Challenge to geek brains: come up with a solution for copyright registration and release writers from the prison of government monopoly

The Writers Guild of America strike and the recent ruling over content rights for print journalists reflect discord in the entertainment industry and in traditional publishing. In all corners of the content world, dialog is in progress over a number of issues, with new media at the forefront. Who could foresee the impact technology would have on the writing profession? New developments are announced with a frequency akin to the reproduction capabilities of rabbits. The entertainment industry appears unified and well-protected. The publishing industry is anything but.

Years ago, a contract from a periodical was a simple thing. Now, most publications want all possible, foreseeable, future and even maybe rights when they make an agreement with a journalist. Questions abound. Should a writer be paid for content uploaded to a cell phone? Should a writer be compensated if content originally run in print is published on the Web? Should a writer be allowed to pursue financial recompense if he or she didn’t formally register with the U.S. Copyright Office? This last question is one that perplexes and bothers me most of all. The U.S. Copyright Office notes, as I’ve pointed out before, the following:

In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work.

And the monopoly for registration is owned by none other than the federal government.

I fail to see the logic. The government position assumes the only valid means of protecting the potential monetary value of one’s work rests in the government. Anytime something rests in the government, I get a little nervous. The downside of the current copyright registration procedure involves writers like me having to spend time filing forms and (naturally: it’s a government thing) paying to protect something I already own in the first place. And if you’ve ever tried to call the U.S. Copyright Office, you know that is essentially a pipe dream. The line is always, always, always busy. Journalists and other writers are as imprisoned as a felon when it comes to seeking damages from plagiarists who steal the work of others. Lacking an official U.S. Copyright document all a writer can do is demand the work be removed from a Web site, and there doesn’t appear to be much at all you can do if someone lifts lengthy passages for a book.

So here’s my challenge. Geek people, seize opportunity. Come up with a simple database where a writer can pay a fee and register his or her works online. Come up with some means of vetting the writer’s identity. Badger government officials—you know, the ones we elect to allegedly represent us—to determine how to set up the system so it will pass muster in the courts.

As a writer, I am extremely annoyed that the only hope of financial recompense, should someone steal my work, is in government hands and worse, the courts. When judges understand the freelance writing profession, I will look up at the Florida skies and see my hound dog flying wildly, waving to me as he wags his tail with joy, baying at the new feathered friends he’s made.

The Authors Guild issues statement about copyright settlement reversal

Posted with permission from The Authors Guild, a statement emailed to members Nov. 29 about the reversal in the Freelance Class-Action settlement:

We received surprising and disappointing news in our freelance class action suit this morning. The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, in a 2-1 decision, the district court's approval of the settlement.

That settlement, valued at up to $18 million, was to resolve the copyright infringement claims of freelance writers against database companies, such as Dow Jones and the owners of Lexis-Nexis, that had made digital use of the writers' articles without permission. Plaintiffs and defendants had arrived at settlement in 2005.

The appellate court ruled that the district court lacked jurisdiction over claims relating to unregistered freelance articles. Copyright registration is required to bring a suit for infringement, but since registration is viewed as a formality (comparable, many of us believe, to the requirement that one file a complaint in order to get into court), lawyers on both sides thought the settlement could resolve infringement claims for both registered and unregistered works.

The settlement had been objected to and appealed by a group of freelance writers who thought it failed to allot sufficient funds to the claims of authors of unregistered works. If this decision stands, of course, such claims would be shut out entirely.

The shard of good news is that there is a substantial dissenting opinion by Judge Walker. We are considering our options at the moment. One possibility is to seek an en banc review (a review by all of the judges of the 2nd Circuit) to see whether we can persuade a majority of the court to see things our way.

For more information, visit The Authors Guild on the Web. The Authors Guild is an organization for writers, founded 90 years ago.

The wild wild Web, where copyright is becoming an oft-repeated word

I read a post at a discussion forum—the author found a Web site had copied her content verbatim. She contacted the owner of the site, who basically told her to shove it—there was nothing she could do. The site owner did remove the content, however. In August, I wrote a column about a lawsuit filed by an author who took issue with a bad review of his book. The reviewer didn’t just bash the book; illustrations from the work were reproduced. The author had provided the book, so the case isn’t black and white.

In a perfect world, no one would lift your content without asking. But people do. One reason I added the ‘Copyscape’ banner to both my sites involves providing notice that I do check for copied content. Copyscape works beautifully to this end.

