Brandon Butler
@bb.usefairuse.com
Copyright lawyer at Jaszi Butler PLLC, Exec Director @recreatecoalition.bsky.social, dad. Press inquiries: press@recreatecoalition.com.
If you're not getting the Re:Create ReCap newsletter, you're missing out. It's a bi-weekly catchup on copyright policy from a balanced POV, and every issue features a note from me on a hot policy topic. This week it's the latest menace to the open web, "stealth bot" abolition bills.
The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act is a direct threat to the open internet. Read Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com's latest post on how this bill stifles innovation and undermines fair use by locking up public information:
A note from Re:Create: How So-Called “Stealth Bot” Prohibitions Put Journalists in Danger - Re:Create
If I could convince every policymaker of one essential principle, it would be that what’s good for the biggest content industry businesses is not always good for creative workers or the public. In fac...
recreatecoalition.org
If you want to preserve old books for public access, fund libraries. If you want to make the contents of out of print books more widely available, shorten the term of copyright. Do those two things and there is no reason to stress about destructive scanning.
For over a year the content industry has been telling us that European-style siteblocking is awesome and we should follow the EU right down the rabbit-hole to internet censorship. Our new infographic shows why that's crazy:
Re:Create Coalition@recreatecoalition.bsky.social · last wk.What do a Catholic nunnery, Harvard University, and Greenpeace have in common? They’ve all been mistakenly blocked by foreign "site-blocking" laws. Check out Re:Create’s infographic exploring the harm site-blocking would have on America's open internet: recreatecoalition.org/infographic/...
Check out my piece published this weekend in the @Capitol_Forum, explaining why the latest data on site-blocking abroad shows what a huge mistake it would be for the US to follow the EU down the slippery slope to internet censorship and dysfunction:
Re:Create Coalition@recreatecoalition.bsky.social · 2w ago📣In a new op-ed for The Capitol Forum, Re:Create Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com warns that congressional site-blocking bills like FADPA will break the internet—repeating a failed approach that already proved disastrous in Europe. Read the full op-ed here: thecapitolforum.com/the-forum/th...
📣In a new op-ed for The Capitol Forum, Re:Create Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com warns that congressional site-blocking bills like FADPA will break the internet—repeating a failed approach that already proved disastrous in Europe. Read the full op-ed here: thecapitolforum.com/the-forum/th...
Site Blocking Would Break More Than Piracy - The Capitol Forum
Site Blocking Would Break More Than Piracy - a contribution to The Capitol Forum's Op-Ed Newsletter Series.
thecapitolforum.com
I saw it in normie digital 2d at Alamo Draft House and the burger was better than the movie. Can size matter this much?
The Stealth Bot Prohibition Act is the latest bill to attempt to make fair use a civil offense. Congress needs to stop waging war against the public’s right to access and use public information.
Re:Create Coalition@recreatecoalition.bsky.social · 2w agoRe:Create Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com shares why the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act introduced today threatens the foundation of the open internet: recreatecoalition.org/press_releas...
Hmmm! I’m sure it’s just a bunch of pals realizing there’s no need to be nasty to each other. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/17/...
X and Music Publishers Retreat From Lawsuits
Elon Musk’s social media platform and the music companies agreed to dismiss dueling claims, from 2023 and 2026. They have not said why.
nytimes.com
Don't read into the Bartz v. Anthropic settlement approval. Here's why: 💡 AI training was already ruled fair use 📂 Deal ONLY covers "shadow library" data 💰 Massive statutory damages drove the deal ⚖️ Rulings like Kadrey v. Meta show it's far from over Read more from @bb.usefairuse.com :
Don’t Read Much Into the Proposed Settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic - Re:Create
Earlier this month, Anthropic reached a settlement agreement with a group of authors who had sued the company for using their works to train its AI models. The copyright cartel celebrated the deal, an...
recreatecoalition.org
A timely reminder, as the judge's approval puts the Bartz settlement back in the news: the settlement doesn't tell us anything about AI and fair use. It's mostly proof that copyright statutory damages continue to create perverse incentives. recreatecoalition.org/dont-read-m...
Don’t Read Much Into the Proposed Settlement in Bartz v. Anthropic - Re:Create
Earlier this month, Anthropic reached a settlement agreement with a group of authors who had sued the company for using their works to train its AI models. The copyright cartel celebrated the deal, and some suggested it was proof that AI training requires a license. That framing obscures a key fact: Anthropic had already won […]
recreatecoalition.org
Whoaaaaa!!!!!!
jesse jarnow@bourgwick.bsky.social · 3w agoboth will hart & bill doss are gone, but miraculously the 3rd olivia tremor control album is coming out this fall. i don't know which of those facts is the most unlikely, but i know there's only one that i want to believe. consequence.net/2026/07/oliv...
