GRiddick

Old Media Versus New Media: Moving Toward a Whole New Balance?

Enter your comment hereHi David,

This is an excellent article. You bring this debate, which I personally see as one of the most significant in determining the future of the Internet over the next five years or so, to light in a well balanced fashion. These issues are VERY complex.

I know. My small electronic graphic arts content (clipart illustrations, design templates, digital logos, cartoons, and animations) development company (Imageline, Inc.) here in Virginia has fought these piracy issues ever since the DMCA was first enacted back in 1998. We know the law VERY well. We also know what its intended purpose was then ... and still is now ... a purpose that has been twisted around routinely by the high-priced copyright defense teams retained and employed by the Google's and AOL's of the world.

It was not at all surprising to me the see Google, YouTube, AOL, Yahoo, and Time Warner absent from the list of "signees" who put forward the new "UGC Principles" earlier this month.

Here's the problem. Without these companies involved, the implementation of two or more "standards" will simply create mass confusion in the marketplace. Pirates thrive on mass confusion. It provides fuel for their ongoing crimes. It places enforcement in the hands of a select few federal judges, and the slick talking (and often unscrupulous) attorneys, who actually hear and/or present these complex cases.

In my view, five (5) things need to happen here to make all of this effective:

1. Small companies need to be represented in these crucial industry discussions. We produce over 80% of all the new copyrighted works in this country and yet no small business that I am aware of was even asked to comment on the new UGC Principles before they were announced.

2. This cannot simply be another weapon in the hands of Microsoft in its ongoing war against Google for online advertising and search supremacy. Did you notice the Microsoft copyright statement at the bottom of the "UGC Principles" web page?

3. All major Internet service providers (Google, Yahoo, AOL, CNET, and others) MUST be forced to adopt any new principles that have half a chance of being effective. There's such a close parallel to the people who signed these new guidelines and those who have signed up to support Hulu (a new YouTube competitor), that one cannot help but be cautious, and curious, when taking a closer look at everyone's true objectives.

4. Foreign Internet companies, especially those that play on our own financial systems, such as NASDAQ (i.e. Baidu, ReDiff, and others) must be forced to comply as well. What good does all this do if it simply drives Internet consumers to international web sites, search engines, and portals?

5. The interests of all copyright industries, not just television and movies, must be adequately addressed for any new "standards" to be effective. What about music, books, graphic arts, journalism, cartoon strips, poems, photography, animations, and the many, many other groups that depend on adequate copyright protection for survival?

There is NO WAY Congress meant to provide loopholes that encourage willful infringement in the DMCA, or in the copyright laws of this country. By allowing "online service providers" to benefit economically from the support of piracy web sites, as Google does with literally thousands of web sites around the world every single day, a liberal interpretation of the DMCA "safe harbor" and "fair use" provisions in our copyright laws, actually increases copyright infringement in this country ... let alone encourages the destructive impact on U.S. owned copyrights we see now overseas.

I hope these new "UGC Principles" will be the catalyst that brings ALL interested parties to the table. Something needs to be done and it needs to be done fast. If we lose this war to the pirates, our economy will suffer the consequences for many, many years (if not decades) to come.

Thanks for helping to get this important public debate underway. Let's hope some of the "big players" can learn to listen.

George P. Riddick, III
Chairman/CEO
Imageline, Inc.
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