Three stories caught my eye today. At first glance, they seem completely unrelated–but there are underlying (undefined?) characteristics about the way we interact with our media that tie them together. Here are the short versions
Laptop searches at the border: No reason? No problem: The 9th Circuit rules that laptops can be searched at the border without cause.
Court Ruling Denies EMI Access to Millions of Personal MP3 Files: An online storage service (ok, one that promotes its ability to store-but-not-share music) wins against EMI, who wanted access users’ music files.
Defunct MSN Music has a DRM controversy on its hands: Microsoft switches off computers which let MSN Music customers move music files they paid for to another machine.
It seems to me that, when we buy a piece of media (be it a book, CD, or digital file) it:
- Makes a statement about who we are: Back to the CDs or DVDs on a shelf idea of being able to tell how much you share with another. I am mostly thinking of this as a public act, but it could be a more private identity assertion.
- Is closely tied to our individual intellectual or artistic development and freedom: The things we read, watch, and hear have an effect on us yet we have a right to travel our own path in choosing media. S. R. Ranganathan’s five laws of library science fit well here, as well as librarian’s ideals on the privacy of patron information.
These two characteristics, I believe, drive certain expectations that we have about the media we buy:
- First, that there is an element of permanence or ownership to media we own. Asserting one’s identity and claiming a work as a piece of their intellectual history can’t be taken away, and many might say the same should go for owned media that sparked it.
- Second, control over privacy is expected because, just as we wouldn’t want anyone to see what goes on inside our heads, we might also not want others to know about the media that impacts what goes on in there.
- Finally but on a related note, control over where a work resides, or its format can also be thought of as personal. The order of books on a shelf, or the privacy of files locked in a network drive might be another aspect of a right to control one’s intellectual or artistic domain.
It just seems like there is “something” here we haven’t put our finger on in law or theory. Perhaps that explains what, looking back, all of this again feels random to me. Any ideas?
I’m something of a collector of books, cds, dvds, etc. Digitizing my music collection has made it much more accessible, and has helped me rediscover and recontextualize works I originally experienced as far back as 20 years ago. I’d like to be able to do the same thing with my video collection – but that’s a much more daunting task. To a certain extent, I enjoy sharing these discoveries, preferences and experiences with others. No, not file sharing – but sharing the catalog of my experience with these media (Delicious Library exports, Shelfari, etc.). I probably share too much as the catalogs are online! The popularity of Amazon, Shelari, Flixster, etc. speak to people’s identification with self and media consumption. At what point is the line crossed when government or marketing experts start to analyze and use this public data for purposes which weren’t intended?
On a separate note – if my laptop gets searched at the border and they find mp3s or videos without the original CD or DVD (after all, why would I bring them?) would that be a problem? Or would it simply raise a border guard’s suspicion enough to give me a little more thorough search?
Regarding the MSN Music shutdown – I think this was/is everyone’s great fear of DRM realized. I personally don’t like even buying music from iTunes when I can help it. When I have a choice I’ll buy DRM-free through Amazon or even better – directly through the artist like NIN, Saul Williams, or Radiohead.
I hesitate to say it, because it sounds alarmist, but I’ve heard that border guards are on the lookout for pirated materials. It might not be too far off to say that something like a suspicious looking dvd could bring them to search your machine.
It’s funny to be a collector in the digital world. I’m not quite as open with what I own, but it seems almost like a replacement for the coffee table or bookshelf. Something inherently personal–more than just data.
I’m so guilty of being locked into iTunes, and I know it! As much as I’d like to move to 100% linux, I think my new Nike+ has locked me into the mac platform, at least for awhile.