--- Forwarded Message from "Dente, Edmund" <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Subject: Digital Environmentalism
>Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2005 09:09:35 -0500
>Thread-Topic: Digital Environmentalism
>Thread-Index: AcUFQv5s8HLclRGFRxa+87hFu1DnjQ==
>From: "Dente, Edmund" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum"
<[log in to unmask]>

Please take a look at this noteworthy column, which I've excerpted below.

Ed



http://www.bookforum.com/boynton.html



Boyle is one of the founders of "digital environmentalism," the movement that is
fashioning a new understanding of what the public domain-the "commons," as Boyle
and others have called it-might be. The great achievement of the environmental
movement, from which Boyle draws inspiration, was its ability to convince a
swath of the population-consumers and industrialists alike-that they all had a
stake in this thing called "the environment," rather than just the small patch
of land where they lived. Similarly, digital environmentalists are raising our
awareness of the intellectual "land" to which people ought to feel entitled

...

Their premise is that, like a muscle, intellectual rights grow stronger only
when exercised. "For the most part, we don't need any new legislation. Fair use
is a great solution, but for it to have any real impact on our culture we need
to vigorously and confidently (though not carelessly) employ this legal doctrine
in daily life," writes McLeod. The problem, they contend, is less the laws than
the lawyers. Lawyers representing copyright holders encourage their clients to
limit access to their intellectual property as much as possible. "The lawyers
tell us 'You may gaze upon and buy the products of American culture,'" Bollier
writes in Brand Name Bullies. "'But don't be so naive as to think that you can
actually use them for your own purposes. We own them.'" And the lawyers
representing creators (artists, writers, and filmmakers, for example) who want
access to copyrighted material for their work have decided that the transaction
cost of boldly exercising fair-use rights is simply too high. Their primary goal
is to avoid confrontation, even when they know that the outcome-should the case
come to court-would favor their clients. The strategy of the cultural digital
environmentalists is twofold. First, they challenge the lawyers at cultural
institutions, whether they are book publishers, Internet providers, or movie
distributors. Second, they spread the word about how poorly the current
intellectual property system balances the rights of individuals and society.





=================================================

Edmund N. Dente
Director, Language Media Center
Asst Director, Media Services      617.627.3036
Tufts University                        [log in to unmask]
Medford, MA  02155             http://ase.tufts.edu/lmc




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