Mass Communication Law – Page 50 – Thinking Out Loud, aka The Broad Gaze

Fair Use?

It appears that the RIAA is now saying that ripping a CD is not a fair use. In some ways, I think I agree. By classifying this use and that use as fair or not fair, we run the risk of creating a copyright framework which is fragmented and difficult for the average person to make sense of. Instead of letting the law enter so deeply into our lives and our interactions with technology, it might be wise to have personal use be off limits for legal action. Copyright ideals like the threatened “first-sale doctrine” (which gives one an unlimited right to sell a work they already owned–and threatened because of Digital Rights Management which limits one’s ability to transfer ownership) may serve as a precedent for conceiving of copyright in this way.

I would call this framework: “You own it, it’s yours.”

Friedman on Civil Society in the Middle East

I don’t always agree with NY Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, but in a piece today on Addicted to Oil he made a brief, but very insightful remark about the development of civil society in the middle east:

The mosque became an alternative power center because it was the only place the government’s iron fist could not fully penetrate. As such, it became a place where people were able to associate freely, incubate local leaders and generate a shared opposition ideology.
That is why the minute any of these Arab countries hold free and fair elections, the Islamists burst ahead.

So the theory goes, in a repressive society which does not allow much in the way of freedom of speech, ideas will begin to flow in the places where government power is weak. Absent an open coffee house or town hall, civil society may begin to form around a more closed and perhaps radical place of worship. This really highlights the importance of place in the creation of publics.
Perhaps this is why China is going to such great lengths to control speech on the Internet.

E-tracking, coming to a DMV near you | Perspectives | CNET News.com

Declan is concerned about the privacy implications of tracking cars on the road. This is a valid concern, but a little-researched knee-jerk reaction of mine is that efforts such as this may compromise one of our greatest assets: the open network of roadways.

When you think of it, roads are a lot like the Internet. Once you pay for a car and gas (or public transporation) you have subsequent free access to the entire network. This is a good analogy to the Internet, where once you have a computer and pay for net access, you have unbiased access to the network. Sure, there are pay sites, toll roads, speed traps, and carnivores along the way; but the point is that the majority of the network is free (as in beer), and that we all (individuals and corporations alike) benefit from the network.
I think it deserves to stay that way.

Edit

Another opinion in favor of “toll roads.”

G-Men in the Ivory Tower

Thanks to the British news media (with a little help from the Google desktop news ticker), I learned of a meeting between the FBI and higher-ed representatives to exchange “advice on the culture of higher education.” Included in the talks, and quoted in the article below was UW-Madison’s own chancellor Wiley.

At the moment, local and student media don’t appear to be interested. I’m not quite sure what to make of it either.

FBI Works on Its Image on College Campuses (Guardian Unlimited)