28-07-2012, 02:59 PM
A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal, and Ethical Issues for Computers and the Internet
Gift of Fire.ppt (Size: 177.5 KB / Downloads: 63)
Intellectual Property Is:
• Intangible creative work—not necessarily the physical form on which it is stored or delivered.
• Given legal protection in the form of copyright, patent, trademark, and trade secret laws.
Fair-Use Doctrine
Permission to use the work is not required.
Allows uses of copyrighted material that contribute to the creation of new work and do not significantly affect sales of the material, thus depriving copyright holders of their income.
Allows some research and educational uses as well as news reporting and critiquing.
Guidelines for determining Fair Use are found in law.
Music
Improved technology allows for easy, fast, cheap, and ubiquitous copying of music on the Web.
Entrepreneurs create businesses to facilitate storing and sharing of music files. Many individuals set up free sites for music sharing, too.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) continues to fight unauthorized copying of music.
Movies and TV Programs
Improved digital technologies and greater bandwidth on the Net also allows for copying and transferring of movies and TV programs.
Businesses such as RecordTV.com and Scour provided free services to facilitate copying of broadcast intellectual material.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and other entertainment companies continue to fight unauthorized copying of their intellectual property.
Software
Improved digital technologies contribute to unauthorized (commercial and non-commercial) copying of software.
Individuals and whole businesses, here and overseas, continue to produce, transport, and sell (or give away) copies of software, manuals and supporting material.
Software Information Industry Association (SIIA) as well as other software industry organizations and companies battle software piracy in the U.S. and abroad.
Books
Improved technology allows for simple, quick, and cheap copying of books.
Counterfeiters of textbooks, novels, and other printed matter, profit by not paying publishers and/or authors for their intellectual property.
Electronic books use encryption to reduce copying, but some e-book protection schemes have been cracked.
Restrictions and Bans on Technology (cont’d)
Digital rights management (DRM), combined with laws such as the DMCA, can result in heavy fines and imprisonment for violators.
The legal and monetary consequences can be applied to both pirates of intellectual works as well as to scientists and researchers of technology.