CR03

By far the most interesting thing we've covered in class the last week or so has been copyright law and the movie we watched (A Remixer's Manifesto).

Although the movie was interesting and well made, I didn't agree with everything that was said. I totally think that remixers should be able to remix other people's work, but I don't think everything should be "fair use." The best example I can think of is when I write a college level paper. If the guy in the video is right, and everybody's ideas were open to everyone else, then I technically wouldn't have to cite any sources in my paper (or my blog posts...) since everything would be "fair use." Plagiarism and copyright law are essentially the same thing. They both say, "if it's not your work and you use it without giving credit, you could get in serious trouble." Copyright law, however, is a much more extreme version of the plagiarism laws at school. The kid on the video that asked, "isn't this a little overboard?" was absolutely right. I think if a remixer wants to use someone else's song, he can do it without violating copyright law as long as he cites where the song came from. That's how I write my papers. I cite where the sources came from, but I don't have to ask the author for permission to quote them in my paper. As far as "fair use" goes, I think that would be great. You can use other people's work, giving credit where credit is due, but you don't have to ask permission since all work is open to interpretation. I also think that if you steal songs from the internet, then if you get caught you should have to pay what the song is worth....not thousands of dollars. Once again, that is a little "overboard."

The rest of the class has been interesting as well. I've enjoyed hearing from design students and watching them give their presentation. It all makes the design major seem more concrete than just talking about broad concepts. It's interesting to see what graduated students are up to. I'm still not 100% convinced that I want to apply for the major, but maybe with a few more guest speakers I'll be all in...we'll see.