form of "
12688 "regulation. It is a regulation that benefits some and harms others. When "
12689 "done right, it benefits creators and harms leeches. When done wrong, it is "
12690 "regulation the powerful use to defeat competitors."
12693 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12694 #: freeculture.xml:9533
12696 "Jessica Litman, <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle> (Amherst, N.Y.: "
12697 "Prometheus Books, 2001). <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12701 #: freeculture.xml:9527
12703 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12704 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, despite this feature of copyright as regulation, "
12705 "and subject to important qualifications outlined by Jessica Litman in her "
12706 "book <citetitle>Digital Copyright</citetitle>,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
12707 "id=\"0\"/> overall this history of copyright is not bad. As chapter 10 "
12708 "details, when new technologies have come along, Congress has struck a "
12709 "balance to assure that the new is protected from the old. Compulsory, or "
12710 "statutory, licenses have been one part of that strategy. Free use (as in the "
12711 "case of the VCR) has been another."
12714 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12715 #: freeculture.xml:9544
12717 "But that pattern of deference to new technologies has now changed with the "
12718 "rise of the Internet. Rather than striking a balance between the claims of a "
12719 "new technology and the legitimate rights of content creators, both the "
12720 "courts and Congress have imposed legal restrictions that will have the "
12721 "effect of smothering the new to benefit the old."
12725 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12726 #: freeculture.xml:9553
12728 "The only circuit court exception is found in <citetitle>Recording Industry "
12729 "Association of America (RIAA)</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Diamond Multimedia "
12730 "Systems</citetitle>, 180 F. 3d 1072 (9th Cir. 1999). There the court of "
12731 "appeals for the Ninth Circuit reasoned that makers of a portable MP3 player "
12732 "were not liable for contributory copyright infringement for a device that is "
12733 "unable to record or redistribute music (a device whose only copying function "
12734 "is to render portable a music file already stored on a user's hard drive). "
12735 "At the district court level, the only exception is found in "
12736 "<citetitle>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, "
12737 "Inc</citetitle>. v. <citetitle>Grokster, Ltd</citetitle>., 259 F. Supp. 2d "
12738 "1029 (C.D. Cal., 2003), where the court found the link between the "
12739 "distributor and any given user's conduct too attenuated to make the "
12740 "distributor liable for contributory or vicarious infringement liability."
12743 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12744 #: freeculture.xml:9586
12745 msgid "Hollings, Fritz"
12748 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12749 #: freeculture.xml:9571
12751 "For example, in July 2002, Representative Howard Berman introduced the "
12752 "Peer-to-Peer Piracy Prevention Act (H.R. 5211), which would immunize "
12753 "copyright holders from liability for damage done to computers when the "
12754 "copyright holders use technology to stop copyright infringement. In August "
12755 "2002, Representative Billy Tauzin introduced a bill to mandate that "
12756 "technologies capable of rebroadcasting digital copies of films broadcast on "
12757 "TV (i.e., computers) respect a <quote>broadcast flag</quote> that would "
12758 "disable copying of that content. And in March of the same year, Senator "
12759 "Fritz Hollings introduced the Consumer Broadband and Digital Television "
12760 "Promotion Act, which mandated copyright protection technology in all digital "
12761 "media devices. See GartnerG2, <quote>Copyright and Digital Media in a "
12762 "Post-Napster World,</quote> 27 June 2003, 33–34, available at <ulink "
12763 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #44</ulink>. <placeholder "
12764 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> "
12765 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
12768 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12769 #: freeculture.xml:9551
12771 "The response by the courts has been fairly universal.<placeholder "
12772 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It has been mirrored in the responses "
12773 "threatened and actually implemented by Congress. I won't catalog all of "
12774 "those responses here.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> But there is "
12775 "one example that captures the flavor of them all. This is the story of the "
12776 "demise of Internet radio."
12779 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12780 #: freeculture.xml:9599
12782 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
12783 "linkend=\"pirates\"/>, when a radio station plays a song, the recording "
12784 "artist doesn't get paid for that <quote>radio performance</quote> unless he "
12785 "or she is also the composer. So, for example if Marilyn Monroe had recorded "
12786 "a version of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote>—to memorialize her famous "
12787 "performance before President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden— then "
12788 "whenever that recording was played on the radio, the current copyright "
12789 "owners of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> would get some money, whereas "
12790 "Marilyn Monroe would not. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
12793 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12794 #: freeculture.xml:9611
12796 "The reasoning behind this balance struck by Congress makes some sense. The "
12797 "justification was that radio was a kind of advertising. The recording artist "
12798 "thus benefited because by playing her music, the radio station was making it "
12799 "more likely that her records would be purchased. Thus, the recording artist "
12800 "got something, even if only indirectly. Probably this reasoning had less to "
12801 "do with the result than with the power of radio stations: Their lobbyists "
12802 "were quite good at stopping any efforts to get Congress to require "
12803 "compensation to the recording artists."
12806 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12807 #: freeculture.xml:9622
12809 "Enter Internet radio. Like regular radio, Internet radio is a technology to "
12810 "stream content from a broadcaster to a listener. The broadcast travels "
12811 "across the Internet, not across the ether of radio spectrum. Thus, I can "
12812 "<quote>tune in</quote> to an Internet radio station in Berlin while sitting "
12813 "in San Francisco, even though there's no way for me to tune in to a regular "
12814 "radio station much beyond the San Francisco metropolitan area."
12817 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12818 #: freeculture.xml:9631
12820 "This feature of the architecture of Internet radio means that there are "
12821 "potentially an unlimited number of radio stations that a user could tune in "
12822 "to using her computer, whereas under the existing architecture for broadcast "
12823 "radio, there is an obvious limit to the number of broadcasters and clear "
12824 "broadcast frequencies. Internet radio could therefore be more competitive "
12825 "than regular radio; it could provide a wider range of selections. And "
12826 "because the potential audience for Internet radio is the whole world, niche "
12827 "stations could easily develop and market their content to a relatively large "
12828 "number of users worldwide. According to some estimates, more than eighty "
12829 "million users worldwide have tuned in to this new form of radio."
12833 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12834 #: freeculture.xml:9647
12836 "Internet radio is thus to radio what FM was to AM. It is an improvement "
12837 "potentially vastly more significant than the FM improvement over AM, since "
12838 "not only is the technology better, so, too, is the competition. Indeed, "
12839 "there is a direct parallel between the fight to establish FM radio and the "
12840 "fight to protect Internet radio. As one author describes Howard Armstrong's "
12841 "struggle to enable FM radio,"
12845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
12846 #: freeculture.xml:9671
12847 msgid "Lessing, 239."
12850 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
12851 #: freeculture.xml:9657
12853 "An almost unlimited number of FM stations was possible in the shortwaves, "
12854 "thus ending the unnatural restrictions imposed on radio in the crowded "
12855 "longwaves. If FM were freely developed, the number of stations would be "
12856 "limited only by economics and competition rather than by technical "
12857 "restrictions. … Armstrong likened the situation that had grown up in "
12858 "radio to that following the invention of the printing press, when "
12859 "governments and ruling interests attempted to control this new instrument of "
12860 "mass communications by imposing restrictive licenses on it. This tyranny was "
12861 "broken only when it became possible for men freely to acquire printing "
12862 "presses and freely to run them. FM in this sense was as great an invention "
12863 "as the printing presses, for it gave radio the opportunity to strike off its "
12864 "shackles.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
12868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12869 #: freeculture.xml:9681
12870 msgid "Ibid., 229."
12873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12874 #: freeculture.xml:9676
12876 "This potential for FM radio was never realized—not because Armstrong "
12877 "was wrong about the technology, but because he underestimated the power of "
12878 "<quote>vested interests, habits, customs and legislation</quote><placeholder "
12879 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> to retard the growth of this competing "
12883 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12884 #: freeculture.xml:9686
12886 "Now the very same claim could be made about Internet radio. For again, there "
12887 "is no technical limitation that could restrict the number of Internet radio "
12888 "stations. The only restrictions on Internet radio are those imposed by the "
12889 "law. Copyright law is one such law. So the first question we should ask is, "
12890 "what copyright rules would govern Internet radio?"
12894 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12895 #: freeculture.xml:9698
12897 "But here the power of the lobbyists is reversed. Internet radio is a new "
12898 "industry. The recording artists, on the other hand, have a very powerful "
12899 "lobby, the RIAA. Thus when Congress considered the phenomenon of Internet "
12900 "radio in 1995, the lobbyists had primed Congress to adopt a different rule "
12901 "for Internet radio than the rule that applies to terrestrial radio. While "
12902 "terrestrial radio does not have to pay our hypothetical Marilyn Monroe when "
12903 "it plays her hypothetical recording of <quote>Happy Birthday</quote> on the "
12904 "air, <emphasis>Internet radio does</emphasis>. Not only is the law not "
12905 "neutral toward Internet radio—the law actually burdens Internet radio "
12906 "more than it burdens terrestrial radio."
12909 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
12910 #: freeculture.xml:9737
12911 msgid "CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel)"
12914 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
12915 #: freeculture.xml:9720
12917 "This example was derived from fees set by the original Copyright Arbitration "
12918 "Royalty Panel (CARP) proceedings, and is drawn from an example offered by "
12919 "Professor William Fisher. Conference Proceedings, iLaw (Stanford), 3 July "
12920 "2003, on file with author. Professors Fisher and Zittrain submitted "
12921 "testimony in the CARP proceeding that was ultimately rejected. See Jonathan "
12922 "Zittrain, Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings and Ephemeral "
12923 "Recordings, Docket No. 2000-9, CARP DTRA 1 and 2, available at <ulink "
12924 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #45</ulink>. For an excellent "
12925 "analysis making a similar point, see Randal C. Picker, <quote>Copyright as "
12926 "Entry Policy: The Case of Digital Distribution,</quote> <citetitle>Antitrust "
12927 "Bulletin</citetitle> (Summer/Fall 2002): 461: <quote>This was not confusion, "
12928 "these are just old-fashioned entry barriers. Analog radio stations are "
12929 "protected from digital entrants, reducing entry in radio and diversity. Yes, "
12930 "this is done in the name of getting royalties to copyright holders, but, "
12931 "absent the play of powerful interests, that could have been done in a "
12932 "media-neutral way.</quote> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
12933 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
12936 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12937 #: freeculture.xml:9713
12939 "This financial burden is not slight. As Harvard law professor William Fisher "
12940 "estimates, if an Internet radio station distributed adfree popular music to "
12941 "(on average) ten thousand listeners, twenty-four hours a day, the total "
12942 "artist fees that radio station would owe would be over $1 million a "
12943 "year.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> A regular radio station "
12944 "broadcasting the same content would pay no equivalent fee."
12947 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
12948 #: freeculture.xml:9745
12950 "The burden is not financial only. Under the original rules that were "
12951 "proposed, an Internet radio station (but not a terrestrial radio station) "
12952 "would have to collect the following data from <emphasis>every listening "
12953 "transaction</emphasis>:"
12956 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12957 #: freeculture.xml:9753
12958 msgid "name of the service;"
12961 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12962 #: freeculture.xml:9756
12963 msgid "channel of the program (AM/FM stations use station ID);"
12966 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12967 #: freeculture.xml:9759
12968 msgid "type of program (archived/looped/live);"
12971 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12972 #: freeculture.xml:9762
12973 msgid "date of transmission;"
12976 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12977 #: freeculture.xml:9765
12978 msgid "time of transmission;"
12981 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12982 #: freeculture.xml:9768
12983 msgid "time zone of origination of transmission;"
12986 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12987 #: freeculture.xml:9771
12988 msgid "numeric designation of the place of the sound recording within the program;"
12991 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12992 #: freeculture.xml:9774
12993 msgid "duration of transmission (to nearest second);"
12996 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
12997 #: freeculture.xml:9777
12998 msgid "sound recording title;"
13001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13002 #: freeculture.xml:9780
13003 msgid "ISRC code of the recording;"
13006 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13007 #: freeculture.xml:9783
13009 "release year of the album per copyright notice and in the case of "
13010 "compilation albums, the release year of the album and copy- right date of "
13014 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13015 #: freeculture.xml:9786
13016 msgid "featured recording artist;"
13019 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13020 #: freeculture.xml:9789
13021 msgid "retail album title;"
13024 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13025 #: freeculture.xml:9792
13026 msgid "recording label;"
13029 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13030 #: freeculture.xml:9795
13031 msgid "UPC code of the retail album;"
13034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13035 #: freeculture.xml:9798
13036 msgid "catalog number;"
13039 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13040 #: freeculture.xml:9801
13041 msgid "copyright owner information;"
13044 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13045 #: freeculture.xml:9804
13046 msgid "musical genre of the channel or program (station format);"
13049 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13050 #: freeculture.xml:9807
13051 msgid "name of the service or entity;"
13054 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13055 #: freeculture.xml:9810
13056 msgid "channel or program;"
13059 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13060 #: freeculture.xml:9813
13061 msgid "date and time that the user logged in (in the user's time zone);"
13064 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13065 #: freeculture.xml:9816
13066 msgid "date and time that the user logged out (in the user's time zone);"
13069 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13070 #: freeculture.xml:9819
13071 msgid "time zone where the signal was received (user);"
13074 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13075 #: freeculture.xml:9822
13076 msgid "unique user identifier;"
13079 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
13080 #: freeculture.xml:9825
13081 msgid "the country in which the user received the transmissions."
13084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13085 #: freeculture.xml:9830
13087 "The Librarian of Congress eventually suspended these reporting requirements, "
13088 "pending further study. And he also changed the original rates set by the "
13089 "arbitration panel charged with setting rates. But the basic difference "
13090 "between Internet radio and terrestrial radio remains: Internet radio has to "
13091 "pay a <emphasis>type of copyright fee</emphasis> that terrestrial radio does "
13095 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13096 #: freeculture.xml:9838
13098 "Why? What justifies this difference? Was there any study of the economic "
13099 "consequences from Internet radio that would justify these differences? Was "
13100 "the motive to protect artists against piracy?"
13103 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
13104 #: freeculture.xml:9842 freeculture.xml:14480
13105 msgid "Real Networks"
13108 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13109 #: freeculture.xml:9847
13111 "In a rare bit of candor, one RIAA expert admitted what seemed obvious to "
13112 "everyone at the time. As Alex Alben, vice president for Public Policy at "
13113 "Real Networks, told me,"
13117 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13118 #: freeculture.xml:9853
13120 "The RIAA, which was representing the record labels, presented some testimony "
13121 "about what they thought a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller, and "
13122 "it was much higher. It was ten times higher than what radio stations pay to "
13123 "perform the same songs for the same period of time. And so the attorneys "
13124 "representing the webcasters asked the RIAA, … <quote>How do you come "
13125 "up with a rate that's so much higher? Why is it worth more than radio? "
13126 "Because here we have hundreds of thousands of webcasters who want to pay, "
13127 "and that should establish the market rate, and if you set the rate so high, "
13128 "you're going to drive the small webcasters out of business. …</quote>"
13131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13132 #: freeculture.xml:9872
13134 "And the RIAA experts said, <quote>Well, we don't really model this as an "
13135 "industry with thousands of webcasters, <emphasis>we think it should be an "
13136 "industry with, you know, five or seven big players who can pay a high rate "
13137 "and it's a stable, predictable market</emphasis>.</quote> (Emphasis added.)"
13140 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13141 #: freeculture.xml:9881
13143 "Translation: The aim is to use the law to eliminate competition, so that "
13144 "this platform of potentially immense competition, which would cause the "
13145 "diversity and range of content available to explode, would not cause pain to "
13146 "the dinosaurs of old. There is no one, on either the right or the left, who "
13147 "should endorse this use of the law. And yet there is practically no one, on "
13148 "either the right or the left, who is doing anything effective to prevent it."
13151 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><title>
13152 #: freeculture.xml:9891
13153 msgid "Corrupting Citizens"
13156 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13157 #: freeculture.xml:9893
13159 "Overregulation stifles creativity. It smothers innovation. It gives "
13160 "dinosaurs a veto over the future. It wastes the extraordinary opportunity "
13161 "for a democratic creativity that digital technology enables."
13164 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13165 #: freeculture.xml:9899
13167 "In addition to these important harms, there is one more that was important "
13168 "to our forebears, but seems forgotten today. Overregulation corrupts "
13169 "citizens and weakens the rule of law."
13173 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13174 #: freeculture.xml:9908
13176 "Mike Graziano and Lee Rainie, <quote>The Music Downloading Deluge,</quote> "
13177 "Pew Internet and American Life Project (24 April 2001), available at <ulink "
13178 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #46</ulink>. The Pew Internet "
13179 "and American Life Project reported that 37 million Americans had downloaded "
13180 "music files from the Internet by early 2001."
13184 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13185 #: freeculture.xml:9904
13187 "The war that is being waged today is a war of prohibition. As with every war "
13188 "of prohibition, it is targeted against the behavior of a very large number "
13189 "of citizens. According to <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>, 43 "
13190 "million Americans downloaded music in May 2002.<placeholder "
13191 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> According to the RIAA, the behavior of those 43 "
13192 "million Americans is a felony. We thus have a set of rules that transform 20 "
13193 "percent of America into criminals. As the RIAA launches lawsuits against not "
13194 "only the Napsters and Kazaas of the world, but against students building "
13195 "search engines, and increasingly against ordinary users downloading content, "
13196 "the technologies for sharing will advance to further protect and hide "
13197 "illegal use. It is an arms race or a civil war, with the extremes of one "
13198 "side inviting a more extreme response by the other."
13202 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13203 #: freeculture.xml:9942
13205 "Alex Pham, <quote>The Labels Strike Back: N.Y. Girl Settles RIAA "
13206 "Case,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, "
13210 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13211 #: freeculture.xml:9929
13213 "The content industry's tactics exploit the failings of the American legal "
13214 "system. When the RIAA brought suit against Jesse Jordan, it knew that in "
13215 "Jordan it had found a scapegoat, not a defendant. The threat of having to "
13216 "pay either all the money in the world in damages ($15,000,000) or almost all "
13217 "the money in the world to defend against paying all the money in the world "
13218 "in damages ($250,000 in legal fees) led Jordan to choose to pay all the "
13219 "money he had in the world ($12,000) to make the suit go away. The same "
13220 "strategy animates the RIAA's suits against individual users. In September "
13221 "2003, the RIAA sued 261 individuals—including a twelve-year-old girl "
13222 "living in public housing and a seventy-year-old man who had no idea what "
13223 "file sharing was.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> As these "
13224 "scapegoats discovered, it will always cost more to defend against these "
13225 "suits than it would cost to simply settle. (The twelve year old, for "
13226 "example, like Jesse Jordan, paid her life savings of $2,000 to settle the "
13227 "case.) Our law is an awful system for defending rights. It is an "
13228 "embarrassment to our tradition. And the consequence of our law as it is, is "
13229 "that those with the power can use the law to quash any rights they oppose."
13233 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13234 #: freeculture.xml:9964
13236 "Jeffrey A. Miron and Jeffrey Zwiebel, <quote>Alcohol Consumption During "
13237 "Prohibition,</quote> <citetitle>American Economic Review</citetitle> 81, "
13238 "no. 2 (1991): 242."
13242 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13243 #: freeculture.xml:9972
13245 "National Drug Control Policy: Hearing Before the House Government Reform "
13246 "Committee, 108th Cong., 1st sess. (5 March 2003) (statement of John "
13247 "P. Walters, director of National Drug Control Policy)."
13251 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13252 #: freeculture.xml:9982
13254 "See James Andreoni, Brian Erard, and Jonathon Feinstein, <quote>Tax "
13255 "Compliance,</quote> <citetitle>Journal of Economic Literature</citetitle> 36 "
13256 "(1998): 818 (survey of compliance literature)."
13259 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13260 #: freeculture.xml:9989
13261 msgid "alcohol prohibition"
13264 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13265 #: freeculture.xml:9954
13267 "Wars of prohibition are nothing new in America. This one is just something "
13268 "more extreme than anything we've seen before. We experimented with alcohol "
13269 "prohibition, at a time when the per capita consumption of alcohol was 1.5 "
13270 "gallons per capita per year. The war against drinking initially reduced that "
13271 "consumption to just 30 percent of its preprohibition levels, but by the end "
13272 "of prohibition, consumption was up to 70 percent of the preprohibition "
13273 "level. Americans were drinking just about as much, but now, a vast number "
13274 "were criminals.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> We have launched a "
13275 "war on drugs aimed at reducing the consumption of regulated narcotics that 7 "
13276 "percent (or 16 million) Americans now use.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13277 "id=\"1\"/> That is a drop from the high (so to speak) in 1979 of 14 percent "
13278 "of the population. We regulate automobiles to the point where the vast "
13279 "majority of Americans violate the law every day. We run such a complex tax "
13280 "system that a majority of cash businesses regularly cheat.<placeholder "
13281 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/> We pride ourselves on our <quote>free "
13282 "society,</quote> but an endless array of ordinary behavior is regulated "
13283 "within our society. And as a result, a huge proportion of Americans "
13284 "regularly violate at least some law. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
13288 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13289 #: freeculture.xml:10007
13290 msgid "law schools"
13293 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13294 #: freeculture.xml:9992
13296 "This state of affairs is not without consequence. It is a particularly "
13297 "salient issue for teachers like me, whose job it is to teach law students "
13298 "about the importance of <quote>ethics.</quote> As my colleague Charlie "
13299 "Nesson told a class at Stanford, each year law schools admit thousands of "
13300 "students who have illegally downloaded music, illegally consumed alcohol and "
13301 "sometimes drugs, illegally worked without paying taxes, illegally driven "
13302 "cars. These are kids for whom behaving illegally is increasingly the "
13303 "norm. And then we, as law professors, are supposed to teach them how to "
13304 "behave ethically—how to say no to bribes, or keep client funds "
13305 "separate, or honor a demand to disclose a document that will mean that your "
13306 "case is over. Generations of Americans—more significantly in some "
13307 "parts of America than in others, but still, everywhere in America "
13308 "today—can't live their lives both normally and legally, since "
13309 "<quote>normally</quote> entails a certain degree of illegality. "
13310 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13313 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13314 #: freeculture.xml:10010
13316 "The response to this general illegality is either to enforce the law more "
13317 "severely or to change the law. We, as a society, have to learn how to make "
13318 "that choice more rationally. Whether a law makes sense depends, in part, at "
13319 "least, upon whether the costs of the law, both intended and collateral, "
13320 "outweigh the benefits. If the costs, intended and collateral, do outweigh "
13321 "the benefits, then the law ought to be changed. Alternatively, if the costs "
13322 "of the existing system are much greater than the costs of an alternative, "
13323 "then we have a good reason to consider the alternative."
13327 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13328 #: freeculture.xml:10023
13330 "My point is not the idiotic one: Just because people violate a law, we "
13331 "should therefore repeal it. Obviously, we could reduce murder statistics "
13332 "dramatically by legalizing murder on Wednesdays and Fridays. But that "
13333 "wouldn't make any sense, since murder is wrong every day of the week. A "
13334 "society is right to ban murder always and everywhere."
13337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13338 #: freeculture.xml:10030
13340 "My point is instead one that democracies understood for generations, but "
13341 "that we recently have learned to forget. The rule of law depends upon people "
13342 "obeying the law. The more often, and more repeatedly, we as citizens "
13343 "experience violating the law, the less we respect the law. Obviously, in "
13344 "most cases, the important issue is the law, not respect for the law. I don't "
13345 "care whether the rapist respects the law or not; I want to catch and "
13346 "incarcerate the rapist. But I do care whether my students respect the "
13347 "law. And I do care if the rules of law sow increasing disrespect because of "
13348 "the extreme of regulation they impose. Twenty million Americans have come "
13349 "of age since the Internet introduced this different idea of "
13350 "<quote>sharing.</quote> We need to be able to call these twenty million "
13351 "Americans <quote>citizens,</quote> not <quote>felons.</quote>"
13354 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13355 #: freeculture.xml:10044
13357 "When at least forty-three million citizens download content from the "
13358 "Internet, and when they use tools to combine that content in ways "
13359 "unauthorized by copyright holders, the first question we should be asking is "
13360 "not how best to involve the FBI. The first question should be whether this "
13361 "particular prohibition is really necessary in order to achieve the proper "
13362 "ends that copyright law serves. Is there another way to assure that artists "
13363 "get paid without transforming forty-three million Americans into felons? "
13364 "Does it make sense if there are other ways to assure that artists get paid "
13365 "without transforming America into a nation of felons?"
13368 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13369 #: freeculture.xml:10056
13370 msgid "This abstract point can be made more clear with a particular example."
13374 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13375 #: freeculture.xml:10059
13377 "We all own CDs. Many of us still own phonograph records. These pieces of "
13378 "plastic encode music that in a certain sense we have bought. The law "
13379 "protects our right to buy and sell that plastic: It is not a copyright "
13380 "infringement for me to sell all my classical records at a used record store "
13381 "and buy jazz records to replace them. That <quote>use</quote> of the "
13382 "recordings is free."
13385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13386 #: freeculture.xml:10070
13388 "But as the MP3 craze has demonstrated, there is another use of phonograph "
13389 "records that is effectively free. Because these recordings were made without "
13390 "copy-protection technologies, I am <quote>free</quote> to copy, or "
13391 "<quote>rip,</quote> music from my records onto a computer hard disk. Indeed, "
13392 "Apple Corporation went so far as to suggest that <quote>freedom</quote> was "
13393 "a right: In a series of commercials, Apple endorsed the <quote>Rip, Mix, "
13394 "Burn</quote> capacities of digital technologies."
13397 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><indexterm><primary>
13398 #: freeculture.xml:10078
13402 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13403 #: freeculture.xml:10080
13405 "This <quote>use</quote> of my records is certainly valuable. I have begun a "
13406 "large process at home of ripping all of my and my wife's CDs, and storing "
13407 "them in one archive. Then, using Apple's iTunes, or a wonderful program "
13408 "called Andromeda, we can build different play lists of our music: Bach, "
13409 "Baroque, Love Songs, Love Songs of Significant Others—the potential is "
13410 "endless. And by reducing the costs of mixing play lists, these technologies "
13411 "help build a creativity with play lists that is itself independently "
13412 "valuable. Compilations of songs are creative and meaningful in their own "
13416 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13417 #: freeculture.xml:10091
13419 "This use is enabled by unprotected media—either CDs or records. But "
13420 "unprotected media also enable file sharing. File sharing threatens (or so "
13421 "the content industry believes) the ability of creators to earn a fair return "
13422 "from their creativity. And thus, many are beginning to experiment with "
13423 "technologies to eliminate unprotected media. These technologies, for "
13424 "example, would enable CDs that could not be ripped. Or they might enable spy "
13425 "programs to identify ripped content on people's machines."
13429 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13430 #: freeculture.xml:10101
13432 "If these technologies took off, then the building of large archives of your "
13433 "own music would become quite difficult. You might hang in hacker circles, "
13434 "and get technology to disable the technologies that protect the "
13435 "content. Trading in those technologies is illegal, but maybe that doesn't "
13436 "bother you much. In any case, for the vast majority of people, these "
13437 "protection technologies would effectively destroy the archiving use of "
13438 "CDs. The technology, in other words, would force us all back to the world "
13439 "where we either listened to music by manipulating pieces of plastic or were "
13440 "part of a massively complex <quote>digital rights management</quote> system."
13443 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13444 #: freeculture.xml:10115
13446 "If the only way to assure that artists get paid were the elimination of the "
13447 "ability to freely move content, then these technologies to interfere with "
13448 "the freedom to move content would be justifiable. But what if there were "
13449 "another way to assure that artists are paid, without locking down any "
13450 "content? What if, in other words, a different system could assure "
13451 "compensation to artists while also preserving the freedom to move content "
13455 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13456 #: freeculture.xml:10124
13458 "My point just now is not to prove that there is such a system. I offer a "
13459 "version of such a system in the last chapter of this book. For now, the only "
13460 "point is the relatively uncontroversial one: If a different system achieved "
13461 "the same legitimate objectives that the existing copyright system achieved, "
13462 "but left consumers and creators much more free, then we'd have a very good "
13463 "reason to pursue this alternative—namely, freedom. The choice, in "
13464 "other words, would not be between property and piracy; the choice would be "
13465 "between different property systems and the freedoms each allowed."
13468 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13469 #: freeculture.xml:10135
13471 "I believe there is a way to assure that artists are paid without turning "
13472 "forty-three million Americans into felons. But the salient feature of this "
13473 "alternative is that it would lead to a very different market for producing "
13474 "and distributing creativity. The dominant few, who today control the vast "
13475 "majority of the distribution of content in the world, would no longer "
13476 "exercise this extreme of control. Rather, they would go the way of the "
13477 "horse-drawn buggy."
13480 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13481 #: freeculture.xml:10144
13483 "Except that this generation's buggy manufacturers have already saddled "
13484 "Congress, and are riding the law to protect themselves against this new form "
13485 "of competition. For them the choice is between fortythree million Americans "
13486 "as criminals and their own survival."
13489 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13490 #: freeculture.xml:10150
13492 "It is understandable why they choose as they do. It is not understandable "
13493 "why we as a democracy continue to choose as we do. Jack Valenti is charming; "
13494 "but not so charming as to justify giving up a tradition as deep and "
13495 "important as our tradition of free culture. There's one more aspect to this "
13496 "corruption that is particularly important to civil liberties, and follows "
13497 "directly from any war of prohibition. As Electronic Frontier Foundation "
13498 "attorney Fred von Lohmann describes, this is the <quote>collateral "
13499 "damage</quote> that <quote>arises whenever you turn a very large percentage "
13500 "of the population into criminals.</quote> This is the collateral damage to "
13501 "civil liberties generally. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13504 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><indexterm><primary>
13505 #: freeculture.xml:10169 freeculture.xml:10278
13506 msgid "von Lohmann, Fred"
13509 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13510 #: freeculture.xml:10167
13512 "<quote>If you can treat someone as a putative lawbreaker,</quote> von "
13513 "Lohmann explains, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13516 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13517 #: freeculture.xml:10173
13519 "then all of a sudden a lot of basic civil liberty protections evaporate to "
13520 "one degree or another. … If you're a copyright infringer, how can you "
13521 "hope to have any privacy rights? If you're a copyright infringer, how can "
13522 "you hope to be secure against seizures of your computer? How can you hope to "
13523 "continue to receive Internet access? … Our sensibilities change as "
13524 "soon as we think, <quote>Oh, well, but that person's a criminal, a "
13525 "lawbreaker.</quote> Well, what this campaign against file sharing has done "
13526 "is turn a remarkable percentage of the American Internet-using population "
13527 "into <quote>lawbreakers.</quote>"
13530 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13531 #: freeculture.xml:10185
13533 "And the consequence of this transformation of the American public into "
13534 "criminals is that it becomes trivial, as a matter of due process, to "
13535 "effectively erase much of the privacy most would presume."
13538 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13539 #: freeculture.xml:10190
13541 "Users of the Internet began to see this generally in 2003 as the RIAA "
13542 "launched its campaign to force Internet service providers to turn over the "
13543 "names of customers who the RIAA believed were violating copyright "
13544 "law. Verizon fought that demand and lost. With a simple request to a judge, "
13545 "and without any notice to the customer at all, the identity of an Internet "
13546 "user is revealed."
13550 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13551 #: freeculture.xml:10208
13553 "See Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single "
13554 "Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> "
13555 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, E1; Chris Cobbs, "
13556 "<quote>Worried Parents Pull Plug on File `Stealing'; With the Music Industry "
13557 "Cracking Down on File Swapping, Parents are Yanking Software from Home PCs "
13558 "to Avoid Being Sued,</quote> <citetitle>Orlando Sentinel "
13559 "Tribune</citetitle>, 30 August 2003, C1; Jefferson Graham, <quote>Recording "
13560 "Industry Sues Parents,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 15 "
13561 "September 2003, 4D; John Schwartz, <quote>She Says She's No Music Pirate. No "
13562 "Snoop Fan, Either,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 25 "
13563 "September 2003, C1; Margo Varadi, <quote>Is Brianna a Criminal?</quote> "
13564 "<citetitle>Toronto Star</citetitle>, 18 September 2003, P7."
