{"id":2952,"date":"2005-02-09T20:00:07","date_gmt":"2005-02-10T00:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/2005\/02\/09\/defining-middle-ground\/"},"modified":"2005-02-09T20:00:07","modified_gmt":"2005-02-10T00:00:07","slug":"defining-middle-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/2005\/02\/09\/defining-middle-ground\/","title":{"rendered":"Defining “Middle Ground”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Perhaps you’ve been following the back-and-forth<\/a> about “middle ground” originally started by Patrick Ross’ article<\/a>
\nlambasting Gigi Sohn and PK and now continuing in various blog<\/a> posts<\/a>.  In finding a middle ground, we must
\nfirst start by defining it broadly.  To me, the middle ground is
\na) providing sufficient (monetary) incentives so
\nthat creative material will be created and distributed for the public’s benefit while b)
\nminimizing damage to innovation, legitimate consumer rights, and other
\npublic interests. In other words, the classic statement of copyright’s
\npurpose.  People come out differently on how to properly
\nbalance (a) and (b), and the extent to which (a) should come at
\nthe cost of not achieving (b) or vice versa.  <\/p>\n

Perhaps you see defining the middle ground as basically worthless –
\nwho wouldn’t like to achieve both goals?  Saying that we agree on
\nthe goal but not on the methods
\ndoesn’t get anyone much closer to compromises that we can generate practical solutions.<\/p>\n

Still, I think there are reasons to start by focusing on this broad,
\nbasic sense of “middle ground.” Many question whether active groups and
\nindividuals in this arena actually do seek this balance. They are
\naccused of not caring about (a) or (b), of using one to trump the other at all costs. When these labels are
\ndeserved, that in itself points out the importance of trying to come
\ntogether on this version of “middle ground.” When the accusations are
\nundeserved, they distract us from that shared purpose.<\/p>\n

Consider what Ross seems to say in his article and blog posts. Supporting Grokster <\/span>and
\nopposing stronger secondary liability apparently means supporting
\n“those who enjoy obtaining unauthorized content for free
\nfrom P2P networks.” In this way, those supporters are unconcerned with
\nachieving (a) and thus excluded from the middle ground. Unless one is
\nan extremist, one must support a strenghtening of secondary liability.<\/p>\n

That description is unfair and misleading.  I believe that reversing Grokster <\/span>will
\nnot effectively achieve (a) and the costs in terms of (b) are
\nenormous, but I still care about finding a solution that properly achieves (a) and (b).  As Gigi explained in a News.com editorial,<\/a>
\nso does she.  If that makes me a crazy extremist, so be it, but I
\ndon’t think it does – I suppose Gigi would say much the same.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Perhaps you’ve been following the back-and-forth about “middle ground” originally started by Patrick Ross’ article lambasting Gigi Sohn and PK and now continuing in various blog posts.  In finding a middle ground, we must first start by defining it broadly.  To me, the middle ground is a) providing sufficient (monetary) incentives so that creative material […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":72,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/72"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2952\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/cmusings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}