Understanding Copyright Law in Online Creative Communities Casey Fiesler, Jessica L. Feuston, Amy S. Bruckman GVU Center Georgia Institute of Technology 85 5th St. NW, Atlanta, GA 3033s USA casey.fiesler; jfeuston @gatech.edu;
[email protected] ABSTRACT something that concerns a growing number of people who Copyright law is increasingly relevant to everyday are showcasing their creative work online. Multiple interactions online, from social media status updates to stakeholders with often competing interests make this a artists showcasing their work. This is especially true in complicated design space. These stakeholders include not creative spaces where rules about reuse and remix are only copyright holders and content creators, but also notoriously gray. Based on a content analysis of public technology designers. forum postings in eight different online communities featuring different media types (music, video, art, and However, just because copyright is relevant to more people writing), we found that copyright is a frequent topic of does not mean that the law surrounding it is any less conversation and that much of this discourse stems from complex. Indeed, it is even more so, since technological problems that copyright causes for creative activities. We advances tend to exacerbate existing confusions in the law identify the major types of problems encountered, including as new policies struggle to keep up with developing chilling effects that negatively impact technology use. We technology and practices. Therefore it is unsurprising that find that many challenges can be explained by lack of misunderstandings, misconceptions, and confusion about knowledge about legal or policy rules, including the law are commonplace among many different types of breakdowns in user expectations for the sites they use.