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Alot of
corporations these days seem a little sluggish. Media, and the way that
society uses media, are changing rather quickly these days, and some of
the megacorporations who own everything seem to be having some difficulty
adapting. They haven't quite figured out what this whole internet thing
is about, so to cover up their ignorance they react to every new stimulus
with litigation. Used properly, copyrights have value, but on the internet
different rules should apply. This may be a little remedial for some of you,
but for the poor, embattled CEO's and corporate lawyers who are desperately
trying to keep up with the net, I present the following list of
simple, introductory rules...
1. Take the lawyer off speed-dial
When someone uses an image that you own on
their website, you haven't necessarily been defrauded yet. Take
a look at the website. Is it helping you? Is it not-for-profit?
If the website in question is extolling your virtues, maybe you
should let them stick around. Look at the case of Fuji TV, who
recently sent cease-and-desist letters to all the amateur fansites
of their bizarre cooking show, Iron
Chef. Do I have to point out how stupid this is? They've got a hit
show that's virtually unknown in America, and they're
shutting down websites that advertise it. Perhaps someone at Fuji could
explain how their valuable copyrights are infringed by their own fans?
2. The wonders of the non-exclusive license
Some media producers are afraid that if they
allow fans to re-distribute their media, they'll lose control and eventually
ownership of the media (Fox's holy crusade against Simspons websites is a
good example of this). Well, the damn media isn't any good to you unless
it's being viewed. Just issue the fansite a limited license for the media
in question. That way, you can exhibit control over how the media
is used, instead of controlling whether the media is used, which
makes alot more sense. You don't own the media itself, you own the rights
to distribute the media - so distribute it already.
3. Think realistically
There's a difference between the rights you have
legally, and the rights you actually have in the real world. This has been
proven time and again. Look at the case of DeCSS:
there's a huge, complicated legal battle over whether or not DeCSS is legal,
and it's all moot because anyone who wants a copy can get it, injunction
or no injunction. When you go to court to win a right that you can't realistically
enforce, you only demonstrate your own ineptitude. Perhaps the next
time your legal department comes up with a memo, you should forward it over
to engineering to find out if it's completely fucking stupid before you sue.
4. Popularity is more valuable than profit
Compare the radio to the internet: Record companies
pay huge bribes to radio stations to play their music, because they know
that the music will become popular if enough people hear it. The only
difference is that on Napster, they don't have to bribe anyone. In fact,
they don't have to do a goddamn thing, it's free publicity. The reason they
try to fight Napster is because they're uncomfortable with a medium
that they don't completely control (like radio), but they don't seem to understand
that they are fundamentally unable to control it (see #3).
5. You can't out-hack us
Periodically, it occurs to large media producers
that they can protect their media with a clever technical fix, like
encryption. The problem is, we always hack it. I've already
pretty much covered this issue, in my rant
on DVD encryption, so I won't beat a dead horse here. Suffice it to
say that the only types of copy protection that haven't been hacked
are the ones we haven't gotten to yet.
I hope this has been informative.
The conclusion is: the world is changing. Some companies are adapting
to the new media, and making boatloads of cash. Other companies are
trying to fight the new media, with lawsuits and encrypted codecs.
If you're curious about who's going to win, go check the stock prices.
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