Copyright is not a War

As we ready for a new Copyright Act let us not forget that this is not a war.   My students at Emily Carr  found the framing of copyright as a war polarizing and unproductive in RiP: A Remix Manifesto.  RiP while interesting as a story, is one with which I have many disagreements.  In particular I have taken issue with the representations of "remix" culture as a war.  Most of my students, like many emerging creators, want to have a conversation that does not set them up as either on one side of a war or another.     I have just read Laura Murray's review of RiP.  The review covers many of the issues we are encountering in our discussions about copyright and a future Act.   I truly hope that the upcoming discussions that will engage us will transcend some of the heavy rhetoric of last year.  We need to stop engaging in the attacks that were so apparent during the copyright consultation and listen to those who have the most to lose - creators.  This is the story that has yet to be told unless of course you are one guy with a laptop (aka GirlTalk) .   Copyright is a part of how we set cultural policy in this country and it needs to better understood and articulated as such.   When we in the cultural sector remain silent, and keep creators silenced, we do so at our peril I think.