We're taking part in Copyright Week, a series of actions and discussions supporting key principles that should guide copyright policy.
Every day this week, various groups are taking on different elements of copyright law and policy, addressing what's at stake and what we need to do to make sure that copyright promotes creativity and innovation.
Copyright law affects so much of our daily lives, and new technologies have only helped make everyone more and more aware of it.
Copyright law helps shape the movies we watch, the books we read, and the music we listen to.
Given that power, it's crucial that copyright law and policy serve everyone.
Instead, copyright law is often treated as the exclusive domain of major media and entertainment industries.
The promise of the internet was to help eliminate barriers between creators and audiences, so that voices that traditional gatekeepers ignored could still find success.
Through copyright, those gatekeepers have found ways to once again control what we see.
12 years ago, a diverse coalition of Internet users, non-profit groups, and Internet companies defeated the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act, bills that would have forced Internet companies to blacklist and block websites accused of hosting copyright-infringing content.
These were bills that would have made censorship very easy, all in the name of copyright protection.
We continue to fight for a version of copyright that truly serves the public interest.
Every year, EFF and a number of diverse organizations participate in Copyright Week.
Each year, we pick five copyright issues to highlight and promote a set of principles that should guide copyright law and policy.
Monday: Public DomainThe public domain is our cultural commons and a crucial resource for innovation and access to knowledge.
Copyright should strive to promote, and not diminish, a robust, accessible public domain.
Wednesday: Copyright and AIThe growing availability of AI, especially generative AI trained on datasets that include copyrightable material, has raised new debates about copyright law.
It's important to remember the limitations of copyright law in giving the kind of protections creators are looking for.
Thursday: Free Expression and Fair Use Copyright policy should encourage creativity, not hamper it.
Friday: Copyright Enforcement as a Tool of CensorshipFreedom of expression is a fundamental human right essential to a functioning democracy.
Copyright should encourage more speech, not act as a legal cudgel to silence it.
This Cyber News was published on www.eff.org. Publication date: Mon, 22 Jan 2024 19:43:04 +0000