Legal Research

Was ?Slacker Uprising? a Thumb to Copyright Industry?

By Omar Ha-Redeye

Elections are on everybody’s minds these days.

We have our Canadian Federal elections coming up in two days. But it was the American elections that Michael Moore had in mind when he made his new movie, Slacker Uprising.

The $2 million film covers the 2004 American election, where Moore visits 62 cities over 42 days in an attempt to get George W. Bush out of office.

But what made the film unique was that Moore chose to release the film online - for free.  He claims this is the first time this has been legally been done for a full-length feature film.  When first released a few weeks ago, it broke the download record within 24 hours.

He states the online release was intended to mobilize people for this upcoming election in November.  Moore only owned the rights for Canada and America, and residents in other jurisdictions will have to either purchase the film or view it in a theatre.

Or will they?

Ernesto, Editor-in-Chief of TorrentFreak, suggests that because Moore decided to distribute it on BitTorrent, he knew that people would reproduce it again to others outside Canada and the U.S.

Ernesto uses a Moore quote to add weight to his theory,

…this is the 21st century. What are ?geographical rights?? I?ll say it for the hundredth time: If I buy a book and read it, and then give you the book to read, I have broken no laws. Why is that not true for all media??

In 2004  he said regarding his film 9/11,

The more people who see it the better, so I?m happy this is happening

Is it wrong for someone who?s bought a film on DVD to let a friend watch it for free? Of course it?s not. It never has been and never will be. I think information, art and ideas should be shared.

In any case, slackers please give voting a try.  And if not, perhaps try Moore’s film.  If you live in Canada and the U.S., that is (wink, wink).

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on October 12, 2008 (boomark / email).