Clip from an interview with Cory Doctorow for my forthcoming documentary on surveillance, privacy and censorship issues called “Orwell Upgraded”.
For news and progress updates, just sign up for the newsletter on the website, or follow on twitter.
orwellupgraded.org
twitter.com/OrwellUpgraded
You wouldn’t think that copyright had much to do with surveillance, privacy and censorship would you? Nor did I until I started investigating.
The copyright regime is now so out of control, that it frequently produces distortions and collateral damage that completely contradict copyright’s original stated purpose: To promote the arts.
Copyright lobbyists and content cartels, however, will never be satisfied with enough control and are now even demanding that governments implement surveillance, censorship and other drastic measures on their behalf that would seriously affect individual rights and privacy. They are willing to overstep the mark to inflict anything on culture and society if it suits them.
The new draconian measures that are being demanded on behalf of copyright would be very difficult to get through a normal democratic process where public and cultural interest must also be taken into account, so instead, they try to sneak them into law through backdoor channels such as secretively negotiated international trade agreements which can bypass normal democratic process.
Can copyright be reformed and actually achieve it’s stated purpose without limiting what kind of art is possible/practical to make and means to distribute against the pressure of the copyright lobbyists constantly pushing in the opposite direction?
Credits:
Director: John Baker
Speaker: Cory Doctorow
Cameras: Andy Nicholls
Lighting: Jason Davison
DIT: Kieran Faulkner
Press Assistant: Eve Langford
Special Thanks: Jim Killock & The Open Rights Group