13567 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13568 #: freeculture.xml:10199
13570 "The RIAA then expanded this campaign, by announcing a general strategy to "
13571 "sue individual users of the Internet who are alleged to have downloaded "
13572 "copyrighted music from file-sharing systems. But as we've seen, the "
13573 "potential damages from these suits are astronomical: If a family's computer "
13574 "is used to download a single CD's worth of music, the family could be liable "
13575 "for $2 million in damages. That didn't stop the RIAA from suing a number of "
13576 "these families, just as they had sued Jesse Jordan.<placeholder "
13577 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13581 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13582 #: freeculture.xml:10226
13584 "See <quote>Revealed: How RIAA Tracks Downloaders: Music Industry Discloses "
13585 "Some Methods Used,</quote> CNN.com, available at <ulink "
13586 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #47</ulink>."
13589 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13590 #: freeculture.xml:10222
13592 "Even this understates the espionage that is being waged by the RIAA. A "
13593 "report from CNN late last summer described a strategy the RIAA had adopted "
13594 "to track Napster users.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Using a "
13595 "sophisticated hashing algorithm, the RIAA took what is in effect a "
13596 "fingerprint of every song in the Napster catalog. Any copy of one of those "
13597 "MP3s will have the same <quote>fingerprint.</quote>"
13601 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para><footnote><para>
13602 #: freeculture.xml:10247
13604 "See Jeff Adler, <quote>Cambridge: On Campus, Pirates Are Not "
13605 "Penitent,</quote> <citetitle>Boston Globe</citetitle>, 18 May 2003, City "
13606 "Weekly, 1; Frank Ahrens, <quote>Four Students Sued over Music Sites; "
13607 "Industry Group Targets File Sharing at Colleges,</quote> "
13608 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 4 April 2003, E1; Elizabeth "
13609 "Armstrong, <quote>Students `Rip, Mix, Burn' at Their Own Risk,</quote> "
13610 "<citetitle>Christian Science Monitor</citetitle>, 2 September 2003, 20; "
13611 "Robert Becker and Angela Rozas, <quote>Music Pirate Hunt Turns to Loyola; "
13612 "Two Students Names Are Handed Over; Lawsuit Possible,</quote> "
13613 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 16 July 2003, 1C; Beth Cox, "
13614 "<quote>RIAA Trains Antipiracy Guns on Universities,</quote> "
13615 "<citetitle>Internet News</citetitle>, 30 January 2003, available at <ulink "
13616 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #48</ulink>; Benny Evangelista, "
13617 "<quote>Download Warning 101: Freshman Orientation This Fall to Include "
13618 "Record Industry Warnings Against File Sharing,</quote> <citetitle>San "
13619 "Francisco Chronicle</citetitle>, 11 August 2003, E11; <quote>Raid, Letters "
13620 "Are Weapons at Universities,</quote> <citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 26 "
13621 "September 2000, 3D."
13624 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13625 #: freeculture.xml:10235
13627 "So imagine the following not-implausible scenario: Imagine a friend gives a "
13628 "CD to your daughter—a collection of songs just like the cassettes you "
13629 "used to make as a kid. You don't know, and neither does your daughter, where "
13630 "these songs came from. But she copies these songs onto her computer. She "
13631 "then takes her computer to college and connects it to a college network, and "
13632 "if the college network is <quote>cooperating</quote> with the RIAA's "
13633 "espionage, and she hasn't properly protected her content from the network "
13634 "(do you know how to do that yourself ?), then the RIAA will be able to "
13635 "identify your daughter as a <quote>criminal.</quote> And under the rules "
13636 "that universities are beginning to deploy,<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
13637 "id=\"0\"/> your daughter can lose the right to use the university's computer "
13638 "network. She can, in some cases, be expelled."
13641 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13642 #: freeculture.xml:10266
13644 "Now, of course, she'll have the right to defend herself. You can hire a "
13645 "lawyer for her (at $300 per hour, if you're lucky), and she can plead that "
13646 "she didn't know anything about the source of the songs or that they came "
13647 "from Napster. And it may well be that the university believes her. But the "
13648 "university might not believe her. It might treat this "
13649 "<quote>contraband</quote> as presumptive of guilt. And as any number of "
13650 "college students have already learned, our presumptions about innocence "
13651 "disappear in the middle of wars of prohibition. This war is no different. "
13652 "Says von Lohmann, <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
13655 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><blockquote><para>
13656 #: freeculture.xml:10282
13658 "So when we're talking about numbers like forty to sixty million Americans "
13659 "that are essentially copyright infringers, you create a situation where the "
13660 "civil liberties of those people are very much in peril in a general "
13661 "matter. [I don't] think [there is any] analog where you could randomly "
13662 "choose any person off the street and be confident that they were committing "
13663 "an unlawful act that could put them on the hook for potential felony "
13664 "liability or hundreds of millions of dollars of civil liability. Certainly "
13665 "we all speed, but speeding isn't the kind of an act for which we routinely "
13666 "forfeit civil liberties. Some people use drugs, and I think that's the "
13667 "closest analog, [but] many have noted that the war against drugs has eroded "
13668 "all of our civil liberties because it's treated so many Americans as "
13669 "criminals. Well, I think it's fair to say that file sharing is an order of "
13670 "magnitude larger number of Americans than drug use. … If forty to "
13671 "sixty million Americans have become lawbreakers, then we're really on a "
13672 "slippery slope to lose a lot of civil liberties for all forty to sixty "
13676 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><section><para>
13677 #: freeculture.xml:10302
13679 "When forty to sixty million Americans are considered "
13680 "<quote>criminals</quote> under the law, and when the law could achieve the "
13681 "same objective— securing rights to authors—without these "
13682 "millions being considered <quote>criminals,</quote> who is the villain? "
13683 "Americans or the law? Which is American, a constant war on our own people or "
13684 "a concerted effort through our democracy to change our law?"
13687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><title>
13688 #: freeculture.xml:10315
13692 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13693 #: freeculture.xml:10320
13695 "So here's the picture: You're standing at the side of the road. Your car is "
13696 "on fire. You are angry and upset because in part you helped start the "
13697 "fire. Now you don't know how to put it out. Next to you is a bucket, filled "
13698 "with gasoline. Obviously, gasoline won't put the fire out."
13701 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13702 #: freeculture.xml:10326
13704 "As you ponder the mess, someone else comes along. In a panic, she grabs the "
13705 "bucket. Before you have a chance to tell her to stop—or before she "
13706 "understands just why she should stop—the bucket is in the air. The "
13707 "gasoline is about to hit the blazing car. And the fire that gasoline will "
13708 "ignite is about to ignite everything around."
13711 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13712 #: freeculture.xml:10334
13714 "A war about copyright rages all around—and we're all focusing on the "
13715 "wrong thing. No doubt, current technologies threaten existing businesses. "
13716 "No doubt they may threaten artists. But technologies change. The industry "
13717 "and technologists have plenty of ways to use technology to protect "
13718 "themselves against the current threats of the Internet. This is a fire that "
13719 "if let alone would burn itself out."
13723 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13724 #: freeculture.xml:10343
13726 "Yet policy makers are not willing to leave this fire to itself. Primed with "
13727 "plenty of lobbyists' money, they are keen to intervene to eliminate the "
13728 "problem they perceive. But the problem they perceive is not the real threat "
13729 "this culture faces. For while we watch this small fire in the corner, there "
13730 "is a massive change in the way culture is made that is happening all around."
13733 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13734 #: freeculture.xml:10351
13736 "Somehow we have to find a way to turn attention to this more important and "
13737 "fundamental issue. Somehow we have to find a way to avoid pouring gasoline "
13741 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13742 #: freeculture.xml:10356
13744 "We have not found that way yet. Instead, we seem trapped in a simpler, "
13745 "binary view. However much many people push to frame this debate more "
13746 "broadly, it is the simple, binary view that remains. We rubberneck to look "
13747 "at the fire when we should be keeping our eyes on the road."
13750 #. type: Content of: <book><part><partintro><para>
13751 #: freeculture.xml:10362
13753 "This challenge has been my life these last few years. It has also been my "
13754 "failure. In the two chapters that follow, I describe one small brace of "
13755 "efforts, so far failed, to find a way to refocus this debate. We must "
13756 "understand these failures if we're to understand what success will require."
13759 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
13760 #: freeculture.xml:10372
13761 msgid "CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Eldred"
13764 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
13765 #: freeculture.xml:10374
13766 msgid "Hawthorne, Nathaniel"
13769 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13770 #: freeculture.xml:10377
13772 "In 1995, a father was frustrated that his daughters didn't seem to like "
13773 "Hawthorne. No doubt there was more than one such father, but at least one "
13774 "did something about it. Eric Eldred, a retired computer programmer living in "
13775 "New Hampshire, decided to put Hawthorne on the Web. An electronic version, "
13776 "Eldred thought, with links to pictures and explanatory text, would make this "
13777 "nineteenth-century author's work come alive."
13780 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13781 #: freeculture.xml:10386
13783 "It didn't work—at least for his daughters. They didn't find Hawthorne "
13784 "any more interesting than before. But Eldred's experiment gave birth to a "
13785 "hobby, and his hobby begat a cause: Eldred would build a library of public "
13786 "domain works by scanning these works and making them available for free."
13790 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13791 #: freeculture.xml:10393
13793 "Eldred's library was not simply a copy of certain public domain works, "
13794 "though even a copy would have been of great value to people across the world "
13795 "who can't get access to printed versions of these works. Instead, Eldred was "
13796 "producing derivative works from these public domain works. Just as Disney "
13797 "turned Grimm into stories more accessible to the twentieth century, Eldred "
13798 "transformed Hawthorne, and many others, into a form more "
13799 "accessible—technically accessible—today."
13802 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13803 #: freeculture.xml:10404
13805 "Eldred's freedom to do this with Hawthorne's work grew from the same source "
13806 "as Disney's. Hawthorne's <citetitle>Scarlet Letter</citetitle> had passed "
13807 "into the public domain in 1907. It was free for anyone to take without the "
13808 "permission of the Hawthorne estate or anyone else. Some, such as Dover Press "
13809 "and Penguin Classics, take works from the public domain and produce printed "
13810 "editions, which they sell in bookstores across the country. Others, such as "
13811 "Disney, take these stories and turn them into animated cartoons, sometimes "
13812 "successfully (<citetitle>Cinderella</citetitle>), sometimes not "
13813 "(<citetitle>The Hunchback of Notre Dame</citetitle>, <citetitle>Treasure "
13814 "Planet</citetitle>). These are all commercial publications of public domain "
13819 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13820 #: freeculture.xml:10428
13822 "There's a parallel here with pornography that is a bit hard to describe, but "
13823 "it's a strong one. One phenomenon that the Internet created was a world of "
13824 "noncommercial pornographers—people who were distributing porn but were "
13825 "not making money directly or indirectly from that distribution. Such a "
13826 "class didn't exist before the Internet came into being because the costs of "
13827 "distributing porn were so high. Yet this new class of distributors got "
13828 "special attention in the Supreme Court, when the Court struck down the "
13829 "Communications Decency Act of 1996. It was partly because of the burden on "
13830 "noncommercial speakers that the statute was found to exceed Congress's "
13831 "power. The same point could have been made about noncommercial publishers "
13832 "after the advent of the Internet. The Eric Eldreds of the world before the "
13833 "Internet were extremely few. Yet one would think it at least as important to "
13834 "protect the Eldreds of the world as to protect noncommercial pornographers."
13837 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13838 #: freeculture.xml:10417
13840 "The Internet created the possibility of noncommercial publications of public "
13841 "domain works. Eldred's is just one example. There are literally thousands of "
13842 "others. Hundreds of thousands from across the world have discovered this "
13843 "platform of expression and now use it to share works that are, by law, free "
13844 "for the taking. This has produced what we might call the "
13845 "<quote>noncommercial publishing industry,</quote> which before the Internet "
13846 "was limited to people with large egos or with political or social "
13847 "causes. But with the Internet, it includes a wide range of individuals and "
13848 "groups dedicated to spreading culture generally.<placeholder "
13849 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13852 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13853 #: freeculture.xml:10445
13855 "As I said, Eldred lives in New Hampshire. In 1998, Robert Frost's collection "
13856 "of poems <citetitle>New Hampshire</citetitle> was slated to pass into the "
13857 "public domain. Eldred wanted to post that collection in his free public "
13858 "library. But Congress got in the way. As I described in chapter <xref "
13859 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, in 1998, for the "
13860 "eleventh time in forty years, Congress extended the terms of existing "
13861 "copyrights—this time by twenty years. Eldred would not be free to add "
13862 "any works more recent than 1923 to his collection until 2019. Indeed, no "
13863 "copyrighted work would pass into the public domain until that year (and not "
13864 "even then, if Congress extends the term again). By contrast, in the same "
13865 "period, more than 1 million patents will pass into the public domain."
13868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13869 #: freeculture.xml:10458 freeculture.xml:10468
13873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
13874 #: freeculture.xml:10459 freeculture.xml:10469
13875 msgid "Bono, Sonny"
13878 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
13879 #: freeculture.xml:10468
13881 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
13882 "id=\"1\"/> The full text is: <quote>Sonny [Bono] wanted the term of "
13883 "copyright protection to last forever. I am informed by staff that such a "
13884 "change would violate the Constitution. I invite all of you to work with me "
13885 "to strengthen our copyright laws in all of the ways available to us. As you "
13886 "know, there is also Jack Valenti's proposal for a term to last forever less "
13887 "one day. Perhaps the Committee may look at that next Congress,</quote> 144 "
13888 "Cong. Rec. H9946, 9951-2 (October 7, 1998)."
13891 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13892 #: freeculture.xml:10463
13894 "This was the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), enacted in "
13895 "memory of the congressman and former musician Sonny Bono, who, his widow, "
13896 "Mary Bono, says, believed that <quote>copyrights should be "
13897 "forever.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
13900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13901 #: freeculture.xml:10481
13903 "Eldred decided to fight this law. He first resolved to fight it through "
13904 "civil disobedience. In a series of interviews, Eldred announced that he "
13905 "would publish as planned, CTEA notwithstanding. But because of a second law "
13906 "passed in 1998, the NET (No Electronic Theft) Act, his act of publishing "
13907 "would make Eldred a felon—whether or not anyone complained. This was a "
13908 "dangerous strategy for a disabled programmer to undertake."
13911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13912 #: freeculture.xml:10490
13914 "It was here that I became involved in Eldred's battle. I was a "
13915 "constitutional scholar whose first passion was constitutional "
13916 "interpretation. And though constitutional law courses never focus upon the "
13917 "Progress Clause of the Constitution, it had always struck me as importantly "
13918 "different. As you know, the Constitution says,"
13921 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
13922 #: freeculture.xml:10501
13924 "Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science … by "
13925 "securing for limited Times to Authors … exclusive Right to their "
13926 "… Writings. …"
13929 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13930 #: freeculture.xml:10507
13932 "As I've described, this clause is unique within the power-granting clause of "
13933 "Article I, section 8 of our Constitution. Every other clause granting power "
13934 "to Congress simply says Congress has the power to do something—for "
13935 "example, to regulate <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> or "
13936 "<quote>declare War.</quote> But here, the <quote>something</quote> is "
13937 "something quite specific—to <quote>promote … "
13938 "Progress</quote>—through means that are also specific— by "
13939 "<quote>securing</quote> <quote>exclusive Rights</quote> (i.e., copyrights) "
13940 "<quote>for limited Times.</quote>"
13943 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
13944 #: freeculture.xml:10526 freeculture.xml:11995
13945 msgid "Jaszi, Peter"
13948 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13949 #: freeculture.xml:10517
13951 "In the past forty years, Congress has gotten into the practice of extending "
13952 "existing terms of copyright protection. What puzzled me about this was, if "
13953 "Congress has the power to extend existing terms, then the Constitution's "
13954 "requirement that terms be <quote>limited</quote> will have no practical "
13955 "effect. If every time a copyright is about to expire, Congress has the power "
13956 "to extend its term, then Congress can achieve what the Constitution plainly "
13957 "forbids—perpetual terms <quote>on the installment plan,</quote> as "
13958 "Professor Peter Jaszi so nicely put it. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
13962 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13963 #: freeculture.xml:10529
13965 "As an academic, my first response was to hit the books. I remember sitting "
13966 "late at the office, scouring on-line databases for any serious consideration "
13967 "of the question. No one had ever challenged Congress's practice of extending "
13968 "existing terms. That failure may in part be why Congress seemed so "
13969 "untroubled in its habit. That, and the fact that the practice had become so "
13970 "lucrative for Congress. Congress knows that copyright owners will be willing "
13971 "to pay a great deal of money to see their copyright terms extended. And so "
13972 "Congress is quite happy to keep this gravy train going."
13975 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13976 #: freeculture.xml:10540
13978 "For this is the core of the corruption in our present system of "
13979 "government. <quote>Corruption</quote> not in the sense that representatives "
13980 "are bribed. Rather, <quote>corruption</quote> in the sense that the system "
13981 "induces the beneficiaries of Congress's acts to raise and give money to "
13982 "Congress to induce it to act. There's only so much time; there's only so "
13983 "much Congress can do. Why not limit its actions to those things it must "
13984 "do—and those things that pay? Extending copyright terms pays."
13987 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
13988 #: freeculture.xml:10549
13990 "If that's not obvious to you, consider the following: Say you're one of the "
13991 "very few lucky copyright owners whose copyright continues to make money one "
13992 "hundred years after it was created. The Estate of Robert Frost is a good "
13993 "example. Frost died in 1963. His poetry continues to be extraordinarily "
13994 "valuable. Thus the Robert Frost estate benefits greatly from any extension "
13995 "of copyright, since no publisher would pay the estate any money if the poems "
13996 "Frost wrote could be published by anyone for free."
13999 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14000 #: freeculture.xml:10559
14002 "So imagine the Robert Frost estate is earning $100,000 a year from three of "
14003 "Frost's poems. And imagine the copyright for those poems is about to "
14004 "expire. You sit on the board of the Robert Frost estate. Your financial "
14005 "adviser comes to your board meeting with a very grim report:"
14009 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14010 #: freeculture.xml:10566
14012 "<quote>Next year,</quote> the adviser announces, <quote>our copyrights in "
14013 "works A, B, and C will expire. That means that after next year, we will no "
14014 "longer be receiving the annual royalty check of $100,000 from the publishers "
14015 "of those works.</quote>"
14018 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14019 #: freeculture.xml:10574
14021 "<quote>There's a proposal in Congress, however,</quote> she continues, "
14022 "<quote>that could change this. A few congressmen are floating a bill to "
14023 "extend the terms of copyright by twenty years. That bill would be "
14024 "extraordinarily valuable to us. So we should hope this bill passes.</quote>"
14027 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14028 #: freeculture.xml:10580
14030 "<quote>Hope?</quote> a fellow board member says. <quote>Can't we be doing "
14031 "something about it?</quote>"
14034 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14035 #: freeculture.xml:10584
14037 "<quote>Well, obviously, yes,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>We could "
14038 "contribute to the campaigns of a number of representatives to try to assure "
14039 "that they support the bill.</quote>"
14042 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14043 #: freeculture.xml:10589
14045 "You hate politics. You hate contributing to campaigns. So you want to know "
14046 "whether this disgusting practice is worth it. <quote>How much would we get "
14047 "if this extension were passed?</quote> you ask the adviser. <quote>How much "
14048 "is it worth?</quote>"
14051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14052 #: freeculture.xml:10595
14054 "<quote>Well,</quote> the adviser says, <quote>if you're confident that you "
14055 "will continue to get at least $100,000 a year from these copyrights, and you "
14056 "use the `discount rate' that we use to evaluate estate investments (6 "
14057 "percent), then this law would be worth $1,146,000 to the estate.</quote>"
14060 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14061 #: freeculture.xml:10601
14063 "You're a bit shocked by the number, but you quickly come to the correct "
14067 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14068 #: freeculture.xml:10605
14070 "<quote>So you're saying it would be worth it for us to pay more than "
14071 "$1,000,000 in campaign contributions if we were confident those "
14072 "contributions would assure that the bill was passed?</quote>"
14075 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14076 #: freeculture.xml:10611
14078 "<quote>Absolutely,</quote> the adviser responds. <quote>It is worth it to "
14079 "you to contribute up to the `present value' of the income you expect from "
14080 "these copyrights. Which for us means over $1,000,000.</quote>"
14084 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14085 #: freeculture.xml:10617
14087 "You quickly get the point—you as the member of the board and, I trust, "
14088 "you the reader. Each time copyrights are about to expire, every beneficiary "
14089 "in the position of the Robert Frost estate faces the same choice: If they "
14090 "can contribute to get a law passed to extend copyrights, they will benefit "
14091 "greatly from that extension. And so each time copyrights are about to "
14092 "expire, there is a massive amount of lobbying to get the copyright term "
14096 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14097 #: freeculture.xml:10628
14099 "Thus a congressional perpetual motion machine: So long as legislation can be "
14100 "bought (albeit indirectly), there will be all the incentive in the world to "
14101 "buy further extensions of copyright."
14105 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14106 #: freeculture.xml:10640
14108 "Associated Press, <quote>Disney Lobbying for Copyright Extension No Mickey "
14109 "Mouse Effort; Congress OKs Bill Granting Creators 20 More Years,</quote> "
14110 "<citetitle>Chicago Tribune</citetitle>, 17 October 1998, 22."
14114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14115 #: freeculture.xml:10647
14117 "See Nick Brown, <quote>Fair Use No More?: Copyright in the Information "
14118 "Age,</quote> available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
14123 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14124 #: freeculture.xml:10655
14126 "Alan K. Ota, <quote>Disney in Washington: The Mouse That Roars,</quote> "
14127 "<citetitle>Congressional Quarterly This Week</citetitle>, 8 August 1990, "
14128 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #50</ulink>."
14131 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14132 #: freeculture.xml:10633
14134 "In the lobbying that led to the passage of the Sonny Bono Copyright Term "
14135 "Extension Act, this <quote>theory</quote> about incentives was proved "
14136 "real. Ten of the thirteen original sponsors of the act in the House received "
14137 "the maximum contribution from Disney's political action committee; in the "
14138 "Senate, eight of the twelve sponsors received contributions.<placeholder "
14139 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The RIAA and the MPAA are estimated to have "
14140 "spent over $1.5 million lobbying in the 1998 election cycle. They paid out "
14141 "more than $200,000 in campaign contributions.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14142 "id=\"1\"/> Disney is estimated to have contributed more than $800,000 to "
14143 "reelection campaigns in the cycle.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"2\"/>"
14146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14147 #: freeculture.xml:10662
14149 "Constitutional law is not oblivious to the obvious. Or at least, it need not "
14150 "be. So when I was considering Eldred's complaint, this reality about the "
14151 "never-ending incentives to increase the copyright term was central to my "
14152 "thinking. In my view, a pragmatic court committed to interpreting and "
14153 "applying the Constitution of our framers would see that if Congress has the "
14154 "power to extend existing terms, then there would be no effective "
14155 "constitutional requirement that terms be <quote>limited.</quote> If they "
14156 "could extend it once, they would extend it again and again and again."
14160 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14161 #: freeculture.xml:10675
14163 "It was also my judgment that <emphasis>this</emphasis> Supreme Court would "
14164 "not allow Congress to extend existing terms. As anyone close to the Supreme "
14165 "Court's work knows, this Court has increasingly restricted the power of "
14166 "Congress when it has viewed Congress's actions as exceeding the power "
14167 "granted to it by the Constitution. Among constitutional scholars, the most "
14168 "famous example of this trend was the Supreme Court's decision in 1995 to "
14169 "strike down a law that banned the possession of guns near schools."
14172 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14173 #: freeculture.xml:10688
14175 "Since 1937, the Supreme Court had interpreted Congress's granted powers very "
14176 "broadly; so, while the Constitution grants Congress the power to regulate "
14177 "only <quote>commerce among the several states</quote> (aka <quote>interstate "
14178 "commerce</quote>), the Supreme Court had interpreted that power to include "
14179 "the power to regulate any activity that merely affected interstate commerce."
14182 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14183 #: freeculture.xml:10698
14185 "As the economy grew, this standard increasingly meant that there was no "
14186 "limit to Congress's power to regulate, since just about every activity, when "
14187 "considered on a national scale, affects interstate commerce. A Constitution "
14188 "designed to limit Congress's power was instead interpreted to impose no "
14192 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14193 #: freeculture.xml:10704 freeculture.xml:11488
14194 msgid "Rehnquist, William H."
14197 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14198 #: freeculture.xml:10706
14200 "The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Rehnquist's command, changed that in "
14201 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The "
14202 "government had argued that possessing guns near schools affected interstate "
14203 "commerce. Guns near schools increase crime, crime lowers property values, "
14204 "and so on. In the oral argument, the Chief Justice asked the government "
14205 "whether there was any activity that would not affect interstate commerce "
14206 "under the reasoning the government advanced. The government said there was "
14207 "not; if Congress says an activity affects interstate commerce, then that "
14208 "activity affects interstate commerce. The Supreme Court, the government "
14209 "said, was not in the position to second-guess Congress."
14213 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14214 #: freeculture.xml:10721
14216 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>, 514 "
14217 "U.S. 549, 564 (1995)."
14221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14222 #: freeculture.xml:10728
14224 "<citetitle>United States</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>, 529 "
14228 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14229 #: freeculture.xml:10719
14231 "<quote>We pause to consider the implications of the government's "
14232 "arguments,</quote> the Chief Justice wrote.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14233 "id=\"0\"/> If anything Congress says is interstate commerce must therefore "
14234 "be considered interstate commerce, then there would be no limit to "
14235 "Congress's power. The decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> was "
14236 "reaffirmed five years later in <citetitle>United States</citetitle> "
14237 "v. <citetitle>Morrison</citetitle>.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
14241 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14242 #: freeculture.xml:10735
14244 "If it is a principle about enumerated powers, then the principle carries "
14245 "from one enumerated power to another. The animating point in the context of "
14246 "the Commerce Clause was that the interpretation offered by the government "
14247 "would allow the government unending power to regulate commerce—the "
14248 "limitation to interstate commerce notwithstanding. The same point is true in "
14249 "the context of the Copyright Clause. Here, too, the government's "
14250 "interpretation would allow the government unending power to regulate "
14251 "copyrights—the limitation to <quote>limited times</quote> "
14256 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14257 #: freeculture.xml:10732
14259 "If a principle were at work here, then it should apply to the Progress "
14260 "Clause as much as the Commerce Clause.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
14261 "id=\"0\"/> And if it is applied to the Progress Clause, the principle should "
14262 "yield the conclusion that Congress can't extend an existing term. If "
14263 "Congress could extend an existing term, then there would be no "
14264 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power over terms, though the "
14265 "Constitution expressly states that there is such a limit. Thus, the same "
14266 "principle applied to the power to grant copyrights should entail that "
14267 "Congress is not allowed to extend the term of existing copyrights."
14270 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14271 #: freeculture.xml:10756
14273 "<emphasis>If</emphasis>, that is, the principle announced in "
14274 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for a principle. Many believed the "
14275 "decision in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> stood for politics—a "
14276 "conservative Supreme Court, which believed in states' rights, using its "
14277 "power over Congress to advance its own personal political preferences. But I "
14278 "rejected that view of the Supreme Court's decision. Indeed, shortly after "
14279 "the decision, I wrote an article demonstrating the <quote>fidelity</quote> "
14280 "in such an interpretation of the Constitution. The idea that the Supreme "
14281 "Court decides cases based upon its politics struck me as extraordinarily "
14282 "boring. I was not going to devote my life to teaching constitutional law if "
14283 "these nine Justices were going to be petty politicians."
14286 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14287 #: freeculture.xml:10769
14289 "Now let's pause for a moment to make sure we understand what the argument in "
14290 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was not about. By insisting on the "
14291 "Constitution's limits to copyright, obviously Eldred was not endorsing "
14292 "piracy. Indeed, in an obvious sense, he was fighting a kind of "
14293 "piracy—piracy of the public domain. When Robert Frost wrote his work "
14294 "and when Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, the maximum copyright term was "
14295 "just fifty-six years. Because of interim changes, Frost and Disney had "
14296 "already enjoyed a seventy-five-year monopoly for their work. They had gotten "
14297 "the benefit of the bargain that the Constitution envisions: In exchange for "
14298 "a monopoly protected for fifty-six years, they created new work. But now "
14299 "these entities were using their power—expressed through the power of "
14300 "lobbyists' money—to get another twenty-year dollop of monopoly. That "
14301 "twenty-year dollop would be taken from the public domain. Eric Eldred was "
14302 "fighting a piracy that affects us all."
14306 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14307 #: freeculture.xml:10792
14309 "Brief of the Nashville Songwriters Association, "
14310 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. "
14311 "186 (2003) (No. 01-618), n.10, available at <ulink "
14312 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #51</ulink>."
14315 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14316 #: freeculture.xml:10800
14317 msgid "Nashville Songwriters Association"
14320 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14321 #: freeculture.xml:10786
14323 "Some people view the public domain with contempt. In their brief before the "
14324 "Supreme Court, the Nashville Songwriters Association wrote that the public "
14325 "domain is nothing more than <quote>legal piracy.</quote><placeholder "
14326 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> But it is not piracy when the law allows it; "
14327 "and in our constitutional system, our law requires it. Some may not like the "
14328 "Constitution's requirements, but that doesn't make the Constitution a "
14329 "pirate's charter. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14333 #: freeculture.xml:10803
14335 "As we've seen, our constitutional system requires limits on copyright as a "
14336 "way to assure that copyright holders do not too heavily influence the "
14337 "development and distribution of our culture. Yet, as Eric Eldred discovered, "
14338 "we have set up a system that assures that copyright terms will be repeatedly "
14339 "extended, and extended, and extended. We have created the perfect storm for "
14340 "the public domain. Copyrights have not expired, and will not expire, so long "
14341 "as Congress is free to be bought to extend them again."
14344 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14345 #: freeculture.xml:10815
14347 "It is valuable copyrights that are responsible for terms being extended. "
14348 "Mickey Mouse and <quote>Rhapsody in Blue.</quote> These works are too "
14349 "valuable for copyright owners to ignore. But the real harm to our society "
14350 "from copyright extensions is not that Mickey Mouse remains Disney's. Forget "
14351 "Mickey Mouse. Forget Robert Frost. Forget all the works from the 1920s and "
14352 "1930s that have continuing commercial value. The real harm of term extension "
14353 "comes not from these famous works. The real harm is to the works that are "
14354 "not famous, not commercially exploited, and no longer available as a result."
14358 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14359 #: freeculture.xml:10836
14361 "The figure of 2 percent is an extrapolation from the study by the "
14362 "Congressional Research Service, in light of the estimated renewal "
14363 "ranges. See Brief of Petitioners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14364 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 7, available at <ulink "
14365 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #52</ulink>."
14368 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14369 #: freeculture.xml:10830
14371 "If you look at the work created in the first twenty years (1923 to 1942) "
14372 "affected by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, 2 percent of that "
14373 "work has any continuing commercial value. It was the copyright holders for "
14374 "that 2 percent who pushed the CTEA through. But the law and its effect were "
14375 "not limited to that 2 percent. The law extended the terms of copyright "
14376 "generally.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14380 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14381 #: freeculture.xml:10845
14383 "Think practically about the consequence of this extension—practically, "
14384 "as a businessperson, and not as a lawyer eager for more legal work. In 1930, "
14385 "10,047 books were published. In 2000, 174 of those books were still in "
14386 "print. Let's say you were Brewster Kahle, and you wanted to make available "
14387 "to the world in your iArchive project the remaining 9,873. What would you "
14391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14392 #: freeculture.xml:10858
14394 "Well, first, you'd have to determine which of the 9,873 books were still "
14395 "under copyright. That requires going to a library (these data are not "
14396 "on-line) and paging through tomes of books, cross-checking the titles and "
14397 "authors of the 9,873 books with the copyright registration and renewal "
14398 "records for works published in 1930. That will produce a list of books still "
14402 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14403 #: freeculture.xml:10866
14405 "Then for the books still under copyright, you would need to locate the "
14406 "current copyright owners. How would you do that?"
