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From: Filter Editor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 23 January 2004 20:49
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The Filter, No. 6.3
No. 6.3 <--The Filter--> 1.23.04
Your regular dose of public-interest Internet news and commentary
from the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at
H a r v a r d L a w S c h o o l
CONTENTS: HIGHLIGHTS:
[1] In the News: WSIS - Whatsis?
[2] Dispatches: It was 20 years ago today...
[3] Berkman News: Register Now for ILaw
[4] Conference Watch
[5] Bookmarks: Understanding and Understanding
[6] Quotables: Durr!
[7] Talk Back
[8] Subscription Info
[9] About us
[10] Not a Copyright
-----------------------------------------
[1] IN THE NEWS
================
* Up(load)s and Down(load)s
Late last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled
in favor of Verizon in its legal battle against the Recording Industry
Association of America, Inc. (RIAA). The decision, handed down on
December 19th, blocked the RIAA's attemtps to force Verizon as an ISP
to hand over the names of users whose IP addresses the RIAA had cited
as alleged sharers of copyrighted materials over P2P networks. In the
text of the decision, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals stated that
the RIAA could not force Verizon to turn over the information by
siting the Digital Millennium Copyright Act : "It is not the province
of the courts...to rewrite the DMCA in order to make it fit a new and
unforeseen internet architecture, no matter how damaging that
developmenthas been to the music industry."
On January 21, the RIAA filed 532 lawsuits against "John Doe"
defendants, identified only by their IP addresses. With this new
angle, the record labels are hoping to be allowed to subpoena the
users' information from ISPs after specific lawsuits are filed. RIAA
president Cary Sherman said, "The message to illegal file sharers
should be as clear as ever - we can and will continue to bring
lawsuits on a regular basis against those who illegally distribute
copyrighted music."
On the Verizon victory:
<http://news.com.com/2009-1027-5130153.html>
Read the decision--RIAA v. Verizon Internet Services, Inc.:
<http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200312/03-7015a.pdf>
On the newest lawsuits:
<http://money.cnn.com/2004/01/21/technology/riaa_suits/index.htm>
<http://www.eff.org/IP/P2P/20040121_eff_pr.php>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/22/business/media/22music.html>
* Big Conference, Any Impact?
Participants and international observers of the largest ever
conference on international Internet development - the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) - are still trying to evaluate what
difference WSIS will have on the future of information and
communication technologies (ICTs). The summit's official paper trail
consists of two documents and a counter-statement, but according to
many, the lasting impact of the 11,000-person summit is more subtle
and varied than these statements reflect. Read more about the impact
of WSIS in this Berkman Briefing:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/briefings/WSIS.html>.
In collaboration with the Berkman Center, the journal of Information
Technologies and International Development (ITID) is producing a
special issue dedicated to WSIS and its aftermath. Read more about
the journal and submission guidelines here:
<http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID>
The official WSIS homepage:
<http://www.itu.int/wsis/>
WSIS declarations:
<http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi-en-1161|1160.asp>
The Daily Summit's blog of WSIS:
<http://www.dailysummit.net/>
* CASE IN POINT 1.2
The Case in Point is Caldera v. IBM, also called the case against
open-source.
Update on litigation: SCO is suing IBM under a number of unfair trade
practice and breach of contract disputes. Copyright infringement
claims were added more recently. IBM has denied most of the claims
and asks the court to force SCO to reveal the portions of the code
that are the basis of the allegation.
Since the last Filter report, SCO notified Linux users of more than 65
files ("ABI Code") that it says have been copied into Linux 2.4.21
from SCO's UNIX code base. Although these files were covered by the
BSDI settlement, SCO points out that they are part of the "UNIX
Derived Files" and the particular settlement terms that apply to them
do not permit distribution without copyright notice. SCO demands that
users remove all ABI Code because such copying violates the U.S.
Copyright Act and because the removal of SCO's copyright notice
violates the DMCA '1202's rights management provisions. See SCO's
letter at
<http://www.sco.com/scosource/abi_files_letter_20031219.pdf>
Meanwhile, the Open Source Development Labs announced a defense fund to
pay legal fees for litigation threatened by SCO against Linux users,
claiming that the fund has received $3 million in support from supporters
such as IBM and Intel.
<http://tinyurl.com/3fylg>.
Our next discussion question is: Does an open-source license scheme
such as the GPL defeat the purposes of the copyright clause of the
United States Constitution (Article I, Section 8) by forcing those who
wish to build on a work to offer their improvements on a royalty-free
basis? Does the answer differ depending on the type of work that is
being distributed? Under this theory, would technical rights
management restrictions that last beyond the term of copyright
protection be equally unconstitutional?
See SCO's comments from Darl McBride at
<http://www.newsforge.com/trends/03/12/04/2024240.shtml?tid=85>.
See the GPL at <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html#TOC1>.
If you are interested in commenting on this question, please go to H2O
at <http://h2o.law.harvard.edu/register.do> and register for the
project "SCO-IBM." Responses will be reported in the next Filter
issue.
