Communication and Cyberspace: Chapters 1, 4, 10, 11, 18

In Chapter 1, the authors introduce the chapter by clarifying that cyberspace and the physical environment are two completely different realms. The laws that exist in reality might not work as efficiently when used in the digital world. This chapter also describes how we have attempted to mold cyberspace as close to reality as possible. The immersive qualities of the Internet are made apparent by computer programmer, David Alsberg. When he passed away, two communities mourned his death: his family and friends composed one community, the other consisted of his online friends that had their own version of a wake online. This shows the growth of which people are using the Internet as a medium for social interaction. Social interaction that takes place in electronic space redefines the nature of creating relationships in public and private spheres. The Internet is beginning to blur the line between  public and private relationships because of its accessibility to a number of various sources. The authors also discusses the repercussions of cyberspace on physical space. They refer to Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame to build their argument where the character states, "The book will destroy the church." What the character means by this is that soon old technology will be replaced or remediated by newer more efficient technology. With the acceleration of digitalization dominating different industries, it is easy to be concerned that all assets of real space will eventually enter electric space.

In Chapter 4, Neil Kleinman points out the question, how do we enforce notions of property in a medium that advocates the complete freedom of information? The broad and extensive nature of electronic media makes it extremely difficult to apply copyright laws. Some solutions have surfaced including the search for careful balance between the scope of copyright protection and its duration that makes for the optimal access to information. Two strategies have risen to quell the conflicts between the public and producers. Either one should place limited protection combined with a rather extended period of protection or broaden protection combined with a more limited period of duration.  As a way to resolve this issue, Congress enacted the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 which forbid the creation or marketing of devices that allow for the circumvention of technologies intended to protect copyright material.

Chapter 10 discusses the digital divide which is the divide between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not. This divide is fueled by economic factors such as income. Some believe that this is an issue that should be resolved by the industries and others believe that the issue is government responsibility. One way the government tried solving the issue was through the $12.5 million in grants they gave in order to stimulate nonprofit organizations that serve underprivileged rural and urban areas to incorporate advanced network technologies to enhance their services. As of today with the availability of more inexpensive computers, I think the digital divide has definitely narrowed.

In Chapter 11, the authors examine the risks associated with the Internet. One of the most prominent concerns is pornography. Because of its popularity and availability on the Web, pornography along with other vices has led to criticisms of the new medium. The Internet was thought to be an "evil influence", possessing a toxic environment that induces immorality. It was described as a portal of pornography, hate speech, and violence. As a society, we try to balance these risks and negative qualities with the superfluous benefits that this new technology has to offer. I also think it's important that we sculpt the next generation to know how to responsibly patrol and enjoy the internet. The public receives a certain degree of power from Internet use, and with great power comes great responsibility.

Communication and Cyberspace Chapters 1, 4, 10, 11, 18

Chapter 1 of Communication and Cyberspace is titled "From Locomotion to Telecommunication." It also details how many people find a life inside cyberspace in addition to their lives with their families and communities. I found it interesting that a NY Times obituary described a deceased computer programmer as being a part of two communities: the physical one that included his family and neighbors and friends in Astoria, and his cyberspace community in which he had friends that came together for an online wake. This chapter also talks about the effect of cyberspace on physical space, referencing a portion of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the idea that "the book will kill the church." This meant that people feared that books would free people from dependence on church. The modern-day parallel is that cyberspace will draw people away from physical environments.

Chapter 4 is titled "Striking a Balance: Access and Control Copyright, Property, and Technology." There is an issue that states that electronic media have changed the way we think about publishing. On one hand, authors have control of their intellectual property, but the point of the Internet is that information is to be freely available and sharable. It is incredibly difficult to police cyberspace.

Chapter 10 is titled "The Digital Divide," which states that there is a massive gap between who has access to new technologies and who doesn't have access. Rural areas are much less likely to have access to the Internet than suburban and urban areas. White people are more likely than Black or Hispanic people to have access to new technologies. Elderly people are less likely than young people to have Internet access. Additionally, education level and email use are positively correlated. I found this chapter interesting and eye-opening, as most of the world does not have access to the internet; I think this is something most Americans take for granted.

Chapter 11 is titled "Risk and the Internet: Perception and Reality." The author discusses risks in cyberspace, such as fears of censorship, pornography, and risks involving children and the Internet. Parents often believe that their children should have internet access, but at the same time worry about what their children are viewing online. Censorship has come about due to pornography, which is what drives technology. The US government has passed several laws pertaining to required Internet filtering software in schools.

