So Sue Me

Commentary by Lightning Rod - RIP 2/6/2013
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Lightning Rod
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So Sue Me

Post by Lightning Rod » August 14th, 2005, 10:16 am

Image

So Sue Me
for release 08-15-05
Washington D.C.

It's no secret that the internet has turned the whole concept of copyright on it's ear. People are copying and pasting and posting and downloading and forwarding copyrighted material every minute of the day. Anybody that can reach the Enter key is a publisher these days. The technology makes this possible, not the law.

Laws are many times sedimentary. They represent a response to situations that existed in the past and many times they stay on the books long beyond their usefulness or applicability. There are still municipalities in Texas that have laws stating that you can't drive an automobile into town unless you have a horse leading with a red flag or a lantern. Even though we no longer live in a world where ladies and horses can be startled by an automobile, some of those laws are still on the books.

Similarly, we no longer live in a world where books are made of paper and records are made of vinyl. Technology has, as usual, trumped tradition and law. Books and recordings and movies used to be physical objects. The publishers were selling you paper and the record companies were selling an object that could be played on a machine and the movie makers were selling a comfortable seat in a theater. But that's not the world we live in today. Now anyone with a broadband connection can access practically anything that has been printed anywhere in the last decade and listen to any song that was recorded in the last half century or see any movie or grab any piece of software for free.

This puts a strain on the folks who have been getting fat by selling you entertainment and enlightenment and how-to books and bubble-gum records and blockbuster movies. It's like what the oil companies would feel like if all of a sudden you could just drive up to a gas pump and fill your tank without paying, or if the supermarkets just removed the checkers and let everyone take whatever they wanted.

There is a saying in the subculture of thieves. "Locks are for honest people." My partner insists on buying all our software. Her son has no compunction about downloading it for free. Regardless of legal niceties, the world has changed. Even the mega record companies and RIAA don't have the resources or the inclination to sue every college kid who downloads an Eminem record.

The technology will evolve further. Wherever there is a highway, somebody will figure out a way to make a toll road out of it. Already the technology exists to pay an artist a nickel per click when someone listens to their music or reads their words or watches their flash movie creation or video. This is a good thing. This means that we can cut out the middle man. Of course the middle man is not going to be too happy about it.

I'm listening to Eva Cassidy right now. My partner, who won't crack a piece of software, had no trouble with the idea of downloading a live version of Eva doing Bridge Over Troubled Waters. She didn't offer to pay Paul Simon or Eva Cassidy's estate for the privilege of listening to it, no, not anymore than she would send them a check if she heard the tune on the radio.

Eva Cassidy never 'made it' during her lifetime. She was dead before she got discovered. It doesn't matter to her. But I love listening to her music. It tears my heart out. Who should I pay? Her record company? I don't think so, not if I can get it for free. I would gladly pay Eva, though.

Now Google is about to digitally transcribe the contents of some of the world's major libraries. That means that every one of us can have access to the collected writings of our civilization. This is a good thing. But Google has put the project on hold because of copyright issues. When are these people going to move into the twenty-first century?

The Poet's Eye has always glanced askance at the notion that you can own an idea.

Right or wrong,
I'm gonna steal your song
So, Sue--ooo-ooo me
Yea or nay the judge will say,
'get out your copyright
we're having fun tonight
who wrote scrambled eggs?'
---lrod, So, Sue Me
click to listen to the mp3
"These words don't make me a poet, these Eyes make me a poet."

The Poet's Eye

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Dave The Dov
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Post by Dave The Dov » August 14th, 2005, 10:59 am

Copyright and owership two sticky areas with no absolute outright answers.
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Last edited by Dave The Dov on March 15th, 2009, 9:18 am, edited 1 time in total.

mtmynd
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Post by mtmynd » August 14th, 2005, 12:01 pm

The internet should be free, but the provider must be provided for in order to provide... unless technology can provide a web provider that needn't need providing, but that is providing a provider can provide by dividing the provisions of it's provisionals amongst the providees thereby making the provider less a provider and more of an equal to the providees. Can technology, or must technology provide this in order for access to freedom to realize the dream of actual freedom from paying for providing? That I think is the real question... ;-)

[Great duet, amigos. enjoyed it and shall repeat the tune in another zone...]

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Post by Doreen Peri » August 14th, 2005, 12:48 pm

I'm a thief, you're saying?

I think the record labels should look at file sharing programs as a marketing and promotion tool.

I have discovered many musicians and songwriters who I never would have known of had it not been for Napster and Aimster..... and now Limewire.

And when I discover an artist I love who I didn't know of before, guess what I do? I go out and buy their CD.

Eva Cassidy was one of those artists I discovered through Aimster. I had never heard of her. I didn't know she was a local Washingtonian. I learned a lot about her and bought 2 of her CDs. "Bridge Over Troubled Water" is a song I own because I purchased the CD it was on. I just didn't feel like finding it in my stack of CDs to record it on my computer. So, I downloaded it.

I could list probably 20 artists I've discovered this way.... And I bet I've purchased at least 15 CDs because of discovering artist via file sharing programs.

The current copyright laws need revision, badly. Recently I was listening to a congressional hearing about this on NPR. Everyone is in agreement. The laws need overhauling to make more sense for the internet age.

One bigshot in the recording industry was saying, during the hearing, that he thinks artists should have the right to sample whatever songs they want to create something new out of them, without fear of copyright infringement. I agree with him.

Thanks for the column, my Lord.... er, Lrod. (whoops, typo. ;))

---------------
Hey, and thanks, Cecil .... glad you enjoyed the tune. I wrote that song. Lightning Rod stole it from me. Oh well. These things happen. ;)[/i]

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K&D
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Post by K&D » August 14th, 2005, 1:26 pm

thats not what my friends do with it, i have a friend who hasn't bought a cd in like a year now because she downloads everything she wants off the internet.
Blah!

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Post by Doreen Peri » August 14th, 2005, 1:30 pm

Yeah, K&D, there are people who use it like that.

But, I don't see anything wrong with that.

I'm sure CD sales for many artists have increased because there are also people like me who use it to discover artists and want more...

It's much easier to go out and buy the CD and bring it home and record additional songs onto your computer directly from the CD then to look for them online.

I buy a CD, come home and listen to the whole thing, then select the tunes I like the best to record onto my playlist.

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Post by K&D » August 14th, 2005, 1:36 pm

maybe so, i'd just feel bad if i made a film but i was like some intern, barely getting paid to cover cost of living and somebody told me that they ripped off my film...as much as i'd like to stay, i'm here in N.C with my mother and we have to go shopping...reduced to a child again! bah!
Blah!

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Post by Doreen Peri » August 14th, 2005, 1:44 pm

Yeah, that wouldn't be right, K&D.

I'm not saying it's right to take someone else's work and put your name on it.

But I think it would be cool if you created a film and so many people wanted to view it that they downloaded it from the net so they could watch it over and over. That would be an honor for you! That's called distribution and gaining an audience. It wouldn't hurt you one iota. It would help you by allowing people to see your creation!

I have a major problem with people downloading software from the net. I don't think that's right.

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Post by Dave The Dov » August 14th, 2005, 1:45 pm

Yes have I not made cds that I've sent out to varies people. Will they be able to sue me for that???? Haaaa they couldn't do it before so why would they try and do it now!!!!
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