Technically, you don’t have to officially register a work to protect it. The U.S. Copyright Office Web site notes:

No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See following note.) There are, however, certain definite advantages to registration.

Here’s the note referenced above:

Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time.

It is a good idea when you post to your blog or Web site to add a copyright notice, and it’s an even better idea to file the forms to protect your work.

And if you have your eye on sharp content written by another, ask before you lift. Chances are if you run a quality site, you’ll receive permission unless you’re asking a large commercial concern. And always, if you’re given permission, be mannerly and include a link to the site where the work was first featured.

There’s an excellent site explaining the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, organized by the Association of Research Libraries. This government act offers some protection for your Web content, and restricts use of your content to fair use guidelines, including the amount of content in relation to the whole work. Fine to lift a line or two when you’re reviewing a book or poem. Not so fine to lift the whole item.

Meanwhile, you can drop your URL in at Copyscape to see if your work is being used without your knowledge.

©KayBDay/2007

Another lawsuit in the blogosphere, this one over evolution (sort of)

Fellow American Society of Journalists and Authors member Joshua Berman has called our attention to a post at boingbong.net, wherein there’s a revelation about a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris being sued, along with Seed Media, for a negative book review.

The professor ripped into a book by Stuart Pivar, who has morphed from author to plaintiff. Pivar’s case was filed August 16 in the New York Southern District Court. Pivar’s suit alleges assault, libel and slander.

I take small comfort in the fact I predicted lawsuits in cyberspace would increase. I attributed my prediction to technology and intellectual property rights. However, I am adding the proliferation of lawyers as an additional cause of this phenomenon. In my post, I even alluded to libel and slander. Sink me, I'm psychic.

I guess I could read the professor’s reviews and maybe even look at the book, but I don’t place much faith in anyone who tells me there’s a definite answer (or even a half-witted answer) for how we all got here and why we look like we do and why if we’re so smart we pay for water in little plastic bottles. My faith in religion and science both have declined rather steeply in recent years. Science can’t cure a common cold and religion can’t cure the darkness of the human heart. Besides, I’m a poet and I prefer mystery to definitive answers on any given day.

The professor says the author submitted the book for review. So if I were the judge (and most of them, sad to say, do not have an abundance of common sense), I would nix the suit in a heartbeat. You send someone a book for review, you take what you get and act like a big boy. In addition, the publicity is likely to benefit both the book and the professor, so they’ll both be winners in a sense.

Last time I looked, we still had a semblance of freedom of speech in this great country. Hopefully, the judge in the case will be aware of that and act accordingly.

Follow the links from the original boingboing post to read the reviews, comments and lots of other stuff about how 10-legged spiders have nothing to do with collapsed coelenterates and other really juicy matters.

Celebrate the trendy preoccupation of media and masses, not to mention the courts. Science now reigns over Mount Olympus, Valhalla and anywhere else a deity can plop his feet. Or his theory.

(~~Photo of Southern Black Widow courtesy of Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services~~)
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If you’re interested in writing for online sites, visit my column at The Writer. Web Savvy has covered digital cameras, writing style for the Web, and moving a publication from print to online. Available to premium subscribers only.

On publishing a book of poetry

My new poetry collection is almost complete, and I’m considering different options for publishing it. I had the benefit of a traditional publisher with my last two books.

But copyright developments in the marketplace as well as thoughts about profitability are leading me to take a hard look at self-publishing.

If you’ve been following the columns I’ve written about the Faulkner vs. National Geographic case, you’ll see how cloudy copyright issues can be. It’s my opinion Judge Lewis Kaplan erred in his decision on that case.

I actually read his decision, all of it.

I also read amazon.com reviews posted by those who purchased the Complete National Geographic collection. Everything I read there drives home my position—the CNG was not an archival collection of the original issues. I love the reader’s comment exclaiming, “I have to watch a damn Kodak commercial?”

I seriously doubt the judge had the foresight to experience sample CDs from the collection, but I could be wrong about that. You’d think they’d have demonstrated the product in a courtroom where such a sweeping decision would take place.

My point is that some of these photographers, whose heirs actually sided with Faulkner, signed a contract before technology made such a collection possible. There would have been no way for them to foresee the creation of this product. As a consequence, their beautiful photographs are rendered to pathetic images in many cases, according to reader reviews. That would make any artist feel pretty lousy because this distorts, possibly even damages, the integrity of the original artwork. After all, you hear the name ‘Geographic’ you automatically think pictures.

