Editor's note: This is the 2nd installment of a 3 part series.  Check the March 4th issue for Part 1.

By D. W. O’Dell

Okay boys and girls, I wrote last week about Lawrence Lessig’s book The Future of Ideas, which laid out the arguments against the extension of copyright terms allowed by the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act. Lessig’s more recent book, Free Culture, is even more frightening.

Through the centuries, copyright law was fairly well settled. If you wrote a book and it was published, copyright law prevented anyone else from making a copy of the book and selling it. People could make fun of it, copy passages and give them to friends, perform dramatic readings, and so on. The rights that came with a copyright were pretty limited.

Then a couple of things happened. One, the media got more concentrated. Media firms got bigger and bigger, and their lawyers got bigger and bigger. Two, the notion arose that if you owned a copyright, you owned any value anyone might eke from that property. What used to be known as the “fair use” exception eroded as media industry lawyers could threaten any “infringers” into submission with the threat of a lawsuit. Eventually, even non-commercial use of copyrighted material became taboo, meaning George Lucas’ lawyers could send cease and desist letters to fan websites. So now copyrights are held forever by media conglomerates that can impose their version of copyright law onto the public, because only they have the resources to wage a legal battle.

The third thing that happened was digital technology made copying, manipulating, and distributing material easier than ever. So while the creative power of derivative use exploded, the control over derivative works expanded as fast, if not faster. And no one will stand up and fight for their rights, because why should some kid creating Star Wars parodies on his website engage in legal fisticuffs with George Lucas’ attorneys?

So this is where we are today. The Recording Industry Association of America files million dollar lawsuits against kids who copy a CD onto their computer. Every DVD you rent or buy has a stupid introductory message that copying DVDs is stealing, even if you bought the darn thing and are just making a backup copy for your bedroom DVD player.

Jack Valenti of the Motion Picture Association of America constantly repeats the refrain that all his organization wants to do is protect the property rights of its members. But copyright was never intended to imbue absolute control over the work forever. Fair use was supposed to allow some sharing and copying by those who bought the work, non-commercial use was supposed to be exempt, and parody was not prohibited (the parody exception has managed to retain some vitality, otherwise Mad Magazine would be out of business [they are still in business, aren’t they?]).

If the RIAA and MPAA had existed in colonial times, Benjamin Franklin would have never been allowed to open the first public library. Imagine! A city buys books, and then allows people to read them! For free! Imagine the lost revenue to the publishing industry! Every person checking out a library book is stealing!

Legal access to our culture is in the hands of media conglomerate attorneys who will crush anyone who attempts to squeeze one penny of value out of a copyright owned by their masters. The extent things have gotten to is absurd; to give just one example, in documentaries and reality shows posters on the walls and t-shirt logos are digitally blurred because the filmmaker won’t to pay to secure the copyrights, even though what is seen are incidental background images and provide no monetary value to the film or show.

Maybe something will change, but I am not optimistic. The only hope may be that the same hacker mentality that has driven development of the Internet will now develop ways to circumvent the legal barriers being erected. The Congress and the courts appear to be on the side of the powerful. It’s the Golden Rule of Politics: those that have the gold, rules.