DIGITALE PIRATERIE

DIGITAL PIRACY

Entertainment technology is being hotly debated due to the new AI offerings. In the digital space, the laws from the analog world no longer seem to apply. "Who actually owns what?" is much more difficult to answer. Perhaps this is why defensive behavior and caution are being delayed. After all, no one wants to be the one who prevents things from happening, the one stuck in the past. On some topics, there is still no social consensus on which legislation could be based. Data management by service providers and the creation of content by creatives are the two main topics that are currently being hotly debated on panels and workshops. We provide a brief overview.

If the autonomous car swerves to avoid a pedestrian and injures another one, who is to blame? In complex systems, rigid cascade algorithms have long played second fiddle to data-driven decision-making. That is why there is no longer such a thing as a programmer. An important issue surrounding self-driving cars, but also in the creation of creative works: If the script is generated by AI in the future, who is the author - and where is the boundary with simple support programs that have been in use for years?

In the creative world, brainstorming, user stories, the Walt Disney system, or psychological constellations play an important role. Digital tools already exist for all analog processes that make it easier to find solution ideas. Is ChatGPT simply the logical further development of such little helpers? And at what point does the actual, creative work mostly come from the computer? The great new game show idea or the pitch book for the innovative series would never have sprung from the digital brain if the (actually creative) user had not made a particularly creative input beforehand. Or is the focus less on intelligence and creativity, but more on the result? If the editorial team asks the writers room the questions, suggestions, and theses, the authors are still the originators - regardless of the "input data." Or maybe not?

During the pandemic, initiatives for apps and platforms have multiplied. They offer solutions on set and support the staff and cast with all kinds of practical automation or assistance. If you think that data is well protected - after all, we have all suffered from the GDPR - the harsh reality paints a different picture: the central administration of very different processes creates a new opportunity for value creation for data, perhaps unintentionally or at least unnoticed.

If personal data is transmitted to a (contract) data processor, the processor may not use this data for other purposes. This is because it is not their data at all; it is merely borrowed to carry out the contract work. If a service bundles different solutions for different partners in the process chain, the legal assignment becomes confusing. And at the latest when the original person whose data is ultimately involved concludes a direct agreement with the app/platform, there is a risk of piracy. This may not have been the app provider's intention at first and may simply be a logical development: if one party is eliminated in the digitally optimized process, the process becomes leaner, simpler, faster and cheaper. Above all because a value creation stage is eliminated.

This will particularly affect the "intermediaries" who consider their own services to be irreplaceable. Checking and questioning requirements, comparing them with market conditions, establishing mutual contact, moderating the business relationship and transmitting all important operational data to all those involved requires a high level of communication and technical competence. In the digital age, it is precisely these processes that are being replaced more and more often. The danger is not so much the global players, but the many small, innovative solutions. In the USA and Asia, you can see the extinction of sales departments, agencies and intermediaries. The new tools are irreplaceable for competitiveness. We as an industry will have to find a common way to do justice to all those involved through mindfulness and respect.

Your Ensider:Team

(Author: Markus Vogelbacher)
(Image: Tumisu | Pixabay)

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