More fuel for copyright thought

Here's another article, given attention by ASCAP in their daily brief, on the whole vexing issue of copyright protection, and by extension, piracy. Because ASCAP is promoting this article in their brief, I can only assume that I'm being asked to take it seriously. And perhaps the article's author, Willem H. Buiter, makes some good points along the way. But some of his points, and in fact one of the big, particularly "scary" points he makes, is patently ludicrous.

The article is another tirade against the evil monolith, Google. I am admittedly a fence sitter in the whole Brave New World of copyright, downloading, and the changing landscape of the music business. I sort of see both sides of this argument. But undoubtedly, there are some questionable practices driving the "open source" side of the equation, not only by Google but other online players.

That being said, for ASCAP to give this particular article weight by putting it in their Daily Brief is not helping their cause. Mr. Buiter spends considerable amounts of time on the street view option of Google maps.

Google Street View, an addition to Google Maps provides panorama images visible from street level in cities around the world. The cameras record details of residents’ lives, including pictures of drunk people throwing up, people in intimate clinches with persons with whom they are not officially affiliated, small children playing in a yard, with or without adult supervision, etc. etc. A wonderful database for voyeurs, peeping toms and would-be child molesters.

Voyeurs, peeping toms and would-be child molesters? Seriously? I've used Google Maps street view. It's kind of fun. I look at a view of my parents' street in Missoula, Montana, when I'm feeling nostalgic sometimes. If you're a voyeur, or a peeping tom, or a child molester, I encourage you to use Google Maps street view. Because the odds of you finding what turns you on are so remote, you'll be safely at your computer screen futilely searching for some eye candy, and safely away from the general public. Not only are the photos updated at a very slow rate, they are minutes, maybe even hours, old.

The fact that Buiter gives this point such serious weight makes everything else in his article questionable. To bring in a crazy witness to the defense of a legal battle? Not gonna help. It makes your argument sound as crazy as one of the comments left by one Mr. Buiter's readers that takes an equally unhinged position supporting the abolition of all intellectual property rights.

The online landscape for copyright owners is indeed troubling and undeniably shifting, and ASCAP has a vested interest in protecting its members and bolstering the case for intellectual property rights. But sending out a link to an article with such patently ridiculous material does nothing to promote the cause.