14409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14410 #: freeculture.xml:10870
14412 "Most people think that there must be a list of these copyright owners "
14413 "somewhere. Practical people think this way. How could there be thousands and "
14414 "thousands of government monopolies without there being at least a list?"
14417 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14418 #: freeculture.xml:10877
14420 "But there is no list. There may be a name from 1930, and then in 1959, of "
14421 "the person who registered the copyright. But just think practically about "
14422 "how impossibly difficult it would be to track down thousands of such "
14423 "records—especially since the person who registered is not necessarily "
14424 "the current owner. And we're just talking about 1930!"
14427 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14428 #: freeculture.xml:10886
14430 "<quote>But there isn't a list of who owns property generally,</quote> the "
14431 "apologists for the system respond. <quote>Why should there be a list of "
14432 "copyright owners?</quote>"
14435 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14436 #: freeculture.xml:10891
14438 "Well, actually, if you think about it, there <emphasis>are</emphasis> plenty "
14439 "of lists of who owns what property. Think about deeds on houses, or titles "
14440 "to cars. And where there isn't a list, the code of real space is pretty "
14441 "good at suggesting who the owner of a bit of property is. (A swing set in "
14442 "your backyard is probably yours.) So formally or informally, we have a "
14443 "pretty good way to know who owns what tangible property."
14447 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14448 #: freeculture.xml:10900
14450 "So: You walk down a street and see a house. You can know who owns the house "
14451 "by looking it up in the courthouse registry. If you see a car, there is "
14452 "ordinarily a license plate that will link the owner to the car. If you see a "
14453 "bunch of children's toys sitting on the front lawn of a house, it's fairly "
14454 "easy to determine who owns the toys. And if you happen to see a baseball "
14455 "lying in a gutter on the side of the road, look around for a second for some "
14456 "kids playing ball. If you don't see any kids, then okay: Here's a bit of "
14457 "property whose owner we can't easily determine. It is the exception that "
14458 "proves the rule: that we ordinarily know quite well who owns what property."
14461 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14462 #: freeculture.xml:10915
14464 "Compare this story to intangible property. You go into a library. The "
14465 "library owns the books. But who owns the copyrights? As I've already "
14466 "described, there's no list of copyright owners. There are authors' names, of "
14467 "course, but their copyrights could have been assigned, or passed down in an "
14468 "estate like Grandma's old jewelry. To know who owns what, you would have to "
14469 "hire a private detective. The bottom line: The owner cannot easily be "
14470 "located. And in a regime like ours, in which it is a felony to use such "
14471 "property without the property owner's permission, the property isn't going "
14475 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14476 #: freeculture.xml:10927
14478 "The consequence with respect to old books is that they won't be digitized, "
14479 "and hence will simply rot away on shelves. But the consequence for other "
14480 "creative works is much more dire."
14483 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14484 #: freeculture.xml:10933
14485 msgid "Agee, Michael"
14488 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14489 #: freeculture.xml:10935 freeculture.xml:11371
14490 msgid "Hal Roach Studios"
14493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14494 #: freeculture.xml:10936
14495 msgid "Laurel and Hardy Films"
14499 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14500 #: freeculture.xml:10949
14502 "See David G. Savage, <quote>High Court Scene of Showdown on Copyright "
14503 "Law,</quote> <citetitle>Los Angeles Times</citetitle>, 6 October 2002; David "
14504 "Streitfeld, <quote>Classic Movies, Songs, Books at Stake; Supreme Court "
14505 "Hears Arguments Today on Striking Down Copyright Extension,</quote> "
14506 "<citetitle>Orlando Sentinel Tribune</citetitle>, 9 October 2002."
14509 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14510 #: freeculture.xml:10955
14511 msgid "Lucky Dog, The"
14514 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14515 #: freeculture.xml:10938
14517 "Consider the story of Michael Agee, chairman of Hal Roach Studios, which "
14518 "owns the copyrights for the Laurel and Hardy films. Agee is a direct "
14519 "beneficiary of the Bono Act. The Laurel and Hardy films were made between "
14520 "1921 and 1951. Only one of these films, <citetitle>The Lucky "
14521 "Dog</citetitle>, is currently out of copyright. But for the CTEA, films made "
14522 "after 1923 would have begun entering the public domain. Because Agee "
14523 "controls the exclusive rights for these popular films, he makes a great deal "
14524 "of money. According to one estimate, <quote>Roach has sold about 60,000 "
14525 "videocassettes and 50,000 DVDs of the duo's silent "
14526 "films.</quote><placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
14527 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
14530 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14531 #: freeculture.xml:10958
14533 "Yet Agee opposed the CTEA. His reasons demonstrate a rare virtue in this "
14534 "culture: selflessness. He argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that "
14535 "the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act will, if left standing, destroy "
14536 "a whole generation of American film."
14540 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14541 #: freeculture.xml:10964
14543 "His argument is straightforward. A tiny fraction of this work has any "
14544 "continuing commercial value. The rest—to the extent it survives at "
14545 "all—sits in vaults gathering dust. It may be that some of this work "
14546 "not now commercially valuable will be deemed to be valuable by the owners of "
14547 "the vaults. For this to occur, however, the commercial benefit from the work "
14548 "must exceed the costs of making the work available for distribution."
14552 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14553 #: freeculture.xml:10982
14555 "Brief of Hal Roach Studios and Michael Agee as Amicus Curiae Supporting the "
14556 "Petitoners, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14557 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. 186 (2003) (No. 01- 618), "
14558 "12. See also Brief of Amicus Curiae filed on behalf of Petitioners by the "
14559 "Internet Archive, <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
14560 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, available at <ulink "
14561 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #53</ulink>."
14564 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14565 #: freeculture.xml:10975
14567 "We can't know the benefits, but we do know a lot about the costs. For most "
14568 "of the history of film, the costs of restoring film were very high; digital "
14569 "technology has lowered these costs substantially. While it cost more than "
14570 "$10,000 to restore a ninety-minute black-and-white film in 1993, it can now "
14571 "cost as little as $100 to digitize one hour of mm film.<placeholder "
14572 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14575 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14576 #: freeculture.xml:10992
14578 "Restoration technology is not the only cost, nor the most important. "
14579 "Lawyers, too, are a cost, and increasingly, a very important one. In "
14580 "addition to preserving the film, a distributor needs to secure the rights. "
14581 "And to secure the rights for a film that is under copyright, you need to "
14582 "locate the copyright owner."
14585 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14586 #: freeculture.xml:11000
14588 "Or more accurately, <emphasis>owners</emphasis>. As we've seen, there isn't "
14589 "only a single copyright associated with a film; there are many. There isn't "
14590 "a single person whom you can contact about those copyrights; there are as "
14591 "many as can hold the rights, which turns out to be an extremely large "
14592 "number. Thus the costs of clearing the rights to these films is "
14593 "exceptionally high."
14596 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14597 #: freeculture.xml:11008
14599 "<quote>But can't you just restore the film, distribute it, and then pay the "
14600 "copyright owner when she shows up?</quote> Sure, if you want to commit a "
14601 "felony. And even if you're not worried about committing a felony, when she "
14602 "does show up, she'll have the right to sue you for all the profits you have "
14603 "made. So, if you're successful, you can be fairly confident you'll be "
14604 "getting a call from someone's lawyer. And if you're not successful, you "
14605 "won't make enough to cover the costs of your own lawyer. Either way, you "
14606 "have to talk to a lawyer. And as is too often the case, saying you have to "
14607 "talk to a lawyer is the same as saying you won't make any money."
14611 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14612 #: freeculture.xml:11019
14614 "For some films, the benefit of releasing the film may well exceed these "
14615 "costs. But for the vast majority of them, there is no way the benefit would "
14616 "outweigh the legal costs. Thus, for the vast majority of old films, Agee "
14617 "argued, the film will not be restored and distributed until the copyright "
14621 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14622 #: freeculture.xml:11030
14624 "But by the time the copyright for these films expires, the film will have "
14625 "expired. These films were produced on nitrate-based stock, and nitrate stock "
14626 "dissolves over time. They will be gone, and the metal canisters in which "
14627 "they are now stored will be filled with nothing more than dust."
14630 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14631 #: freeculture.xml:11038
14633 "Of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has "
14634 "continuing commercial value. For that tiny fraction, the copyright is a "
14635 "crucially important legal device. For that tiny fraction, the copyright "
14636 "creates incentives to produce and distribute the creative work. For that "
14637 "tiny fraction, the copyright acts as an <quote>engine of free "
14638 "expression.</quote>"
14641 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14642 #: freeculture.xml:11047
14644 "But even for that tiny fraction, the actual time during which the creative "
14645 "work has a commercial life is extremely short. As I've indicated, most books "
14646 "go out of print within one year. The same is true of music and "
14647 "film. Commercial culture is sharklike. It must keep moving. And when a "
14648 "creative work falls out of favor with the commercial distributors, the "
14649 "commercial life ends."
14652 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14653 #: freeculture.xml:11057
14655 "Yet that doesn't mean the life of the creative work ends. We don't keep "
14656 "libraries of books in order to compete with Barnes & Noble, and we don't "
14657 "have archives of films because we expect people to choose between spending "
14658 "Friday night watching new movies and spending Friday night watching a 1930 "
14659 "news documentary. The noncommercial life of culture is important and "
14660 "valuable—for entertainment but also, and more importantly, for "
14661 "knowledge. To understand who we are, and where we came from, and how we have "
14662 "made the mistakes that we have, we need to have access to this history."
14666 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14667 #: freeculture.xml:11070
14669 "Copyrights in this context do not drive an engine of free expression. In "
14670 "this context, there is no need for an exclusive right. Copyrights in this "
14671 "context do no good."
14674 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14675 #: freeculture.xml:11077
14677 "Yet, for most of our history, they also did little harm. For most of our "
14678 "history, when a work ended its commercial life, there was no "
14679 "<emphasis>copyright-related use</emphasis> that would be inhibited by an "
14680 "exclusive right. When a book went out of print, you could not buy it from a "
14681 "publisher. But you could still buy it from a used book store, and when a "
14682 "used book store sells it, in America, at least, there is no need to pay the "
14683 "copyright owner anything. Thus, the ordinary use of a book after its "
14684 "commercial life ended was a use that was independent of copyright law."
14687 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14688 #: freeculture.xml:11088
14690 "The same was effectively true of film. Because the costs of restoring a "
14691 "film—the real economic costs, not the lawyer costs—were so high, "
14692 "it was never at all feasible to preserve or restore film. Like the remains "
14693 "of a great dinner, when it's over, it's over. Once a film passed out of its "
14694 "commercial life, it may have been archived for a bit, but that was the end "
14695 "of its life so long as the market didn't have more to offer."
14698 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14699 #: freeculture.xml:11097
14701 "In other words, though copyright has been relatively short for most of our "
14702 "history, long copyrights wouldn't have mattered for the works that lost "
14703 "their commercial value. Long copyrights for these works would not have "
14704 "interfered with anything."
14707 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14708 #: freeculture.xml:11103
14709 msgid "But this situation has now changed."
14712 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14713 #: freeculture.xml:11109
14715 "One crucially important consequence of the emergence of digital technologies "
14716 "is to enable the archive that Brewster Kahle dreams of. Digital "
14717 "technologies now make it possible to preserve and give access to all sorts "
14718 "of knowledge. Once a book goes out of print, we can now imagine digitizing "
14719 "it and making it available to everyone, forever. Once a film goes out of "
14720 "distribution, we could digitize it and make it available to everyone, "
14721 "forever. Digital technologies give new life to copyrighted material after it "
14722 "passes out of its commercial life. It is now possible to preserve and assure "
14723 "universal access to this knowledge and culture, whereas before it was not."
14727 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14728 #: freeculture.xml:11122
14730 "And now copyright law does get in the way. Every step of producing this "
14731 "digital archive of our culture infringes on the exclusive right of "
14732 "copyright. To digitize a book is to copy it. To do that requires permission "
14733 "of the copyright owner. The same with music, film, or any other aspect of "
14734 "our culture protected by copyright. The effort to make these things "
14735 "available to history, or to researchers, or to those who just want to "
14736 "explore, is now inhibited by a set of rules that were written for a "
14737 "radically different context."
14740 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14741 #: freeculture.xml:11132
14743 "Here is the core of the harm that comes from extending terms: Now that "
14744 "technology enables us to rebuild the library of Alexandria, the law gets in "
14745 "the way. And it doesn't get in the way for any useful "
14746 "<emphasis>copyright</emphasis> purpose, for the purpose of copyright is to "
14747 "enable the commercial market that spreads culture. No, we are talking about "
14748 "culture after it has lived its commercial life. In this context, copyright "
14749 "is serving no purpose <emphasis>at all</emphasis> related to the spread of "
14750 "knowledge. In this context, copyright is not an engine of free "
14751 "expression. Copyright is a brake."
14754 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14755 #: freeculture.xml:11143
14757 "You may well ask, <quote>But if digital technologies lower the costs for "
14758 "Brewster Kahle, then they will lower the costs for Random House, too. So "
14759 "won't Random House do as well as Brewster Kahle in spreading culture "
14763 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14764 #: freeculture.xml:11149
14766 "Maybe. Someday. But there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that "
14767 "publishers would be as complete as libraries. If Barnes & Noble offered "
14768 "to lend books from its stores for a low price, would that eliminate the need "
14769 "for libraries? Only if you think that the only role of a library is to serve "
14770 "what <quote>the market</quote> would demand. But if you think the role of a "
14771 "library is bigger than this—if you think its role is to archive "
14772 "culture, whether there's a demand for any particular bit of that culture or "
14773 "not—then we can't count on the commercial market to do our library "
14778 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
14779 #: freeculture.xml:11173
14781 "Jason Schultz, <quote>The Myth of the 1976 Copyright `Chaos' Theory,</quote> "
14782 "20 December 2002, available at <ulink "
14783 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #54</ulink>."
14786 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14787 #: freeculture.xml:11161
14789 "I would be the first to agree that it should do as much as it can: We should "
14790 "rely upon the market as much as possible to spread and enable culture. My "
14791 "message is absolutely not antimarket. But where we see the market is not "
14792 "doing the job, then we should allow nonmarket forces the freedom to fill the "
14793 "gaps. As one researcher calculated for American culture, 94 percent of the "
14794 "films, books, and music produced between and 1946 is not commercially "
14795 "available. However much you love the commercial market, if access is a "
14796 "value, then 6 percent is a failure to provide that value.<placeholder "
14797 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
14800 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14801 #: freeculture.xml:11180
14803 "In January 1999, we filed a lawsuit on Eric Eldred's behalf in federal "
14804 "district court in Washington, D.C., asking the court to declare the Sonny "
14805 "Bono Copyright Term Extension Act unconstitutional. The two central claims "
14806 "that we made were (1) that extending existing terms violated the "
14807 "Constitution's <quote>limited Times</quote> requirement, and (2) that "
14808 "extending terms by another twenty years violated the First Amendment."
14811 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14812 #: freeculture.xml:11188
14814 "The district court dismissed our claims without even hearing an argument. A "
14815 "panel of the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit also dismissed our "
14816 "claims, though after hearing an extensive argument. But that decision at "
14817 "least had a dissent, by one of the most conservative judges on that "
14818 "court. That dissent gave our claims life."
14821 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14822 #: freeculture.xml:11195
14824 "Judge David Sentelle said the CTEA violated the requirement that copyrights "
14825 "be for <quote>limited Times</quote> only. His argument was as elegant as it "
14826 "was simple: If Congress can extend existing terms, then there is no "
14827 "<quote>stopping point</quote> to Congress's power under the Copyright "
14828 "Clause. The power to extend existing terms means Congress is not required to "
14829 "grant terms that are <quote>limited.</quote> Thus, Judge Sentelle argued, "
14830 "the court had to interpret the term <quote>limited Times</quote> to give it "
14831 "meaning. And the best interpretation, Judge Sentelle argued, would be to "
14832 "deny Congress the power to extend existing terms."
14835 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14836 #: freeculture.xml:11206
14838 "We asked the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit as a whole to hear the "
14839 "case. Cases are ordinarily heard in panels of three, except for important "
14840 "cases or cases that raise issues specific to the circuit as a whole, where "
14841 "the court will sit <quote>en banc</quote> to hear the case."
14845 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14846 #: freeculture.xml:11212
14848 "The Court of Appeals rejected our request to hear the case en banc. This "
14849 "time, Judge Sentelle was joined by the most liberal member of the "
14850 "D.C. Circuit, Judge David Tatel. Both the most conservative and the most "
14851 "liberal judges in the D.C. Circuit believed Congress had overstepped its "
14855 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14856 #: freeculture.xml:11221
14858 "It was here that most expected Eldred v. Ashcroft would die, for the Supreme "
14859 "Court rarely reviews any decision by a court of appeals. (It hears about one "
14860 "hundred cases a year, out of more than five thousand appeals.) And it "
14861 "practically never reviews a decision that upholds a statute when no other "
14862 "court has yet reviewed the statute."
14865 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14866 #: freeculture.xml:11228
14868 "But in February 2002, the Supreme Court surprised the world by granting our "
14869 "petition to review the D.C. Circuit opinion. Argument was set for October of "
14870 "2002. The summer would be spent writing briefs and preparing for argument."
14873 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14874 #: freeculture.xml:11234
14876 "It is over a year later as I write these words. It is still astonishingly "
14877 "hard. If you know anything at all about this story, you know that we lost "
14878 "the appeal. And if you know something more than just the minimum, you "
14879 "probably think there was no way this case could have been won. After our "
14880 "defeat, I received literally thousands of missives by well-wishers and "
14881 "supporters, thanking me for my work on behalf of this noble but doomed "
14882 "cause. And none from this pile was more significant to me than the e-mail "
14883 "from my client, Eric Eldred."
14886 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14887 #: freeculture.xml:11244
14889 "But my client and these friends were wrong. This case could have been "
14890 "won. It should have been won. And no matter how hard I try to retell this "
14891 "story to myself, I can never escape believing that my own mistake lost it."
14894 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14895 #: freeculture.xml:11249 freeculture.xml:11263
14896 msgid "Steward, Geoffrey"
14900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14901 #: freeculture.xml:11251
14903 "The mistake was made early, though it became obvious only at the very "
14904 "end. Our case had been supported from the very beginning by an extraordinary "
14905 "lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, and by the law firm he had moved to, Jones, Day, "
14906 "Reavis and Pogue. Jones Day took a great deal of heat from its "
14907 "copyright-protectionist clients for supporting us. They ignored this "
14908 "pressure (something that few law firms today would ever do), and throughout "
14909 "the case, they gave it everything they could."
14912 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14913 #: freeculture.xml:11261 freeculture.xml:11612 freeculture.xml:11628 freeculture.xml:11722 freeculture.xml:11938 freeculture.xml:11969 freeculture.xml:12062
14917 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
14918 #: freeculture.xml:11262
14919 msgid "Bromberg, Dan"
14922 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14923 #: freeculture.xml:11265
14925 "There were three key lawyers on the case from Jones Day. Geoff Stewart was "
14926 "the first, but then Dan Bromberg and Don Ayer became quite "
14927 "involved. Bromberg and Ayer in particular had a common view about how this "
14928 "case would be won: We would only win, they repeatedly told me, if we could "
14929 "make the issue seem <quote>important</quote> to the Supreme Court. It had to "
14930 "seem as if dramatic harm were being done to free speech and free culture; "
14931 "otherwise, they would never vote against <quote>the most powerful media "
14932 "companies in the world.</quote>"
14935 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14936 #: freeculture.xml:11275
14938 "I hate this view of the law. Of course I thought the Sonny Bono Act was a "
14939 "dramatic harm to free speech and free culture. Of course I still think it "
14940 "is. But the idea that the Supreme Court decides the law based on how "
14941 "important they believe the issues are is just wrong. It might be "
14942 "<quote>right</quote> as in <quote>true,</quote> I thought, but it is "
14943 "<quote>wrong</quote> as in <quote>it just shouldn't be that way.</quote> As "
14944 "I believed that any faithful interpretation of what the framers of our "
14945 "Constitution did would yield the conclusion that the CTEA was "
14946 "unconstitutional, and as I believed that any faithful interpretation of what "
14947 "the First Amendment means would yield the conclusion that the power to "
14948 "extend existing copyright terms is unconstitutional, I was not persuaded "
14949 "that we had to sell our case like soap. Just as a law that bans the "
14950 "swastika is unconstitutional not because the Court likes Nazis but because "
14951 "such a law would violate the Constitution, so too, in my view, would the "
14952 "Court decide whether Congress's law was constitutional based on the "
14953 "Constitution, not based on whether they liked the values that the framers "
14954 "put in the Constitution."
14957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14958 #: freeculture.xml:11296
14960 "In any case, I thought, the Court must already see the danger and the harm "
14961 "caused by this sort of law. Why else would they grant review? There was no "
14962 "reason to hear the case in the Supreme Court if they weren't convinced that "
14963 "this regulation was harmful. So in my view, we didn't need to persuade them "
14964 "that this law was bad, we needed to show why it was unconstitutional."
14968 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14969 #: freeculture.xml:11304
14971 "There was one way, however, in which I felt politics would matter and in "
14972 "which I thought a response was appropriate. I was convinced that the Court "
14973 "would not hear our arguments if it thought these were just the arguments of "
14974 "a group of lefty loons. This Supreme Court was not about to launch into a "
14975 "new field of judicial review if it seemed that this field of review was "
14976 "simply the preference of a small political minority. Although my focus in "
14977 "the case was not to demonstrate how bad the Sonny Bono Act was but to "
14978 "demonstrate that it was unconstitutional, my hope was to make this argument "
14979 "against a background of briefs that covered the full range of political "
14980 "views. To show that this claim against the CTEA was grounded in "
14981 "<emphasis>law</emphasis> and not politics, then, we tried to gather the "
14982 "widest range of credible critics—credible not because they were rich "
14983 "and famous, but because they, in the aggregate, demonstrated that this law "
14984 "was unconstitutional regardless of one's politics."
14987 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14988 #: freeculture.xml:11335 freeculture.xml:11361
14989 msgid "Eagle Forum"
14992 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
14993 #: freeculture.xml:11336
14994 msgid "Schlafly, Phyllis"
14997 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
14998 #: freeculture.xml:11323
15000 "The first step happened all by itself. Phyllis Schlafly's organization, "
15001 "Eagle Forum, had been an opponent of the CTEA from the very beginning. "
15002 "Mrs. Schlafly viewed the CTEA as a sellout by Congress. In November 1998, "
15003 "she wrote a stinging editorial attacking the Republican Congress for "
15004 "allowing the law to pass. As she wrote, <quote>Do you sometimes wonder why "
15005 "bills that create a financial windfall to narrow special interests slide "
15006 "easily through the intricate legislative process, while bills that benefit "
15007 "the general public seem to get bogged down?</quote> The answer, as the "
15008 "editorial documented, was the power of money. Schlafly enumerated Disney's "
15009 "contributions to the key players on the committees. It was money, not "
15010 "justice, that gave Mickey Mouse twenty more years in Disney's control, "
15011 "Schlafly argued. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
15012 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
15015 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15016 #: freeculture.xml:11339
15018 "In the Court of Appeals, Eagle Forum was eager to file a brief supporting "
15019 "our position. Their brief made the argument that became the core claim in "
15020 "the Supreme Court: If Congress can extend the term of existing copyrights, "
15021 "there is no limit to Congress's power to set terms. That strong "
15022 "conservative argument persuaded a strong conservative judge, Judge Sentelle."
15025 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15026 #: freeculture.xml:11347
15028 "In the Supreme Court, the briefs on our side were about as diverse as it "
15029 "gets. They included an extraordinary historical brief by the Free Software "
15030 "Foundation (home of the GNU project that made GNU/ Linux possible). They "
15031 "included a powerful brief about the costs of uncertainty by Intel. There "
15032 "were two law professors' briefs, one by copyright scholars and one by First "
15033 "Amendment scholars. There was an exhaustive and uncontroverted brief by the "
15034 "world's experts in the history of the Progress Clause. And of course, there "
15035 "was a new brief by Eagle Forum, repeating and strengthening its arguments. "
15036 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15037 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
15038 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
15041 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15042 #: freeculture.xml:11368
15043 msgid "American Association of Law Libraries"
15046 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15047 #: freeculture.xml:11369
15048 msgid "National Writers Union"
15051 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15052 #: freeculture.xml:11364
15054 "Those briefs framed a legal argument. Then to support the legal argument, "
15055 "there were a number of powerful briefs by libraries and archives, including "
15056 "the Internet Archive, the American Association of Law Libraries, and the "
15057 "National Writers Union. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
15058 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
15061 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15062 #: freeculture.xml:11373
15064 "But two briefs captured the policy argument best. One made the argument I've "
15065 "already described: A brief by Hal Roach Studios argued that unless the law "
15066 "was struck, a whole generation of American film would disappear. The other "
15067 "made the economic argument absolutely clear."
15070 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15071 #: freeculture.xml:11379
15072 msgid "Akerlof, George"
15075 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15076 #: freeculture.xml:11380
15077 msgid "Arrow, Kenneth"
15080 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15081 #: freeculture.xml:11381
15082 msgid "Buchanan, James"
15085 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15086 #: freeculture.xml:11382
15087 msgid "Coase, Ronald"
15090 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15091 #: freeculture.xml:11383
15092 msgid "Friedman, Milton"
15095 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15096 #: freeculture.xml:11385
15098 "This economists' brief was signed by seventeen economists, including five "
15099 "Nobel Prize winners, including Ronald Coase, James Buchanan, Milton "
15100 "Friedman, Kenneth Arrow, and George Akerlof. The economists, as the list of "
15101 "Nobel winners demonstrates, spanned the political spectrum. Their "
15102 "conclusions were powerful: There was no plausible claim that extending the "
15103 "terms of existing copyrights would do anything to increase incentives to "
15104 "create. Such extensions were nothing more than "
15105 "<quote>rent-seeking</quote>—the fancy term economists use to describe "
15106 "special-interest legislation gone wild."
15109 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15110 #: freeculture.xml:11408 freeculture.xml:11424 freeculture.xml:11619 freeculture.xml:11974
15111 msgid "Fried, Charles"
15114 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15115 #: freeculture.xml:11409
15116 msgid "Morrison, Alan"
15119 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15120 #: freeculture.xml:11410
15121 msgid "Public Citizen"
15124 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15125 #: freeculture.xml:11411 freeculture.xml:11613 freeculture.xml:12720
15126 msgid "Reagan, Ronald"
15129 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15130 #: freeculture.xml:11396
15132 "The same effort at balance was reflected in the legal team we gathered to "
15133 "write our briefs in the case. The Jones Day lawyers had been with us from "
15134 "the start. But when the case got to the Supreme Court, we added three "
15135 "lawyers to help us frame this argument to this Court: Alan Morrison, a "
15136 "lawyer from Public Citizen, a Washington group that had made constitutional "
15137 "history with a series of seminal victories in the Supreme Court defending "
15138 "individual rights; my colleague and dean, Kathleen Sullivan, who had argued "
15139 "many cases in the Court, and who had advised us early on about a First "
15140 "Amendment strategy; and finally, former solicitor general Charles Fried. "
15141 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15142 "id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> <placeholder "
15143 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
15146 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15147 #: freeculture.xml:11414
15149 "Fried was a special victory for our side. Every other former solicitor "
15150 "general was hired by the other side to defend Congress's power to give media "
15151 "companies the special favor of extended copyright terms. Fried was the only "
15152 "one who turned down that lucrative assignment to stand up for something he "
15153 "believed in. He had been Ronald Reagan's chief lawyer in the Supreme "
15154 "Court. He had helped craft the line of cases that limited Congress's power "
15155 "in the context of the Commerce Clause. And while he had argued many "
15156 "positions in the Supreme Court that I personally disagreed with, his joining "
15157 "the cause was a vote of confidence in our argument. <placeholder "
15158 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15161 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15162 #: freeculture.xml:11427
15164 "The government, in defending the statute, had its collection of friends, as "
15165 "well. Significantly, however, none of these <quote>friends</quote> included "
15166 "historians or economists. The briefs on the other side of the case were "
15167 "written exclusively by major media companies, congressmen, and copyright "
15171 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15172 #: freeculture.xml:11434
15174 "The media companies were not surprising. They had the most to gain from the "
15175 "law. The congressmen were not surprising either—they were defending "
15176 "their power and, indirectly, the gravy train of contributions such power "
15177 "induced. And of course it was not surprising that the copyright holders "
15178 "would defend the idea that they should continue to have the right to control "
15179 "who did what with content they wanted to control."
15183 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15184 #: freeculture.xml:11450
15186 "Brief of Amici Dr. Seuss Enterprise et al., <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
15187 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, 537 U.S. (2003) (No. 01-618), 19."
15191 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
15192 #: freeculture.xml:11458
15194 "Dinitia Smith, <quote>Immortal Words, Immortal Royalties? Even Mickey Mouse "
15195 "Joins the Fray,</quote> <citetitle>New York Times</citetitle>, 28 March "
15199 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
15200 #: freeculture.xml:11465
15201 msgid "Gershwin, George"
15204 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15205 #: freeculture.xml:11443
15207 "Dr. Seuss's representatives, for example, argued that it was better for the "
15208 "Dr. Seuss estate to control what happened to Dr. Seuss's work— better "
15209 "than allowing it to fall into the public domain—because if this "
15210 "creativity were in the public domain, then people could use it to "
15211 "<quote>glorify drugs or to create pornography.</quote><placeholder "
15212 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> That was also the motive of the Gershwin "
15213 "estate, which defended its <quote>protection</quote> of the work of George "
15214 "Gershwin. They refuse, for example, to license <citetitle>Porgy and "
15215 "Bess</citetitle> to anyone who refuses to use African Americans in the "
15216 "cast.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> That's their view of how this "
15217 "part of American culture should be controlled, and they wanted this law to "
15218 "help them effect that control. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/>"
15221 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15222 #: freeculture.xml:11468
15224 "This argument made clear a theme that is rarely noticed in this debate. "
15225 "When Congress decides to extend the term of existing copyrights, Congress is "
15226 "making a choice about which speakers it will favor. Famous and beloved "
15227 "copyright owners, such as the Gershwin estate and Dr. Seuss, come to "
15228 "Congress and say, <quote>Give us twenty years to control the speech about "
15229 "these icons of American culture. We'll do better with them than anyone "
15230 "else.</quote> Congress of course likes to reward the popular and famous by "
15231 "giving them what they want. But when Congress gives people an exclusive "
15232 "right to speak in a certain way, that's just what the First Amendment is "
15233 "traditionally meant to block."
15236 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15237 #: freeculture.xml:11480
15239 "We argued as much in a final brief. Not only would upholding the CTEA mean "
15240 "that there was no limit to the power of Congress to extend "
15241 "copyrights—extensions that would further concentrate the market; it "
15242 "would also mean that there was no limit to Congress's power to play "
15243 "favorites, through copyright, with who has the right to speak. Between "
15244 "February and October, there was little I did beyond preparing for this "
15245 "case. Early on, as I said, I set the strategy."
15248 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15249 #: freeculture.xml:11489 freeculture.xml:11667
15250 msgid "O'Connor, Sandra Day"
15253 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15254 #: freeculture.xml:11491
15256 "The Supreme Court was divided into two important camps. One camp we called "
15257 "<quote>the Conservatives.</quote> The other we called <quote>the "
15258 "Rest.</quote> The Conservatives included Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice "
15259 "O'Connor, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, and Justice Thomas. These five "
15260 "had been the most consistent in limiting Congress's power. They were the "
15261 "five who had supported the <citetitle>Lopez/Morrison</citetitle> line of "
15262 "cases that said that an enumerated power had to be interpreted to assure "
15263 "that Congress's powers had limits."
