Lecture: Walled Gardens and Creative Commons

This lecture centred around issues of copyright, a subject near and dear to my heart and I think one that permeates a lot of the culture that exists around the web.

From a sociological perspective the issue of copyright, as Foucault would express, often acts as a self-regulatory mechanism for users of content on the net. Foucault developed the concept of the Panopticon to describe the way that we have been conditioned to monitor our own behaviour, because we can never tell when we are really being watched. Copyright legalities actually acts on some levels to regulate the behaviour of people on the net.

Ok that's pretty sweeping, but what I'm trying to get at is that there is an awareness that filters through most of our virtual activities about what is legal and what isn't and that while we may actively resist we are also conscious that there is a line that can't be crossed, a fear that if we put our heads too high up out of the water the legals will come and snap us up and steal our computers. In a lot of the language and justifications of our quasi-legal activities there is still an acceptance that copyright exists and that intellectual property is owned by somebody.

A quick example from a fandom near and dear to my heart, Battlestar Galactica (2003) or BSG. BSG is an emerging fandom that is rising from the ashes of the cattlecar (or Battlestar Galactica : The Original Series / BSG:TOS) series from the late seventies and from the reworking that is airing in Australia at the moment. The owners of BSG, (Sci-Fi Channel, NBC-Universal and Ron Moore) are aware of the existence of fanfiction. The writers of fanfiction are aware of the quasi-legality of their actions.

In his official BSG blog Ron Moore directly responds to the issue of fanfic giving it an ok and showing an awareness of the history and prevalance. He ends his statement rather pointedly with:

If you're inspired by this series and these characters and you want to turn that inspiration into artistic expression, I've [sic] proud and hope you enjoy the process. (And it should go without saying that there is a very bright and bold line between writing for fun and writing for profit and only the foolish would care to mess with NBC-Universal's legal department.)

Whenever somebody writes fic, they are aware that they are working with somebody's intellectual property. Usually if it's published on the net it is prefaced with a disclaimer (for eg: Disclaimer: JKR is the goddess who owns HP, Joss owns BtVS. This is just for fun, not profit. for a Buffy/Harry Potter crossover I wrote) and if you do a quick search on google for information about writing fanfic the importance of the disclaimer is seriously emphasised. In this article: FanFiction: Fan's Right or Copyright Nightmare the author, a fic writer, talks about the copyright issues, illustrating a very high awareness of both the quasi-legality and the actual legal issues.

Some Authors accept fanfic eg JK Rowling/HP, others accept it in certain forums eg Anne Maccaffery, others ban it completely eg Anne Rice. Interestingly this site, endangered fandoms, looks at some of the fandoms that are harsher on fans - notably Everquest as discussed in last weeks lecture is listed.

As an aside, most writers won't read fic in their 'verse because of issues of being accused of plagiarism.

The otherside of this discussion, which again is about the self-regulation of behaviour, occurs in fandom. Because most of the copyright owners allow fanfic if it isn't for profit and with acknowledgement of the source material (much like anti-plagiarism issues we have at uni), this is then self-regulated and regulated with in the community. Disclaimers, as discussed above, become the social norm on fic and most archives/challenges/sites will include it as a social convention.

Archives are run for free participation (usually donation based to help pay for server space) and the fic is made accessable to all for no cost, particulary post-web. Earlier zines were often sold at conventions for enough money to cover the costs of production (which can be quite expensive). This is also regulated through social conventions. It is harder to find examples of these because they have to be seen in context but the debates surface and behaviour is socially monitored within fandom communities.

The copyright issues are a site of contention, as discussed in the lecture, that are argued through both the codes and social conventions within fandom. I've used the example of fanfic, but this also occurs in all modes of fan production and the issues of starwars vids is an often cited example.

One last issue I want to raise about this consent is that I don't think that the consent that the authors/copyright owners give to fan production is a case of creative commons: fan producers are still not allowed to use the content to create new content, in most cases, for profit without licensing from the copyright holders.