COPYRIGHT ISSUES
I had not really taken the time to consider everything that was mentioned in the discussion videos. I think I fall into the generation of our “kids” as the guy in the TED video put it. I grew up remixing and creating my own stuff. I had heard of copyright and just assumed that as long as I was not making any money off of someone else’s work then it was alright. (this is NOT what the current copyright laws state BUT in only really rare cases do companies or ppl sue ppl for using their work without money) This to me seemed like the common sense approach which is clearly not how the law works. I feel that the purpose behind a copyright is so that someone else is not profiting off of your work (that is profiting money or fame).
There is a problem with our current copyright laws. The laws as they are stated now are not enforcing the reason for their creation. They are instead punishing people for trying to be creative and share their creativity with the world. These laws need to be reformed FAST! People in my generation have little to no fear of copyright laws. Part of that reason is because the laws are punishing people for things that we feel should not be punished. For example, remixing someone’s work to get a message across in a different manner. With all the technology at our fingers and all the creative ideas running through our heads, there is no way that a law is going to stop all of us from banning together and sharing our creativity. With that being said a new copyright law system needs to be put into place. We (the younger generation) have no problem giving credit to the ppl whose work we use. We don’t even want to make money off of our work or their work. We just don’t want our hands tied with all these new technologies that we were raised with. The FAIR USE policy is in place and tries to enforce the common sense behind the copyright laws, yet many people are afraid to use other’s material under the FAIR USE policy because of 2 things: the policy is very vague and the public is not informed on the policy and how to use it properly.
Creative Commons is a great start for this change. Creative Commons allows an artist or producer to copyright their work but also allow others to use it in certain ways. I hope that more people will start to use Creative Commons so that we can continue to work off of one another to build better and different products/ creations.
Megan,
I am not your age, although I feel like I still fall into that category you were talking about. I have been remixing things and creating things for about 10 years now and I too have not put much thought into the copyright issues. I know that I have never heard of anyone I know being prosecuted for it, so I have largely ignored it as others have. I also felt like if I wasn't making money off of the things I was using I wasn't doing any harm. I guess that in order for things to really change just not doing harm isn't enough to make sharing a better experience. I am happy that creative commons is starting the revolution in the direction of pro-sharing but as I have said before I think the stuff available for use is mostly things I wouldn't want to use anyway because of poor quality or lack of relevancy to what I am doing. Here's hoping that true artists can get involved and change that.
I am not your age, although I feel like I still fall into that category you were talking about. I have been remixing things and creating things for about 10 years now and I too have not put much thought into the copyright issues. I know that I have never heard of anyone I know being prosecuted for it, so I have largely ignored it as others have. I also felt like if I wasn't making money off of the things I was using I wasn't doing any harm. I guess that in order for things to really change just not doing harm isn't enough to make sharing a better experience. I am happy that creative commons is starting the revolution in the direction of pro-sharing but as I have said before I think the stuff available for use is mostly things I wouldn't want to use anyway because of poor quality or lack of relevancy to what I am doing. Here's hoping that true artists can get involved and change that.
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