Yesterday three huge academic publishers filed a complaint against Georgia State University for distributing course reading materials electronically. (Click for article.) Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press and Sage Publications accused the university of “systematic, widespread and unauthorized copying and distribution of a vast amount of copyrighted works.”
Now we all know that education is a part of the fair use doctrine, but this case centers around the concept of “course packs” or compilations of reading materials from various sources. Often, in lieu of physical books, professors choose relevant chapters or articles, and then scan and compile them into electronic packs. And just in case this isn’t ringing familiar, the university offers these files on their internal student website.
“It’s difficult to argue that this is a truly noncommercial use,” explains Susan P. Crawford, a visiting professor at Yale Law School. “Georgia State may be a nonprofit institution, but its students pay a lot of money for course materials, and would presumably pay money for the materials being provided to them by the university.”
As the issue festers, suggestions continue on milking students for all they’ve got. This includes the idea of text book publishers borrowing from the iTunes model and offering individual chapters electronically. Certainly we’ll all be renewing our library cards and trying harder than ever to get our kids into Harvard- where the intellectual property flows like wine!
Add commentApril 17th, 2008Posted By Robin Whitney
Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass) introduced a bill today to the House of Representatives that could relieve some of the weight of net neutrality issues. The proposed Internet Freedom Preservation Act emphasizes the “importance of the broadband marketplace to citizens, communities, and commerce” and seeks to ensure usage of the network “…without unreasonable interference from or discrimination by network operators.”
The bill looks to make sure the rights of both consumers and companies who access the internet through these providers are protected as well as “whether the need for enforceable rules governing openness, consumer rights, and consumer protections or prohibiting unreasonable discrimination is lessened if a broadband network provider provides significantly high band with speeds to consumers …”
If passed, the ISPs would submit to a FCC lead study of their services and practices to make sure they follow both current and newly set net neutrality provisions. Also, the bill would require a total of 8 “broadband summits” to be held in diverse places throughout the year for press, consumers, and broadband operators to discuss various aspects of broadband communication.
Santeri Ojala, a YouTuber under the name “StSanders” was banned from YouTube just this last week. He has a hilarious history of posting videos of various guitar gods like Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, Eric Clapton, and Carlos Santana with his own original audio dubbed over them to poke fun at them. Santeri, a veteran guitar player for 15 years, takes out the original audio and dubs in his own monstrously bad guitar parts to make these guitar gods’ skills seem ungodly.
To guitar players and non-guitar-players alike the videos were popular, often getting hundreds of thousands of views each week. However, YouTube received three infringement notices and were forced by policy to take down the videos and suspend his account. This has provoked a reaction from the Wired Blog Network, which has in turn posted
Take a look at some of the awesome videos and reply with your thoughts — would this qualify under as a parody in the fair use section of the copyright law? Remember, the fair use section takes into account four things: the (1) purpose and character of the use, including whether the use is commercially motivated or instead is for nonprofit educational purposes; (2) nature of the copyrighted work; (3) amount and substantiality of the portion used in the newly created work in relation to the copyrighted work; and (4) effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Add commentFebruary 9th, 2008Posted By Frank Serafine
I think it is incredible how the internet, YouTube, Facebook and the tech generation is changing the world. Since the 1992 election (the first election I can kind of remember), things have drastically changed. No more evidence is needed than this video I would like to share with you here. This is our generation getting involved, deeply involved with the election process. Even YOU can make a difference and sway the masses. We have more power than ever to shape the world, but the choice is whether we will do it or not.
This is music and copyright at its finest, creating something powerful.
This inspires me.
Note: I understand this video promotes one candidate, Barack Obama. However, I believe the message behind the video speaks for all candidates and, more importantly, students and voters alike. I try not to push my political opinions on others through this site, though some of my views do show through. The only message that I hope to send to you is this: VOTE! This is how we can change the world, regardless of who you or I support.
Enjoy.
Add commentFebruary 4th, 2008Posted By Matt Robinson
Metal knows what’s up. This is a sizable collection of some of the opinions of metal’s most notable figures, reflecting a concensus that most of the world is ignoring (specifically younger generations).
