167 research outputs found

    Analog to Digital: Harnessing Peer Computing

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    Twenty years ago the recording industry alleged consumers were killing music sales by recording their own cassette tapes at home. Today, this argument is directed at peer-to-peer (P2P) networks: Illegal file-sharing kills the sales of recorded music. In an effort to determine copyright law\u27s affect on innovation in peer comuting, this Note examines the recording industry\u27s response to P2P networks. The recording industry employs five strategies: (I) public education; (2) licensed online music subscription services; (3) warnings, injunctions, and enforcement; (4) Digital Rights Management; and (5) lobbying Congress for expanded copyright protection. However, the industry\u27s strategy also chills investment in peer computing and drives development in unpredictable directions. While P2P networks are rife with copyrighted works, innovative uses of peer communication are also reshaping how Americans consume and distribute content. In many ways, innovation in peer computing might determine the future of communication. The recording industry and Congress have a choice: shape a future for peer computing, or eliminate a novel form of communication

    An International-Comparative Perspective on Peer-to-Peer File-Sharing and Third Party Liability in Copyright Law

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    In the last decade, the phenomenon of peer-to-peer file-sharing and its various legal aspects have been dealt with extensively by legal scholarship. The purpose of this Article is to take a closer inspection of several particular legal aspects that are related to peer-to-peer file-sharing as a comparative, social, economic, and cultural phenomenon. The Article begins by providing critical comparative analysis of distinct paradigms that different legal systems have offered regarding the question of third party liability for copyright infringements that occur through peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms. The Article then presents three focal policy considerations that should serve as copyright law\u27s compass in the context of peer-to-peer file-sharing. (a) adopting a requirement of compliance between the legal liability of third parties and copyright law\u27s exemptions and limitations regime; (b) striking a socially desired allocation of risk between positive and negative externalities that peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms tend to generate; (c) understanding the unique distributional concerns that are raised by legal regulation of peer-to-peer file-sharing platforms, especially when taking into account the nature of such platforms as a novel emerging speech resource that society has to decide upon its allocation. The last part of the Article focuses on some of the next generation legal questions that peer-to-peer networks are already beginning to give rise to, including the legal liability of internet service providers for managing peer-to-peer traffic through active caching and routing applications

    An Economist's Guide to Digital Music

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    In this guide, we discuss the impact of digitalization on the music industry. We rely on market and survey data at the international level as well as expert statements from the industry. The guide investigates recent developments in legal and technological protection of digital music and describes new business models as well as consumers' attitude towards music downloads. We conclude the guide by a discussion of the evolution of the music industry

    An Economist's Guide to Digital Music

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    In this guide, we discuss the impact of digitalization on the music industry. We rely on market and survey data at the international level as well as expert statements from the industry. The guide investigates recent developments in legal and technological protection of digital music and describes new business models as well as consumers' attitude towards music downloads. We conclude the guide by a discussion of the evolution of the music industry.Music; Internet; File-sharing; Peer-to-peer; Piracy; Digital Rights Management; Copyright; E-commerce

    Framework for privacy-aware content distribution in peer-to- peer networks with copyright protection

