Distribution: Controlling Time and Space

In Henry Jenkins’s essay on convergence culture, he warned his readers of the possible conflicts on regulating intellectual property rights between producers and consumers of the new media (Jenkins, 2006: 170). The CopyBot scandal in Second Life is an excellent depiction of such tension. A proposed explanation on the difficulties on implementing intellectual property rights could be found in Sean Cubitt’s work. In his essay on distribution, Cubitt pointed out the ability to control time and space provides distributors with power (2005: 188). As a medium, internet provides distributors with an access to a wide range of audience within a short time frame (Cubitt, 2005: 206). Internet also allows distributors to distribute a wide range of data types. Internet’s accessibility, however, comes with a handicap. Internet is such an accessible medium that it is much easier to steal information and distribute the stolen information through the internet rather than through other forms of media (Rosenblatt, 2000: 32). Moreover, internet is also an anonymous medium and it is difficult to find physical evidence of intellectual property rights in the internet. For instance, it is much easier to legally charge someone who printed stolen information because the printed materials could be used as physical evidence (Cubitt, 2005: 199). Furthermore, violations of intellectual property rights may be treated differently depending on which region the violation happened and internet could be accessed from anywhere that it could be difficult to determine which regulation from which region applies. Consequently, internet has such power to overcome spatial and time barrier that the current copyright regulations are not able yet to overpower it (Rosenblatt, 2000: 32).