Copyright and Data Ethics

In this age of new media creations, certain organizations are popping up which are designed ot facilitate new media creation, and I briefly outline four such organizations here. Electronic Frontier Foundation fights to maintain our civil liberties in digital mediums. Their homepage highlights important current court cases, news updates, and links to more information, all regarding civil rights in a digital medium. Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that works to provide the tools necessary to facilitate creative ventures and explorations; it meets its goal by freely providing the digital tools necessary to be creative. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act penalizes the illegal production and dissemination of copyrighted technology. Archive.org allows people to archive old media and share it with others. It serves as a digital library and provides its services freely.

The common thread running through these entities is that they work to increase access to digital media and safeguard digital creations vis-à-vis copyright. These groups are necessary because in this age of easy access to information, they provide the tools and ability for new digital creations. More specifically, CC and Archive all provide access media and programs which facilitate media generation. EFF and DMCA work to provide the copyright and intellectual safeguards which prevent created media from being plagiarized or stolen; more simply, these safeguards protect authors and ensure that they receive due credit for their creations.

I believe that these organizations can and will succeed. Their work is necessary to facilitate and to promote the creation of new media, and without such organizations, those involved in media creation would suffer as they would lose access to valuable resources and protection of their ideas. After looking over the website, it seems that they have become increasingly popular and in demand over the last several years, and this is most likely springs from the necessity of the services they offer. Most of these organizations are nonprofits serving the greater digital good, and it seems to me that their nonprofit status lends them extra credibility, as it shows that they are working for a cause that goes beyond themselves and not for personal gain or profit.