Lawrence Lessig Keynote at the 2008 TLT Symposium

I attended the keynote at the 2008 TLT Symposium and found Professor Lessig's talk very thought-provoking. He showed many examples of remixed video/audio that would probably not pass muster under today's copyright laws. People have been doing this type of thing long before Al Gore invented the Internet, but the Internet just made them more easily accessible by many more people. Although I agree for the most part that these types of remixes should be protected as artistic expression, it made me think about what we really should be teaching our students at Penn State, particularly those who create videos with music at the Digital Commons. We have always played it safe and not allowed students to use copyrighted music in videos they display on the Digital Commons Web site, but I think the big concern is whether or not someone is profiting from the distribution of such works. If they are not profiting from their work, it should be considered creative expression and allowed to be featured. Prof. Lessig cited an example of a housewife who put a video of her 2 year old dancing with a song by Prince playing in the background. She was slapped with a takedown notice by representatives of Prince. While I question her choice in music, she in no way was profiting from Prince's music. If anything, YouTube was profiting from her use of Prince's music. They sell ads and whatever drives people to YouTube to watch videos is okay with them. So, I'm sure they're all for the use of remixes in videos they host. We are not in the ad-selling business, however, so this is not a comparable argument for preventing students from having their work featured on the Penn State sites. I think Professor Lessig's message warrants more discussion here at Penn State about what our policies should be regarding copyright and creative expression.