Samantha Diubaldi's Copyright Laws Through The Lens Of The Digital Age

W Mathieu Mimms-Boyce

ENGL 110-025

Professor Herra

23 October 2016

Arak Response to Samantha DiUbaldi’s “Copyright Laws through the Lens of the Digital Age”

Digital media is a major part of my daily life. Every day I check Instagram, discover photos on Reddit, and browse Tumblr. Samantha DiUbaldi’s “Copyright Laws through the Lens of the Digital Age” caught my eye because of how often I consume media on a digital platform. In this paper, I will provide a summary of DiUbaldi’s essay, and how she supports her claim that current Copyright Laws for photographs are not sufficient, and need to be changed. Following the summary will be an analysis on DiUbaldi’s construction of her argument via use of rhetorical appeals. Subsequently I will provide

an analysis on DiUbaldi’s use of sources, and focus primarily on her use of Erich Schlacter’s “The Intellectual Property Renaissance in Cyberspace: Why Copyright Law Could Be Unimportant on the Internet.” to refute claims of reforming Copyright Laws being unnecessary. My analysis of DiUbaldi’s paper leads me to conclude that her essay effectively communicates why current Copyright Laws are insufficient, and that they must be changed to reflect the modern day Digital Age.
In her article, DiUbaldi explains the inadequacy of current Copyright Laws in the U.S.

that pertain to photographs. DiUbaldi begins the paper by demonstrating that she is a frequent consumer of images found on the Internet, namely through social media sites. Consequently, DiUbaldi, like many other people, has played a role in the diminishing profitability of the modern-day Photographer. DiUbaldi makes the claim that the increase in popularity of social media has led to a decline in photography as profession because of the widespread sharing of copyrighted images on social media. Through her use of rhetorical appeals, DiUbaldi’s essay provides credibility to her claim that Copyright Laws need to

change.
Ethos, Pathos, and Logos are repeatedly used throughout DiUbaldi’s essay.

Through her use of each of the appeals, DiUbaldi persuades the reader effectively. By using Pathos, DiUbaldi is able to help the reader to sympathize with the plight of the modern-day Photographer. Many Photographers today do not make enough money from their photos due to the reposting of their content on other sites. Perhaps more important than the appeals to Pathos in her paper are the appeals to Ethos. She begins the essay by using an appeal to Ethos. She appeals to Ethos by establishing how often she checks Social Media at the beginning of the essay. By informing the reader of her role in consuming content in a way she feels should be illegal, DiUbaldi lends a sense of humility to her essay. The reader can see why she feels the way she does. Additionally, DiUbaldi provides further credibility by citing academic journals that have covered the issue of modern-day Copyright laws. However, the most effective rhetorical appeal used in the article is the use of Logos. Specifically, DiUbaldi uses Logos by bringing attention to Eric Schlacter’s “The Intellectual Property Renaissance in Cyberspace: Why Copyright Law Could Be Unimportant on the Internet.”. The reason she brings attention to Schlacter’s article is to bring an opposing viewpoint, and then refuting

it.
Schlacter’s article is one of the primary sources that DiUbaldi uses in her essay. In his article, Schlacter argues that the current evolution of digital media sharing is too fast for copyright issuers to effectively combat it. Credibility is lent to the argument by DiUbaldi, but she subsequently majorly disputes the argument. She is able to dispute the argument by suggesting that the terms of online publishers must be restricted in order to secure photography as a profitable career.
In her essay Samantha DiUbaldi makes the claim that the rehosting of content online is incredibly detrimental to the career of a Photographer. Simply stated: photographers cannot make a living if their photos are constantly being shared on other websites. She uses rhetorical appeals in order to effectively argue just how detrimental content rehosting is. Through pointing out the flaws of the Copyright Laws, DiUbaldi makes it clear that current Copyright Laws need to change to allow content creators such as Photographers to receive as much profit as possible for their work.

Works Cited
DiUbaldi, Samantha. “Copyright Laws through the Lens of the Digital Age” The John and Frieda Arak Journal: An Anthology of Student Writing at the University of Delaware, edited by Christine Cucciarre et al., 2016, www.arakjournal.org/authors/dawson/dawson.html. Accessed 14 Oct 2016.
Schlachter, Eric. “The Intellectual Property Renaissance in Cyberspace: Why Copyright Law Could Be Unimportant on the Internet.” Berkeley Technology Law Journal (1997): 15-51