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    The use of peer-to-peer (P2P) networks for multimedia distribution has spread out globally in recent years. This mass popularity is primarily driven by the efficient distribution of content, also giving rise to piracy and copyright infringement as well as privacy concerns. An end user (buyer) of a P2P content distribution system does not want to reveal his/her identity during a transaction with a content owner (merchant), whereas the merchant does not want the buyer to further redistribute the content illegally. Therefore, there is a strong need for content distribution mechanisms over P2P networks that do not pose security and privacy threats to copyright holders and end users, respectively. However, the current systems being developed to provide copyright and privacy protection to merchants and end users employ cryptographic mechanisms, which incur high computational and communication costs, making these systems impractical for the distribution of big files, such as music albums or movies.El uso de soluciones de igual a igual (peer-to-peer, P2P) para la distribución multimedia se ha extendido mundialmente en los últimos años. La amplia popularidad de este paradigma se debe, principalmente, a la distribución eficiente de los contenidos, pero también da lugar a la piratería, a la violación del copyright y a problemas de privacidad. Un usuario final (comprador) de un sistema de distribución de contenidos P2P no quiere revelar su identidad durante una transacción con un propietario de contenidos (comerciante), mientras que el comerciante no quiere que el comprador pueda redistribuir ilegalmente el contenido más adelante. Por lo tanto, existe una fuerte necesidad de mecanismos de distribución de contenidos por medio de redes P2P que no supongan un riesgo de seguridad y privacidad a los titulares de derechos y los usuarios finales, respectivamente. Sin embargo, los sistemas actuales que se desarrollan con el propósito de proteger el copyright y la privacidad de los comerciantes y los usuarios finales emplean mecanismos de cifrado que implican unas cargas computacionales y de comunicaciones muy elevadas que convierten a estos sistemas en poco prácticos para distribuir archivos de gran tamaño, tales como álbumes de música o películas.L'ús de solucions d'igual a igual (peer-to-peer, P2P) per a la distribució multimèdia s'ha estès mundialment els darrers anys. L'àmplia popularitat d'aquest paradigma es deu, principalment, a la distribució eficient dels continguts, però també dóna lloc a la pirateria, a la violació del copyright i a problemes de privadesa. Un usuari final (comprador) d'un sistema de distribució de continguts P2P no vol revelar la seva identitat durant una transacció amb un propietari de continguts (comerciant), mentre que el comerciant no vol que el comprador pugui redistribuir il·legalment el contingut més endavant. Per tant, hi ha una gran necessitat de mecanismes de distribució de continguts per mitjà de xarxes P2P que no comportin un risc de seguretat i privadesa als titulars de drets i els usuaris finals, respectivament. Tanmateix, els sistemes actuals que es desenvolupen amb el propòsit de protegir el copyright i la privadesa dels comerciants i els usuaris finals fan servir mecanismes d'encriptació que impliquen unes càrregues computacionals i de comunicacions molt elevades que fan aquests sistemes poc pràctics per a distribuir arxius de grans dimensions, com ara àlbums de música o pel·lícules

    PrivDRM : a privacy-preserving secure Digital Right Management system

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    Digital Right Management (DRM) is a technology developed to prevent illegal reproduction and distribution of digital contents. It protects the rights of content owners by allowing only authorised consumers to legitimately access associated digital content. DRM systems typically use a consumer's identity for authentication. In addition, some DRM systems collect consumer's preferences to obtain a content license. Thus, the behaviour of DRM systems disadvantages the digital content consumers (i.e. neglecting consumers' privacy) focusing more on securing the digital content (i.e. biased towards content owners). This paper proposes the Privacy-Preserving Digital Rights Management System (PrivDRM) that allows a consumer to acquire digital content with its license without disclosing complete personal information and without using any third parties. To evaluate the performance of the proposed solution, a prototype of the PrivDRM system has been developed and investigated. The security analysis (attacks and threats) are analysed and showed that PrivDRM supports countermeasures for well-known attacks and achieving the privacy requirements. In addition, a comparison with some well-known proposals shows that PrivDRM outperforms those proposals in terms of processing overhead

    WARP: A ICN architecture for social data

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    Social network companies maintain complete visibility and ownership of the data they store. However users should be able to maintain full control over their content. For this purpose, we propose WARP, an architecture based upon Information-Centric Networking (ICN) designs, which expands the scope of the ICN architecture beyond media distribution, to provide data control in social networks. The benefit of our solution lies in the lightweight nature of the protocol and in its layered design. With WARP, data distribution and access policies are enforced on the user side. Data can still be replicated in an ICN fashion but we introduce control channels, named \textit{thread updates}, which ensures that the access to the data is always updated to the latest control policy. WARP decentralizes the social network but still offers APIs so that social network providers can build products and business models on top of WARP. Social applications run directly on the user's device and store their data on the user's \textit{butler} that takes care of encryption and distribution. Moreover, users can still rely on third parties to have high-availability without renouncing their privacy

    Conceptualizing Copyright Enforcement and Management in the Digital Age Through Two Models: The Right-Holder-Centric Model and Cooperative Model

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    This dissertation focuses on the issues of copyright enforcement and management. Especially, the research looks into how the digital technology reshapes the general perceptions and landscape of the copyright system in terms of online enforcement and management. Stepping into the digital age, the interaction between copyright holders and other parties, including online users and the ISPs, establishes two coexisting models—the right-holder-centric model and the cooperative model. Therefore, the dissertation analyzes which model is more appropriate and efficient with respect to online copyright enforcement and management. As a matter of fact, the coexistences of two models provides copyright holders and other parties with multiple options in terms of copyright enforcement and management. Each model has distinctive features and mechanism, and builds upon different perceptions and foundations. The idea that one model can replace the other does not support the analysis in this dissertation because each model covers strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, each model should be the supplementary option to the other according to specific circumstances. To sum up, the two models should works as a general entity to promote the copyright enforcement and management
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