A world without copyright, can you imagine that?
Well, lets face it, we are all criminals. I'm sure we have all accessed files illegally at least once in our lives.
I never knew (until the lecture) the publishing industry bloomed through piracy. It just amazes me to see that there have been such significant changes since the implementation of copyright laws.
I also wonder if some of the famous academics we recognize today are actually not what we make them out to be. Maybe they have stolen someone else's work and claimed it as their own. As an example of this idea Lawrence Lessig (2004) argues that Walt Disney's creativity was "built upon the works of others".
To think that a little part of our childhood was derived from someone else's 'genius' really makes me question of all the other content that we have ever been exposed to.
I'm really hoping Aladdin wasn't stolen or derived from someone else.
Piracy really makes me question whether the content we access these days are actually original or just a stolen copy of someone else's work.
Do you think you can trust all the sources you come across? Do you believe it to be the original source?
Lessig, L. (2004). Creators. In Free Culture: How Big Media uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Strangle Creativity (pp. 21-30). New York: Penguin, URL: http://www.authorama.com/free-culture-4.html
Lessig, L. (2004). Creators. In Free Culture: How Big Media uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Strangle Creativity (pp. 21-30). New York: Penguin, URL: http://www.authorama.com/free-culture-4.html
I never knew Disney took those ideas, but then again I did notice similarities, I should have known.
ReplyDeletePiracy as bad as this may sound is needed, it makes the initial products worth more. Yes not everyone can afford them then but I mean with luxury items like Prada, would everyone really need a silly handbag?
It has never crossed my mind if what I see/hear/read is to be an original source or not. The information is the only important part that I seek out and as long as its a reliable source I don't question its origin. Ideally information is what everyone seeks because the amount of value it has for each and everyone of us is different. And when relating this to piracy with products it could be exactly the same. As long as I have the movie I really don't care about its source and the damage I would/could cause for a multi-billion movie production company! This might sound bad but when it comes to big companies such as Disney there is no hope for the little people!
ReplyDeleteNot only has Disney been built upon 'borrowed' content. They have also been branded as 'lazy' for reusing sequences in their animation. Have a look:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RannNSm9gTw
Have we gone to far correcting these acts of thievery by implementing such stringent laws? Companies can copyright just about anything they want from colours to functions of their product. If we keep going like this innovation will grind to a halt.
ReplyDeleteAlso Aladdin was a thief so it makes sense that he himself was stolen :)
Good point that we might never know the 'intellectual artists' of today might not be all that original as we make them out to be. It's hard to define the line between "using someone else's work as inspiration" and "stealing someone else's work and credit". I think you'll find that a lot of writers and illustrators use ideas from elsewhere, but are able to format the story or picture in a much better fashion. Is this right or wrong?
ReplyDeleteThere is a fine line between 'inspiration' and 'plagiarism'. Who is to say that any content produced really belongs to the author, for example, I'm sure Shakespeare has been criticised for the ownership of his famous plays, etc. Yet, who are we to say that they do not belong to him?
ReplyDeleteIn the case of Disney, we have all grown up thinking Disney is freaking awesome (well I have any way) but learning about plagiarism and intellectual property makes me think twice about something that has been a somewhat a significant part of our childhood.