At this point in my career, I see contracts that ask for everything but the kitchen sink. That’s one reason I don’t submit poetry anymore to online magazines. Most lit zines can’t pay a writer—they just don’t have the budget. But at least if I have my poetry in a collection that I own, I will have some control over where it’s published.

The downside is the time necessary for making sure the book gets distributed, possibly by placing it with a distribution channel who has arrangements with a major wholesaler.

I actively participated in the marketing of both my other books, so I figure I’d have to do the same if I were to invest my own money in publishing my work.

I saw on the National Writers Union site there’s a report for members about this subject. I haven’t read it yet, but the gist of the report focuses on comparable benefits for self-publishing if your books are done through a small traditional press as mine are rather than a big house.

Publishing is changing drastically, in no small part because of technology. It pays to weigh any decision beforehand, for we learn much at the expense, often unfairly assessed as in the National Geographic case, to others.

SPJ rescinds amicus brief; Judge Kaplan of Faulkner vs. Geo is an interesting guy

After days of emails and message board comments flying back and forth between freelancers who belong to the Society of Professional Journalists, I bit the bullet. I re-read the legal decision handed down by Lewis A. Kaplan, judge for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York.

This is not riveting reading. It is rather like reading, in succession, the breakdown in nutrients on 100 cereal boxes.

For me, there was a humorous moment in Kaplan’s decision. He cited Webopedia in defining the term ‘JPEG’ in a footnote, explaining how to pronounce the term (“jay-peg.”)

My Wednesday and Thursday columns this week hit on the highlights of what became a veritable fracas between SPJ’s president and various freelancers who get a wee bit touchy when it comes to copyright issues. Though a couple members got a little sassy in their comments on the president's blog, others like me just wanted answers to simple questions.

In defense of SPJ, the organization has backed off signing on to an amicus brief on behalf of National Geographic in a court battle over copyright issues. Actually, the term ‘Geographic’ is putting it too simply. Also involved were NG subsidiaries National Geographic Ventures and National Geographic Enterprises (now known as National Geographic Holdings). Mindscape, Inc., was also involved as was Dataware Technologies Inc. (now known as LeadingSide, Inc.), and a division of Dataware called Ledge Multimedia. Eastman Kodak Company was involved because of a new ad included in the collection Geographic produced, and a few thousand free copies of a CD-ROM Kodak received. At some point, Dataware filed for bankruptcy. Right now, the nutrient table on my daughter’s box of Cocoa Puffs is looking riveting.

Judge Kaplan ruled for Geographic and friends, citing numerous instances of case law. Basically, he contended the CD-ROM was equivalent to a Microfiche reproduction, and Geographic had the right to take hundreds of issues of the magazine, compile the content into a multi-media collection going back many years, and sell them with the same rights to the content as though Geographic was selling single issues. Here’s a lift from the judge’s decision—CNG refers to the digital multimedia collection of the issues of the magazine. Kaplan says the plaintiffs—Faulker and other writers and photographers upset enough to sue “the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organization, with approximately ten million members worldwide”—claimed the following:

*The CNG contains material that never appeared in the Magazine – not only the animated opening sequence and music, Kodak advertisements, and in some editions a summary of each article and a closing montage,but software tools including a search engine with advanced search capabilities, save, print and bookmark features, and a hyperlink to NGS’s Internet web site.
* The software tools provide the user with an opportunity to have a media experience in using the CNG that is different from simply reading print pages.

You can even switch photos around to different angles.

Although I’m about to cancel my subscription for ethical reasons, I must tell you, I cannot do all these things with my print copy of National Geographic. If I could, I might wiggle a few tunics on strong masculine legs. Or I might make an iceberg larger in an effort to metaphorically combat global warming. The creative mind knows no bounds when it comes to manipulation, especially with images. I must also confess I am a bit upset with an organization that prefers to pay corporate lawyers large sums instead of offering nominal sums to freelancers for reprint rights.

Despite the fact the CNG is a very different product than the hundreds of single issues put out by a society I respected until now, Judge Kaplan ruled against the plaintiffs. Bottom line: the slick multi-media collection complete with interactive software is the same as those printed issues with all those lovely 4-color photographs. Freelancers lose. Corporate entity wins. Sound familiar?

