Unsatisfactory Europa: DMCA and Fair Use in the digital arts

by

RND/ consider conceptual photography set in Europe, highlighting the strange estranged state of Dukkha

3840×2160, 2.1MB .jpg

THIS CONTENT HAS BEEN REMOVED DUE TO ‘COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT’

NOT THAT IT WAS VERY GOOD ANYWAY – BUT STILL

Images via Epha Photography / Jörg Schmiedekind

—

Update Patch

Pleased with yourself, little man?
– Roy Batty to Rick Deckard, Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

I’m steaming. Due to recent heavy-handed bullyboy tactics, I’ve been back handed a ‘Digital Millennium Copyright Act’ (sounds serious and self-important) takedown notice from A Real Artist™ for remixing nothing-special photos found on Flickr – whose entirely free and public display arrived (imo, mmv) under Fair Use. Some notes arising:

  1. You thought someone’s art was cool enough to work with in the first place; you both display taste – how is that not a (at least vaguely) positive thing?
  2. Officially sanctioned permission to use The Artist’s photography wasn’t asked – but then what is this anyhow – Kafka’s character “K”, trying to reach the fucking Castle – does one first need form 27B/6 or what?
  3. Several (whole) images were used in the Remix – but then they were transformed more than enough from the (apparently holy) Original©
  4. No commercial profit was involved (other than ‘protecting one’s artistic investments’, perhaps) and full credit was given (btw “Credit where credit is due” too often smells like the perfumed Your-Dad’s language of artholes.)
  5. Who really benefits from such takedowns; who is really hurt by such usage – what is this ‘look but don’t touch’ B.S about anyway?

After several years, I still make precisely *sweet F.A.* money from / via art, and in fact run this site at a considerable loss. I plough through this shit because I secretly love art and enjoy playing with ideas. So thanks for the patience, spirit of generosity and understanding, DMCA piss weasels. Talk about a bizarre siege mentality.. of swollen ego privilege expressing an inflated sense of ‘ownership’ over pixels temporarily gathering in a certain formation!

To celebrate, here’s some Example Reference Links combined with an image – an explicit socio-political parody / cultural satire on the whole notion of Copyright And The Arts. Share and enjoy. (And BTW, FTG!)

Copyright Ideology: Spurious DMCA Takedown Notice TDN47191

Ideal / Idealised cost for a Concept such as this: £250K – contact Robert What today for details.

Example Reference Links

  1. https://www.takedownabuse.org/
  2. Organization for Transformative Works
  3. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Overextension of Copyright Protection and the Unintended Chilling Effects on Fair Use, Free Speech, and Innovation (PDF)
  4. A German Approach to Fair Use (PDF)
  5. Resisting the Resistance: Resisting Copyright and Promoting Alternatives
  6. Copyleft vs. Copyright: A Marxist Critique
  7. On the “Creative Commons”: a critique of the commons without commonalty
  8. Copyright, Permissions, and Fair Use in the Visual Arts Communities: An Issues Report
  9. Robert S. Boynton: The Tyranny of Copyright?
  10. A legal victory for ‘appropriation art’ expands when artists can remix each others’ work
  11. In The Wake of Richard Prince and Instagram, Revisiting Copyright Law, Appropriation and History
  12. The Libertarian Case Against Intellectual Property Rights
  13. Electronic Frontier Foundation: Intellectual Property / Fair Use
  14. Book Review: Margie Borschke’s This is Not a Remix, by Owen Gallagher
  15. User illusion: ideological construction of ‘user-generated content’ in the EC consultation on copyright
  16. Hacker News comments on “Ten Hours of Static Gets Five Copyright Notices”
  17. The Business of Art: Fair Use and Copyright Law
  18. Autoencoding Blade Runner
  19. Beyond The Black Rainbow: Aborea Institute Psychospiritual Development Handbook

// how to play big science