Julianna Yau’s blog

I’ve been away from the copyright game for a while, so I thought it would be useful for me to reorganize some of my thoughts:

• Not all creators are equal. Their skill sets are different, their creations are different and their needs are different.
• Technology is always changing. Media and styles of creative output are always changing. A Copyright Act which speaks too specifically to technology or media (the direction toward which we seem to be headed) will always need revision and always cause problems.
• Availability of business models and intrinsic rights are not the same thing. Within reason, the business model used by a creator or business associates should not be limited by legislation. (Within reason being not in violation of human rights, anti-trust, anti-competition, etc). More specifically (and I expect an onslaught of disagreement on this, but I stand by it), a company should be free to use DRM if they choose to, and consumers are free to not buy products with DRM if they choose to. Companies use it because we still buy the product. There is no better protest than not buying their product. That being said, I don’t support the use of DRM (see the chapter “Speed Bump” in Wired Shut for why).
• The all-rights-reserved vs a-Creative-Commons-licence model gives creators their choice of how they want their work used. What we need is better definition of fair use, not more legislated exemptions and conditions.
• With new technologies for making capturing and duplicating easier and less expensive for everyone, the concept of what is being purchased and why needs serious reconsideration.

What I think is needed:

• We need a simpler Copyright Act, not a longer one. (Sadly, see Digital Copyright by Jessica Litman for why that will probably never become a reality)
• We need better public education on copyright, so that we don’t need to resort to a copyright slide ruler to figure it out. This, of course, would be easier to accomplish if the Copyright Act were simpler.
• We need better public education on art and the workings of the creative industries. As I noted before, people are shocked when they find out how much an artist actually gets from the sale of their work. In 2004, the average total income of an artist from all sources was $23,500. In 2005, the median income in Canada for all occupations was $41,401. Although average and median aren’t the same thing, and there is a year’s difference in the numbers, it’s still discouraging.
• We need to define sampling versus stealing
• We need to differentiate advertising and working for free
• We need to remember the creator

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