Zn new media library: Writer's Rights

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WRITER'S RIGHTS II
Zn 98/11/27: Posting an open letter to writers from Richard Curtis resulted in some good feedback from Zn regulars. Here is one, a short story, and some thoughts about copyrights in cyberspace.

Copyright © 1998 by Ted Warnell and Zn. All rights reserved.

1998 NOV 27

Writer's Rights II
TED WARNELL

In an open letter
to writers, Zn 981120: Writer's Rights, agent Richard Curtis summarizes issues arising around contracts in the (new media) publishing industry. The bottom line; artists and writers must do all they can to secure their most precious asset: their copyright.

Relating to this, Zn received an email from one long-time and regular Zn reader, a professional artist and Web artist, and a good friend of Zn. He relates a story of how his ideas and JavaScript code have turned up in a new award winning work by another Web artist (and friend) and with whom he has worked closely in the past.

My friend admits to some mixed feelings with respect to this situation as the new work is receiving impressive attention, and especially as it is, he claims, his idea and code...


          
            My friend admits to some mixed feelings with respect to
            this situation as the new work is receiving impressive
            attention...

I know my friend well,
so know first-hand he is not a mean or stingy man. Rather, he is genuinely generous, freely sharing his time, ideas, and extensive knowledge of the arts. I know that for my friend, seeing his friend excel is a source of joy, and seeing this work receive well-deserved attention, a source of pride. But I think that seeing someone else's name on the work, and presumably without a proper acknowledgment to my friend, is also a bit of a rub.

Ok, that's one side of what I am certain is a story with two or more sides to which I am not privy, so I will leave it here.


          
            How do we protect ourselves in the fast moving
            waters of the cyberstream...

My friend's story
is not a unique one, of course, as every artist on or even off of the Web knows too well. Seems artists have been 'borrowing' from one another forever -- probably from day one...

How do we protect ourselves in the fast moving waters of the cyberstream, where everything -- ideas, code, and even content -- is fluid? Can we? Do we need to?

Can we? How, when everything posted on the Web is instantly available for download by anyone else on the Web. And that's just the nature of the beast. So, really then, how can we secure our creative content and copyrights?

If the answer to 'can we' is 'no'... then do we need to?


          
            ...you might have come across this idea floating
            around the cyberstream...

If you've been
out here for a while, then you might have come across this idea floating around the cyberstream, to the effect: copyrights cannot now nor ever be made to work in the digital realm, and all digital data should be freely available to all... The push here is for abolition of all copyrights on the Web.

Radical idea or practical solution -- what do you think? Zn readers interested to respond can do so below:

ted@zinen

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