Open Source

The always touchy issue of "Who owns this?" or "Is it piracy if...?".  Every country probably has different laws on copyrights.  Here is a nice summary of the United States policies on copyright.  Originally created in 1976, it did not consider the advent of the internet and all the problems with sharing it would bring.  Normally there would be no issue, except for the fact that technically anything that is produced now is copyrighted. 

Some people will use the internet to sell their ideas and creations.  It is a rather convenient location where you can reach thousands of people you would not normally be able to market too.  There are a few problems however.  One, people try to bypass means of purchasing the media/ try to sell media that is not theirs/give away media that is not theirs.  This, is piracy.  A clear cut example, I once saw someone watching a movie online, when the film had not even been out in theaters for more than a week.  Was this person committing piracy? Its a difficult argument, but it is very unethical.  Was the website hosting the video guilty of piracy? Yes.  They were stealing viewers from paying the producers, and giving them the product for free.  Similar to if someone stole boxes of food off a truck and passed it out in front of the store.  Youtube is an example where people will post videos that they made, and commercialize them to make a prophet.  Those commercials that play at the beginning of the video?  Those pay the author.  People will take those videos however and embed them on a different site where that commercial then doesn't play, and the author does not necessarily get paid. Larry Lessig goes over some good points here and here.

The point of copyright was to protect authors and promote advancement.  Lessig, in the video, goes over how are society has the ability to potentially grow further without the copyright laws, and if people post their media as open source.  Open source meaning that anyone is free to use it.  He goes over several good examples of how the works of other people can be used to form new media.  DJ Spooky speaks in this video about how he will use splices of other songs to form new songs.

The real issue lies in the reproduction.  When the law was first made, there was not the digital media we have today.  One of the key characteristics of digital media, can be duplicated infinitely.  This escalates the scale of piracy.  If a pirate steals a copy of a video, they can reproduce that and flood the market with them, meaning that the producers not only lost the one copy, they lost several potential customers.

It all is very conditional.  Every situation is unique.  Some call for open source, others need greater protection.  But it does seem to come down to this, it's up to the creator.  If you produce media because you love to share it, and you want the world to see it and enjoy it, make it open source.  If you are in it for the money, then protect it. Just don't pirate.  Just don't.