Think Before You Use It !

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“We’re at the point where it almost seems unnatural not to quote, reference, or sample the world around us... To the teens...recombination – whether legal or not – doesn’t feel wrong in the slightest.”

Although Duffy’s debacle ruling, proved detrimental to the fate of music sampling, the advancement of digital technologies and social sharing platforms are bringing up the issues of our archaic intellectual property laws. Prosumerism is reshaping our culture and attitude towards information sharing and dissemination making our outdated copyright laws ineffective.

According to Collins, “Without recognition of fair use, censorial monopolies develop from copyrights – rights originally granted for the welfare of society in general. For a democratic civil society to be rich in diverse forms and free cultural productions, fair use has to prevail; but the best way to achieve this is unclear.” (“Digital Fair: Prosumption and the Fair Use Defence” 103)

In 1998, Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which amended U.S. copyright law to address important parts of the relationship between copyright and the internet. As per the DMCA website, there were three main updates:

Establishing protections for online service providers in certain situations if their users engage in copyright infringement, including by creating the notice-and-takedown system, which allows copyright owners to inform online service providers about infringing material so it can be taken down;
Encouraging copyright owners to give greater access to their works in digital formats by providing them with legal protections against unauthorized access to their works (for example, hacking passwords or circumventing encryption); and
Making it unlawful to provide false copyright management information (for example, names of authors and copyright owners, titles of works) or to remove or alter that type of information in certain circumstances.

However, going back to the idea of rhetorical velocity, in order to create content today that can be transformed tomorrow, copyright laws need to evolve from being cultural regulators to balancing the protection of creators and enabling cultural and artistic progress. The revisions to the 1976 Copyright Law do not seem like a substantial improvement when it comes to Fair Use in the digital landscape.

Collins argues that “When culturally significant works are released ‘into our collective unconsciousness, the owner of the work ‘must give up some measure of control’ as the work ‘belongs to all those other minds who have received and integrated it. The question of whether culture should be determined by control or freedom is one that rapidly requires close attention.” (“Digital Fair: Prosumption and the Fair Use Defence” 52)

So what are we to do while higher powers determine the future of sampling, fair use, and digital authoring?

Give credit where credit’s due

While our property obsessed society figures out a more flexible way to sample, it is our responsibility to reference ethically and attribute sources to original creators. The problem is that many of us are unaware of the fact that certain content is copyright protected. It is essential that we remain alert of what is protected and what is open source.

How can you ensure that you’re not using copyrighted material?

A useful resource is the Creative Commons.

As mentioned on their website, “Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that helps overcome legal obstacles to the sharing of knowledge and creativity to address the world’s pressing challenges.”

Their website also details the various licensing options and what you can do with them to better avoid copyright infringement. The Creative Commons has also outlined some best practices for attribution to help you cite original sources.

Don't forget to think before you use it!

Works Cited