Gene Simmons, from legendary heavy metal band KISS has this to say on BBC’s Radio 2:
“I refuse to be ripped off. The notion that, ‘Gene Simmons, you’ve got enough. Why do you care about another dollar?’ Actually, it’s not for anybody else to determine that. I’ll let you know when I have enough. Here’s what it’s really about: If you’re stealing a penny or a million dollars, it’s stealing. There’s no such thing as a little murder or lots of murders. If you kill one person or a million people, you’re a murderer. There’s no little pregnancy — you either are or you are not. And so, if you take a song of mine and you copy it, and you don’t pay me, you’ve stolen something that belongs to me. I’ll let you know what I wanna charge for it, and if you don’t wanna buy it, you’re allowed not to buy it.”
Black metal pioneer Quorthon (rest in peace) from the legendary band Bathory had the following to say back in 2003:
“One really shouldn’t have to say too much about that at all, really. It’s so obvious: if a great portion of the audience out there continues to download music, exchange MP3’s or copy CD’s using their PC’s, we’ll end up with a scene and an industry containing nothing other than Britney Spears. And the CD’s will be around $50 each. It’s a fact. If anybody calls himself or herself a fan, he or she wouldn’t even consider downloading, exchange MP3’s or copy CD’s using their PC’s.”
“I know CD’s aren’t cheap these days, and I know there are so many CD’s one might want to have, but it’s not exactly very cheap to make an album either. At a rate of $25-40 per hour, studios aren’t exactly inexpensive.”
From a recent Metal Hammer interview with Mikael Åkerfeldt, leader of Swedish melodic death metal act Opeth:
Metal Hammer: “Ghost Reveries” [the band’s latest album,] was leaked via the Internet before its release in 2005. Does illegal file sharing piss you off?
Mikael: “It does piss me off. The main problem for me is that the magic gets lost. When you’re downloading, you don’t have the artwork, you don’t have anything but the tunes, and in bad quality. It bothers me, because the ideal situation for me would be to gather up 5,000 fans every day and give them the record and we could listen to it together, although that’s not possible. My music is sacred to me, and I don’t want it to be presented in any form other than the ones we have approved.”
From a recent Terrorizer magazine interview with Grutle Kjellson, bassist/vocalist for Norwegian progressive black metal outfit Enslaved (who staged the previously reported sheep-stealing in Norway to counterpoint the legal piracy movement):
“It was a symbolic act,” Grutle told UK’s Terrorizer magazine, “against a party that wants to legalize piracy and copying. A lot of people are downloading stuff and a lot of people don’t actually realize that it’s illegal and they don’t realize what they’re doing to hard-working artists. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback and a good response; some people have decided to pick it up and understood what it’s all about even if they don’t understand our style of music.”
Devildriver frontman B. Dez Fafara’s comments through one of Metal Injection’s video interviews:
Dez: It’s gonna kill underground art. It’s not gonna hurt Britney Spears and other people like that, but it’s going to make the poet, the painter, the underground musician not be able to do his gig full-time, and if he can’t do his gig full-time, he can’t give you the art that’s full-on.
From Primordial vocalist Alan Averill:
“Of course I’m not stupid enough to think that downloading doesn’t help bands like PRIMORDIAL become more widely known, and that yes ‘x’ of people do go out and buy the album.
“The fundamental principle of me having to pay to record me album and someone right-clicks and gets it for free is wrong in a basic sense. If I made the music for free, then maybe…however, I don’t. And by doing so, the chances of us (or any band) playing in your town become slimmer or of being dropped by our label become greater. Bands don’t exist on goodwill and luck alone…”
Tool mainman Maynard James Keenan, in an interview with Beat magazine, comments:
“Around the time NIRVANA came out, labels were out there looking for something different. TOOL got lucky, we got a record deal, but we were also smart and planned to do as much as we could to take advantage of it. But there’s a lot of young bands out there where that $1000 in record sales could be the difference in them going on the road or recording their next record or not, you know? So kids out there need to understand that if they dig a band’s music, then they have to find some way to get compensation to that band for their art so that they can ensure the band can keep making it.”
Fenriz of Norway’s black metal outfit Darkthrone, on MTUK Metal ‘Zine, has this to say:
“Un-aired ideas have suddenly a LOT bigger value now after the Internet came into our world. So I can’t tell you the new album title, even! Anything in due time. It didn’t use to be like this before, no big problem, but us oldies often forget and we trust people too much. People think they get a favour from a band if they get a promo, but if the album is prematurely leaked NO ONE that got the promo will admit they did it — so EVERYONE is a suspect. So the best honour you can give your friends/contacts as a band, is to explain them this situation and NOT give them a copy until the album is out. This should be OFFICIAL MUSICIAN LAW nr. 1. I hope you all understand and listen.”
