Until 1999, I never really gave much thought to copyright-related issues. After 1999, my views changed somewhat. In July of that year I published my first book. Oddly enough, it’s still listed on Amazon. It went to press the same week I passed the Routing and Switching CCIE Exam after two years of preparation. Suffice to say that it was a very emotionally charged week.
It wasn’t until the second iteration of that book, listed here, that my first brush with copyright issues came to visit. I started finding exerpts of the book, up to and including full chapters were posted on a couple of study sites. I didn’t particularly have an issue with the sharing of information. What upset me was that one particular site was charging people to download/view my content. To say the least, I was somewhat distraught. I brought it to the attention of my publisher who quickly took legal steps to remedy the situation. It wasn’t without pain and I lost a bit of money to it, to be sure. But it did provide an interesting learning experience and changed the casual attitude I’d always had regarding music, software and printed materials.
Since then, I’ve published five more books on various technical topics, albeit with a different publisher, Cisco Press. I’ve recently submitted a proposal to them to write an eighth title. We’ll see how that goes.
Regardless of how it turns out, I still hold to my altered sensitivity to copyright infringement issues. So, whether the topic of discussion turns to written materials, software, music or other types of media, I’ll be contentedly purchasing said content through the proper channels.
So, what’s it all about? What’s the big deal? What is copyright infringement? Simply put, from the perspective of my own experience, it’s akin to theft. In order to understand it, perhaps a definition is in order. What better place to get an overview definition than from the US Copyright Office:
Copyright is a bundle of exclusive rights. Section 106 of the copyright law provides the owner of copyright in a work the exclusive right:
- To reproduce the work in copies;
- To prepare derivative works based upon the work;
- To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;
- To perform the work publicly;
- To display the copyrighted work publicly
- In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission.
Section 501 of the copyright law states that “anyone who violates any of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner …is an infringer of the copyright or right of the author.”
Generally, under the law, one who engages in any of these activities without obtaining the copyright owner’s permission may be liable for infringement. Nevertheless, there are several limitations of the exclusive rights of the copyright owner. The copyright law provides exemptions from infringement liability by authorizing certain uses under particularized circumstances. These exemptions are enumerated generally in sections 107-122 of the copyright law.
Source: It seems fairly straight forward. Where most people fail to see the relevance is when they obtain seemingly benign content through Usenet, peer-to-peer file sharing or other means. This feels like sharing as we’ve been taught to do since infancy. It seems that many people have a difficult time associating this type of sharing with infringement. We may not take into account that people worked to create the content and make it available. In the production of a book, the author is not the sole stakeholder. There are development editors, copy editors, content editors, production layout staff, artists, printers and many more individuals associated with each and every title.
U.S. Copyright Office Infringement FAQ (2007, February), Stopping Copyright Infringement Washington, D.C. Author. Retrieved November 9, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-infringement.html
So, what’s the answer? RIAA? No, not even close. In fact, I believe that the idiocy spawned by RIAA has set the entire anti-piracy movement back by at least an order of magnitude. They’ve pissed so many people off that now, people will go out of their way to download and make use of MP3s. For the good of the movement, they need to sit down and shut up.
Regardless of your personal experiences with copyrighted material, it just doesn’t feel wrong. We inherently see ourselves as good people and have a very difficult time associating ourselves with terms like thief, infringer and/or pirate. It’s all about awareness and redefinition of the concepts surrounding the idea of copyright infringement. I’ll leave that particular journey to each individual who undertakes such a quest. I’ve redefined my own sense of right and wrong accordingly.
First of all good luck with the 8th book! That’s amazing! Wow, so you know all about copyrighting first hand and have been affected by it. I can’t believe someone else was charging people for your material. I guess it happens a lot more then we think it does. I like you talked about how we have learned to share since infancy. This is true with trusting people also. It sad to think that some people do all sorts of work and others try to take credit for it.