This seems in direct opposition to the previous ruling on the matter by Judge Konrad von Finckenstein in March 2004. "The mere fact of placing a copy on a shared directory in a computer where that copy can be accessed via a P2P service does not amount to distribution," Finckenstein wrote. "Before it constitutes distribution, there must be a positive act by the owner of the shared directory, such as sending out the copies or advertising that they are available for copying." Important in this regard is the concept of “fair use”, which basically allows people to use copyrighted material for any means, except for the accumulation of money by reselling the product. I myself believe filesharing to fall under fair use provisions for several reasons, principally the creative use of samples within future cultural productions.
The real problem at the heart of filesharing is that the entertainment industry is finding it difficult to translate their business into the digital era. Television has relied on its linear broadcast nature, brought about by the technological limitations of the analog transmission frequencies, to become a more or less fascist means for proliferating singular ideologies to a more a less consenting audience. This hyper-extended yet centralized network could have been used in a variety of ways. And yet, it is hard to ignore the impact of television as a delivery mehanism for the dissimulation of a consistent, and in many ways destructive, impulse. I personally view passive and constant consumers of formulaic network television akin to pigs at the trough, complaining about the consistency of their food while wallowing in the effluent of their own consumption.
We’ve all gotten used to getting television “for free”, and this sense of freedom is what will ultimately undermine corporate strategies. North Americans are used to watching tv without paying for it beyond monthly subscription fees; shows just magically appear on the screen. And yet we must forever remember that shows are driven by their advertisements. Our attentions have been diverted by such entertainments for the purpose of mortgaging part of our mental landscape to advertisements and product knowledge. This “free choice” that we all got used to over the 20th century is in fact the means of controlling us as consumers and manufacturing our consent as citizens. Digital culture allows people to have more power over their consumption habits, and this scares most corporate media producers. Many have responded with fascist controls over their products. Disney is typical in guiding viewers through 5-15 minutes of previews, advertisements, positive self-appraisal, and other “informational” content before getting to what they had actually chosen to rent or buy.
Smart consumers who realized that they no longer have the time to commit to network schedules – and many who do not wish to burden their lives with more advertisements – have fought back with the TiVO evolution or through filesharing networks. Indeed, this process has allowed many shows such as
Futurama Six Feet Under
the Office
Mr. Show
the Newsroom
Twitch Citythe Sopranos -- how many ppl saw VCDs and VHS dubs of this one from the States???
Family Guy
Arrested Development
to reach beyond the intentions of short-sighted network executives and limited cable programming variety. This proliferation of viewership consequently resuscitated creative teams and kept shows in circulation long before any talk emerged of issuing complete seasons on corporate DVDs. Filesharing is about choice, as consumers exercise their right to authentic culture over imposed (corporate) culture. Interestingly enough, this process of judgement and execution is what many political philosophers regard as the fundamental right and responsibility of citizens of democratic states.
Additionally, in ecological terms filesharing makes sense. Traditional media-based products such as CDs and DVDs are proliferating at a hyper-saturated rate, finding themselves on cereal boxes and multiple release editions. Unless an adequate infrastructure for recycling these products is put in place on the consumer side of things, then let the digital revolution continue. Do we need 17 different versions of the Lord of the Rings films, with bonus materials strategically scattered over all the editions so that LOTR fans own multiple copies of the same film? While working at a video store, I actively encouraged people to hold off buying any LOTR DVD until the full extended editions came out. Some listened, others bought five copies of the same damn film, all of which but one will shortly be poisoning our landfills.
Filesharing allows people to try things before they commit to purchasing them. Watch it, then buy it if it's actually worth the effort. And yet the entertainment industry tends not to approve of this loss of the “impulse buy”, frankly because most of the products that they talk about when “losing money to filesharing networks” are the shitty market-friendly pap that serves no purpose other than to make money for its creators. I usually like to bring Stars Wars Episode 2 in this context. I bet most people would have avoided going to see the film if they could see it in advance, not because they saw it “for free”, but because they could see that it was a shitty movie. The film made a fair amount of money at the box office simply because people wanted to see the new Star Wars product, with all the nostalgic excitement that would entail. When the public began to understand how crappy the movie was, it started to tank; DVD sales have been relatively weak for such a huge property. Maybe LucasArts and other film producers would avoid such elements of the traditional marketing scheme as a trite love thread in this film, Phantom Menace's Jar-Jar Binx, and cute but unbelievable child stars and standardized pacing and plotting of both movies. Explosions punctuate every few minutes to keep the audience “interested”, and consequently the narrative seems manufactured “just cuz”.
The entertainment industry teases us all with so many trailers, clips, tv spots, blurbs, and cross-platform placements to the point where such advertisements have of themselves become cultural items. The music industry wants desperately for its products to be heard, with major labels naturally and opulently staging public advertisements, not simply through airtime in other media, but also in people hired to talk about songs and bands in downtown centres, malls, or on the bus. Music companies are “legally allowed” to inundate us with songs from every angle, on every tv show, every film and video game, every bar and sports arena, every urinal, every cellphone, every company phone service, every public place which plays radio stations, and every ad for everything else. It doesn't take long for me to encounter songs that make me want to avenge Satan when I'm in public -- malls, offices, stores, lobbies found everywhere. I never asked for a headache and yet here one is thanks to a radio placed in my doctor's office. And yet, if I were in a fit of abject madness to decide to hear a song on my own without buying the CD, then I have committed an illegal act of piracy. Hey, bullshit record companies peddling bullshit:
Generally speaking people want substance, and they actively seek to downplay their exposure to garbage. The problem is not their desire, it’s the fact that they have no other way to express this desire than through filesharing. Maybe some types of culture will begin to disappear in favour of more authentic (re: not lowest common denominator) art production. Or maybe the typical will keep happening: a generation gets out of popular culture after 40 years of life. Parents stop looking for music to hear because they know that "it all looks and sounds the same". Films and television are naturally a bit more easily sold, but at the same time experimental forms of the same are almost universally rejected whenever they reach popular awareness.
I know for a fact that through filesharing people have been exposed to music which they would simply not hear under the traditional model. This has caused sales of “good” music to increase, while sales of Britney/JLo-type pop fluff has gone down. That fact alone should be regarded as the basis for cultural progression, and may serve to be the first silent revolution of the 21st century.
update 27/03
things to share or search out --
Keith Fullerton Whitman
The Taste of Cherry
Moebius
Twitch City
The End of Suburbia
Terre Thaemlitz
The Story of Menstruation
Trailer Park Boys
Fassbinder
The Corporation
Mego
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