In New York magazine, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor had this to say:
“The reality is that people think it’s okay to steal music. There’s a whole generation of people, that’s all they’ve known. I used to buy vinyl. Today, if you do put out a record on a label, traditionally, most people are going to hear it via a leak that happens two weeks — if not two months — before it comes out. There’s no real way around that. I’m truly saddened because I think music has been devalued, so that it’s just a file on your computer, and it’s usually free.”
Mudvayne and Hellyeah lead singer Chad Gray sounds off for the Headbanger’s Blog:
“If I take a bunch of wood and build a chair, and somebody walks up and steals it, no one in their right mind will say that’s not theft. There’s a lot of work that goes into making a good chair and if that happened to me, people would feel sorry for me and be pissed off at the guy who took it. Yet that exact situation is happening all the time to hard working musicians, and no one seems to care.”
“Let’s look at it another way: If you want a Diet Coke, you will go into a store and pay money to get it, and then you’ll walk out of the store with it in your hand. But if you didn’t pay for that Diet Coke, you better know if you walked out that door and that buzzer goes off, you’re going to jail.”
In a Classic Rock Revisited interview, the legendary frontman of Judas Priest, Rob Halford, sounded off:
“It is costing record companies and movie companies billions of dollars. At the end of the day it is a moral issue. If you are real fan of the band then you want to be associated with the original licensed material. You show your fanaticism by buying the CD and the official merchandise and going to the show. It is still prolific amongst the younger demographic. All of their mates have done it so they might as well do it as well. I just saw something the other day about somebody being taken to court over this. The industry is making an example of one person for doing illegal downloads and that is really just a cosmetic type of display. It sends a good message but at the end of the day if you are at home on your computer and you go to MySpace or YouTube and you see a clip then you go, “Oh I’ve got to get that.” The choice is there for you to pay for it or not. The inclination is to say, “Well, it is free.” It is wrong. It is confusing on an emotional level. Fans go, “Oh they have millions of dollars. They don’t need more money.” That is not the point. You can’t walk into a big grocery store and help yourself to everything and then walk out and not pay for it just because they have millions of dollars. There is a trickle-down effect; everyone gets affected by it. I am totally opposed to illegal downloading.”
World-renowned guitar god Yngwie Malmsteen gives his thoughts to Melodicrock.com:
“I understand folk wanting something for nothing. But if you came to a gig and stole the T-shirts or merch you would be: 1. arrested, 2. prosecuted, or 3. have the **** beaten out you. Odd then that some, not all but some “fans” feel its okay to steal the very music they enjoy where by, by consequence, they might prevent that band or artist recording again. A CD costs 15 euro and T-shirt 25. We all buy the shirt. Right?”
Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker wants you all to know this, from Malay Mail Online:
“People don’t really understand,” he said. “Piracy is killing the whole music industry and new bands. Why? Because of piracy, record companies don’t want to spend any money on good bands that they come across. I mean, no one in their sanest mind would want to take the risk of putting money into a band and wait for three or four years for the band to really get happening.
“Like it or not, record companies are the ones depended on to nurture talents. When there’s no talent, you won’t get quality music or even artistes. The public have to understand that when you pay peanuts you’ll only get monkeys.”
From Roar E-Zine, Howard Jones from Killswitch Engage offers the following:
“On one hand, they [the record labels] definitely want to keep the album from being stolen and getting put on the Internet long before it’s supposed to be released to the public. But at the same time, when an album is out there, it’s a good way to get the music out. The thing is, what most people don’t do, they’ll get a song or two, listen to it and go buy the album. Most people won’t do that. Obviously some do but…actually I don’t know, there are definitely those who’ll download the whole thing and won’t support the band. It’s usually because of the misconceived notion that bands like us are filthy rich and that we’re making so much money off of every CD. But it just doesn’t happen that way.”
For more opinions from the metal world, check out Lords of Metal. Other opinions are from the following bands/members:
AFTER FOREVER (Sander Gommans), AYREON (Arjen Anthony Lucassen), CALLENISH CIRCLE (Gavin Harte), DIMMU BORGIR (Silenoz), EDENBRIDGE (Lanvall), GOD DETHRONED (Henri Sattler), MALEVOLENT CREATION (Phil Fasciana), METAL CHURCH (Kurdt Vanderhoof), TEXTURES (Eric Kalsbeek), and TOTO (Steve Lukather) among others.
