Some Like It Hot (Entertainment industry was founded on piracy)

Wired.com ^ | March 2004 | Lawrence Lessig

[E. Pluribus Unum]

OK, P2P is "piracy." But so was the birth of Hollywood, radio, cable TV, and (yes) the music industry.

If piracy means using the creative property of others without their permission, then the history of the content industry is a history of piracy. Every important sector of big media today - film, music, radio, and cable TV - was born of a kind of piracy. The consistent story is how each generation welcomes the pirates from the last. Each generation - until now.

[Snuffington]

Excellent article.

The question is one of balance, weighing the protection of the law against the strong public interest in continued innovation. The law should seek that balance, and that balance will be found only with time.

How rare to see a call for senisible copyright law reform. This debate is usually framed in all-or-nothing terms.

[shadowman99]

On the HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" the final episode details the story of Georges Méliès, the director who made "A Voyage to the Moon" in 1902, one of the greatest silent films.

Initially he screened the movie in Europe. When he finally tried to bring the movie to America, he found that Thomas Edison had already bootlegged the film from a european film house and had widely shown the movie in the US, pocketing the money. Georges Méliès lost his fortune and died a broke man.

You might think of that next time you screew in a lightbulb.

[logan]

Lessig is a man of reason. I saw a presentation he gave which dealt with the black/white issues, but also got into the murky grey. Lots of good solid suggestions that can take the whole debate forward. I hope he gets elected officials and music industry people to listen.