But wait! There’s more. Judge Kaplan may not like photographers or writers, but he really likes movies. This is the judge who placed an injunction on the DVD-Copy Website so that DVDs could not be decoded and played on personal computers. Not only must the owner of DVD-Copy not post the code, he can’t even link to sites that do. If the words 'freedom of speech' are running through your mind, know you are not alone. Please note I am not arguing the merits of that ruling. I’m just pointing out Kaplan took a strong stand to protect deserving firms like Disney, Universal City, Paramount and Time Warner from having their copyrights infringed upon. He’s not the first judge to prefer movies to text and print images I am certain.

Now at first I thought Judge Kaplan might just be a wee bit uninformed about the publishing industry. But no! In February, 2004, the New York Times reported Judge Lewis A.Kaplan of Federal District Court in Manhattan married “a former news correspondent and publishing lawyer.” NYT says Kaplan's bride was, until September 2000, a vice president and associate general counsel at Random House in Manhattan. So the judge certainly has a ready resource for knowledge about publishing.

When I returned Friday evening from covering an assignment for a daily newspaper and afterwards, a late dinner with my husband, I found a notice posted on the Society of Professional Journalists site. The notice stated SPJ decided against signing the National Geographic (et al et al) amicus brief. That relieved me somewhat. The organization I believed in had seen the light. Tatum is quoted in the article on the site.

"We believe this brief is good for all journalists wanting fair compensation for their work, but we also listen to our members and see clearly how support of the brief has not been good for the Society," SPJ National President Christine Tatum said. "Our members are divided over this issue. We would love for them to focus instead on projects and causes that garner much broader support."

Then I read Tatum’s statement on her ‘Freedom of the Prez’ blog. Now there are some people who have the gift of diplomacy and some who do not. And there are some presidents (need I say more?) who believe in absolute freedom for their executive inclinations.

She talked a little about intelligence, silly insults and people who throw barbs without attaching their names. Ah, those freelancers are a rowdy bunch. Must have something to do with the astronomical costs of our health insurance or perhaps the fact we don't have New York law firms on hand to advise us every time a contract comes our way.

Tatum said something that got this Southerner a little riled. She recounted a message expressing support from a freelancer she consulted:

"Of course I can see why those freelancers are pissed. It's like when your mom used to say, 'I'm grounding you for your own good. You'll thank me later.' Mom was right, but it was hard to believe that at the time."

This had an effect on me similar to the effect I felt when I stepped on a large snake whose species I could not identify as I walked barefoot across my garden to pick a tomato.

Mom and SPJ? Is a professional organization taking the position of disciplinarian because the contracts we must accept are not heavily weighted in our favor? I'd suggest freelancing full-time. There is a bit of room for negotiating, but see how far you get quibbling at length over a contract.

I have serious misgivings about an organization that waded into territory it did not thoroughly investigate to begin with, into a court case presided over by a judge who has marital ties to the publishing profession, and into a court case where the judge feels it necessary to explain the pronunciation of the term ‘JPEG.’

I further have serious misgivings about those in my industry who are unable to compare the technology in use 20 years ago, such as preparing color plates—often discarding these very expensive plates if a single color wasn’t properly registered—to the technology of today whereby digital scanning may produce a photograph that is worthy but trust me, will still be different to many produced by those antiquated color plates. Perhaps you’d have had to be there to see the way magazines were produced before desktop publishing to understand what I am talking about. I further have problems with my organization taking a position on a matter that clearly did not favor the best interests of a segment of its membership. Furthermore the matter had nothing to do with those SPJ members who work as employees for publishers and other media corporations. I have big problems with the president of a national organization who tries to tell me the organization sided with a publishing conglomerate (and associated subsidiaries and vendors) in a situation that clearly—common sense is helpful here—cannot be rationalized as fair to the freelancers involved.

I am still speechless over the fact SPJ did not consult the national freelance chairperson before making a decision that clearly impacted freelancers.

The case of Faulkner vs. National Geographic (and associated subsidiaries and vendors) is far more complicated than a simple contract dispute.

That a federal judge is incapable of putting the picture together and that he is incapable of understanding the differences in the product Geographic produced compared to issues of the print magazine simply drives home my entire opinion about federal courts in general.

Tatum concluded her post by defending her decision to offer the brief on behalf of Geographic and by addressing those rowdy freelancers directly. “I have nothing to apologize for -- and, as long as you keep the discussion civil, neither do you."

I have a smart chicken running around my back yard. She flew over the fence one day and decided to adopt us.

