Intellectual Property, Creative Commons and DRM

Copyright itself is a huge principle known publically worldwide. To begin it is important to distinguish the difference between theft and copyright. Ultimately, when following the actions of copyright you are not stealing, you are simply preceding copyright. According to Wikipedia, “Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time”.

As a student it is important I understand the concept of plagiarism. In addition, to avoid committing an act of plagiarism, you should, at all costs avoid taking something without attribution.

The video below identifies this concept and explains it further…

Furthermore, copying music without legal permission from sites on the World Wide Web is incredibly easy to do and the popularity is furthermore increasing. From a professional point of view, this action could’ve seen as illegal and an example of copyright. Downloading music to phones, iPod’s or furthermore CD’s is current and an action which most people complete weekly or even worse daily. There is a lot of conspiracy regarding the concept of downloading illegal music, but yet there are still hundreds of sites with sources making the action possible. 

Simple websites such as “youtube to mp3” allow you to download a clip from YouTube and play via programs such as iTunes. By downloading music this way, ultimately you are avoiding the cost the original sites ask from you. Downloading, weather it is music, games or videos is a fantastic cultural asset. There is no denying the fact that there is serious harm to the music industry due to people not paying for their specific downloads. 

Many arguments are currently presented to professionals justifying the reasons that lie within downloading files, such as music, illegally. The professional music industry are seen to charge an extortionate amount of money for their files, so for this instinct it doesn’t leave me surprised that people would prefer to download for free! It simply is human nature to do the cheaper option, but this furthermore isn’t always the morally correct one. This argument is never ending, I think it would be fair to say you can not ideally avoid downloading through an act of “copyright” if the sites are still available to you. If all sites were banished, and everyone was encouraged to download the professional way, I’m sure this would be in everyone’s best interest.  

Additionally, I have a further example of a copyright situation which will in turn, tug on your heart strings. Through my studies I have further learnt that doing everything the “legal” and “copyright free” way is a lot easier than I initially anticipated. This further story emphasises this point and makes me personally realise how far fetched and how extreme the world is unfortunately getting. In America, a family (unidentifiable) lost their child a young age. As a result of this they further put a photographic image of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh character on their child’s grave stone. Additionally, Disney took it upon them to sue this family as a result of preceding an act of “copyright”. According to Disney, the family failed to ask for permission to use the image of their character and as a result took part in a case of copyright and should ultimately be sued. Of course, once taken to court, Disney backed down. But still… Winnie the Pooh has been present in our lives for over 100 years and as a result of this there are many questions as to weather because of it being in the public domain, should Winnie the Pooh even be owned by Disney? 

To conclude, the issue of copyright is ever present and difficult to distinguish specifically. Actions such as plagiarism should be noted upon and individuals should be punished, but a thing such as music downloads or the use of company’s images remains difficult to decide upon. Personally, I think it all depends on the specific situation at the time and the use of the file or image in the long run.

Community, Particpation and Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is simply a collaboration on the World Wide Web. An example of a web 2.0 site includes one where users can interact and collaborate with each other in a social media dialogue as creators of user generated content in a visual community. The concept of web 2.0, according to http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html, “initially began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive international”.

Examples of web 2.0 include social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter or Myspace, Blog sites such as the one presenting this current information on, Wikis and video sharing sites such as Youtube.  

These sites all encourage an interaction between the user and the website itself. For example the social networking site Myspace allows us to understand that we do in fact make the content, we deliver all of the information to our readers and can structure this in anyway our own personal way. Web 2.0 gives us all an opportunity to be part of the web domain.

There has been a vast amount of disparity regarding the whole development of web 2.0 and according to Hinchcliff 2006 “Web 2.0 is a term you love to hate or hate to love”. Either way, the concept doesn’t appeal to everyone. With the ever growing development of web 2.0, as a generation we tend to feel compelled to use our phones more so than ever. Phones in today’s society allow us to interact furthermore with the different examples of web 2.0; such as the social networking sites as previously mentioned. The app culture furthermore develops this point and allows us to cooperate with the social networking sites if we are away from a computer at that present time. All working together to allow us to constantly “update” our social statuses.

It is important to understand that the invention of web 2.0 and the invention of the World Wide Web are two completely different things. Tim Barnes Lee first invented the World Wide Web, but again this doesn’t necessarily mean it is the first interaction we had with the internet. Before Lee’s invention, we had “Muds and Mo’s” a more complex version of source involving the internet, the original.

When referring to the internet and its development, it seems impossible to ignore the site Youtube. The site which holds millions of videos of virtually anything and everything remains, as we speak, popular world wide. The recognisable face of Justin Beiber first started his career on Youtube, as bizarre as it seems Justin Beiber is as popular as currently is, due to his interaction with a web 2.0 site. Beiber first began by recording himself signing and posting the videos onto Youtube, later he was recognised and signed by a record deal. And look at him now, a worldwide pop artist who not only records albums, but also has a film and many books. The two videos below show the difference between when Just Beiber first started his career and where he is now. This ultimately concludes my point that Youtube can specifically be used to crate a career, it is not as if it hasn’t happened before…

To conclude my post, I think it is important to note that to many the conspiracy around web 2.0 remains fascinating and never ending. As a culture we rely on the internet in our everyday life. We have an in depth relationship with mobile web and before we know it devices will eventually be able to do exotic things regarding our location. Communications often take place through the web and what you’re reading now is a prime example of this… I’m communicating a message to you through a blog website, an example of a web 2.0. My message is being delivered to you through the internet, and without web 2.0 we would not be able to do this.