Unfair Use
In an equine bowel ejection titled Fair use is not a consumer right Patrick Ross (No relation. I’m not related to that starfish fellow, either if you must know) argues that telling “consumers” that they have a fair use right to things that they buy or watch is simply not true. You, consumer do not have the right to make back up copies of your music or your software nor do you have the right to show your movies to your friends without paying an admittance fee to the movie studio. And the movie studios have every single right to tell you to stop stealing their movies. That’s why there is an FBI warning at the beginning of movies that you own - to stop your inner thief. And no one, no one has the right to tell you that you have a right to make backup copies. He argues that you have an “affirmative defense” of your legal use of your movies, so that when they sue you - and they will - you have a defense.
If he wasn’t hard enough to swallow in the comments is this little gem, a horse apple if you will,
Good column!
I write my own music. I can disseminate and dipose of it as I see fit. Because you may purchase one of my tunes does not give you all of my rights - I retain the overwhelming balance/bundle. In other words - you are privileged to play my music because I say so, not because you have a right to.
Nope. I can play your music because I have a copy of it. You have the right to make additional copies and to sell those copies. It’s that simple. You retain the right to make copies for sale.
The whole fair use debate is specious. It is designed to promote a culture of poaching and freeriding. Copyright holders should not be ashamed to defend against this freerider culture - they seek to take your fruits with recompense.
The so-called “Fair use debate” centers around what I’m allowed to do with my CD once I buy it. Can I burn a copy so that my original stays pristine. I have four kids. They’re hard on CDs. Wipe your mouth, there’s still a little steaming manure clinging to your lip.
Taken to the extreme, who’s going to want to produce original work if it can’t be protected; if through expansive fair use “rights” a person who had little to do with your creation and risk can outright steal what you’ve sweated over?
The answer - no one. Not even Larry Lessig or Ed Balck.
Like the Tidy Bowl Man on a bad Bermuda vacation this argument is circling the drain here. Fair use says I can take your post, interject my comments and turn it into a new copyrighted work. I can also make backup copies of my CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes (do I still have those?) etc. I’m not selling them or giving them to my friends, I don’t buy ripped copies, I don’t sit in the movie theater with my video camera. You seem to think that when I say “Fair Use” I mean I want you to make music that I don’t have to pay for and that I’m a freeloader. <sniff> <sniff> Check your shoe, I think you stepped in something.Horse Apple comment
Oh… I commented here cause it’s more fun and I don’t have to register to spew my opinion.
These arguments are old and tired. Making copies for personal use is an important part of daily life as well as business life. For instance, if the king of anti-piracy (Microsoft) doesn’t even really believe this. We have an open license for Windows XP and Office 2003 at the place I work. Because we have purchased a specific number of licenses, we can install that many copies. The CD that we have from them to do this is allowed to be copied as much as we want. In fact, our original cd (holographed for anti-piracy and everything) doesn’t even work any longer. It got scratched up in a cd-rom mishap. So we use copies of the cd that we are ALLOWED to make.
And, not to mention, if making backup copies of music cds is a “bad thing” then why did so many record labels sign with iTunes? If they are willing to put a different format of their music up for sale, and allow that music to be transferred to a different device (from your computer to your iPod) then that is, in essence, creating a “backup” for personal use.
Not to mention, if you are not allowed to loan music or movies to a friend, then what happens if you are listening to a cd at your house and someone comes over? What if they call you while you are listening to the cd? If they can hear that music, does that mean that we need to write a check to that artist as the other person has now heard music that wasn’t paid for? What then?
Comment by Steve — 9/10/2007 @ 11:10 am