It is clear that today's copyright laws need some revisions, the addition of the Creative Commons licensing system has helped the situation out for the mean time. I fully understand the concerns of copyright holders, but also feel that a certain amount of slack needs to be given to allow Disney style creativity. A couple years ago I was uploading a short montage of a friend's wedding to YouTube. The montage was set to Frank Sinatra's "Come fly with me," which ended up being detected by YouTube's copyright filter. The audio was automatically stripped out and a message was displayed saying that Warner Music was the owner of the audio clip. This was outrageous, it was just a minute long clip for personal use. If I were to create an album, I would offer a Creative Commons license that allowed the use of the album for personal creative uses. Moby has been one of the first major artists to allow filmmakers to use music in non-profit films (mobygratis.com).
Digital Rights Management (DRM) is getting better, but Lessig's example of DRM going wrong sticks with me. The Adobe eBook Reader program restricted the functionality of a children's eBook to the point where it said, "This book cannot be read aloud." Even though this was just a poorly worded statement meant to disallow the computer from reading the book aloud, it's still a prime example of why some slack needs to be afforded. Sony is famous for their "Rootkit," installation fiasco that effected computers attempting to play one of their artists discs.
Media companies need to invest more in solutions like Pandora, Netflix (Streaming), and Hulu. The internet has the potential to better connect people with media that might otherwise never hear of it. Pandora is a prime example, it has increased my knowledge of music and range of music I listen to. Netflix has exposed me to some great films that aren't mainstream. Hulu allows me to catch up on the few TV shows I watch without resorting to bittorrent. The internet has helped strip many gatekeepers of their power, the big record labels now have to compete with new independent artists that have found success through YouTube.
The benefits of remixing and reposting copyrighted material do outweigh the harms. The Star Wars Uncut website (http://www.starwarsuncut.com/) is a great example of using copyrighted works for a non competitive way. Without the ability to experiment with copyrighted works, much of today's science and technical achievements wouldn't have happened. Jack Valenti (MPAA) is wrong to think that copyrights shouldn't expire. Imagine a world where old stories can't be remade without permission, it would kill all Disney style creativity.
The copyright laws need to be updated to reflect today's use of media, but they still need to protect the author from being abused by piracy. As Lawrence Lessig points out, copyrighting has enabled artists and scientists to be assured of an incentive for their hard work. Even Shakespeare had a paywall at his outdoor playhouse.
In his book entitled Free Culture Lawrence Lessig writes,
"Creative work has value; whenever I use, or take, or build upon the creative work of others, I am taking from them something of value. Whenever I take something of value from someone else, I should have their permission. The taking of something of value from someone else without permission is wrong. It is a form of piracy."
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