Every Time Copyright Is Invoked, A Fair Use Angel Loses Their Wings

[morgandawn]

The Copyright Monopoly Was Created As A Censorship Instrument – And Is Still Used As One

"When the printing press hit Europe, royalty and clergy panicked. All of a sudden, they had lost the gatekeeper position of determining what culture and knowledge was available to the masses, and by extension, lost control of the political discourse of their time.

At the time, different regimes reacted differently to the threat. France reacted by banning book shops altogether and banning the use of the printing press under penalty of death. The ban was utterly ineffective. (Yes, you read that right: the penalty for unauthorized copying has been escalated as far as the death penalty, still without effect.)....

[snip]

In this environment, [Queen Mary I of England] sought a further means to suppress free speech and political dissent. Seeing how France’s death penalty against the printing press had failed miserably, she instead opted for an unholy alliance between capital and the crown. Mary I handed out a printing monopoly on May 4, 1557 to the London Company of Stationers. In return for a lucrative monopoly of printing everything in England, the company would agree to not print anything the Crown’s censors deemed politically insubordinate.

The scheme worked to suppress dissent and free thought, and censorship was successfully introduced. The monopoly was called copyright, the word from an internal registry with the London Company of Stationers. Thus, the unholy alliance of the copyright monopoly was forged in the blood of political dissent."

Comments

[aethel]

yep

ETA: BTW, the author of that article is the founder of the pirate party and pretty radical. I like his writing, but I try to take him with a grain of salt.

[morgandawn]

I do wish writers would cite their sources. This has been written about before on numerous occasions, mainly by those who are advocating for copyright reform (ex: http://www3.udg.edu/fcee/professors/nboccard/iocb/Copyright.html). A more bare bones recital of the facts can be found here: http://www.class.uh.edu/comm/classes/comm4303/section2/historyinbritain.html

Scholarly books are harder to find. If you want to learn more about early copyright's origins and the role it played in political suppression you can try: The Author's Due: Printing and the Prehistory of Copyright (http://books.google.com/books?id=AL9pDlFgoVIC&lpg=PA60&ots=3CwEiLY7Yj&dq=copyright%20%20bloody%20mary%20england%20London%20Company%20of%20Stationers&pg=PA68#v=onepage&q=copyright%20%20bloody%20mary%20england%20London%20Company%20of%20Stationers&f=false)

France's history is a bit more complex and seemed to have swung between extremes: "On January 13, 1535, an extreme statute was enacted forbidding all printing under threat of hanging and closing all bookshops.[6] This law was quickly abandoned, and Parlement formed a commission to review book printing.

In 1536 it was ordered that all medical books must be approved by the Medical Faculty of the University, and actions were taken against certain publishers of books on medicine and astrology. In 1544, the University banned the printing of any book not approved by the appropriate University officials.[7] In 1543, the Faculty of Theology issued its first Index of prohibited books, all religious, preceding by 16 years the Vatican's issuance of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in 1559.[7] The Edict of Châteaubriant issued on June 27, 1551, prohibited possessing any books listed on the University's Index; translating the Bible or works of the Church Fathers; importing books from Geneva and other places not under the Church's control; or printing or selling of any religious books written in the last 40 years.[8]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_France#To_the_18th_century

Perhaps most telling is that even today copyright is being used to silence political activism and opposition: "Copyright can also be used to stifle political criticism. For example, in the US the contents of talk shows and similar programs are covered by copyright. Robert Greenwald, a director of Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War documentary was refused the right to use a clip of a George W. Bush interview from NBC's Meet the Press. Although the fair use provisions of statute and common law may apply in such cases, the risks of loss in court should there be a lawsuit and pressure from insurance companies, who regard use of almost anything (e.g., three words forming the opening of a song,[13]) without permission as too risky, usually precludes use of materials without explicit permission, and so without a license fee." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_copyright#Opposition_to_copyright

And one of the many concerns raised about SOPA and the other bills criminalizing the use of copyrighted materials was how it had (or has) the potential for censorship.

The Internet has been the greatest threat to all types of monopolies: commercial, political, and religious. And you don't have to be a radical or extremist to argue it.

[aethel]

aww, man, now I have all this assigned reading and I was just going to go watch some pirated Teen Wolf episodes :p