DMCA
Happy Birthday, DMCA!
July 06, 2008 Filed in: Copyright
Enacted in 1998 to update U.S. copyright law to
recognize the digital context, few had an intimation
how central the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
would become to the national debate on copyright; for
only a year later, (the original) Napster was
unleashed on the world...
At the Tech Policy Summit held May, Fred von Lohman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed the sentiment that the DMCA got it about right (even realizing, as we’ve seen, that there many who believe it went too far or not far enough) in terms of the balance of responsibilities between rightsholders and online service providers: that fundamentally there is sufficient “looseness” in the framework to permit innovation to flourish. (Would TiVo exist, if, before offering its service, it had had to go to each rightsholder to ask permission to carry content?) We see the innovation everywhere: Google, YouTube, eBay, the Slingbox … We will need to continue the national discussion to keep seeking an appropriate balance. In the mean time, it’s been an interesting ten years. Happy birthday, DMCA!
Worth reading: “Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?” Atlantic Monthly, September 1998. Published mere months before the DMCA was enacted, it brilliantly covers the underlying issues about copyright; and is, in many ways, prescient.
(Of course, the DMCA covers a lot more than just how rightsholders and ISPs interact... there’s the anti-circumvention issue, for example, that though rather quiescent in recent times - or perhaps has now mostly just become a fact of life - was hugely controversial at the time.)
At the Tech Policy Summit held May, Fred von Lohman of the Electronic Frontier Foundation expressed the sentiment that the DMCA got it about right (even realizing, as we’ve seen, that there many who believe it went too far or not far enough) in terms of the balance of responsibilities between rightsholders and online service providers: that fundamentally there is sufficient “looseness” in the framework to permit innovation to flourish. (Would TiVo exist, if, before offering its service, it had had to go to each rightsholder to ask permission to carry content?) We see the innovation everywhere: Google, YouTube, eBay, the Slingbox … We will need to continue the national discussion to keep seeking an appropriate balance. In the mean time, it’s been an interesting ten years. Happy birthday, DMCA!
Worth reading: “Who Will Own Your Next Good Idea?” Atlantic Monthly, September 1998. Published mere months before the DMCA was enacted, it brilliantly covers the underlying issues about copyright; and is, in many ways, prescient.
(Of course, the DMCA covers a lot more than just how rightsholders and ISPs interact... there’s the anti-circumvention issue, for example, that though rather quiescent in recent times - or perhaps has now mostly just become a fact of life - was hugely controversial at the time.)
Hey, it's my mug up on the front page
February 24, 2008 Filed in: Digital
piracy |
Copyright
... of the EDUCAUSE Western Regional Conference site.
I'm moderating the closing plenary, Don't Download This Panel and
it's going to be a blast! The panel lineup is
terrific, if I do say so myself: Greg DePriest from
NBC/Universal, Kenneth C. Green of the
Campus Computing Project and Fred von Lohman from the
Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Come one, come all: early bird registration until March 3.
Thanks to Michael Berman, 2008 WRC Program Chair (Senior Vice President and CIO at the Art Center College of Design in his day job), for the impetus and all the support to make this happen.
The fine print: In case you didn't notice, this item is a shameless plug.
Come one, come all: early bird registration until March 3.
Thanks to Michael Berman, 2008 WRC Program Chair (Senior Vice President and CIO at the Art Center College of Design in his day job), for the impetus and all the support to make this happen.
The fine print: In case you didn't notice, this item is a shameless plug.
A student life approach to illegal file sharing
March 25, 2007 Filed in: Digital
piracy
Jim Davis, UCLA’s AVC-IT and CIO, testified before a
Congressional hearing chaired by Representative
Howard Berman entitled An Update – Piracy on University
Networks on March 8, 2007. His testimony,
A Student-Life Approach to
Copyright Infringement at UCLA, articulates
UCLA’s student-life approach to this issue.
Two articles covering this hearing are Congress is Unhappy With Higher Ed’s Copyright Infringement Activities and the Washington Post’s article Music Industry Tightens Squeeze On Students Campus Network Access Targeted. (Interestingly, BusinessWeek’s April 9, 2007 article Now Playing: Digital Disarray, supports the argument that good business models aren’t there yet.)
Jim also testified in October 2004 before the same subcommittee on the UCLA Quarantine Approach and Studios Working Group.
Two articles covering this hearing are Congress is Unhappy With Higher Ed’s Copyright Infringement Activities and the Washington Post’s article Music Industry Tightens Squeeze On Students Campus Network Access Targeted. (Interestingly, BusinessWeek’s April 9, 2007 article Now Playing: Digital Disarray, supports the argument that good business models aren’t there yet.)
Jim also testified in October 2004 before the same subcommittee on the UCLA Quarantine Approach and Studios Working Group.