Towards preserving Digital Culture: An interview with Brandon Butler
Towards Preserving Digital Culture series is a contribution to the Software Heritage initiative, supported by INRIA and UNESCO. The primary objective of this series is to underscore the pivotal role of software heritage preservation in mitigating the loss of digital cultural heritage. Through these interviews, we present diverse perspectives to foster discussions on challenges related to technological progress, obsolescence, legal limitations, and preservation complexities, contributing to addressing current field needs.
Hello Brandon, thanks for joining us! Let’s start, could you tell us more about yourself?
I’m a copyright lawyer by training and I’ve worked in and around libraries and fair use my entire career. I currently work at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville as the Director of Intellectual Property and Licensing for the Library; that’s a long-winded way of saying I’m the in-house law and policy nerd, and I inform the library and its users about the ways that copyright and related legal systems impact their work. I like to be the bearer of good news, finding ways to say “yes” and opportunities to experiment, rather than shutting things down or closing off avenues of research. People are usually pleasantly surprised by that. I’m also a consultant to institutions, organizations, and individual authors who need to understand their rights. One of my consulting gigs is for the Software Preservation Network, whom I’ve been advising since 2017. I also have a little law firm that does work for filmmakers, podcasters, and TV producers, as well as library groups.
What are the main benefits of software preservation?
I see two main benefits: one is to ensure long term access to software itself as a cultural artifact, and the other is to ensure long term access to all the digital culture that depends on software for long term preservation and access. Software is a funny creature in that it has these two aspects — its inherent value and its instrumental value. This is one of the reasons software is such an awkward fit for copyright protection. The law treats software as if it’s a piece of sheet music, but it’s more like a player piano — a machine that may be interesting in its own right, but that also acts as a key tool for experiencing hundreds or thousands of other works.
What are the challenges and/or obstacles?
From my perch, an obvious challenge for software preservation is the law. It’s not an insurmountable challenge — see my general outlook above about finding ways to say “yes”! But understanding the ways the law doesn’t quite fit for software preservation, and the tools for making it fit, is key. In the US the most important tools are fair use and the DMCA rulemaking process, so that’s where I’ve tried to focus my attention.
What would be your advice on collectively moving forward on software preservation?
Building literacy and confidence around the legal challenges is an important first step, and we’ve tried to act collectively through SPN to do that. We’ve also tried to change the law through our DMCA work and through amicus briefs in important cases like Google v. Oracle and Apple v. Corellium, as well as changing the perception of the law (as fundamentally hostile) through the Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Software Preservation.
Could you recommend us with a blog, article or publication that you particularly appreciated?
In addition to the work that SPN has done on fair use and copyright, I’m proud of our recent collaboration with the Video Game History Foundation to produce a study on the video game market, which helped to show that most historic video games are not available on the market. That means it’s up to the cultural heritage sector to keep that culture alive.
Thank you, Brandon, for participating in this interview series!
