COM125 Week 3: © Be A Creator, Not A Re-creator.

It seems that in today's world, the technologically advanced society we have put our name on has created among itself, a kind of grey area regarding what is "right or wrong". Many questions stimulate people's curiosity about copyright laws and overall, this curiosity has not killed the cat, but has generated a whole other world full of haziness and hysteria. Does the everyday Joe Schmoe know that some of the actions he may view as normal daily activity may be classified in some way as copyright infringement? Although the world is anxiously waiting for the next technological advancement to arise, what they may not know is that new technology is a breeding ground for the violation of copyright laws.

From VCR's to Digital Music Creators, people have invented products that have made easier and more enjoyable, the lives of humans. With the creation of new technology though, comes a price; the price of the lack of knowledge regarding ethics of copyright could be a very high one if one is uneducated or chooses to ignore the laws that are expected of them. Wikipedia defines technology as the relationship of society and its tools. Today, we think of these so called "tools" as our iPods, our laptops, our TiVo, etc. What we do not think about is how the use of these tools can sometimes lead us to violate copyright laws. For instance, let's say you and a couple of your friends miss your favorite show on television and you call another friend to have him tape it for you. When he records that television show onto a videocassette and then later the next day brings it over to your house for you and your friends to watch, that is considered a violation of copyright by law. "So what? It was a harmless act; it was just a couple of me and my buddies watching our favorite show, we can not get in trouble for that. Nothing will ever happen." Let's just say for this example that further action is taken and one of the boy's other friends wants to see the show. He tells his friend that he is a little low on cash lately and he can have the tape if he gives him five dollars. The friend gives in and pays the boy for the tape and they are on their ways. They did not do anything erroneous. WRONG! The boy essentially sold the show to someone else without the permission of the television show itself. This is a direct violation of copyright laws. If things were taken to court, Ovalle (2005) states that "For each case of copyright infringement, the infringer can be fined from $750 to $30,000. The courts can also decrease the amount awarded in cases where the person did not believe that they were infringing, and in some cases damages can be dismissed altogether…." I know that chances something like this goes to court are small, but I also know that chances of people recording television programs onto videocassettes are high. It is just something to think about next time someone asks you, "Hey, can you record that for me?"


© 2003 Ted Goff

Technology provides a world in which one can get lost in. Sometimes however, things are unclear with the regard to how a certain technology can be used and what it can be used for. It is not always black and white when it comes to the laws of copyright. An interesting lawsuit to look at is the case between record labels and XM Satellite Radio. Oswald (2007) states that "The record labels say this violates the agreements struck between the two groups, as it only covered live broadcasts and not the right to record programming from it. However, XM says the effort is without merit, and is confident that it would eventually prevail in court." This new technology of satellite radio broadcasts thousands of radio stations and brings them together for your listening pleasure. Who knows weather or not XM Satellite Radio knew they were infringing before the information was put in front of them. If the agreement was not crystal clear weather or not XM could record programming, then the battle will begin in court. Often times, large corporations such as XM Satellite Radio and Google are being sued for copyright violations. The Associated Press of Wired News stated (2005) "An organization of more than 8,000 authors accused Google on Tuesday of "massive copyright infringement," saying the powerful internet search engine cannot put its books in the public domain for commercial use without permission." Google, the internet search engine technology, failed to look at the smaller scale of things in this case. These technologies are just a few of the examples of how the use of such emerging products and services can be misused and how they can lead to violations of copyright by law.

References

Associated Press., (September 20, 2005). Copyright Lawsuit Targets Google. Wired News.Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68928,00.html

Oswald, E., (January 19, 2007). Copyright Case Against XM Set to Proceed. Beta News.
Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://www.betanews.com/article/Copyright_Case_Against_XM_Set_to_Proceed/1169232215

Ovalle, C., (2005). An Introduction to Copyright. i312 Information In Cyberspace. Retrieved January 31, 2007, from http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/%Ei312co/1.php