Computer Ethics

Lecture 5
Intellectual Property
  Anonymity

Outline
 Is Anonymity Protected?
 Against Anonymity
 Protecting Access and Innovation
 Intellectual Property and Changing Technology
 What is Intellectual Property?
 Challenges of New Technologies
 Copyright law and significant cases
 A bit of history
 The fair use doctrine
 Significant cases
 Copying and Sharing
 Defensive and Aggressive Responses
 The DMCA versus Fair Use, Freedom of Speech and Innovation.
 Video Sharing
 New Business Models and Constructive Solutions
 Ethical Arguments about copying
 International Piracy
Anonymity
 Some centuries ago writers have used pseudonyms, politicians have chosen to remain
anonymous.
 Today, many people use pseudonyms to talk about their private life online
 In countries with oppressive government, human rights activists use pseudonyms to
protect themselves.
 Send anonymous emails via a remailer service
 Who is interested in anonymity?
 Individuals protecting from identity theft, consumer profiling and oppressive
governments.
 Governments, Secret Agency Services and Businesses, keeping their plans and
projects secret
 CIA helped fund an Anonymizer Start-Up company.

 Mask illegal surveillance by gov.agencies.

Is Anonymity Protected?
 Political Speech
 Many ways in which government can retaliate against its critics.
 F.A includes the right to speak anonymously.
 Criticizing Corporations
 Facebook, Yahoo, AOL have a lot of discussion forums discussing big companies, esp. on
investment issues.
 Two areas of legal protection: false and damaging rumors and documents or proprietary
information.
 Should businesses be able to get the real names of people who post things they object to? In
that case, should people be notified?
 Businesses use lawsuits as a tool to obtain identity of people and intimidate them. SLAPP:
Strategic Lawsuit against Public Participation.
 General Defense: Internet postings are all opinions, and as such are protected by F.A. Should
the people who intentionally harm others by libeling them be protected by F.A?
Against Anonymity

 Anonymity is the opposite of Community

 Product review sites rely on users to review
products.
 Often authors, sellers themselves or their
friends write glowing reviews which might
deceive the next buyer.
 Some services and online communities discourage
anonymity
 Its potential to shield criminal activity

 Incompatible with politeness

  Laws against anonymity
 Anonymity in internet is used for:
Against 


Criminal and antisocial purposes, Fraud, harassment and extortion
Used to distribute child pornography, Libel or threaten others etc
Anonymity 


Anonymity makes it difficult to track wrongdoers
U.S and E.U ask ISP-s to keep records of the true identity of users and records of online
activity for a certain period of time.
 Such requirements are against anonymity. Privacy advocates say such law conflicts
with F.A
 More costs on ISP-s for storing the records.
 Potential for illegal access
 Does the potential for crime by those who want to escape law-enforcement outweigh
the loss of privacy and restraint on freedom of speech for honest people who use
anonymity responsibly?
  Direct Censorship is not the only factor who can limit the information that we receive
 Businesses use the gov. regulatory power to delay or prevent competition.
 Net Neutrality: how telephone companies interact with broadband customers
 Common carriers were prohibited from discriminating against content or customers’
identity, providing open-access
 Restraints on flexible deals with ISPs or cable TVs reduced incentive for investment in
more and improved broadband capacity.
Protecting  Advocates of net-neutrality: the gov. should mandate all telecommunication
companies treat the content passing through them equally.
Access and  Two issues:
Innovation  Whether companies that provide communications networks should be
permitted to prioritize content based on the meaning or who was its author
 Whether companies should offer different levels of services at different prices.
 Opponents of Net Neutrality
 Neutrality regulations slow the advance of high-speed
internet and infrastructure improvements
 Continued investments is necessary for HD video
transmission, online backup services, remote sensors
 Supporters of Net Neutrality
 Lack of pricing regulation would erode Internet diversity
 Only big companies will be able to afford prices
 Flexible pricing would give telecom companies too much
power on the content
  Anonymity
 Is Anonymity Protected?

Outline

 Against Anonymity
Protecting Access and Innovation
 Intellectual Property and Changing Technology
 What is Intellectual Property?
 Challenges of New Technologies
 Copyright law and significant cases
 A bit of history
 The fair use doctrine
 Significant cases
 Copying and Sharing
 Defensive and Aggressive Responses
 The DMCA versus Fair Use, Freedom of Speech and Innovation.
 Video Sharing
 New Business Models and Constructive Solutions
 Ethical Arguments about copying
 International Piracy
What is Intellectual Property?
 Creative works such as books, articles, plays, songs, works of
art, movies, software etc. are protected by copyright, a legal
concept that defines rights to intellectual property.
 No need to explicitly apply for a copyright
 Patent, another legal concept
 Trademarks and trade secrets, other forms of intellectual
property
 Why is intellectual property given legal protection?
 The value of a book, song or computer program is much
more than the cost of printing, putting into a disk or
uploading on the Web.
 The value comes from creativity, ideas and research skills.
 Both individual and social benefits.
 The protected thing is the intangible creative work, not
its particular physical form.
 The author of a particular piece of property may hold
the copyright or transfer it to a music, recording
company, movie studio etc.
 Copyrights last for a limited time, for ex 70 years. After
that the work belongs to public domain.
  The holder has the following exclusive rights:

