Archive:Defcon Outline

Title: The Revolution Will Not Be Copyrighted: Why You Should Care About Free Culture

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to explain and introduce the free culture movement and organization to the hacker community. We make the case that hackers should not only care about the ideas of free culture in the literal sense in that we seek to protect technological and digital rights, but also in a broader cultural sense. The idea of using and reusing bits of culture(the goal in a free culture) parallels the central tenets of the hacker ethos where manipulation, reuse, and recontextualization are essential. To that end, we'll show some compelling examples of art and music that we consider to be culture hacking. From reengineered Nintendo cartridges to electronic albums consisting almost totally of samples to an early 20th century modernist Mona Lisa hack, we'll demonstrate that some of the most innovative and radical cultural works are also the most derivative. We also intend to emphasize the significance of political and social action in order to maintain an environment of innovation and progress. There are highly significant cultural and technological issues that need to be addressed in society and we cannot stand by passively while leaving the control in the hands of the government, corporations, and other entities. In essence, free culture is deeply ingrained in the hacker ideal.


 * 1) About freeculture.org (10min)
 * 2) *What does free culture mean right now? In no particular order:
 * 3) **ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a book written by Lawrence Lessig, a law professor.
 * 4) **ItÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s a student movement named after the book and push for progressive IP and tech laws
 * 5) *How did it start?
 * 6) **From motherjones.com:
 * The adventure began in spring 2003, when a hacker broke into Diebold's computer system and unearthed 15,000 internal emails. In them, Diebold employees fret over the voting machines' vulnerability to hackers and their alarming habit of going on the fritz. "I need some answers!" one frantic employee wrote from Florida regarding the 2000 recount. "Precinct 216 gave Al Gore a minus 16,022 [votes] when it was uploaded. Will someone please explain this so that I have the information to give the auditor instead of standing here 'looking dumb.'" Ã¢â‚¬Â¦ The emails were promptly posted all over the Internet. Diebold responded by sending a flurry of cease-and-desist letters to the various Internet service providers (ISPs), claiming that the information was protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Passed by Congress in 1998, the DMCA was designed to guard companies against online piracy. But almost immediately corporations learned that if they alleged that embarrassing posts actually violated copyright protections, ISPs would take them down for fear of being held liable. Sure enough, every ISP that received a threat from Diebold immediately shut down the offending site.
 * Nelson and Smith post the memos on SwarthmoreÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ They receive C&D letters from Diebold's wonderful lawyers... Swarthmore freaks out and tells them to take it down.
 * First, they asked fellow student activists nationwide to take turns posting the material. And second, they sued Diebold for abusing copyright law.
 * DMCA 512 f -- "(f) Misrepresentations.Ã¢â‚¬â€ Any person who knowingly materially misrepresents under this sectionÃ¢â‚¬â€ (1) that material or activity is infringing, or (2) that material or activity was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, hall be liable for any damages, including costs and attorneysÃ¢â‚¬â„¢ fees, incurred by the alleged infringer, by any copyright owner or copyright ownerÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s authorized licensee, or by a service provider, who is injured by such misrepresentation, as the result of the service provider relying upon such misrepresentation in removing or disabling access to the material or activity claimed to be infringing, or in replacing the removed material or ceasing to disable access to it."
 * So the EFF came on board (woohoo) and represented Nelson along with OPG in their suit against Diebold. They sued under 512f (maybe one of the only reasonable parts of the DMCA) and won. This was the first suit of its kind.
 * "The ruling makes Diebold the first company to be held liable for violating section 512(f) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it unlawful to use the DMCA takedown threats when the copyright holder knows that infringement hasn't occurred."
 * We just chose not to file for copyright infringement, although it was allowed under the law," says Diebold spokes-man David Bear. "We certainly hope to negotiate a settlement in the lawsuit that they filed against us.
 * Judge Jeremy Fogel wrote in his decision that "no reasonable copyright holder could have believed that portions of the e-mail archive discussing possible technical problems with Diebold's voting machines were protected by copyright." The judge ruled that Diebold "knowingly materially misrepresented" that the students and ISP had infringed Diebold's copyright.
 * So this is how Nelson + co meet Lessig.
 * And later go on to start Freeculture as national student organization on the basis of LessigÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s new book Free Culture.
 * 1) *How are we doing it?
 * Composed of 13 campus chapters and countless students from other schools around the country and the world
 * Weekly meetings to discuss mission, objectives, projects, and logistics.
 * 1) *We are a true grassroots organization
 * DIY Politics
 * political/social/technological movement that started from the ground up
 * as students, we are a concerned party-- we're worried that govt, corporations, even individuals are making bad choices about technology, ip, and culture that could stagnate future progress and innovation
 * we feel the need to take action on grassroots level (like any good hacker would do when trying to fix a bug in the system)
 * 1) why hackers should care (10min)
 * their right to be curious and to do what they wish with the technology
 * the right to modify other peoples' code, regardless of its copyright status
 * to build upon what has come before; pre-existing technologies
 * we can state laws about this stuff, but the way things are going, your rights are going to be further limited--> inducement-type legislation; ability to tinker
