[TriLUG] Interesting article from Unix Security: The Long Arm of Copyright Law

Thu Aug 15 11:06:27 EDT 2002

UNIX SECURITY --- August 15, 2002
Published by ITworld.com -- changing the way you view IT
http://www.itworld.com/newsletters
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HIGHLIGHTS

* US copyright law stretches far beyond the bounds of music, online 
  publishing, or the headline du jour preoccupying the mainstream 
  media, and probably much further than most people realize. 
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The Long Arm of Copyright Law
By Dev Zaborav

When the subject of copyright comes up, especially in relation to the
Internet, many people assume that copyright only pertains to copying music,
reverse-engineering code, or printing and distributing books online. The
truth is that copyright affects everyone who uses the Internet in very
powerful and sometimes surprising ways. It's important to know what the laws
are, so you can know what your rights are in a given situation...or where
you might be making a mistake.

US Code Title 17 is the fundamental authority on copyright, however, it's
long and confusing, and it was written a long time before the Internet
existed. The Internet has been a revolution in many ways, and a lot of the
laws on copyright are still being redefined in the milieu of the 'Net. Many
of the recent headlines about copyright have been about mp3s and questions
about source code. Information about the DMCA alone could fill up a
textbook, but ; this article won't go into depth on those topics. Instead,
I'll focus on the Internet as a predominantly text medium and the
corresponding issues that arise relative to that medium.

What text is protected by copyright? Copyright law protects "works of
authorship." That's a nebulous term. US Code Title 17, Section 102 defines
it as including literary works. This includes everything from novels and
newspaper articles to "computer software, software manuals, training
manuals,"  and even text ads. As US Code says, it's not possible to
copyright an idea, but it is possible to copyright the expression of an
idea. A crucial concept in the copyright code is the understanding that a
work of authorship is copyrighted from the moment it is "fixed" -- that is,
set "in a tangible medium...[that] is sufficiently permanent or stable to
permit it to be perceived...or communicated for a period of more than
transitory duration." In other words, once it's written down or otherwise
recorded such that it can be communicated or shared. A letter can be
copyrighted. A conversation cannot (unless it is recorded). The important
part is the idea that works of authorship are copyrighted by default; no
action needs to be taken to copyright a work.

So anything that can be considered a work of authorship is copyrighted. What
rights does 'copyright' convey, then? There are seven fundamental rights
that copyright infers:

    *  The exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work.
    *  The exclusive right to create derivative works based on the
       copyrighted work.
    *  The exclusive right to distribute the copyrighted work, whether
       by sale, rent, lending, or other means.
    *  The exclusive right to perform the copyrighted work publicly.
    *  The exclusive right to display the copyrighted work publicly.
    *  The right of attribution -- in other words, the right to claim
       ownership of the copyrighted work, and to prevent the author's
       name from being falsely attributed to a work he did not create.
    *  The right of integrity -- in other words, the right to prevent
       intentional distortion, modification, or destruction of a
       copyrighted work, and to prevent the author's name from being
       attributed to a distortion or modification of the work that may
       be detrimental to the author's reputation.

So, that's what kinds text are copyrighted and what rights are conveyed by
the copyright code. But what does this mean in practice? That's where things
get fuzzier.

As an example of the types of communication affected by the definition of
copyright law: email is copyrighted. Each email is a work of authorship
fixed in a tangible medium stable enough to be communicated. Quoting emails
is tricky ground. Due to the fair use section of US Code Title 17, a
copyrighted work can be quoted or used in such a way that the use is not
considered a copyright infringement as long as certain criteria are met.
These include the purpose of the use of the work and, in quoting an email,
the purpose would be nonprofit and for the use of replying to it; the nature
of the copyrighted work, which is in this case a nonprofit email; the amount
of the quoted portion, which can vary from mail to mail; and the effect of
the use on the potential market value of the copyrighted work, and rarely
does quoting email affect the e-mail's market value.

Given the provisions of fair use, quoting an email in a reply is
-probably- not a copyright infringement, but it's easy to see how close it
can come. Consider, though, two situations. In one case, you have emailed a
friend about a wild night you had. Your friend responds, quoting your email
in his response. Would you feel this was an infringement of your copyright?
Probably not. In the other case, though, you send the same email and an
unscrupulous mail system administrator reads it. That admin thinks it's
funny, so he posts it to his Web page. Would you consider -that- a copyright
infringement? Probably.

This is just one example of how questions of copyright impact even the
average Internet user. In one way or another, copyright law affects everyone
who uses the Internet. From the well-publicized copyright questions raised
by the DMCA, the Napster trial, and other convoluted copyright concerns to
the nuts-and-bolts Internet media like email and Web pages, copyright has a
long reach and affects many of the things we do online. It's important to
understand just what is and is not within the realm of copyright law.

About the author(s)
-------------------
Dev Zaborav has been involved in the Internet since 1990, and has made 
Internet security a profession since 1996. Dev is currently self- employed
as a security consultant, volunteers for Attrition.org, and 
has written several white papers on various topics in computer 
security. Dev can be reached at Dev.Zaborav at itworld.com.
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

10 Big Myths about copyright explained
http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a62919a75980745a2

Copyright and Multimedia Law for Webbuilders and Multimedia Authors
http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a62919a75980745a0

Copyright in an Electronic Environment
http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a62919a75980745a5

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act
http://itw.itworld.com/GoNow/a14724a62919a75980745a6
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