Law Library Requiem

Damnatio Memoriae

Columbia Law School's Library

The Erasure of the Law Library

What? Any reader educated in any of the relevant disciplines (archaeology, history, anthropology, etc.) is likely to be rather puzzled by the assertion that the human past is well-recorded. Any with knowledge and skills in the relevant current technological disciplines is likely to doubt your "dark ages" assertion too, knowing that overpreservation is as likely as technological obsolescence to affect the future's ability to understand the present. No one who has read the Copyright Act (you have, right?) is likely to think the deposit requirement insufficient, or improvable, given that copyright holders are not likely to be the conserving parties. It may be that you want to offer controversial or counterintuitive arguments. But to start out by giving the reader a "WTF?" impression is not the best way to do so. Shooting your own credibility at the outset doesn't help.

Background

What? Of the 162 treatises on constitutions Aristotle produced, two survived. There are missing episodes of Doctor Who? So what? The Twelve Tables? Any writings concerning Yehoshua of Nazareth written less than 100 years after his death? All the written works of Mayan societies destroyed deliberately by the Catholic Church? The possible loss of "alien invasion movies"? Any literate reader is likely to suppose you are pulling their leg.

The Problems Lost Media Creates

The best way to improve this draft is to drop the fascination with popular entertainment and discuss actual issues of historical conservation. That might even cause you to inquire into, e.g., the destruction of libraries, including your own. Why would a person who thought conservation was relevant use streaming services in the first place? When I die, all my books, all my music library, all the films I collected, etc. over the course of my lifetime will be given to all the people I care about in a form they can use and pass on, forever. If you think it matters, why aren't you doing the same? If you are, why don't you explain to the reader how?

A Legal Solution to Lost Media

-- By RickeyOrr - 06 Dec 2024

Thousands of years from now, after our society is gone, what evidence will be left of our civilization? What will future human beings be able to look at to understand our shared values, entertainment, and what life was like for the average person. Whereas, modern day humans have been able to look back and learn about previous civilizations, the same may not be true for our successors. Due to the rising digitization of media and a lack of physical records, we are living in a digital dark age. It is essential that an amendment to the Copyright Act of 1976 is passed requiring the preservation of all forms of media. This will ensure that our contributions to the planet are documented for future generations and societies to learn from and enjoy.

Background

Our society is experiencing a digital dark age due to the rapid increase of lost media. Lost media are books, television shows, films, music, and newspaper articles that are no longer accessible to the general public. Popular examples include the ninety-seven missing episodes of the BBC television series Dr. Who and the deleted jitterbug scene from The Wizard of Oz. Lost media prevents the public from referencing prior records of our cultural zeitgeist and the artistic traditions which have influenced our current artistic practices.

A lack of media from our current time can also reshape future generations and civilizations' understanding of the past. For example, if mid-twentieth century alien invasion films were never preserved, then people in the future might think that this genre of film never existed. They would fail to understand how these films were made in reaction to the Great Migration as aliens destroying cities mirrored twentieth century, white Americans' hesitation towards Black Americans moving into their neighborhoods. Media, even if it is entertainment, comments on the world around us and captures the cultural attitudes, beliefs, and zeitgeist of the time. This is why the increase in lost media and the decrease of physical media should be a problem for everyone.

The Problems Lost Media Creates

Unintentional destruction and changing habits has contributed to the rise in lost media. Fires at film studios have caused numerous films to become lost. Fox Film Corporation’s library caught on fire in 1937 and one of MGM’s vaults caught on fire in 1965. According to the Library of Congress, fifty percent of films created before 1950 have been lost. Without these films, there is less evidence and perspectives of what life was like in the first half of the twentieth century. It also deprives future artists of learning from their predecessors and creating new works inspired by them.

The intentional destruction of media should be challenged through law. The deletion of television shows and films from streaming services intentionally deprives the public from accessing media. Additionally, the lack of physical media due to the decline of book, DVD and CD sales exacerbates this problem. In 2023, Warner Bros. deleted the films Batgirl and Coyote v. Acme. Similarly, AMC deleted the television show Invitation to the Bonfire. Streaming services delete media from their platforms so they can avoid spending money on marketing, avoid paying union-mandated residuals to talent, and can utilize the project as a tax write-off.

The digitalization of all media raises the question of who controls the preservation and exploitation of media. Oftentimes, the talent that created this media is the most affected. When a streaming service deletes a film or television show from their platform, actors and crew members who worked on the project cannot use the footage in their reels. This creates a pipeline problem in the entertainment industry as these artists do not have evidence of their previous work. It also prevents the original screenwriter from moving the project to another platform as potential buyers cannot watch the original. Similarly, the lack of access prevents future artists from becoming inspired to create their own art based on the deleted project. This violates the purpose of the intellectual property clause in the Constitution as deletion prevents the art form from progression as it should.

My Solution

An amendment to the Copyright Act of 1976 is needed to prevent more media from being lost forever. This amendment would require streaming services to release all completed films and television shows that are scrapped or deleted from their platforms to the public domain. The amendment would also create a legal remedy for loss of access to an item of media. As the copyright owner of the media they produce, distributors, studios, networks, publishers, and manufactures would be liable for destroyed media and forced to create effective preservation techniques to prevent losses. This will prevent future media from becoming lost and slow down the push towards creating digital versions of media instead of physical ones.

Furthermore, the amendment would create an agency that keeps track of all media that has been lost. This would answer questions such as “Which media gets to be considered lost?” and “Who decides what is preserved?”. If there are disparities in the preservation of different types of media or media made by certain affinity groups, special attention will be given to them to rectify and prevent future disparities from occurring. This will ensure that as much media as possible from all perspectives is preserved, creating a complete and thorough picture of what life was like in our society.

While the push towards digital media has furthered access and lowered the cost of acquiring media, it has led to a decrease in physical copies making it easier for an entire piece of media to be erased. Therefore, it is essential that an amendment to the Copyright Act of 1976 requiring all media deleted or scrapped from a platform be immediately released into the public domain. This will ensure that evidence of our lives, our society, and our beliefs remain, but more importantly future civilizations know that we were here.

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