In the wake of the Web 2.0 movement, the average prosumer has been very active in terms of producing a range of creative media, including original photos, video, audio and text.
In the physical world, empiricism rules. Intellectual property and general property laws ensure clarity of ownership of objects and (physically or verbally documented) ideas. These laws also protect the rights of the owners of those ideas and objects to profit from their creations... But how does this apply to online digital systems and codes? If an idea is documented in the form of a binary code and uploaded to the web for the viewing or listening pleasure of anyone with internet access... are all property rights forfeited? After all, the purpose of the two-way web is to facilitate the dissemination and sharing of knowledge and culture in the guise of digital bytes.
My background research for this response included signing up for a Yahoo!7 ID in order to access the kind of terms and conditions document we tend to sign without reading each and every time we join a 'social media' site or group. Article 9 from the Yahoo!7 Terms of Service explains that Yahoo!7 does not 'claim ownership' of the content you submit on the service... unless, of course, you upload that content to a 'publicly accessible area' of the service (i.e. Message Board, Photos, Briefcase)! In such cases, Yahoo!7 reserves the right to "...use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display..." (Yahoo!7, 2010) such content, including photos, graphics, audio and video.
Similarly, Facebook's comparable terms agreement assures us that we as users retain full ownership and control over all content and information we may choose to upload or post on the site (2010). Of course, content that is covered by intellectual property rights (i.e. photos, video) is subject to Facebook's "... non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook ("IP License") (2010).
Scott Karp of Publishing 2.0 sums up the confusion and scramble for rights in two emerging 'realities' that concern the future of the web:
1) Data is POWER; and
2. A war will be fought over control of the data (Karp, 2008).
I think it’s unlikely we will see the cycle end any time soon — with the disintegration of distribution monopolies, the new power in media is in the data. That’s how Facebook got it’s $15 billion valuation — the potential to exploit its users’ data.
Karp asks us to question the fairness of an exchange wherein users must give up control over their data for a 'free' service... I would answer that free social media services are not, in fact, free. Many users of services like Twitter, Facebook, and Yahoo!7 (myself included) have paid, and continue to pay for these services with the rights to their own private information and the data they will create and share via those service providers. This data is a powerful and underestimated digital currency.
Will you continue to pay for web services in data dollars. Or, like Robert 'Che' Scoble (Carr, 2008), are you leaning towards some kind of alternative action, be it legal or otherwise. What are the alternatives?
Reference List
Carr, N. (2008). Scoble: Freedom fighter or data thief? [Electronic version]. Retrieved September 10, 2010, from http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2008/01/scoble_freedom.php
Facebook. (2010). Statement of Rights and Responsibilities [Electronic version]. Retrieved September 10, 2010, from http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/terms.php?ref=pf
Karp, S. (2008). The Coming War Over Data on the Web [Electronic version]. Retrieved September 10, 2010, http://publishing2.com/2008/01/03/the-coming-war-over-data-on-the-web/
Yahoo!7. (2010). Yahoo!7 Terms of Service [Electronic version]. Retrieved September 10, 2010, from http://au.docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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