Widener Law Journal 2010 Symposium Internet Expression in the 21Stcentury: Where Technology and Law Collide *843 CRAFTING COPYRI
19 WIDLJ 843 Page 1 19 Widener L.J. 843 Widener Law Journal 2010 Symposium Internet Expression in the 21st Century: Where Technology and Law Collide *843 CRAFTING COPYRIGHT LAW TO ENCOURAGE AND PROTECT USER- GENERATED CONTENT IN THE INTERNET SOCIAL NETWORKING CONTEXT Steven D. Jamar [FNa1] Copyright © 2010 by the Widener University School of Law; Steven D. Jamar Online social networking sites like Facebook [FN1] and YouTube [FN2] are popular and continue to grow both in the numbers of people and organizations involved and in the services and functions available. The social networking technologies, combined with the affordability and ease of use of hardware and software to manipulate digitized works, create new chal- lenges to copyright law. [FN3] Works are more easily copied and distributed, and derivative works of all types (audio-visual, audio, graphic, etc.) and quality are easier to make than ever before. Online social networks, through their support of users' ability to generate and share works, *844 serve the constitutional copyright purpose of advancing culture and society or, in the words of the Constitution, these sites “promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts.” [FN4] Indeed, online social networking is perhaps the most vibrant location of the creation and dissemination of information today. For the most part, forbearance by copyright holders from enforcing rights at present seems to accommodate most social networking uses, [FN5] and a robust application of the fair use doctrine could support that practice in law. [FN6] Were the forbearance to stop, [FN7] however, or were fair use not applied robustly in support of users and cultural and social de- velopments in cyberspace, [FN8] the explosion of creative expression could be capped and the dynamic development of online society dampened.
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