I intern at a publishing company and while I was there, I came across an interesting article in Publishing Weekly about an interview with Jaron Lanier, whose new book, You Are Not a Gadget, is coming out this year. Lanier was very active in the development of Virtual Reality and, in this article, reveals his thoughts about Web 2.0 and copyright.
A little about Lanier:
Lanier has a rather diverse resume. He specializes in unusual music instruments, has co-composed a few sound tracks, and writes chamber and orchestra pieces. As a musician, he has several connections within the musical community, and thus witnessed the damage caused by the Web on their musical careers. He says this has served as motivation for his current platform on Web 2.0. Lanier was also among the first to explore the potential of ‘Virtual Reality.’ In fact, he was the one who coined the term. His company, VPL Research, was the first to sell Virtual Reality products and find beneficial applications for the technology aside from avatars and virtual worlds. VR technology has since been used for surgical simulation, vehicle prototyping, and architectural modeling. Lanier is, of course, an author as well.
The article: “PW profiles Jaron Lanier: The Single-Copy Web”
With his background experience, Lanier has developed some interesting opinions regarding Web 2.0. The article discusses one of his current arguments, which basically is for the elimination of multiple copies and the ability to create more, leaving a single-copy web. Lanier suggests that for a small price each time, Web users can access whatever it is they are interested. And this, he believes, should be a universal system implemented and regulated by the government. In the article, Lanier also briefly discusses his dislike of ‘freemium.’ Freemium is an idea developed by Chris Anderson, in which all basic products are provided for free on the Internet, but advance or special features are sold for a premium. Lanier believes that this idea is an unsuccessful one because the new market it creates, built solely upon the unique availability of these features, is nullified when what it provides becomes the common standard.
Here is the link to the article if any one is interested in reading it in full: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/447925-PW_profiles_Jaron_Lanier_The_Single_Copy_Web.php
What Lanier proposes is interesting concept, but ultimately an improbable success. Without a doubt, his idea ‘solves’ the problem of copyright infringement, but at the expense of the author’s right to make copies. It would take a monumental amount of time and energy to convince congress to scrap their copyright laws and, frankly, I just don’t see that happening.
