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On the Ownership of Ideas

2013-01-11 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Internet & YouTube · reflection essay

Hank argues that people have the same ideas concurrently and constantly borrow (DFTBA came from John's friend Katie), that feeling ownership differs from owning, that the internet's derivative culture is making strict copyright obsolete while corporations decide what is allowed, and that free ideas are better for society.

What is said

00:00:00 — Greeting; the Daily Show anagram segment predating Hank's Anagramming Guide; people have ideas concurrently; Target's giraffe-heart design

  • ★★ Hank recalls making a video anagramming presidential candidates' names; about a week later The Daily Show did the same, but John, through his writer friends, found its segment was written first. — 00:00:00 · John Green
  • ★★★ Hank says people have ideas concurrently all the time; some execute them, which leads to debates over who thought of it first that he calls unproductive and uninteresting. — 00:00:25
  • ★★ When people tell him Target stole his giraffe-love design, Hank says it didn't: a designer had the same idea, giraffes making hearts with their necks, and he is all for artists making a living. — 00:00:37 · Target Corporation

00:00:50 — DFTBA taken from John's friend Katie in 2007; DFTBA stuff made by Etsy crafters and corporations; Hank likes or dislikes it by taste (Etsy card, Delia's shirt)

  • ★★ Hank says that in 2007 John's friend Katie put DFTBA at the end of her to-do list; the brothers took it, popularized it through the vlog, and Hank is proud of and identifies with it. — 00:00:52 · DFTBA, Vlogbrothers
  • ★★★ Many people make DFTBA stuff, from crafty people on Etsy to big global corporations; Hank asks whether they are stealing from the brothers, from Katie, or from no one. — 00:01:05 · DFTBA
  • ★ Hank likes DFTBA items he likes, such as a sewn greeting card on Etsy, and dislikes ones he doesn't, such as a Delia's shirt that also says 'keep calm and party on'. (playful) — 00:01:19 · DFTBA

00:01:36 — Sense of ownership vs owning; Hank's Austen-based project; Disney adapted old stories and now drives copyright extension

  • ★★★ Hank distinguishes having a sense of ownership over something, as he does over DFTBA, from actually owning it, and says he does not want to give in to the desire for control. — 00:01:36 · DFTBA
  • ★★ Hank says he has been able to create a really cool project based on the work of Jane Austen, while not putting himself on her level. — 00:01:45 · The Lizzie Bennet Diaries
  • ★★★ Hank says Disney likewise made existing stories (Alice in Wonderland, The Little Mermaid, Cinderella) into movies, but is now the primary force behind extending copyright length 'forever'. — 00:01:55 · copyright

00:02:10 — The internet making copyright enforcement obsolete: wizard rock, One Direction lip-sync videos monetised for Sony; corporations deciding what's okay

  • ★★★ Hank says the good news is that the internet is making this obsolete: fewer and fewer corporations enforce copyright as they used to because there is too much derivative work. — 00:02:10 · copyright
  • ★★ Hank recalls Harry Potter's publishers objecting to derivative works like wizard rock songs when the genre began; he says you can make them and asks why anyone would stop fans' enthusiasm. — 00:02:21 · Harry Potter
  • ★★★ Hank says a One Direction lip-sync video now stays up: YouTube's algorithms identify the song, ads appear on it, and Sony Music gets the ad money. — 00:02:36 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says this arrangement is not law and not really legal, but everyone is happy, so the law doesn't come into it; corporations deciding what's okay is worrisome. (hedged) — 00:02:53 · copyright

00:03:12 — Collaborative creation before the 1700s and on the internet; free ideas better for society and culture

  • ★★ Hank says almost all creations before the 1700s were collaborative; a song could be written by dozens of people over hundreds of years. — 00:03:12
  • ★★★ Hank says the internet is again full of collaborative creations made to make people happy, laugh, think or react, not to increase personal wealth or control creative vision. — 00:03:20
  • ★★★ Hank concludes that free ideas might not be good for individuals' pocketbooks but are better for society and culture as a whole, and that's what makes life beautiful. (hedged) — 00:03:30

00:03:44 — Sign-off; Hank will really see John Monday; two pre-Carnegie charity rehearsal shows in New York

  • ★★ Hank says he really will see John on Monday and may see viewers too: there are two pre-Carnegie rehearsal shows in New York, tickets $10, all proceeds to charity. (hedged) — 00:03:44 · New York City, John Green

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