Copyright and Control Over New Technologies of Dissemination

The relationship of copyright to new technologies that exploit copyrighted works is often perceived to pit copyright against progress. Historically, when copyright owners seek to eliminate a new kind of dissemination, and when courts do not deem that dissemination harmful to copyright owners, courts decline to find infringement. However, when owners seek instead to participate in and be paid for the new modes of exploitation, the courts, and Congress, appear more favorable to copyright control over that new market. Today, the courts and Congress regard the unlicensed distribution of works over the Internet as impairing copyright owners\u27 ability to avail themselves of new markets for digital communication of works; they accord control over those markets to copyright owners in order to promote wide dissemination. Copyright control by authors, particularly those excluded by traditional intermediary-controlled distribution systems, may offer the public an increased quantity and variety of works of authorship

Protección tecnológica y contractual de las obras con derecho de autor: ¿Hacia una privatización del acceso a la información?

Los problemas que el gran desarrollo de la información digital e Internet están provocando al derecho de autor se están intentando solucionar a través de tres vías: legislativa, tecnológica y contractual. La protección proporcionada a las obras con derecho de autor mediante medidas tecnológicas complementa a las condiciones de uso establecidas en las licencias y, además, ambos tipos de protección están respaldados por las nuevas leyes surgidas para adaptarse al nuevo contexto tecnológico. Como resultado de esta triple protección se están poniendo en grave peligro las excepciones y limitaciones a los derechos de autor reconocidas por las leyes de derecho de autor para beneficiar a las bibliotecas, sus usuarios y los ciudadanos en general, dando lugar a una fuerte y peligrosa privatización del acceso a la información

Reconstructing the Software License

This article analyzes the legitimacy of the software license as a institution of governance for computer programs. The question of the open source license is used as a starting point. Having conducted a broader inquiry into the several possible bases for the legitimacy of software licensing in general, the article argues that none of the grounds on which software licensing in general rests are sound. With respect to open source software in particular, the article concludes that achieving a legitimate institutional form for the goals that open source proponents have set for themselves may require looking beyond licensing as such

Access to Geographic Scientific and Technical Data in an Academic Setting

Data availability is a key issue affecting society\u27s social well being. Information technology has increased the availability of and improved access to data. The academic community that uses spatial data is one of the groups that has taken advantage of fast and inexpensive opportunities to share data and knowledge in a relatively unfettered fashion across digital networks. However, pressure by the private sector to increase protection for databases through database legislation, self-help measures (contracts, licensing and technological methods for limiting access) and movement by some local governments towards revenue generation from sales of data are decreasing or threatening to decrease access to information for academics. This research explores current and potential access to information principles having substantial potential for promoting sharing and openness for scientific exploration. Current laws and policies on intellectual property and access to information are explored in the context of such principles. A literature study and a questionnaire are used to investigate the access to data environment of academia using geographic data in accomplishing academic research. Current problems are assessed, and legal constraints are analyzed. Whether or not adhered to, an assessment is made in each project of the productivity of scientists compared to the actual principles followed and the extent and nature of problems encountered. Productivity is assessed on a dataset level. It is measured in terms of satisfaction by scientists with the principles imposed upon scientists for accessing that dataset, the extent of problems encountered by scientists when confronted with the specific access principles, and the accomplishment of research goals under the constraints imposed. This research has resulted in new knowledge that should help inform policy makers and scientists themselves of the means by which a satisfactory environment for accessing data might be maintained or accomplished. Ultimately the results are used to supply evidence of academic community practices that would be supported or not supported by a range of legal options for protecting databases, some of which are currently before Congress

End-to-end security in active networks

Active network solutions have been proposed to many of the problems caused by the increasing heterogeneity of the Internet. These ystems allow nodes within the network to process data passing through in several ways. Allowing code from various sources to run on routers introduces numerous security concerns that have been addressed by research into safe languages, restricted execution environments, and other related areas. But little attention has been paid to an even more critical question: the effect on end-to-end security of active flow manipulation. This thesis first examines the threat model implicit in active networks. It develops a framework of security protocols in use at various layers of the networking stack, and their utility to multimedia transport and flow processing, and asks if it is reasonable to give active routers access to the plaintext of these flows. After considering the various security problem introduced, such as vulnerability to attacks on intermediaries or coercion, it concludes not. We then ask if active network systems can be built that maintain end-to-end security without seriously degrading the functionality they provide. We describe the design and analysis of three such protocols: a distributed packet filtering system that can be used to adjust multimedia bandwidth requirements and defend against denial-of-service attacks; an efficient composition of link and transport-layer reliability mechanisms that increases the performance of TCP over lossy wireless links; and a distributed watermarking servicethat can efficiently deliver media flows marked with the identity of their recipients. In all three cases, similar functionality is provided to designs that do not maintain end-to-end security. Finally, we reconsider traditional end-to-end arguments in both networking and security, and show that they have continuing importance for Internet design. Our watermarking work adds the concept of splitting trust throughout a network to that model; we suggest further applications of this idea

