In the 15th episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with copyright policy advisor Paul Keller about his work to oppose the European Union’s Copyright Directive and its controversial Article 13 content filtering proposal. Paul, along with the #saveyourinternet campaign, have helped lead the public fight against the the restrictive copyright proposal. While the battle over internet freedom is…

If you were a victim of the now infamous viral “rickroll” gag, you may not have even known it would mark your place in a broader viral movement that transcended languages and actually led to the revival of Rick Astley’s career. In the latest Copy This podcast, host Kirby Ferguson points back to this and other peak viral moments when…

Is copyright one of those rare policy issues that can bring Republicans and Democrats together in agreement? In a conversation about copyright with FreedomWorks Chief Economist Wayne Brough, Kirby Ferguson tries to break down the complex and evolving relationship between conservatives and copyright law in the digital age. In response to questions about our nation’s copyright law serving as a…

Libraries are often overlooked for the important role they play in serving the common good: preserving important works to make knowledge accessible to the public, no matter your station in life.  In this latest episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with Laura Quilter, Copyright and Information Policy Librarian at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, about the role copyright…

In the 11th episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with James Boyle, law professor at Duke and co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain. He is also the co-author of the graphic novels Theft! A History of Music and Bound By Law. The public domain is composed of books, songs, movies, artwork and other…

As representatives from the United States, Canada and Mexico continue to renegotiate NAFTA, host Kirby Ferguson sits down with University of Ottawa Law Professor Michael Geist in the tenth installment of Copy This to discuss how intellectual property and copyright fits into the trade agreement. While trade agreements were once designed to remove barriers to trade and eliminate tariffs on…

From social media, to videos, to 24-hour cable news, media has a significant influence over how we perceive the modern world. With such a pervasive influence, it is subject to wide criticism and commentary. In the 9th episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with Jack Lerner, Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California-Irvine about the right…

In the eighth episode of Copy This, Kirby sits down with Betsy Rosenblatt, legal chair for the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), and Sherlock Holmes superfan. Released as OTW and the Re:Create Coalition head to Comic-Con International in San Diego, Betsy points out during the discussion that almost everything that happens at Comic-Con relies on fair use, even taking a…

In the seventh episode of Copy This, Kirby Ferguson sits down with YouTube superstar Peter Hollens to find out what it takes to be a successful a cappella singer and online entrepreneur in today’s digital world. It turns out, there is much more to being an digital star than just creating music. Hollens may have started out as a one…

In the sixth episode of Copy This, host Kirby Ferguson talks with U.S. Congressman Blake Farenthold (TX-27) about the copyright debates driving conversations among members of Congress. A key issue for Rep. Farenthold, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, is how the prevalence of copyrighted software in everyday devices (smartphones and thermostats to appliances and cars) prevents owners from…