15266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15267 #: freeculture.xml:11500 freeculture.xml:11524 freeculture.xml:11866 freeculture.xml:11878
15268 msgid "Breyer, Stephen"
15272 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15273 #: freeculture.xml:11502
15275 "The Rest were the four Justices who had strongly opposed limits on "
15276 "Congress's power. These four—Justice Stevens, Justice Souter, Justice "
15277 "Ginsburg, and Justice Breyer—had repeatedly argued that the "
15278 "Constitution gives Congress broad discretion to decide how best to implement "
15279 "its powers. In case after case, these justices had argued that the Court's "
15280 "role should be one of deference. Though the votes of these four justices "
15281 "were the votes that I personally had most consistently agreed with, they "
15282 "were also the votes that we were least likely to get."
15285 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15286 #: freeculture.xml:11514
15288 "In particular, the least likely was Justice Ginsburg's. In addition to her "
15289 "general view about deference to Congress (except where issues of gender are "
15290 "involved), she had been particularly deferential in the context of "
15291 "intellectual property protections. She and her daughter (an excellent and "
15292 "well-known intellectual property scholar) were cut from the same "
15293 "intellectual property cloth. We expected she would agree with the writings "
15294 "of her daughter: that Congress had the power in this context to do as it "
15295 "wished, even if what Congress wished made little sense."
15298 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15299 #: freeculture.xml:11526
15301 "Close behind Justice Ginsburg were two justices whom we also viewed as "
15302 "unlikely allies, though possible surprises. Justice Souter strongly favored "
15303 "deference to Congress, as did Justice Breyer. But both were also very "
15304 "sensitive to free speech concerns. And as we strongly believed, there was a "
15305 "very important free speech argument against these retrospective extensions."
15308 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15309 #: freeculture.xml:11534
15311 "The only vote we could be confident about was that of Justice "
15312 "Stevens. History will record Justice Stevens as one of the greatest judges "
15313 "on this Court. His votes are consistently eclectic, which just means that no "
15314 "simple ideology explains where he will stand. But he had consistently argued "
15315 "for limits in the context of intellectual property generally. We were fairly "
15316 "confident he would recognize limits here."
15319 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15320 #: freeculture.xml:11542
15322 "This analysis of <quote>the Rest</quote> showed most clearly where our focus "
15323 "had to be: on the Conservatives. To win this case, we had to crack open "
15324 "these five and get at least a majority to go our way. Thus, the single "
15325 "overriding argument that animated our claim rested on the Conservatives' "
15326 "most important jurisprudential innovation—the argument that Judge "
15327 "Sentelle had relied upon in the Court of Appeals, that Congress's power must "
15328 "be interpreted so that its enumerated powers have limits."
15332 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15333 #: freeculture.xml:11552
15335 "This then was the core of our strategy—a strategy for which I am "
15336 "responsible. We would get the Court to see that just as with the "
15337 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, under the government's argument here, "
15338 "Congress would always have unlimited power to extend existing terms. If "
15339 "anything was plain about Congress's power under the Progress Clause, it was "
15340 "that this power was supposed to be <quote>limited.</quote> Our aim would be "
15341 "to get the Court to reconcile <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> with "
15342 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>: If Congress's power to regulate commerce was "
15343 "limited, then so, too, must Congress's power to regulate copyright be "
15347 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15348 #: freeculture.xml:11566
15350 "The argument on the government's side came down to this: Congress has done "
15351 "it before. It should be allowed to do it again. The government claimed that "
15352 "from the very beginning, Congress has been extending the term of existing "
15353 "copyrights. So, the government argued, the Court should not now say that "
15354 "practice is unconstitutional."
15357 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15358 #: freeculture.xml:11573
15360 "There was some truth to the government's claim, but not much. We certainly "
15361 "agreed that Congress had extended existing terms in 1831 and in 1909. And of "
15362 "course, in 1962, Congress began extending existing terms "
15363 "regularly—eleven times in forty years."
15367 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15368 #: freeculture.xml:11580
15370 "But this <quote>consistency</quote> should be kept in perspective. Congress "
15371 "extended existing terms once in the first hundred years of the Republic. It "
15372 "then extended existing terms once again in the next fifty. Those rare "
15373 "extensions are in contrast to the now regular practice of extending existing "
15374 "terms. Whatever restraint Congress had had in the past, that restraint was "
15375 "now gone. Congress was now in a cycle of extensions; there was no reason to "
15376 "expect that cycle would end. This Court had not hesitated to intervene where "
15377 "Congress was in a similar cycle of extension. There was no reason it "
15378 "couldn't intervene here. Oral argument was scheduled for the first week in "
15379 "October. I arrived in D.C. two weeks before the argument. During those two "
15380 "weeks, I was repeatedly <quote>mooted</quote> by lawyers who had volunteered "
15381 "to help in the case. Such <quote>moots</quote> are basically practice "
15382 "rounds, where wannabe justices fire questions at wannabe winners."
15385 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15386 #: freeculture.xml:11603
15388 "I was convinced that to win, I had to keep the Court focused on a single "
15389 "point: that if this extension is permitted, then there is no limit to the "
15390 "power to set terms. Going with the government would mean that terms would be "
15391 "effectively unlimited; going with us would give Congress a clear line to "
15392 "follow: Don't extend existing terms. The moots were an effective practice; I "
15393 "found ways to take every question back to this central idea."
15396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15397 #: freeculture.xml:11615
15399 "One moot was before the lawyers at Jones Day. Don Ayer was the skeptic. He "
15400 "had served in the Reagan Justice Department with Solicitor General Charles "
15401 "Fried. He had argued many cases before the Supreme Court. And in his review "
15402 "of the moot, he let his concern speak: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15406 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15407 #: freeculture.xml:11622
15409 "<quote>I'm just afraid that unless they really see the harm, they won't be "
15410 "willing to upset this practice that the government says has been a "
15411 "consistent practice for two hundred years. You have to make them see the "
15412 "harm—passionately get them to see the harm. For if they don't see "
15413 "that, then we haven't any chance of winning.</quote>"
15417 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15418 #: freeculture.xml:11630
15420 "He may have argued many cases before this Court, I thought, but he didn't "
15421 "understand its soul. As a clerk, I had seen the Justices do the right "
15422 "thing—not because of politics but because it was right. As a law "
15423 "professor, I had spent my life teaching my students that this Court does the "
15424 "right thing—not because of politics but because it is right. As I "
15425 "listened to Ayer's plea for passion in pressing politics, I understood his "
15426 "point, and I rejected it. Our argument was right. That was enough. Let the "
15427 "politicians learn to see that it was also good. The night before the "
15428 "argument, a line of people began to form in front of the Supreme Court. The "
15429 "case had become a focus of the press and of the movement to free "
15430 "culture. Hundreds stood in line for the chance to see the "
15431 "proceedings. Scores spent the night on the Supreme Court steps so that they "
15432 "would be assured a seat."
15435 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15436 #: freeculture.xml:11647
15438 "Not everyone has to wait in line. People who know the Justices can ask for "
15439 "seats they control. (I asked Justice Scalia's chambers for seats for my "
15440 "parents, for example.) Members of the Supreme Court bar can get a seat in a "
15441 "special section reserved for them. And senators and congressmen have a "
15442 "special place where they get to sit, too. And finally, of course, the press "
15443 "has a gallery, as do clerks working for the Justices on the Court. As we "
15444 "entered that morning, there was no place that was not taken. This was an "
15445 "argument about intellectual property law, yet the halls were filled. As I "
15446 "walked in to take my seat at the front of the Court, I saw my parents "
15447 "sitting on the left. As I sat down at the table, I saw Jack Valenti sitting "
15448 "in the special section ordinarily reserved for family of the Justices."
15451 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15452 #: freeculture.xml:11662
15454 "When the Chief Justice called me to begin my argument, I began where I "
15455 "intended to stay: on the question of the limits on Congress's power. This "
15456 "was a case about enumerated powers, I said, and whether those enumerated "
15457 "powers had any limit."
15460 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15461 #: freeculture.xml:11669
15463 "Justice O'Connor stopped me within one minute of my opening. The history "
15464 "was bothering her."
15467 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15468 #: freeculture.xml:11674
15470 "justice o'connor: Congress has extended the term so often through the years, "
15471 "and if you are right, don't we run the risk of upsetting previous extensions "
15472 "of time? I mean, this seems to be a practice that began with the very first "
15476 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15477 #: freeculture.xml:11681
15479 "She was quite willing to concede <quote>that this flies directly in the face "
15480 "of what the framers had in mind.</quote> But my response again and again was "
15481 "to emphasize limits on Congress's power."
15485 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15486 #: freeculture.xml:11687
15488 "mr. lessig: Well, if it flies in the face of what the framers had in mind, "
15489 "then the question is, is there a way of interpreting their words that gives "
15490 "effect to what they had in mind, and the answer is yes."
15493 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15494 #: freeculture.xml:11695
15496 "There were two points in this argument when I should have seen where the "
15497 "Court was going. The first was a question by Justice Kennedy, who observed,"
15500 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15501 #: freeculture.xml:11701
15503 "justice kennedy: Well, I suppose implicit in the argument that the '76 act, "
15504 "too, should have been declared void, and that we might leave it alone "
15505 "because of the disruption, is that for all these years the act has impeded "
15506 "progress in science and the useful arts. I just don't see any empirical "
15507 "evidence for that."
15510 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15511 #: freeculture.xml:11709
15513 "Here follows my clear mistake. Like a professor correcting a student, I "
15517 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15518 #: freeculture.xml:11715
15520 "mr. lessig: Justice, we are not making an empirical claim at all. Nothing "
15521 "in our Copyright Clause claim hangs upon the empirical assertion about "
15522 "impeding progress. Our only argument is this is a structural limit necessary "
15523 "to assure that what would be an effectively perpetual term not be permitted "
15524 "under the copyright laws."
15527 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15528 #: freeculture.xml:11724
15530 "That was a correct answer, but it wasn't the right answer. The right answer "
15531 "was instead that there was an obvious and profound harm. Any number of "
15532 "briefs had been written about it. He wanted to hear it. And here was the "
15533 "place Don Ayer's advice should have mattered. This was a softball; my answer "
15534 "was a swing and a miss."
15537 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15538 #: freeculture.xml:11731
15540 "The second came from the Chief, for whom the whole case had been "
15541 "crafted. For the Chief Justice had crafted the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
15542 "ruling, and we hoped that he would see this case as its second cousin."
15546 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15547 #: freeculture.xml:11736
15549 "It was clear a second into his question that he wasn't at all sympathetic. "
15550 "To him, we were a bunch of anarchists. As he asked:"
15553 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15554 #: freeculture.xml:11743
15556 "chief justice: Well, but you want more than that. You want the right to copy "
15557 "verbatim other people's books, don't you?"
15560 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15561 #: freeculture.xml:11747
15563 "mr. lessig: We want the right to copy verbatim works that should be in the "
15564 "public domain and would be in the public domain but for a statute that "
15565 "cannot be justified under ordinary First Amendment analysis or under a "
15566 "proper reading of the limits built into the Copyright Clause."
15569 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15570 #: freeculture.xml:11755
15571 msgid "Olson, Theodore B."
15574 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15575 #: freeculture.xml:11757
15577 "Things went better for us when the government gave its argument; for now the "
15578 "Court picked up on the core of our claim. As Justice Scalia asked Solicitor "
15582 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15583 #: freeculture.xml:11763
15585 "justice scalia: You say that the functional equivalent of an unlimited time "
15586 "would be a violation [of the Constitution], but that's precisely the "
15587 "argument that's being made by petitioners here, that a limited time which is "
15588 "extendable is the functional equivalent of an unlimited time."
15591 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15592 #: freeculture.xml:11771
15594 "When Olson was finished, it was my turn to give a closing rebuttal. Olson's "
15595 "flailing had revived my anger. But my anger still was directed to the "
15596 "academic, not the practical. The government was arguing as if this were the "
15597 "first case ever to consider limits on Congress's Copyright and Patent Clause "
15598 "power. Ever the professor and not the advocate, I closed by pointing out the "
15599 "long history of the Court imposing limits on Congress's power in the name of "
15600 "the Copyright and Patent Clause— indeed, the very first case striking "
15601 "a law of Congress as exceeding a specific enumerated power was based upon "
15602 "the Copyright and Patent Clause. All true. But it wasn't going to move the "
15603 "Court to my side."
15607 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15608 #: freeculture.xml:11784
15610 "As I left the court that day, I knew there were a hundred points I wished I "
15611 "could remake. There were a hundred questions I wished I had answered "
15612 "differently. But one way of thinking about this case left me optimistic."
15615 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15616 #: freeculture.xml:11792
15618 "The government had been asked over and over again, what is the limit? Over "
15619 "and over again, it had answered there is no limit. This was precisely the "
15620 "answer I wanted the Court to hear. For I could not imagine how the Court "
15621 "could understand that the government believed Congress's power was unlimited "
15622 "under the terms of the Copyright Clause, and sustain the government's "
15623 "argument. The solicitor general had made my argument for me. No matter how "
15624 "often I tried, I could not understand how the Court could find that "
15625 "Congress's power under the Commerce Clause was limited, but under the "
15626 "Copyright Clause, unlimited. In those rare moments when I let myself believe "
15627 "that we may have prevailed, it was because I felt this Court—in "
15628 "particular, the Conservatives—would feel itself constrained by the "
15629 "rule of law that it had established elsewhere."
15632 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15633 #: freeculture.xml:11807
15635 "The morning of January 15, 2003, I was five minutes late to the office and "
15636 "missed the 7:00 A.M. call from the Supreme Court clerk. Listening to the "
15637 "message, I could tell in an instant that she had bad news to report.The "
15638 "Supreme Court had affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals. Seven "
15639 "justices had voted in the majority. There were two dissents."
15642 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15643 #: freeculture.xml:11814
15645 "A few seconds later, the opinions arrived by e-mail. I took the phone off "
15646 "the hook, posted an announcement to our blog, and sat down to see where I "
15647 "had been wrong in my reasoning."
15650 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15651 #: freeculture.xml:11819
15653 "My <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. Here was a case that pitted all the money "
15654 "in the world against <emphasis>reasoning</emphasis>. And here was the last "
15655 "naïve law professor, scouring the pages, looking for reasoning."
15658 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15659 #: freeculture.xml:11825
15661 "I first scoured the opinion, looking for how the Court would distinguish the "
15662 "principle in this case from the principle in "
15663 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. The argument was nowhere to be found. The case "
15664 "was not even cited. The argument that was the core argument of our case did "
15665 "not even appear in the Court's opinion."
15669 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15670 #: freeculture.xml:11834
15672 "Justice Ginsburg simply ignored the enumerated powers argument. Consistent "
15673 "with her view that Congress's power was not limited generally, she had found "
15674 "Congress's power not limited here."
15677 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15678 #: freeculture.xml:11839
15680 "Her opinion was perfectly reasonable—for her, and for Justice "
15681 "Souter. Neither believes in <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle>. It would be too "
15682 "much to expect them to write an opinion that recognized, much less "
15683 "explained, the doctrine they had worked so hard to defeat."
15686 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15687 #: freeculture.xml:11845
15689 "But as I realized what had happened, I couldn't quite believe what I was "
15690 "reading. I had said there was no way this Court could reconcile limited "
15691 "powers with the Commerce Clause and unlimited powers with the Progress "
15692 "Clause. It had never even occurred to me that they could reconcile the two "
15693 "simply <emphasis>by not addressing the argument</emphasis>. There was no "
15694 "inconsistency because they would not talk about the two together. There was "
15695 "therefore no principle that followed from the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> "
15696 "case: In that context, Congress's power would be limited, but in this "
15697 "context it would not."
15700 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15701 #: freeculture.xml:11856
15703 "Yet by what right did they get to choose which of the framers' values they "
15704 "would respect? By what right did they—the silent five—get to "
15705 "select the part of the Constitution they would enforce based on the values "
15706 "they thought important? We were right back to the argument that I said I "
15707 "hated at the start: I had failed to convince them that the issue here was "
15708 "important, and I had failed to recognize that however much I might hate a "
15709 "system in which the Court gets to pick the constitutional values that it "
15710 "will respect, that is the system we have."
15713 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15714 #: freeculture.xml:11868
15716 "Justices Breyer and Stevens wrote very strong dissents. Stevens's opinion "
15717 "was crafted internal to the law: He argued that the tradition of "
15718 "intellectual property law should not support this unjustified extension of "
15719 "terms. He based his argument on a parallel analysis that had governed in the "
15720 "context of patents (so had we). But the rest of the Court discounted the "
15721 "parallel—without explaining how the very same words in the Progress "
15722 "Clause could come to mean totally different things depending upon whether "
15723 "the words were about patents or copyrights. The Court let Justice Stevens's "
15724 "charge go unanswered."
15728 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15729 #: freeculture.xml:11881
15731 "Justice Breyer's opinion, perhaps the best opinion he has ever written, was "
15732 "external to the Constitution. He argued that the term of copyrights has "
15733 "become so long as to be effectively unlimited. We had said that under the "
15734 "current term, a copyright gave an author 99.8 percent of the value of a "
15735 "perpetual term. Breyer said we were wrong, that the actual number was "
15736 "99.9997 percent of a perpetual term. Either way, the point was clear: If the "
15737 "Constitution said a term had to be <quote>limited,</quote> and the existing "
15738 "term was so long as to be effectively unlimited, then it was "
15739 "unconstitutional."
15742 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15743 #: freeculture.xml:11892
15745 "These two justices understood all the arguments we had made. But because "
15746 "neither believed in the <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> case, neither was "
15747 "willing to push it as a reason to reject this extension. The case was "
15748 "decided without anyone having addressed the argument that we had carried "
15749 "from Judge Sentelle. It was <citetitle>Hamlet</citetitle> without the "
15753 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15754 #: freeculture.xml:11899
15756 "Defeat brings depression. They say it is a sign of health when depression "
15757 "gives way to anger. My anger came quickly, but it didn't cure the "
15758 "depression. This anger was of two sorts."
15761 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
15762 #: freeculture.xml:11903
15763 msgid "originalism"
15766 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15767 #: freeculture.xml:11905
15769 "It was first anger with the five <quote>Conservatives.</quote> It would have "
15770 "been one thing for them to have explained why the principle of "
15771 "<citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> didn't apply in this case. That wouldn't have "
15772 "been a very convincing argument, I don't believe, having read it made by "
15773 "others, and having tried to make it myself. But it at least would have been "
15774 "an act of integrity. These justices in particular have repeatedly said that "
15775 "the proper mode of interpreting the Constitution is "
15776 "<quote>originalism</quote>—to first understand the framers' text, "
15777 "interpreted in their context, in light of the structure of the "
15778 "Constitution. That method had produced <citetitle>Lopez</citetitle> and many "
15779 "other <quote>originalist</quote> rulings. Where was their "
15780 "<quote>originalism</quote> now?"
15784 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15785 #: freeculture.xml:11918
15787 "Here, they had joined an opinion that never once tried to explain what the "
15788 "framers had meant by crafting the Progress Clause as they did; they joined "
15789 "an opinion that never once tried to explain how the structure of that clause "
15790 "would affect the interpretation of Congress's power. And they joined an "
15791 "opinion that didn't even try to explain why this grant of power could be "
15792 "unlimited, whereas the Commerce Clause would be limited. In short, they had "
15793 "joined an opinion that did not apply to, and was inconsistent with, their "
15794 "own method for interpreting the Constitution. This opinion may well have "
15795 "yielded a result that they liked. It did not produce a reason that was "
15796 "consistent with their own principles."
15799 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15800 #: freeculture.xml:11933
15802 "My anger with the Conservatives quickly yielded to anger with myself. For I "
15803 "had let a view of the law that I liked interfere with a view of the law as "
15807 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15808 #: freeculture.xml:11940
15810 "Most lawyers, and most law professors, have little patience for idealism "
15811 "about courts in general and this Supreme Court in particular. Most have a "
15812 "much more pragmatic view. When Don Ayer said that this case would be won "
15813 "based on whether I could convince the Justices that the framers' values were "
15814 "important, I fought the idea, because I didn't want to believe that that is "
15815 "how this Court decides. I insisted on arguing this case as if it were a "
15816 "simple application of a set of principles. I had an argument that followed "
15817 "in logic. I didn't need to waste my time showing it should also follow in "
15822 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15823 #: freeculture.xml:11951
15825 "As I read back over the transcript from that argument in October, I can see "
15826 "a hundred places where the answers could have taken the conversation in "
15827 "different directions, where the truth about the harm that this unchecked "
15828 "power will cause could have been made clear to this Court. Justice Kennedy "
15829 "in good faith wanted to be shown. I, idiotically, corrected his "
15830 "question. Justice Souter in good faith wanted to be shown the First "
15831 "Amendment harms. I, like a math teacher, reframed the question to make the "
15832 "logical point. I had shown them how they could strike this law of Congress "
15833 "if they wanted to. There were a hundred places where I could have helped "
15834 "them want to, yet my stubbornness, my refusal to give in, stopped me. I have "
15835 "stood before hundreds of audiences trying to persuade; I have used passion "
15836 "in that effort to persuade; but I refused to stand before this audience and "
15837 "try to persuade with the passion I had used elsewhere. It was not the basis "
15838 "on which a court should decide the issue."
15841 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15842 #: freeculture.xml:11971
15844 "Would it have been different if I had argued it differently? Would it have "
15845 "been different if Don Ayer had argued it? Or Charles Fried? Or Kathleen "
15846 "Sullivan? <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15849 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15850 #: freeculture.xml:11977
15852 "My friends huddled around me to insist it would not. The Court was not "
15853 "ready, my friends insisted. This was a loss that was destined. It would take "
15854 "a great deal more to show our society why our framers were right. And when "
15855 "we do that, we will be able to show that Court."
15858 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15859 #: freeculture.xml:11983
15861 "Maybe, but I doubt it. These Justices have no financial interest in doing "
15862 "anything except the right thing. They are not lobbied. They have little "
15863 "reason to resist doing right. I can't help but think that if I had stepped "
15864 "down from this pretty picture of dispassionate justice, I could have "
15868 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15869 #: freeculture.xml:11990
15871 "And even if I couldn't, then that doesn't excuse what happened in "
15872 "January. For at the start of this case, one of America's leading "
15873 "intellectual property professors stated publicly that my bringing this case "
15874 "was a mistake. <quote>The Court is not ready,</quote> Peter Jaszi said; this "
15875 "issue should not be raised until it is. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
15880 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15881 #: freeculture.xml:11998
15883 "After the argument and after the decision, Peter said to me, and publicly, "
15884 "that he was wrong. But if indeed that Court could not have been persuaded, "
15885 "then that is all the evidence that's needed to know that here again Peter "
15886 "was right. Either I was not ready to argue this case in a way that would do "
15887 "some good or they were not ready to hear this case in a way that would do "
15888 "some good. Either way, the decision to bring this case—a decision I "
15889 "had made four years before—was wrong. While the reaction to the Sonny "
15890 "Bono Act itself was almost unanimously negative, the reaction to the Court's "
15891 "decision was mixed. No one, at least in the press, tried to say that "
15892 "extending the term of copyright was a good idea. We had won that battle over "
15893 "ideas. Where the decision was praised, it was praised by papers that had "
15894 "been skeptical of the Court's activism in other cases. Deference was a good "
15895 "thing, even if it left standing a silly law. But where the decision was "
15896 "attacked, it was attacked because it left standing a silly and harmful "
15897 "law. <citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> wrote in its editorial,"
15900 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><blockquote><para>
15901 #: freeculture.xml:12019
15903 "In effect, the Supreme Court's decision makes it likely that we are seeing "
15904 "the beginning of the end of public domain and the birth of copyright "
15905 "perpetuity. The public domain has been a grand experiment, one that should "
15906 "not be allowed to die. The ability to draw freely on the entire creative "
15907 "output of humanity is one of the reasons we live in a time of such fruitful "
15908 "creative ferment."
15911 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><indexterm><primary>
15912 #: freeculture.xml:12033 freeculture.xml:12038
15913 msgid "Bolling, Ruben"
15916 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15917 #: freeculture.xml:12028
15919 "The best responses were in the cartoons. There was a gaggle of hilarious "
15920 "images—of Mickey in jail and the like. The best, from my view of the "
15921 "case, was Ruben Bolling's, reproduced on the next page (<xref "
15922 "linkend=\"fig-18\"/>). The <quote>powerful and wealthy</quote> line is a bit "
15923 "unfair. But the punch in the face felt exactly like that. <placeholder "
15924 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15927 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure><title>
15928 #: freeculture.xml:12036
15929 msgid "Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon"
15932 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><figure>
15933 #: freeculture.xml:12037
15935 "<graphic fileref=\"images/18.png\"></graphic> <placeholder "
15936 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
15939 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15940 #: freeculture.xml:12041
15942 "The image that will always stick in my head is that evoked by the quote from "
15943 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle>. That <quote>grand "
15944 "experiment</quote> we call the <quote>public domain</quote> is over? When I "
15945 "can make light of it, I think, <quote>Honey, I shrunk the "
15946 "Constitution.</quote> But I can rarely make light of it. We had in our "
15947 "Constitution a commitment to free culture. In the case that I fathered, the "
15948 "Supreme Court effectively renounced that commitment. A better lawyer would "
15949 "have made them see differently."
15952 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><title>
15953 #: freeculture.xml:12052
15954 msgid "CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Eldred II"
15957 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15958 #: freeculture.xml:12054
15960 "The day <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was decided, fate would have it that I "
15961 "was to travel to Washington, D.C. (The day the rehearing petition in "
15962 "<citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> was denied—meaning the case was really "
15963 "finally over—fate would have it that I was giving a speech to "
15964 "technologists at Disney World.) This was a particularly long flight to my "
15965 "least favorite city. The drive into the city from Dulles was delayed because "
15966 "of traffic, so I opened up my computer and wrote an op-ed piece."
15969 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15970 #: freeculture.xml:12064
15972 "It was an act of contrition. During the whole of the flight from San "
15973 "Francisco to Washington, I had heard over and over again in my head the same "
15974 "advice from Don Ayer: You need to make them see why it is important. And "
15975 "alternating with that command was the question of Justice Kennedy: "
15976 "<quote>For all these years the act has impeded progress in science and the "
15977 "useful arts. I just don't see any empirical evidence for that.</quote> And "
15978 "so, having failed in the argument of constitutional principle, finally, I "
15979 "turned to an argument of politics."
15983 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15984 #: freeculture.xml:12074
15986 "<citetitle>The New York Times</citetitle> published the piece. In it, I "
15987 "proposed a simple fix: Fifty years after a work has been published, the "
15988 "copyright owner would be required to register the work and pay a small "
15989 "fee. If he paid the fee, he got the benefit of the full term of "
15990 "copyright. If he did not, the work passed into the public domain."
15993 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
15994 #: freeculture.xml:12082
15996 "We called this the Eldred Act, but that was just to give it a name. Eric "
15997 "Eldred was kind enough to let his name be used once again, but as he said "
15998 "early on, it won't get passed unless it has another name."
16001 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16002 #: freeculture.xml:12087
16004 "Or another two names. For depending upon your perspective, this is either "
16005 "the <quote>Public Domain Enhancement Act</quote> or the <quote>Copyright "
16006 "Term Deregulation Act.</quote> Either way, the essence of the idea is clear "
16007 "and obvious: Remove copyright where it is doing nothing except blocking "
16008 "access and the spread of knowledge. Leave it for as long as Congress allows "
16009 "for those works where its worth is at least $1. But for everything else, let "
16013 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16014 #: freeculture.xml:12095 freeculture.xml:12295
16015 msgid "Forbes, Steve"
16018 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16019 #: freeculture.xml:12097
16021 "The reaction to this idea was amazingly strong. Steve Forbes endorsed it in "
16022 "an editorial. I received an avalanche of e-mail and letters expressing "
16023 "support. When you focus the issue on lost creativity, people can see the "
16024 "copyright system makes no sense. As a good Republican might say, here "
16025 "government regulation is simply getting in the way of innovation and "
16026 "creativity. And as a good Democrat might say, here the government is "
16027 "blocking access and the spread of knowledge for no good reason. Indeed, "
16028 "there is no real difference between Democrats and Republicans on this "
16029 "issue. Anyone can recognize the stupid harm of the present system."
16032 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16033 #: freeculture.xml:12109
16035 "Indeed, many recognized the obvious benefit of the registration "
16036 "requirement. For one of the hardest things about the current system for "
16037 "people who want to license content is that there is no obvious place to look "
16038 "for the current copyright owners. Since registration is not required, since "
16039 "marking content is not required, since no formality at all is required, it "
16040 "is often impossibly hard to locate copyright owners to ask permission to use "
16041 "or license their work. This system would lower these costs, by establishing "
16042 "at least one registry where copyright owners could be identified."
16045 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16046 #: freeculture.xml:12119
16047 msgid "Berlin Act (1908)"
16050 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16051 #: freeculture.xml:12120 freeculture.xml:12160
16052 msgid "Berne Convention (1908)"
16056 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16057 #: freeculture.xml:12128
16059 "Until the 1908 Berlin Act of the Berne Convention, national copyright "
16060 "legislation sometimes made protection depend upon compliance with "
16061 "formalities such as registration, deposit, and affixation of notice of the "
16062 "author's claim of copyright. However, starting with the 1908 act, every text "
16063 "of the Convention has provided that <quote>the enjoyment and the "
16064 "exercise</quote> of rights guaranteed by the Convention <quote>shall not be "
16065 "subject to any formality.</quote> The prohibition against formalities is "
16066 "presently embodied in Article 5(2) of the Paris Text of the Berne "
16067 "Convention. Many countries continue to impose some form of deposit or "
16068 "registration requirement, albeit not as a condition of copyright. French "
16069 "law, for example, requires the deposit of copies of works in national "
16070 "repositories, principally the National Museum. Copies of books published in "
16071 "the United Kingdom must be deposited in the British Library. The German "
16072 "Copyright Act provides for a Registrar of Authors where the author's true "
16073 "name can be filed in the case of anonymous or pseudonymous works. Paul "
16074 "Goldstein, <citetitle>International Intellectual Property Law, Cases and "
16075 "Materials</citetitle> (New York: Foundation Press, 2001), 153–54."
16078 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16079 #: freeculture.xml:12123
16081 "As I described in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
16082 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, formalities in copyright law were removed in 1976, "
16083 "when Congress followed the Europeans by abandoning any formal requirement "
16084 "before a copyright is granted.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
16085 "Europeans are said to view copyright as a <quote>natural right.</quote> "
16086 "Natural rights don't need forms to exist. Traditions, like the "
16087 "Anglo-American tradition that required copyright owners to follow form if "
16088 "their rights were to be protected, did not, the Europeans thought, properly "
16089 "respect the dignity of the author. My right as a creator turns on my "
16090 "creativity, not upon the special favor of the government."
16093 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16094 #: freeculture.xml:12154
16096 "That's great rhetoric. It sounds wonderfully romantic. But it is absurd "
16097 "copyright policy. It is absurd especially for authors, because a world "
16098 "without formalities harms the creator. The ability to spread <quote>Walt "
16099 "Disney creativity</quote> is destroyed when there is no simple way to know "
16100 "what's protected and what's not."
16103 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16104 #: freeculture.xml:12162
16106 "The fight against formalities achieved its first real victory in Berlin in "
16107 "1908. International copyright lawyers amended the Berne Convention in 1908, "
16108 "to require copyright terms of life plus fifty years, as well as the "
16109 "abolition of copyright formalities. The formalities were hated because the "
16110 "stories of inadvertent loss were increasingly common. It was as if a Charles "
16111 "Dickens character ran all copyright offices, and the failure to dot an "
16112 "<citetitle>i</citetitle> or cross a <citetitle>t</citetitle> resulted in the "
16113 "loss of widows' only income."
