Copyright In the Age of Social Networking

Social networking makes it so easy to share posts, videos, pictures and links. It must be difficult for our ancestors to imagine how free we are to say whatever we want and whenever we want in the Internet. However, many questions abound regarding this powerful development. How does the law protect our almost limitless ability to share? How do we properly share information? Does it matter where it comes from? Is Internet stuff public property?
If you watched the last season’s NBA playoffs, you must have heard the news about Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban getting fined for tweeting about lousy officiating. Then, the debate about copyright and tweeting was triggered when NBA republished his Twitter feed without his permission.
Technically, tweets are copyrightable. In reality? Not really. First, the 140-character limit makes it hard to argue sufficient creativity for copyright protection. Second, most tweets are about facts, and facts are not copyrightable. While facts can be delivered with humor, originality hardly has anything to do with it. But, it really depends on the tweet in question which can be subjected to quantitative and qualitative analysis.
In other social networking sites such as Facebook, is it enough that a posted video or link links back to the original site? Is it enough to put HT or hat tip or even a mere thank you to acknowledge a source in a post? More and more questions are being asked, challenging our legislators to balance out copyright protection and freedom of speech.

James Anthony Mina #2

The Third Player

The Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover’s Code of Conduct. Yours for $4.79 at Amazon.com. Let the outrage begin.

This little e-book earned the ire of the online community that many had promised to boycott Amazon, the online retail store which sells anything from books, to tea, to electronics.

Let’s see some excerpts: (Warning: Not for the faint of heart)

“When precautions are needed, however, standard condoms go a long way.

Unfortunately, they are much too big to fit boys younger than thirteen. Luckily, there is a product that is identical to the adult condom, in almost every way, which will do the trick.

Latex, finger coits, intended to protect finger cuts from being infected, can provide the same level of protection as adult latex sheath. They come in three sizes, small, medium and large, one of which is sure to fit any child under thirteen”

So you can imagine the indignation of everyone who heard about it or tweeted about it. There’s even a Facebook Hate Page for it.

The online public demanded its removal.

Of course, Amazon cried censorship. “Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable…Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions”. The books is now gone from the online store.

Between the issue of free speech and regulation, this story shows us the rise of a third player: online public opinion – which seems to be trumping a lot lately.

Facebook, Twitter, blogs – all these have given people a medium to voice out their opinions faster than the Millenium Falcon. And the old guard, the corporation, and the government seem to be listening. This is David’s revenge in the time of Goliaths.

In our very own islands, we have the local online community’s support for Carlos Celdran’s stunt in the Manila Cathedral. This put the Reproductive Health Bill, long overdue if I may say, at the center of public discussion, something that was not at all possible during your Lolo’s time.

Then we have that incident with Mai Mislang, President Noynoy’s speechwriter who tweeted about how the “wine sucks” in Vietnam, and how crossing the streets there seems like suicide, and the scarcity of hot guys. I guess she has never heard of Johnny Tri Nguyen (Google him!) and has never been in EDSA. In any case, she now has a Facebook Hate Page with several pictures comparing her to Gollum.

Unfortunately in these islands, the problem is not getting your message across. We seem to have this uncanny ability to show our ire online to anything objectionable. The problem is following through. In these islands where forgiveness is a virtue and where the Pasig river has been contaminating our water, giving us short-term memory, how easily we forget our outrage.

Our problem is that we do not want to see our giants fall. Or we don’t stay long enough to make sure they stay down. Obviously, something needs to be done. And for all the smart people from UP, I don’t know why we haven’t fixed this.

Social Media - A National Tool for Naming and Shaming

A retired archbishop goes on national television to insinuate that there are highly placed villains in government who are dabbling in the underground gambling world that the present administration has pledged to eradicate. A senate hearing is called almost immediately.

The spokesperson of the judiciary issues a media statement to the effect that it has no money and that the courts won’t survive if the budget isn’t increased post-haste. He threatens that if congress fails to remedy the deficiency, judges would go on mass leave. The media loves the story and has a field day. Hours later, the president sets a meeting with the chief justice.

