Monday 10 February 2014

Copying, sharing and remixing - what do you think?

I am completing a part-time LLM (masters) in computer and communications law with Queen Mary University London. I would really appreciate your help in completing a survey. It should take less than 5 minutes to complete. If you want to know more about the survey, read on...

I, like many lawyers, spend a lot of time thinking, talking and writing about intellectual property law and, in particular, copyright. But law is not the whole story. People do what they do for all sorts of reasons: what the law says is only one of them.

People may also be driven by socially accepted rules of conduct known as social norms. In simple terms: what they think is OK. Norms are complicated things. For example you may have your own views about what is OK, but you might also pay attention to:

  • what you think other people think is OK
  • what you think other people actually do

Obviously law affects social norms. I'm sure it would be a fun an interesting exercise to find out what people think they are allowed to do by the law. But that is not what I am trying to find out - this time anyway.

For my research I have created a to try to find out something about social norms for a number of common situations where someone might want to copy, share or remix an existing work. I hope that learning what people actually think will be illuminating.

I would therefore be extremely grateful if you could try the survey out for yourself and also pass it on to as many of your friends, relatives, colleagues (and really anyone else you know) as you can.

I hope to post the results of the survey in July of this year (2014) and discuss some of the results as they come in. For now I won't say any more about the design so that I do not influence you when you fill it in (which I am sure you are going to do). If you don't want to read my other blog posts restrict yourself to the tag copynorms.

Here is the link for the survey again in case you missed it.

11 comments:

boggits said...

The wording of some of the questions leave it unclear as to the exact nature of the "copy" and what happens to it post "copying". e.g. people "borrowing" a book from a friend by copying it and then deleting it post reading is different from just copying and keeping it (potentially allowing someone else to read it) cf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qkyt1wXNlI

Martin Taylor said...

Yes/No survey questions are always very frustrating. Perhaps the intention is to force people to come down on one side of the fence or the other?

However, answers to each of these questions required qualification, it's a complex area.

Anyway, I hope it helped.

Francis Davey said...

I agree. I'm afraid I couldn't think what to do about that. There is a tension between explaining everything in detail (and so nailing it all down) on the one hand and having a survey short enough to be done fairly quickly on the other.

As it happens most legal systems don't make a formal distinction of that kind (eg most systems of copyright worry about the copying not what happens after the copying) and so I am hoping most people will just think about whether the copying is OK in itself and if they mentally qualify that with (but I could then delete it) so be it.

Thanks for the comment though - and the video link.

Harry Wood said...

I can vouch that it really does take less than 5 minutes!

(Makes a refreshing change. I keep starting to fill in surveys and getting bored part way through)

Mike Taylor said...

I'm another that's a bit frustrated about the (understandable) lack of precision in the questions. For example, in the DVD example, I think it's morally fine to download a copy six months before the DVD is available in your country provided you plan to buy it when it is available. (This is what I did with Paul Simon's most recent album, which had a delayed UK release.)

Bob Dowling said...

Francis, you might be interested in a European Commission report on film downloads. (Or you many know about it already.)

http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-14-120_en.htm

Clarinette02 said...

Mike, I actually wonder why their should be different release dates? Why all these regional limitations in a world where so many live between countries and travel so much?

Anonymous said...

Because different economic actors have to risk their capital in different commercial (esp. language) and legal markets. Or we can have everything for free at once - except that would mean only cat videos and cover versions...

Mike Taylor said...

Clarinette02: different release dates, certainly in cases like the Paul Simon CD, are complete delusion. A publisher that delays release in a country is merely teaching the people in that country how to use pirate bay.

Anonymous: Only cat videos and cover versions? Yet Shakespeare wrote all his plays in a culture where there was no copyright. I think you grossly underestimate the creative impulse.

Ben said...

Hi Frances

You might find this article of interest too

"Georgia Tech Study Reveals Copyright Complexities, Social Norms in Online Media Creation"


http://www.newswise.com/articles/georgia-tech-study-reveals-copyright-complexities-social-norms-in-online-media-creation

Ben said...

Dear Francis - that's what I meant say say! Grrrrr - and apologies for the spelling mistake. Anyway I will also feature your survey on my Music Law Updates site, and I have put a link on Blackboard at the University I teach at.