fairuseless.org

Giddyup for the RIAA Boycott Roundup.

Yeehaw!

USA Today lays it out:

Ladies and gentlemen, there are some things you need to know — some things you need to be absolutely clear about because there are people out there trying to cloud the issues and convince you to give up your rights.

Rather than say "it's about time" or "where ya been?" I'll just say thanks for coming aboard.

RIAA v. XM.

It will be interesting to see where this goes. Any wagers?

RIAA et al. says CD ripping, backups not fair use

There's an interesting distinction to be made between the issue of fair use and a creator's freedom to determine the terms by which others may shape, share, or build upon her/his work.

Where fair use is about consumer advocacy, the latter is focused more on artist empowerment.

This is why Creative Commons is so important. The one-size-fits-all mechanism for copyright no longer satisfactorily addresses (if it ever did) the potential for more "open" contributions to society. Creative Commons offers more granularity and control over the boundaries that a creator may wish to lay claim to. It gives the creator a framework for more altruistic behavior. By giving the artist the power of self-determination over their works, we all get more. It opens us all up to making the world a better, more innovative place. There's real genius in that.

In support of the Commons, Fairuseless will contribute 50% of its advertising revenue to their cause. The Electronic Frontier Foundation will receive the remaining 50%. Because the two of these organizations represent two sides of the same coin.

Lessig points us to Canada's CopyrightWatch.ca.

The site offers a wealth of insight and information on digital copyright law and a very familiar look and feel.

Note: Kubrick is the default style template of the personal publishing platform, WordPress, Copywatch's, platform of choice. Fairuseless.org, using the acclaimed MovableType, modeled itself after this elegant template.

Looking forward to seeing what this bright (and obviously more prolific) group bring to the mix. Cheers to our friends to the North!

Recording Industry vs The People: First Annual Peer-to-Peer Litigation Summit

Boing Boing: It's legal to break DRM in Australia, sez High Court

eDonkey Chief Blasts Litigators In Senate Testimony

Hopfully the Senate is listening...

Check it out.

A critique of a "balanced approach" to said reasonable use by Earnest Miller.

CDT's 'Balanced Framework' for Copyright Completely Unbalanced: Corante > The Importance of... >

Just in case you're not catching this guy on Corante... He's on a roll.

iPods and Time-shifting: Fair Use, Personal Use and the Digital Copyright Morass: Corante > Between Lawyers >

Dennis Kennedy gets it. This is something I struggled with as I too have contributed to the confusion by lumping in "typical or reasonable use" with something constructed to achieve something quite different. "Typical and reasonable" have been at the heart of much of the points made on this site to-date.

So "fair use" as depicted in this site and so many others is a bit of a misnomer. Kennedy's recommendation of calling it something different rather than stretch fair use beyond its original bounds sounds spot on.

So perhaps this site's name will make sense after all, as we begin to hone in on this yet-to-be-named consumer licensee right and move away from the misapplication of fair use.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but here's one of the more interesting news items for the week on 5/30:

Sony continues DRM drive on music CDs... But they won't tell on which ones...

Hopefully some pending legislation mentioned earlier on this site will help clarify this.

How is it that companies can have such utter contempt for their customers... and still have customers?

Schaumann on Direct Infringement in P2P: Corante > The Importance of... >

In the article, Ernest Miller reviews Schaumann's recent paper. And while I disagree where Mr. Miller disagrees with Schaumann, I still see Miller's "share with friends, not strangers" standard still lacking from a legal perpective.

The whole six-degrees of separation and social networking phenomena proves that "friends of friends of friends" can result in a sizable sphere of contacts--or in this case--content. In other words, the friends standard is probably insufficient if the standard is meant to limit the distribution of copyrighted materials. "Private" all too easily becomes a form of de facto "public".

However, sharing with friends within a single degree of a sharer with an agreement not to share beyond that seems more reasonable--a "share only what hasn't been shared with you with friends" standard. It's a mouthful, but I think it works.

Also, alternative copyrights might allow for broader distribution, should the holder wish to encourage a more viral, non-royalty-generating mode of distribution.

Thoughts?

Here's a novel idea. The Australian government is asking for the public's input on how to fix Copyright in that country, rather than only listening to industry lobbyists. Who would of thunk it?

Slashdot | What Would You Ask For in Copyright Law?

And amid the discussion emerges a well thought-out recommendation from a few US grad students.

Sing it with me, people:

I believe that children are our future...

Welcome to the Future | Ourmedia

Filmaker, Blogger, Revolutionary, and long-time "chum" Chuck Olsen has recently posted a superb short video that humorously and succinctly highlights the many conflicting forces at work when it comes to exercising fair use rights, being a devoted fan, and navigating the draconian rules surrounding copyright.

By the way, more examples of Chuck's unique brand of activism, documentarianism, and journalism can be found here, here, and here... and here.

Lawrence Lessig Lays it Down

This in reference to another interesting debate on "paid advertising" vs. "word of mouth".

Slyck News - RIAA’s Grand Total: 10,037 - What are Your Odds?

Interesting view on your chances of getting "caught" as well as the notoriety and publicity generated on behalf of file-sharing products and services as a result of this sort of legal flailing.

Although articles such as these help illustrate the folly of the RIAA's tactics, they also tend to appeal to those who are prone to a kind of vigilantism or a Robin Hood complex of some form or another.

Fairuseless.org believes the over-zealousness on both sides of the file-sharing issue is only widening the gap. As the world has learned time and time again, extremism--in any form--can only generate net negative returns. Always.

Quieting the rancor needs to be the first step to a reasonable solution. The RIAA needs to stop its strong arm tactics and back off of its overly broad view on piracy. File-sharers, on the other hand, need to stop their flouting of the law by ceasing to download and mass-distribute content that they don't have rights to.

Starting there and then discussing the nature of usage and ownership in a thoughtful and intelligent manner may yield some more productive options. Fairuseless.org believes there is room for compromise. There should be reasonable extensions AND limits to use. Sharing and rights protection don't have to be mutally exclusive.

Both sides seem to have polarized to the most extreme positions they could possibly take and as a result have simply stopped thinking. Let's get creative.

A Whole Lotta Nothing: Strange bedfellows

Filtered + Derivitive works = Hacks, Mods, and Extensions.

The "slippery slope" just tilted our way a little bit. Now that is something.

Remind Me of the Reason for the DMCA Again?: Corante > The Importance of... >

Boing Boing: Shirky: stupid (c) laws block me from publishing own work online

This sort of presumption of guilt on the part of software/hardware manufacturers in order to be in compliance with current copyright law is precisely what we at fairuseless.org oppose. And despite the fact that these provisions can be circumvented with alternative technologies, the consumer--you and me--is at the very least, inconvenienced, or at worst, guilty of violating the DMCA.

Here is small sampling of the types of stories we'll be covering here:

Rehnquist stuns Grokster hearing with question about deep house...
[via Good Morning Silicon Valley - San Jose,CA,USA]

RIAA Announces Turnaround From Four-Year Decline Of Music Sales
[via Christian Post - San Francisco,CA,USA]

Cuban goes courtside in copyright battle
[via Globetechnology]

Jeff Tweedy and Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig to Participate in Intellectual Property Discussion
[via Earvolution]

Also featured: links to some of my favorite related sites. Stay tuned.