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<book id="index" lang="en">
<bookinfo>
<title>Free Culture</title>
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<chapter label="0" id="c-introduction">
<title>INTRODUCTION</title>
+<indexterm id='idxairtraffic' class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>air traffic, land ownership vs.</primary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxlandownership' class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>land ownership, air traffic and</primary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxproprigtair' class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>property rights</primary>
+ <secondary>air traffic vs.</secondary>
+</indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Wright brothers</primary></indexterm>
<para>
On December 17, 1903, on a windy North Carolina beach for just
shy of one hundred seconds, the Wright brothers demonstrated that a
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Causby, Thomas Lee</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Causby, Tinie</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Wright brothers</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Or at least, this is how things happen when there's no one powerful
on the other side of the change. The Causbys were just farmers. And
<quote>common sense</quote>—would prevail. Their <quote>private interest</quote> would not be
allowed to defeat an obvious public gain.
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxproprigtair' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxlandownership' class='endofrange'/>
+<indexterm startref='idxairtraffic' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
-Edwin Howard Armstrong is one of America's forgotten inventor
+<emphasis role='strong'>Edwin Howard Armstrong</emphasis> is one of America's forgotten inventor
geniuses. He came to the great American inventor scene just after the
titans Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell. But his work in
the area of radio technology was perhaps the most important of any
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Causby, Thomas Lee</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Causby, Tinie</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Wright brothers</primary></indexterm>
<para>
And thus, when geeks and technologists defend their Armstrong or
Wright brothers technology, most of us are simply unsympathetic.
<chapter label="8" id="transformers">
<title>CHAPTER EIGHT: Transformers</title>
<indexterm><primary>Allen, Paul</primary></indexterm>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxalbenalex1' class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Alben, Alex</primary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
In 1993, Alex Alben was a lawyer working at Starwave, Inc. Starwave
was an innovative company founded by Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen to
popular, Starwave began investing in new technology for delivering
entertainment in anticipation of the power of networks.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Alben had a special interest in new technology. He was intrigued by
the emerging market for CD-ROM technology—not to distribute
Eastwood, with clips from his films and interviews with figures
important to his career.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
At that time, Eastwood had made more than fifty films, as an actor and
as a director. Alben began with a series of interviews with Eastwood,
made. Most of his career was spent at Warner Brothers, and so it was
relatively easy to get permission for that content.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Then Alben and his team decided to include actual film clips. <quote>Our
goal was that we were going to have a clip from every one of
one had ever tried to do this in the context of an artistic look at an
actor's career.</quote>
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Alben brought the idea to Michael Slade, the CEO of Starwave.
Slade asked, <quote>Well, what will it take?</quote>
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Alben replied, <quote>Well, we're going to have to clear rights from
everyone who appears in these films, and the music and everything
<primary>artists</primary>
<secondary>publicity rights on images of</secondary>
</indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
</para></footnote>
</para>
<para>
started calling people.
</para>
</blockquote>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Some actors were glad to help—Donald Sutherland, for example,
followed up himself to be sure that the rights had been cleared.
It was one <emphasis>year</emphasis> later—<quote>and even then we
weren't sure whether we were totally in the clear.</quote>
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Alben is proud of his work. The project was the first of its kind and
the only time he knew of that a team had undertaken such a massive
And no doubt, the product itself was exceptionally good. Eastwood
loved it, and it sold very well.
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Drucker, Peter</primary></indexterm>
<para>
But I pressed Alben about how weird it seems that it would have to
money,</quote> then it becomes difficult to put one of these things together.
</para>
</blockquote>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
Alben worked for a big company. His company was backed by some of the
richest investors in the world. He therefore had authority and access
regulationminimizing Republican should look at the rights and ask,
<quote>Does this still make sense?</quote>
</para>
+<indexterm startref='idxalbenalex1' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
I've seen the flash of recognition when people get this point, but only
a few times. The first was at a conference of federal judges in California.
were just violated in this room?</quote>
</para>
<indexterm><primary>Boies, David</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
For of course, the two brilliantly talented creators who made this
film hadn't done what Alben did. They hadn't spent a year clearing the
economic consequences from Internet radio that would justify these
differences? Was the motive to protect artists against piracy?
</para>
-<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<indexterm><primary>Real Networks</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm id='idxalbenalex2' class='startofrange'>
+ <primary>Alben, Alex</primary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
In a rare bit of candor, one RIAA expert admitted what seemed obvious
to everyone at the time. As Alex Alben, vice president for Public
added.)
</para>
</blockquote>
+<indexterm startref='idxalbenalex2' class='endofrange'/>
<para>
Translation: The aim is to use the law to eliminate competition, so
that this platform of potentially immense competition, which would
</section>
<section id="freefairuse">
<title>3. Free Use Vs. Fair Use</title>
+<indexterm><primary>land ownership, air traffic and</primary></indexterm>
+<indexterm>
+ <primary>property rights</primary>
+ <secondary>air traffic vs.</secondary>
+</indexterm>
<para>
As I observed at the beginning of this book, property law originally
granted property owners the right to control their property from the
machines. That's what this general requirement of permission does to
the creative process. Smothers it.
</para>
+<indexterm><primary>Alben, Alex</primary></indexterm>
<para>
This was the point that Alben made when describing the making of the
Clint Eastwood CD. While it makes sense to require negotiation for