A letter to the inhabitants if the ‘legal’ commons

[This letter is based on discussions at a workshop that took place
at Waag Society in Amsterdam last may and has been published in the
(Shade of the Commons reader -- http://www.waag.org/project/shade
For a list of the participants of the Workshop see below. The letter
was drafted by Shuddhabrata Sengupta (Sarai)].

Dear Inhabitants of the ’legal’ Commons,

Greetings ! This missive arrives at your threshold from the proverbial
Asiatic street, located in the shadow of an improvised bazaar, where
all manner of oriental pirates and other dodgy characters gather to
trade in what many amongst you consider to be stolen goods. We call
them ’borrowed’ goods. But a difference in the language in which one
talks about things (’stolen’ vs, ’borrowed’) is a also a measure of
the distance between two different worlds.

You can only steal something if it is owned by someone in the first
place. If things are not ’owned’ but only held in custody, then they
can only be ’borrowed’ as opposed to being stolen. So what you call a
‘pirated’ DVD is what we would call a DVD ’borrowed’ from the street,
and the price we pay for it is equivalent, or at least analogous to an
incremental subscription to the great circulating public library of
the Asiatic street.

We address this, written in the precincts of that library, to all you
who enjoy the salubrious comfort of the legal commons, especially the
one that calls itself ’creative’. We have occasionally stepped into
your enclosures, and have fond memories of our forays. However, our
sojourns in your world have of necessity had to be brief. Before long,
we have been asked about our provenance, our intent, our documents.
There has rarely been enough paper for us to prove that we had the
right of way.

We appreciate and admire the determination with which you nurture
your garden of licences. The proliferation and variety of flowering
contracts and clauses in your hothouses is astounding. But we find
the paradox of a space that is called a commons and yet so fenced in,
and in so many ways, somewhat intriguing. The number of times we had
to ask for permission, and the number of security check posts we had
to negotiate to enter even a corner of your commons was impressive.
And each time we were at an exit we were thoroughly searched, just in
case we had not pilfered something, or left some trace of a noxious
weed by mistake into your fragile ecosystem. Sometimes, we found that
when people spoke of ’Common Property’ it was hard to know where the
commons ended and where property began.

Most of all, we were amazed by the ingenuity (and diligence) you
display in upholding the norm that mandates that unless something
had been named explicitly as part of the ’commons’ by it’s rightful
owner, it is somehow out of bounds to everyone else. Hitherto, our
understanding of the word you use, ’the commons’, had suggested to us
that it indicated a space where people could take according to their
desires and contribute according to their capacities. This implied a
relationship essentially between people, founded on a more or less
taken for granted ethic of reciprocity, in the sense that what goes
around, eventually comes around. However, in the space you designate
as ’commons’, we found that the rule is - take in accordance to the
label on the thing that you encounter, and give according to the
measure of the licence you prefer.

This indicated that a relationship between people, was somehow
replaced by a relationship between people and the things that these
people owned, inherited, or had created. It meant being told that we
could access something only if the owner said we could. This meant
that the song or the story or the idea that had no label on it was not
for the taking. We have to admit that this did feel a bit suffocating,
because it was a bit like rationing the air you breathe according to
whether or not you had the right to breathe freely.

Strangely, the capacity to name something as ’mine’, even if in
order to ’share’ it, requires a degree of attainments that is not in
itself evenly distributed. Not everyone comes into the world with the
confidence that anything is ’theirs’ to share. This means, that the
‘commons’ in your parlance, consists of an arrangement wherein only
those who are in the magic circle of confident owners effectively
get a share in that which is essentially, still a configuration of
different bits of fenced in property. What they do is basically effect
a series of swaps, based on a mutual understanding of their exclusive
propreitary rights. So I give you something of what I own, in exchange
for which, I get something of what you own. The good or item in
question never exits the circuit of property, even, paradoxically when
it is shared. Goods that are not owned, or those that have been taken
outside the circuit of ownership, effectively cannot be shared, or
even circulated.

Where does this leave those who have no property to begin with?
Perhaps, with even less than what they might have in a scenario
where there was some comfort in being able to make do with bits and
pieces broken off, copied and patched together and then circulated,
essentially by people who had no prior claim to cultural property or
patrimony. You see, we undertook our education in the public library
of the street, in the archive of the sidewalk. Here, our culture, came
to us in the form of faded and distressed copies, not all wrapped and
ribboned with licenses. We took what we could, when we could, where we
could. Had we waited to take what we were permitted to ’share’ in, we
would never have gotten very far, because no one would have recognized
our worth as ’shareholders’. Our attainments were not built with the
confidence that comes from knowing that you have a right to own what
you know, and a duty to know what you own.

