Chapters 6, 7, and the conclusion to New Media Cultures discussed new media’s impact on film, television, and other stuff, but I guess that the most interesting readings to me for this week were chapters 11 and 12 from The Social Media Reader, and Chapter 13 of A Networked Self. These chapters specifically dealt with an issue that I often wonder about- copyright.

Chapter 11 started the discussion. This chapter discussed the battle over copyright infringement. It appeared to make some good points about how the battle is not being won. It is simply creating a generation of criminals. I don’t want to be a criminal, who does? As will shortly be discussed, this appears to lead to my own worries about what I can and cannot post online. Chapter 12 of The Social Media Reader discussed the different rules that intermediaries of video productions face. Online intermediaries are under less stringent rules compared to traditional offline intermediaries. In fact, the chapter provided the following quote concerning this difference: “If the same sorts of rules described in the preceding section applied to the online intermediaries that provide digital storage and telecommunications services for every bit of data on the Internet, there simply would be no Internet.” “No company could hope to vet every e-mail message, website, file transfer, and instant message for copyright infringement” (p. 173). Although online intermediaries may not be completely held responsible for what individuals post on their sites such as YouTube, the individual posting is. Individuals can be sued for illegal use of copyrighted material.

Personally, what I can produce or post online is something that I have thought about on many occasions. I obviously do not understand all of the copyright laws. Does anyone? However, I do try to not participate in what I know is illegal (or sometimes what I think is illegal). For instance, I try not to watch copyrighted material that is being used illegally, and I try not to post items that I do not have permission to use. But I feel that I am very limited as to what I can do online. As I mentioned, I don’t know all of the rules and laws, so I often assume that most things online are infringing on copyright laws. It appears that I am not the only one who is concerned about this. Chapter 13 of A Networked Self states “In one of our studies, we found there was a high level of anxiety among college-age makers of online video about the risks of violating copyright (Aufderheide & Jaszi, 2007)” (p.276). Clearly there are others concerned about the legality of using material previously made by others. Chapter 13 was good in that it somewhat explained fair use, and provided some guidelines that individuals who are concerned with the issue can look to. However, it does not answer all questions.

References:

Aufderheide, P. & Jaszi, P. (2007). The good, the bad and the confusing: User-generated video creators on copyright, April, 20 pp.

Mandiberg, M. (Ed.) (2012). The Social Media Reader. New York: NYU Press.

Marshall, P. D. (2004). New Media Cultures. London: Hodder Arnold.

Papacharissi, Z. (Ed.). (2010). A Networked Self:!Identity, Community, and Culture on Social Network Sites. New York: Routledge.