16116 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16117 #: freeculture.xml:12172
16119 "These complaints were real and sensible. And the strictness of the "
16120 "formalities, especially in the United States, was absurd. The law should "
16121 "always have ways of forgiving innocent mistakes. There is no reason "
16122 "copyright law couldn't, as well. Rather than abandoning formalities totally, "
16123 "the response in Berlin should have been to embrace a more equitable system "
16127 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16128 #: freeculture.xml:12180
16130 "Even that would have been resisted, however, because registration in the "
16131 "nineteenth and twentieth centuries was still expensive. It was also a "
16132 "hassle. The abolishment of formalities promised not only to save the "
16133 "starving widows, but also to lighten an unnecessary regulatory burden "
16134 "imposed upon creators."
16138 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16139 #: freeculture.xml:12188
16141 "In addition to the practical complaint of authors in 1908, there was a moral "
16142 "claim as well. There was no reason that creative property should be a "
16143 "second-class form of property. If a carpenter builds a table, his rights "
16144 "over the table don't depend upon filing a form with the government. He has "
16145 "a property right over the table <quote>naturally,</quote> and he can assert "
16146 "that right against anyone who would steal the table, whether or not he has "
16147 "informed the government of his ownership of the table."
16150 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16151 #: freeculture.xml:12200
16153 "This argument is correct, but its implications are misleading. For the "
16154 "argument in favor of formalities does not depend upon creative property "
16155 "being second-class property. The argument in favor of formalities turns upon "
16156 "the special problems that creative property presents. The law of "
16157 "formalities responds to the special physics of creative property, to assure "
16158 "that it can be efficiently and fairly spread."
16161 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16162 #: freeculture.xml:12209
16164 "No one thinks, for example, that land is second-class property just because "
16165 "you have to register a deed with a court if your sale of land is to be "
16166 "effective. And few would think a car is second-class property just because "
16167 "you must register the car with the state and tag it with a license. In both "
16168 "of those cases, everyone sees that there is an important reason to secure "
16169 "registration—both because it makes the markets more efficient and "
16170 "because it better secures the rights of the owner. Without a registration "
16171 "system for land, landowners would perpetually have to guard their "
16172 "property. With registration, they can simply point the police to a "
16173 "deed. Without a registration system for cars, auto theft would be much "
16174 "easier. With a registration system, the thief has a high burden to sell a "
16175 "stolen car. A slight burden is placed on the property owner, but those "
16176 "burdens produce a much better system of protection for property generally."
16179 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16180 #: freeculture.xml:12225
16182 "It is similarly special physics that makes formalities important in "
16183 "copyright law. Unlike a carpenter's table, there's nothing in nature that "
16184 "makes it relatively obvious who might own a particular bit of creative "
16185 "property. A recording of Lyle Lovett's latest album can exist in a billion "
16186 "places without anything necessarily linking it back to a particular "
16187 "owner. And like a car, there's no way to buy and sell creative property with "
16188 "confidence unless there is some simple way to authenticate who is the author "
16189 "and what rights he has. Simple transactions are destroyed in a world without "
16190 "formalities. Complex, expensive, <emphasis>lawyer</emphasis> transactions "
16191 "take their place. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16194 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16195 #: freeculture.xml:12240
16197 "This was the understanding of the problem with the Sonny Bono Act that we "
16198 "tried to demonstrate to the Court. This was the part it didn't "
16199 "<quote>get.</quote> Because we live in a system without formalities, there "
16200 "is no way easily to build upon or use culture from our past. If copyright "
16201 "terms were, as Justice Story said they would be, <quote>short,</quote> then "
16202 "this wouldn't matter much. For fourteen years, under the framers' system, a "
16203 "work would be presumptively controlled. After fourteen years, it would be "
16204 "presumptively uncontrolled."
16207 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16208 #: freeculture.xml:12250
16210 "But now that copyrights can be just about a century long, the inability to "
16211 "know what is protected and what is not protected becomes a huge and obvious "
16212 "burden on the creative process. If the only way a library can offer an "
16213 "Internet exhibit about the New Deal is to hire a lawyer to clear the rights "
16214 "to every image and sound, then the copyright system is burdening creativity "
16215 "in a way that has never been seen before <emphasis>because there are no "
16216 "formalities</emphasis>."
16219 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16220 #: freeculture.xml:12259
16222 "The Eldred Act was designed to respond to exactly this problem. If it is "
16223 "worth $1 to you, then register your work and you can get the longer "
16224 "term. Others will know how to contact you and, therefore, how to get your "
16225 "permission if they want to use your work. And you will get the benefit of an "
16226 "extended copyright term."
16229 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16230 #: freeculture.xml:12266
16232 "If it isn't worth it to you to register to get the benefit of an extended "
16233 "term, then it shouldn't be worth it for the government to defend your "
16234 "monopoly over that work either. The work should pass into the public domain "
16235 "where anyone can copy it, or build archives with it, or create a movie based "
16236 "on it. It should become free if it is not worth $1 to you."
16239 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16240 #: freeculture.xml:12273
16242 "Some worry about the burden on authors. Won't the burden of registering the "
16243 "work mean that the $1 is really misleading? Isn't the hassle worth more than "
16244 "$1? Isn't that the real problem with registration?"
16248 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16249 #: freeculture.xml:12279
16251 "It is. The hassle is terrible. The system that exists now is awful. I "
16252 "completely agree that the Copyright Office has done a terrible job (no doubt "
16253 "because they are terribly funded) in enabling simple and cheap "
16254 "registrations. Any real solution to the problem of formalities must address "
16255 "the real problem of <emphasis>governments</emphasis> standing at the core of "
16256 "any system of formalities. In this book, I offer such a solution. That "
16257 "solution essentially remakes the Copyright Office. For now, assume it was "
16258 "Amazon that ran the registration system. Assume it was one-click "
16259 "registration. The Eldred Act would propose a simple, one-click registration "
16260 "fifty years after a work was published. Based upon historical data, that "
16261 "system would move up to 98 percent of commercial work, commercial work that "
16262 "no longer had a commercial life, into the public domain within fifty "
16263 "years. What do you think?"
16266 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16267 #: freeculture.xml:12297
16269 "When Steve Forbes endorsed the idea, some in Washington began to pay "
16270 "attention. Many people contacted me pointing to representatives who might be "
16271 "willing to introduce the Eldred Act. And I had a few who directly suggested "
16272 "that they might be willing to take the first step."
16275 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16276 #: freeculture.xml:12310
16277 msgid "Lofgren, Zoe"
16280 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16281 #: freeculture.xml:12303
16283 "One representative, Zoe Lofgren of California, went so far as to get the "
16284 "bill drafted. The draft solved any problem with international law. It "
16285 "imposed the simplest requirement upon copyright owners possible. In May "
16286 "2003, it looked as if the bill would be introduced. On May 16, I posted on "
16287 "the Eldred Act blog, <quote>we are close.</quote> There was a general "
16288 "reaction in the blog community that something good might happen here. "
16289 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16292 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16293 #: freeculture.xml:12313
16295 "But at this stage, the lobbyists began to intervene. Jack Valenti and the "
16296 "MPAA general counsel came to the congresswoman's office to give the view of "
16297 "the MPAA. Aided by his lawyer, as Valenti told me, Valenti informed the "
16298 "congresswoman that the MPAA would oppose the Eldred Act. The reasons are "
16299 "embarrassingly thin. More importantly, their thinness shows something clear "
16300 "about what this debate is really about."
16304 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16305 #: freeculture.xml:12321
16307 "The MPAA argued first that Congress had <quote>firmly rejected the central "
16308 "concept in the proposed bill</quote>—that copyrights be renewed. That "
16309 "was true, but irrelevant, as Congress's <quote>firm rejection</quote> had "
16310 "occurred long before the Internet made subsequent uses much more likely. "
16311 "Second, they argued that the proposal would harm poor copyright "
16312 "owners—apparently those who could not afford the $1 fee. Third, they "
16313 "argued that Congress had determined that extending a copyright term would "
16314 "encourage restoration work. Maybe in the case of the small percentage of "
16315 "work covered by copyright law that is still commercially valuable, but again "
16316 "this was irrelevant, as the proposal would not cut off the extended term "
16317 "unless the $1 fee was not paid. Fourth, the MPAA argued that the bill would "
16318 "impose <quote>enormous</quote> costs, since a registration system is not "
16319 "free. True enough, but those costs are certainly less than the costs of "
16320 "clearing the rights for a copyright whose owner is not known. Fifth, they "
16321 "worried about the risks if the copyright to a story underlying a film were "
16322 "to pass into the public domain. But what risk is that? If it is in the "
16323 "public domain, then the film is a valid derivative use."
16326 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16327 #: freeculture.xml:12342
16329 "Finally, the MPAA argued that existing law enabled copyright owners to do "
16330 "this if they wanted. But the whole point is that there are thousands of "
16331 "copyright owners who don't even know they have a copyright to give. Whether "
16332 "they are free to give away their copyright or not—a controversial "
16333 "claim in any case—unless they know about a copyright, they're not "
16337 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16338 #: freeculture.xml:12350
16340 "At the beginning of this book, I told two stories about the law reacting to "
16341 "changes in technology. In the one, common sense prevailed. In the other, "
16342 "common sense was delayed. The difference between the two stories was the "
16343 "power of the opposition—the power of the side that fought to defend "
16344 "the status quo. In both cases, a new technology threatened old "
16345 "interests. But in only one case did those interest's have the power to "
16346 "protect themselves against this new competitive threat."
16349 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16350 #: freeculture.xml:12360
16352 "I used these two cases as a way to frame the war that this book has been "
16353 "about. For here, too, a new technology is forcing the law to react. And "
16354 "here, too, we should ask, is the law following or resisting common sense? If "
16355 "common sense supports the law, what explains this common sense?"
16359 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16360 #: freeculture.xml:12369
16362 "When the issue is piracy, it is right for the law to back the copyright "
16363 "owners. The commercial piracy that I described is wrong and harmful, and the "
16364 "law should work to eliminate it. When the issue is p2p sharing, it is easy "
16365 "to understand why the law backs the owners still: Much of this sharing is "
16366 "wrong, even if much is harmless. When the issue is copyright terms for the "
16367 "Mickey Mouses of the world, it is possible still to understand why the law "
16368 "favors Hollywood: Most people don't recognize the reasons for limiting "
16369 "copyright terms; it is thus still possible to see good faith within the "
16373 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16374 #: freeculture.xml:12388
16375 msgid "Kelly, Kevin"
16378 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16379 #: freeculture.xml:12380
16381 "But when the copyright owners oppose a proposal such as the Eldred Act, "
16382 "then, finally, there is an example that lays bare the naked selfinterest "
16383 "driving this war. This act would free an extraordinary range of content that "
16384 "is otherwise unused. It wouldn't interfere with any copyright owner's desire "
16385 "to exercise continued control over his content. It would simply liberate "
16386 "what Kevin Kelly calls the <quote>Dark Content</quote> that fills archives "
16387 "around the world. So when the warriors oppose a change like this, we should "
16388 "ask one simple question: <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
16391 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16392 #: freeculture.xml:12391
16393 msgid "What does this industry really want?"
16396 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16397 #: freeculture.xml:12394
16399 "With very little effort, the warriors could protect their content. So the "
16400 "effort to block something like the Eldred Act is not really about protecting "
16401 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> content. The effort to block the Eldred Act is an "
16402 "effort to assure that nothing more passes into the public domain. It is "
16403 "another step to assure that the public domain will never compete, that there "
16404 "will be no use of content that is not commercially controlled, and that "
16405 "there will be no commercial use of content that doesn't require "
16406 "<emphasis>their</emphasis> permission first."
16409 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16410 #: freeculture.xml:12405
16412 "The opposition to the Eldred Act reveals how extreme the other side is. The "
16413 "most powerful and sexy and well loved of lobbies really has as its aim not "
16414 "the protection of <quote>property</quote> but the rejection of a tradition. "
16415 "Their aim is not simply to protect what is theirs. <emphasis>Their aim is to "
16416 "assure that all there is is what is theirs</emphasis>."
16420 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16421 #: freeculture.xml:12413
16423 "It is not hard to understand why the warriors take this view. It is not hard "
16424 "to see why it would benefit them if the competition of the public domain "
16425 "tied to the Internet could somehow be quashed. Just as RCA feared the "
16426 "competition of FM, they fear the competition of a public domain connected to "
16427 "a public that now has the means to create with it and to share its own "
16431 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16432 #: freeculture.xml:12425
16434 "What is hard to understand is why the public takes this view. It is as if "
16435 "the law made airplanes trespassers. The MPAA stands with the Causbys and "
16436 "demands that their remote and useless property rights be respected, so that "
16437 "these remote and forgotten copyright holders might block the progress of "
16441 #. type: Content of: <book><part><chapter><para>
16442 #: freeculture.xml:12432
16444 "All this seems to follow easily from this untroubled acceptance of the "
16445 "<quote>property</quote> in intellectual property. Common sense supports it, "
16446 "and so long as it does, the assaults will rain down upon the technologies of "
16447 "the Internet. The consequence will be an increasing <quote>permission "
16448 "society.</quote> The past can be cultivated only if you can identify the "
16449 "owner and gain permission to build upon his work. The future will be "
16450 "controlled by this dead (and often unfindable) hand of the past."
16453 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
16454 #: freeculture.xml:12444
16458 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16459 #: freeculture.xml:12446
16460 msgid "antiretroviral drugs"
16463 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16464 #: freeculture.xml:12449
16465 msgid "HIV/AIDS therapies"
16468 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16469 #: freeculture.xml:12452
16470 msgid "Africa, medications for HIV patients in"
16473 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16474 #: freeculture.xml:12455
16476 "There are more than 35 million people with the AIDS virus "
16477 "worldwide. Twenty-five million of them live in sub-Saharan Africa. "
16478 "Seventeen million have already died. Seventeen million Africans is "
16479 "proportional percentage-wise to seven million Americans. More importantly, "
16480 "it is seventeen million Africans."
16483 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16484 #: freeculture.xml:12462
16486 "There is no cure for AIDS, but there are drugs to slow its progression. "
16487 "These antiretroviral therapies are still experimental, but they have already "
16488 "had a dramatic effect. In the United States, AIDS patients who regularly "
16489 "take a cocktail of these drugs increase their life expectancy by ten to "
16490 "twenty years. For some, the drugs make the disease almost invisible."
16494 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16495 #: freeculture.xml:12477
16497 "Commission on Intellectual Property Rights, <quote>Final Report: Integrating "
16498 "Intellectual Property Rights and Development Policy</quote> (London, 2002), "
16499 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16500 "#55</ulink>. According to a World Health Organization press release issued 9 "
16501 "July 2002, only 230,000 of the 6 million who need drugs in the developing "
16502 "world receive them—and half of them are in Brazil."
16505 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16506 #: freeculture.xml:12470
16508 "These drugs are expensive. When they were first introduced in the United "
16509 "States, they cost between $10,000 and $15,000 per person per year. Today, "
16510 "some cost $25,000 per year. At these prices, of course, no African nation "
16511 "can afford the drugs for the vast majority of its population: $15,000 is "
16512 "thirty times the per capita gross national product of Zimbabwe. At these "
16513 "prices, the drugs are totally unavailable.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
16518 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16519 #: freeculture.xml:12488
16521 "These prices are not high because the ingredients of the drugs are "
16522 "expensive. These prices are high because the drugs are protected by "
16523 "patents. The drug companies that produced these life-saving mixes enjoy at "
16524 "least a twenty-year monopoly for their inventions. They use that monopoly "
16525 "power to extract the most they can from the market. That power is in turn "
16526 "used to keep the prices high."
16529 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16530 #: freeculture.xml:12496
16532 "There are many who are skeptical of patents, especially drug patents. I am "
16533 "not. Indeed, of all the areas of research that might be supported by "
16534 "patents, drug research is, in my view, the clearest case where patents are "
16535 "needed. The patent gives the drug company some assurance that if it is "
16536 "successful in inventing a new drug to treat a disease, it will be able to "
16537 "earn back its investment and more. This is socially an extremely valuable "
16538 "incentive. I am the last person who would argue that the law should abolish "
16539 "it, at least without other changes."
16542 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16543 #: freeculture.xml:12507
16545 "But it is one thing to support patents, even drug patents. It is another "
16546 "thing to determine how best to deal with a crisis. And as African leaders "
16547 "began to recognize the devastation that AIDS was bringing, they started "
16548 "looking for ways to import HIV treatments at costs significantly below the "
16552 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16553 #: freeculture.xml:12525 freeculture.xml:12970
16554 msgid "Braithwaite, John"
16557 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16558 #: freeculture.xml:12523
16560 "See Peter Drahos with John Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism: "
16561 "Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?</citetitle> (New York: The New Press, 2003), "
16562 "37. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
16563 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
16566 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16567 #: freeculture.xml:12514
16569 "In 1997, South Africa tried one tack. It passed a law to allow the "
16570 "importation of patented medicines that had been produced or sold in another "
16571 "nation's market with the consent of the patent owner. For example, if the "
16572 "drug was sold in India, it could be imported into Africa from India. This is "
16573 "called <quote>parallel importation,</quote> and it is generally permitted "
16574 "under international trade law and is specifically permitted within the "
16575 "European Union.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
16579 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16580 #: freeculture.xml:12536
16582 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
16583 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
16584 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
16585 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 14, available at <ulink "
16586 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #56</ulink>. For a firsthand "
16587 "account of the struggle over South Africa, see Hearing Before the "
16588 "Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy, and Human Resources, House "
16589 "Committee on Government Reform, H. Rep., 1st sess., Ser. No. 106-126 (22 "
16590 "July 1999), 150–57 (statement of James Love)."
16594 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16595 #: freeculture.xml:12563
16597 "International Intellectual Property Institute (IIPI), <citetitle>Patent "
16598 "Protection and Access to HIV/AIDS Pharmaceuticals in Sub-Saharan Africa, a "
16599 "Report Prepared for the World Intellectual Property Organization</citetitle> "
16600 "(Washington, D.C., 2000), 15."
16603 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16604 #: freeculture.xml:12530
16606 "However, the United States government opposed the bill. Indeed, more than "
16607 "opposed. As the International Intellectual Property Association "
16608 "characterized it, <quote>The U.S. government pressured South Africa … "
16609 "not to permit compulsory licensing or parallel imports.</quote><placeholder "
16610 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Through the Office of the United States Trade "
16611 "Representative, the government asked South Africa to change the "
16612 "law—and to add pressure to that request, in 1998, the USTR listed "
16613 "South Africa for possible trade sanctions. That same year, more than forty "
16614 "pharmaceutical companies began proceedings in the South African courts to "
16615 "challenge the government's actions. The United States was then joined by "
16616 "other governments from the EU. Their claim, and the claim of the "
16617 "pharmaceutical companies, was that South Africa was violating its "
16618 "obligations under international law by discriminating against a particular "
16619 "kind of patent— pharmaceutical patents. The demand of these "
16620 "governments, with the United States in the lead, was that South Africa "
16621 "respect these patents as it respects any other patent, regardless of any "
16622 "effect on the treatment of AIDS within South Africa.<placeholder "
16623 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/>"
16626 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16627 #: freeculture.xml:12569
16629 "We should place the intervention by the United States in context. No doubt "
16630 "patents are not the most important reason that Africans don't have access to "
16631 "drugs. Poverty and the total absence of an effective health care "
16632 "infrastructure matter more. But whether patents are the most important "
16633 "reason or not, the price of drugs has an effect on their demand, and patents "
16634 "affect price. And so, whether massive or marginal, there was an effect from "
16635 "our government's intervention to stop the flow of medications into Africa."
16638 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16639 #: freeculture.xml:12579
16641 "By stopping the flow of HIV treatment into Africa, the United States "
16642 "government was not saving drugs for United States citizens. This is not "
16643 "like wheat (if they eat it, we can't); instead, the flow that the United "
16644 "States intervened to stop was, in effect, a flow of knowledge: information "
16645 "about how to take chemicals that exist within Africa, and turn those "
16646 "chemicals into drugs that would save 15 to 30 million lives."
16649 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16650 #: freeculture.xml:12587
16652 "Nor was the intervention by the United States going to protect the profits "
16653 "of United States drug companies—at least, not substantially. It was "
16654 "not as if these countries were in the position to buy the drugs for the "
16655 "prices the drug companies were charging. Again, the Africans are wildly too "
16656 "poor to afford these drugs at the offered prices. Stopping the parallel "
16657 "import of these drugs would not substantially increase the sales by "
16663 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16664 #: freeculture.xml:12602
16666 "See Sabin Russell, <quote>New Crusade to Lower AIDS Drug Costs: Africa's "
16667 "Needs at Odds with Firms' Profit Motive,</quote> <citetitle>San Francisco "
16668 "Chronicle</citetitle>, 24 May 1999, A1, available at <ulink "
16669 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #57</ulink> (<quote>compulsory "
16670 "licenses and gray markets pose a threat to the entire system of intellectual "
16671 "property protection</quote>); Robert Weissman, <quote>AIDS and Developing "
16672 "Countries: Democratizing Access to Essential Medicines,</quote> "
16673 "<citetitle>Foreign Policy in Focus</citetitle> 4:23 (August 1999), available "
16674 "at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #58</ulink> (describing "
16675 "U.S. policy); John A. Harrelson, <quote>TRIPS, Pharmaceutical Patents, and "
16676 "the HIV/AIDS Crisis: Finding the Proper Balance Between Intellectual "
16677 "Property Rights and Compassion, a Synopsis,</quote> <citetitle>Widener Law "
16678 "Symposium Journal</citetitle> (Spring 2001): 175."
16681 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16682 #: freeculture.xml:12596
16684 "Instead, the argument in favor of restricting this flow of information, "
16685 "which was needed to save the lives of millions, was an argument about the "
16686 "sanctity of property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> It was "
16687 "because <quote>intellectual property</quote> would be violated that these "
16688 "drugs should not flow into Africa. It was a principle about the importance "
16689 "of <quote>intellectual property</quote> that led these government actors to "
16690 "intervene against the South African response to AIDS."
16693 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16694 #: freeculture.xml:12623
16696 "Now just step back for a moment. There will be a time thirty years from now "
16697 "when our children look back at us and ask, how could we have let this "
16698 "happen? How could we allow a policy to be pursued whose direct cost would be "
16699 "to speed the death of 15 to 30 million Africans, and whose only real benefit "
16700 "would be to uphold the <quote>sanctity</quote> of an idea? What possible "
16701 "justification could there ever be for a policy that results in so many "
16702 "deaths? What exactly is the insanity that would allow so many to die for "
16703 "such an abstraction?"
16706 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16707 #: freeculture.xml:12633
16709 "Some blame the drug companies. I don't. They are corporations. Their "
16710 "managers are ordered by law to make money for the corporation. They push a "
16711 "certain patent policy not because of ideals, but because it is the policy "
16712 "that makes them the most money. And it only makes them the most money "
16713 "because of a certain corruption within our political system— a "
16714 "corruption the drug companies are certainly not responsible for."
16717 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16718 #: freeculture.xml:12641
16720 "The corruption is our own politicians' failure of integrity. For the drug "
16721 "companies would love—they say, and I believe them—to sell their "
16722 "drugs as cheaply as they can to countries in Africa and elsewhere. There "
16723 "are issues they'd have to resolve to make sure the drugs didn't get back "
16724 "into the United States, but those are mere problems of technology. They "
16725 "could be overcome."
16729 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16730 #: freeculture.xml:12649
16732 "A different problem, however, could not be overcome. This is the fear of the "
16733 "grandstanding politician who would call the presidents of the drug companies "
16734 "before a Senate or House hearing, and ask, <quote>How is it you can sell "
16735 "this HIV drug in Africa for only $1 a pill, but the same drug would cost an "
16736 "American $1,500?</quote> Because there is no <quote>sound bite</quote> "
16737 "answer to that question, its effect would be to induce regulation of prices "
16738 "in America. The drug companies thus avoid this spiral by avoiding the first "
16739 "step. They reinforce the idea that property should be sacred. They adopt a "
16740 "rational strategy in an irrational context, with the unintended consequence "
16741 "that perhaps millions die. And that rational strategy thus becomes framed in "
16742 "terms of this ideal—the sanctity of an idea called <quote>intellectual "
16743 "property.</quote>"
16746 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16747 #: freeculture.xml:12664
16749 "So when the common sense of your child confronts you, what will you say? "
16750 "When the common sense of a generation finally revolts against what we have "
16751 "done, how will we justify what we have done? What is the argument?"
16754 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16755 #: freeculture.xml:12670
16757 "A sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly support the patent "
16758 "system without having to reach everyone everywhere in exactly the same "
16759 "way. Just as a sensible copyright policy could endorse and strongly support "
16760 "a copyright system without having to regulate the spread of culture "
16761 "perfectly and forever, a sensible patent policy could endorse and strongly "
16762 "support a patent system without having to block the spread of drugs to a "
16763 "country not rich enough to afford market prices in any case. A sensible "
16764 "policy, in other words, could be a balanced policy. For most of our history, "
16765 "both copyright and patent policies were balanced in just this sense."
16768 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16769 #: freeculture.xml:12682
16771 "But we as a culture have lost this sense of balance. We have lost the "
16772 "critical eye that helps us see the difference between truth and extremism. "
16773 "A certain property fundamentalism, having no connection to our tradition, "
16774 "now reigns in this culture—bizarrely, and with consequences more grave "
16775 "to the spread of ideas and culture than almost any other single policy "
16776 "decision that we as a democracy will make."
16780 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16781 #: freeculture.xml:12693
16783 "A simple idea blinds us, and under the cover of darkness, much happens that "
16784 "most of us would reject if any of us looked. So uncritically do we accept "
16785 "the idea of property in ideas that we don't even notice how monstrous it is "
16786 "to deny ideas to a people who are dying without them. So uncritically do we "
16787 "accept the idea of property in culture that we don't even question when the "
16788 "control of that property removes our ability, as a people, to develop our "
16789 "culture democratically. Blindness becomes our common sense. And the "
16790 "challenge for anyone who would reclaim the right to cultivate our culture is "
16791 "to find a way to make this common sense open its eyes."
16794 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16795 #: freeculture.xml:12707
16797 "So far, common sense sleeps. There is no revolt. Common sense does not yet "
16798 "see what there could be to revolt about. The extremism that now dominates "
16799 "this debate fits with ideas that seem natural, and that fit is reinforced by "
16800 "the RCAs of our day. They wage a frantic war to fight <quote>piracy,</quote> "
16801 "and devastate a culture for creativity. They defend the idea of "
16802 "<quote>creative property,</quote> while transforming real creators into "
16803 "modern-day sharecroppers. They are insulted by the idea that rights should "
16804 "be balanced, even though each of the major players in this content war was "
16805 "itself a beneficiary of a more balanced ideal. The hypocrisy reeks. Yet in a "
16806 "city like Washington, hypocrisy is not even noticed. Powerful lobbies, "
16807 "complex issues, and MTV attention spans produce the <quote>perfect "
16808 "storm</quote> for free culture."
16811 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
16812 #: freeculture.xml:12722
16813 msgid "biomedical research"
16817 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16818 #: freeculture.xml:12728
16820 "Jonathan Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> "
16821 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, August 2003, E1, available at <ulink "
16822 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #59</ulink>; William New, "
16823 "<quote>Global Group's Shift on `Open Source' Meeting Spurs Stir,</quote> "
16824 "<citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 August 2003, "
16825 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #60</ulink>; "
16826 "William New, <quote>U.S. Official Opposes `Open Source' Talks at "
16827 "WIPO,</quote> <citetitle>National Journal's Technology Daily</citetitle>, 19 "
16828 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
16832 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
16833 #: freeculture.xml:12756 freeculture.xml:13432
16834 msgid "academic journals"
16837 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
16838 #: freeculture.xml:12757 freeculture.xml:12848 freeculture.xml:13358
16842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
16843 #: freeculture.xml:12758 freeculture.xml:13496
16844 msgid "PLoS (Public Library of Science)"
16847 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16848 #: freeculture.xml:12725
16850 "In August 2003, a fight broke out in the United States about a decision by "
16851 "the World Intellectual Property Organization to cancel a "
16852 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> At the request of a wide "
16853 "range of interests, WIPO had decided to hold a meeting to discuss "
16854 "<quote>open and collaborative projects to create public goods.</quote> These "
16855 "are projects that have been successful in producing public goods without "
16856 "relying exclusively upon a proprietary use of intellectual "
16857 "property. Examples include the Internet and the World Wide Web, both of "
16858 "which were developed on the basis of protocols in the public domain. It "
16859 "included an emerging trend to support open academic journals, including the "
16860 "Public Library of Science project that I describe in the Afterword. It "
16861 "included a project to develop single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which "
16862 "are thought to have great significance in biomedical research. (That "
16863 "nonprofit project comprised a consortium of the Wellcome Trust and "
16864 "pharmaceutical and technological companies, including Amersham Biosciences, "
16865 "AstraZeneca, Aventis, Bayer, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Hoffmann-La Roche, "
16866 "Glaxo-SmithKline, IBM, Motorola, Novartis, Pfizer, and Searle.) It included "
16867 "the Global Positioning System, which Ronald Reagan set free in the early "
16868 "1980s. And it included <quote>open source and free software.</quote> "
16869 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
16870 "id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
16873 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16874 #: freeculture.xml:12762
16876 "The aim of the meeting was to consider this wide range of projects from one "
16877 "common perspective: that none of these projects relied upon intellectual "
16878 "property extremism. Instead, in all of them, intellectual property was "
16879 "balanced by agreements to keep access open or to impose limitations on the "
16880 "way in which proprietary claims might be used."
16884 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16885 #: freeculture.xml:12770
16887 "I should disclose that I was one of the people who asked WIPO for the "
16891 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16892 #: freeculture.xml:12769
16894 "From the perspective of this book, then, the conference was "
16895 "ideal.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The projects within its "
16896 "scope included both commercial and noncommercial work. They primarily "
16897 "involved science, but from many perspectives. And WIPO was an ideal venue "
16898 "for this discussion, since WIPO is the preeminent international body dealing "
16899 "with intellectual property issues."
16903 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16904 #: freeculture.xml:12780
16906 "Indeed, I was once publicly scolded for not recognizing this fact about "
16907 "WIPO. In February 2003, I delivered a keynote address to a preparatory "
16908 "conference for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). At a "
16909 "press conference before the address, I was asked what I would say. I "
16910 "responded that I would be talking a little about the importance of balance "
16911 "in intellectual property for the development of an information society. The "
16912 "moderator for the event then promptly interrupted to inform me and the "
16913 "assembled reporters that no question about intellectual property would be "
16914 "discussed by WSIS, since those questions were the exclusive domain of "
16915 "WIPO. In the talk that I had prepared, I had actually made the issue of "
16916 "intellectual property relatively minor. But after this astonishing "
16917 "statement, I made intellectual property the sole focus of my talk. There was "
16918 "no way to talk about an <quote>Information Society</quote> unless one also "
16919 "talked about the range of information and culture that would be free. My "
16920 "talk did not make my immoderate moderator very happy. And she was no doubt "
16921 "correct that the scope of intellectual property protections was ordinarily "
16922 "the stuff of WIPO. But in my view, there couldn't be too much of a "
16923 "conversation about how much intellectual property is needed, since in my "
16924 "view, the very idea of balance in intellectual property had been lost."
16927 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16928 #: freeculture.xml:12804
16930 "So whether or not WSIS can discuss balance in intellectual property, I had "
16931 "thought it was taken for granted that WIPO could and should. And thus the "
16932 "meeting about <quote>open and collaborative projects to create public "
16933 "goods</quote> seemed perfectly appropriate within the WIPO agenda."