Your ’commons’ is not a place that we can share in easily. Because,
often, when you ask us for what we ’own’, we have to turn away from
your enquiring gaze. We own very little, and the little that we own
is itself often under dispute, because no one has bothered to keep a
detailed enough record of provenances. In these circumstances, if we
had listen to your stipulation to share only that which we own, hardly
anything would have been passed around. And for life to continue,
things have to pass around. So we share a lot of things that we have
never owned. They are ’borrowed’.

You call this piracy. Perhaps it is piracy. But we have to think of
consequences. The consequences of absences of the infrastructures
that make a culture of sharing that is also a culture of legality
possible. In the absence of those infrastructures, we have to rely on
other mechanisms. When you do not have a public library, you have to
invent one on the street, with all the books that you can muster, with
everything you can beg,or borrow. Or steal.

All we ask, dear inhabitants of the ’legal’ commons, is for you to let
us be. To be a little cautious before you condemn us. A world without
our secret public libraries would be a poorer world. It would be a
world in which very few people read very few books, and only those who
could own things were the ones who could share them. It would also
mean a world in which, eventually, very few people write books. So
instead of more, there would in the end be less culture to go around.
The more you own, the less you can share.

All we ask is for a little time. It has not yet been conclusively
proven that the culture of ’borrowing’ which you happen to call
‘piracy’ has only negative consequences for the production of culture.
It has also not yet been proven that one must necessarily read
negative consequences for culture from negative consequences for the
balance sheets of the culture industry. Until such time that this is
done, please let us be.

Learn about us by all means if you must, argue with us by all means,
but do not rush to destroy the wilderness we inhabit. We admire your
carefully cultivated garden. We know it is not easy for you to let us
enter that space. We understand and respect that. We do not ask to
be appreciated in return for the fact that we prefer hiding in the
undergrowth of culture. All we ask for is the benevolence of your
indifference. That will do for now.

We remain, yours

Denizens of Non Legal Commons, and those who travel to and from them

[Based on discussions among: Shaina Anand, Namita Malhotra, Paul
Keller, Lawrence Liang, Bjorn Wijers, Patrice Riemens, Monica Narula,
Rasmus Fleischer, Palle Torsson, Jan Gerber, Sebastian Luttgert, Toni
Prug, Vera Franz, Konrad Becker & Tabatabai]

for a HISTORY OF REMIX – Bhagwati Prasad

TRANSFORMATION OF A REHABILITATION COLONY TO A MARKET: MADIPUR

Around 1967 a big population staying in the jhuggies at Sant Nagar in South Delhi was uprooted and resettled at a plot adjacent to Madipur Gaon in West Delhi. The area came to be known as Madipur JJ Colony and was divided into 6 blocks, A, B, C, D, E and F. Now began a struggle to reorient oneself in a new land, a new place. Most of the people staying here come from Rajasthan and belong to the lower classes and Scheduled Castes and Tribes – Sindhi Meghwal Khatik (Rajasthan), Jatav Khatik (Mathura), Berwas and the Valmiki castes. The Raigar Sindhis and the Jatav castes were primarily in the shoe trade. The Khatik Jatav castes either dealt in scrap or repaired pressure cookers. The Valmikis were involved in sanitation work. Every lane had a majority of one caste or the other. Apart from a market there were broad streets and a park in every block. This is a demographic portrait of the old Madipur.

It has been 30 years since this place came up. Change is now evident in every block, market, house and road. With the growing requirements of people, the space allocated by the government has gone up from 22 yard plots to 25/30 yard plots. Houses adjacent to the roads have been converted into shops. These dwellings have expanded not only laterally but also upwards, single stories being built up into 4 and 5 story houses. On each floor, at least 5 -8 people stay as tenants. The growing population contributes not only to the local housing but to the expanding market economy as well.

