Re: websites: public vs private information?

On 06/09/2000, Roland J. Cole <cole[_at_]spi.org> wrote:
>
> See below.
>
> Web Site Viewers Are Usually Licensees, not Infringers
>
> On Thu, Jun 08, 2000, Ransford Pyle <pyle[_at_]mail.ucf.edu> wrote:
> >
> > [material omitted]
> > And if that is so, all we have to do is use an expansive
> > interpretation of 'tangible,' and, presto changeo, every time we
> > get on the Web we are infringers. Why not extend this to every
> > utterance of every speaker? If copying sound waves in the form
> > of music infringes, why not the sound waves that we perceive as
> > words?
> > [more material omitted]
>
> I prefer to think that "presto changeo, every time we get on the
> web we are licensees." There are sites with "click-through" pages
> that make the viewer an explicit licensee; I think sites that are
> "open" to the web are granting a license for "normal web viewing,"
> which at a minimum involves transmitting something from the web
> server computer to the viewer's computer and usually storing that
> something for a time, often the 30 days set as the browser default.
> Clearly, there are questions surrounding what constitutes the
> boundaries of "normal web viewing," having to do with framing,
> deep-linking, re-posting, etc. But like questions surrouding
> paper letters, electronic mail, and other items, these are
> questions of scope of license, not of raw infringement.

A license approach to the problem is probably essential now, but I look forward to the time when we will be able to cheaply protect our websites from copying. At some point, then, those who choose not to employ security measure may be deemed to grant a license to copy, perhaps limited. Meanwhile, I expect anti-hacker law to protect those who employ security but whose security measures are violated. Of course, nothing is as simple as this and the nature and cost of security measures could affect this. The danger in my mind is always that whatever develops will be manipulated to strangle freedom of speech.

Ran Pyle
Legal Studies
U. of Cental Florida
<pyle[_at_]mail.ucf.edu> Received on Sun Jun 11 2000 - 16:23:08 GMT