It’s a bold statement, my title. I’m sure it’s not entirely true, but people like Viacom, RIAA, and most people fighting for the stop of illegal sharing are definitely looking at communities like the one created at YOUmoz with fear in their eyes. The Internet created a phenomena where copyright law enforcement has gone into a frenzy, with once minor breaches being allowed, to the point where now users are being sued for having music playing in their home movies.
None of this answers why they hate things like YOUmoz. That’s simple; it’s because YOUmoz, along with other blogs, are places where the community adds their ideas and content for free to share with no claim to full ownership. Sure, the posts are ours, but we still give it away to SEOmoz for free. This idea scares copyright owners because it shows the movement of an Internet towards a “Free Culture.”
Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig termed the phrase “Free Culture” and Wikipedia defined it as a “social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify creative works.” He is now founder and CEO of “Creative Commons.”
The fear for many companies is that a social movement for the freedom of ideas will hurt their pockets, and yet the freedom of ideas will elevate this generation’s level of discourse to an enlightenment that hasn’t been possible. The possibility to share, collaborate, and innovate together without the fear of copyright is beneficial to many and destructive to few.
The potential over-reaching of copyright law affects everyone on the Internet. What is a healthy balance? Or should we do away with copyright protections altogether? Is Creative Commons effective? Have you used it?
I’m curious to hear about how people feel their blog posts should be protected versus a YouTube video or Flickr picture. Is something written differently than other media?
