Internet Studies Class

Current Piracy of Printed Text

Since Personal Computers and the Internet were invented authors have watched their books be illegally copied and reproduced both by hardcopy and online versions. Among the many forms of piracy, the most prevalent is the illegal hardcopy production of entire books. “The inter-American Publishers Group estimates that globally about 50 billion book pages are illegally reprinted every year”(Gopalan)! These pirates are offering the same quality text to the public for a much cheaper price than the publishers who make them legally(Gopalan). Until about five years ago, the pirated versions of books were easily distinguishable from the official versions. However, with advances in technology well organized pirates are scanning not only the text of the books with precise quality but the cover and barcodes as well. Today, an officially licensed book, and a well made pirated book are nearly impossible for the common reader to differentiate.
Online or virtual versions of books are profoundly pirated in today’s society as well. Over the past couple years it has become increasingly more effortless to find and illegally download entire texts, thanks largely to peer-to-peer networks. The Publishing Industry in America is on the verge of going down the same path that the Music Industry is still on. The online piracy of books is taking the annual profits of the American Publishers down year by year(Junnarkar). The authors in turn suffer as well. According to a New York Times article, “A quick survey conducted with peer-to-peer file-sharing software revealed the digital availability of dozens of titles currently on the New York Times best-seller list, including ''The Da Vinci Code,'' ''The South Beach Diet'' and, of course, hundreds of copies of any Harry Potter title. Even the official audio-book versions read by the authors or celebrities are easy to come by”(Junnarkar).
E-Book was developed to try and regulate the level of books being illegally downloaded. An e-book is, “is a contraction of "electronic book." Because many publishers are concerned about the ease with which electronic files can be copied, they protect the electronic versions of their books using digital rights management (DRM) technology. We use the term "e-book" to describe a product with DRM protection. Before you can open an e-book using the Adobe Reader or Microsoft Reader, the software must be activated, a process that verifies the identity of the person using the software”(www.amazon.com). E-books can be purchased and downloaded at www.blish.com.

“The Bane of Book Piracy”, R. Gopalan
“In the Virtual Stacks, Pirated Books Find Eager Thumbs”, Junnarkar.
www.amazon.com

Written by Alysa

Lawrence Lessig in his book, Free Culture, asserts that “of all the creative work produced by humans anywhere, a tiny fraction has continuing commercial value” (225). He goes on to further state that the copyrights of the tiney fraction of works that are still “profitable” are the most benefited by an extended copyright. Copyright law, however, doesn’t just extend the law for those select few—when you extend the copyright the law for some you extend it for all. Therefore, obscure authors or works that have ceased to be profitable are actually hurt, because the interest in the works of the author become unknown and unavailable. This inhibition and subsequent shrinking of the public domain means that the potential creativity of others to build upon the works is thwarted.

The text of the past is in danger of becoming extict, as new technology crosses class, race, language, and residential boundaries. The same way in which hand-written letters succombed to emails which allowed easy access to multimedia functions such as links, pictures, and music—text based articles and books shall become antiquated and only a means of “archiving” material. I predict that lobbyists will continue to successfully raise copyright law, however, as they do a new sub-culture will emerge that will utilize public domain works and create their own works and make them widely available. It will be through this movement away from “traditional” concepts of text based literature that the individual versus the publishing company will gain a considerable amount of power.

The challenge will no longer be how to read the material that resides forever in the clutches of copyright. It will revolve around successfully searching through the accumulating mass of “individual based” works. The search for works of individual interest will start. Utube helped to show that people unaffiliated with major production companies could produce interesting works. In fact, a community of “film critics” emerged from Utube to help elevate the awareness (and consequently the status) of certain filmmakers. Therefore, the focus was shifted back to the creativity of the artist.