[2] DISPATCHES
==============
January 17th marked the 20th anniversary of the landmark Betamax
decision. When Sony, attacked by Disney and Universal for alleged
copyright violation, emerged victorious, a new era in copyright law
was born. The concept of "time-shifting" - recording a broadcasted
work in order to view it at another time - as fair use would later
enter into cases regarding various new technologies, particularly
online download sites (Napster, Grokster, Aimster) and personal video
recorders. Despite the varied results in these cases and
modifications to the relevant law by the DMCA, Sony v. Universal
stands not only important precedent but also legal groundbreaker.
The majority opinion:
<http://www.virtualrecordings.com/betamax.htm>
Further readings:
<http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/B/htmlB/betamaxcase/betamaxcase.htm>
<http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-523817.html?legacy=zdnn>
<http://www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m3169/34_39/55551109/p1/article.jhtml>
[3] BERKMAN NEWS
================
* AudioBerkman: Listen to Us
The Berkman Center is kicking off a new multimedia project:
AudioBerkman will offer a way to listen in to research about the
hottest issues related to technology and cyberlaw. Periodically, we
will release a new audio piece that spotlights a different
Internet-related subject and features different angles on the debate.
Check out our first production, and stay tuned for future pieces by
checking the project website.
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/audio>
* Internet Law Program 2004: Registration Now Open!
The Berkman Center for Internet & Society is pleased to offer the
Internet Law Program at Harvard Law School on May 13-15, 2004. This
dynamic, innovative three-day seminar will bring together the leading
experts in the field with participants from all over the world to
explore today's most pressing Internet issues and provoke new ways of
thinking about the future of the Internet. The program kicks off with
a distance learning component on April 14 to May 5.
The outstanding team of educators includes Larry Lessig of Stanford,
Yochai Benkler of Yale, and William Fisher, Charles Nesson and
Jonathan Zittrain of Harvard. On the agenda: recent reforms in
intellectual-property systems, privacy versus security on the Net, the
changing shape and role of ICANN, "open" versus "proprietary" software
systems, regulating pornography, jurisdictional problems, cybercrime,
addressing the digital divide, and more.
The program is intended for a broad audience, and no previous
experience with Internet law is necessary. Past participants have
included entrepreneurs, policymakers, educators, technology
professionals, and journalists who write about technology. American
lawyers in some states may be eligible for Continuing Legal Education
(CLE) credit.
For more information:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw>
Online registration is now open at:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw/register>
Questions? Please contact Robyn Mintz at
<mailto:[log in to unmask]>.
* New Digital Media Website Launched
The Berkman Center has created a new website for its Digital Media
Project, a multi-year study that began in October 2003. The project,
made possible with the generous sponsorship of the MacArthur
Foundation, the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation
Network, and Gartner|G2, was initiated to educate stakeholders, from
industry executives to policymakers to the general public, about how
to maximize the potential of digital media technology. The research
has been structured around five scenarios that could become the
primary influences guiding the distribution of music, movies, and
other creative content online. As the project evolves, we will
continue to monitor the digital media debate and expand the five
scenarios through a series of publications and conferences.
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/media/>
[4] CONFERENCE WATCH
====================
February:
* February 2-3, 2004, Washington, DC--Email Security
<http://www.srinstitute.com/ApplicationFiles/web/WebFrame.cfm?web_id=143>
* February 26-27, 2004, Geneva--Workshop on Internet Governance
<http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/forum/intgov04/index.html>
March:
* March 12-16, 2004, Austin, TX--South by Southwest Interactive Festival
<http://www.sxsw.com/interactive/>
May:
* May 10-14, 2004, Barcelona--INET/IGC 2004 Strengthening the Net:
Building an Open and Trusted Internet
<http://www.isoc.org/inet04/>
* May 13-15, 2004, Cambridge, MA--Internet Law Program
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/ilaw>
* May 26-27, 2004, Zaporozhye, Ukraine--The Second Cybercrime
Conference 2004
<http://www.crime-research.org/conferenc.html>
[5] BOOKMARKS
==============
* Jack Balkin's Digital Speech and Democratic Culture: A Theory of
Freedom of Expression for the Information Society
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=470842>
* Christopher Lydon interviews Tim Berners-Lee
<http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/lydon/2004/01/09>
* Understanding Open Source Software by Red Hat's Mark Webbink, Esq.
<http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20031231092027900>
* On HR 3261: Do we need stronger database protection?
<http://www.publicknowledge.org/content/legislation/legislation-hr3261>
* Communicast: Developing a Community-Programmed Webcasting Service by
Todd Larson
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/uploads/308/2004-01.pdf>
[6] QUOTABLES
==============
"[T]here's...evidence that people haven't stopped swapping music --
they've just stopped admitting it." -- Hiawatha Bray in The Boston
Globe
<http://tinyurl.com/32qqv>
"I didn't think they would get all their high-priced lawyers to come
after me." -- 17-year-old Mike Rowe, on being sued by Microsoft for
his domain name, MikeRoweSoft.com
<http://tinyurl.com/3b2zm>
[7] TALK BACK
================
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[8] SUBSCRIPTION INFO
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[9] ABOUT US
=============
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Who we are:
<http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filter/about.html>
[10] NOT A COPYRIGHT
=====================
A publication of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard
Law School <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu> You may--and please
do--forward or copy this newsletter to friends and colleagues.
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study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
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