Digital Copyright: Protecting Intellectual Property on the Internet

by Jessica Litman

Book Overview

The general public is used to thinking of copyright (if it thinks of it at all) as marginal and arcane. But copyright is central to our society's information policy and affects what we can read, view,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1573928895
• ISBN13: 9781573928892
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Prometheus Books
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Eye opening; everyone should read this book

Professor Litman tackles the dense and often counterintuitive basis of copyright law and delivers an easy to understand explanation of what copyright law is, what it attempts to accomplish, why it was deemed necessary, and how it came to be that copyright owners (e.g., the RIAA) are suing your teenage sons and daughters. Criticisms of this book in previous reviews cite the fact that the book includes a number of journal articles cobbled together. That's fine with me - the quality of these articles are such that I don't mind the occasional restating of points made in a previous chapter - these are all issues that bear repeating! I understand that the prose is necessarily awkward at times - hey! this is copyright law, it's s'posed to be opaque! The salient issues (for me) from this book are the following: 1. Copyright law is designed, developed and negotiated by those who have the biggest stake in making the most money. 2. The US Congress, our representative to insure that we, the public, are not shafted by unfair, restrictive copyright laws, have betrayed our trust. They are swayed by lobbyists, large campaign contributions, and rubber stamp whatever the copyright owners want. The consumer's voice (and to a great extent, the voice of emerging technologies as well!) is silent. 3. It's no longer about copying, it's about consuming. 4. The Internet (and the digital technology that accompanies it) provides copyright owners the ability to monitor, meter, enforce and control access. Fair use is (or will be) a thing of the past; "fair use" was grudgingly accepted by copyright owners mainly because preventing copying for "personal use" was deemed "unenforceable". No longer. We as individual consumers must make our voices heard. Read this book - educate yourself.

Excellent book on the past and future of copyright law.

Pr. Littman offers a unique and captivating view of copyright law. As she argues, copyright law was created to control the distribution of copies of protected works. Throughout her book, she develops why this does not make sense in a digital world where copies are the basis for information exchange. An other major point of her thesis is that copyright law are to complicated to regulate the daily usage of copyrighted work by ordinary citizens; they simply do not understand the law and cannot imagine that non commercial copying can be an infringement. The book is well written and will satisfy a legal scholar as well as law students and ordinary citizens. Her arguments are thorough and convincing. I would have liked to read more on the proposed reform of the Law, but maybe her next book will cover this issue in more details.Generally speaking, I think this book will be one of the milestones on the copyright highway. It's a must read for anyone wanting to understand the process of creating and enforcing copyright law in the digital world.

Required reading for every consumer

For the last few years, I have been arguing with friends and co-workers about how the MPAA and the RIAA are quietly shaping copyright law, and not for the betterment of the American (or any) consumer. Litman explains it much better than I ever did and does so in entertaining layman's terms with plenty of real-world examples. Most consumers don't realize that copyright law has evolved from a simple "do not copy" premise to a nearly all-encompassing "do not use unless we say so" restriction. It's too bad that Litman's book isn't required reading in high schools and colleges because if today's youth realized how much their rights were being restricted, they might actually generate enough conflict to reshape the industries (computers, music, movies, television) in which they invest so much time and money.

Much Needed Book

Most of what we have read about copyright in the digital era either is optimistic about the influence of technological protection schemes superceding the more democratic system of copyright or alarmist about "theft." Litman has done us a wonderful service by explaining that there is more at work in the world of cultural and information regulation than most of us suspect. We are in fact about to be victims of a new technological regime that will severely restrict access to copyrighted works. In clear language, Litman explains how we got into this mess.I hope everyone who reads and writes buys this book.

Copyright's uncertain future

Litman's timely book, coming two years after the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) radically altered the landscape of copyright law, confronts the current issues we face involving Napster and other file sharing programs, pay-per-use efforts in the software and entertainment industries, and the seemingly arcane and counterintuitive nature of copyright law itself. Writen for the layman, it's easily understandable and a breezy, deeply interesting read for people concerned about how their rights to use the things they buy have changed and may change further in the future.Part polemic against the encroaching magnification of corporate over individual rights to works, part history of the development of copyright law in the US, Litman's main points as a law professor specializing in copyright law involve the historical lack of representation of individual consumers' rights in the marketplace. Congress historically has simply allowed "interested parties" to collaborate on agreements that Congress then enacted into law. Unfortunately, and as Litman shows again and again, businesses and consumers not at the bargaining table got the short shrift and nascent new industries based on revolutionary technologies (such as piano rolls, movies, etc) were hindered in their development. Those involved in the copyright law negotiations (libraries, unions, and major existing industries and trade groups) tended to get limited exceptions, deals, and special exemptions, while our representatives in Congress have traditionally simply allowed them their way.Litman then discusses 1998's DMCA and how it, to a degree previously unseen in copyright law, exposes consumers to the will of the producers of works and the vagarities of copyright law, and creates the possibility of a world where one is virtually unable to use their own computer without the permission of the company that owns the operating system and can be forced to pay every time they open a program. Before the microchip, controlling how someone used a product once they bought it was an impossibility and once a person purchased an item they had defined usage, copying, and sharing rights. Now however software companies, movie studios, and the recording industry are examing and testing technologies that allow them to parcel out "use" rights that limit how many times you can watch a movie you've bought, play a game you've purchased, or listen to a song you've already paid your money for, and it's all now legal under the DMCA.Her cogent explanations of the incoherencies and vagueness of the DMCA itself were able to show me in easy to understand language the problems with the law and the need for a reform of copyright that matches the public perception of their rights to use the things they buy to learn and develop themselves and yet retains the incentive for creation and development of new works by individuals and industries.