IP Freely

Modern day pirates aren’t solely from Somalia; they can be found anywhere there is Internet access. Intellectual Property, copyright concerns, and P2P piracy are growing problems. Years ago, Lester Faigley made the analogy that finding information online is like drinking from a fire hose; when information is so bountiful, comes from so many different streams, washes over us in waves, we take it for granted. The drink has numbed our senses to IP issues. Walter Benjamin’s influential “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” is an important article to read when pondering ownership; I wonder if the text would be too difficult for my freshmen to read to get them thinking about IP: it would be a great discussion piece.

Most of my students know Napster only from its infamy, not from having actually used it; but that is not to say they don’t use other P2P file sharing software. When it comes to the argument essay assignment, I always have at least one student who wants to write about P2P downloads and the RIAA. They are familiar with the issue, but not knowledgeable about it. The segue would be great: we would talk about the popular “pirates versus ninja” debates which would transition neatly into the movie anti-piracy ads and on to a site like http://www.ninjavideo.net/ where the class could see thievery in action. (I wonder, would showing such a site—not necessarily any of its content, just the site itself—cause legal problems?)

Youku.com, the Japanese YouTube, has far fewer restrictions as to its content: viewers can find shows that have been removed from YouTube for copyright. I don’t know much about international copyright law, but it would be an interesting case study for students to look at. How do different cultures view IP matters? How can IP laws in the states be enforced across the globe? Can they be? What are the ramifications of that enforcement? Intellectual property provides delicious food for thought.