Trajce Cvetkovski

School of Political Science and International Studies, Barrister-at-Law

Popular Media Governance: The Great Tinseltown Shakedown

Wednesday 26 September, 9:00 am - Marina Room Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference Hobart, Tasmania September 24-26th 2012

Popular Media Governance: The Great Tinseltown Shakedown (Refereed) ABSTRACT (1 of 3)

This paper is concerned with interacting technological challenges facing popular media governance. It examines the unresolved issues with media piracy and consumption in the West. Piracy in music, film and gaming is as much about the future of formal copyright governance as it is about morality and freedom of expression. The recent High Court decision in the iiNet case (April 2012) has raised questions about the future of governance in popular media and its alter ego, copyright.

ABSTRACT (2 of 3)

Corporations collectively control the bulk of popular media, and represent the cultural arms of only a handful of artificial citizens (Hollywood and the music majors). Copyright forms the core of these industries, and the intangible rights are aggressively and jealously guarded by the dominant few. Technological change has enabled convergent consumption patterns, but is an illegal consumer bad or immoral because copyright laws state the act of infringement is against the law? History reveals what digitalisation now tells us individuals have always engaged in concurrent legal and illegal popular media consumption. Convergent consumption is not new file sharing and social networking are the latest developments.

ABSTRACT (3 of 3) However the governing few which have established the status quo strongly resist external technological change. Furthermore, the elite continue to strictly preserve the legal structures in which copyrights exist, but emerging telecommunications laws are not so accommodating. This paper argues the legal reality is that the faade of popular media governance has been seriously challenged in the 21st Century.

The iiNet case (2010-12) The High Court unanimously found an Internet Service Provider not liable for facilitating or enabling and otherwise allowing illegitimate movie and other entertainment downloads via peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies - BitTorrent protocol. Roadshow Films Pty Ltd (and others) v iiNet Limited (the so-called Hollywood v iiNet case) (with costs) (April 2012).
BUT : The illegal activities of millions of Internet customers across the globe are brazenly obvious!

CENTRAL QUESTION: HAS CONSUMPTION CONVERGENCE IN A WORLD OF DIGITALISATION ENCROACHED COPYRIGHT GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORKS?

The result of this proceeding will disappoint the applicants. The evidence establishes that copyright infringement of the applicants films is occurring on a large scale, and I infer that such infringements are occurring worldwide. However, such fact does not necessitate or compel, and can never necessitate or compel, a finding of authorisation, merely because it is felt that something must be done to stop the infringements - Per Cowdury J (2010 at par.19).
These legal developments are worthy of political analysis because technology and media piracy cases reflect personal attitudes and beliefs associated with liberalism. Such negative libertarian behaviours suggest consumption convergence.

What is Copyright Governance? Copyright governance is concerned with the preservation of copyrights as exclusive intellectual property rights and is embedded in a neo-pluralist universe at all levels for the benefit of artificial entities (corporate copyright owners). Member States subscribe to the following organisational model: International Governmental Organisations (Global Governance); National Copyright Administration (Statutory Governance); and International and National Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs).

How does copyright governance intersect popular media governance?

The governance of popular media intersects: a) trade, commerce, corporate regulation, and administration of associations and organisations, and b) copyright regulation as a corporate copyright industry. One of the more dynamic features of popular media controllers is the desire to preserve naturally occurring monopolies in copyright industries which are firmly embedded in exclusive ownership

 Three primary factors support this observation: historically favourable legislative change to copyright laws for corporate copyright exploitation; historically underdeveloped competition law allowing favourable market conditions for the establishment of globally and locally wellorganised firms; and highly integrated powerful international and national associations. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE STATUS QUO

BUT TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGES THERE ARE PLENTY AHOY!

An important observation about consumption convergence in a world of digitalisation is the desire to: disseminate, communicate ; and consume popular culture in a: broad; open ; and unfettered atmosphere.

CONSUMERS AS PIRATES? 1. Uploaders and Downloaders - BitTorrent as the dominant form of Peer-to-Peer has not abated notwithstanding free or cheap streaming eg SPOTIFY
2. Social networking generally supports this development. Twittering, blogging, social networking and so on (which are representative of the synergetic relationship formed during uploading and downloading) are essentially an end to a means firmly embedded in ideals associated with communicative emancipation, empowerment, facilitation, enablement and democratisation generally. 3. Ive been to Bali too Respectable people still love to consume counterfeit products abroad.

What is Consumption Convergence?

Consumption convergence concerns the concurrent, cumulative and conjunctive consumption of popular media products - irrespective of illegality.

Implications Copyright regulation has mainly existed as a faade for maintaining the corporate status quo of a dominant few throughout the 20th Century. But in the 21st Century, an emerging legal reality has revealed significant cultural and technological challenges to popular media governance suggest concentrated corporate control is incompatible with classic conceptions of liberalism. Digitalisation of popular media has raised questions about the capacity for neo-pluralistic metagovernors to continue controlling copyright in its current form.
For further information go to: http://us.macmillan.com/copyrightandpopularmedia/TrajceCvetkovski or http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=549658