Posts Tagged ‘superbowl’

Mike had a story yesterday about how the University of Tampa told students that they could have no more than 3.4 people in their dorm rooms watching the Superbowl, lest they violate the public performance provision of copyright. Unique case of confusion, right?

Actually, I had a similar moment while watching the game with (more than 3.4) friends. During the commercial for Hulu, a friend quizzically asked, “How can they advertise if they are illegal?” A couple of my friends murmured agreement before I informed them that Hulu was started by Fox and NBC and pays for the shows the content they have.

It really struck a chord with me.

The big content companies have so perverted public perception of intellectual property and the Internet that people presume that any good service online is illegal. Think about that! Even people whose friend is a (self-admitted) IP geek assume that perfectly normal behavior (time shifting content) is only the domain of “pirates.” Not only does it speak to the lack of innovation from big content, it represents a huge hurdle for the future of media (although my generation is willing to use Hulu, even if it were illegal).

Mike rightly chastised IP lawyers for mocking the confusion instead of working to improve the confusing state of copyright law. I would chastise myself and the rest of the free culture movement for not providing enough education as to the realities of intellectual property and innovation.