Blogger and Copyright Laws

Blogger is a service that provides an online community with the means to socially network through blogging. On blogger, one can post content, videos, and photographs. It was started in 1999 by Pyra Labs, but was purchased in 2003 by Google. Since then, it has been redesigned and integrated to the point that with a simple click, one can link to a blog directly from the Internet and upload a blog from Google Documents and Microsoft Word. Blogger maintains a large presence online. In 2007 it was ranked 16 on the list of top 50 domains in terms of unique visitors.

As a large online community, Blogger is susceptible to copyright infringement by its users. Copyright laws protect ideas from being reproduced without permission of the creator. It was created to insure that creativity was rewarded with profit, giving the creator 14 years of exclusivity. Now copyright law regulates any creative work produced after 1923, for a maximum term of life of the author plus seventy years, or ninety-five years for corporate work. In Lessig's Remix, he discusses how copyright laws have strengthened with the growth of technology that challenges it, blogs included. Courts have upheld that every time a digital work is viewed or downloaded, it serves as a copy. So virtually all unoriginal content published to blogs are subject to copyright laws unless they qualify for the Fair Use exception. Fair Use is the idea that works can be copied for commentary, criticism, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. There is lenience when small portions of the work is used and when it is for noncommercial purposes. 


Blogger handles copyright issues through policy and reporting. On its website it states that if an infringement is reported by a third party, Blogger will remove the content. There are greater consequences in some instances. "Posting copyright-infringing content can lead to the removal of your post, blog, and even account termination. If a copyright owner decides to take legal action against you, this may possibly mean that you'd be liable for monetary damages."This is part of the statement of Blogger's policy. So even with the option of having content pulled, copyright violators can still be subject to legal ramifications. 


The laws that have turned ordinary citizens into potential felons is of great disturbance to author, Lawrence Lessig. Lessig is a copyright lawyer and activist for changes in the laws concerning thus. His book, Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in a Hybrid Economy, addresses his concerns with copyright law and its stifling of creativity and progress. Copyright law used to only affect corporations. The ability to reproduce was held in the hands of companies that could print and distribute. Now that power belongs to anyone who can use a computer.  The laws do not stop creativity, but it does criminalize it. Studies have shown that two thirds of music downloaded by college students was done illegally. And though people still push the envelope, it stagnates progress in the open. Institutions like schools don't promote song and video remixing in fear of ramifications. 

Copyright tightens it hold as it loses profits to illegal sharing practices. Lessig has many ideas about how to converge the commercial and sharing economies. Commercial is a profit based economy, while sharing recoils at the idea of monetary exchange and ownership goods. Wikipedia is an example of this. The content is owned by no one and is run on donations.


One commercial idea follows the Long Tail principle. This says that if the "cost of inventory falls, the efficient range of inventory rises. And as transaction costs generally fall to zero, the efficient inventory rises to infinity." So the less it costs for a company to hold something, the more it can profitably hold. Internet based websites can sell more than physical stores. Amazon sells books online that you cannot find other places, and does it well. Now Red Hat is trying, with Lulu, to sell the even more obscure works that Amazon and traditional publishing misses. Lessig hopes that following Long Tail principle, future companies will promote people creating by making all works available online. Red had has also been instrumental in the creation of Linux, a free operating system. Red Hat has maintained a delicate balance between commercial and sharing by developing community loyalty and supporting free software, while also making profitable programs. Red Hat is a hybrid company.

So Lessig suggests that we deregulate amateur creativity and decriminalize the copy. In this future, companies could distribute unlimited works for free, reaping profits from advertising or small subscription fees. They would pass back a share to copyright holders, who benefit through this and through increased exposure. These new avenues would also open up opportunities for new and unique artists.


But until copyright holders give way, social networks will run in caution of legal ramification. Creativity still thrives on sites like Blogger, but has an unlimited potential when granted greater freedoms for its users.