Don’t fall for fair-use daredevil tactics. You might get hurt. I know Fair Use Week is technically over, but when I saw this video produced by Public Knowledge, I couldn’t, y’know…let it go. Remember how I’ve argued a few times that organizations have a habit of promoting fair use messages that can confuse people and potentially get well-meaning creators into ...
Photo by author. In my last post, I opined that the fair use interests of librarians and educators are not necessarily aligned with for-profit business ventures seeking to exploit creative works in ways that can harm authors. For instance, in the case of Capitol Records v ReDigi, now on appeal at the Second Circuit, Jonathan Band filed an amicus brief ...
Not that copyright stories should hope to compete with the drama coming out of Washington these days, but it’s more than likely that copyright policy and news will now be viewed through that multi-faceted, jittery lens; and the political climate certainly provides new context for creating freshly distorted views on various topics. For instance, today begins the 4th Annual Fair ...
Photo by rootstocks VidAngel offers what is functionally a video-on-demand (VOD) service plus “filtering” for viewers who want to see mainstream fare with certain naughty bits—sex, foul language, violence, etc.—removed. To provide this service, though, VidAngel allegedly violates the copyright owners’ exclusive right of reproduction and public performance, as well as Section 1201 of the DMCA prohibiting circumvention of technical protection ...
Returning to the generalization that the internet is the “best thing ever to happen to democracy,” I have to ask this: if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, how do we like the soufflé so far? Admittedly, the unprecedented scope of the Women’s March on January 21 would not have been possible without social media; but at ...