Perhaps a future U.S. president will send her to preside over a federal court—just as a president put Kaplan in a court to ultimately preside over a case that will govern other courts’ decisions on photographers’ and writers’ freelance work in the future. We may take comfort in the fact he’s kept the movie industry safe, however, from all those kids who want to copy a DVD.

I think my chicken, with a small amount of training, might also be able to run a courtroom, or a non-profit. It looks easy enough, and she's one smart bird.

SPJ president explains support for National Geographic in lawsuit filed by freelancer

Absent the front pages of most newspapers today is a story about an organization ensconced in the newspaper realm for almost a century. The story actually impacts publishers and content providers in all media. In simple terms, the Society of Professional Journalists has filed an amicus brief supporting National Geographic in a lawsuit brought by a photographer whose last name is Faulkner and others whose images were used in the magazine’s print edition. Geographic decided the magazine also owned rights to those images for use in a CD-ROM collection comprising numerous issues of the print edition. Two federal courts are at odds over who actually owns the rights. This is a simplistic explanation. Writer Erik Sherman offers the nitty gritty at his WriterBiz blog.

When I learned SPJ had filed the brief on behalf of Geographic, I immediately questioned the wisdom of an organization whose membership includes both publishers and freelancers. It seemed to me neutrality offered the best path for SPJ. In other words, this is not SPJ’s fight. In my opinion, seizing the opportunity for battle was not a wise move.

As a result of SPJ support for Geographic, the chair of SPJ’s freelance committee and one employee resigned. On message boards related to professional writing organizations, on telephones in freelancers’ offices and on blogs written by freelancers, the issue has become a hot topic.

Many of us will not renew our membership as a result of SPJ’s decision. Others who were about to join have shredded their applications.

SPJ president Christine Tatum has a rather eloquent blog entry at Freedom of the Prez, whereby she defends the organization’s decision, made by Tatum and the Legal Defense Fund Committee chair, to support Geographic. Without meaning to, I’m sure, she infused a bit of humor into the fracas. Here’s what Tatum wrote:

“I stand by the decision I helped make because it stands to help clarify law so that freelancers can negotiate smarter contracts that help ensure they're paid fairly for their work. It might sound odd - even ludicrous to some - but a ruling in favor of a publisher in this case actually could help all freelance journalists well into the future.” The decision was made, she says, “…After very, very careful consideration.”

If you really, really believe that argument, I have a Pulitzer Prize I’d like to sell you.

SPJ might have made a conciliatory statement about this matter, averting what should have been obvious: impending alienation of the freelancers in the organization’s midst.

If contracts for freelancers are an issue, you’d think there’d be information plastered all over the SPJ Web site. Prior to joining, when I heard the organization’s name, SPJ—to me—stood for freedom of the press, and for protecting my rights as a journalist to information held in government files. I never envisioned SPJ as an organization involved with contracts between freelancers and publishers, and I doubt any of the other freelance members did either. That’s what I have organizations like the American Society of Journalists and Authors for.

Federal courts disagree about Geographic’s use of the materials, so we are not likely to resolve the right and wrong on blogs or phones or message boards. For one thing, the legal brief is as long as the community phone directory we get here in our neighborhood.

Tatum writes, “A ruling in favor of National Geographic Society is a relatively rare opportunity to help advance that very important and far more progressive discussion. It would add clarity to the law and protect journalists by improving their chances of receiving fair compensation.”

This reminds me of the impact made on my driving by a handsome officer who handed me a ticket for speeding.

Absent this entire sequence of events is a large dose of common sense. Geographic could have paid their contributors a reprint fee for digital use in a collection, one that will surely be profitable, and that society may have saved large payments to legal firms, and none of this would have been an issue. Does a publication really prefer paying a lawyer rather than a contributor? What does that say about the moral standards of such a publication?

I plan to cancel my membership in the National Geographic Society too.

I’ll hand it to SPJ president Tatum. She did a fine job of crafting words to justify SPJ’s decision. What’s missing is the logic. There’s a hole in the foresight as significant as one famous emperor’s new clothes.

And now that I think of it, I actually have two Pulitzer Prizes for sale. Cheap. I’ll engrave your name right on the front of them. Email me for details.

SPJ freelance chair resigns, cites amicus brief in National Geographic case

I met a few SPJ members in Washington at the D.C. chapter's Christmas party. I'd traveled to the capital to read poetry at 'Florida Poets Arrive' at the U.S. Library of Congress.

