What is Piracy?

Week 2 January 29, 2013

Logistics •  The class Wiki is now available at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Program:University_of_California,_Berkeley/Politics_of_Digital_Piracy_%28Spring_2013%29 •  This week enroll and do student training • Berkeley Student Co-ops looking for

Central Level Wikipedian

According to Lessig: •  The most significant form of piracy is

commercial piracy, “the unauthorized taking of other people’s content”. •  “This form of piracy is just flat out wrong”

•  However, not all piracy is wrong if that term is understood in the way it is increasingly used today.

Chapter 5, “Piracy” in Free Culture

According to Webster •  1: an act of robbery on the high seas; also : an act

resembling such robbery •  2: robbery on the high seas •  3: the unauthorized use of another's production, invention,

or conception especially in infringement of a copyright

Pirating Intellectual Property • What is Intellectual Property (IP)? •  Creations of the mind: inventions, literary and

artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce •  IP did not really exist until mid 19th century •  The laws of IP have been empirically proven to

lag behind ‘piratical practices’. • This includes Copyright Law

According to TRIPS Agreement:

•  "Pirated copyright goods shall mean any goods which are copies made without the consent of the rightholder or person duly authorised by the rightholder in the country of production and which are made directly or indirectly from an article where the making of that copy would have constituted an infringement of a copyright or a related right under the law of the country of importation".(Art.51, n.14)

• The nature and meaning of piracy has changed

over time, and will continue to change.

Readings •  How much do judicial decisions affect the development

of culture? •  What would have happened if the court ruled that

permission must be granted to take a photo of something which is not yours? Would it have been preventable? [Eastman-Kodak would be benefitting from “theft” of photographer, just like Napster, other pirating sources].

“Judicial decisions, while crucial in shaping the connotation of piracy in our society, does not have a permanent effect on the development of culture…regardless of the law, expression is a natural desire of people. We crave the ability to demonstrate and communicate the complexities and troubles of our lives, and as such, humans are naturally drawn to mediums such as writing or photography. Given our innate desire to communicate, it seems to me that judicial decisions can only setback the development of culture, not permanently alter it. ”

-Douglas

•  In the context of Lessig’s 21st century “read-only” passive recipients of culture: Does ones connotation of piracy change in the context of someone sitting at home and illegally downloading videos all day vs picking apart a film to learn about how it was made in order to learn how to make films yourself?

•  “Piracy can easily refer to one who spends their entire bandwidth on the pirate bay downloading theater recordings of movies or someone who takes a movie and picks it apart to its bare elements so they can adapt it to their own artistic vision and learn how to make films. Of course, most lawmakers don't realize this difference and the few that do don't make the effort to clarify those differences in speeches against online (or nautical) piracy.”

•  -Tim

Questions

•  Is free access the result of pirating? If so, then does free access necessitate pirating? In what ways does free access democratize our institutions?