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the people vs. copyrightThe future of copyright is being fought out between two polarised factions. Music and film producers like Jack Valenti are looking for harsher ways to deter digital copying: the users and programmers, like Richard Stallman, say copyright has no place in a digital age. In this debate we work towards defining practical solutions for the future, with contributions from Siva Vaidhyanathan, Brian Zisk from the Future of Music Coalition, Jason Toynbee, and 9-time Grammy nominated singer, Janis Ian. Also see: the interactive copyright timeline.
The digital commons creates abundance, but at what cost to community?
A net-based record label is pioneering "open music" to the benefit of musicians and consumers alike Plus: Tom Chance takes on Lawrence Lessig
The Creative Commons movement needs to pursue a bold vision for the enlargement of cultural freedom
Andrew Gowers, commissioned by the British government to map the next generation's intellectual-property framework, explains his thinking to Becky Hogge – and leaves her feeling that the "copyfight" for a public domain of information has only just begun. Read the rest of this post...
Last weekend’s pro-piracy rallies in Stockholm were a surprise even to local copyright reformers. George South asks, how many peer to peer file sharers does it take to swing an election? Read the rest of this post...
Yochai Benkler's new book "The Wealth of Networks" is both precise and provocative in defining afresh the role of peer production in the networked information economy. Christian Ahlert, public project lead of Creative Commons England and Wales, interviews him. Read the rest of this post...
Google stands accused of copyright infringement by two major American authors’ associations and a French newswire. But the tools the company provides have done more to promote global access to information than any other. Here, librarians, lawyers, legislators and thinkers discuss the rights and wrongs of an internet giant. Read the rest of this post...
The pioneering Global Voices initiative hosted bloggers from Algeria to Zambia at a conference in London. An impressed Becky Hogge reflects on the challenges it may soon face. Read the rest of this post...
The Open Rights Group campaign for online freedom of information, individual liberty and the integrity of the public domain is a new stage in the defence of digital rights, says Becky Hogge. Read the rest of this post...
Open standards are just as important as open debate: Becky Hogge explains why openDemocracy recommends the Mozilla Firefox web browser. Read the rest of this post...
Since its inception openDemocracy has set the standard for accessible and informed deliberation of globally important issues. Now it is truly both open and democratic. Siva Vaidhyanathan welcomes openDemocracy to the Creative Commons. Read the rest of this post...
On World Intellectual Property Day, Becky Hogge speaks to Cory Doctorow, who has been campaigning for reform at the World Intellectual Property Organisation for two years, about the strains put on the democratic process by the arrival of dissenting voices. Read the rest of this post...
The struggle over intellectual property is the concern of more than knowledge economy specialists, says Becky Hogge: it is a contest over freedom as well as technology. Read the rest of this post...
The imposition of punitive new intellectual property regimes represents a corporate assault on public culture. The connection between capitalism and copyright helps us to understand why it is happening; while the reality of ‘social authorship’ offers a way to open up new possibilities for creative workers in a reformed copyright system. Read the rest of this post...
Since May under the deliberately provocative title ‘the people vs copyright’ we have been discussing copyright laws in the digital age. Bill Thompson ponders, summarises and wraps up the debate. If things are moving as quickly in the intellectual property rights world as he suggests, whether it stays wrapped is open to question. Read the rest of this post...
In managing copyright, technology is better than law. The balance between artistic and business interests and users who enjoy free access can be preserved by giving the market time to work. Read the rest of this post...
The UK government is preparing to implement the European Copyright Directive. If the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act seems harsh, the UK Patent Office has even more stringent measures in mind to enforce a copy-protection regime that will inhibit free inquiry. Read the rest of this post...
Pirating and copying was part of everyday life in the small island state of Trinidad and Tobago until 1996. The effect of new laws was to disturb its distinctive calypso and carnival traditions and to threaten its educational system. For a young engineering student, there was only one way to go: adapt and survive. Read the rest of this post...
openDemocracy’s copyright debate has clarified an issue too often mired in unhelpful polarisation between radicals and conservatives. Read the rest of this post...
Music, like water, is naturally free. But just as money helps ensure a clean and safe supply, so the best guarantee of music’s freedom is rewarding its wellspring, the composer. Read the rest of this post...
The threat posed to the recorded music industry by unauthorised download is an article of faith to many insiders. It is also a myth, says this ageless independent singer-songwriter: freedom is good for artists and for business. Read the rest of this post...
After the Siva Vaidhyanathan talk at openDemocracy with BlueEar.com on 6 June 2002, there was a lively discussion. Here are some extracts, by Solana Larsen. Read the rest of this post...
What troubles me is the use of the headline, The People Vs. Copyright, to frame what should be a serious public debate about copyright. Read the rest of this post...
I think that our debate has shown yet again just how little the two sides in this discussion understand each other, and in doing so has justified our chosen name. Read the rest of this post...
Copyright benefits publishers, service providers and biotech companies, but in this scientist’s view, it is a wicked obstacle to scientific progress. Read the rest of this post...
Entertainment companies ought to come up with technology that is sound and accomplishes what they want without coercion. But some of the problems they want to solve are impossible. Eric Raymond talks to Solana Larsen. Read the rest of this post...
Cyberspace is an essentially cynical medium, says the leading internet thinker Siva Vaidhyanathan, in a talk presented at the London offices of openDemocracy on 6 June 2002. But an illusion-free awareness of the character of the net paradoxically opens up the ethical discussion needed to guide and regulate it. Read the rest of this post...
The Internet could help channel more money to musicians. But the record industry is sabotaging the process to remain in control. Brian Zisk talks to Solana Larsen. Read the rest of this post...
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