This paper on copyright in the digital age takes on a relentlessly legalistic point of view, perhaps understandable given its source, but quite dissatisfying to the reader. It's a good overview of the legal opinions in the United States regarding copyright, but the paper has an unfortunate tendency to convert legal opinion into fact - for example, the declaration of a U.S. court that Kaaza falls under its jurisdiction does not make it so, nor does the declaration that 'shrink wrap licenses' are enforcable mean that people have somehow "agreed" to thereby waive their right of fair use. The paper almost completely ignores decisions outside the United States (except (eg., p. 33) where the decision "brings them into line" with U.S. directives). The discussion of digital rights management is a bit more balanced, but dwells excessively on the question of how such "rights" are enforced. The paper ends with a plea to "stop the rhetoric" but, from where I sit, to do so would be to abandon the field completely to the publishers, since like most people, I am not in a position to create law or even have my say in court.
Today: 1 Total: 10 [Direct link] [Share]
