Hello everyone—my name is Kathleen, and I am currently the spring intern at the Copyright Alliance. Yesterday was my first World IP Day hosted by the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI), and I was humbled by the number of brilliant and impassioned individuals who attended. When I first arrived, the conference room was surprisingly empty, but by the time the event was underway, there were periods where it was so crowded that some people had to stand. If the attendance wasn’t enough, the in-depth and comprehensive questions asked at the end of each session indicated to the level of curiosity and/or motivation of the attendees.

Even in the few weeks that I have been with the Alliance, there were names that I recognized such as Marybeth Peters of the US Copyright Office, economist Stephen Siwek, and U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-VA). There were plenty of others that were less familiar to me but from whom I have since learned a great deal. Two people whose words were personally quite provocative were Andrew Keen and Andrew Klavan. Andrew Keen is (as mentioned in an earlier post) the author of the book Cult of the Amateur as well as a public speaker and former internet entrepreneur. Andrew Klavan is the well-established author of crime novels such as True Crime and Don’t Say A Word.

One point that fascinated me was the over-arching theme of the day: the idea of a ‘free culture’. Andrew Keen presented the idea of the internet as a place, much as any country is a place, which requires social responsibility. Just as the real world is based on the concept of exchange (i.e. money for goods), so too should the internet. However, Keen talked about the lack of hierarchical authority on the internet which allows for a sort of virtual anarchy, devoid of any real social responsibility. When no social responsibility exists, accountability vanishes.

We all want free things, but it’s difficult to remind ourselves that nothing is ever free. Andrew Klavan and Sam D’Amico (a photographer and educator) both underscored the fact that they make their livings through their creations. Every time a person bootlegs a copy of a Klavan novel or infringes one of D’Amico’s photographs, these artists lose a portion of their livelihood. 

D’Amico particularly emphasized that he was doing everything within his power as a creator and rights holder to give people simple and accessible ways to legally purchase his works, yet his rights were still being infringed. Even when artists adapt to new technology in an attempt to make their work available to the virtual crowd, some still seem adverse to legal channels when illegal ones are just as or more accessible as well as free.

This brings me back to the conundrum of why, when someone might not be willing to steal a picture off a wall, s/he would be willing to steal it on the internet. Keen mentioned that we need to have the ‘public conversation’. Just as people need to be educated on the dangers inherent in the internet, they also need to be aware of and educated on their responsibilities as a citizen of the internet and the technological age.

This was just one of the many intriguing points that I took away from day which covered so many different areas of IP. In my opinion, one of the best aspects of this event was the constant flow of ideas. Even if a panel or discussion seemed completely different from others, there were still overarching themes that prevailed and provided new interpretations or ideas. So far, it has been for me one of the most enlightening experiences in DC.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 11:05 am by admin and is filed under World IP Day, capitol hill, creators, culture, internet, property rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.