Last night I attented a talk in Kirby 104 given by Stanley Ronell (link includes just the basic facts about him), a Holocaust survivor. Although I wasn’t expecting to be able to relate this experience to copyright or other such Vast issues, it actually is quite relatable. In fact, one of the first things that Mr. Ronell mentioned was just how important it is to pass down stories from people to people. He talked about how Holocaust survivors are a dying breed and once they are gone, only we are left to tell and pass on their stories to future generations. That got me thinking about copyright. Who owns these stories? But then I thought, does it really matter who specifically “owns” the story, as long as the message is passed along? I think it is ironic how big time speakers such as Blair and Goodall will most likely not let you video tape their speech, while many Holocaust survivors, who I have come in contact with, in fact encourage just that.

Thus, I think the allowed copyright definitely depends on the message being portrayed by each speaker. Since the Holocaust speakers are usually speaking about their part in history, their specific horror stories, it makes sense to want to reccord such so we can all remember them(because they are not documented). On the other hand, Tony Blair and Jane Goodall are talked about so much online, in books, in journals, on TV..etc. For example, type in Blair or Goodalls name into google and you’ll get endless hits- with information galore about them. On the other hand, type in Stanley Ronell and although there are some hits there are significantly less. So, because there is already so much information out there on such big time speakers, it is not necessary to videotape or audio-record their words. However, because there is little known about this generation of Holocaust survivors, videtaping and audio-recording are really the only ways that their history will be preserved for good.