US 


To make copies of the work
To produce derivative works, such as translations
copyright  To distribute copies

law 


To perform the work in public
To display the work in public
 Taking intellectual property by copying is different from theft of physical property,
and copyright law does not prohibit all unauthorized copying and distribution.
 Very important exception is the ‘fair use’ doctrine
 Facts, ideas, concepts and processes are not copyrightable.
 The government grants patents for inventions of devices and processes.
 Giving the inventor a monopoly on the invention for a specified period of
time.
  Previous technologies raised challenges to intellectual-property
protection.
Challenges of Photocopiers


new 
Computers and communication technologies made violations to
intellectual property easier:

Technologies Storage of all sorts of information in standard digitized format



 High volume, inexpensive storage media

 Scanners, which simplify converting printed text into electronic
form
 Compression formats like mp3
 Web, which makes it easier to find, download and post materials
 Broadband that make transfer of huge files easier
 Peer to peer technology
 Software tools for manipulating video and sound
 In the past it was generally businesses and professionals who had to
deal with copyright issues
 Today there are individuals too
  Computer software: first category to face significant threats from digital
media
Challenges  Warez: unauthorized copies of software
 Software industry estimates the value of pirated software in billion of
of new dollars
 Scope of ‘computer piracy’ widened to include high-volume, unauthorized
Technologies

copies.
Entertainment industry brought its ongoing battle to prevent unauthorized
(cont) use of its products to the digital world and the Web.
 Mix of measures:
 Technology to detect and thwart copying
 Education about copyright law and the good reasons to protect it
 Lawsuits
 Lobbing for expansion of copyright law
Copyright Law: A bit of history
 First US copyright law
 Passed in 1790
 Covered books, maps and charts for 14 years
 Later extended to cover photography, sound recording and movies
 Definition of ‘unauthorized copy’: it had to be in a form that could be seen and read visually
 1970’s, a company sued for protection of a chess game stored in a chip
 In 1976 and 1980, copyright law covered ‘software’
 A copy would be in violation of a copyright if the original could be ‘perceived, reproduced or otherwise
communicated by or from the copy, directly or indirectly’
 In 1960’s growth in illegal sales accompanied the growth of musical industry.
 In 1982, high volume copying of records and movies became a felony.
 Penalties became stronger
 Fines could be as high as $25.000
Copyright Law: A bit of history (cont’)
 No Electronic Theft Act, passed in 1997
 Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998
 Prohibits making, distributing or using tools to circumvent
technological copyright protection systems used by
copyright holders.
 Penalty up to 5 years in prison

 Safe-harbor provision of DMCA, protects Websites from

lawsuits for copyright infringement by users of the site.
 In 2005, Congress made it a felony offense to record a movie in
a movie theater
The Fair Use Doctrine
 Define the rights of authors and publishers consistent with two goals:
 Promoting production of useful work
 Encouraging the use and flow of information
 Allows uses of copyrighted material that
 Contribute to new work
 Uses that do not deprive authors of income of their work
 Fair uses do not require the permission of the copyright holder.
 Four factors in defining fair usage:
 The purpose and nature of use (commercial vs nonprofit)
 The nature of copyrighted work (creative vs factual)
 Amount and significance of the portion used
 The effect of the use and the potential market for a value of the copyright work.
 Court decisions about copyright must be consistent with the First Amendment.
Significant Cases

 Sony vs Universal City Studios (1984)

 Two movie studios sued Sony for copyright infringement bcs
some customers used its Betamax video cassette recording
machines to record movies shown on TV.
 Movie was copied for personal purpose, studios could not
prove they were harmed in any way.
 The Court ruled that recording the movie was ‘Fair Use’

