ETHICS RECONFIGURED

Abstract

In recent years, ‘configurable’ technologies such as the Internet-connected PC, cheap and accessible media-editing software, and writeable media drives have enabled a profound shift in the agency of media consumers, opening up a vast grey area between traditional production and consumption. This shift has given rise to a host of new media practices and products, such as mash-ups, remixes, mods, and machinima. However, the cultural discourse about media practices are still mired in the ‘black and white’ ethics of the twentieth century media distribution, evidenced by ‘piracy’ and ‘theft’ debates. In this paper, we examine the self-reported attitudes of nearly 1,800 American adults and draw on the personal interviews with dozens of configurable music practitioners to discover what a new, and more appropriate, ethical discourse of configurability might look like. Data suggest that the new practices of cultural appropriation are both reaffirming and challenging the age-old evaluative criteria.

Keywords:

• digital arts
• remix
• appropriation
• cyberculture
• ethics
• music technology

Notes

This figure was supplied by Ray Beckerman, a prominent US attorney who represents defendants in file-sharing litigations, during a recent, personal interview.

Officially, the survey was conducted by Sinnreich and Gluck under the aegis of our consulting firm, Radar Research, LLC.

The free-form responses were prompted by a question worded as follows: ‘We welcome your general thoughts about remixes and mashups, as well as any feedback about this survey’. 611 of the respondents chose to answer.

Because we are focusing on the centrality of language in evaluative criteria, we have not corrected the spelling or grammar of our survey respondents and interviewees.

Interestingly, this concept of ‘moral rights’, a foundational premise of much European copyright law, plays a minimal role in the American system of intellectual property.