Global Treaty Could Throw Filesharers Off Internet
Nov0612:54 PM
Filed in: Music News
"Leaked details of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement being negotiated in secret by most of the world's largest economies suggest Internet file-sharers could be blocked from accessing the Internet if they are repeatedly accused of sharing copyrighted material, say media and digital-rights watchdogs."
(Source: http://rawstory.com/2009/11/global-treaty-three-strikes/)
This is wrong. So very, very wrong. And this is why I'm throwing my support behind the new Pirate Party Of Canada. We need Copyright reform, and we need it now. But not the way the governments are currently scheming behind closed doors.
You cannot fight technology like this. If file-sharers are pushed underground, new untraceable technologies will soon appear. In fact, this is already happening with new private IP-hiding bit torrents.
It's mind-boggling to me why people don't embrace file sharing and move on. Media companies need to take advantage of file sharing and exploit the freee word-of-mouth marketing it creates.
New opportunities are created through file sharing. We just need to be creative and smart on how to monetize these opportunities. Think about it, file sharing means that the fans themselves are doing the marketing for you. Wow. Free advertising? Are you kidding me? How great is that?
We're in a new age now, a social age, where old school push-marketing no longer works. You need to pull people in. And that's what file sharing enables...at no cost.
I don't claim to have all the answers, but I do know that what's being proposed behind closed doors is fundamentally wrong and extremely bad for business.
Beyond file sharing, there's many other examples of why Copyright Reform is needed. Here's an example from earlier this week: (Source: http://torrentfreak.com/drm-breaker-reports-himself-to-anti-piracy-group-091103/)
The above article describes how in the Netherlands it's illegal to circumvent DRM to store a digital copy of a physical product, that you've purchased, onto your personal digital media centre. So in this instance, reform is needed to better articulate in the law books what's permitted in today's digital age for the private, personal, non-commercial copying of purchased media.
Regarding the Three Strikes proposal, consider this: Media corporations are pushing for measures that will cut off Internet access to people they accused three times of copyright infringement. Without any proof or due process. This could deny people of a basic communication tool they need for their education and livelihood, not to mention the basic tool they require to help fight such an accusation. This is like the government disconnecting your telephone for making a prank call. Would society stand for that?
How is this not wrong? And how is not wrong that a mother and wife was fined $1.9 Million for downloading twenty-four shitty little pop songs? (Source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/06/18/minnesota.music.download.fine/index.html)
Again, copyright reform is needed.
And what about the posting of personal videos to YouTube with a song playing in the background? That type of thing needs to be permitted for creativity to flourish within our culture. I myself have even had a video removed by Universal Music due to "copyright violations". The video in question contained a song which was playing on the radio in the background, at a barely audible level, in an Art Of Dying tour video I posted with us bouncing down the highway in the van. And they pulled it. No questions asked.
Copyright reform is needed.
And there's the Fair Dealing issue: All artists build on existing material and ideas. They learn through imitation. They create new things by borrowing and transforming. Disney's classic films, like Sleeping Beauty, were based on old fairy tales. Jazz, blues, rap and hip-hop music were invented by musicians borrowing bits of tunes and samples from each other. Exemptions for such creativity are very narrow under Canadian law. Even Jon Stewart's Daily Show would likely be illegal if produced here, as Canada does not exempt parody or satire. Broader exemptions could enable valuable creativity without permitting copying that harms the profits of the original artist.
As I mentioned earlier regarding file sharing, no matter what type of draconian laws are put into place, they will not solve the problem. Technology will always find a way. Haven't we learned anything in the past decade since Napster was born?
There's some great ideas happening right now to take advantage of the exposure that file sharing is creating, and to entice music fans with other branded goods, aside from a crummy CD. For example, you can't download that cool Beatles Apple USB package that contains all of their albums on it. How cool is this?
And have you seen the new Weezer/Snuggie blanket package? Brilliant. As labels move forward with 360 deals, they'll be able to further exploit creative merch ideas and one-off's to offset lower album sales.
I realize that some people's minds in the media content industry can't be changed when it comes to file sharing and copyright. All I can suggest is that you entertain some of the opposing thoughts and ideas that are out there. In order for our society and culture to grow and change with the times, our worldwide laws regarding intellectual property need a serious overhaul.
-- Brian Thompson
There's definitely no shortage of links and resources to research this topic further, here's just a few you might want to explore:
http://www.pirateparty.ca
http://www.musiccreators.ca/a_new_voice.php
http://www.pirateparty.ca
http://www.faircopyrightforcanada.ca/
http://www.onlinerights.ca/
http://www.faircopyright.ca/
http://www.ccer.ca/
http://www.digital-copyright.ca/
http://www.jeremydebeer.ca/
http://excesscopyright.blogspot.com/
