~ Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
TO MY BLOG!! :))
QUESTIONS:
1. Think about Napster, both in its original
free form and in its new incarnation as a paid music subscription service. Now
think of Lessig’s “modalities of constraint”.
·
Law
·
Social Norms
·
Market
·
Code
How did each modality play a role in the
history of Napster? What values do you think were embedded in each? Which
modality “won”?
~ Napster discussed the ongoing upheaval over
the way information technology is changing our understanding of intellectual
property. We considered the law of copyright then we can compare the opinions
that a number of experts and stakeholders. Lessig explains how code might
affect copyright law, displacing important public values. The code of
cyberspace constitutes those values; it can be made to constitute values that resonate
with our tradition, just as it can be made to reflect values inconsistent with
our tradition. For me the modality of “Law” won because the law is really important
among the others modality it teaches us to lear and law will be our guide.
2. Elsewhere in this article, after explaining
how trusted systems (code) can interfere with the legally-protected values of
fair use, Lessig offers examples of the reverse how law can interfere with
code.
Anti-Circumvention: Trusted systems, as I have
described them, are systems that enable control over the distribution of
digital objects through encryption technologies that make unauthorized use
difficult. These technologies, however, are not perfect there is code that
could crack them. Thus the threat of this code is a threat to these systems of
control. Last year, Congress responded to this threat by enacting an
anti-circumvention provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This
provision makes it a felony to crack a protection regime, even if the use of
the underlying material is not itself a copyright violation (i.e., is fair
use).
What code is being displaced here? What values
are conflicts in this scenario?
~ Privacy code could be displaced it allows organisations and industries to
have and to enforce their own privacy codes that continue to uphold the privacy
rights of individuals while allowing some flexibility of application for
organisations. This
code sets specific rules for agencies in the health sector to better ensure the
protection of individual privacy. The code addresses the health information
collected, used, held and disclosed by health agencies. For the health sector
the code takes the place of the information privacy principles.
3. In the spring of 2001 a Princeton University
computer science professor had planned to present a paper on cracking the music
industry’s antipiracy code for CDs, but he received a letter from the Recording
Industry Association of America (RIAA) warning him that he would be violating
the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act if he went ahead. In June 2001, a
group of computer scientist sued, asking a federal court to determine If the
First Amendment protected discussion of such research and asking to declare the
ant circumvention provision of the DMCA unconstitutional. Go online to find out
what happened. The lawsuit was financed by the Electronic Frontier
Foundational.
~ The
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has been pressuring schools
to take more aggressive action against online pirates on campus. RIAA President
Cary Sherman said, "It's something we have to do. We have to let people
know that if they engage in this activity, they are not anonymous." For
those students who repeatedly download songs and also share files of hundreds
or thousands of illegally downloaded songs, the RIAA is filing expensive civil
lawsuits against them. The RIAA is trying to make a statement. Some
schools have been trying to comply, meeting with those students who are caught
and making them watch an anti-piracy DVD produced by the RIAA. Many students
don't see the big deal and are often surprised when they're caught and their
friends aren't. I guess if you're getting in trouble for something
"everyone else is doing," it's time you stopped following the crowd.
4. How do you think Michael Eisner of Disney
would respond to Courtney Love?
~ Michael Eisner and
Wells’s leadership, Disney rebuilt its once legendary animation department, and
the division had a “golden age” with annual box office hits with such
regularity that even their creative structure started to be known as the
“Disney formula.” Disney also broadened its adult offerings in film with its
ventures in Touchstone Pictures (created by Eisner’s predecessor, Ron W.
Miller, and a noted acquisition of Miramax Films in 1994. This tremendous run
culminated with a surprise announcement by Eisner of Disney’s takeover of
Capital Cities/ABC – A stunning move involving the second largest corporate
takeover in history up till that point, the largest in the field of media, with
no leaks to the very same media which was involved in the deal. Along with ABC
(the number one network at the time), Disney acquired a slew of other media
sources, including ESPN.
5. Lars
Ulrich would no doubt be as aware as Courtney Love of the "math"
involved in signing with a major recording company. Yet he and his band,
Metallica, joined the RIAA in suing Napster. In what way might he respond to
love's argument?
~ Heavy
metal band Metallica has
always been synonymous with music that is played fast and loud. After filing a
lawsuit Thursday, the band might become more famous as the first group to
strike a chord against music piracy on the Net.
The suit also names the University of Southern California, Yale
University, and Indiana University, institutions which, ironically, have attempted to deal with the
problems associated with students’ use of Napster on campus networks.
The RIAA has sent cease-and-desist letters to school
administrators advising them of the copyright violations involved, but until
now none of the universities have been sued.
The suit alleges that Napster has violated three different areas
of the law: copyright infringements, unlawful use of digital audio interface
device, and the Racketeering Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
