Listening to CBC’s Spark on the great copyright debate, I was forced to revise some of my earlier ideas. I agree with James Boyle that debates on copyright should be based upon fact. However, it seems that both sides lack at least one important fact. Before making the claim that “file-sharing” has hurt or helped the recording industry or any other industry, we must have accurate statistics about the number of files being “shared”. Industry has an incentive to exaggerate the number (i.e. higher claims for lawsuits). File-sharers have an incentive to minimize the number (i.e. lower claims for lawsuits).  Both sides seem to be making faith-based ideological arguments.

Exactly how many people are downloading files? Getting accurate statistics could be impossible since the people doing the most “file-sharing” have little incentive to be honest when they face potential lawsuits.  Secondly, once a file is downloaded to a computer there is no way to determine exactly how many times it will be re-distributed. Files can be burnt to a CD without going through the Internet. Files can be placed on a USB key or an iPod without going through the Internet. How many times are such copies being made? No one can determine that accurately and anyone who claims they can is engaged in faith-based statistics.

As a professional visual artist, I am keenly interested in the copyright debate; it affects my livelihood. To claim as some people have that money has nothing to do with copyright is intellectually disingenuous. Why has industry spent millions on lobbying for copyright legislation?  Why are some recording artists, such as Elton John or AC/DC, so opposed to the Internet? The perception that money is being lost is at the heart of the copyright debate. To convince the skeptics among us, file-sharers must address the skeptics’ concern about money. Failure to do so will only convince them to be more skeptical.

As an educator I am also interested in how copyright affects academic freedom and the ability of educators to help students develop new knowledge. I find that both sides in this debate tend to have a simplistic one-size-fits-all solution. Throw everyone in jail or make everything free. I think we need different types of copyright to cover the different uses of media.  What that would look like I am not certain but I know whatever solution is arrived at has to address the monetary concern of the skeptics. The skeptics are the source of most of the opposition to new technology.