Putting online video to the copyright test

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There is a much bigger problem here

The abuse of copyright as being promoted by the media companies is destroying the public domain and ultimately is interfering with the ability to document history and support the discourse of ideas necessary for a democratic (small d) society.

Example: A college professor attempting to produce an academic discussion of a historical event:

"[He] found that studying one simple event in recent TV history was impossible. Copyright rules and poor archive access meant that even after months of work, he was unable to gain copies of a single primary source related to former Vice President Dan Quayle's 1992 speech blaming TV character Murphy Brown for the nation's decline in family values."

"But when [he] tried to get access to Quayle's speech in storage at the Hoover Institute, librarians told him that copyright and contractual obligations to the Commonwealth Club prevented them from making a digital copy of the speech for educational use. Warner Bros., which owns the rights to "Murphy Brown," refused to give [him] copies of the show. Absurdly, Warner did tell [him] he would be permitted to show lawfully obtained episodes to students, even though they wouldn't give him any."

This means that future historians will not be able to access the sources or provide the documentation that will explain to our grandchildren how it is that we handed them such a screwed up world to live in.

Are we really prepared for the private ownership of the country's history? This is clearly contrary to the purpose of copyright as defined in the US Constitution.

Here's a link to the story:
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/43796/

Here's a link to the professor's paper:
http://www.archival.tv/MurphyBrown-final.pdf

Posted by: WhoIsDaMan   Posted on: 11/02/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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