Week 8 - Response 2 - Free Culture By Lessig Pgs 53-79

Right from the start, one thing that caught my attention was the beginning portion about Thomas Edison and the creation of the Motions Pictures Patents Company (MPPC). Edison is famous for many innovations we use today such as the lightbulb, however this beginning portion sort of makes Edison seem like a narcissistic, selfish individual. He created the MPPC in order to control piracy. The problem I see is that Edison seemed to want to control almost the entire creative properties industry. This is merely an idea that I have perceived and it may not be correct, but as I continue to read the chapter, mention of Edison also continues. The chapter itself revolves the idea of piracy and how people tried to control it. Piracy is defined to be "using the creative property of others without permission" (53). The chapter discusses what types of medium piracy was involved in such as Radio, Television, Film, and music. Piracy exists in different shapes and forms, even today. One of the most controversial kinds of piracy is fanart of characters from different tv shows, games, etc. Fanart is not an official drawn portrait and yet is still sold for money. Oddly enough, many creators do no mind this selling of fanart, however it should still count as piracy since it is not originally made content. Another type of piracy is fandub or dub overs that are not from a official production company. Many aspiring voice actors are guilty of doing this and I believe it is okay to do a fandub of a short clip or scene from said production as it more or less advertises that production, it is obviously not okay to fandub an entire series as this is letting the viewers view the production for free. I do want to point out that "Let's Players" on Youtube, the people who play video games as a career do not get into any legal trouble at all for playing entire game series. This makes me ponder why as it is still letting a viewer see a product for free without needing to pay. There's quite a bit of mysteries relating to the concept of piracy and hopefully they will clear up soon.