Copyright and shared networking technologies

PhDThe technological zeitgeist has transformed the social-cultural, legal and commercial aspects of society today. Networking technologies comprise one of the most influential factors in this. Although this transformation can be discounted as a mere historical phenomenon dating back to the advent of the printing press, empirical data concerning usage of these technologies shows that there has been a radical shift in the ability to control the dissemination of copyright works. Networking technologies allow, in an unprecedented manner, user-initiated activities including perfect replications, instantaneous dissemination, and abundant storage. They are immune to technological attempts to dismantle them, and impervious to legal attempts to control and harness them. They affect a global audience, which in turn, undermine at negligible costs, the legal and business parameters of copyright owners. The problem is whether it will now be possible to establish a copyright framework which balances the interests of the following groups: (a) copyright owners in their control of the dissemination of their works; (b) authors demanding remuneration for the exploitation of their works; (c) users wishing to consume works with clear immunity guidelines using networked technologies; (d) technologists striving to continuously innovate without legal and policy restrictions. Copyright law is not a mechanism for preserving the status quo or a particular business model. It is, as suggested above, a reflection of the needs and interests of authors, copyright owners, entertainment industries, users and technologists. This thesis examines whether the balance between these actors can be achieved and, if so, how it can be implemented within international, regional and national copyright laws. It finds that a balance can be struck; but that this balance should be aligned along three key concepts: user integrity; technological innovation; and authors‘ and owners‘ remuneration. The proposal is that the optimal method for achieving this triptych is the introduction and global implementation of a reasonable and unobtrusive system of remuneration

Securing the Future of Copyright Users’ Rights in Canada

The Copyright Act includes a set of copyright infringement exceptions that permit the unauthorized use of copyrighted works in order to serve public interest objectives. The Supreme Court of Canada liberally interpreted these exceptions as “users’ rights” by relying on the purpose of the Act, understood as a balance between the authors’ right to be rewarded for their works and the public interest in the dissemination and use of works. The utility of copyright balance to safeguard users’ rights is uncertain. The Act does not explicitly adopt “balance” as a purpose. National and international copyright law traditionally recognize the users’ side in the copyright law balance in copyright exceptions and limitations. And, in copyright law discourse, different stakeholders propose and defend conflicting forms of balance. Therefore, the paper argues that a human rights-based approach to copyright exceptions is more persuasive in justifying their interpretation as users’ rights. Copyright users’ rights mirror the content of the human rights to participate in culture, education, and freedom of expression, which Canada is obliged to implement as a State Party to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The proposed approach would align the discourse with key elements of Canadian jurisprudence: (1) human rights as reinforcers of the rule of law; (2) international human rights law as an interpretive tool for Canadian courts; and (3) the need to interpret Canadian legislation in a manner that does not breach international obligations.La Loi sur le droit d’auteur inclut une série d’exceptions à la violation du droit d’auteur qui permettent l’utilisation sans autorisation d’œuvres protégées par le droit d’auteur pour atteindre des objectifs d’intérêt public. La Cour suprême du Canada a interprété largement ces exceptions comme étant des « droits d’utilisateur » en s’appuyant sur l’objectif de la Loi, considéré comme étant l’équilibre entre le droit des auteurs de tirer profit de leurs œuvres et l’intérêt public dans la diffusion et l’utilisation de ces œuvres. L’utilité de l’équilibre en matière de droit d’auteur dans la protection des droits des utilisateurs est incertaine. La Loi n’adopte pas explicitement l’objectif de l’« équilibre ». Le droit national et international en matière de droit d’auteur reconnaît traditionnellement le point de vue des utilisateurs dans cet équilibre sous forme d’exceptions et de restrictions au droit d’auteur. Également, dans les discussions sur le droit d’auteur, divers intéressés proposent et défendent des formes contradictoires d’équilibre. En conséquence, l’article soutient qu’une conception des exceptions au droit d’auteur qui est fondée sur les droits de la personne justifie de façon plus persuasive qu’on les interprète comme des droits d’utilisateurs. Les droits des utilisateurs d’œuvres protégées par le droit d’auteur reflètent le contenu des droits humains de participer à la culture, à l’éducation et à la liberté d’expression, que le Canada a l’obligation d’appliquer en tant qu’État partie du Pacte international relatif aux droits économiques, sociaux et culturels et du Pacte international relatif aux droits civils et politiques. L’approche proposée harmoniserait le discours avec les éléments clés de la jurisprudence canadienne : 1) les droits de la personne comme remparts de la primauté du droit; 2) le droit international en matière de droits de la personne comme outil d’interprétation pour les tribunaux du Canada; 3) le besoin d’interpréter la législation canadienne de manière à ne pas violer les obligations internationales

Toward a Human Rights Method for Measuring International Copyright Law’s Compliance with International Human Rights Law

States parties to international copyright instruments are required to give effect to their obligations under international copyright law and fulfil their international human rights obligations with respect to striking a balance between the human rights of the authors of intellectual works and human rights of the users of those same works. The High Commissioner of Human Rights has concluded that such balance ‘is one familiar to intellectual property law’. This conclusion assumes that international copyright law is already compliant with international human rights law. However, international copyright law instruments are not clear about how to reach an appropriate balance between these rights and, as a result, different stakeholders in the international copyright community seek and defend varied versions of balance which are not necessarily consistent. Concurrently, international human rights law bodies and scholars have examined the human rights of authors and users of intellectual works through a copyright law lens, missing a chance to articulate a clear human rights principle of balance. A proper human rights balance between authors’ and users’ human rights recognises the limited nature of both sets of human rights, rejects any hierarchy between them, and interprets them in conformity with the notion of the interdependence and indivisibility of human rights