The Copyright Kerfuffle; Or, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll

A Czech rocker said that some of the motivation behind the anti-Soviet movement came from people like him, who just wanted to rock 'n' roll and objected because the Communist regime wouldn't let them.

I trust such motivation more than I trust the ideologues and utopianists, like Che, who end up being just as harsh and intolerant as the rulers they replace.
My mother used to say, "Don't fall in love with white," meaning watch out for a desire for purity--it'll put you up against a wall--or you'll put others up against one in the deluded quest for it.
The desire for freedom agitates for more mess, not tidy-mindedness.

In our times, the Internet has tossed the issue of control and freedom--and what does "ownership" mean anyway?--to the winds, and it's creating a healthy storm.
Recently, WMG (Warner Music Group) has been yanking their songs from vids on youTube.
Vidders see WMG's actions not as efforts to protect artists' and musicians' rights--ha!--but as the greedy gobbling of a giant corporation, which serves control, not creativity.
Here, Mortmere uses my favorite tools--humor and... um, one might say, guerrilla naughtiness--to protest WMG's infringement of fair use.

"Kirk/Spock: The Copyright Infringement"


One response to such policing is that vidders move their work to more private venues, which is a loss. I understand why people prefer the controlled access of Facebook and suchlike for reasons of privacy or safety (or the illusion of it, anyway), but personally I love that you don't have to sign in to read/watch Blogger and youTube. People who post/upload to these sites can choose to limit who sees their work, but the default is that they're open to everyone.
(Yes, they're giant corporations too--you sow, they reap.)

I once studied with a Polish professor (Wlad Godzich, some of you might remember) who compared democracy to a bubbling pot--if you want the stew, he said, you have to put up with the scum that rises up too.

The only purity is death.