Week 5: Topic 1

After seeing the documentary "RiP! A Remix Manifesto," what did you find most interesting/surprising/alarming in the video as it relates to the First Amendment or freedom of expression? Please cite an EXAMPLE or two from the documentary, AND relate it to your own experience.

Wow! Where to even begin? As a librarian everything about this video had me cringing. There are so many violations that you can't even count them, but the more I watched the more I thought, wait a minute this guy is really proving a point that needs to be heard. In our day and age it is much easier to access the original pieces of "art" and "remix" or update them into new. Is there a way to stop this? I don't think there is at this point and I really think that it is helping the original to stay up and in the eye of the public by allowing this to continue. I guess I had never really thought about "remixing" as an art but in reality it kinda is. We have all done things that would probably be considered a type of "remixing" in just about everything we do. If you think about the stories we tell, the drawings we draw, even some of the things we say can be traced back to something in our past that may not have been ours to begin with. I really found the part about Walt Disney and the making of his movies all leading back to a previous story surprising. I had never really thought about it even though I knew that some of his stuff was from old folk stories, etc. Until you see it right in front of you, you don't think about how in today's society he would have been prosecuted for the majority of his movies and characters. 

What questions or concerns do you have about copyright or limits on creativity?

I really don't have any questions but lots of concerns. I would have said from the beginning of this video that they all should have been sued for their copyright infringements, however after seeing the whole video is does make you question how many limits can be put on a persons creativity? Is it fair to prosecute someone for creating "music" out of bits and pieces of others?  I think that if it was the whole song then it would definitely be copyright issues but where it is just a half second here and a couple of seconds there, mixed into a whole new piece it is the money hungry corporate people that seem to have the issue. Everyone wants their piece of the pie and to stay on top you have to have the money. 

Write about an instance where you think an artist/writer/musician, the media or a group or individuals went too far in exercising their freedom of speech or of the press.

I can't think of any one instance per say, I still go back to times when the press have released information that could have put someone (usually military) in danger. I think that there are some things that are not necessarily everyone's business. I know that there have been times when artists have been accused of using another artists music or art but I guess I have always felt that you can only "copy right" so much, there is a reason for copy rights but I think that the internet has taken a lot of those reasons away, good or bad. I really don't know how I would deal with someone who had "stolen" something of mine that wasn't necessarily physical. I think that all things can be improved upon and that it isn't always me who will make those improvements. Does that give everyone the right to use my thoughts? my drawings? my creativity? That's a tough question, I guess when there isn't money involved it wouldn't really matter if they were improving on it, however if I was getting paid for something and then they came along and made more money by bettering the idea and I didn't get anything for it would I then be mad? Probably. It all boils down to money. 

Be sure to share your take on the incident. What actions should be taken in response?

It all depends on what the incident was. If I was out millions then I probably would be upset and want to sue just like the big corporations do and when you add up all the little things they are out millions for copy right issues. Really I think this video just caused me more questions than answers.