Should copyright laws be done away with?
The United States copyright law protects original works of authorship, or in other words, it protects an artist/author/etc from having their work stolen from them. However, there is much controversy about whether or not information should be free for all. Many internet activists believe, and try to get others to believe, that information wants to be free and should be online. For example, when we stream music from Spotify, we do not think twice about the artists that are losing out, and if we do think of them, we usually think that they already have enough money so they do not need more. Cory Doctorow, author of Information Doesn’t Want To Be Free: Laws For The Internet Age, argues that creators can make money off of their work even when it is available for free online. For creators to be able to succeed in the digital age, copyright laws need to be changed to show an age in which technological platforms control the content (Doctorow et al. 2014).
An example of the importance of reviewing copyright laws was the incident when a website, TorrentFreak, published an article on a TV leak which included shows from the network Starz who ten sent a copyright takedown notice (EFF). After TorrentFreak received the notice, they proceeded to write about the takedown and included a comment from EFF, another website. EFF then proceeded to tweet about the article about the takedown and also the original article. This whole situation is just one reason why copyright laws are in effect. This case is not as severe as a case that would purposefully not include the creator so they would not receive credit, but it still shows how in this digital age you need to be aware of what gets out.
However, there is the case of digital locks that enforce copyright. For example, if you have an Apple device you cannot buy an app from a different company because your phone has a lock on it that stops you from doing so. In 1998, there was a law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the DMCA, that said it was against the law to remove a lock even if you own the copyright to the work (Doctorow et al. 2014). This law is an extreme version of copyright laws and should be revised so that it is only against the law to break a digital lock if you are violating copyright. If the copyright laws were reformed then it would make sense to still have them, but right now, they are too controlling and do not allow as much freedom online as they should.
Works Cited
Baily, Jonathon. “5 Things That Can’t Be Copyrighted.” PT. 8 Jan 2010. https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2010/01/08/5-things-that-cant-be-copyrighted/.
Doctorow, Cory, et al. “Picking The Locks: Redefining Copyright Law in The Digital Age.” NPR. 3 Nov 2014. https://www.npr.org/2014/11/03/360196476/picking-the-locks-redefining-copyright-law-in-the-digital-age.
“EFF’s Tweet About an Overzealous DMCA Takedown Is Now Subject to an Overzealous Takedown.” EEF. www.eff.org/.
