Posted on Friday 11 December 2009
Anyone who cares about creativity, copyright, and artistic freedom should check out this entertaining and important video:
“© kiwiright” is a 12 minute documentary about how copyright laws have been contorted to bene?t the ?nancial needs of corporate rights holders and no longer bene?ts the public nor the artists who create the work itself. Employing a fair-use argument, © kiwiright” intercuts interviews with New Zealand lawmakers and technologists with Disney clips de?ning and commenting on copyright law.
The filmmaker calls “© kiwiright” a “proof-of-concept” ?lm remixing footage from other ?lms released under Creative Commons licenses to build an argument against “guilt upon accusation” laws and to promote freedom of speech and expression.
http://www.vimeo.com/7675598
Copyright law is very important to protect artists and other people who create things ** – but a balance must be struck with the rights of citizens. “Big Media” is pursuing its interests – we should be pursuing ours.
Also check out: creativefreedom.org.nz
** For example, my creative work SOFA Statistics is protected by copyright.