In the market one notices that along with shops catering to daily needs there are a variety of others ranging from shoe repair to media goods. Shops selling audio cassettes are prominent. Interestingly, each looks different from the the other, due to competition. Apart from filmi and non filmi tapes, these shops stock cassettes in Garwali, Kumaoni, Nepali, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Punjabi and other languages, catering to the variety of people who have come to stay here. Shopkeepers talked about the changes in the market and the technology and the ups and downs in their business. They provide interesting stories about the new trends coming up in the music markets.

Although these people are not highly educated, they can understand the ebb and flow of the market. So far they have survived these swings. How the changes in the relations between shopkeepers, companies, suppliers, local consumers and law enforcers affect the nature of the market only the future will tell us.

History of Remix

‘Presenting old songs in a new package’ is how one may attempt to define remix music \x{2013} just like old wine in a new bottle. In recent years, remix culture has dominated the Indian music industry to an extent that it has become more popular than film songs and the singers. Because of the revealing videos that the songs accompany, a section of society calls it a ‘vulgar’ and unacceptable, and therefore is asking for a ban on such songs. However, the younger generation is increasing enjoying these songs. The history of Indian music reveals that the ‘remix’ is at least 20 years old. It may be divided into following 4 stages:

Stage One: begins around 1983 when old songs were given new voices. T-Series was the most prominent company which began remixing. The cassette covers of remix songs  carried the photos of the main singers like Mohammad Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, and others, and along with them, smaller photos of  new singers like Kumar Shanu, Sonu Nigam, and others were printed. The cassette titles used to be – ‘In Memory of Md. Rafi’, ‘In Memory of Kishore’, ‘Melodies of Mukesh’, etc. Thus the new singers got a good publicity.

Second Stage: The songs were the same but they were given new dimensions. Disco beats were added to the songs which attracts the listener even today. These disco beats were popularised as \x{201C}jhankar beats’came in vogue around 1987. No matter who the original singers were, mixing beats with the music became a fashion. This concept became so popular that even the film audio cassettes started including ‘Jhankar Beats’.

Stage Three: It began around 1990. Use of western pop became very widespread. The names of the singers and the tunes became secondary and were replaced by the creators of new tunes. Cassettes began to be sold in their name. One of them was ‘Bali Sagu’. It was a new experiment and became popular. It influenced the films after a few years.
All songs of films began to be remixed. For Instance, the remixed versions of songs from the films ‘Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge’, ‘Taal’, ‘Pardes’, etc, became very popular.

Stage Four: or the present phase can be called the Golden Age of remix culture. The songs have fast beats and lot of western music. From big and small parties, hotels to marriage barats, etc, special DJ’s are organised for people to dance to their tunes. The bridegroom’s side even demands for a DJ along with other things. Keeping these demands in view, the music companies have begun  remixing beats with english expressions which helplessly forces people to shake a leg or two. But in the present stage the credit of ‘hit’ remixes goes to their video.

The songs are known more by the models acting in them rather than by their singers or music composers. The remix video age has, on the one hand, given a new life to Indian music industry, and on the other hand, has invited the accusations of the Indian culture having been ‘distorted’ and ‘vulgar’.

Remix Video

Now-a-days the music channels are full of remix videos. If we try to understand the processes of making video, then we will be able to understand the reasons for their popularity. Actually, most of the people who are working in the remix video industry were earlier in the field of advertising. Therefore they very well know what appeals to  the different tastes of the different customers. They understand the range of images which can exactly stay with the audiences for a long time. Thus, they began making use of their own creativity and imagination to the best of their ability. The remix video has gripped the minds of the people \x{2013} especially the young. Popular Videos have those images/ scenes which the targetted audience can identify with and also eagerly wish to see.

For Instance, the scenes like the lowering of jeans in the ‘Kaanta Lagaa…’, wet bodies of the girls, beer bars, pubs, restaurant, bear-bar, etc. Actually, three or four female models are selected, locations and lyrics are fixed and the videos are made. Then these remix videos are aired on almost all TV channels and their market is created.

‘Kaanta Lagaa…’!, how deep?