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The Society of Professional Journalists signed on to an amicus brief supporting National Geographic in a lawsuit involving contributors’ rights relating to collective works produced by publishers. How does this serve SPJ or the freelancers who belong to the organization?

Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell was a definite asset for freelancers who belong to the Society of Professional Journalists. Most members of the organization are full-time employees of newspapers and magazines. Most freelancers join the organization because SPJ is a guardian of freedom of the press. My own membership fees have connected me to a network of writers and editors around the country, but until Kerri headed the freelance committee, there was scant attention to those who are self-employed.

Kerri worked hard to increase our presence in SPJ. One big accomplishment was the freelancer database she and her committee implemented. Now if an editor is looking for an independent journalist, there’s a handy database full of willing and available writers. She also maintained the SPJ blog The Independent Journalist, listing jobs, opportunities and other information relevant to our trade.

Unfortunately Kerri emailed me this morning, stating she is resigning her position as chair of the SPJ Freelance Committee.

Kerri is leaving because SPJ signed an amicus brief supporting National Geographic in a lawsuit. NG purchased photos from contributors, using the works in print editions. But now the photos are included in a CD-ROM collection.

As an SPJ member, I’m not satisfied with the organization’s explanation justifying signing on to the brief—I fail to see how this fits with SPJ’s emphasis on freedom of information and first amendment rights. SPJ notes in a statement on the Web site:

This case does not harm a contributor’s ability to receive payment for the reproduction of his work when published in the same context of the original. It merely affirms that any such understanding must be expressly written into the contract.

Chances are when some of these contributors signed contracts, a comprehensive CD-ROM collection was an idea unborn. If a CD-ROM of each issue had been produced separately—and written into the contract as such—that would be a different scenario. But a collection of numerous issues in digital form should not fall under the contractual agreement these freelancers signed for usage of their properties in the print edition. The marketing for these products will certainly be different—the approach in selling a subscription is inherently different than that used to sell a collection. We are talking about a completely different entity.

Even federal courts are at odds over this matter. The American Society of Media Photographers says in the case of Florida photographer Jerry Greenberg, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled that Geographic had violated Jerry's copyrights by creating and selling the digital collection without permission to use his photographs.

But then the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed almost identical claims by photographer Douglas Faulkner and others.

As digital collections become more popular, issues over rights to intellectual property will surely proliferate.

Freelancers in SPJ have certainly lost a strong advocate. Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell did a great job for us. She really made us feel like we belonged.

I'd have preferred that SPJ at the least stayed neutral in the Geographic brawl--taking sides alienates those of us who may be fringe members, but believe in the mission SPJ built its foundations on.

READ RELATED STORIES

Erik Sherman's WriterBiz.

K.C.'s Write for You, Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell's blog

Intellectual property rights: what a tangled Web we’re weaving

The Web is heating up with news of another copyright battle, Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against YouTube.

I predict lawsuits will continue to increase in the next few years because technology available on the Web creates gray areas in copyright and other intellectual property rights issues.

I don’t think disputes will be limited to sites owned by media conglomerates, and I think a number of disputes will transcend intellectual property rights, moving into areas like libel and slander.

Traditional media is suffering transition pains right now because there’s so much free content available on the Web. Who watches TV anymore?
For instance users at YouTube upload whatever they want, and if they do infringe on a copyright, it’s up to the owner of the property to flag YouTube to remove the content.

That process sounds like a good plan until you consider the numbers. Last month, according to BusinessWeek.com, Viacom spokesman Jeremy Zweig said Viacom demanded the removal of more than 100,000 “unauthorized clips” from YouTube. That request was followed by Viacom’s discovery of another 50,000 unauthorized clips.

I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Right now there’s a move among print media as well as online media to take advantage of “citizen journalists”—partly because the content is free and partly because this approach involves the reader/guest in the publication’s development. Circulation declined for many traditional newspapers last year, and investors are running a little scared.

The approach sounds all well and fine until you consider the lack of standards. Who will make certain stories adhere to fact and not fiction? Who will make certain there’s no copyright infringement? Who will deal with libel threats that will surely ensue? And will quality suffer even more, considering the current quagmire engulfing the English language at the moment?

I interviewed best-selling author James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy) for the St. John’s Sun not long ago, during his residency at Flagler College. He likened the Web to “Chicago in the ‘30s.”

We will certainly face interesting challenges as individuals with no professional background in media transform into content providers.

Here’s hoping the content they provide will be legal. But I wouldn’t always bet on it.