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So what do I do about it?
By Kimberly Stedman | Issue #20
"But fighting the corporate juggernaut makes me bitter," you say. Well, it need not. Copyright laws are fun to mess with because they're just so wrong-selfish, shallow, and impractical. Here are five ways to help.
1. Know the alternatives. We need a fundamental shift in perspective towards group-level creativity, cultural progress, and consumer rights. That means, among other things, a serious reversal of chronic copyright term extension. There are scores of organizations and individual proponents of copyright law overhaul whose ideas are strong and practical. Lawrence Lessig, for example, suggests that we reduce copyright terms to five years, renewable fifteen times (with software renewable only once). DigitalConsumer is trying to get Congress to pass a Consumer Technology Bill of Rights, that includes the right to make backup copies, record media for later playback, or watch a DVD on whatever operating system you choose.
2. Educate. If you read up on copyright law and talk with activists, you'll find no shortage of good ideas, but the linchpin is educating people. Consider volunteering for Digital Consumer. Better yet, put a link on your web site or in your email sig file. Try putting together a fund-raiser, maybe a bake sale of "copyrighted" and "open-source" muffins at your local college campus or a neighborhood meeting. The copyrighted muffins should cost way more and customers should be prohibited from warming them up or putting butter on them. The open-source muffins have the recipe attached and maybe a little background information about copyright law.
3. Share stuff, both ideas and material goods. Copyright (and consumerism in general) comes from an almost neurotic possessiveness. When we reject it, we're fighting not only the laws but the sociological tide behind them. Groups like PublicKnowledge and Creative Commons are working to foster pools of "open source" or public domain information and artistic works. Creative Commons, for example, has a wonderful system of "Some Rights Reserved" alternative copyright symbols and licensing tools. Once completed (predicted release in autumn, 2002), this system will help creators define their own terms of distribution and provide the legal and digital code to make it official.
Of course, much of the fun in fighting copyright law comes from actively mocking or protesting the laws. Learn what's legal and what's not and push that envelope. Experiment with a little borderline infringement for fun and nonprofit: make collages, sample records, burn mixed CDs for your friends. Take advantage of the Fair Use clause, reproducing copyrighted material to educate others. Also take advantage of the "First Sale" clause, which permits consumers to re-sell a used book without paying more royalties. Keep passing stuff around. But:
4. Support artists. Copyright laws were invented to encourage people to create; the last thing we want is to make artists the casualties of our fight against them. Give credit where credit (and money) is due. When you copy your favorite CD for a friend, send the band a couple of bucks directly. Also, patronize independent and artist-run labels (i.e. Righteous Babe, Discord)-that way, you cut out the middlemen.
5. Invent your own ways to rebel. Look at D.S. Touretzky's Gallery of CSS Descramblers for an excellent example of the ways the programmer community has fought back against a lousy law, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
If that's not enough for you, follow DigitalConsumer's "get active" link for half a dozen good starter ideas, including a number of lobbying efforts to which you can contribute with very little effort. The Electronic Frontier Foundation provides a score of additional options. Or contact any of the organizations listed above, and they will undoubtedly know how to use your help.
