Reeemixx: Part 1

This second reading that I am going to be blogging on is Remix, written by Lawrence Lessig.  Lessig was a professor of Law at Stanford University, and is now a professor of Law at Harvard University.  So, this guys credentials cannot be overlooked by any means.  He is also apart of several associations/foundations – some include Center for Internet and Society, Creative Commons and Rootstrikers.  Besides academia, Lessig is a political advocate.  He advocates the limiting of legal restrictions on technological applications, which is where the term ‘remix’ comes in.  And, ironically all this information I am getting on Lessig is from Wikipedia.  Yea, yea, I know…. Wikipedia is not a reliable source. Blah blah. But, his personal website doesn’t say anything about him, and when it comes to general background information, Wikipedia can come into handy.  Anyways.

Remix: Part 1 addresses several issues of our digital age – Lessig introduced the terms RW (reading/writing) and RO (Reading Only), which are used throughout this first portion.  He makes a point that before the technological era everyone was a RW, more interactive with the culture.  Whereas now, with all of the technology advancements, we are mainly an RO culture.

“Here’s a part of culture that we simply consume. We listen to music. We watch a movie. We read a book. With each, we’re not expected to do much more than simply consume.* We might hum along with the music. We might reenact a dance from a movie. Or we might quote a passage from the book in a letter to a friend. But in the main, this kind of culture is experienced through the act of consumption. There’s a beginning, a middle, and an end to that consumption. Once we’ve finished it, we put the work away.” (37)

I once again catch myself nodding my head as I am reading this portion.  We are a society that is becoming so obsessed with consumption.  And this is on so many other levels.  People are so willing to perform illegal actions in order to get what they want.  Music, movies, books, photos, television shows – if any of these categories do not provide access, people will go out of their way to find a way to access it (YouTube, Wikipedia).  That is where these copyright laws and privacy infringement comes into play.   I agree with Lessig when he says that there needs to be a balance between access and control that would satisfy both consumers and creators.  Because, like we have seen with the innovation of iTunes, Steve Jobs did a great job in creating the program.  It is a place where you store all your music, and as the program grew, it started providing more sources to access.  Which, we have obviously seen that people will pay for it, as long as it stays available when they want it.

“The expectation of access on demand builds slowly, and it builds differently across generations. But at a certain point, perfect access (meaning the ability to get whatever you want whenever you want it) will seem obvious. And when it seems obvious, anything that resists that expectation will seem ridiculous. Ridiculous, in turn, makes many of us willing to break the rules that restrict access. Even the good become pirates in a world where the rules seem absurd.”

 

This idea of “remixing” needs to be addressed.  I particularly enjoyed the example of a father who wants to make a home video and include a video clip of a movie, and Disney feels they should be compensated for it.  First of all, it’s not like Disney isn’t extremely successful already… Secondly, it is a father who just wants to put a nice home video together.  He wants to take all of his memories and tie them together with a movie clip, music—things that helped make those memories – I do not see anything wrong with this. If he was going to turn it in to a television show to win a prize, then there is something wrong there.   Lessig mentions that “piracy” was unavoidable given the “nature” of digital techonologies.  I agree and disagree with this statement.  Yes, the content is out there – However, you definitely need to go out of your way to find something that is not suppose to be found (if that makes any sense).

 “the RIAA had sent around 2,500 prelitigation letters to twenty-three more universities across the nation, threatening action based upon students’ allegedly illegal downloading of copy- righted content.”

It is really unfortunate that universities took action on this.  That is my personal opinion.  I am someone who does not enjoy paying for music.  So, for universities to be able to monitor that type of activity while on their network is fishy to me.  I feel like my privacy is not respected and that universities should not have that sort of access to my online history.  Anywho.

I laughed at the reference to citing authors and quotes in academic papers.  I swear, if I had to contact the author every time I wanted to include them in a research paper, or just a simple reference, I think I would go crazy or drop out of college.  I give everyone credit where credit is due and that should be enough.  They should be humbled and honored that people use their knowledge and wisdom to make and backup arguments.  That is why I feel that if is just a simple, harmless use of words, and is properly credited – let it be.  However, if someone is caught for deliberately trying to work the system, be my guest, press charges and convict away.

Mmk. Byeee.

Yours Truly.