Copyright, Intellectual Property and Open Source

 

Copyright is one of the few controversies surrounding the use of the Internet that is explicitly mentioned in the U.S. Constitution. However, the digital age is making the concept of copyright increasingly problematic. As some people have pointed out, the Internet can be viewed as a giant copying machine, compromising the very concept of copyright. The new surge in interest in technologies like MP3s, for copying and distributing music, or even newer technologies for copying and distributing video, are worrisome to some copyright holders, while their use is rampant among some Internet users, particularly teenagers and college-age people. It is said that "MP3" is now the most commonly used Internet search term, having surpassed "sex."

 

In 1998 Congress passed a new Digital Millennium Copyright Act that helped clear up some controversies, but which created others. A great deal of controversy was left to others to sort out, such as the future of "fair use." At the same time, new technologies are emerging every day that even make the powers of the new legislation uncertain.

 

Over the past few years, a new concept of software has emerged, called "Open Source." This new concept of how software is developed and protected has taken the computing world by storm, chiefly through the spread of the popular operating system Linux. We'll take a look at the impact of this new phenomenon on the software industry and on the role of copyright.

 

Readings:

 

Lessig, Chapter 10

 

Copyright Basics, U.S. Government Copyright Office, a PDF file at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

 

Look at Creative Commons, at http://creativecommons.org/about/what-is-cc.

 

"Why Software Should Not Have Owners," by Richard Stallman, at http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-free.html.

 

"The Concept of Copyright Fights for Internet Survival," by John Markoff, The New York Times, May 10, 2000, at http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/05/biztech/articles/10digital.html.

 

"A Summary of S.2037, The Digital Millenium Copyright Act," prepared by the The UCLA Online Institute for Cyberspace Law and Policy at http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/iclp/dmca1.htm.

 

"Time to Rewrite the DMCA," by Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA), in CNet's News.com, at http://news.com.com/2010-1078-825335.html.

 

Look at the Copyright Reform Act, model legislation proposed by the nonprofit organization Public Knowledge, at http://www.publicknowledge.org/cra/.

 

"Unintended Consequences: Twelve Years under the DMCA," by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, at https://www.eff.org/wp/unintended-consequences-under-dmca

 

Scan the FAQ on the Web site of the Recording Industry Association of America, at http://www.riaa.com/faq.php.

 

"'Hurt Locker' Downloaders: You've Been Sued," by Greg Sandoval, CNET News.com, May 28, 2010, at http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-20006314-261.html.

 

"What is Free Software?" prepared by the Free Software Foundation, at http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.

 

"The Open Source Definition," prepared by the Open Source Initiative, at http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd.

 

"What is Linux?" at http://www.linux.org/info/index.html.

 

Why Open Source Free Software? Look at the Numbers, by David Wheeler, at http://www.dwheeler.com/oss_fs_why.html

 

Further optional reading:

 

Who Owns Information?: From Privacy to Public Access, by Anne Wells Branscomb, Basic Books, 1995.

The Digital Dilemma: Intellectual Property in the Information Age, National Research Council, February 2000.

 

Owning the Future, by Seth Shulman, Houghton-Mifflin, 1999.

 

Intellectual Property in the Age of Universal Access, Pamela Sameulson, Peter G. Neumann (eds.), Association for Computing Machinery, 1999.

 

The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary, by Eric S. Raymond, O'Reilly and Associates, 1999.

 

Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High-Tech Titans, by Peter Wayner, Harper Business, 2000.

 

The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, by Yochai Benkler, Yale University Press, 2006.

 

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, by Clay Shirky, Penguin Press, 2008.

 

Two Bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software, by Christopher M. Kelty, Duke University Press, 2008.