Sharpe's Opinion

Lily Allen’s copyright problem

Cory Doctorow on Lily Allen and the mess she got herself into when calling for tougher anti-piracy legislation:

It’s tempting to count coup here and write Allen off as a hypocrite, but there’s a more important story here. Allen just hasn’t thought this through. Copyright is problematic for everyone: musicians, fans, bloggers. The absence of clear affirmative rights to make personal copies, to share with your friends, to copy for the purposes of discussion and commentary (as opposed to the fuzzy and difficult-to-interpret fair use guidelines, which have been further confused by the entertainment industry’s bold attempts to convince us all that they don’t matter and can’t be relied upon) means that we’re all in a state of constant infringement.

It’s a shame to see so many people go after Lily Allen so gleefully (and nastily), but she really did bring this on herself.

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