HamTech

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

NYTIMES: OK GO lead singer on Net Neutrality

'Free Culture' as copyright bible

I was surprised that 'Free Culture' by Lawrence Lessig was such a bench mark book for copyright activists in Universities because I did not find the book to be very intellectual. I agree with many of his points but like prof Eismeier said, the book is basically a compilation of anecdotes about copyright related problems. Maybe it is just me (and after reading about the free culture movement it seems like it is) but Lessig doesn't seem to be the best reference book to use when creating a powerful argument for why copyright laws need to be loosened or changed. Of the books we've read I think I would probably refer to Benkler before Lessig. Benkler's book was very dry and lacking the plethora of fun anecdotes that Lessig's had but it seemed to be much more grounded in facts and hard arguments.

Students for Free Culture

Dave, did they leave out your bio by accident? hahaha.

The Campaign Against Fair Use

(via /.)

Monday, April 7, 2008

Death by blogging

Forced or otherwise.

Amazon Accelerates Its Move to Digital

The NYTimes' David Pogue presents a musical history of music on the internet

Kerouac's On The Road - Visualized

A brilliant series of infographics and visualizations mapping the literary geography of On The Road. Who says nobody builds on the past?

(via Kottke)

Friday, April 4, 2008

Fantasy baseball

Take me out to the ballgame! On second thought, leave me at my computer so I can check my fantasy stats. I hate fantasy sports.

What would Lessig say?

I thought this contest illustrates, to an extent, the kind of creativity that Lessig thinks would flourish in a truly "free culture."

I have a ton of questions about the way this contest relates to Lessig. Do these ads exemplify Walt Disney creativity? Do they represent a kind of creativity that can only exist because of the technology available in the information age? Are these ads illegal? If these creators did not get permission to use these products in their art, does that prove that Manes was correct when he claimed that it doesn't really matter whether it is technically a "free culture" or a "permission culture" because people break the rules anyway? And why the ban on iphones and ipods?

hmmm...

Power of Information

Interesting report from UK.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Should Frost Jr., Jr. See Dollar Bills?

As Sam pointed out to me after class, I had a lot more to say about intellectual property and the philosophical concerns about rights to that property the first time we broached the topic.

Before reading Lessig, I didn’t see the distinction between intellectual property and physical property—why should they be treated differently? I used to think that if Robert Frost wanted his descendants to profit from his work, then he should definitely have the right to copyright his material for generations because his creation should be disseminated at his discretion.

After reading Lessig, I started to change my mind (At which point Jonathan told me I was a flip-flopper and could never run for President). Intellectual property is an abstract—the words of Robert Frost’s poems don’t have inherent value. They came out of his own head for free. On the other hand, a pearl necklace, someone’s family heirloom did have value when it was created.

Then I thought about it even further, and realized that the pearl necklace only had value because of the value society places on pearls! Robert Frost’s poetry, similarly, gains value only because he is a well respected poet, and his work has a high potential value.

In handing both intellectual or physical property over to the public domain, a consumer surplus for the goods is created!!

At the same time, if both were placed in the public domain after x amount of years, the family losing the pearl necklace suffers not only the loss of its potential market value, but they also lose the initial investment value. Robert Frost’s family would only suffer the loss of potential gain.

So in the end, there is a difference, but there isn’t and it’s all a muddle and I’m desperately confused as to the philosophical solution to this quandary.

Ed Markey Holds Hearing In Second Life. Seriously.

Speaking of Invention...

Given our discussion of intellectual property and copyrights (not to mention Lessig's refrences to Edison's phonograph), I found this recent discovery amusing. The "Phonautograph" was discovered 20 years before Edison's phonograph.

This

has strikingly resemblences to this:

Does it not? It definitely resembles this:

Then again, what about this?

Listen to the pre-Edison sound recording here (you may not be impressed). On another note, how many copyrights did I infringe on by using these images?

Cory Doctorow on Personal Copyrights

Cory Doctorow is one of the brightest copyright and digital policy activists out there. A true renaissance man, Cory's a novelist, been the European Affairs Coordinator for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (the ACLU of the internet), the Fulbright Chair in Public Diplomacy at USC, and one of the best public speakers for the copyleft.

Talk About a Zealot...

From our limited reading, Manes appears to oppose Lessig more adamantly than Lessig does current copyright law. His sarcastic reproach of Lessig's ideals only softens his arguement. Fighting fire with fire only makes for a conflagaration. (That said, I do appreciate Manes' provokative journalism and venomous pen).

I admire Manes' dedication to covering advancing technology, but I'm afraid Lessig's strong background rooted in a Stanford law education does warrant his liberal ideology concerning copyright law (this isn't an elitist thought, although something tells me Manes, clearly offended by Lessig's reference to him as a "mere 'technology writer'," may see it as such). Lessig, though perhaps a wacky, over-enlightened idealist, is no moron. But neither is the well-informed Manes.

Unfortunately, I can't side with Lessig over Manes or Manes over Lessig. I'm indeed a bit off-put by Lessig's "grand wish" that just about everything be put in the public domain, but I feel stranded by Manes who offers more questions and quips than solutions to the issue at hand (in fact, he even questions whether modern copyright law is even as "onerous" as Lessig pretends). So while I admire each man for being able to take such a single sided stance, I feel tarred and feathered while straddling the fence seperating the "Emerald City of Palo Alto" from what Manes believes to be the rest of the country.

I like that Lessig values "tinkering" as a major part of the creative process, and I have (somewhat passively) come to accept his philosophy of a "rip,mix, and burn" culture. Then again, I'm not blind to Lessig's "sound-bite mastery," and I agree with Manes that "Lessig preemptively calls his opponets radicals when he's the one who's throwing the bombs."

I agree to an extent with Manes that Lessig's assault on copyright "largely helps a ragtag bunch of gleaners who claim that copying is 'creativity' because they can't create anything without directly reusing copyrighted material." I do not, however, agree with him that "copyright largely works fine." When it comes to this stuff, it is shades of grey wherever I go. The more I find out the less that I know. Black and white is how it should be, but shades of grey are the colors I see.

That final jaunt comes from a Billy Joel song. I probably should have put it in quotes so as not infringe on any copyright, but I didn't. According to Manes, "nobody ever seems to sue in cases of plagarism."

***As an additional note, Holland's critique of Lessig and the Copy Left, though not as amusing to read, has more to offer. Perhaps this is because there is no rift between the two of them. Nonetheless, he precisely points out that the abolition of copyright "deadens motivation" despite being "public spirited." ***

"It's the lack of respect that hurts the most" -- Norm MacDonald

Just a thought: would we be less likely to miss our blog/paper chats if they were held in Second Life?

I hope not, Second Life weirds me out.