--- 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 *********************************************** LLTI is a service of IALLT, the International Association for Language Learning, and The Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning (http://consortium.dartmouth.edu). Join IALLT at http://iallt.org. Otmar Foelsche, LLTI-Editor ([log in to unmask]) ***********************************************