Monday, January 10, 2005
Article on Copyright
Copyright Stuff(ed)
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of____ Every read one of theses? Every wrote one of these?
Is your work covered? How many works or even ideas have you had seen turn up somewhere in a similar form or style with someone else's name on it on the internet?
World community as it is, but once something is out there does it loose ownership unless it has a hole with a little c in it, is it up for grabs?
There is a social convention on the web where it says it's alright to use for a non commercial purpose, if you credit the author, it's there outside the web of course, but you usually have to purchase a product first, so there is some payment and recognition for the author, but on the web, you and I can dissect, craft, shape, form and manipulate almost any work to become ours, with no payment or recognition to the author or owner.
What does that do to creativity or originality? Who actually gets to lay claim to a work, an idea, a theory, where does something begin, there is no definable answer on the internet, maybe I even formulated this from a bunch of stuff pulled off the web!
When once something becomes seeded on the web, it transforms, mutates and multiplies like a free range bacteria, is there any ownership of a product on the web? We've all seen Napster literally take someone else's product, even though it had a little © and freely help the distribution to non paying customers, while it got kicked up the bum, how many stole their idea also? And who did Napster seal it from in the first place?
It's the perfect crime? There are groups tackling this issue, www.copyright.asn.au/ Copyright Society of Australia, Inc has information on this topic and a link to a conference held in Switzerland later this year on, Copyright Law and the Internet World: national, international and regional challenges. Which will cover areas such as intellectual property rights.
www.copyright.com.au/home.htm The Copyright Agency Limited is very useful for authors, artists, publishers, but here is where you go if you want the last word on copyright law. http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/securitylawHome.nsf/Page/Copyright_Law_Branch
But does that cover every aspect of copyright considering the incredible growth and diversity of the internet, it doesn't cover the question or the answer to, would you do it? Would you take, even something small and claim it as your own? Or is the question, how do I not be seen to have taken another's work?
All the years I sat in my composition and orchestration classes, what was I supposed to do shut my ears when I was learning, shut out fellow students compositions, how can you not be influenced (I know this is another question, but do the same principles apply) to the point where you choose to consciously or subconsciously add that little or large thing you heard, (it's the same for authors) into your work, and is there a difference between this and literally lifting sections of another's work into yours, how does it sit in your mind?
Well seldom are things that black and white, should all copyright be based on the honor/integrity system? If so, how could it be measured? Is even law and litigation strong and smart enough to see and guide todays and tomorrows copyright complexities?
As I sit hear writing this and listening to an MP3, the extended question of should all art be free raises its head, (no need for copyright then, obviously under current law this is not a question) the internet is a minefield and a goldfield of information, ideas and inspiration, will it simply become a function of payment for use as it seems to be heading in, and not just from your ISP, but to access a site, any site?
If the honor system has to come first in the collection and publication of art and information across the world wide web, payment or accreditation for what you do/create, if needed, should be clearly defined before entering your site, you don't need a 1000 word "terms of agreement" or to steal a line from the great Australian band Something for Kate "to be a bastard with a ten page disclaimer"
To be an artist, an internet artist who is reasonably secure in the knowledge that your work is not going to be plagiarised or stolen, does it depend upon one simple thing, the honor system, and holding yourself to it, we all know what it is, can we do it?
Maybe advancements such as a technology locks will answer those question.
Make of this what you will! Just don't rip me off.
Rob Kennedy.
July 2002
No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of____ Every read one of theses? Every wrote one of these?
Is your work covered? How many works or even ideas have you had seen turn up somewhere in a similar form or style with someone else's name on it on the internet?
World community as it is, but once something is out there does it loose ownership unless it has a hole with a little c in it, is it up for grabs?
There is a social convention on the web where it says it's alright to use for a non commercial purpose, if you credit the author, it's there outside the web of course, but you usually have to purchase a product first, so there is some payment and recognition for the author, but on the web, you and I can dissect, craft, shape, form and manipulate almost any work to become ours, with no payment or recognition to the author or owner.
What does that do to creativity or originality? Who actually gets to lay claim to a work, an idea, a theory, where does something begin, there is no definable answer on the internet, maybe I even formulated this from a bunch of stuff pulled off the web!
When once something becomes seeded on the web, it transforms, mutates and multiplies like a free range bacteria, is there any ownership of a product on the web? We've all seen Napster literally take someone else's product, even though it had a little © and freely help the distribution to non paying customers, while it got kicked up the bum, how many stole their idea also? And who did Napster seal it from in the first place?
It's the perfect crime? There are groups tackling this issue, www.copyright.asn.au/ Copyright Society of Australia, Inc has information on this topic and a link to a conference held in Switzerland later this year on, Copyright Law and the Internet World: national, international and regional challenges. Which will cover areas such as intellectual property rights.
www.copyright.com.au/home.htm The Copyright Agency Limited is very useful for authors, artists, publishers, but here is where you go if you want the last word on copyright law. http://www.ag.gov.au/agd/WWW/securitylawHome.nsf/Page/Copyright_Law_Branch
But does that cover every aspect of copyright considering the incredible growth and diversity of the internet, it doesn't cover the question or the answer to, would you do it? Would you take, even something small and claim it as your own? Or is the question, how do I not be seen to have taken another's work?
All the years I sat in my composition and orchestration classes, what was I supposed to do shut my ears when I was learning, shut out fellow students compositions, how can you not be influenced (I know this is another question, but do the same principles apply) to the point where you choose to consciously or subconsciously add that little or large thing you heard, (it's the same for authors) into your work, and is there a difference between this and literally lifting sections of another's work into yours, how does it sit in your mind?
Well seldom are things that black and white, should all copyright be based on the honor/integrity system? If so, how could it be measured? Is even law and litigation strong and smart enough to see and guide todays and tomorrows copyright complexities?
As I sit hear writing this and listening to an MP3, the extended question of should all art be free raises its head, (no need for copyright then, obviously under current law this is not a question) the internet is a minefield and a goldfield of information, ideas and inspiration, will it simply become a function of payment for use as it seems to be heading in, and not just from your ISP, but to access a site, any site?
If the honor system has to come first in the collection and publication of art and information across the world wide web, payment or accreditation for what you do/create, if needed, should be clearly defined before entering your site, you don't need a 1000 word "terms of agreement" or to steal a line from the great Australian band Something for Kate "to be a bastard with a ten page disclaimer"
To be an artist, an internet artist who is reasonably secure in the knowledge that your work is not going to be plagiarised or stolen, does it depend upon one simple thing, the honor system, and holding yourself to it, we all know what it is, can we do it?
Maybe advancements such as a technology locks will answer those question.
Make of this what you will! Just don't rip me off.
Rob Kennedy.
July 2002
