Synopsis

We're in the midst of a contentious legal and cultural battle about copyright and its role in the digital age. Decisions made now will not only influence the music and movie industries, consumers and fans, artists and filmmakers, they will also help define the Net as a medium of communication. As these controversies are slowly being settled, recognition of the broader issues and concerns that they raise remains sporadic. In this class, we will look at recent legal battles in the context of the historical and ideological relationships among authorship, technology, commerce, law, and culture. We will investigate these questions and uncover important issues for cultural participation in a digital world: who gets to speak, what they can say, who will hear, under what conditions communication can occur, and with what consequences. We will consider how the law acts as an arena for the collision of authorship and the market, technology and expression, individual and institution, culture and power.

Expectations

The most important assignment is to read all of the materials thoroughly; I expect everyone to participate fully in class discussions, and this can only work if you have given the readings your full attention. To deepen that conversation, before each Monday class meeting you will be required to log onto our Blackboard site and participate at least once in a discussion about that week's topic. Your active and meaningful participationonline and in class will be graded. A midterm paper, 6-8 pages in length responding to a specific question, will be due in week 5. One case synopsis, or "brief," will be due in week 8 and will be shared with the class. A final 15-20 page research paper, due during exam period, will deal with some conceptual aspect of these debates -- the topic will be your choice, in consultation with me and with the class.

Materials

Readings are available online, either on the web, inside of our Blackboard site, or through E-Reserve in the Cornell Library. Check the online syllabus for links and instructions.

Aug 31: the rules that structure culture

Shalini Venturelli, "From the Information Economy to the Creative Economy: Moving Culture to the Center of International Public Policy" (2000)
Library of Congress, "Copyright Basics" (2000)
only Sections 1 - 12 ("copyright registration") are required

Mark Rose, Authors and Owners, Chapter 2 (1993) -- E-RESERVE
Ronald Bettig "Critical Perspectives on the History and Philosophy of Copyright" (1992) -- E-RESERVE

Wikipedia, "Copyright"
Cornell copyright policy (1990)
Wikipedia, "Fair Use"

James Boyle, "The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain" (2003)
Peter Hirtle, "Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the U.S." [chart] (2005)

Sony v. Universal (1984) -- Supreme Court decision
read majority and dissenting opinions

Edward Young, excerpt from "Conjectures on Original Composition" (1759) -- E-RESERVE
Michel Foucault, "What is an Author?" (1969) -- E-RESERVE
Howard Becker, Art Worlds, Chapter 1 (1982) -- E-RESERVE

Peter Jaszi, "Toward a Theory of Copyright: The Metamorphoses of 'Authorship'" (1991) -- BLACKBOARD
only Sections I-IV are required

National Information Infrastructure, "Agenda for Action" (1993)
Kevin Kelly, "New Rules for the New Economy" Wired (1997)

John Caldwell, "The Business of New Media" (2002) -- E-RESERVE
Enrique Bustamante, "Cultural Industries in the Digital Age" (2004) -- BLACKBOARD

George Landow, Hypertext 2.0, Chapter 4 (1997) -- E-RESERVE
Graham Weinbren, "The Digital Revolution Is a Revolution of Random Access" (1997)
Lev Manovich, "Models of Authorship in New Media" (2002)

Wikipedia, "Wikipedia"
Clay Shirky, "Weblogs and the Mass Amateurization of Publishing" (2002)
Tom Coates, "(Weblogs and) the Mass Amateurization of (Nearly) Everything" (2003)
Josh Greenberg, "Hackers, Tinkerers, and Amateurs, Oh My!" (2004) -- BLACKBOARD

OCT 12: early theories of how the Net would change copyright, and vice versa

John Perry Barlow, "The Economy of Ideas" Wired (1994)
Esther Dyson, "Intellectual Value" Wired (1995)
NII Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights, "White Paper: Executive Summary" (1995)
Jack Valenti, "A Clear Present and Future Danger" (2002)

Charles Mann, "Heavenly Jukebox," Atlantic Monthly (2000) -- BLACKBOARD
Peter Biddle et al., "The Darknet and the Future of Content Distribution" (2002)
Jeff Howe, "The Shadow Internet" Wired (2005)
Cornell IT Policy Office on file-trading (2003)

Brad King, "A Chat With Hilary Rosen," Wired (2000)
Brad King, "Napster CEO Gets Intellectual," Wired (2000)
A&M et. al. v. Napster (2001) Ninth Circuit Appeals Court revised injunction
Steve Albini, "The Problem with Music" (1993)
RIAA, "The Cost of a CD" (2003)

MGM v. Grokster (2005) -- Supreme Court decision
read syllabus, opinion, and both concurring opinions

Jim Johnson, a.k.a. Bruno Latour, "Mixing Humans and Nonhumans Together: The Sociology of a Door-Closer" (1988) -- BLACKBOARD
Lawrence Lessig, Code, and Other Laws of Cyberspace, Chapter 7 (1999) -- E-RESERVE
Rajiv Shah and Jay Kesan, "Manipulating the Governance Characteristics of Code" (2003) -- BLACKBOARD

Mark Stefik, "Letting Loose the Light: Igniting Commerce in Electronic Publication" (1996)
Mike Godwin "What Every Citizen Should Know about DRM" (2004)

U.S. Copyright Office, summary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (1998)
Peter Jaszi, "Copyright, Paracopyright, and Pseudo-copyright" (1998)
Pamela Samuelson, "DRM {and, or, vs.} the Law" (2003)

Universal et al v. Reimerdes et al (2000) -- Southern District of NY injunction

NOV 16: implications: digital licensing

Julie Cohen, "Lochner in Cyberspace" (1998)

Vincent Mosco, "Introduction: Information in the Pay-Per Society." (1988) -- E-RESERVE
through page 18
Yochai Benkler, "Freedom in the Commons: Towards a Political Economy of Information" (2003)
Richard Koman, "Remix Culture: An interview with Lawrence Lessig" (2005)

NOV 28: alternatives and solutions, part I

Wikipedia, "Copyleft"
Creative Commons: History and Licenses
Lessig, Free Culture, Afterword (2004)
Induce Act of 2005
Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act of 2005
Center for Democracy and Technology, "Protecting Copyright and Internet Values: A Balanced Path Forward" (2005)

Electronic Frontier Foundation, "A Better Way Forward: Voluntary Collective Licensing of Music File Sharing" (2004)
William Fisher, Promises to Keep, Chapter 6 (2004)