Not a lot of info here about what kinds of agreements, with whom, and finances. But another example of data opening up for “AI” that wasn’t open for researchers. I fought many data wrangling battles at Semantic Scholar over missing ACM data. All research papers should be open access!
Association for Computing Machinery@acm.org · 3w agoWe are opening a consultation on the inclusion of ACM publications within AI licensing agreements for access and training purposes. We have published this piece as to why we believe it is the right time now to enter into these discussions. buff.ly/VTatuda
Some subtly deep wisdom here from long-time @eff.org top lawyer Cindy Cohn, on the mistake of turning to #copyright to soothe our AI anxieties. She's exactly right - I’ll unpack a little in the replies. 🧵
This is especially funny when you remember one of the stock anti-communist lines is: "You don't own anything under socialism!" To paraphrase Microslop in their vision for the future of capitalism: you'll own nothing, and you'll like it.
Joshua Keep@jekeep.bsky.social · 4w agoChinese courts have consistently ruled that digital purchases are assets that belong to you, and can be inherited. And that any EULA the companies make you agree to can't override this. In stark contrast to here where we keep finding out companies can take away your digital goods on a whim.
A few words about Cloudflare's latest announcement touting new internet locks that block fair uses. 🧵 blog.cloudflare.com/content-ind...
Your site, your rules: new AI traffic options for all customers
For our second Content Independence Day, we’re giving website owners finer options to manage AI traffic. Instead of a one-size-fits-all block, all customers can now easily distinguish and manage Search, Agent, and Training bots, alongside the new ability to protect ad-monetized pages.
blog.cloudflare.com
In the latest Re:Create Recap, @bb.usefairuse.com warns that rushing to reorganize the Copyright Office in the wake of Trump v. Slaughter is a mistake. Congress needs to slow down and consider its impacts on one of the most vital agencies shaping American creativity:
A Note From Re:Create: Copyright After Slaughter - Re:Create
In a one-line order that was expressly “not a ruling on the merits” of the case, the Supreme Court sided with Shira Perlmutter, current Register of Copyrights, on the narrow question of whether she co...
recreatecoalition.org
Collective licensing can look like a kind of legalized mafia shakedown. "Nice bar you got here; would be a shame if something was to happen to it." It gets truly wild when the shakedown is for 18th Century composers, dead for a century.
I can’t let the 4th of July come and go without observing that vigilant defense against excess copyright is a deeply American value that goes back to the founding. In his book “Common as Air,” Lewis Hyde explains the American founders’ views of intellectual property.
🌐 “We will find very quickly that sure enough you can’t do this without blocking lawful websites, as well,” said Re:Create Executive Director @bb.usefairuse.com speaking to @capitolforum.bsky.social on why the latest push for site-blocking legislation is the wrong approach. Read the article here:
Issa Says He Plans to Unveil Anti-Piracy Bill This Week, Signaling Regained Momentum of Yearslong Bipartisan Effort - The Capitol Forum
Representative Darrell Issa, R-CA, said he plans to introduce a bill this week that would curb online piracy by blocking foreign websites...
thecapitolforum.com
Heads up that the House Judiciary Committee IP Subcommittee will be having a hearing in just a few minutes on IP and the Internet. Link to witness list and live stream will be in the replies, but I’m here to tell you why I won’t be watching it live.
And you can download 3D models of some items in the patent model collection, such as the Morse Telegraph Key, the patent model, for the refridgerator, and Abraham Lincoln's patent for an invention designed to lift boats grounded in shallow water. See 3d.si.edu/explore?edan...
Explore | 3d Digitization
3d.si.edu
Shannon Mattern@shannonmattern.bsky.social · last mo.Look at all these patent models for school desks in the Smithsonian's collection! www.si.edu/search/image...
🗳️ As midterm season ramps up, fair use is everywhere on the campaign trail! From humorous SNL skits of controversial ads to campaigns fact-checking their opponents with other sources, fair use powers campaigns’ efforts to connect with voters every day. recreatecoalition.org/infographic/...
@TheFIREorg is running a nice series on AI and free speech. This morning's piece on AI and the First Amendment is a clear, concise explanation of both how AI works and how the 1A applies. It should be printed on a pamphlet and dropped from helicopters over the Capitol.
Huh, turns out people who want to read the news will read the news, not try to extract it from a chatbot. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ www.semafor.com/article/06/...
Americans aren’t using AI for news, poll finds
A plurality of 39% said they would lose trust in information if they knew that AI was used to produce it.
semafor.com
Harlan County, USA, the 1976 documentary chronicling the intense, often violent year-long strike of Kentucky coal miners, is on HBO and if you haven’t seen it you should. Right now. If you don’t have HBO check with your local library or request it vial interlibrary loan.
Bsky folks who are anxious about AI but also recognize copyright ain't it, @doctorow.pluralistic.net has got you covered, as usual. In promoting his new book, he's got an excellent, pithy answer to this important question:
