Chapter 1: Introduction

This book is about file sharing1 for creative, expressive or informative works in all media. More specifically, it is about file sharing between individuals and without profit motive. File sharing is the act of making a file available to other individuals by putting it on-line, by sending a copy, or by rendering it accessible through a file sharing software. We defend the view that sharing without direct or indirect monetary transaction – or “non-market” sharing – is legitimate. We also claim that sharing is socially and culturally valuable and will play a key role in the future of our culture and the creative economies. Furthermore, this book proposes a means to strengthen and exploit the synergy between file sharing and creativity, for the general benefit of society and the enrichment of the cultural economy.

Underlying the entire book is an exercise in modeling and empirically studying the popularity of different works in different conditions. How much is this attention concentrated on a limited set of works, or spread over many? We use this analysis to demonstrate the positive impact of non-market sharing for cultural diversity, to reflect on different reward and financing models, to estimate their initial global scope and speculate about their evolution, and to understand how precise the measurement of usage must be for rewards to be fair and respectful of diversity. The analysis and the related models are meant to provide a toolkit for cultural and media studies, usable regardless of whether one agrees with our proposals. Three appendices provide an introduction to these models, explaining their mathematical basis in simple terms, presenting our assumptions, and the empirical studies that support some of our claims.

The book is structured in three parts. The first part sets the general scene.

Chapter 2 provides an introduction to the heated debates that surround the issue of file sharing, and presents the central ideas of the book:

• The non-market sharing of digital works is valuable and must be recognized as a legitimate activity (chapter 3).
• New financing schemes are needed to turn the potential of a many-to-all creative world into a reality (chapter 4). In such an environment, all will have access to works, the right to share them and the technical means to produce new works. Many will build new capabilities in informing others, expressing oneself, and creativity. They will catch the interest of some, and some – more numerous that today – will attract the interest of many.

The second part presents and discusses the principles of the Creative Contribution, a proposal to enable the recognition of file sharing by setting up a new system of rewards for the creators of works that are the object of non-market sharing. The proposal also incorporates support for the production of future works and an environment that nurtures creativity. The idea of linking financial rewards based on contributions by Internet users with the recognition of sharing is not new: it has been the basis of many proposals since 2003. Our proposal is distinguished from them in that it defines both the rewards and the recognition of sharing as social rights, among a society-wide community of contributors who manage the digital cultural commons together. Where others focused on solving a problem facing the cultural industries (the so-called “piracy”), we ask ourselves how could one best enable cultural and expressive activities in a world where non-market sharing is recognized as legitimate.

Chapter 5 compares various models for the development of our digital culture: some which do not recognize the right to share; others which do recognize sharing, but under a copyright-based licensing or tort compensation approach. It then introduces the social right model underlying our proposal.

Chapter 6 delineates the rights and obligations associated with sharing under our proposal: which works are included and when? What are the associated obligations? It discusses the position of those who provide the means to share and of archival organizations in this new context.

Chapter 7 addresses a central issue: how much? What is the total amount of money needed to reward existing works? How much should be dedicated to financing the production of new works and added-value editorial activities ? How can creative activities be allowed to grow at a rate which is not constrained by the growth rate of the monetary transaction-based economy? Our choice of approach makes answering this question particularly challenging: we must evaluate both needs and possibilities without the relative comfort of measuring torts or losses of revenues to be compensated. We present models which enable us to set the level of financial rewards and of support to the production of new works directly. We discuss the acceptability of the corresponding amounts to be financed by households from a social and economic viewpoint. In one section, we address the compatibility of our proposal with copyright law requirements, in particular with regards to economic rights. This section exploits recent empirical fact finding on the impact of file sharing on various components of the cultural economy.

Chapter 8 discusses the possible future evolution of the Creative Contribution, and describes its more general relevance as a model for financing the conditions of existence of common goods to which all can contribute, and from which all benefit.

Part III addresses two issues that are central to the implementation of our proposal: how it can be organized (chapter 9) and the critical aspect of usage measurement, which sets the basis for rewards (chapter 10). In both cases, the solutions we outline are based on empowering individuals in the governance of the system and the production of the necessary data. We evaluate to what degree this approach can meet the necessary precision for the rewards to be equitable, and for the prevention of fraud. We discuss the respective roles of government, non-governmental organizations, providers and citizens.

Chapter 11 lists and discusses key questions and criticisms which have been raised in response to previous versions of our proposal. It is presented as a list of Frequently Asked Questions for brevity’s sake.

In the concluding chapter, chapter 12, we consider by which paths a proposal such as ours can become a reality.

• 1. Following a widely adopted practice, we will write “file sharing” rather than “file-sharing” throughout this book, even in contexts such as “file sharing software”. See
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_sharing.