Lessig believes that copyright is essential to spark creativity, but that the continual extension of the act hinders further creativity. I agree with Lessig, but I have to believe that databases, such as the Open Content Alliance and The Online Books Page will help to keep public domain works within the access of many, and at the same time build upon those works by offering multimedia links, summaries, biographies, and pictures that build upon the text to enhance the relevance of the text. I will concede that the loss of the authors not in public domain will be felt, however, if the focus of the American consumer shifts from buying the works of “well-known” authors towards unknown authors then then I believe it will be become essential for authors to begin to feature “read-only, non-printable” full text online versions of their work to draw upon a broader readership.

It is my belieft that in the next fifty years the way in which we interact with text will change dramatically. I believe that books will cease to be used for reference—as the expidency of the internet and the increased readership—and the internet will encourage (if not force) authors to put their work online.

Lessig, Lawrence. Free Culture. New York: The Penguin Press, 2004.

The Online Books Page.

The Open Content Alliance.

In the spirit of the online text revolution, here is a first draft revision of the Script--

2019:

The Continuing Odyssey of Copyright Laws

written by Alysa LaRose Wooden

LS of front of apartment complex—at bottom of screen—year 2019

Beginning of V/O

MS of person walking down walkway of apartment

V/O: It was an ordinary, sunny day on an ordinary street located in Anywhere, America. John Doe was walking back from a college seminar discussing the alarming illiteracy rates of Washington State Orphans due to a lack of access to reading material. The thoughts of illiterate orphans plagued his very being and inhabited the very core of his soul.

LS of John Doe (Christoph) thinking

MS of Christoph at computer

V/O: But John Doe wasn’t’ just any person with a heavy conscious and a sterling sense of responsibility. John Doe was a man of action. So he set about a plan—

MS of Christoph grabbing books, opening them and then typing them into the computer

V/O: His plan was to start a free, non-commercial database of now “public domain” literature (such as some of Robert Frosts poems) so that the little orphans in Washington state could have an extensive online library of reading material available to them with easy access. John Doe code-named it operation Eldred II.

Cut to: “Book Company Lawyer” (Derek) at computer searching for copyright trespassers

Derek: What’s this? Someone trying to make my clients work available online—and for free? NEVER!! First I’ll get the copyright law extended for another 50 years, and then I’ll sue the creator of the website and make them a FELON!

MOOHAHAHA!!!

Cut to apartment—front of door, close up on knock

LS of Christoph coming to door

Christoph: Who is it?

From Behind Door: Pizza Delivery!

Christoph opens door.

Christoph: Wait, I didn’t order delivery, I had Digorno.

Two “Brown Baggers” put brown bag over Christoph’s head and drag him inside of apartment and sit him down

Lauren: You have been charged based off of the violation of copyright code 0048.

Leah: If you choose to do so you can take your objections to your being charged to court

Lauren: Whereby your claims will be dismissed promptly.

Both laugh menacingly

Christoph takes brown bag off

Christoph: Sorry, I couldn’t breathe.

Lauren: What did you think you were doing?

Christoph: Helping Washington State orphans.

Leah: (mockingly) Helping Washington State orphans. Well, they don’t need your help. But do you know who does? The families of the author’s in which you are harming.

Lauren: You were trying to starve them of their money!

Leah: 2 million dollars is not enough to eat off of!

Lauren: You are a public menace!

Leah: You are a bad person!

Lauren: You are trying to hurt our economy!

Leah: Unpatriotic!

Lauren: Bagabond!

Christoph: Wait! I was trying to help illiterate orphans.

Leah: The orphans don’t need you help.

Lauren: The orphans are fine.

Leah: They like being illiterate.

Lauren: The like being orphans.

Leah: How could you?

Lauren: How could you?

Several minutes later

Christoph: (overwhelmed) You’re right. I am a bad person.

Leah and Lauren smile.

Christoph: I see the light! Never again! Stealing is wrong. Orphans are happy people living in green meadows with rainbow books growing on trees. Copyright is good! I love copyright! Extend copyrights FOREVER!

Cut to Derek

Derek: Another wayward student brought into the light! Copyright forever. Ban online text databases! Protect the authors forever, and prosecute the hackers who threaten our great traditions!

