impact of computers on society 6b. intellectual property
TRANSCRIPT
Impact of Computers on Society6B. Intellectual Property
Review: Fair Use Four guidelines for fair use
The nature of the work – fact or creative The amount used Not intended for personal gain Impact of use on marketability of the original
Software “contracts” You don’t buy it, you “license” it – not universally accepted
Is software like a book? Or is it the license of intellectual property?
Shrink-wrap agreements – by opening the package… Installation “I accept” or “I agree” check-offs Some of the provisions may not be applicable in all states One-sided – the consumer has no way to negotiate a better
deal Digital protection schemes often prevent recognized fair use
as well as illegal use The Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits
circumventing protection schemes
Possible Solutions to the Problem Technology
Market Forces
Laws
Technology The “dongle” Copy protection
Affects fair use Activation schemes
Sometimes your computer S/N is sent back to the software company to prevent installation on multiple machines
Hood’s VAX system grinds to a halt Preview copies that can be activated online for a fee Paying for critical updates – anti-virus software
Market Forces Trade groups set fees for use
For example Apple’s iTunes Fees negotiated by large organizations
For example, journals in the Hood Library Academic and other discount pricing schemes
MS Money was “free” along with the purchase of TaxCut
Discounts to large users
Laws and Enforcement An ongoing battle – laws cannot keep up with rapid
changes in technology Enforcement is expensive Every copy is an exact copy A balancing act, trying not to irritate the customers
too much Raids on businesses using illegal copies of software
Whistleblowers Law enforcement agencies Courts
Further Enforcement Perhaps impose fees or special taxes on
manufacturers of equipment that could be used to break copyright? This penalizes the law abiding user
Require manufacturers to incorporate copy protection into their equipment This also penalizes the law abiding user in the
form of increased cost
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act Prohibits making tools to circumvent
copyright protection schemes
Immediately challenged Recall Zimmerman’s PGP and the Bernstein case
– freedom of speech
A Challenge to DMCA Eric Corley’s DeCSS
Cracked a wimpy scheme for protecting videos, the “Content Scrambling System” (CSS)
Difficult to distinguish between computer code and protected artistic expression
A freedom of speech case? Or a “digital crowbar”? This case produced conflicting court rulings
Another Challenge to DCMA Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI)
challenged researchers to break the protection scheme
Researchers quickly found flaws Edward Felton of Princeton U threatened with
a lawsuit if he published a paper detailing the findings A chilling effect on research The government and industry backed down
Yet Another Challenge to DMCA Dmitry Sklyarov
Authored a program that cracked Adobe control software in electronic books
Arrested when he entered the US for a conference Returned home but company still being sued
What Do You Think? Should software that can be misused be
banned? If so, how do you maintain freedom of speech?
Should such software be allowed? If so, how would you insure compensation for the
loss of intellectual property?
Some Miscellaneous Issues More free speech
Free software
Copyleft
Software patents and copyrights
More Free Speech Can domain names be copyrighted? Critical names
Whitehouse.gov Whitehouse.com Whitehouse.org Whitehouse.edu Whitehouse.net
Domain name “camping” Names that contain commercial trademarks
Pepsi.com Pepsi.org Pepsi.net
Still More Free Speech Church of Scientology sues to for removal of
documents from the Web (1995 – 1996) Not for commercial use, but was it “fair use”? Attempt to prevent a critic of the church from
posting to a BBS “Sue the deepest pocket” strategy
Free Speech: What would you do? Hood students post a negative review of a
website in partial fulfillment of a Web design course A detailed list of shortcomings Some site material was quoted Hood pages were indexed by Google Owner of site complained that the Hood
comments would hurt his business. What would you do?
Free Software Freeware, shareware, trial copies Richard Stallman (1983) – Gnu, Emacs editor Linus Torvald (1991) – Linux
Apache Server Red Hat Linux SourceForge.net
Copyleft No subsequent modification can be used by
someone else for profit America Online purchased Netscape and later
gave the code to the Mozilla Project Be sure to read “about” Mozilla
Can software be patented? Patent generally refers to physical devices or
processes Copyright refers to the expression of ideas Some overlap
Supreme Court Not entirely clear Software is an abstraction, not a physical item
(1972) US Patent Office issues some patents (1980’s
and 90’s) Patent granted to a Y2K solution that was
trivial Challenged in court
How do you evaluate the novelty of software? Computer Associates, Intl. versus Atari
(1992) Identify the purpose of the program
Not as easy as it may seem Remove “public domain” components
Common practices in similar software Examine what remains
An Example: Look and Feel Lotus 123 versus Borland Quattro
Can you copyright or patent the idea of rows and columns? Apple versus Microsoft
Can you implement a window any other way? The idea did not originate with Apple
Some things simply cannot be done any other way
Compatibility and standardization are important in the marketplace Many menus have similar structure Some provide “help” for (hopefully) former users of a competitor’s
software