Our own creative land

Tonight I attended the Hart House Lecture 2006, Our own creative land: Cultural Monopoly & The Trouble With Copyright, by Michael Geist. I often visit Geist's blog, and find his arguments in support of user rights in the copyright landscape well thought-out, well informed, and most refreshing. User rights in copyright seems almost like an afterthought in laws, government and especially in the whims of corporations which seek to bilk earnings from the efforts of artists -- beyond what artists may wish -- and definitely beyond what is good for society. In his lecture, Geist looks at the new creative frontier being shaped by the internet and digital technologies, and what that means to the traditional copyright stakeholders -- and more importantly, what it should mean to new copyright stakeholders -- which includes you and me. Geist proposes a copyright solution for Canada that leverages the Creative Commons Licence model, but is also uniquely Canadian. He suggests that we should break from the entropic pack being driven by America, and instead create a copyright system that fosters a culture of sharing. It's a noble goal that Geist puts before us. I just hold no expectations that the current government will want to alter the current tryst with the US for something in the Canadian public interest.

Geist was a pretty good speaker -- and with his parents in the audience tonight, I'm sure he made them proud. Unfortunately, he was stuck with bad sound in the Hart House Great Hall. I could hear him, but his words were all muddled due to the echoes in the room. The acoustics sucked. It was so bad, some dweeb beside me had to hold on to his head to prevent it from falling off.

I dropped five bucks at the lecture so I could obtain the accompanying book(let) of the lecture. Since it's copyrighted with a Creative Commons licence that allows me to share it, I think I will digitize the whole thing and upload it. Soon. Maybe.