(chants) Copyright, Copyright, COPYRIGHT!

FIN

The film quality--it's kinda blurry--but the message is still just as good. Check out the movie at the site, or on our blog.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMHDr_ZcwE0

History of Copyright Law and Texts (Leah Blaney)
Controversy surrounding the copyright issue began with texts as the arrival of the printing press gave way to wider public literacy rates and a demand for more printed works. While several guidelines to these exclusive rights were discussed and deliberated for years throughout Europe, England has been credited with the first official copyright law in its Statute of Anne from 1710. Of course, the characteristics of this law appear very primitive in modern light of the notion as it merely guaranteed that one specific machine could create copies of a literary piece without outlining anything concerning its implementation. (Lessig 87)
Since this landmark event, copyright law has evolved into a much more broadly scoped entity involving the right to copy, distribute, perform, create derivative works, or use any creative medium, especially in the United States. Building from England’s success, the U.S. wasted no time in passing its own legislation with the Copyright Act of 1790. This act solely pertained to U.S. citizens and only encompassed books, maps, and charts as authors secured rights for 14 years with the opportunity to renew this right for another 14 years if still alive at the end of the period.
Very soon afterwards, artistic endeavors were gaining ground internationally and some common copyright establishments were needed across borders. The answer to this quandary came with the Berne Convention of 1886, which automatically conceded copyright protection to any completed innovations without documentation for the length of the author’s life plus another 50 years. Numerous sovereign nations were united in their understanding of the rights to authorship and those inventing widely recognized designs could rest easy knowing their creation was guarded even outside of their homeland.
Over a century passed before any fresh legislation was enacted in U.S. law concerning authors’ rights. The Copyright Act of 1909 extended the term of protection to 28 years and allowed for one renewal comparable to previous administration. Although works were recognized internationally and defended upon completion, works in the U.S. not registered were still not recognized and entered directly into public domain. Works with affixed copyrights published before 1978 continued to exercise these particular guidelines until 1998.
Major developments in copyright legislation entered congressional discussions in 1955 with the United States’ involvement in the Universal Copyright Convention, formally announcing its adherence to the Berne Convention of 1886, and the introduction of new technologies. Since 1909, inventions such as television, movies, and radio began flooding into society and required further consideration from politicians on the topic of intellectual property. The Copyright Act of 1976 continues to stand as the foundation of modern copyright law as it identifies basic rights of copyright owners, the definition and implementation of “fair use”, and the change of copyright term from fixed periods to a lengthened phase of ownership centered around the time of the creator’s death. The law passed with little criticism from the public as it was mainly deemed to be a fair agreement between the rights of publishers and authors.
Two decades later politicians began discussing potential alterations in copyright law again with the concerns of those owning soon-to-be-expired works knocking on their door. The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 greatly extended the amount of time works were to remain under copyright protection adding another 20 years to their lifespan. Now copyright holders from 1923 and afterwards will hold active patents for the life of the creator with an additional 70 years tacked on. This act immediately put the development of the United States’ public domain on hold until the year 2019 unless patent owners decided to release works before this date. In this same year the Digital Millennium Copyright Act was passed in order to criminalize the construction and spread of machines capable of dodging technologies and resolutions aimed at defending copyright, and also enhanced the punishments for copyright encroachment specifically on the Internet.
Learn more for yourself!


