Friday’s Endnotes – 05/03/24

Generative AI is generating astronomical profits by trampling authors and publishers — “Copyright is a key part of regulation, as neither the tools nor corresponding profits of big tech would be possible at all if not for the immeasurably valuable authorship that permits the technology to generate—or, more aptly, regenerate—the coherent, intelligent text of human expression, including, in some cases, outputs that may act as market substitutes.”

Can Copyright Law Save Journalism From A.I.? — “The lawsuit is only the latest chapter in print journalism’s long struggle to survive the internet era. It may be a crucial one. Some of Silicon Valley’s tech barons are openly hostile to journalism, dreaming of the day when it can be ‘disrupted’ or rendered obsolete. To do so, however, they may have to get through copyright law first.”

Pirate IPTV Owner’s Conviction First Ever Under Protecting Lawful Streaming Act — “Passed by Congress late December 2020, the Protecting Lawful Streaming Act (PLSA) was crafted to urgently close a loophole in copyright law that treated unlicensed reproduction and distribution as a felony, but unlicensed streaming as a misdemeanor. This week, well over three years later, a 40-year-old former operator of an illicit IPTV service became the first person to be convicted under the PLSA. While a win is a win, the case wasn’t entirely straightforward.”

UK Lawmakers Call for AI Legislation to Protect Artists from Deepfakes, Copyright Infringement — “The report sets out eight recommendations, including ‘transparent labelling’ of AI-generated materials; a requirement for AI developers to keep records of the materials used in training AI, and a requirement for them to gain rightsholders’ permission; establish a rule that AI-generated content without human creativity involved can’t be copyrighted; and the creation of a ‘personality right’ that would protect people’s voice, image, name and likeness from AI deepfakes.”

French- and English-Language Canadians Protest Copyright Inaction — “Today, there’s yet another puzzling miss of any effort to mitigate the damage created by Canada’s ironically named Copyright Modernization Act of 2012. This time, both Access Copyright and Copibec, Canada’s English-language and French-language copyright collectives are speaking together in a statement condemning the Canadian federal government’s budget for 2024 ‘neglecting to include long-needed action regarding Canada’s fair dealing regime.'”