Chapter 18 is titled "Cinematic Representations of Cyberspace." In this chapter, the author discuesses how cyberspace has been represented in cinema. Symbolic form in cinema has lead to a class divide: more educated people prefer literacy, whereas the less-educated people prefer speech and imagery.

Striking a Balance and the Necessity of Copyright

In Striking a Balance, Neil Kleinman addresses the intense debate over the function and intentions of copyright law, and how these stack up against the nature of digital media. He argues that the various problems associated with the Internet and copyright law are due to the fact that that digital content is fundamentally immaterial, and that the copyright law tradition is rooted in the idea of material commodities. He explores the various schemes that could alleviate this problem, drawing from pre-Capitalist ideas on the communal nature of knowledge production. One problem in this system is that the ‘author-publisher-consumer’ paradigm, which Kleinman addresses in his essay, is becoming more outdated in many fields not related to book publishing, such as software and music.

            Copyright law has its origins in the world of printing and book publishing, but its concepts have been applied to other creative activities. The irony of the digital era is that book publishing has been probably the least troubled by the rise of the Internet, and in some ways, has benefitted from it. Books are still predominantly the product of a single author, and the publishing apparatus is still necessary, for editing, marketing, and production. Even with the rise of platforms like the Nook, iPad, and Kindle, material books are still preferred for a variety of reasons.

            The issue should not be how we can bring the idea of Copyright into the 21^st century, but how in the 21^st century; we can do away with Copyright entirely for those domains where it was always a bit irrelevant. Copyright, which began in printing, the world of the written word, was only applied to other areas as a matter of appearance in production. Music was brought under the domain as a matter of legal convenience; its early production process resembled that of books, with a singular songwriter (author), performers/producers (publishers), and a consuming public. In an even greater stretch, it was stretched to the domain of software as well, with developers/programmers, manufacturers, and again, a consuming public.

            The advancement of digital technology in recent decades hasn’t problematized the issue of Copyright, but only revealed how ill of a fit it was in the first place. Music rarely has a singular author, but often teams of songwriters, full bands of set musicians, and producers and mastering engineers who have a much greater influence over the final product than a copy editor does over a book. The same goes for software, which is even a greater collaborative effort, employing a veritable army of developers, programmers, and designers, the process of producing high-end software more often resembles the building of a skyscraper than the writing of a novel.

            So what is the purpose of copyright and it’s societal function? The purpose is that of accreditation, to make sure that those who put the labor into a work are properly recognized for their hard work. The societal function is to ensure that this accreditation stimulates incentive in the market. Surely there are other manners in which these two parameters can be fulfilled, other than an archaic notion of copyright. If the problem with copyright is, as Kleinman claims, new digital technology’s lack of physical extension to ground it, then maybe we should stop trying to conceptually fit a square peg into a round hole and offer some new concepts which operate in the same spirit as Copyright, but better fit the new digital terrain.

           

Privacy, Copyright, and Other Issues

William Gibson created the term cyberspace in his novel “Neuromancer”, which he describes as the worlds compilation of data all available in a sensually vivid display. It is amazing that nearly thirty-five million people make up the population of cyberspace. With this vast of an amount of individuals it is bound to exponentially expand. Many in this industry call cyberspace an information highway. The only difference is that they are more concerned with regulating the highway and making it more efficient than the actual packages that our on the “highway”. Cyberspace also includes instances called wormholes. These wormholes consist of a relationship between the individual who created it and those who explore it, which enables them to learn from one another. There are many difficulties when it comes to cyberspace. One is the issue of true ownership. This ownership is based on laws like copyright and what is clarified as copyright infringement in the digital world. It is so easy to make clear copies of work and share them with friends and family. The big question is where do they draw the line. Once the information that you have created has entered the information highway there is very little that can be done to enforce copyright infringement and it is also very difficult to determine whether the document that is being copied is an original or a copy to trace it back to it’s true owner. People have become so engrossed with cinema that novelist have begun to graphically detail novels as if it were a movie. This makes it very difficult or skewed for an individual to alternate from fiction to non-fiction and from non-fiction to fiction. Cyberspace and all of its’ attachments have helped our society advance in many ways and will continue to do so as it grows and problems like regulating the information highway are resolved.