Defend Online Creativity!

Part 1 of "Internet Walking Tours," a series of four interactive podcasts. My walking tour podcast will lead you on a minor Internet exodus. Web 2.0 culture is characterized by active social participation, and this is true in the realm of online artists. Remixes, tributes, collaborations, nonprofit free hosting: the opportunities for creative exploration are many and great. Unfortunately, intellectual property rights and copyright law on the web are far from ideal at the moment. If there are too many restrictions, much of the freedom Web 2.0 offers will disappear, but if there is not enough regulation exploitation could run rampant. To make matters worse, there exist offenders that fail to aid either side of the argument, and add fuel to the fire. Websites such as eBaum’s World steal content from media authors and make money off of their work. Public awareness of these crimes, and the repercussions they have on our culture as a whole, must be increased. Hopefully this podcast will clearly display this threat to the Web 2.0 creative community and outline a simple way that you can help.