technical threats to copyright & ipr talk at the talisman seminar on legal risks and the...
TRANSCRIPT
Technical Threats to Copyright & IPR
Talk at the Talisman seminar on Legal Risks and the Internet
Brian Kelly
UK Web FocusUKOLNUniversity of [email protected]
This presentation contains images of copyrighted resources.Any copyright holder who wishes their images removed should contact the author.
This presentation contains images of copyrighted resources.Any copyright holder who wishes their images removed should contact the author.
Contents
• Introduction
• Examples
• Solutions
• Conclusions
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
What Do We Want?A Quicker, More Reliable Web
We all know how slow the web can be
Protection For Our Intellectual PropertyAs web authors / developers we want to protect our intellectual property
Sensible Ways of Including Resources Avoiding delays and bureaucracy
Sensible Copyright Statements on our Pages Avoiding statements which show no understandings of web technologies
Clarification of ResponsibilitiesIs it my responsibility or the University?
What Are The Risks?
What legal risks do you think use of the Internet entails?
Introduction Examples Solutions Conclusions
ExamplesVarious examples are shown, including some which may not be legal issues
Copyright
Fraud
Plagiarism
Theft
Breach of confidentiality
Spamming
Defamation
Misrepresentation
Libel
Pornography
Unacceptable Use
Timewasting
Inappropriate linking
Introduction
Trademarks
Examples Solutions Conclusions
Where Do You Stand?
CLA had a copyright statement:A. It is not permitted to view the HTML
source of pages
B. It is not permitted to download the page for a period exceeding 30 days
C. It is not permitted to alter the contents of pages
Do you think:
A is acceptable? B is acceptable?
C is acceptable?
Introduction Examples Solutions Conclusions
Examples of Legal ThreatA student has a Teletubbies website:
• Images scanned from the Radio Times• The student’s comments on Teletubbies• Metadata (accessible to search robots but not
visible) containing 1,000 occurrences of word Teletubbies
• Metadata contains the words “Official Teletubbies Website”
What problems are there?
Whose problem?
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Example: Theft
Example 1• You notice a page on a website which
contains images you have created
Example 2• A student assignment contains text and
multimedia objects (video, images and sound) which the student is masquerading as his own work. You suspect the student is (a) in breach of copyright and (b) guilty of plagiarism
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Examples: HyperlinkingIs use of hyperlinking a legal threat?
Use of ImagesA remote web page contains your logo
<IMG SRC="http://www.ox.ac.uk/logo.gif">
Use of FramesA remote website contains a link to your page.
The link causes users to miss your guidelines and advertising and mislead the reader as to the origin of the information.
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Examples - Virtual Documents
What are the copyright implications for virtual documents?
Merseyworld provides access to Internet standards using a CGI program to retrieve a document and format it (using frames and embedded text / graphics)
http://www.merseyworld.com/control/techwatch.html
Content added to document
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Example - TotalNewsTotalNews:
• a "framed" site which provides access to various news services
• News providers very concerned• Case settled out of court
How would you feel if this happened to your website?
TotalNews URL
TotalNews advertising
Somebody else's content
Example: Caching
• A web page states that the resource is copyright and it cannot be downloaded for a period greater than 30 days.
• A user downloads the page.• The user’s browser has been configured by
the Computing Service to use an organisational and national (JISC-funded) cache
• The browser has a client-side cache• Is this a problem? If so, whose?
ExamplesIntroduction ConclusionsSolutions
Examples - Off-Line Browsers
"WebWhacker, the ultimate offline browser. This powerful tool allows you to save Web pages - including text, graphics and HTML links - directly to your hard drive, so you can view them offline at highly accelerated speeds"
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Example: Altering Content
• You are visually impaired and change the font settings and colours in your browser.
• You use a style sheet to hide the visibility of <P CLASS="example"> paragraphs
ExamplesIntroduction Conclusions
Is this "altering the contents of a page"?Is it acceptable?
Solutions
Example: Liability
• A first year medical student posts medical advice about an unusual disease to a national mailing list
• A user finds the page using a search engine and takes heed of the advice
• The user is then taken ill.• Is this a problem? If so, whose:
• The medical student?• The organisation hosting the mailing list?• The organisation running the search engine?
ExamplesIntroduction ConclusionsSolutions
Example: Privacy
Example 1• You give your name and email address to
register for information on the Web• Shortly afterwards you receive email from a
third party
Example 2• You visit an electronic shopping mall. You
ignore messages about "cookies".• Shortly afterwards you receive mail about
shops you did not visit.
ExamplesIntroduction ConclusionsSolutions
Solutions - Applications
Prevention• Java - prevent images being stolen• Prevent linking to images from off-server using
server configuration options
Detection• Search engines:
– Detect plagiarismSearch for image:domain.ac.uk using Alta Vista
– Spot trademark misuse• Digital signatures in multimedia objects
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
Solutions - W3C Work
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium):• Dedicated to 'Realizing the Full Potential of the Web'
• Technology & Society domain investigating IPR
• Addressing issues:– Does technology necessitate a change in copyright
legislation?– What rights should be associated with web content?– How to technically express the rights– Should rights be used for notification & enforcement
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
Solutions: Metadata
W3C feel that:• Machine-readable metadata formats can
be used for expressing rights declarations
• Deterministic, machine-readable declarations are key to automated operations
• Need to understand business & economic models to develop technical solutions
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
Solutions: Rights Management
• (Expired) Internet draft on Using PICS for Copyright Notice and Control
• Copyright scheme with values:0=disallowed, 1=conditionally allowed, 2=unconditionally allowed
• Example for use with web resource:(PICS-1.1 "http://www.wipo.org/v1.5" by "Mark Twain" labels on "1994.11.05T08:15-0500" for "http://www.twain.com/story.html" full "http://www.twain.com/IP-notice.html" ratings (print 1 save 1 quote 2))
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
Solutions: PrivacyPlatform for Privacy Preferences (P3P):
• Enables computer users to be informed and to make choices about collection, use and disclosure of personal information
• Sites with practices that fall within a user's preference will be accessed "seamlessly," Otherwise users will be notified of a site's practices and have the opportunity to agree to those terms.
• See http://www.w3.org/P3P/P3FAQ.html
ExamplesIntroduction Solutions Conclusions
Acceptable Use Policies
Why Have an Acceptable Use Policy?• If you don't say what is acceptable and
unacceptable, how is the user to know?• Needed if your organisations wishes to
have effective internal disciplinary measures
• May be valuable if a case goes to law• Potentially could be automated in the
future
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
What Could an AUP Cover?
An institutional AUP could cover:• Policies for end users (browsing policies) e.g.
covering access to porn, non-academic use• Policies for information providers (publishing
policies) e.g. covering use of copyrighted resources, linking policies
• Policies for service providers (service policies) e.g. covering privacy, use of log files, maintenance of resources, etc.
UK Web Focus to produce resource of AUPs used in UK HEIs
Examples Solutions ConclusionsIntroduction
Conclusions• There are many legal risks which institutions may
face• It is important to have guidelines covering use of
Internet services• Technical developments may make the formulation
of guidelines difficult• Technical developments will also assist in
overcoming legal risks• Important to follow international standards
developments - avoid reinventing (square) wheels
Examples ConclusionsSolutionsIntroduction