16936 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16937 #: freeculture.xml:12810
16939 "But there is one project within that list that is highly controversial, at "
16940 "least among lobbyists. That project is <quote>open source and free "
16941 "software.</quote> Microsoft in particular is wary of discussion of the "
16942 "subject. From its perspective, a conference to discuss open source and free "
16943 "software would be like a conference to discuss Apple's operating "
16944 "system. Both open source and free software compete with Microsoft's "
16945 "software. And internationally, many governments have begun to explore "
16946 "requirements that they use open source or free software, rather than "
16947 "<quote>proprietary software,</quote> for their own internal uses."
16951 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
16952 #: freeculture.xml:12832
16954 "Microsoft's position about free and open source software is more "
16955 "sophisticated. As it has repeatedly asserted, it has no problem with "
16956 "<quote>open source</quote> software or software in the public "
16957 "domain. Microsoft's principal opposition is to <quote>free software</quote> "
16958 "licensed under a <quote>copyleft</quote> license, meaning a license that "
16959 "requires the licensee to adopt the same terms on any derivative work. See "
16960 "Bradford L. Smith, <quote>The Future of Software: Enabling the Marketplace "
16961 "to Decide,</quote> <citetitle>Government Policy Toward Open Source "
16962 "Software</citetitle> (Washington, D.C.: AEI-Brookings Joint Center for "
16963 "Regulatory Studies, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy "
16964 "Research, 2002), 69, available at <ulink "
16965 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #62</ulink>. See also Craig "
16966 "Mundie, Microsoft senior vice president, <citetitle>The Commercial Software "
16967 "Model</citetitle>, discussion at New York University Stern School of "
16968 "Business (3 May 2001), available at <ulink "
16969 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #63</ulink>."
16972 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
16973 #: freeculture.xml:12849
16974 msgid "<quote>copyleft</quote> licenses"
16977 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16978 #: freeculture.xml:12821
16980 "I don't mean to enter that debate here. It is important only to make clear "
16981 "that the distinction is not between commercial and noncommercial "
16982 "software. There are many important companies that depend fundamentally upon "
16983 "open source and free software, IBM being the most prominent. IBM is "
16984 "increasingly shifting its focus to the GNU/Linux operating system, the most "
16985 "famous bit of <quote>free software</quote>—and IBM is emphatically a "
16986 "commercial entity. Thus, to support <quote>open source and free "
16987 "software</quote> is not to oppose commercial entities. It is, instead, to "
16988 "support a mode of software development that is different from "
16989 "Microsoft's.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
16990 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"2\"/> "
16991 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
16996 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
16997 #: freeculture.xml:12854
16999 "More important for our purposes, to support <quote>open source and free "
17000 "software</quote> is not to oppose copyright. <quote>Open source and free "
17001 "software</quote> is not software in the public domain. Instead, like "
17002 "Microsoft's software, the copyright owners of free and open source software "
17003 "insist quite strongly that the terms of their software license be respected "
17004 "by adopters of free and open source software. The terms of that license are "
17005 "no doubt different from the terms of a proprietary software license. Free "
17006 "software licensed under the General Public License (GPL), for example, "
17007 "requires that the source code for the software be made available by anyone "
17008 "who modifies and redistributes the software. But that requirement is "
17009 "effective only if copyright governs software. If copyright did not govern "
17010 "software, then free software could not impose the same kind of requirements "
17011 "on its adopters. It thus depends upon copyright law just as Microsoft does."
17015 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17016 #: freeculture.xml:12880
17018 "Krim, <quote>The Quiet War over Open-Source,</quote> available at <ulink "
17019 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #64</ulink>."
17022 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
17023 #: freeculture.xml:12884
17024 msgid "Krim, Jonathan"
17027 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17028 #: freeculture.xml:12872
17030 "It is therefore understandable that as a proprietary software developer, "
17031 "Microsoft would oppose this WIPO meeting, and understandable that it would "
17032 "use its lobbyists to get the United States government to oppose it, as "
17033 "well. And indeed, that is just what was reported to have happened. According "
17034 "to Jonathan Krim of the <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, Microsoft's "
17035 "lobbyists succeeded in getting the United States government to veto the "
17036 "meeting.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And without U.S. backing, "
17037 "the meeting was canceled. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
17040 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17041 #: freeculture.xml:12887
17043 "I don't blame Microsoft for doing what it can to advance its own interests, "
17044 "consistent with the law. And lobbying governments is plainly consistent with "
17045 "the law. There was nothing surprising about its lobbying here, and nothing "
17046 "terribly surprising about the most powerful software producer in the United "
17047 "States having succeeded in its lobbying efforts."
17050 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17051 #: freeculture.xml:12895
17053 "What was surprising was the United States government's reason for opposing "
17054 "the meeting. Again, as reported by Krim, Lois Boland, acting director of "
17055 "international relations for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, explained "
17056 "that <quote>open-source software runs counter to the mission of WIPO, which "
17057 "is to promote intellectual-property rights.</quote> She is quoted as saying, "
17058 "<quote>To hold a meeting which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such "
17059 "rights seems to us to be contrary to the goals of WIPO.</quote>"
17062 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17063 #: freeculture.xml:12905
17064 msgid "These statements are astonishing on a number of levels."
17067 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17068 #: freeculture.xml:12909
17070 "First, they are just flat wrong. As I described, most open source and free "
17071 "software relies fundamentally upon the intellectual property right called "
17072 "<quote>copyright</quote>. Without it, restrictions imposed by those "
17073 "licenses wouldn't work. Thus, to say it <quote>runs counter</quote> to the "
17074 "mission of promoting intellectual property rights reveals an extraordinary "
17075 "gap in understanding—the sort of mistake that is excusable in a "
17076 "first-year law student, but an embarrassment from a high government official "
17077 "dealing with intellectual property issues."
17080 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17081 #: freeculture.xml:12919
17083 "Second, who ever said that WIPO's exclusive aim was to "
17084 "<quote>promote</quote> intellectual property maximally? As I had been "
17085 "scolded at the preparatory conference of WSIS, WIPO is to consider not only "
17086 "how best to protect intellectual property, but also what the best balance of "
17087 "intellectual property is. As every economist and lawyer knows, the hard "
17088 "question in intellectual property law is to find that balance. But that "
17089 "there should be limits is, I had thought, uncontested. One wants to ask "
17090 "Ms. Boland, are generic drugs (drugs based on drugs whose patent has "
17091 "expired) contrary to the WIPO mission? Does the public domain weaken "
17092 "intellectual property? Would it have been better if the protocols of the "
17093 "Internet had been patented?"
17096 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17097 #: freeculture.xml:12932
17099 "Third, even if one believed that the purpose of WIPO was to maximize "
17100 "intellectual property rights, in our tradition, intellectual property rights "
17101 "are held by individuals and corporations. They get to decide what to do with "
17102 "those rights because, again, they are <emphasis>their</emphasis> rights. If "
17103 "they want to <quote>waive</quote> or <quote>disclaim</quote> their rights, "
17104 "that is, within our tradition, totally appropriate. When Bill Gates gives "
17105 "away more than $20 billion to do good in the world, that is not inconsistent "
17106 "with the objectives of the property system. That is, on the contrary, just "
17107 "what a property system is supposed to be about: giving individuals the right "
17108 "to decide what to do with <emphasis>their</emphasis> property. <placeholder "
17109 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17113 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17114 #: freeculture.xml:12946
17116 "When Ms. Boland says that there is something wrong with a meeting "
17117 "<quote>which has as its purpose to disclaim or waive such rights,</quote> "
17118 "she's saying that WIPO has an interest in interfering with the choices of "
17119 "the individuals who own intellectual property rights. That somehow, WIPO's "
17120 "objective should be to stop an individual from <quote>waiving</quote> or "
17121 "<quote>disclaiming</quote> an intellectual property right. That the interest "
17122 "of WIPO is not just that intellectual property rights be maximized, but that "
17123 "they also should be exercised in the most extreme and restrictive way "
17127 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17128 #: freeculture.xml:12958
17130 "There is a history of just such a property system that is well known in the "
17131 "Anglo-American tradition. It is called <quote>feudalism.</quote> Under "
17132 "feudalism, not only was property held by a relatively small number of "
17133 "individuals and entities. And not only were the rights that ran with that "
17134 "property powerful and extensive. But the feudal system had a strong interest "
17135 "in assuring that property holders within that system not weaken feudalism by "
17136 "liberating people or property within their control to the free "
17137 "market. Feudalism depended upon maximum control and concentration. It fought "
17138 "any freedom that might interfere with that control."
17141 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17142 #: freeculture.xml:12975
17144 "See Drahos with Braithwaite, <citetitle>Information Feudalism</citetitle>, "
17145 "210–20. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17148 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17149 #: freeculture.xml:12972
17151 "As Peter Drahos and John Braithwaite relate, this is precisely the choice we "
17152 "are now making about intellectual property.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17153 "id=\"0\"/> We will have an information society. That much is certain. Our "
17154 "only choice now is whether that information society will be "
17155 "<emphasis>free</emphasis> or <emphasis>feudal</emphasis>. The trend is "
17156 "toward the feudal."
17159 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17160 #: freeculture.xml:12984
17162 "When this battle broke, I blogged it. A spirited debate within the comment "
17163 "section ensued. Ms. Boland had a number of supporters who tried to show why "
17164 "her comments made sense. But there was one comment that was particularly "
17165 "depressing for me. An anonymous poster wrote,"
17169 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><blockquote><para>
17170 #: freeculture.xml:12991
17172 "George, you misunderstand Lessig: He's only talking about the world as it "
17173 "should be (<quote>the goal of WIPO, and the goal of any government, should "
17174 "be to promote the right balance of intellectual property rights, not simply "
17175 "to promote intellectual property rights</quote>), not as it is. If we were "
17176 "talking about the world as it is, then of course Boland didn't say anything "
17177 "wrong. But in the world as Lessig would have it, then of course she "
17178 "did. Always pay attention to the distinction between Lessig's world and "
17182 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17183 #: freeculture.xml:13003
17185 "I missed the irony the first time I read it. I read it quickly and thought "
17186 "the poster was supporting the idea that seeking balance was what our "
17187 "government should be doing. (Of course, my criticism of Ms. Boland was not "
17188 "about whether she was seeking balance or not; my criticism was that her "
17189 "comments betrayed a first-year law student's mistake. I have no illusion "
17190 "about the extremism of our government, whether Republican or Democrat. My "
17191 "only illusion apparently is about whether our government should speak the "
17195 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17196 #: freeculture.xml:13013
17198 "Obviously, however, the poster was not supporting that idea. Instead, the "
17199 "poster was ridiculing the very idea that in the real world, the "
17200 "<quote>goal</quote> of a government should be <quote>to promote the right "
17201 "balance</quote> of intellectual property. That was obviously silly to "
17202 "him. And it obviously betrayed, he believed, my own silly "
17203 "utopianism. <quote>Typical for an academic,</quote> the poster might well "
17207 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17208 #: freeculture.xml:13021
17210 "I understand criticism of academic utopianism. I think utopianism is silly, "
17211 "too, and I'd be the first to poke fun at the absurdly unrealistic ideals of "
17212 "academics throughout history (and not just in our own country's history)."
17215 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17216 #: freeculture.xml:13027
17218 "But when it has become silly to suppose that the role of our government "
17219 "should be to <quote>seek balance,</quote> then count me with the silly, for "
17220 "that means that this has become quite serious indeed. If it should be "
17221 "obvious to everyone that the government does not seek balance, that the "
17222 "government is simply the tool of the most powerful lobbyists, that the idea "
17223 "of holding the government to a different standard is absurd, that the idea "
17224 "of demanding of the government that it speak truth and not lies is just "
17225 "naïve, then who have we, the most powerful democracy in the world, "
17230 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17231 #: freeculture.xml:13038
17233 "It might be crazy to expect a high government official to speak the "
17234 "truth. It might be crazy to believe that government policy will be something "
17235 "more than the handmaiden of the most powerful interests. It might be crazy "
17236 "to argue that we should preserve a tradition that has been part of our "
17237 "tradition for most of our history—free culture."
17240 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><indexterm><primary>
17241 #: freeculture.xml:13057
17242 msgid "Turner, Ted"
17245 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17246 #: freeculture.xml:13047
17248 "If this is crazy, then let there be more crazies. Soon. There are moments "
17249 "of hope in this struggle. And moments that surprise. When the FCC was "
17250 "considering relaxing ownership rules, which would thereby further increase "
17251 "the concentration in media ownership, an extraordinary bipartisan coalition "
17252 "formed to fight this change. For perhaps the first time in history, "
17253 "interests as diverse as the NRA, the ACLU, Moveon.org, William Safire, Ted "
17254 "Turner, and CodePink Women for Peace organized to oppose this change in FCC "
17255 "policy. An astonishing 700,000 letters were sent to the FCC, demanding more "
17256 "hearings and a different result. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> "
17257 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
17260 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17261 #: freeculture.xml:13061
17263 "This activism did not stop the FCC, but soon after, a broad coalition in the "
17264 "Senate voted to reverse the FCC decision. The hostile hearings leading up to "
17265 "that vote revealed just how powerful this movement had become. There was no "
17266 "substantial support for the FCC's decision, and there was broad and "
17267 "sustained support for fighting further concentration in the media."
17270 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17271 #: freeculture.xml:13069
17273 "But even this movement misses an important piece of the puzzle. Largeness "
17274 "as such is not bad. Freedom is not threatened just because some become very "
17275 "rich, or because there are only a handful of big players. The poor quality "
17276 "of Big Macs or Quarter Pounders does not mean that you can't get a good "
17277 "hamburger from somewhere else."
17280 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17281 #: freeculture.xml:13076
17283 "The danger in media concentration comes not from the concentration, but "
17284 "instead from the feudalism that this concentration, tied to the change in "
17285 "copyright, produces. It is not just that there are a few powerful companies "
17286 "that control an ever expanding slice of the media. It is that this "
17287 "concentration can call upon an equally bloated range of "
17288 "rights—property rights of a historically extreme form—that makes "
17289 "their bigness bad."
17292 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17293 #: freeculture.xml:13086
17295 "It is therefore significant that so many would rally to demand competition "
17296 "and increased diversity. Still, if the rally is understood as being about "
17297 "bigness alone, it is not terribly surprising. We Americans have a long "
17298 "history of fighting <quote>big,</quote> wisely or not. That we could be "
17299 "motivated to fight <quote>big</quote> again is not something new."
17302 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17303 #: freeculture.xml:13093
17305 "It would be something new, and something very important, if an equal number "
17306 "could be rallied to fight the increasing extremism built within the idea of "
17307 "<quote>intellectual property.</quote> Not because balance is alien to our "
17308 "tradition; indeed, as I've argued, balance is our tradition. But because the "
17309 "muscle to think critically about the scope of anything called "
17310 "<quote>property</quote> is not well exercised within this tradition anymore."
17313 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17314 #: freeculture.xml:13101
17316 "If we were Achilles, this would be our heel. This would be the place of our "
17320 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17321 #: freeculture.xml:13104
17326 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17327 #: freeculture.xml:13109
17329 "John Borland, <quote>RIAA Sues 261 File Swappers,</quote> CNET News.com, "
17330 "September 2003, available at <ulink "
17331 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #65</ulink>; Paul R. La Monica, "
17332 "<quote>Music Industry Sues Swappers,</quote> CNN/Money, 8 September 2003, "
17333 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #66</ulink>; "
17334 "Soni Sangha and Phyllis Furman with Robert Gearty, <quote>Sued for a Song, "
17335 "N.Y.C. 12-Yr-Old Among 261 Cited as Sharers,</quote> <citetitle>New York "
17336 "Daily News</citetitle>, 9 September 2003, 3; Frank Ahrens, <quote>RIAA's "
17337 "Lawsuits Meet Surprised Targets; Single Mother in Calif., 12-Year-Old Girl "
17338 "in N.Y. Among Defendants,</quote> <citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 10 "
17339 "September 2003, E1; Katie Dean, <quote>Schoolgirl Settles with RIAA,</quote> "
17340 "<citetitle>Wired News</citetitle>, 10 September 2003, available at <ulink "
17341 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #67</ulink>."
17345 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17346 #: freeculture.xml:13127
17348 "Jon Wiederhorn, <quote>Eminem Gets Sued … by a Little Old "
17349 "Lady,</quote> mtv.com, 17 September 2003, available at <ulink "
17350 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #68</ulink>."
17355 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17356 #: freeculture.xml:13134
17358 "Kenji Hall, Associated Press, <quote>Japanese Book May Be Inspiration for "
17359 "Dylan Songs,</quote> Kansascity.com, 9 July 2003, available at <ulink "
17360 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #69</ulink>."
17363 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17364 #: freeculture.xml:13106
17366 "As I write these final words, the news is filled with stories about the RIAA "
17367 "lawsuits against almost three hundred individuals.<placeholder "
17368 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> Eminem has just been sued for "
17369 "<quote>sampling</quote> someone else's music.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17370 "id=\"1\"/> The story about Bob Dylan <quote>stealing</quote> from a Japanese "
17371 "author has just finished making the rounds.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
17372 "id=\"2\"/> An insider from Hollywood—who insists he must remain "
17373 "anonymous—reports <quote>an amazing conversation with these studio "
17374 "guys. They've got extraordinary [old] content that they'd love to use but "
17375 "can't because they can't begin to clear the rights. They've got scores of "
17376 "kids who could do amazing things with the content, but it would take scores "
17377 "of lawyers to clean it first.</quote> Congressmen are talking about "
17378 "deputizing computer viruses to bring down computers thought to violate the "
17379 "law. Universities are threatening expulsion for kids who use a computer to "
17383 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17384 #: freeculture.xml:13151 freeculture.xml:13513
17385 msgid "Creative Commons"
17388 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17389 #: freeculture.xml:13152
17390 msgid "Gil, Gilberto"
17393 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17394 #: freeculture.xml:13153
17398 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><indexterm><primary>
17399 #: freeculture.xml:13154
17400 msgid "Brazil, free culture in"
17404 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17405 #: freeculture.xml:13159
17407 "<quote>BBC Plans to Open Up Its Archive to the Public,</quote> BBC press "
17408 "release, 24 August 2003, available at <ulink "
17409 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #70</ulink>."
17413 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para><footnote><para>
17414 #: freeculture.xml:13168
17416 "<quote>Creative Commons and Brazil,</quote> Creative Commons Weblog, 6 "
17417 "August 2003, available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link "
17422 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17423 #: freeculture.xml:13156
17425 "Yet on the other side of the Atlantic, the BBC has just announced that it "
17426 "will build a <quote>Creative Archive,</quote> from which British citizens "
17427 "can download BBC content, and rip, mix, and burn it.<placeholder "
17428 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> And in Brazil, the culture minister, Gilberto "
17429 "Gil, himself a folk hero of Brazilian music, has joined with Creative "
17430 "Commons to release content and free licenses in that Latin American "
17431 "country.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"1\"/> I've told a dark "
17432 "story. The truth is more mixed. A technology has given us a new "
17433 "freedom. Slowly, some begin to understand that this freedom need not mean "
17434 "anarchy. We can carry a free culture into the twenty-first century, without "
17435 "artists losing and without the potential of digital technology being "
17436 "destroyed. It will take some thought, and more importantly, it will take "
17437 "some will to transform the RCAs of our day into the Causbys."
17441 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17442 #: freeculture.xml:13182
17444 "Common sense must revolt. It must act to free culture. Soon, if this "
17445 "potential is ever to be realized."
17448 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
17449 #: freeculture.xml:13190
17454 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17455 #: freeculture.xml:13194
17457 "At least some who have read this far will agree with me that something must "
17458 "be done to change where we are heading. The balance of this book maps what "
17462 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17463 #: freeculture.xml:13199
17465 "I divide this map into two parts: that which anyone can do now, and that "
17466 "which requires the help of lawmakers. If there is one lesson that we can "
17467 "draw from the history of remaking common sense, it is that it requires "
17468 "remaking how many people think about the very same issue."
17471 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17472 #: freeculture.xml:13205
17474 "That means this movement must begin in the streets. It must recruit a "
17475 "significant number of parents, teachers, librarians, creators, authors, "
17476 "musicians, filmmakers, scientists—all to tell this story in their own "
17477 "words, and to tell their neighbors why this battle is so important."
17480 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
17481 #: freeculture.xml:13212
17483 "Once this movement has its effect in the streets, it has some hope of having "
17484 "an effect in Washington. We are still a democracy. What people think "
17485 "matters. Not as much as it should, at least when an RCA stands opposed, but "
17486 "still, it matters. And thus, in the second part below, I sketch changes that "
17487 "Congress could make to better secure a free culture."
17490 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
17491 #: freeculture.xml:13221
17495 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17496 #: freeculture.xml:13223
17498 "Common sense is with the copyright warriors because the debate so far has "
17499 "been framed at the extremes—as a grand either/or: either property or "
17500 "anarchy, either total control or artists won't be paid. If that really is "
17501 "the choice, then the warriors should win."
17504 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17505 #: freeculture.xml:13229
17507 "The mistake here is the error of the excluded middle. There are extremes in "
17508 "this debate, but the extremes are not all that there is. There are those who "
17509 "believe in maximal copyright—<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote>— "
17510 "and those who reject copyright—<quote>No Rights Reserved.</quote> The "
17511 "<quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe that you should ask "
17512 "permission before you <quote>use</quote> a copyrighted work in any way. The "
17513 "<quote>No Rights Reserved</quote> sorts believe you should be able to do "
17514 "with content as you wish, regardless of whether you have permission or not."
17518 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17519 #: freeculture.xml:13239
17521 "When the Internet was first born, its initial architecture effectively "
17522 "tilted in the <quote>no rights reserved</quote> direction. Content could be "
17523 "copied perfectly and cheaply; rights could not easily be controlled. Thus, "
17524 "regardless of anyone's desire, the effective regime of copyright under the "
17525 "original design of the Internet was <quote>no rights reserved.</quote> "
17526 "Content was <quote>taken</quote> regardless of the rights. Any rights were "
17527 "effectively unprotected."
17530 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17531 #: freeculture.xml:13251
17533 "This initial character produced a reaction (opposite, but not quite equal) "
17534 "by copyright owners. That reaction has been the topic of this book. Through "
17535 "legislation, litigation, and changes to the network's design, copyright "
17536 "holders have been able to change the essential character of the environment "
17537 "of the original Internet. If the original architecture made the effective "
17538 "default <quote>no rights reserved,</quote> the future architecture will make "
17539 "the effective default <quote>all rights reserved.</quote> The architecture "
17540 "and law that surround the Internet's design will increasingly produce an "
17541 "environment where all use of content requires permission. The <quote>cut "
17542 "and paste</quote> world that defines the Internet today will become a "
17543 "<quote>get permission to cut and paste</quote> world that is a creator's "
17547 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
17548 #: freeculture.xml:13265
17550 "What's needed is a way to say something in the middle—neither "
17551 "<quote>all rights reserved</quote> nor <quote>no rights reserved</quote> but "
17552 "<quote>some rights reserved</quote>— and thus a way to respect "
17553 "copyrights but enable creators to free content as they see fit. In other "
17554 "words, we need a way to restore a set of freedoms that we could just take "
17555 "for granted before."
17558 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
17559 #: freeculture.xml:13274
17560 msgid "Rebuilding Freedoms Previously Presumed: Examples"
17563 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17564 #: freeculture.xml:13276
17566 "If you step back from the battle I've been describing here, you will "
17567 "recognize this problem from other contexts. Think about privacy. Before the "
17568 "Internet, most of us didn't have to worry much about data about our lives "
17569 "that we broadcast to the world. If you walked into a bookstore and browsed "
17570 "through some of the works of Karl Marx, you didn't need to worry about "
17571 "explaining your browsing habits to your neighbors or boss. The "
17572 "<quote>privacy</quote> of your browsing habits was assured."
17575 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17576 #: freeculture.xml:13286
17577 msgid "What made it assured?"
17580 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17581 #: freeculture.xml:13290
17583 "Well, if we think in terms of the modalities I described in chapter <xref "
17584 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"property-i\"/>, your privacy was "
17585 "assured because of an inefficient architecture for gathering data and hence "
17586 "a market constraint (cost) on anyone who wanted to gather that data. If you "
17587 "were a suspected spy for North Korea, working for the CIA, no doubt your "
17588 "privacy would not be assured. But that's because the CIA would (we hope) "
17589 "find it valuable enough to spend the thousands required to track you. But "
17590 "for most of us (again, we can hope), spying doesn't pay. The highly "
17591 "inefficient architecture of real space means we all enjoy a fairly robust "
17592 "amount of privacy. That privacy is guaranteed to us by friction. Not by law "
17593 "(there is no law protecting <quote>privacy</quote> in public places), and in "
17594 "many places, not by norms (snooping and gossip are just fun), but instead, "
17595 "by the costs that friction imposes on anyone who would want to spy."
17598 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17599 #: freeculture.xml:13305
17603 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17604 #: freeculture.xml:13315
17605 msgid "cookies, Internet"
17608 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17609 #: freeculture.xml:13307
17611 "Enter the Internet, where the cost of tracking browsing in particular has "
17612 "become quite tiny. If you're a customer at Amazon, then as you browse the "
17613 "pages, Amazon collects the data about what you've looked at. You know this "
17614 "because at the side of the page, there's a list of <quote>recently "
17615 "viewed</quote> pages. Now, because of the architecture of the Net and the "
17616 "function of cookies on the Net, it is easier to collect the data than "
17617 "not. The friction has disappeared, and hence any <quote>privacy</quote> "
17618 "protected by the friction disappears, too. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17622 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17623 #: freeculture.xml:13318
17625 "Amazon, of course, is not the problem. But we might begin to worry about "
17626 "libraries. If you're one of those crazy lefties who thinks that people "
17627 "should have the <quote>right</quote> to browse in a library without the "
17628 "government knowing which books you look at (I'm one of those lefties, too), "
17629 "then this change in the technology of monitoring might concern you. If it "
17630 "becomes simple to gather and sort who does what in electronic spaces, then "
17631 "the friction-induced privacy of yesterday disappears."
17635 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
17636 #: freeculture.xml:13334
17638 "See, for example, Marc Rotenberg, <quote>Fair Information Practices and the "
17639 "Architecture of Privacy (What Larry Doesn't Get),</quote> "
17640 "<citetitle>Stanford Technology Law Review</citetitle> 1 (2001): "
17641 "par. 6–18, available at <ulink "
17642 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink> (describing examples "
17643 "in which technology defines privacy policy). See also Jeffrey Rosen, "
17644 "<citetitle>The Naked Crowd: Reclaiming Security and Freedom in an Anxious "
17645 "Age</citetitle> (New York: Random House, 2004) (mapping tradeoffs between "
17646 "technology and privacy)."
17650 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17651 #: freeculture.xml:13328
17653 "It is this reality that explains the push of many to define "
17654 "<quote>privacy</quote> on the Internet. It is the recognition that "
17655 "technology can remove what friction before gave us that leads many to push "
17656 "for laws to do what friction did.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
17657 "And whether you're in favor of those laws or not, it is the pattern that is "
17658 "important here. We must take affirmative steps to secure a kind of freedom "
17659 "that was passively provided before. A change in technology now forces those "
17660 "who believe in privacy to affirmatively act where, before, privacy was given "
17664 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17665 #: freeculture.xml:13352
17667 "A similar story could be told about the birth of the free software "
17668 "movement. When computers with software were first made available "
17669 "commercially, the software—both the source code and the "
17670 "binaries— was free. You couldn't run a program written for a Data "
17671 "General machine on an IBM machine, so Data General and IBM didn't care much "
17672 "about controlling their software. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
17676 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
17677 #: freeculture.xml:13360
17678 msgid "Stallman, Richard"
17681 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17682 #: freeculture.xml:13362
17684 "That was the world Richard Stallman was born into, and while he was a "
17685 "researcher at MIT, he grew to love the community that developed when one was "
17686 "free to explore and tinker with the software that ran on machines. Being a "
17687 "smart sort himself, and a talented programmer, Stallman grew to depend upon "
17688 "the freedom to add to or modify other people's work."
17691 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17692 #: freeculture.xml:13370
17694 "In an academic setting, at least, that's not a terribly radical idea. In a "
17695 "math department, anyone would be free to tinker with a proof that someone "
17696 "offered. If you thought you had a better way to prove a theorem, you could "
17697 "take what someone else did and change it. In a classics department, if you "
17698 "believed a colleague's translation of a recently discovered text was flawed, "
17699 "you were free to improve it. Thus, to Stallman, it seemed obvious that you "
17700 "should be free to tinker with and improve the code that ran a machine. This, "
17701 "too, was knowledge. Why shouldn't it be open for criticism like anything "
17705 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17706 #: freeculture.xml:13382
17708 "No one answered that question. Instead, the architecture of revenue for "
17709 "computing changed. As it became possible to import programs from one system "
17710 "to another, it became economically attractive (at least in the view of some) "
17711 "to hide the code of your program. So, too, as companies started selling "
17712 "peripherals for mainframe systems. If I could just take your printer driver "
17713 "and copy it, then that would make it easier for me to sell a printer to the "
17714 "market than it was for you."
17718 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17719 #: freeculture.xml:13391
17721 "Thus, the practice of proprietary code began to spread, and by the early "
17722 "1980s, Stallman found himself surrounded by proprietary code. The world of "
17723 "free software had been erased by a change in the economics of computing. And "
17724 "as he believed, if he did nothing about it, then the freedom to change and "
17725 "share software would be fundamentally weakened."
17728 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17729 #: freeculture.xml:13400
17731 "Therefore, in 1984, Stallman began a project to build a free operating "
17732 "system, so that at least a strain of free software would survive. That was "
17733 "the birth of the GNU project, into which Linus Torvalds's "
17734 "<quote>Linux</quote> kernel was added to produce the GNU/Linux operating "
17735 "system. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder "
17736 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
17739 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17740 #: freeculture.xml:13408
17742 "Stallman's technique was to use copyright law to build a world of software "
17743 "that must be kept free. Software licensed under the Free Software "
17744 "Foundation's GPL cannot be modified and distributed unless the source code "
17745 "for that software is made available as well. Thus, anyone building upon "
17746 "GPL'd software would have to make their buildings free as well. This would "
17747 "assure, Stallman believed, that an ecology of code would develop that "
17748 "remained free for others to build upon. His fundamental goal was freedom; "
17749 "innovative creative code was a byproduct."
17752 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17753 #: freeculture.xml:13419
17755 "Stallman was thus doing for software what privacy advocates now do for "
17756 "privacy. He was seeking a way to rebuild a kind of freedom that was taken "
17757 "for granted before. Through the affirmative use of licenses that bind "
17758 "copyrighted code, Stallman was affirmatively reclaiming a space where free "
17759 "software would survive. He was actively protecting what before had been "
17760 "passively guaranteed."
17763 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17764 #: freeculture.xml:13427
17766 "Finally, consider a very recent example that more directly resonates with "
17767 "the story of this book. This is the shift in the way academic and scientific "
17768 "journals are produced."
17772 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17773 #: freeculture.xml:13435
17775 "As digital technologies develop, it is becoming obvious to many that "
17776 "printing thousands of copies of journals every month and sending them to "
17777 "libraries is perhaps not the most efficient way to distribute "
17778 "knowledge. Instead, journals are increasingly becoming electronic, and "
17779 "libraries and their users are given access to these electronic journals "
17780 "through password-protected sites. Something similar to this has been "
17781 "happening in law for almost thirty years: Lexis and Westlaw have had "
17782 "electronic versions of case reports available to subscribers to their "
17783 "service. Although a Supreme Court opinion is not copyrighted, and anyone is "
17784 "free to go to a library and read it, Lexis and Westlaw are also free to "
17785 "charge users for the privilege of gaining access to that Supreme Court "
17786 "opinion through their respective services."
