Mary E. Brown, Ph.D., Professor
Information Science

Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent Street, New Haven, CT 06515

Department of Information and Library Science
Fax: 1.203.392-5780 / Phone: 1.203.392-5781
Toll Free: 1-888-500-SCSU, then press 4

In this unit we ask only one question: What about copyright? This is a big and important question, but, so far, with fuzzy answers. In answering this question we consider copyright versus licensing and watermarking digital documents.

WHAT ABOUT COPYRIGHT?

Copyright vs. Licensing

The following information is derived from notes taken at the Plenary Address by Pamela Samuelson at the 2nd ACM International Conference on Digital Libraries, July 25, 1997, in Philadelphia.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that private non-commercial copying of a document is presumed fair-use. Today, however, some feel the policy should be every non-authorized copy is theft. Between these two views is a gap that needs to be defined. In the long term, this definition is essential as a stable legal environment is needed in order to open up the development of digital libraries. In the short term, tollbooths are needed to manage access, else there will be total in-operability across digital libraries.

The hot issue in digital libraries and the internet today is the question Is it lawful to link? The problems of linking are characterized by the total news coverage in the US by CNN and the Washington Post on the internet. These sites carry framing, advertising, and logos. It is possible to link to these sites in a way that bypasses the advertising which is paying for the site and the logos and mastheads that identify the source of the document. In contrast to this is plain vanilla linking--linking to the homepage only. Plain vanilla linking preserves the integrity of the linked-to site and seems to be legal.

Other issues include the lawfulness of using embedded links, annotating a text, and the indexing, archiving, caching, mirroring, and filtering of material. Publishers and some legal entities (e.g. current administration) hold that the copyright holder controls all RAM copying. In essence, this means any use of the internet beyond personally created and owned documents, is illegal.

Current legal initiatives include: limiting liability of online service providers for infringement by users--with or without knowledge of the infringement; and giving databases protection against unauthorized use and extraction, including 25 years exclusive protection with no fair use.

A model standard law for intellectual property is needed. One candidate is the Uniform Commerce Code (UCC2B). Under UCC2B, books and other materials would be licensed rather than sold. Under the current UCC2B, however, there is no provision for fair use. Some want to build into the UCC2B a provision that licensing, for example of books, cannot override fair use. If this provision is included in the UCC2B, it is suggested that UCC2B could replace copyright law.

An interesting proposal for regulation and enforcement of copyright is the use of software agents in cyberspace to make contracts. That is, the software agent is activated when a user requests receipt of a document. The user's software-agent contacts the software-agent associated with the requested document and an automated negotiation for use and fee ensues, including billing of any fees to the user's account. Following successful negotiation, the document is transferred to the user. One question that arises is can electronic agents exercise fair use? Fair use is a murky area in which all situations labeled, for example, classroom use do not necessarily fall under fair use.

Another area of concern in digital libraries is privacy of the user. For example, how do we maintain privacy, that is, the right to read anonymously, if the right (permission and access) to read a document is a matter of electronic record? There is also the issue of the deadbeat list, an automated compilation of users who have unpaid charges for internet use. The deadbeat list could be used as a filtering devise to exclude those who appear on it from gaining access to billable services. The deadbeat list is a problem in that if a user is disputing a charge with a vendor, their name could go on deadbeat list before it is established that they in fact are in default of an actual owed amount.

In developing legislation for digital libraries, copyright interests need to be sensitive to public policy. It may be that digital libraries, at least in part, need to be front ends to documents which are not located on the web. (The above section, subtitled Copyright vs. Licensing, is derived from notes taken at the Plenary Address by Pamela Samuelson at the 2nd ACM International Conference on Digital Libraries, July 25, 1997, in Philadelphia.)

Watermarking

Written regulations are one thing, enforcement is another. In the polymer industry there is a technique called doping that, using traces of elements as a fingerprint to identify the source of raw polymer, allows companies to trace unauthorized use of materials. Quite interesting research on a method analogous to doping is being conducted at the University of Geneva (Rauber, Ruanaidh & Pun, 1997). This research seeks to improve the security of online images. The work involves embedding hidden signatures in images using a digital watermarking tool. The watermark is capable of being searched and matched.

Watermarking opens up interesting possibilities. For example, the ability of an agent to locate the watermark at other sites, check the URL against legal copies, and execute some action against any non-legal copies found. Watermarking can also function as a search tool for locating information on potentially similar topics which center around an image.

REFERENCES

Rauber, C., Ruanaidh, J. & Pun, T. (1997) Secure distribution of watermarked images for a digital library of ancient papers. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM International Conference on Digital Libraries, 123-130.