After reviewing how the law affects the media I have quite a few concerns. Mainly because my partner is a content creator. It would seem that copyright and censorship go hand in hand at times and the law has quite a lot of influence over what can and cannot be posted without limitations. Laws involving media set precedents for us as a whole to avoid mass chaos but I think some of the laws are too restricting and overstep.
Copyright can either be really useful or really inconvenient for creators. It’s nice in the way that it holds the rights to individuals or groups. For example, with copyright there are a lot of regulations when using someone else’s work. It can also be very limiting for content creators or users. In an article from Communia, “Many creators are also users of copyrighted materials and the other way around.” So, creators can also be users of copyrighted materials and vice versa which makes for confusion within the YouTube community. Communia also stated “Digital technologies greatly facilitate both the creative re-use of existing works and the distribution of the resulting new works.” With that being said, user generated content has now been created as a newer category within Youtube in order to prevent further expensive copyright concerns that are restricting content creators.
Rather than facing jail or penalties for violating copyright, some people have instead found that UGC is the way to handle this. Some even just use the content anyway and then try to dispute the copyright strike issued to them. However, if you try to dispute it and the company claims the copyrighted material, your video could get deleted per their request as stated on Youtube Help. With the deletion of your video, you will also receive a copyright strike and once you’ve reached 3 of those, your channel is terminated. I find this absolutely ridiculous. So, is it worth repealing? Is the system broken? I’d say yes, because the companies can claim almost anything with a vague explanation. TNW explained that, “YouTube uses an entirely automated system to scan for copyright claims” and “If a video triggers the system, monetization on your entire channel will be disabled – so that’s potential revenue lost over a false claim.” In my mind, Youtube has found a way to scare their creators into not even attempting to use any material that could potentially be copyrighted, in fear of losing their livelihood.
I truly do not believe that there is much I can do to modify how I use media that would make a difference in the matters at hand. I can’t change the laws or regulations and I need to use media for school and to stay connected to friends and family online. It would seem that people may think creators are in control over their content when really, they are not. I myself do not create media for money, so it affects me less than others. I do plan to remain informed on the matter though and if in the future there is a petition I can sign or a peaceful protest I can attend, I will be involved.