 * do we want the government or colluding corporate entities to dictate our technology and make technological mandates?
 * these are concerns that are central to fc.o's mission
 * 1) Culture Hacking (10min)
 * Discuss several contemporary examples of "culture hacking:"
 * Marcel Duchamp [recontextualization of traditional artwork such as mona lisa];
 * Andy Warhol [using popular culture/commercial icons for unintended artist purposes];
 * Jean-Michel Basquiat [recontextualization of words/phrases/anatomy drawings and other copyrighted work];
 * Cory Arcangel's super mario bros hack [artist with programming]; http://www.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/itc/soa/dmc/cory_arcangel/
 * Matt Boch's Persistant Artifacts -- Mixing a childhood video with his first videogame, Adventure! on Atari 2600.
 * Shell of his "past identity" as an adolescent computer geek (now 20something geek/video artist)
 * He portrays his experirence and interaction as he experienced it through the video
 * Homage to the early lone Atari developers who created games that shaped childhoods, but many of whom remain unknown
 * The author of Adventure!, Warren Robinett, refused to be forgotten. Out of spite for Atari's policy of not crediting developers for their work, he hid his name in a secret room in the game, creating the first video game Easter Egg. The hidden signature can be revealed by using a certain item in a specific room in the game. After submitting the final code for Adventure!, Robinett quit Atari.
 * This assertion of authorship was a crucial moment in the history of video games as a medium. These developers knew they were making works of art, and wanted to sign their canvases, but the corporate structure had no interest in crediting the designers, nor allowing them a share of the profits from the games they made.
 * hip hop [one of the most derivative genres, sampling, etc.];
 * electronic music [sampling, remixing, white labels that are unauthorized remixes]
 * Creative Commons licensed music (Fred talk about this; CC mixter, etc.)
 * So much of our culture is now literally and metaphorically derivative; how do we distinguish what constitutes derivative and what does not?; even mickey mouse was based upon a previous work:
 * What you might not know is that 1928 also marks another important transition. In that year, a comic (as opposed to cartoon) genius created his last independently produced silent film. That genius was Buster Keaton. The film was Steamboat Bill, Jr. Keaton was born into a vaudeville family in 1895. In the era of silent film, he had mastered using broad physical comedy as a way to spark uncontrollable laughter from his audience. Steamboat Bill, Jr. was a classic of this form, famous among film buffs for its incredible stunts. The film was classic KeatonÃ¢â‚¬â€wildly popular and among the best of its genre.  Steamboat Bill, Jr. appeared before Disney's cartoon Steamboat Willie. The coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat Willie is a direct cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill,2 and both are built upon a common song as a source. It is not just from the invention of synchronized sound in The Jazz Singer that we get Steamboat Willie. It is also from Buster Keaton's invention of Steamboat Bill, Jr., itself inspired by the song Ã¢â‚¬Å“Steamboat Bill,Ã¢â‚¬? that we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse. Chapter 1, Free Culture, Lawrence Lessig
 * How long have we had copyright? A couple hundred of years, being conservative. How long have we had culture? Does it really seem like culture isn't going to progress if we don't have strict copyright laws?
 * But, how, you may ask, is this analogous to code-based/hardware hacking? The way we see it, artists manipulate bits of culture to create more art. Hackers manipulate
 * artists and hackers use bits of culture and technology in ways not necessarily intended the original creators that can revolutionize we way we think about these things
 * new forms art/music/culture/technology can radically change the way how we look at these entities [think everything 	from linux to capn crunch whistle to the avalanches to ron english]
 * Play avalanches... show some Ron english
 * 1) Debunking some myths (5min)
 * So, if these people are breaking the law, they should get caught. Talk about how we do not accept the law in its current form, how if we solely choose to accept the legal framework and the ever-expanding copyright system, we could end up with perpetual copyright
 * But don't you want this stuff to be mainstream do you? Its not an issue of being mainstream (frankly we doubt many of these artists will be mainstream and the music will probably never be "top 40"), but instead this is an issue of chilling innovation and creation. Do we really want to have artists getting sued?
 * Difference between the copyright issues of the past (Mixtape, VCR) and those of the present (internet is arguably an infinite distribution mechanism; beforehand we only had a set number of physical copies).
 * How this differs from the issue of hackers, security, and anonymity-- Hackers want to stay anonymous; for art and culture, it needs at least a certain degree of exposure to have some kind of value and influence. Expand on this.
 * 1) Physical vs. cyber world: dichotomy? (5min)
 * local activism-- utopian ideal of cyberspace being a new land, place independent from the physical world
 * we're realizing that the physical world does have power over cyberspace but cyberspace also has power over the physical world
 * but we don't necessarily have to have this division like in some peoples' minds
 * 1) politicization/ethicization of the movement (5 min)
 * being apathetic about the future of technology in terms of government and corporate influence may lead to undesirable consequences, i.e. decisions may be made that inhibit the growth of culture and technology
 * there are highly significant cultural, and technological, issues that need to be addressed in society and we cannot stand by passively and leave the control in the hands of these other entities
 * think of free culture.org as a call to arms for hackers with respect to the real worldÃ¢â‚¬Â¦ an ally in the fight to keep information free.
 * 1) How you can support the FreeCulture movement(5min)
 * Buy our t-shirts and join us.
 * Join our e-mail list.
 * Check out our website.
 * Make technology available to people. -- Volunteer installing linux, setting up networks, broadband.
 * 1) Q & A (10min)