I am very interested in how culture evolves, how technology and art are inspired, and how prevailing laws enable or choke that innovation. I read Lawrence Lessig’s Free Culture when it came out and was fascinated with the history of innovation and his hypotheses on where we were headed.
I’ve been meaning to find Lessig’s blog and today, someone emailed me a link to his blog that talks about an exciting new development in the documentary film world. The Documentary Filmmakers’ Statement of Best Practices outlines all the ways documentary filmmakers can follow the rules on Fair use and protect themselves. Those filmmakers who are certified to have followed those guidelines be able to get insured and therefore, their films will be able to get released. Earlier, the risk of getting sued was so high that some of these films never saw the light of day.
What a great step. Setting out the rules of Fair Use, easing the process of getting clearances, reducing the risk of being sued and therefore, increasing the capability to innovate. Excellent. (Thanks for the email, Evan!)
On a similar vein, watch this informative video on Net Neutrality which will have a big impact on how we innovate, communicate and create (although the video gets a little preachy/angry towards the end).
Video via: Lessig’s blog
I’m with you on Net Neutrality. And I don’t know about Lessig’s “Best Practices” essay. But Lessig is pursuing legislation that would severely harm entrepreneurial creatives while providing even more power, leverage, and profit to large corporations, dramatically un-leveling the playing field.
He is actively lobbying congress to deconstruct copyright law and make theft of all creative works: (1) easy, and (2) without consequence. That is an assault on creatives, particularly creative professionals who make a living off of their artwork.
Lessig wraps the arguments for his legislation in red herrings that are either already doable under the current system fair use system (perhaps that’s what he covers in his “Best Practices†essay), or could easily be achieved without dismantling copyright law. It seems that his true motives are far more extreme than the platitudes of his rhetoric, so look under the hood.
Net Neutrality is another issue completely, and is a no-brainer, as depicted in the video. But the actual meat behind Lessig’s lobbying puts him on the opposite side of the spectrum from the position we all agree on regarding net neutrality (i.e., he is aligned with large corporations against entrepreneurs with regard to copyright law). Under Lessig’s dream scenario, ONLY large corporations with massive legal budgets could protect their creative output, leaving small business creatives SOL.
That guy is dangerous if you support and respect artists.
Hi
I got through to your site from another blog.
And it was nice browsing through your posts.
I can see how passionate you are about movie-making..
I have been drawn towards cinema for sometime as well.. though never really set foot towards the making part of it. Still exploring the various faces of it.
Though at one time, I did plan to do a short movie with my friends.. to be shot by a Point and shoot digital camera. we never really went that far though, unfortunately.
Anyways, just wanted to say hi..
Cheers,
Sandeep
@ Augie – wow, I’ve never heard that side of the argument on Lessig. From everything I’ve read, yes, he does want to dismantle copyright laws, but this would hurt large corporations more than it would hurt individuals.
Right now as a filmmaker, it is horrendous trying to get rights to music, clips, anything. Hell on earth – even for non-commercial uses. He supports things like Creative Commons which will put the power in the hands of the artist in how they allow their work to be used.
I would love to read more about why you think otherwise and continue the discussion offline as well since this is a huge topic of interest for me.
@ Sandeep – thanks for visiting. Re: your film, I’d say just do it! Even if it doesn’t turn out great, you will learn a ton from it and you will have a piece of work you can review and keep learning from. Good luck and I hope you come back and visit.