The remixed song \x{2013} ‘Kaanta Lagaa…  released last year (2003) by T-Series has taken  today’s remix music to new heights. The song’s popularity has has not just seen the restlessmess in the minds/hearts and of its targetted audience, but another section of the society has also objected to it; and therefore the Information and Broadcasting Ministry notified five music channels to prohibit airing it. Yet, there has been no reduction in the popularity of this cassette. Not only this; its words and tunes have been used for other seasonal songs. For example, its tune and wordings were used to inspire the Kanwariyas in August: ‘Kaanta Lagaa…’ became ‘Ghonta Lagaa…’! Then, during Janmashtami, it became ‘Taala Khulaa…’  In October 2003 was released a bhajan ‘Mela Lagaa…’ which topped the Navaratra market. Then there was comedy song ‘Chaanta Lagaa…’, equally enjoyed by its listeners. The new year and Holi are yet to come. We are likely to see new versions of this cassette. The ‘Kaanta’ is so deep that it has caused a boom in this type of video albums. A new tradition has been laid down in the music industry, opening new channels for garnering bigger profits.

COPYING TECHNIQUES

Pirated Compact Discs are also called copied or ‘fake’ CDs in the local jargon. There is a boom nowadays in the CD markets. Traditionally, Lajpat Rai Market and Palika in Connaught Place have been considered the hub of ‘pirated cds’. Not any more. People can find CDs in the market places nearby at much cheaper rates and these smaller markets have taken over the work from the bigger centralised markets and are conducting the trade with a lot of tactical intelligence. The work has become a cottage industry in these localities. The economy operates according to the rules of demand and supply. This is also turning out to be an industry with small investments and high returns, due to the fact that the equipment required is available at very low costs:
A blank CD \x{2013} Rs.3 to7.
An old computer \x{2013} Rs.10 to 15, 000.
A copy writer to copy CDs: Rs.4 to 5000/-.
Copy writers for 2 to 5 copies: Rs.20 to 25,000/-
Copy writers for 5 to 10 copies: Rs.25 to 30,000/-

Add Rs.2 to 3 for printing film labels. Audio-tape covers for the films provide readymade material. The most essential item is the master copy. This is duplicated as soon as the prints are released and is easily available for about 2000/-. Now a pirated CD is ready. With markets opening up closer to your place, all you have to do is to take the CDs to the shop. You park your vehicle away from the shop, show the product, fix the price and take the orders. Then, at a fixed time you make the delivery and come back on another day for the money. Where the deliveryman goes after that is anybody\x{2019}s guess.

Bargaining is crucial in retail sales as well. The customers know when a movie will be available, go to the shop on the expected day of release and get the CD, or rent it out to have a look. So a whole trade network has emerged around entertainment which involves makers, deliverymen, retailers and customers.

MP3
MP3 CD is a new, commonly available CD in which about 150 songs are recorded with the help of computers and converted into a special CD. Today these CD s have posed serious competition to the market for original CDs, since they are available at one third the price of an original CD. These CDs have not only affected the market of the audio CDs but also the market for the music systems. All the major companies manufacturing music systems have started including an MP3 player in their machines and try to keep prices low because of competition from the cheap systems now available in the market.

Raid in Madipur

The Madipur Village lies adjacent to the Madipur Colony. Of course, it doesn’t look like a village at all. There are tall buildings, tarred, broad roads, and several factories. Perhaps it can be said that the existence of factories is the sole logic for the construction of buildings. The factories produce hosiery, shirts, trousers etc.

Factory workers live in this village. Some have taken houses on rent, and others live in the factories. Sundays are off, and so the day for relaxing, roaming around. But Saturday nights have a different importance altogether. That’s the time for watching films.

The cassette shops here rent out some cassettes, but mostly CDs. Every shopkeeper/owner possesses five to six video CD players. And business is best on Saturday evenings. A set-up comprising a VCD player, a colour television and four movies is rent out at rates between Rs. 120 and 150.

There was a police raid here a few days ago. All the shopkeepers were apprehended and asked to pay up Rs. 5000. At first, the shop keepers refused. But there was little they could do. The police simply stated that not only do you not have licenses to run video parlours, but moreover you rent out pirated VCDs. If you don’t pay up, we’ll confiscate all your material.

What could the shop keepers do? They all handed over the five thousand rupees without another moment’s hesitation.

Among the shopkeeeprs is Mohd. Faizal. He said, “At least this will get the policemen to leave us in peace”. According to him, the maximum earning is from the Blue Film VCDs, because those are usually carried home along with one or two other VCDs. And Blue Film CDs also get sold. That’s why, he says, we don’t want to close shop.

“Four to five rentals every night mean an earning of Rs. 600. And all the material returns to the shop by morning. Why would we want to close a business such as this?”

