Afterthoughts: March CopyNight

Tonight, we had our first CopyNight in Pittsburgh.

Stu started the evening with an important question, "What enrages you about copyright?" At first, the rage was meek.

Some of the time was spent discussing the DMCA basics and why the everyday person might care about copyright law. From the common ideas we found issues that related more to each of us, such as the music industry, research practices and academic applications. Although the conversation occasionally strayed from copyright issues (can you blame us?), I think we had a very comprehensive conversation.

In the end, there definitely was some "rage" surfacing. Of course, tamed by good beer and witty comments…

Thanks everyone – let’s do it again next month!

Here are the photos:

CopyNight.org Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh's first CopyNight: Tuesday, March 28, 7:00pm at The Church Brew Works.

"CopyNight is a monthly social gathering of people interested in restoring balance in copyright law. We meet over drinks once a month in many cities to discuss new developments and build social ties between artists, engineers, filmmakers, academics, lawyers, and many others." www.copynight.org

Pirating in Sweden

The Pirate Bay and Swedes on Copyright Law - Well, I had no idea that there was this famous P2P file sharing site called The Pirate Bay. Apparently it has escaped the MPAA's wrath during a few rounds of legal attacks on P2P file sharing sites. There is support for pirating in Sweden, so much that the Pirate Party has a chance at gaining seats in the next general election. I recommend reading the story - there are some amusing battles in this war.

I apologize for the unannounced vacation from blog entries. But I am back now and you get a bit of a rant today. The topic is this story from the NYT:

Labels Halt Downloads to Increase CD Sales

Not quite a direct DMCA issue, although indirectly the market will affect the policies chosen.

So, as mentioned in the article, this seems to be a backwards attempt at helping cd sales. Would it really be so bad if cds just took a smaller part of market and were eventually replaced? Selling music is still a very profitable business. It is clear that the interest isn't disappearing despite their recent worst fears with p2p file sharing. Perhaps it is the nostalgia causing them to resist the innovation of digital music.

And second, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the complete piece of art that an entire album creates. But maybe it is time for a change. Maybe not to singles, how about just a redesign of "packaging" - just as happened between records to tapes to cds. Sort of a compromise by creating a third option?

I can't be the only or first person to think outside of the box. And I am definitely no industry expert. However, I still wonder what these companies really expect to happen?

Anyways, I'm not sure what all of this has to do with digital governance.