Copyrighted all over the place- Part II

Now that we have a general idea of what it means to have a copyright, we can more easily understand the issues of copyright infringement- when a copyrighted work is recreated, displayed, distributed, etc. without the permission of the copyright owner. There is an act in the United States known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which was passed in 1998, increasing the consequences and penalties for digital copyright infringement (a.k.a... on the internet). There was also the 2005 bill called The Digital Transition Content Security Act (DTCSA), which sought to require certain electronic devices to preserve "digital content security measures".


These federal bills continue to be produced in an attempt to control the ever-growing "analog hole". When I came across this term I thought it was very fitting for the sort of endless landscape the internet has turned into. According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Wikipedia, the analog hole (sometimes shortened to "a-hole") can be defined as "...a fundamental and inevitable vulnerability in copy protection schemes for non-interactive works in digital formats which can be exploited to duplicate copy-protected works that are ultimately reproduced using analog means. Once digital information is converted to a human-perceptible (analog) form, it is a relatively simple matter to digitally recapture that analog reproduction in an unrestricted form, thereby fundamentally circumventing any and all restrictions placed on copyrighted digitally-distributed work." 


So basically the analog hole came about from the technological advancements we have made in response to the internet and all its capabilities. Our generation has grown up and grown in to having the internet and utilizing it in nearly every aspect of life; Computer Science is a field of study at Universities, while  blackberries, iphones, laptops and wireless internet scattered all over the country. Considering the important role technology and the internet plays in all our lives and how intertwined it is in our culture, it comes as no surprise to me that people have figured out ways around copyright legislation. Perhaps before the internet and computer software took off, copyright infringement and persecution was way less complex. But with the analog hole and the amounts of information being produced every second of every day on the ever-expanding internet... how can one even begin to conquer such a task? 


Peer-to-peer (P2P) networking has also made the illegal distribution of copyrighted material possible. Two computers can now directly connect with each other as opposed to going through a network which can monitor their activity. With P2P users can exchange files directly, and this is another obstacle for the industries which rely on the sale of copyrighted material... for example, music. 


While I was exploring the legislation and attempted restrictions on the analog hole, I came across two short, but very passionate articles: 1 & 2. 
They are worth checking out really quickly, but if you choose not to (sigh) they essentially criticize Congress and question the future freedom of the internet, fair use, and digital restrictions. 


The internet itself is not the problem for the music industry- in fact it's quite the opposite. The internet has absolutely revolutionized the distribution of music and accumulation of fans, iTunes especially. Just to scratch the surface of what iTunes has done: With an free iTunes account and a computer someone can purchase nearly any music they could want via iTunes and keep it on their computer or put it on their iPod and take it with them wherever they go. People can search an artist on iTunes and on ONE PAGE find a bio on the artist, all their albums, all their songs (including limited release or special editions), their top albums and top songs, their music videos, user comments, artists related to them and what other listeners who liked this band are also interested in. And for now only $1.29, you can purchase a song for your library. No longer do you have to go in to a store like Best Buy or Target and purchase an entire CD for $15.99 just to hear one song. No longer do you have to watch MTV Video Countdown to see your favorite video or stalk the radio with the blank cassette tape just so you can record the song you love from the very beginning (Oh, I definitely did this). It is amazing the way we handle music via computers these days... and now with the internet accessible phones, we can download a song or album while we wait for the metro.


This is all great... as long as people are paying for the music, because then the money and sales go directly to the source (the copyright holders). But music is not always sold, but can be exchanged or distributed in other ways which is "illegal". The music industry recognizes this as a problem, but their attempts to control this type of music exchange has become nearly impossible due to the analog hole- the overwhelming amount of information they face. This distribution cuts profits not only from companies like iTunes, Best Buy and Amazon, but from the artists and record labels as well. As the price of music increases, piracy becomes more and more of a problem... but you have to wonder- as this cuts profits for the industry in terms of gaging sales, does it eventually even out because more people are becoming exposed to their music, resulting in an increased fan base? Is the original form of music production based out of signing to record labels being phased out? 


I think this is enough for now... but there is so much more to talk about! So many ideas, and questions I have... what about you? What do you want to know about the music industry and the technological  dilemma it faces? 


Final Thought--- a really awesome website for discovering new music is Pandora! It's internet radio, and I  really love it because you can pick an artist you like and create your own station and it will play other songs which sound similar. You can tell them whether you like or dislike the song with a thumbs up/down, and it will adjust the rest of the music it selects for you based on this. If you use it enough, you get personally-taylored stations which you can access anywhere you have internet. In addition it is mobile-friendly with the iPhone and Blackberry... and it's totally legal! FABULOUS!