This much is clear that the police is aware of the weak links in this business, and uses them to its advantage to earn money. But the shop keepers also know that if they have to continue their business, they will have to bear with these small injuries.

just words…

remix.property.copyright.copycat.photocopy.pastiche.commons.

intellectual property.copyleft.creativecommons.solitary genius.

recension.copy.pirate.patent.re-appropriation.hacker.forgerer.

muse.author.refashion.version.re-pupose.imitate.freesoftware.FLOSS

Parody of WIPO Comic

A comic that talks about copying as culture, and how art, music and other forms of creativity rely on copying. This comic is a rescension/parody/counterdrama of the comic published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation

- Alternative Law Forum

To download visit http://www.altlawforum.org/Parody

WGBH Lab: Video Sandbox

The WGBH Lab is an online destination for independent media makers to produce and showcase innovative content for public media outlets with a focus on short duration and small formats. It is produced by WGBH Boston Media Productions and powered by Open Media Network (OMN).

One can watch, download, cut, and mash free video clips from the WGBH Archive.

 http://streams.wgbh.org/sandbox/

The Freesound Project

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, … released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License.

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/

Visit this page for interesting links

http://del.icio.us/cogdog/remix

Remix Commons

Remix Commons is a network of free culture projects in the UK. Their aim is to get artists (working with music, video, images and text) to come together and share their work, be inspired by each others’ work, and ultimately to create “remixes”.

http://www.remixcommons.org/

The more we can create and remix, the more enriching those communities become. When you can set-up a band with your mates, or run a music night in a local club, or make some video clips – be they funny or serious – you’re doing something profoundly social and human. This creative ability is far more important than the ability to simply access cultural items cheaply. If we just want to be a nation of consumers, a culture based around buying goods and becoming couch potatoes, then the ability to consume really matters a lot. But if we want to be vibrant, interesting people, sharing culture in communities, we need to think more about the ability to create, which implies access.

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/01/23/remix_reading_cclice.html 

Also visit http://tom.acrewoods.net/writing/remixculture

“U.S Path to Wealth and Power: Intellectual Piracy and the Making of America” – Doron Ben Attar

With the signing of the 1783 peace accord with England which officially
ended the American revolution, the United States and Great Britain became
political and economic adversaries. The founders believed that American
political independence depended on economic self-sufficiency, which meant
that the young nation needed to reduce its vast consumption of imported
English manufactured goods. The new defiant American mood, heightened by
war time demands for military industrial goods and by the post-war desire
to prove the compatibility of republican government and a high standard of
living, viewed technology piracy as the premier tool for industrial
development. Perhaps I should do what historians do, and tell a story:

In the second week of November, 1787, Finneaus Bond who was the British
Consul in Philadelphia, received a visit from two English nationals. They
knocked on his door frantically. One was Thomas Edimsor, a cotton merchant
from Manchester, and the other was Henry Royal. Henry Royal was a calico
printer from Cheshire County. Both men were greatly agitated. They feared
they were going to be lynched by the American mob, lead by the leading
citizens of the city. They looked to the envoy of his Brittianic Majesty,
for shelter. And their story, went as follows:

In 1783, concomitant with the signing of the Anglo-American peace accord,
an English artisan by the name of Benjamin Phillips, decided he was going
to make money in America. He purchased, and sent to America, four machines
for the production of textile. One cotton machine, and three spinning
machines. There were of course restrictions, he was not officially allowed
to do so. But he sent them to America on a British ship called the
'Liberty', in the guise of them being Wedgewood china.

(Extracted from Doron Ben Attar's public lecture at the Contested Commons/

Trespassing Publics Confernce, organised by Sarai-CSDS and

Alternative Law Forum in Delhi. 6, 7 and 8 January 2005)

For the full text, go to the Sarai Reader-list Archives or click here

Levelling and 9/11

On September 11, 1648, the Levellers submitted the Large Petition with
40,000 signatures to Parliament. The deed was decisive because it set in
motion the terrible events that culminated four months later in the
execution of Charles Stuart, King of England, and because the Levellers,
the first popular democratic political party in European, if not world,
history, announced their opposition to the enclosures of the commons, or
the privatization of the English land.

Read more at
http://info.interactivist.net/article.pl?sid=02/09/09/1225239

(from a Sarai Internal mailing list)

GNU/Linux

Milestone on the Way to the GPL Society

Stefan Merten

http://www.oekonux.org/texts/meilenstein/english.html

(from a Sarai Internal mailing list)