My Opera
Free Culture
Monday, December 8, 2008 11:48:38 PM
Again, I shall start with a story of my own (I really like telling stories):
Almost a year ago an old cinema theather in my town was commissioned for destruction as a new building was planned for that location. And indeed, the old cinema was in a such a bad shape that this was practically the only option (beside social reasons). But before it was torn down, I went there to take a few photos for the historical record. As I came home I realized that my computer might crash and that the photos could be lost. So I submited the selected few to a local newspaper which was happy to publish it. My reasoning was the following: let's say that the paper comes out in 1500 copies. Most of the people will throw it away after a month or two, but there are some collectors, in my opinion there are about 30-50 of them. It is safe to assume that after 10 years we'll still have about 30-50 copies of those photos. Some collections might get somehow lost but after 50 years we'll still have some. The historical record is thus safe(er)!
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But what about after that? After 50 years the paper on which the photos are printed will begin to decay and the photos should be reproduced into an other medium. And here's where we start having legal problems. Acording to existing law such reprodiction is illegal for it creates new copies of photos which will be protected by the law for an other 20 years (copyright term in Slovenia is 70 years).
Almost a year ago an old cinema theather in my town was commissioned for destruction as a new building was planned for that location. And indeed, the old cinema was in a such a bad shape that this was practically the only option (beside social reasons). But before it was torn down, I went there to take a few photos for the historical record. As I came home I realized that my computer might crash and that the photos could be lost. So I submited the selected few to a local newspaper which was happy to publish it. My reasoning was the following: let's say that the paper comes out in 1500 copies. Most of the people will throw it away after a month or two, but there are some collectors, in my opinion there are about 30-50 of them. It is safe to assume that after 10 years we'll still have about 30-50 copies of those photos. Some collections might get somehow lost but after 50 years we'll still have some. The historical record is thus safe(er)!
[/IMG]But what about after that? After 50 years the paper on which the photos are printed will begin to decay and the photos should be reproduced into an other medium. And here's where we start having legal problems. Acording to existing law such reprodiction is illegal for it creates new copies of photos which will be protected by the law for an other 20 years (copyright term in Slovenia is 70 years).
It is quite clear that the copyright law is to rigid for 21st century. Not only it prevents keeping our historical record intact (works that are not commercally interestng are especially threatened), but it also strangles the creativity that might emerge from old works; one could remix those photos into a movie or presentation, use them in a new book (and make more copies to ensure their existance) or do whatever creative she comes up with.
This and many other dilemmas are in the center of Lawrence Lessig's atenttion in his legendary book Free Culture. I myself am facing different problems with copyright law and this book really made things clearer to me. The world of copyrights should not be just black and white - there should be many grey shades inbetween. According to the law you can't use my photos unless we make a special contract to set it differently. The way Lessig proposes is that you might use them, but only in ways and terms that I specify in advance; like non-commercial purpose (for an educational slideshow, or to illustrate a point you argue on your blog), but with a propper attribution. I wouldn't earn any less and you could finish your slides.In order to make this argument, the author researches two basic concepts that revolve around copyright law; the concept of property and the concept of piracy. It is crucial to understand what they are and how they work. But what really makes this book worth while is the last third where the author shines the light of logic on the existing stituation, showing how the law, which favours big corporations, sufficates amateur creativity and spreading of culture. Much like big software companies are afraid of open-source, the big media is feeling threatened by kids who use available content and remix it for youtube or even make their own amazing stuff.
In the conclusion and the afterword you'll find some reasonable solution for these problems. One of them is already running; it is the Creative Commons organisation which offers free licenses for your work.
The book is downloadable in PDF here.
I am seriously considering licensing some of my work under the CC license. I will study this in detail, but I will publish photos of the old cinema for free as soon as possible (I would do it whithin this post, but I don't have it on this computer).
EDIT: Here it is... my first CC photos. The old cinema may be history, but it's photos shouldn't be.
Shaunak DeShaunak # Tuesday, December 9, 2008 6:21:22 AM
Nikio # Tuesday, December 9, 2008 9:27:31 AM
Lessig uses this argument to describe the term of free use. It is almost like you either have to pay the rights or to pay the lawyers to defent you.
Shaunak DeShaunak # Tuesday, December 9, 2008 1:50:47 PM
It is hard to define though. Lots of grey areas.
That reminds me of a comment I read on the microsoft support forums for microsoft office home edition. It went : "How do you define non commercial? If I write a letter to my bank, does it qualify as commercial use?"