Debate 4/Debate 4 Argument Against

Resolved: The outcome of the digital intellectual property crisis is crucial to whether or not the use of the Internet ultimately has a positive impact in terms of strengthening democracies.

Work in progress. AK, MB: please add your notes & thoughts

Intro

• What is the crisis?
  • Copyright law vs. private ordering
    • Lessig's four modes of control: even if copyright is less restrictive, technology allows creators to lock down their content (ebooks, copy protection, broadcast flag). So we're really talking about relaxing copyright law and placing limits on what authors can do with their content.
    • How do we set the limits?

http://lumpau.freeshell.org/four_modalities.png

Free Culture Stack

• In the long run, copyright doesn't matter.
  • Internet and cheap computing enables participation by many. This new culture is fundamentally different from mass culture. Unlike traditional authors, who are motivated by money, individual authors are motivated by status.
  • There are a lot of people who want to create for status using ubiquitous technology building on the works of others.
    • http://www.magnatune.com : "We are not evil"
    • Red v. Blue: http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/archive/episode.php?id=213
  • A free culture stack is emerging
    • Creative Commons
    • GNU FDL
    • The existing licenses are not ideal. For example, Creative Commons may have too many possible license combinations to have a clear ideological message. Still, better licenses can and will emerge if there is a need.
  • Soon (if not already), authors will be able to exercise their creativity using only free components.
  • Case study: Free software
    • Thanks to the free software movement, it is possible to use only free software on your computer.
    • Importantly, anyone can create new software using the existing stack.
    • Just as free software is often better than proprietary software, free culture can be better than proprietary culture.

• Is one kind of creativity better than another?
  • What if I want to use proprietary culture in my work but can't (e.g., Lessig's Simpson's example)
  • Perhaps it's not so terrible that there won't be too much culture:
    • Corollary to Shirky's law: the long tail is crap
    • http://www.whatacrappypresent.com: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard \ And they're like, it's better than yours"

• In fact, free culture needs a strong copyright system
  • Licenses operate within the copyright space
  • Strict copyright is the driving force behind free culture.
    • Free software arose out of proprietary UNIX
    • Free culture will arise out of proprietary culture.
    • Strict copyright allows users and authors to send a clear signal about themselves, their work, and their beliefs

What is the connection between culture and democracy?

• No matter how strict copyright is, the Internet will still have a positive impact on democratic discourse.
  • Can still blog ("bloggers will be the last to go" quote? - will they ever go?)
• What if cultural creativity and political participation are to a certain extent mutually exclusive? I.e., I'm too busy watching movies on Youtube to vote?

Outcomes

• What is likely vs. what is possible? E.g., are we expecting Stallman's Right to Read or something less severe?