art.hack

Intellectual Property

Topics for Discussion

Copyright, the DMCA, Piracy, Anti-Circumvention Measures, Digital Rights Management

LinkFarm

First:

Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig.
This is an Creative-Commons licensed HTML translation of the book Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (Lawrence Lessig, Penguin Press, 2004). The main website for the book is free-culture.cc. Read: the Introduction, the 2nd half of Chapter 5 (Piracy), Chapter 10 (Property), and Chapter 12 (Harms).

And, for More ...

Code 2.0, Chapter 10, Intellectual Property. This is a chapter from the Wiki project for the second edition of Lawrence Lessig's book, CODE.

US Copyright Office. Read the first part of the Copyright Basics, and Ch. 10-12 of the Copyright Law. Also, take a look at Current Legislation (Bills proposed). Take a look at the Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Act, which links copyright infringement and terrorism; the Digital Transition Content Security Act, which addresses the "Analog Hole"; the Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, provides criminal penalties for bootleg videotaping. But, on the other hand, take a look at the Public Domain Enhancement Act and Digital Media Consumers' Rights Act.

The Digital Millenium Copyright Act, overview, and full text. This is the primary current law regarding copyright and digital materials, anti-dmca.org, an advocacy site against the DMCA

EFF. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's section on intellectual property.

DVD Encryption

Lemuria.org, explanation of what CSS and DeCSS are
Final Decision in MPAA vs 2600
MPAA vs. Johansen


Creative Commons, an alternative approach to copyright and licensing.
MGM vs. Grokster

Discussion Questions

• What is the purpose of Copyright Law, anyway?
• How does the idea of intellectual property compare to the idea of physical property?
• What does copyright allow, and what does it prevent?
• What is the difference between Copyright, Trademarks, and Patents?
• What is the concept of "Fair Use"?
• What is the purpose of copyright in regard to (1) consumers, and (2) other producers?
• What are the new challenges to understanding copyright posed by digital technology?
• What is DRM? are there other means for regulating copying, and how do they compare? does DRM impact legitimate use, in either ideal or actual scenarios?
• In the Grokster case, part of the defense was based on the Sony decision which legalized VCRs. Why did the court find that it didn't apply?
• What's the difference between copy protection as it's implemented today for (1) written material, (2) images, (3) audio , (4) video, (5) software ? why ?
• What is the Anti-Circumvention part of the DMCA about?
• What is CSS and DeCSS ? What is the alleged legitimate purpose of DeCSS? Compare the arguments and outcomes of the trials of Jon Johansen, and of Eric Corley (Emmanuel Goldstein/2600 Magazine).
• Any time you view a webpage, all of the material on it (text, image, sound, whatever) is copied onto your computer. And, it's also copied dozens of other times on intermediary computers, hubs, routers, etc. So, why isn't that illegal already?
• What are the objections to Sony's audio CD DRM software? aside from the technical issues with that specific software, how do you think the use of audio DRM balances the rights of the producer and the consumer?
• Aside from the law, is file-sharing ethical? Why or why not? How does Lessig analyze it?