Current Issues and Struggles with Copyright and Texts (Leah Blaney)
Many quandaries and protests have been directed at the contemporary state of copyright law involving the use of texts mainly via digital mediums. The basic framework of these issues can be summarized in one recent scenario concerning the hassles experienced by one man, Eric Eldred. In 1998, after creating a website intended to provide full copies of books for free online with available works in the public domain his web project was suddenly halted with the extension of copyright terms by congressional vote. Eldred would no longer be able to post new readings that were supposed to transfer into the public domain in 1998 until the year 2019!
Upon learning of this major setback in his newfound career, Eldred decided to contest the constitutionality of the 1998 Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Before the U.S. Supreme Court, Eldred and his attorneys argued several key points in light of the limitations of current laws. Article I, section 8 of the Constitution states that “Congress has the power to promote the Progress of Science…by securing for limited Times to Authors…exclusive Rights to their…Writings…” (Lessig 215). Eldred claimed that the objectives of this clause were being obstructed by Congress’ ability to create retroactive extensions, practically assuring those few significant beneficiaries an unlimited amount of copyright security. The plaintiffs were able to prove that only two percent of those copyrighted works established from 1923 to 1942 were still commercially advantageous. Also, Eldred fought the case with the First Amendment asserting that there had been a disturbance between the balance of Freedom of Speech and the profit from copyright. Though the eventual victory was handed into the hands of corporate interests, Eldred was able to drastically raise awareness for those who directly and indirectly benefit from a consistent enlargement of the public domain. Numerous support groups and advocates have begun digging up new methods to employ when legally battling the realm of overextended copyright terms, giving hope for those readers, listeners, and viewers yearning to dodge corporate totalitarianism. (Lessig 213-247)

because i have now posted that.

technically it's my copyrighted work.

if you take it, i can sue you!

Current Copyright Laws:

Copyright is a form of protection given to the original producers of written work, or “original works of authorship” including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. (US Copyright Office, 2006). This law applies to published and unpublished works. The 1976 Copyright Act allows owners of the copyright to reproduce their works and build upon them, to distribute their work by any means and for sale, and to perform and display their work the way that they choose. There are limits to copyright laws, and as we all know, if you pay enough money, most copyright owners will allow certain use of a copyrighted material.

Copyright begins from the moment a work is created in its final form, and immediately is owned by the author of the work. There is such a thing as “works for hire” which is work that you do for and employer, and in that case, the employer, not the employee who created the work, is the owner of the copyright. These are usually things like compilations, movie pictures parts, texts and test taking materials, atlases, etc. Minors cannot hold copyrights, but arrangements can be made so that minors who would like copyrights may work something out, but it is different state to state.

Copyright is also available for unpublished works, but it is harder to prove ownership without an official copyright registration. Published works can by copyrighted if any of these criteria are met:
1. On the date of publication, one or more of the authors is a citizen of the United States or a citizen of a United States treaty-holding nation.
2. On the date of the first publication it was published in the United States or a treaty nation.
3. Is a sound recording that was first made in a treaty nation or the United States.
4. If the work is first published by the United Nations or the Organization of American States.
5. “The work is a foreign work that was in the public domain in the United States prior to 1996 and its copyright was restored under the Uruguay Round Agreements Act (URAA).”
6. If the work is under “Presidential Proclamation”.

(US Copyright Office, 2006).

There are a few things that are not able to be copyrighted, or are not protected by copyright laws in a work. Titles, names, phrases, slogans, symbols, designs, graphics, lettering, and coloring are a few of these things. Ideas, methods, concepts, descriptions, etc are also not copyrightable. Other things that cannot be copyrighted include common knowledge things like calendars, time tables, normal modes of measurement, and other information available to society as a whole.

If you want to copyright your work, there is no real way or reason to do it. Since copyright already exists from the moment you create a work on, there is no need to properly register your work because it is already protected when you create it. However, if you register your copyright, you are more likely to be covered legally if a problem should arise. That can be done with the United States Copyright Office online or at certain state buildings. Copyright is for the author’s lifetime and seventy years after his/her death on any works produced after January 1, 1978. If the work was produced and registered before that time, the copyright is for twenty-eight years and up for renewal within the twenty-eighth year, making it eligible for a total of 95 protected years. Unless, of course, you’re Walt Disney!

Works Cited and Bibliography:
United States Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20559
202.707.3000
http://www.copyright.gov/

November 10, 2006.

Hey.

just start writing whatever comes to your mind.
lets try to keep each kind of texts in one blog entry.

plz tell me if anything is still in german!