Corporations Want To Own Our Experiences And Our Culture

It’s fairly Orwellian. Sports leagues want to prohibit fans from taking pictures or videos of the games, since the want to own all media representation of the events. So, they prohibit fans from taking any recording devices — including cell phones — into the events:

[via Social Media Banned from College Stadiums by Adam Ostrow]

Today, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is expected to release a final version of its new media policy. For the sake of sports fans everywhere, let’s hope it has some significant changes from the current version, because at the moment, it can best be described as a ban on all social media usage at SEC games.

Earlier this month, the conference informed its schools of the new policy, which reads: “Ticketed fans can’t “produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”

[…]

The SEC’s move is not unprecedented in the world of sports, however. One could debate what’s implied about social media when Major League Baseball says during telecasts that “any rebroadcast, reproduction or other use of this game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball is prohibited,” though so far it seems that tweeting and photo uploads remain permissible. Meanwhile, at this year’s US Open, I was rather surprised to learn that both phones and cameras weren’t allowed on premises, making any form of social media inaccessible.

So, these corporations — let’s face it, college football is a business — have opted to prohibit fans being able to take pictures of little Jimmy’s first trip to the football game to maintain the franchise on photography.

I am not even mentioning the inconvenience of not being able to take a cell phone into the stadium. Let’s just reflect on the basic premise: we have no rights to record our own experience — of the day, our friends, the crowds, and yes, the game.

Who says that the cultural infrastructure of our world can be owned by corporations? If every public event is sponsored by corporations, will we have no ability to record what is going on? Why can’t I take photos of what’s in front of my face? If I can look at it, and lay down a memory, shouldn’t I be able to record it? And yes, to share it?

This is DRMing our lives, locking down our experience, our shared world, so that corporations can broadcast it on TV.

Do they pay us to be the screaming fans in the background? The inequalities involved here are so vast, and we seem to be able to do nothing.