But there are so many gray areas here, and it kind of boggles my mind. For instance, is it ok to play through an entire game in a Youtube video if you are providing commentary? Probably, because you are adding something substantial of your own. But what about if you don't provide commentary, and are just posting the whole experience? And what if you are running ads and receiving money, as is the case with the below video of the story-driven The Walking Dead. Is this ethical/legal?
Typically, videos such as these are not taken down for two main reasons. First, for many games, these videos are seen as a form of advertisement. Most games are about interacting, and not just watching, so they're not going to negatively affect sales like if a movie or song was being posted for free. Second, the playing of a game might be considered a transformative work. For instance, because a gameplay experience is going to be slightly different for each person, each person's playthrough of a game might be considered a unique performance, and may be protected under fair use. So, these types of Youtube videos remain up because of gray areas in the legal system and symbiotic relationship between developers and players. The below video explains this in more detail.
I also wonder about the creation of art using copyrighted material. For instance, here is a video of all 6 Star Wars playing a together at the same time. I can imagine someone claiming that this is a beautiful piece of art. But all it is doing is playing 6 pieces of copyrighted material together. Is this protected by fair use?
Personally, I think that this weird Star Wars thing is protected under fair use. It is not replacing the experience of watching these movies individually. It is a weird form of expression. When it comes to people streaming games, I have more mixed feelings. In some cases, it does replace the experience of the product, and the creators see no profit from that. I've had friends say "I'll just watch a playthrough of that." I just don't know.
Where do others stand on fair use issues like these? And are there other cases of content caught in fair use gray areas that I should know about?
Every time I download content from torrents, I face these ethical considerations: To use or not to use? Unfortunately, there are pieces of content that you cannot buy or get access legally. For example, some books that were written in the 19th century in the before-communist Old Russian language (I adore reading in Old Russian) or underground movies that were showed on closed movie festivals and were never published. If there were no “Internet pirates”, I would never have a chance to watch-read-listen the content I like because my preferences are not mainstream-driven. To balance out the bad effects of my consumer behavior, I pay for everything that can be paid.
ReplyDeleteI think the fair-use problem often is in this customer’s inability to buy the particular rare product. What are your thoughts?
Oh, I absolutely support piracy in cases when there is no legal way to obtain something. If a film is not being released in your region, for instance, you downloading and watching it does not take away potential sales. I know that many content creators, at least in the game industry, are ok with these practices.
ReplyDeleteThat said, this is one of the few cases that I think can be made for piracy. In most cases, if you are consuming a piece of content, you should pay for it. I know that some people try to say things like "I was never going to buy a copy anyways" or "I was trying it out. If I liked it, I would pay for it," but that doesn't hold water for me. You consume something, you pay for it. But piracy is a tricky issue, and it is driven by each person's individual beliefs.
I think one of important indicator to measure whether it is fair use is whether the product is used for profits. I mean, nowadays many fans of movies, games, or celebrities create (actually edit) videos using other video, picture, or sound materials and upload them to YouTube to share with other fans. In this way, I think it is a fair use.
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