Paper, Finally

Amanda Marcus
Rough Draft
DeviantART
Something that some artists have struggled for is the decommodification of their art. Many artists believe that their art is for sharing, and want others to enjoy their art despite socioeconomic status. Also, the art community has not only established artists, but aspiring artists. Aspiring artists have always wanted a way to get their art to their audience, an easy way to spread their name around. With the internet comes that opportunity, art communities on line. The largest of the on line art communities is DeviantART, or DA. This is an on line art community that lets artists put their work in a public setting where their art can reach the audience. For those artists who wish to make their artwork available to the households, the audience can buy a print of the artwork. These are generally inexpensive, and available to everyone. This community helps artists find an audience, and provides structured feedback for the artist.
Deviant art has been featured in this news article as “a youtube for artists,” and this quote from the article is a good overview for those who have never heard of the site:
“Think of it as a YouTube for artists trying to show their own work. Pieces can be viewed, commented on, even added to a user's own gallery of favorites. The range of work defies characterization, but there is a heavy dose of cartooning and fantasy art as well as some adult content, which is blocked for unregistered users.”
Despite the complaints in the comment section of this article (another discourse community, by the way), this article give the DeviantART community some interesting publicity. It also gives light to something that DeviantART has been having a problem with: Plagiarism.
DeviantART has few protections for plagiarism, besides watermarks. If you go into the website now, find a picture you like and right-click, nothing stops you from saving the picture on your private


computer. One would hope that there is some chivalry left in the world, unfortunately, people have had their artwork stolen. The most documented of these thefts is the use of a self portrait, taken when the artist was 14, used on the cover of a pornographic video. DeviantART has an art news section in which some artists report their artwork being stolen, and how their lawsuits are going. One artist describes how their work was stolen by the Lee company. In the news, this is not only happening on DeviantART, but on other sites, such as Facebook. There is an article about a family photo posted on Facebook, taken and used as a grocery store ad. This disregard for the artists rights to their work is something that the computer age has to deal with. Now we have not only the rights to music being fought for because of the internet, but personal art as well.
In the Artists Rights Society website, we can find a summary of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which outlines artists rights on the internet. There is also a link to the US Copyrights Office, for full details on the DMCA. The summary is:
“On October 28, 1998, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998 was signed into law, implementing World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) copyright treaties of 1996 and updating U.S. copyright law for the information age. It is “designed to facilitate the robust development and worldwide expansion of electronic commerce, communication, research, development, and education in the digital age” (Senate Rpt 105-190), while providing for enhanced protection of copyrights in the digital environment.
Key among the topics included in the DMCA are provisions concerning the circumvention of copyright protection systems, fair use in a digital environment, and Internet service provider (ISP) liability, including details on safe harbors, damages, and "notice and takedown" practices. In general, the DMCA limits Internet service providers from copyright infringement liability for simply transmitting information over the Internet. ISP’s, however, are expected to remove material from web sites that they host which appear to constitute copyright infringement.”

This all seems to fall well within the decommodification of art, but it also takes the role that the artist played in their artwork out. As consumers, we need to realize and respect the artist in the artwork they provide, even when on the internet. Posting artwork on the internet is to give everyone fair rights as viewing and appreciating the work, not to make it public domain. Art is not Freeware. It should never be treated without proper respect for the artist.



Works Cited

News review of DeviantART
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-9873228-56.html
About DA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeviantArt
Plagarism Lawsuits (Same Lawsuit, different articles)
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2007/10/17/updates-on-the-lara-jade-case/
http://blogs.photopreneur.com/14-year-old%E2%80%99s-self-portrait-turns-up-on-porn-film
http://www.blogherald.com/2007/10/22/copyright-cases-to-watch-coton-v-tvx-films/
Wikipedia entry on DA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DeviantART
Facebook Photo Article
http://www.switched.com/2009/06/16/missouri-familys-christmas-card-photo-stolen-for-czech-ad/
Deviant News
http://news.deviantart.com/article/46350/
Artists Rights Society
http://www.arsny.com/other.html
Copyrights Office Website DMCA
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/legislation/dmca.pdf.