3 commentsJanuary 29th, 2008Posted By Frank Serafine
I’m not even sure how to start this one. Currently, I’m in a couple of different management classes and even I knew BEFORE taking them that it’s generally beneficially to do a little research now and again, and to surround yourself with some smart people. You’d think that being around for so long that the music industry would have learned that a few times. But as this eloquently titled article from the The New York Magazine notes, “Universal Music CEO Doug Morris Speaks, Recording Industry in Even Deeper S[***] Than We Thought.”
Words can’t describe what I’m reading here. Well, at least mine can’t. Here are a few quotes from the man himself, Doug Morris. And to explain the background of the article, this is all in regards to the music industry’s digital music strategy right around the boom of Napster and up until now:
“There’s no one in the record industry that’s a technologist,” Morris explains. “That’s a misconception writers make all the time, that the record industry missed this. They didn’t. They just didn’t know what to do. It’s like if you were suddenly asked to operate on your dog to remove his kidney. What would you do?”
Personally, I would hire a vet. But to Morris, even that wasn’t an option. “We didn’t know who to hire,” he says, becoming more agitated. “I wouldn’t be able to recognize a good technology person — anyone with a good bull[****] story would have gotten past me.”
REALLY? Wow. In a terrible sort of way, it all makes sense now.
4 commentsNovember 26th, 2007Posted By Matt Robinson
A 747 page bill recently put before Congress could spell the end of many campus pirates. Tucked way down in those 700+ pages is a provision that will give colleges and universities the choice of offering “technology-based deterrents” in order to end illegal file sharing on their networks. Of course, the “choice” part of it goes out the window when non-compliant schools are faced with the loss of their federal financial aid.
This act, headed by Representatives George Miller and Ruben Hinojosa, will require schools to tell their students about the infringement policies and consequences during the financial aid application and disbursement process. Schools will also have to supply an “alternative” to file sharing, like legal music providers Ruckus and Napster, while the colleges/universities look for ways to deter campus piracy.
To much surprise, the MPAA is loving the idea of this new bill. Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman calls it a “positive step in the fight against file sharing” and intellectual property theft, which he says costs “more than 140,000 American jobs every year”. On the other side of the fence is the Association of American Universities which sent a bill to Representative George Miller right before the bill was put before Congress. The Association told of its “grave concerns” and wants the bill to be rejected because it will force many schools to “seek an unachievable goal of preventing illegal P2P file sharing” and will “risk the loss of student aid for countless students innocent of any illegal file sharing activity”.
A bill, dubbed “The Piracte Act”, being put forth again by Senators Patrick Leahy and John Cornyn, if passed, would expand the Department of Justice’s operations to include the prosecution of copyright violations as civil wrongs. The bill has cleared the Senate three times in the past, though it’s gotten no further than that.
The wording of the bill states that “the attorney general may commence a civil action in the appropriate United States district court against any person who engages in conduct constituting (a copyright) offense.”
The Department of Justice isn’t exactly thrilled, though the RIAA is jumping for joy. On Wednesday, they stated that, “We commend Senators Leahy and Cornyn for their commitment and leadership to ensuring improved enforcement of IP protection.”
CNET.com’s Declan McCullagh writes the following about the Pirate Act:
One top [justice] department official said a few years ago that the idea is “something that people should take with a grain of salt”–and while “the Justice Department is there to enforce the law, there’s something to be said for those who help themselves.”
Michael Robinson, founder of MP3.com and now owner of MP3tunes.com and Sideload.com, is being sued yet again
The online music executive was sued in 2000 with MP3.com for willful infringement of copyright over the internet, and now is being sued by EMI Group companies for the same reason with MP3tunes. Robinson, in his defense, said about the plaintiffs, “These guys rush off to court and tell the court that I am terrible, and then they end up buying my company,” “It is really a shame, because instead of using these technologies to improve their business, they make an enemy of every technology company out there.”
In truth, Universal Music Group did buy MP3.com for $385 million, and the site was bought again in 2003 by CNet.com.
EMI’s main complaint is that MP3tunes and Sideload “offer an integrated music service, allowing users to listen to music on their computers, obtain copies of songs online, transfer music to their computers and portable devices, and distribute it to others.”
It remains to be seen if Sideload and MP3tunes will also be bought out in the same fashion as MP3.com, but it certainly seems possible.
Add commentNovember 11th, 2007Posted By Frank Serafine
