HOLLYWOOD — I'm here at the latest Digital Hollywood conference, soaking up the information and soaking up particulates in the pollution-spiked LA air. This may be the first Digital Hollywood conference that is actually in Hollywood, as opposed to Santa Monica or Florida or Asia. It also, in keeping with tradition, is focusing on all things digital, both technology and creative works. The conference itself, however, is very analog — white guys in blazers, jeans and open-necked shirts sitting at a skirted table on a dias talking at you through microphones.

Share It

Hide Sites

The words in the title are not mine, although I agree with them. They are the words of the editorial board of the Southern Utah University Journal; the editorial is "Students Must Obey Copyright Laws." The editors make the obvious point, namely that students lead the way in terms of illegal downloads of movies, but they also note that it's likely some films being shown on the campus are unlicensed public performances. This is something to note — film presentations are always popular on college campuses, but (I'm dating myself here) when I went to them in college they were usually reel films on projectors.

Share It

Hide Sites

I just got back from speaking on a panel by the Association for Competitive Technology. The panel ostensibly was on space-shifting, and ACT's Morgan Reed and Debbie Rose discussed how there are all sorts of great technologies that allow you to move video around, and how some of it is clearly legal while others are in a gray area. I couldn't argue with that assessment. Debbie also said she felt these were conflicts that should be worked out in the marketplace, and I agreed with that as well. As I said regarding the creative community and the tech community, "We can legislate, or we can cooperate. We can litigate, or we can negotiate."

Share It

Hide Sites

The good folks at the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) are hosting a panel discussion Tuesday at noon on Capitol Hill in Rayburn B340. I call them good folks because I've known them for years and they in fact are good folks, but I say that in particular because they were kind enough to invite me to be on their panel discussion. The discussion will feature ACT's Morgan Reed and Debbie Rose, and the other panelist is Public Knowledge's Gigi Sohn, someone else I've known a long time (back to when she worked at Media Access Project). Oh, and lunch will be served.

Share It

Hide Sites

I had the good fortune of speaking on a panel Thursday afternoon at the IACC's Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C. Counterfeiting usually is considered to involve physical goods. I certainly see that with some of my members in CDs, DVDs, software, etc. Of course, the creative works on those pieces of plastic can also be traded online, which is proving its own challenges. (I have other members who have more "pure" counterfeiting problems, such as the sports leagues who see jerseys and other licensed apparel counterfeited.)

Share It

Hide Sites

We've just seen a major announcement from a nice mix of creative companies and user-generated-content hosts (in some cases, the companies are both) — Disney, Microsoft, Viacom, CBS, Fox, MySpace, NBC Universal, Daily Motion and Veoh — that they have agreed on a set of principles for how creative works should be treated on UGC sites in the future. They all agree that the goal should be to use technology to block infringing works before they appear on a site and reduce the number of appearances to zero. But they also agree that user-generated content continue to flourish, and that solutions respect fair use. Furthermore, they agree that all parties need to participate in a clear, established dispute resolution process.

Share It

Hide Sites

If there is anyone out there who still doesn't understand why the Recording Industry Association of America is pursuing uploaders of content with civil suits, or who views these violators of creators' rights as victims, I would encourage them to read a very reasoned and articulate editorial by RIAA's Cary Sherman on CNET today.

Share It

Hide Sites

It's been a year, but Google has produced a sketch at least of the system they propose using to keep unauthorized works off of YouTube. It's not the best solution in the world. Any creator — from the largest video producer churning out dozens of original works a day to the smallest creator with little time and less money — would need to provide their works, in total, to Google. Then Google uses what has now become the most awesome storage collection of digital works ever known (acquired at no cost) to use a fingerprinting technology to filter out unauthorized works after they've been uploaded.

Share It

Hide Sites

I came across an interesting interview with a band called Everyone But Pete. They are one of the musical acts working with the consumer electronics industry to promote the freedom of digital devices. The interviewer was clearly a fan of piracy, but some band members themselves expressed some subtlety of positions and signs of serious thought. Most importantly, some of them were quick to acknowledge that they haven't fully thought out the issue of copyright in a digital economy and recognize there's more to learn.

Share It

Hide Sites

One more entry on the Copyright Alliance Exponential, if you'll forgive me. Accomplished photographer Carrie Devorah was on hand at the event and took a great picture of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, which then appeared on the DC Examiner's Yeas and Nays blog. They're in good company with some other celebrities Carrie took, as you can see.

Share It

Hide Sites