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With these events in mind, I’d like to point out an obvious perplexity in national affairs: a communication gap exists between supposedly coordinate branches of government; between the civilian and relevant government agencies. And this abyss, this void of miscommunication, is filled by an unlikely hero, villain and observer: media. Pleas are brought to this ‘unbiased’ Fourth Estate, rather than the pertinent government agency involved, due to two contiguous theories: one, media is much more effective in shaming the agency into action; two, government enforcement is usually unavailing when the camera isn’t aimed at the would-be enforcers. Considering therefore that (a) attention on the individual or (b) national shame is required to enforce government action (perhaps as a cultural byproduct of our post-Iberian heritage), I propose that a national shaming mechanism be employed to spur government proactivity in order to supplement, and even validate, the actions of traditional media.

The “name and shame” strategy, utilized by the Human Rights Watch (but yet to be effectively used by the UN’s Human Rights Council), is presently international law’s solution to the enforcement of human rights norms. Coincidentally, this is the exact same strategy employed by Mon Tulfo’s radio show where complaints against local government officials and policemen are aired live, addressed, and resolved on a daily basis. Now that social media is becoming the norm in Philippine society, perhaps this, too, can be employed as a medium to “name and shame” public institutions and officials on a national scale. Truly, if a government requires national shame and attention in order for it to function properly, perhaps this need should be addressed by our own efforts through the veritable medium of social media. This push to “name and shame” would not simply be a matter of voluntary contributions on the part of individuals but rather a collective drive, enforced as a matter of sound national policy, spearheaded by NGOs in conjunction with social media outfits. I’m pretty sure that Facebook, YouTube and Twitter would enjoy the corresponding title of being ‘progenitors of third-world change.’ Think of the Pepsi Refresh Project, turned-upside-down, adapted by Filipinos for a truly Filipino cause. Perhaps, taken in this light, social media, in its proposed task of “naming and shaming” government ineptitude, might do some much-needed social good.

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Please see all entries by the same author in this blog:

• #01, Telconopoly, June 16
• #02, Government 2.0, June 23
• #03, In Defense of Twitter, June 30
• #04, Google, Apple and Nokia, July 7
• #05, YouTube and Government, July 14
• #06, The Problem of ICT Quality Control, July 21
• #07, The Mac or the PC?, July 28
• #08, Kindle: Victor of the Ebook Wars, Aug. 2
• #09, Of Team Coco, Wowowee and Contracts, Aug. 12
• #10, Resuscitating Law Journals, Aug.14
• #11, Moot, Zuckerberg, et. al. v. The World, Aug. 19
• #12, Ground Zero of the Tech World, Sept. 1
• #13, Evolution, Sept. 9
• #14, Snapshots of Software as Intellectual Property, Sept. 13
• #15, The Smartphone OS Slugfest, Sept. 17
• #16, Social Media - A National Tool for Naming and Shaming, Sept. 21

All About BROGAN.

Last week, I talked about color-empowering websites. Today, let's talk about the wonders (maximizing) online presence could do for businesses.

I came across two books by Chris Brogan (one is co-written with Julien Smith) discussing how social media could be used in brand development. (1) In Social Media 101, he discusses how one could build an effective blog and website, as well as how to monitor one's online reputation. After all, in the business world, negative publicity IS negative publicity. (2) In Trust Agents, they discuss how online tools are used to build "networks of influence" through key people who act as your trust agents.

In another related site, Chris also lists down the 50 ways marketers can use social media. And of course, the power of blogging. It's crucial for businesses to maintain an ongoing blog where they can talk about their company and what they have to offer in an engaging way.

Remember: hard selling is offensive, soft selling is classy.
*Practical application in the Philippine context to follow next week :)*

Disclosure: I am in no way related or affiliated with the said author. This blog entry is purely for information's sake, and not intended as a marketing move to promote his books. (But. Truth be told, it did achieve that effect as well, right?)

Entry No. 10
Rachelle Mayuga