17789 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17790 #: freeculture.xml:13451
17792 "There's nothing wrong in general with this, and indeed, the ability to "
17793 "charge for access to even public domain materials is a good incentive for "
17794 "people to develop new and innovative ways to spread knowledge. The law has "
17795 "agreed, which is why Lexis and Westlaw have been allowed to flourish. And if "
17796 "there's nothing wrong with selling the public domain, then there could be "
17797 "nothing wrong, in principle, with selling access to material that is not in "
17798 "the public domain."
17801 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17802 #: freeculture.xml:13460
17804 "But what if the only way to get access to social and scientific data was "
17805 "through proprietary services? What if no one had the ability to browse this "
17806 "data except by paying for a subscription?"
17809 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17810 #: freeculture.xml:13465
17812 "As many are beginning to notice, this is increasingly the reality with "
17813 "scientific journals. When these journals were distributed in paper form, "
17814 "libraries could make the journals available to anyone who had access to the "
17815 "library. Thus, patients with cancer could become cancer experts because the "
17816 "library gave them access. Or patients trying to understand the risks of a "
17817 "certain treatment could research those risks by reading all available "
17818 "articles about that treatment. This freedom was therefore a function of the "
17819 "institution of libraries (norms) and the technology of paper journals "
17820 "(architecture)—namely, that it was very hard to control access to a "
17824 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17825 #: freeculture.xml:13477
17827 "As journals become electronic, however, the publishers are demanding that "
17828 "libraries not give the general public access to the journals. This means "
17829 "that the freedoms provided by print journals in public libraries begin to "
17830 "disappear. Thus, as with privacy and with software, a changing technology "
17831 "and market shrink a freedom taken for granted before."
17834 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17835 #: freeculture.xml:13485
17837 "This shrinking freedom has led many to take affirmative steps to restore the "
17838 "freedom that has been lost. The Public Library of Science (PLoS), for "
17839 "example, is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to making scientific research "
17840 "available to anyone with a Web connection. Authors of scientific work submit "
17841 "that work to the Public Library of Science. That work is then subject to "
17842 "peer review. If accepted, the work is then deposited in a public, electronic "
17843 "archive and made permanently available for free. PLoS also sells a print "
17844 "version of its work, but the copyright for the print journal does not "
17845 "inhibit the right of anyone to redistribute the work for free. <placeholder "
17846 "type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17849 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17850 #: freeculture.xml:13499
17852 "This is one of many such efforts to restore a freedom taken for granted "
17853 "before, but now threatened by changing technology and markets. There's no "
17854 "doubt that this alternative competes with the traditional publishers and "
17855 "their efforts to make money from the exclusive distribution of content. But "
17856 "competition in our tradition is presumptively a good—especially when "
17857 "it helps spread knowledge and science."
17860 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
17861 #: freeculture.xml:13511
17862 msgid "Rebuilding Free Culture: One Idea"
17865 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17866 #: freeculture.xml:13516
17868 "The same strategy could be applied to culture, as a response to the "
17869 "increasing control effected through law and technology."
17872 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17873 #: freeculture.xml:13520
17875 "Enter the Creative Commons. The Creative Commons is a nonprofit corporation "
17876 "established in Massachusetts, but with its home at Stanford University. Its "
17877 "aim is to build a layer of <emphasis>reasonable</emphasis> copyright on top "
17878 "of the extremes that now reign. It does this by making it easy for people to "
17879 "build upon other people's work, by making it simple for creators to express "
17880 "the freedom for others to take and build upon their work. Simple tags, tied "
17881 "to human-readable descriptions, tied to bulletproof licenses, make this "
17886 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17887 #: freeculture.xml:13531
17889 "<emphasis>Simple</emphasis>—which means without a middleman, or "
17890 "without a lawyer. By developing a free set of licenses that people can "
17891 "attach to their content, Creative Commons aims to mark a range of content "
17892 "that can easily, and reliably, be built upon. These tags are then linked to "
17893 "machine-readable versions of the license that enable computers automatically "
17894 "to identify content that can easily be shared. These three expressions "
17895 "together—a legal license, a human-readable description, and "
17896 "machine-readable tags—constitute a Creative Commons license. A "
17897 "Creative Commons license constitutes a grant of freedom to anyone who "
17898 "accesses the license, and more importantly, an expression of the ideal that "
17899 "the person associated with the license believes in something different than "
17900 "the <quote>All</quote> or <quote>No</quote> extremes. Content is marked with "
17901 "the CC mark, which does not mean that copyright is waived, but that certain "
17902 "freedoms are given."
17905 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17906 #: freeculture.xml:13549
17908 "These freedoms are beyond the freedoms promised by fair use. Their precise "
17909 "contours depend upon the choices the creator makes. The creator can choose a "
17910 "license that permits any use, so long as attribution is given. She can "
17911 "choose a license that permits only noncommercial use. She can choose a "
17912 "license that permits any use so long as the same freedoms are given to other "
17913 "uses (<quote>share and share alike</quote>). Or any use so long as no "
17914 "derivative use is made. Or any use at all within developing nations. Or any "
17915 "sampling use, so long as full copies are not made. Or lastly, any "
17919 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17920 #: freeculture.xml:13560
17922 "These choices thus establish a range of freedoms beyond the default of "
17923 "copyright law. They also enable freedoms that go beyond traditional fair "
17924 "use. And most importantly, they express these freedoms in a way that "
17925 "subsequent users can use and rely upon without the need to hire a "
17926 "lawyer. Creative Commons thus aims to build a layer of content, governed by "
17927 "a layer of reasonable copyright law, that others can build upon. Voluntary "
17928 "choice of individuals and creators will make this content available. And "
17929 "that content will in turn enable us to rebuild a public domain."
17932 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17933 #: freeculture.xml:13581
17934 msgid "Garlick, Mia"
17937 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17938 #: freeculture.xml:13571
17940 "This is just one project among many within the Creative Commons. And of "
17941 "course, Creative Commons is not the only organization pursuing such "
17942 "freedoms. But the point that distinguishes the Creative Commons from many is "
17943 "that we are not interested only in talking about a public domain or in "
17944 "getting legislators to help build a public domain. Our aim is to build a "
17945 "movement of consumers and producers of content (<quote>content "
17946 "conducers,</quote> as attorney Mia Garlick calls them) who help build the "
17947 "public domain and, by their work, demonstrate the importance of the public "
17948 "domain to other creativity. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
17951 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17952 #: freeculture.xml:13584
17954 "The aim is not to fight the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> sorts. The "
17955 "aim is to complement them. The problems that the law creates for us as a "
17956 "culture are produced by insane and unintended consequences of laws written "
17957 "centuries ago, applied to a technology that only Jefferson could have "
17958 "imagined. The rules may well have made sense against a background of "
17959 "technologies from centuries ago, but they do not make sense against the "
17960 "background of digital technologies. New rules—with different freedoms, "
17961 "expressed in ways so that humans without lawyers can use them—are "
17962 "needed. Creative Commons gives people a way effectively to begin to build "
17966 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17967 #: freeculture.xml:13596
17969 "Why would creators participate in giving up total control? Some participate "
17970 "to better spread their content. Cory Doctorow, for example, is a science "
17971 "fiction author. His first novel, <citetitle>Down and Out in the Magic "
17972 "Kingdom</citetitle>, was released on-line and for free, under a Creative "
17973 "Commons license, on the same day that it went on sale in bookstores."
17976 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17977 #: freeculture.xml:13603
17979 "Why would a publisher ever agree to this? I suspect his publisher reasoned "
17980 "like this: There are two groups of people out there: (1) those who will buy "
17981 "Cory's book whether or not it's on the Internet, and (2) those who may never "
17982 "hear of Cory's book, if it isn't made available for free on the "
17983 "Internet. Some part of (1) will download Cory's book instead of buying "
17984 "it. Call them bad-(1)s. Some part of (2) will download Cory's book, like "
17985 "it, and then decide to buy it. Call them (2)-goods. If there are more "
17986 "(2)-goods than bad-(1)s, the strategy of releasing Cory's book free on-line "
17987 "will probably <emphasis>increase</emphasis> sales of Cory's book."
17990 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
17991 #: freeculture.xml:13615
17993 "Indeed, the experience of his publisher clearly supports that conclusion. "
17994 "The book's first printing was exhausted months before the publisher had "
17995 "expected. This first novel of a science fiction author was a total success."
17998 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
17999 #: freeculture.xml:13630
18000 msgid "Free for All (Wayner)"
18003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
18004 #: freeculture.xml:13631
18005 msgid "Wayner, Peter"
18008 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18009 #: freeculture.xml:13621
18011 "The idea that free content might increase the value of nonfree content was "
18012 "confirmed by the experience of another author. Peter Wayner, who wrote a "
18013 "book about the free software movement titled <citetitle>Free for "
18014 "All</citetitle>, made an electronic version of his book free on-line under a "
18015 "Creative Commons license after the book went out of print. He then monitored "
18016 "used book store prices for the book. As predicted, as the number of "
18017 "downloads increased, the used book price for his book increased, as well. "
18018 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
18022 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18023 #: freeculture.xml:13633
18024 msgid "Public Enemy"
18027 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18028 #: freeculture.xml:13634
18033 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18034 #: freeculture.xml:13651
18036 "<citetitle>Willful Infringement: A Report from the Front Lines of the Real "
18037 "Culture Wars</citetitle> (2003), produced by Jed Horovitz, directed by Greg "
18038 "Hittelman, a Fiat Lucre production, available at <ulink "
18039 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #72</ulink>."
18042 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
18043 #: freeculture.xml:13658
18044 msgid "Leaphart, Walter"
18047 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18048 #: freeculture.xml:13636
18050 "These are examples of using the Commons to better spread proprietary "
18051 "content. I believe that is a wonderful and common use of the Commons. There "
18052 "are others who use Creative Commons licenses for other reasons. Many who use "
18053 "the <quote>sampling license</quote> do so because anything else would be "
18054 "hypocritical. The sampling license says that others are free, for commercial "
18055 "or noncommercial purposes, to sample content from the licensed work; they "
18056 "are just not free to make full copies of the licensed work available to "
18057 "others. This is consistent with their own art—they, too, sample from "
18058 "others. Because the <emphasis>legal</emphasis> costs of sampling are so high "
18059 "(Walter Leaphart, manager of the rap group Public Enemy, which was born "
18060 "sampling the music of others, has stated that he does not "
18061 "<quote>allow</quote> Public Enemy to sample anymore, because the legal costs "
18062 "are so high<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>), these artists release "
18063 "into the creative environment content that others can build upon, so that "
18064 "their form of creativity might grow. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
18068 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18069 #: freeculture.xml:13661
18071 "Finally, there are many who mark their content with a Creative Commons "
18072 "license just because they want to express to others the importance of "
18073 "balance in this debate. If you just go along with the system as it is, you "
18074 "are effectively saying you believe in the <quote>All Rights Reserved</quote> "
18075 "model. Good for you, but many do not. Many believe that however appropriate "
18076 "that rule is for Hollywood and freaks, it is not an appropriate description "
18077 "of how most creators view the rights associated with their content. The "
18078 "Creative Commons license expresses this notion of <quote>Some Rights "
18079 "Reserved,</quote> and gives many the chance to say it to others."
18083 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18084 #: freeculture.xml:13673
18086 "In the first six months of the Creative Commons experiment, over 1 million "
18087 "objects were licensed with these free-culture licenses. The next step is "
18088 "partnerships with middleware content providers to help them build into their "
18089 "technologies simple ways for users to mark their content with Creative "
18090 "Commons freedoms. Then the next step is to watch and celebrate creators who "
18091 "build content based upon content set free."
18094 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18095 #: freeculture.xml:13683
18097 "These are first steps to rebuilding a public domain. They are not mere "
18098 "arguments; they are action. Building a public domain is the first step to "
18099 "showing people how important that domain is to creativity and "
18100 "innovation. Creative Commons relies upon voluntary steps to achieve this "
18101 "rebuilding. They will lead to a world in which more than voluntary steps are "
18105 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18106 #: freeculture.xml:13691
18108 "Creative Commons is just one example of voluntary efforts by individuals and "
18109 "creators to change the mix of rights that now govern the creative field. The "
18110 "project does not compete with copyright; it complements it. Its aim is not "
18111 "to defeat the rights of authors, but to make it easier for authors and "
18112 "creators to exercise their rights more flexibly and cheaply. That "
18113 "difference, we believe, will enable creativity to spread more easily."
18116 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><title>
18117 #: freeculture.xml:13705
18121 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
18122 #: freeculture.xml:13707
18124 "We will not reclaim a free culture by individual action alone. It will also "
18125 "take important reforms of laws. We have a long way to go before the "
18126 "politicians will listen to these ideas and implement these reforms. But "
18127 "that also means that we have time to build awareness around the changes that "
18131 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><para>
18132 #: freeculture.xml:13714
18134 "In this chapter, I outline five kinds of changes: four that are general, and "
18135 "one that's specific to the most heated battle of the day, music. Each is a "
18136 "step, not an end. But any of these steps would carry us a long way to our "
18140 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18141 #: freeculture.xml:13721
18142 msgid "1. More Formalities"
18145 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18146 #: freeculture.xml:13723
18148 "If you buy a house, you have to record the sale in a deed. If you buy land "
18149 "upon which to build a house, you have to record the purchase in a deed. If "
18150 "you buy a car, you get a bill of sale and register the car. If you buy an "
18151 "airplane ticket, it has your name on it."
18155 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18156 #: freeculture.xml:13730
18158 "These are all formalities associated with property. They are requirements "
18159 "that we all must bear if we want our property to be protected."
18162 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18163 #: freeculture.xml:13735
18165 "In contrast, under current copyright law, you automatically get a copyright, "
18166 "regardless of whether you comply with any formality. You don't have to "
18167 "register. You don't even have to mark your content. The default is control, "
18168 "and <quote>formalities</quote> are banished."
18171 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18172 #: freeculture.xml:13741
18176 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18177 #: freeculture.xml:13744
18179 "As I suggested in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
18180 "linkend=\"property-i\"/>, the motivation to abolish formalities was a good "
18181 "one. In the world before digital technologies, formalities imposed a burden "
18182 "on copyright holders without much benefit. Thus, it was progress when the "
18183 "law relaxed the formal requirements that a copyright owner must bear to "
18184 "protect and secure his work. Those formalities were getting in the way."
18187 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18188 #: freeculture.xml:13753
18190 "But the Internet changes all this. Formalities today need not be a "
18191 "burden. Rather, the world without formalities is the world that burdens "
18192 "creativity. Today, there is no simple way to know who owns what, or with "
18193 "whom one must deal in order to use or build upon the creative work of "
18194 "others. There are no records, there is no system to trace— there is no "
18195 "simple way to know how to get permission. Yet given the massive increase in "
18196 "the scope of copyright's rule, getting permission is a necessary step for "
18197 "any work that builds upon our past. And thus, the <emphasis>lack</emphasis> "
18198 "of formalities forces many into silence where they otherwise could speak."
18202 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18203 #: freeculture.xml:13767
18205 "The proposal I am advancing here would apply to American works only. "
18206 "Obviously, I believe it would be beneficial for the same idea to be adopted "
18207 "by other countries as well."
18210 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18211 #: freeculture.xml:13765
18213 "The law should therefore change this requirement<placeholder "
18214 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>—but it should not change it by going back "
18215 "to the old, broken system. We should require formalities, but we should "
18216 "establish a system that will create the incentives to minimize the burden of "
18217 "these formalities."
18220 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18221 #: freeculture.xml:13775
18223 "The important formalities are three: marking copyrighted work, registering "
18224 "copyrights, and renewing the claim to copyright. Traditionally, the first of "
18225 "these three was something the copyright owner did; the second two were "
18226 "something the government did. But a revised system of formalities would "
18227 "banish the government from the process, except for the sole purpose of "
18228 "approving standards developed by others."
18231 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
18232 #: freeculture.xml:13787
18233 msgid "REGISTRATION AND RENEWAL"
18236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18237 #: freeculture.xml:13789
18239 "Under the old system, a copyright owner had to file a registration with the "
18240 "Copyright Office to register or renew a copyright. When filing that "
18241 "registration, the copyright owner paid a fee. As with most government "
18242 "agencies, the Copyright Office had little incentive to minimize the burden "
18243 "of registration; it also had little incentive to minimize the fee. And as "
18244 "the Copyright Office is not a main target of government policymaking, the "
18245 "office has historically been terribly underfunded. Thus, when people who "
18246 "know something about the process hear this idea about formalities, their "
18247 "first reaction is panic—nothing could be worse than forcing people to "
18248 "deal with the mess that is the Copyright Office."
18251 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18252 #: freeculture.xml:13802
18254 "Yet it is always astonishing to me that we, who come from a tradition of "
18255 "extraordinary innovation in governmental design, can no longer think "
18256 "innovatively about how governmental functions can be designed. Just because "
18257 "there is a public purpose to a government role, it doesn't follow that the "
18258 "government must actually administer the role. Instead, we should be creating "
18259 "incentives for private parties to serve the public, subject to standards "
18260 "that the government sets."
18263 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18264 #: freeculture.xml:13811
18266 "In the context of registration, one obvious model is the Internet. There "
18267 "are at least 32 million Web sites registered around the world. Domain name "
18268 "owners for these Web sites have to pay a fee to keep their registration "
18269 "alive. In the main top-level domains (.com, .org, .net), there is a central "
18270 "registry. The actual registrations are, however, performed by many competing "
18271 "registrars. That competition drives the cost of registering down, and more "
18272 "importantly, it drives the ease with which registration occurs up."
18276 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18277 #: freeculture.xml:13821
18279 "We should adopt a similar model for the registration and renewal of "
18280 "copyrights. The Copyright Office may well serve as the central registry, but "
18281 "it should not be in the registrar business. Instead, it should establish a "
18282 "database, and a set of standards for registrars. It should approve "
18283 "registrars that meet its standards. Those registrars would then compete with "
18284 "one another to deliver the cheapest and simplest systems for registering and "
18285 "renewing copyrights. That competition would substantially lower the burden "
18286 "of this formality—while producing a database of registrations that "
18287 "would facilitate the licensing of content."
18290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><title>
18291 #: freeculture.xml:13836
18295 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18296 #: freeculture.xml:13838
18298 "It used to be that the failure to include a copyright notice on a creative "
18299 "work meant that the copyright was forfeited. That was a harsh punishment for "
18300 "failing to comply with a regulatory rule—akin to imposing the death "
18301 "penalty for a parking ticket in the world of creative rights. Here again, "
18302 "there is no reason that a marking requirement needs to be enforced in this "
18303 "way. And more importantly, there is no reason a marking requirement needs to "
18304 "be enforced uniformly across all media."
18307 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18308 #: freeculture.xml:13848
18310 "The aim of marking is to signal to the public that this work is copyrighted "
18311 "and that the author wants to enforce his rights. The mark also makes it easy "
18312 "to locate a copyright owner to secure permission to use the work."
18315 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18316 #: freeculture.xml:13854
18318 "One of the problems the copyright system confronted early on was that "
18319 "different copyrighted works had to be differently marked. It wasn't clear "
18320 "how or where a statue was to be marked, or a record, or a film. A new "
18321 "marking requirement could solve these problems by recognizing the "
18322 "differences in media, and by allowing the system of marking to evolve as "
18323 "technologies enable it to. The system could enable a special signal from the "
18324 "failure to mark—not the loss of the copyright, but the loss of the "
18325 "right to punish someone for failing to get permission first."
18329 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18330 #: freeculture.xml:13871
18332 "There would be a complication with derivative works that I have not solved "
18333 "here. In my view, the law of derivatives creates a more complicated system "
18334 "than is justified by the marginal incentive it creates."
18338 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18339 #: freeculture.xml:13864
18341 "Let's start with the last point. If a copyright owner allows his work to be "
18342 "published without a copyright notice, the consequence of that failure need "
18343 "not be that the copyright is lost. The consequence could instead be that "
18344 "anyone has the right to use this work, until the copyright owner complains "
18345 "and demonstrates that it is his work and he doesn't give "
18346 "permission.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The meaning of an "
18347 "unmarked work would therefore be <quote>use unless someone "
18348 "complains.</quote> If someone does complain, then the obligation would be to "
18349 "stop using the work in any new work from then on though no penalty would "
18350 "attach for existing uses. This would create a strong incentive for "
18351 "copyright owners to mark their work."
18354 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18355 #: freeculture.xml:13884
18357 "That in turn raises the question about how work should best be marked. Here "
18358 "again, the system needs to adjust as the technologies evolve. The best way "
18359 "to ensure that the system evolves is to limit the Copyright Office's role to "
18360 "that of approving standards for marking content that have been crafted "
18364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18365 #: freeculture.xml:13891
18367 "For example, if a recording industry association devises a method for "
18368 "marking CDs, it would propose that to the Copyright Office. The Copyright "
18369 "Office would hold a hearing, at which other proposals could be made. The "
18370 "Copyright Office would then select the proposal that it judged preferable, "
18371 "and it would base that choice <emphasis>solely</emphasis> upon the "
18372 "consideration of which method could best be integrated into the registration "
18373 "and renewal system. We would not count on the government to innovate; but we "
18374 "would count on the government to keep the product of innovation in line with "
18375 "its other important functions."
18378 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18379 #: freeculture.xml:13903
18381 "Finally, marking content clearly would simplify registration requirements. "
18382 "If photographs were marked by author and year, there would be little reason "
18383 "not to allow a photographer to reregister, for example, all photographs "
18384 "taken in a particular year in one quick step. The aim of the formality is "
18385 "not to burden the creator; the system itself should be kept as simple as "
18389 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18390 #: freeculture.xml:13911
18392 "The objective of formalities is to make things clear. The existing system "
18393 "does nothing to make things clear. Indeed, it seems designed to make things "
18397 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><section><para>
18398 #: freeculture.xml:13916
18400 "If formalities such as registration were reinstated, one of the most "
18401 "difficult aspects of relying upon the public domain would be removed. It "
18402 "would be simple to identify what content is presumptively free; it would be "
18403 "simple to identify who controls the rights for a particular kind of content; "
18404 "it would be simple to assert those rights, and to renew that assertion at "
18405 "the appropriate time."
18408 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18409 #: freeculture.xml:13928
18410 msgid "2. Shorter Terms"
18413 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18414 #: freeculture.xml:13930
18416 "The term of copyright has gone from fourteen years to ninety-five years for "
18417 "corporate authors, and life of the author plus seventy years for natural "
18422 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18423 #: freeculture.xml:13943
18425 "<quote>A Radical Rethink,</quote> <citetitle>Economist</citetitle>, 366:8308 "
18426 "(25 January 2003): 15, available at <ulink "
18427 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #74</ulink>."
18430 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18431 #: freeculture.xml:13935
18433 "In <citetitle>The Future of Ideas</citetitle>, I proposed a "
18434 "seventy-five-year term, granted in five-year increments with a requirement "
18435 "of renewal every five years. That seemed radical enough at the time. But "
18436 "after we lost <citetitle>Eldred</citetitle> "
18437 "v. <citetitle>Ashcroft</citetitle>, the proposals became even more "
18438 "radical. <citetitle>The Economist</citetitle> endorsed a proposal for a "
18439 "fourteen-year copyright term.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> "
18440 "Others have proposed tying the term to the term for patents."
18443 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18444 #: freeculture.xml:13950
18446 "I agree with those who believe that we need a radical change in copyright's "
18447 "term. But whether fourteen years or seventy-five, there are four principles "
18448 "that are important to keep in mind about copyright terms."
18452 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18453 #: freeculture.xml:13958
18455 "<emphasis>Keep it short:</emphasis> The term should be as long as necessary "
18456 "to give incentives to create, but no longer. If it were tied to very strong "
18457 "protections for authors (so authors were able to reclaim rights from "
18458 "publishers), rights to the same work (not derivative works) might be "
18459 "extended further. The key is not to tie the work up with legal regulations "
18460 "when it no longer benefits an author."
18465 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18466 #: freeculture.xml:13967
18468 "<emphasis>Keep it simple:</emphasis> The line between the public domain and "
18469 "protected content must be kept clear. Lawyers like the fuzziness of "
18470 "<quote>fair use,</quote> and the distinction between <quote>ideas</quote> "
18471 "and <quote>expression.</quote> That kind of law gives them lots of work. But "
18472 "our framers had a simpler idea in mind: protected versus unprotected. The "
18473 "value of short terms is that there is little need to build exceptions into "
18474 "copyright when the term itself is kept short. A clear and active "
18475 "<quote>lawyer-free zone</quote> makes the complexities of <quote>fair "
18476 "use</quote> and <quote>idea/expression</quote> less necessary to navigate."
18480 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para><footnote><para>
18481 #: freeculture.xml:13988
18483 "Department of Veterans Affairs, Veteran's Application for Compensation "
18484 "and/or Pension, VA Form 21-526 (OMB Approved No. 2900-0001), available at "
18485 "<ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #75</ulink>."
18488 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para><indexterm><primary>
18489 #: freeculture.xml:13996
18490 msgid "veterans' pensions"
18493 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18494 #: freeculture.xml:13980
18496 "<emphasis>Keep it alive:</emphasis> Copyright should have to be renewed. "
18497 "Especially if the maximum term is long, the copyright owner should be "
18498 "required to signal periodically that he wants the protection continued. This "
18499 "need not be an onerous burden, but there is no reason this monopoly "
18500 "protection has to be granted for free. On average, it takes ninety minutes "
18501 "for a veteran to apply for a pension.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
18502 "id=\"0\"/> If we make veterans suffer that burden, I don't see why we "
18503 "couldn't require authors to spend ten minutes every fifty years to file a "
18504 "single form. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
18508 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18509 #: freeculture.xml:14000
18511 "<emphasis>Keep it prospective:</emphasis> Whatever the term of copyright "
18512 "should be, the clearest lesson that economists teach is that a term once "
18513 "given should not be extended. It might have been a mistake in 1923 for the "
18514 "law to offer authors only a fifty-six-year term. I don't think so, but it's "
18515 "possible. If it was a mistake, then the consequence was that we got fewer "
18516 "authors to create in 1923 than we otherwise would have. But we can't correct "
18517 "that mistake today by increasing the term. No matter what we do today, we "
18518 "will not increase the number of authors who wrote in 1923. Of course, we can "
18519 "increase the reward that those who write now get (or alternatively, increase "
18520 "the copyright burden that smothers many works that are today invisible). But "
18521 "increasing their reward will not increase their creativity in 1923. What's "
18522 "not done is not done, and there's nothing we can do about that now."
18525 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18526 #: freeculture.xml:14016
18528 "These changes together should produce an <emphasis>average</emphasis> "
18529 "copyright term that is much shorter than the current term. Until 1976, the "
18530 "average term was just 32.2 years. We should be aiming for the same."
18533 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18534 #: freeculture.xml:14022
18536 "No doubt the extremists will call these ideas <quote>radical.</quote> (After "
18537 "all, I call them <quote>extremists.</quote>) But again, the term I "
18538 "recommended was longer than the term under Richard Nixon. How "
18539 "<quote>radical</quote> can it be to ask for a more generous copyright law "
18540 "than Richard Nixon presided over?"
18543 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18544 #: freeculture.xml:14032
18545 msgid "3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use"
18548 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18549 #: freeculture.xml:14039
18551 "As I observed at the beginning of this book, property law originally granted "
18552 "property owners the right to control their property from the ground to the "
18553 "heavens. The airplane came along. The scope of property rights quickly "
18554 "changed. There was no fuss, no constitutional challenge. It made no sense "
18555 "anymore to grant that much control, given the emergence of that new "
18559 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18560 #: freeculture.xml:14047
18562 "Our Constitution gives Congress the power to give authors <quote>exclusive "
18563 "right</quote> to <quote>their writings.</quote> Congress has given authors "
18564 "an exclusive right to <quote>their writings</quote> plus any derivative "
18565 "writings (made by others) that are sufficiently close to the author's "
18566 "original work. Thus, if I write a book, and you base a movie on that book, I "
18567 "have the power to deny you the right to release that movie, even though that "
18568 "movie is not <quote>my writing.</quote>"
18572 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18573 #: freeculture.xml:14060
18575 "Benjamin Kaplan, <citetitle>An Unhurried View of Copyright</citetitle> (New "
18576 "York: Columbia University Press, 1967), 32."
18579 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
18580 #: freeculture.xml:14066
18581 msgid "Kaplan, Benjamin"
18584 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18585 #: freeculture.xml:14056
18587 "Congress granted the beginnings of this right in 1870, when it expanded the "
18588 "exclusive right of copyright to include a right to control translations and "
18589 "dramatizations of a work.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> The "
18590 "courts have expanded it slowly through judicial interpretation ever "
18591 "since. This expansion has been commented upon by one of the law's greatest "
18592 "judges, Judge Benjamin Kaplan. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/>"
18596 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para><footnote><para>
18597 #: freeculture.xml:14074
18601 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><blockquote><para>
18602 #: freeculture.xml:14070
18604 "So inured have we become to the extension of the monopoly to a large range "
18605 "of so-called derivative works, that we no longer sense the oddity of "
18606 "accepting such an enlargement of copyright while yet intoning the "
18607 "abracadabra of idea and expression.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18610 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18611 #: freeculture.xml:14079
18613 "I think it's time to recognize that there are airplanes in this field and "
18614 "the expansiveness of these rights of derivative use no longer make "
18615 "sense. More precisely, they don't make sense for the period of time that a "
18616 "copyright runs. And they don't make sense as an amorphous grant. Consider "
18617 "each limitation in turn."
18620 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18621 #: freeculture.xml:14086
18623 "<emphasis>Term:</emphasis> If Congress wants to grant a derivative right, "
18624 "then that right should be for a much shorter term. It makes sense to protect "
18625 "John Grisham's right to sell the movie rights to his latest novel (or at "
18626 "least I'm willing to assume it does); but it does not make sense for that "
18627 "right to run for the same term as the underlying copyright. The derivative "
18628 "right could be important in inducing creativity; it is not important long "
18629 "after the creative work is done. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18632 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18633 #: freeculture.xml:14099
18635 "<emphasis>Scope:</emphasis> Likewise should the scope of derivative rights "
18636 "be narrowed. Again, there are some cases in which derivative rights are "
18637 "important. Those should be specified. But the law should draw clear lines "
18638 "around regulated and unregulated uses of copyrighted material. When all "
18639 "<quote>reuse</quote> of creative material was within the control of "
18640 "businesses, perhaps it made sense to require lawyers to negotiate the "
18641 "lines. It no longer makes sense for lawyers to negotiate the lines. Think "
18642 "about all the creative possibilities that digital technologies enable; now "
18643 "imagine pouring molasses into the machines. That's what this general "
18644 "requirement of permission does to the creative process. Smothers it."
18647 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18648 #: freeculture.xml:14113
18650 "This was the point that Alben made when describing the making of the Clint "
18651 "Eastwood CD. While it makes sense to require negotiation for foreseeable "
18652 "derivative rights—turning a book into a movie, or a poem into a "
18653 "musical score—it doesn't make sense to require negotiation for the "
18654 "unforeseeable. Here, a statutory right would make much more sense."
18657 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
18658 #: freeculture.xml:14129
18659 msgid "Goldstein, Paul"
18662 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18663 #: freeculture.xml:14127
18665 "Paul Goldstein, <citetitle>Copyright's Highway: From Gutenberg to the "
18666 "Celestial Jukebox</citetitle> (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003), "
18667 "187–216. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
18670 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18671 #: freeculture.xml:14121
18673 "In each of these cases, the law should mark the uses that are protected, and "
18674 "the presumption should be that other uses are not protected. This is the "
18675 "reverse of the recommendation of my colleague Paul Goldstein.<placeholder "
18676 "type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> His view is that the law should be written so "
18677 "that expanded protections follow expanded uses."
