When material is " copyrighted," it is protected by law from others expressing the intellectual work by performing, distributing, or copying the work. In "The Copyright Balance and Weight of DRM," Tarleton Gillespie expands on the complexity of copyright laws and creates a very political debate about where the line should be drawn that protects one's private intellectual property and the property that benefits and is for the good of the public. Her overall argument is concluded by saying that DRM, an encrypting and coding software, can help to decrease piracy of digital copyrighted materials.
This argument can be applied to other digital expressions as well. Take the videos on YouTube for example. There are numerous videos of copyright videos, documentaries, and motion pictures. By definition, the act of copy these materials is illegal. Posting them is not illegal with the assumption that the "copier" has permission to do so. Many videos are "spoofs" of comedy acts, dances, movies, songs, and other copyrighted intellectual expressions. If copyright laws can be interpreted to say that copying sheet music for the educational purposes is acceptable and legal, then can they also be interpreted to say that the reproductions of expressions of copyright materials on YouTube violate copyright laws? Also, since copyrighted video segments and full video copies exist on YouTube, should the poster of the video be responsible if the video is found to be copied without permission? Gillespie's argument once again resurfaces in a website that most find entertaining and legal but in actuality is potentially based off of the loose interpretations of copyright laws.
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I agree that there is a very loose interpretation of copyright laws. Similar to many other rules and regulations, there is always room for misunderstanding and/or tweaking them to benefit one's situation. I can also see an analogy to internet censorship...at what point do we "draw the line" at what's inappropriate? What defines "proper educational purposes?" Your post was very thought-provoking. Good work, my friend.
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