Ammy Vogtlander, Managing Director of BlueInsights, participated in a panel discussion on copyright at the Global Information Industry Summit (GIIS).
According to Ammy, networks of people with common interests (like LinkedIn), information sharing communities (like YouTube or SharePoint), and groups that organize information (like Connotea) are merging. That’s why she co-founded BlueInsights.
As these groups and tools converge to enable “social discovery,” networks increasing become potential content discovery platforms.
And with ease of discovery come issues around copyright.
Different platforms have taken different approaches to protecting copyright. You tube, for example, is reactive. They take down infringing content if there is a complaint.
MS SharePoint doesn’t really do anything to prevent infringement.
There have been other companies (like Ezmo – no longer in business) that interpret copyright themselves and limit the number of people with whom someone can share copyrighted material.
While publishers often see online communities as a threat, Ammy fears that they may be underestimating their value as a forum for peer recommendation.
She also believes there are opportunities to develop standards to minimize copyright infringement and that, addressed correctly, online sharing as a form of promotion can generate quality traffic and increase revenues.