Martes, Setyembre 25, 2012


~ 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.
Metallica filed a lawsuit against Napster in the US District Court, Central District of California, alleging that the company encourages piracy by enabling and allowing its users to trade copyrighted songs through its servers.
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).