I'd like to write about how the conveniences of cyberspace, such as information at our fingertips, social networking, and digital media (to name a few) actually allow us to do things that have never been done before. However, the price of this convenience is the shrinking of our rights. For example, owning a copyrighted work is no longer a cut and dry matter. If you own a digital copy of something, you can no longer legally (at least in the U.S.) do with it what you want. You can't sell it, lend it out, or even back it up without being in violation of someone's EULA or government law. Contrast this with owning a physical copy of something. You can lend it out, sell it, or do with it what you will (as long as you keep within the copyright laws).
To summarize, I'd like to argue that we are losing rights in almost as fast a manner as we're gaining new "convenient" technologies (saying nothing about privacy, which is another paper altogether). I will base this argument against current copyright law, the "Fair Use Doctrine" and the DMCA. In doing so, I will contrast these laws with EULA's and what the EFF argues is not fair use.
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Great topic, Maurice! I had never thought about that. Yeah, digital technology is always coming out, and with it seems to come more issues in court that we hear about. More court cases involving copyright issues, particularly with the DMCA, as time progresses. I know that the DMCA covers a lot of base and is used in many, many cases. It's at least brought up as a (very good and very well accepted by many judges) guard for those suing copyright infringers. I believe what's happening is, that as children get older, they are getting into downloading movies and music illegally at a younger age. This is usually taught by classmates, friends, or their siblings. Yeah, it's always best just to get out there, spend a little (or alot of) money and grab that physical copy. They last longer than digital copies anyways. I am looking very forward to your presentation next month, as I have followed this issue for a long time. I really want to hear about all the EFF has to say about fair use. I am sure I will learn a few things. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteIs a physical copy legit though? I know with photographers they can own the rights to the photos by owning the digital copy, where you could have a physical picture and not have the actual rights to copy or reproduce that picture.
ReplyDeleteI know that the physical copy is well versed, but i do believe that the digital copy tends to be standing out as the lone wolf
This topic sounds great and is something that has always been interesting to me. I have been reading proposals while keeping in mind the requirements of the project and I am not sure what two topics you are covering for sure. It sounds like your topics are cyberspace, social networking, digital media, and specifically how we are losing our rights in regards to digital media. My recommendation would be to make sure that before you get too far into writing that you make sure that you know which general topics you are going to link together so that you can make it clear in your paper.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all of the input folks!
ReplyDeleteI'm actually confused by what it is exactly that you propose to argue. You say "we are losing rights" and I don't know who "we" is or what rights are being lost. You say then say you are going to compare and contrast a set of laws and regulations. But I have no idea what you're going to be doing with that. Of course two sets of rules on opposite sides of the fence are going to be opposite. So what? You can't argue one is good and one is bad -- that's a subjective binary setup there. I just don't know what you're linking together and what specifically you are going to argue that you _can_ argue (that isn't a summary or a report).
ReplyDeleteSo, i'll just say what I've been saying in other situations like this:
From the final project assignment sheet:
* The specific rule of most importance is that you must make an original argument with your work. You must have a thesis that includes with it the “so what” or “who cares” aspect of your argument, and that “so what” or “who cares” part of the analysis must be clear throughout your essay.
Your proposal should have included what you plan to do (including which general topics from the course that you are going to link together) — this means details and some depth — what you plan to argue (this could include the argument or the research question in advance of the argument, with an hypothesis of the argument you potentially foresee), and how you plan to support the argument (which theories do you see yourself using on either side of your argument, etc).
All of those elements should be present in blog #9, yet with even more depth than I expected for blog #8, since you will have annotated sources and know how you will be using them in your argument.
Seize one very specific thing, link it to something else, and argue for the validity of the observation you are making.
US Copyright law says the moment something is CREATED the owner has rights. But to enforce copyright protection it has to be registered.
ReplyDeleteAs far as owning, digital versus physical...not enough room in the comments to deal with it. The irony is, with all this copyright protection, everything on the web is effectively creating criminals of us. Everything a web pave is viewed, the images (with copyright protection) are being COPIED from computer to computer server to server to router to PC....and they stay there until the images are flushed. Although it's implied acceptance, I don't know if the internet follows the LETTER OF THE LAW and that is something to think about.