Technology website Techdirt is the best I’ve found for keeping track of conflicts involving modern copyright law.Site founder Mike Masnick does a great job showing how copyright cops are impinging on consumer rights and the fair use doctrine. At every turn, content companies are using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act as a weapon to bludgeon consumers who don’t follow their rules.
Fair use includes everything from using snippets of movies for educational presentations or entertaining mashup videos to using pop songs as background music in home videos. It also covers quoting from books and news articles in blog posts and using reproductions of photos and art in critical reviews. But if corporate copyright holders had their way, all of these uses, though legal, would be stopped under threat of expensive litigation.
Techdirt covers more than just copyright law. It offers insight into changes in government policy, technology and legal issues that can affect how companies innovate and grow.
This is the latest in a series on Tech-media-tainment’s favorite websites.
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