18680 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18681 #: freeculture.xml:14135
18683 "Goldstein's analysis would make perfect sense if the cost of the legal "
18684 "system were small. But as we are currently seeing in the context of the "
18685 "Internet, the uncertainty about the scope of protection, and the incentives "
18686 "to protect existing architectures of revenue, combined with a strong "
18687 "copyright, weaken the process of innovation."
18691 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18692 #: freeculture.xml:14142
18694 "The law could remedy this problem either by removing protection beyond the "
18695 "part explicitly drawn or by granting reuse rights upon certain statutory "
18696 "conditions. Either way, the effect would be to free a great deal of culture "
18697 "to others to cultivate. And under a statutory rights regime, that reuse "
18698 "would earn artists more income."
18701 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
18702 #: freeculture.xml:14152
18703 msgid "4. Liberate the Music—Again"
18706 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18707 #: freeculture.xml:14154
18709 "The battle that got this whole war going was about music, so it wouldn't be "
18710 "fair to end this book without addressing the issue that is, to most people, "
18711 "most pressing—music. There is no other policy issue that better "
18712 "teaches the lessons of this book than the battles around the sharing of "
18716 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18717 #: freeculture.xml:14161
18719 "The appeal of file-sharing music was the crack cocaine of the Internet's "
18720 "growth. It drove demand for access to the Internet more powerfully than any "
18721 "other single application. It was the Internet's killer app—possibly in "
18722 "two senses of that word. It no doubt was the application that drove demand "
18723 "for bandwidth. It may well be the application that drives demand for "
18724 "regulations that in the end kill innovation on the network."
18727 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18728 #: freeculture.xml:14170
18730 "The aim of copyright, with respect to content in general and music in "
18731 "particular, is to create the incentives for music to be composed, performed, "
18732 "and, most importantly, spread. The law does this by giving an exclusive "
18733 "right to a composer to control public performances of his work, and to a "
18734 "performing artist to control copies of her performance."
18737 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18738 #: freeculture.xml:14177
18740 "File-sharing networks complicate this model by enabling the spread of "
18741 "content for which the performer has not been paid. But of course, that's not "
18742 "all the file-sharing networks do. As I described in chapter <xref "
18743 "xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" linkend=\"piracy\"/>, they enable four "
18744 "different kinds of sharing:"
18748 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18749 #: freeculture.xml:14186
18751 "There are some who are using sharing networks as substitutes for purchasing "
18756 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18757 #: freeculture.xml:14191
18759 "There are also some who are using sharing networks to sample, on the way to "
18765 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18766 #: freeculture.xml:14197
18768 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
18769 "that is no longer sold but is still under copyright or that would have been "
18770 "too cumbersome to buy off the Net."
18774 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
18775 #: freeculture.xml:14203
18777 "There are many who are using file-sharing networks to get access to content "
18778 "that is not copyrighted or to get access that the copyright owner plainly "
18782 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18783 #: freeculture.xml:14209
18785 "Any reform of the law needs to keep these different uses in focus. It must "
18786 "avoid burdening type D even if it aims to eliminate type A. The eagerness "
18787 "with which the law aims to eliminate type A, moreover, should depend upon "
18788 "the magnitude of type B. As with VCRs, if the net effect of sharing is "
18789 "actually not very harmful, the need for regulation is significantly "
18793 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18794 #: freeculture.xml:14217
18796 "As I said in chapter <xref xrefstyle=\"select: labelnumber\" "
18797 "linkend=\"piracy\"/>, the actual harm caused by sharing is controversial. "
18798 "For the purposes of this chapter, however, I assume the harm is real. I "
18799 "assume, in other words, that type A sharing is significantly greater than "
18800 "type B, and is the dominant use of sharing networks."
18803 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18804 #: freeculture.xml:14225
18806 "Nonetheless, there is a crucial fact about the current technological context "
18807 "that we must keep in mind if we are to understand how the law should "
18811 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18812 #: freeculture.xml:14230
18814 "Today, file sharing is addictive. In ten years, it won't be. It is addictive "
18815 "today because it is the easiest way to gain access to a broad range of "
18816 "content. It won't be the easiest way to get access to a broad range of "
18817 "content in ten years. Today, access to the Internet is cumbersome and "
18818 "slow—we in the United States are lucky to have broadband service at "
18819 "1.5 MBs, and very rarely do we get service at that speed both up and "
18820 "down. Although wireless access is growing, most of us still get access "
18821 "across wires. Most only gain access through a machine with a keyboard. The "
18822 "idea of the always on, always connected Internet is mainly just an idea."
18826 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18827 #: freeculture.xml:14242
18829 "But it will become a reality, and that means the way we get access to the "
18830 "Internet today is a technology in transition. Policy makers should not make "
18831 "policy on the basis of technology in transition. They should make policy on "
18832 "the basis of where the technology is going. The question should not be, how "
18833 "should the law regulate sharing in this world? The question should be, what "
18834 "law will we require when the network becomes the network it is clearly "
18835 "becoming? That network is one in which every machine with electricity is "
18836 "essentially on the Net; where everywhere you are—except maybe the "
18837 "desert or the Rockies—you can instantaneously be connected to the "
18838 "Internet. Imagine the Internet as ubiquitous as the best cell-phone service, "
18839 "where with the flip of a device, you are connected."
18842 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><indexterm><primary>
18843 #: freeculture.xml:14256
18844 msgid "cell phones, music streamed over"
18848 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
18849 #: freeculture.xml:14276
18851 "See, for example, <quote>Music Media Watch,</quote> The J@pan "
18852 "Inc. Newsletter, 3 April 2002, available at <ulink "
18853 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #76</ulink>."
18856 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18857 #: freeculture.xml:14258
18859 "In that world, it will be extremely easy to connect to services that give "
18860 "you access to content on the fly—such as Internet radio, content that "
18861 "is streamed to the user when the user demands. Here, then, is the critical "
18862 "point: When it is <emphasis>extremely</emphasis> easy to connect to services "
18863 "that give access to content, it will be <emphasis>easier</emphasis> to "
18864 "connect to services that give you access to content than it will be to "
18865 "download and store content <emphasis>on the many devices you will have for "
18866 "playing content</emphasis>. It will be easier, in other words, to subscribe "
18867 "than it will be to be a database manager, as everyone in the "
18868 "download-sharing world of Napster-like technologies essentially is. Content "
18869 "services will compete with content sharing, even if the services charge "
18870 "money for the content they give access to. Already cell-phone services in "
18871 "Japan offer music (for a fee) streamed over cell phones (enhanced with plugs "
18872 "for headphones). The Japanese are paying for this content even though "
18873 "<quote>free</quote> content is available in the form of MP3s across the "
18874 "Web.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
18878 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18879 #: freeculture.xml:14283
18881 "This point about the future is meant to suggest a perspective on the "
18882 "present: It is emphatically temporary. The <quote>problem</quote> with file "
18883 "sharing—to the extent there is a real problem—is a problem that "
18884 "will increasingly disappear as it becomes easier to connect to the "
18885 "Internet. And thus it is an extraordinary mistake for policy makers today "
18886 "to be <quote>solving</quote> this problem in light of a technology that will "
18887 "be gone tomorrow. The question should not be how to regulate the Internet "
18888 "to eliminate file sharing (the Net will evolve that problem away). The "
18889 "question instead should be how to assure that artists get paid, during this "
18890 "transition between twentieth-century models for doing business and "
18891 "twenty-first-century technologies."
18894 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18895 #: freeculture.xml:14299
18897 "The answer begins with recognizing that there are different "
18898 "<quote>problems</quote> here to solve. Let's start with type D "
18899 "content—uncopyrighted content or copyrighted content that the artist "
18900 "wants shared. The <quote>problem</quote> with this content is to make sure "
18901 "that the technology that would enable this kind of sharing is not rendered "
18902 "illegal. You can think of it this way: Pay phones are used to deliver ransom "
18903 "demands, no doubt. But there are many who need to use pay phones who have "
18904 "nothing to do with ransoms. It would be wrong to ban pay phones in order to "
18905 "eliminate kidnapping."
18908 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18909 #: freeculture.xml:14310
18911 "Type C content raises a different <quote>problem.</quote> This is content "
18912 "that was, at one time, published and is no longer available. It may be "
18913 "unavailable because the artist is no longer valuable enough for the record "
18914 "label he signed with to carry his work. Or it may be unavailable because the "
18915 "work is forgotten. Either way, the aim of the law should be to facilitate "
18916 "the access to this content, ideally in a way that returns something to the "
18920 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18921 #: freeculture.xml:14319
18923 "Again, the model here is the used book store. Once a book goes out of print, "
18924 "it may still be available in libraries and used book stores. But libraries "
18925 "and used book stores don't pay the copyright owner when someone reads or "
18926 "buys an out-of-print book. That makes total sense, of course, since any "
18927 "other system would be so burdensome as to eliminate the possibility of used "
18928 "book stores' existing. But from the author's perspective, this "
18929 "<quote>sharing</quote> of his content without his being compensated is less "
18933 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18934 #: freeculture.xml:14329
18936 "The model of used book stores suggests that the law could simply deem "
18937 "out-of-print music fair game. If the publisher does not make copies of the "
18938 "music available for sale, then commercial and noncommercial providers would "
18939 "be free, under this rule, to <quote>share</quote> that content, even though "
18940 "the sharing involved making a copy. The copy here would be incidental to the "
18941 "trade; in a context where commercial publishing has ended, trading music "
18942 "should be as free as trading books."
18946 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18947 #: freeculture.xml:14340
18949 "Alternatively, the law could create a statutory license that would ensure "
18950 "that artists get something from the trade of their work. For example, if the "
18951 "law set a low statutory rate for the commercial sharing of content that was "
18952 "not offered for sale by a commercial publisher, and if that rate were "
18953 "automatically transferred to a trust for the benefit of the artist, then "
18954 "businesses could develop around the idea of trading this content, and "
18955 "artists would benefit from this trade."
18958 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18959 #: freeculture.xml:14350
18961 "This system would also create an incentive for publishers to keep works "
18962 "available commercially. Works that are available commercially would not be "
18963 "subject to this license. Thus, publishers could protect the right to charge "
18964 "whatever they want for content if they kept the work commercially "
18965 "available. But if they don't keep it available, and instead, the computer "
18966 "hard disks of fans around the world keep it alive, then any royalty owed for "
18967 "such copying should be much less than the amount owed a commercial "
18971 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18972 #: freeculture.xml:14360
18974 "The hard case is content of types A and B, and again, this case is hard only "
18975 "because the extent of the problem will change over time, as the technologies "
18976 "for gaining access to content change. The law's solution should be as "
18977 "flexible as the problem is, understanding that we are in the middle of a "
18978 "radical transformation in the technology for delivering and accessing "
18982 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18983 #: freeculture.xml:14368
18985 "So here's a solution that will at first seem very strange to both sides in "
18986 "this war, but which upon reflection, I suggest, should make some sense."
18989 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
18990 #: freeculture.xml:14372
18992 "Stripped of the rhetoric about the sanctity of property, the basic claim of "
18993 "the content industry is this: A new technology (the Internet) has harmed a "
18994 "set of rights that secure copyright. If those rights are to be protected, "
18995 "then the content industry should be compensated for that harm. Just as the "
18996 "technology of tobacco harmed the health of millions of Americans, or the "
18997 "technology of asbestos caused grave illness to thousands of miners, so, too, "
18998 "has the technology of digital networks harmed the interests of the content "
19003 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19004 #: freeculture.xml:14383
19006 "I love the Internet, and so I don't like likening it to tobacco or "
19007 "asbestos. But the analogy is a fair one from the perspective of the law. "
19008 "And it suggests a fair response: Rather than seeking to destroy the "
19009 "Internet, or the p2p technologies that are currently harming content "
19010 "providers on the Internet, we should find a relatively simple way to "
19011 "compensate those who are harmed."
19014 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para><indexterm><primary>
19015 #: freeculture.xml:14432
19016 msgid "Fisher, William"
19019 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><indexterm><primary>
19020 #: freeculture.xml:14434 freeculture.xml:14461
19021 msgid "Promises to Keep (Fisher)"
19024 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19025 #: freeculture.xml:14395
19027 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/> William Fisher, "
19028 "<citetitle>Digital Music: Problems and Possibilities</citetitle> (last "
19029 "revised: 10 October 2000), available at <ulink "
19030 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #77</ulink>; William Fisher, "
19031 "<citetitle>Promises to Keep: Technology, Law, and the Future of "
19032 "Entertainment</citetitle> (forthcoming) (Stanford: Stanford University "
19033 "Press, 2004), ch. 6, available at <ulink "
19034 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #78</ulink>. Professor Netanel "
19035 "has proposed a related idea that would exempt noncommercial sharing from the "
19036 "reach of copyright and would establish compensation to artists to balance "
19037 "any loss. See Neil Weinstock Netanel, <quote>Impose a Noncommercial Use Levy "
19038 "to Allow Free P2P File Sharing,</quote> available at <ulink "
19039 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #79</ulink>. For other proposals, "
19040 "see Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Who's Holding Back Broadband?</quote> "
19041 "<citetitle>Washington Post</citetitle>, 8 January 2002, A17; Philip "
19042 "S. Corwin on behalf of Sharman Networks, A Letter to Senator Joseph "
19043 "R. Biden, Jr., Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 26 "
19044 "February 2002, available at <ulink "
19045 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #80</ulink>; Serguei Osokine, "
19046 "<citetitle>A Quick Case for Intellectual Property Use Fee "
19047 "(IPUF)</citetitle>, 3 March 2002, available at <ulink "
19048 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #81</ulink>; Jefferson Graham, "
19049 "<quote>Kazaa, Verizon Propose to Pay Artists Directly,</quote> "
19050 "<citetitle>USA Today</citetitle>, 13 May 2002, available at <ulink "
19051 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #82</ulink>; Steven M. Cherry, "
19052 "<quote>Getting Copyright Right,</quote> IEEE Spectrum Online, 1 July 2002, "
19053 "available at <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #83</ulink>; "
19054 "Declan McCullagh, <quote>Verizon's Copyright Campaign,</quote> CNET "
19055 "News.com, 27 August 2002, available at <ulink "
19056 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #84</ulink>. Fisher's proposal "
19057 "is very similar to Richard Stallman's proposal for DAT. Unlike Fisher's, "
19058 "Stallman's proposal would not pay artists directly proportionally, though "
19059 "more popular artists would get more than the less popular. As is typical "
19060 "with Stallman, his proposal predates the current debate by about a "
19061 "decade. See <ulink url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #85</ulink>. "
19062 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"1\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
19063 "id=\"2\"/> <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"3\"/>"
19066 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19067 #: freeculture.xml:14391
19069 "The idea would be a modification of a proposal that has been floated by "
19070 "Harvard law professor William Fisher.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" "
19071 "id=\"0\"/> Fisher suggests a very clever way around the current impasse of "
19072 "the Internet. Under his plan, all content capable of digital transmission "
19073 "would (1) be marked with a digital watermark (don't worry about how easy it "
19074 "is to evade these marks; as you'll see, there's no incentive to evade "
19075 "them). Once the content is marked, then entrepreneurs would develop (2) "
19076 "systems to monitor how many items of each content were distributed. On the "
19077 "basis of those numbers, then (3) artists would be compensated. The "
19078 "compensation would be paid for by (4) an appropriate tax."
19081 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19082 #: freeculture.xml:14448
19084 "Fisher's proposal is careful and comprehensive. It raises a million "
19085 "questions, most of which he answers well in his upcoming book, "
19086 "<citetitle>Promises to Keep</citetitle>. The modification that I would make "
19087 "is relatively simple: Fisher imagines his proposal replacing the existing "
19088 "copyright system. I imagine it complementing the existing system. The aim "
19089 "of the proposal would be to facilitate compensation to the extent that harm "
19090 "could be shown. This compensation would be temporary, aimed at facilitating "
19091 "a transition between regimes. And it would require renewal after a period of "
19092 "years. If it continues to make sense to facilitate free exchange of content, "
19093 "supported through a taxation system, then it can be continued. If this form "
19094 "of protection is no longer necessary, then the system could lapse into the "
19095 "old system of controlling access. <placeholder type=\"indexterm\" "
19100 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19101 #: freeculture.xml:14468
19103 "Fisher would balk at the idea of allowing the system to lapse. His aim is "
19104 "not just to ensure that artists are paid, but also to ensure that the system "
19105 "supports the widest range of <quote>semiotic democracy</quote> possible. But "
19106 "the aims of semiotic democracy would be satisfied if the other changes I "
19107 "described were accomplished—in particular, the limits on derivative "
19108 "uses. A system that simply charges for access would not greatly burden "
19109 "semiotic democracy if there were few limitations on what one was allowed to "
19110 "do with the content itself."
19113 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19114 #: freeculture.xml:14482
19116 "No doubt it would be difficult to calculate the proper measure of "
19117 "<quote>harm</quote> to an industry. But the difficulty of making that "
19118 "calculation would be outweighed by the benefit of facilitating "
19119 "innovation. This background system to compensate would also not need to "
19120 "interfere with innovative proposals such as Apple's MusicStore. As experts "
19121 "predicted when Apple launched the MusicStore, it could beat "
19122 "<quote>free</quote> by being easier than free is. This has proven correct: "
19123 "Apple has sold millions of songs at even the very high price of 99 cents a "
19124 "song. (At 99 cents, the cost is the equivalent of a per-song CD price, "
19125 "though the labels have none of the costs of a CD to pay.) Apple's move was "
19126 "countered by Real Networks, offering music at just 79 cents a song. And no "
19127 "doubt there will be a great deal of competition to offer and sell music "
19131 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19132 #: freeculture.xml:14498
19134 "This competition has already occurred against the background of "
19135 "<quote>free</quote> music from p2p systems. As the sellers of cable "
19136 "television have known for thirty years, and the sellers of bottled water for "
19137 "much more than that, there is nothing impossible at all about "
19138 "<quote>competing with free.</quote> Indeed, if anything, the competition "
19139 "spurs the competitors to offer new and better products. This is precisely "
19140 "what the competitive market was to be about. Thus in Singapore, though "
19141 "piracy is rampant, movie theaters are often luxurious—with "
19142 "<quote>first class</quote> seats, and meals served while you watch a "
19143 "movie—as they struggle and succeed in finding ways to compete with "
19144 "<quote>free.</quote>"
19147 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19148 #: freeculture.xml:14510
19150 "This regime of competition, with a backstop to assure that artists don't "
19151 "lose, would facilitate a great deal of innovation in the delivery of "
19152 "content. That competition would continue to shrink type A sharing. It would "
19153 "inspire an extraordinary range of new innovators—ones who would have a "
19154 "right to the content, and would no longer fear the uncertain and "
19155 "barbarically severe punishments of the law."
19158 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19159 #: freeculture.xml:14519
19160 msgid "In summary, then, my proposal is this:"
19164 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19165 #: freeculture.xml:14524
19167 "The Internet is in transition. We should not be regulating a technology in "
19168 "transition. We should instead be regulating to minimize the harm to "
19169 "interests affected by this technological change, while enabling, and "
19170 "encouraging, the most efficient technology we can create."
19173 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19174 #: freeculture.xml:14531
19175 msgid "We can minimize that harm while maximizing the benefit to innovation by"
19179 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
19180 #: freeculture.xml:14537
19181 msgid "guaranteeing the right to engage in type D sharing;"
19185 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
19186 #: freeculture.xml:14541
19188 "permitting noncommercial type C sharing without liability, and commercial "
19189 "type C sharing at a low and fixed rate set by statute;"
19193 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><orderedlist><listitem><para>
19194 #: freeculture.xml:14547
19196 "while in this transition, taxing and compensating for type A sharing, to the "
19197 "extent actual harm is demonstrated."
19200 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19201 #: freeculture.xml:14552
19203 "But what if <quote>piracy</quote> doesn't disappear? What if there is a "
19204 "competitive market providing content at a low cost, but a significant number "
19205 "of consumers continue to <quote>take</quote> content for nothing? Should the "
19206 "law do something then?"
19209 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19210 #: freeculture.xml:14558
19212 "Yes, it should. But, again, what it should do depends upon how the facts "
19213 "develop. These changes may not eliminate type A sharing. But the real issue "
19214 "is not whether it eliminates sharing in the abstract. The real issue is its "
19215 "effect on the market. Is it better (a) to have a technology that is 95 "
19216 "percent secure and produces a market of size <citetitle>x</citetitle>, or "
19217 "(b) to have a technology that is 50 percent secure but produces a market of "
19218 "five times <citetitle>x</citetitle>? Less secure might produce more "
19219 "unauthorized sharing, but it is likely to also produce a much bigger market "
19220 "in authorized sharing. The most important thing is to assure artists' "
19221 "compensation without breaking the Internet. Once that's assured, then it may "
19222 "well be appropriate to find ways to track down the petty pirates."
19226 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19227 #: freeculture.xml:14572
19229 "But we're a long way away from whittling the problem down to this subset of "
19230 "type A sharers. And our focus until we're there should not be on finding "
19231 "ways to break the Internet. Our focus until we're there should be on how to "
19232 "make sure the artists are paid, while protecting the space for innovation "
19233 "and creativity that the Internet is."
19236 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><title>
19237 #: freeculture.xml:14583
19238 msgid "5. Fire Lots of Lawyers"
19241 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19242 #: freeculture.xml:14585
19244 "I'm a lawyer. I make lawyers for a living. I believe in the law. I believe "
19245 "in the law of copyright. Indeed, I have devoted my life to working in law, "
19246 "not because there are big bucks at the end but because there are ideals at "
19247 "the end that I would love to live."
19250 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19251 #: freeculture.xml:14591
19253 "Yet much of this book has been a criticism of lawyers, or the role lawyers "
19254 "have played in this debate. The law speaks to ideals, but it is my view that "
19255 "our profession has become too attuned to the client. And in a world where "
19256 "the rich clients have one strong view, the unwillingness of the profession "
19257 "to question or counter that one strong view queers the law."
19261 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19262 #: freeculture.xml:14608
19264 "Lawrence Lessig, <quote>Copyright's First Amendment</quote> (Melville "
19265 "B. Nimmer Memorial Lecture), <citetitle>UCLA Law Review</citetitle> 48 "
19266 "(2001): 1057, 1069–70."
19269 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19270 #: freeculture.xml:14599
19272 "The evidence of this bending is compelling. I'm attacked as a "
19273 "<quote>radical</quote> by many within the profession, yet the positions that "
19274 "I am advocating are precisely the positions of some of the most moderate and "
19275 "significant figures in the history of this branch of the law. Many, for "
19276 "example, thought crazy the challenge that we brought to the Copyright Term "
19277 "Extension Act. Yet just thirty years ago, the dominant scholar and "
19278 "practitioner in the field of copyright, Melville Nimmer, thought it "
19279 "obvious.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/>"
19282 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19283 #: freeculture.xml:14614
19285 "However, my criticism of the role that lawyers have played in this debate is "
19286 "not just about a professional bias. It is more importantly about our failure "
19287 "to actually reckon the costs of the law."
19290 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para><footnote><para>
19291 #: freeculture.xml:14624
19293 "A good example is the work of Professor Stan Liebowitz. Liebowitz is to be "
19294 "commended for his careful review of data about infringement, leading him to "
19295 "question his own publicly stated position—twice. He initially "
19296 "predicted that downloading would substantially harm the industry. He then "
19297 "revised his view in light of the data, and he has since revised his view "
19298 "again. Compare Stan J. Liebowitz, <citetitle>Rethinking the Network "
19299 "Economy: The True Forces That Drive the Digital Marketplace</citetitle> (New "
19300 "York: Amacom, 2002), (reviewing his original view but expressing skepticism) "
19301 "with Stan J. Liebowitz, <quote>Will MP3s Annihilate the Record "
19302 "Industry?</quote> working paper, June 2003, available at <ulink "
19303 "url=\"http://free-culture.cc/notes/\">link #86</ulink>. Liebowitz's careful "
19304 "analysis is extremely valuable in estimating the effect of file-sharing "
19305 "technology. In my view, however, he underestimates the costs of the legal "
19306 "system. See, for example, <citetitle>Rethinking</citetitle>, 174–76. "
19307 "<placeholder type=\"indexterm\" id=\"0\"/>"
19310 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19311 #: freeculture.xml:14619
19313 "Economists are supposed to be good at reckoning costs and benefits. But "
19314 "more often than not, economists, with no clue about how the legal system "
19315 "actually functions, simply assume that the transaction costs of the legal "
19316 "system are slight.<placeholder type=\"footnote\" id=\"0\"/> They see a "
19317 "system that has been around for hundreds of years, and they assume it works "
19318 "the way their elementary school civics class taught them it works."
19322 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19323 #: freeculture.xml:14648
19325 "But the legal system doesn't work. Or more accurately, it doesn't work for "
19326 "anyone except those with the most resources. Not because the system is "
19327 "corrupt. I don't think our legal system (at the federal level, at least) is "
19328 "at all corrupt. I mean simply because the costs of our legal system are so "
19329 "astonishingly high that justice can practically never be done."
19332 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19333 #: freeculture.xml:14656
19335 "These costs distort free culture in many ways. A lawyer's time is billed at "
19336 "the largest firms at more than $400 per hour. How much time should such a "
19337 "lawyer spend reading cases carefully, or researching obscure strands of "
19338 "authority? The answer is the increasing reality: very little. The law "
19339 "depended upon the careful articulation and development of doctrine, but the "
19340 "careful articulation and development of legal doctrine depends upon careful "
19341 "work. Yet that careful work costs too much, except in the most high-profile "
19342 "and costly cases."
19345 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19346 #: freeculture.xml:14666
19348 "The costliness and clumsiness and randomness of this system mock our "
19349 "tradition. And lawyers, as well as academics, should consider it their duty "
19350 "to change the way the law works—or better, to change the law so that "
19351 "it works. It is wrong that the system works well only for the top 1 percent "
19352 "of the clients. It could be made radically more efficient, and inexpensive, "
19353 "and hence radically more just."
19356 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19357 #: freeculture.xml:14674
19359 "But until that reform is complete, we as a society should keep the law away "
19360 "from areas that we know it will only harm. And that is precisely what the "
19361 "law will too often do if too much of our culture is left to its review."
19364 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19365 #: freeculture.xml:14681
19367 "Think about the amazing things your kid could do or make with digital "
19368 "technology—the film, the music, the Web page, the blog. Or think about "
19369 "the amazing things your community could facilitate with digital "
19370 "technology—a wiki, a barn raising, activism to change something. "
19371 "Think about all those creative things, and then imagine cold molasses poured "
19372 "onto the machines. This is what any regime that requires permission "
19373 "produces. Again, this is the reality of Brezhnev's Russia."
19377 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19378 #: freeculture.xml:14690
19380 "The law should regulate in certain areas of culture—but it should "
19381 "regulate culture only where that regulation does good. Yet lawyers rarely "
19382 "test their power, or the power they promote, against this simple pragmatic "
19383 "question: <quote>Will it do good?</quote> When challenged about the "
19384 "expanding reach of the law, the lawyer answers, <quote>Why not?</quote>"
19387 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><section><section><para>
19388 #: freeculture.xml:14699
19390 "We should ask, <quote>Why?</quote> Show me why your regulation of culture is "
19391 "needed. Show me how it does good. And until you can show me both, keep your "
19395 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
19396 #: freeculture.xml:14708
19400 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19401 #: freeculture.xml:14710
19403 "Throughout this text, there are references to links on the World Wide "
19404 "Web. As anyone who has tried to use the Web knows, these links can be highly "
19405 "unstable. I have tried to remedy the instability by redirecting readers to "
19406 "the original source through the Web site associated with this book. For each "
19407 "link below, you can go to http://free-culture.cc/notes and locate the "
19408 "original source by clicking on the number after the # sign. If the original "
19409 "link remains alive, you will be redirected to that link. If the original "
19410 "link has disappeared, you will be redirected to an appropriate reference for "
19414 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><title>
19415 #: freeculture.xml:14725
19416 msgid "ACKNOWLEDGMENTS"
19419 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19420 #: freeculture.xml:14727
19422 "This book is the product of a long and as yet unsuccessful struggle that "
19423 "began when I read of Eric Eldred's war to keep books free. Eldred's work "
19424 "helped launch a movement, the free culture movement, and it is to him that "
19425 "this book is dedicated."
19428 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19429 #: freeculture.xml:14734
19431 "I received guidance in various places from friends and academics, including "
19432 "Glenn Brown, Peter DiCola, Jennifer Mnookin, Richard Posner, Mark Rose, and "
19433 "Kathleen Sullivan. And I received correction and guidance from many amazing "
19434 "students at Stanford Law School and Stanford University. They included "
19435 "Andrew B. Coan, John Eden, James P. Fellers, Christopher Guzelian, Erica "
19436 "Goldberg, Robert Hallman, Andrew Harris, Matthew Kahn, Brian Link, Ohad "
19437 "Mayblum, Alina Ng, and Erica Platt. I am particularly grateful to Catherine "
19438 "Crump and Harry Surden, who helped direct their research, and to Laura "
19439 "Lynch, who brilliantly managed the army that they assembled, and provided "
19440 "her own critical eye on much of this."
19444 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19445 #: freeculture.xml:14747
19447 "Yuko Noguchi helped me to understand the laws of Japan as well as its "
19448 "culture. I am thankful to her, and to the many in Japan who helped me "
19449 "prepare this book: Joi Ito, Takayuki Matsutani, Naoto Misaki, Michihiro "
19450 "Sasaki, Hiromichi Tanaka, Hiroo Yamagata, and Yoshihiro Yonezawa. I am "
19451 "thankful as well as to Professor Nobuhiro Nakayama, and the Tokyo University "
19452 "Business Law Center, for giving me the chance to spend time in Japan, and to "
19453 "Tadashi Shiraishi and Kiyokazu Yamagami for their generous help while I was "
19457 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19458 #: freeculture.xml:14758
19460 "These are the traditional sorts of help that academics regularly draw "
19461 "upon. But in addition to them, the Internet has made it possible to receive "
19462 "advice and correction from many whom I have never even met. Among those who "
19463 "have responded with extremely helpful advice to requests on my blog about "
19464 "the book are Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, David Gerstein, and Peter DiMauro, as "
19465 "well as a long list of those who had specific ideas about ways to develop my "
19466 "argument. They included Richard Bondi, Steven Cherry, David Coe, Nik "
19467 "Cubrilovic, Bob Devine, Charles Eicher, Thomas Guida, Elihu M. Gerson, "
19468 "Jeremy Hunsinger, Vaughn Iverson, John Karabaic, Jeff Keltner, James "
19469 "Lindenschmidt, K. L. Mann, Mark Manning, Nora McCauley, Jeffrey McHugh, Evan "
19470 "McMullen, Fred Norton, John Pormann, Pedro A. D. Rezende, Shabbir Safdar, "
19471 "Saul Schleimer, Clay Shirky, Adam Shostack, Kragen Sitaker, Chris Smith, "
19472 "Bruce Steinberg, Andrzej Jan Taramina, Sean Walsh, Matt Wasserman, Miljenko "
19473 "Williams, <quote>Wink,</quote> Roger Wood, <quote>Ximmbo da Jazz,</quote> "
19474 "and Richard Yanco. (I apologize if I have missed anyone; with computers come "
19475 "glitches, and a crash of my e-mail system meant I lost a bunch of great "
19479 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19480 #: freeculture.xml:14778
19482 "Richard Stallman and Michael Carroll each read the whole book in draft, and "
19483 "each provided extremely helpful correction and advice. Michael helped me to "
19484 "see more clearly the significance of the regulation of derivitive works. And "
19485 "Richard corrected an embarrassingly large number of errors. While my work is "
19486 "in part inspired by Stallman's, he does not agree with me in important "
19487 "places throughout this book."
19490 #. type: Content of: <book><chapter><para>
19491 #: freeculture.xml:14787
19493 "Finally, and forever, I am thankful to Bettina, who has always insisted that "
19494 "there would be unending happiness away from these battles, and who has "
19495 "always been right. This slow learner is, as ever, grateful for her perpetual "
19496 "patience and love."