Piracy

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture. http://free-culture.org/get-it pages 30-79

Lawrence Lessing has written a very thought provoking book. He challenges us to quit being a "read only" society and understand what will happen to our use of the Internet if we allow a war of words to dull our minds. He recounts the introduction of new technology over the past one hundred years in an attempt to illustrate what is happening with Internet technology now in the name of "intellectual property rights" and copyright ownership. He supports the idea of intellectual property and the creator/innovator's property rights to their work and describes a "Free Culture " as one that does the same but "indirectly limits the reach of those rights so follow-on creators remain as free as possible from control of the past". He believes a Free Culture provides a balance between the rights of creators and the burden those rights impose on others who would create after them. Our culture has always thrived on the ability of creative people to use what has been made by improving, adapting or changing it. The copyright laws are today being used by powerful interests to stifle this follow-on creativity. Their argument uses words that conjure powerful images and ideas. Their argument is generally that if something created has value than the owner of that has a right to profit from the value of the property they have created. Anyone else who profits from it is stealing from them-they are guilty of piracy and are stealing property. This argument has great emotional appeal. All of us value what belongs to us and know how strongly we would react if anyone stole it. It is an argument that is ingenious in it's simplicity. Mr. Lessig, however, asks us to pause and take a closer look not only at the argument but what is at stake.
He provides several real world examples of battles over copyright and property. Each involves a plaintiff trying to recover property they argue was taken wrongly. While the best arguments usually take the day, Mr Lessig feels that often those arguments have become more over who has the most power. This has led to powerful companies and groups stifling creativity on the Internet by using the courts to create a no win situation for individuals ans small businesses who simply cannot compete with them to defend themselves.
Mr. Lessig provides us with a history of recent innovations and how each of them infringed on the creative property of others to create something new and innovative- a creative property in it's own right. The movie industry, radio, records and cable TV have all done this. The irony is that these are the very industries and their offshoots that are the powerful forces trying to control creativity on the Internet.
In a history of court decisions involving copyright suits the courts have demonstrated a consistent stand against unlimited control of intellectual property. Their major decisions have balanced the good to be gained from exclusive rights with the burden this exclusivity creates. This is also consistent with what our culture has always been. We have always been a society that learns from the past, learns from "tinkering" with new ideas and technologies and creating something new from what has been.
Mr. Lessig provides very powerful insights into an argument that the media takes the use of emotionally charged words. The arguments against waiting for congress to enact laws and the use of litigation against those who have done no real wrong but cannot prove their innocence should raise a red flag for everyone. Unfortunately, we all to often just believe whatever we hear without considering the source. What if many years ago when culture was spread only by oral communication, someone was not allowed to repeat the story told by another? After all, it was their story and any attempt to retell it would be stealing. I wonder how far mankind would have gotten and how long it would have taken if we had been as litigious as we are now.