 Furthermore, makers of device with substantial legal users

should not be legalized because some people use them
illegally.
Significant Cases (cont)
 Reverse Engineering: game machines
 Sega Enterprises vs Accolade
 Accolade made video games to run on Sega Machines
 Accolade needed to figure out how part of Sega’s game machines software worked, they took it
and decompiled it.
 Accolade won: it was fitting the purpose of ‘Fair Use’, it was creative new work.
 Although Accolade’s work could reduce the market for Sega, that was considered fair competition.
 Atari Gutines vs Nintendo
 Making a software copy and reverse engineering it was a fair ‘research ‘ use
 Connectix vs Sony
 Connectix copied Sony’s Playstaion BIOS and reverse-engineered it to develop software that
emulates the PlayStation code.
Sharing music: the Napster case
 MP3 reduced the size of a song by 10-12 times
 Initially some considered it as a marvelous tools for
promotion without the need for a contract with a music
studio.
 Napster, opened in 1999
 P2P, 50 million users
 Music shared was illegal
 Record companies sued for copyright infringement and won.
 Many people participated in an activity which was
considered illegal, thinking that its success meant end to
copyright.
 Impact on market was huge: record companies and
songwriters suffered financial loss.
File Sharing

 MGM vs Grokster
 Music and movie industry sued Grokster
 Grokster did not provide a centralized server for
storing files, but they provided the software for
sharing the files.
 Lower court and appeals court ruled that
distribution of file-sharing software was in
accordance with ‘Fair Usage’, however Supreme
Court ruled that companies could sue the
companies for encouraging of copyright
infringement.
  Anonymity
 Is Anonymity Protected?
 Against Anonymity

Outline



Protecting Access and Innovation
Intellectual Property and Changing Technology
 What is Intellectual Property?
 Challenges of New Technologies
 Copyright law and significant cases
 A bit of history
 The fair use doctrine
 Significant cases
 Copying and Sharing
 Defensive and Aggressive Responses
 The DMCA versus Fair Use, Freedom of Speech and Innovation.
 Video Sharing
 New Business Models and Constructive Solutions
 Ethical Arguments about copying
 International Piracy
Copying and Sharing
 Unauthorized copying and sharing of music continue at a huge rate on the
Web.
 Sales have steadily dropped since 2000.
 What is the problem?
 To people enjoying movies, the problem is to get them cheaply and
conveniently.
 To writers, authors and people working in marketing, the problem is to
ensure that they are paid for the time and effort.
 To the entertainment industry, to publishers and software companies the
problem is to protect their investment as expected
 To amateurs, the problem is to continue to create without unreasonably
burdensome requirements and threats of lawsuits.
 To scholars and advocates: protect intellectual property, but also protect
fair usage.
Copying and Sharing (cont’)
Responses from the Content Industries:
 Ideas from the software industries
 Expiration dates within the software
 Dongles (a device that must be plugged into a
computer port)
 Copy protection that prevents copying
 Activation or registration codes
 Obtained court orders to shut down Internet bulletin
boards and Web sites
 Targeted ISP-s, threatening legal action against
those whose subscribers operated file sharing
services.
 Sophisticated tools to search billions of Web pages
for copies of specific text, images, sound or video.
Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Responses from the Content Industries (cont.):
 Banning, suing and taxing
 Ban or delay technology via lawsuits
 CD-recording devices
 Digital Audio Tapes (DAT)
 DVD players
 Portable MP3 players
 RIAA vs Diamond Multimedia
 Rio Machine, a portable device for playing MP3 files.
 Require that new technology include copyright protections
 The costs of fighting industry lawsuits effectively shut many
companies down.
 Tax digital media to compensate the industry for expected losses
 Additional taxes to photocopiers, printers and manufacturers of PCs
Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Digital Rights Management :
 Collection of techniques that control uses of intellectual property in
digital formats
 Includes hardware and software schemes using encryption
 The producer of a file has flexibility to specify what a user may do with it
 Subscription to sites where a user could listen till a specific number
of songs for a certain fee
 Apple, Microsoft and Sony all use different schemes of DRM
 Criticism of DRM
 It prevents fair uses as well as infringing uses, for ex. Some DRM
protected products do not work on machines running the Linux OS.
 Serious disadvantage on content industries. Virtually, all copy-
protection schemes are quickly cracked.
Copying and Sharing (cont.)

The DMCA vs. Fair Use, Freedom of Speech, and Innovation:

 Lawsuits have been filed to ban new technologies
 U.S. courts have banned technologies such as DeCSS even though it
has legitimate uses, while courts in other countries have not.
 Protesters published the code as part of creative works (in haiku,
songs, short movies, a computer game and art)
 U.S. courts eventually allowed publishing of DeCSS, but prohibited
manufacturers of DVD players from including it in their products.
 DMCA restricts circumventing copy protection for reverse
engineering to produce new products.
 New, innovative products which might have come to market, but
cannot because of DMCA are invisible.
Copying and Sharing (cont.)
Video Sharing: Conflict and Solutions:
 First videos showed events recording with personal video cameras.
 Video editing tools led to more sophisticated creations, set to music
and containing clips from movies , TV shows, concerts and so on.
 Industry issues "take down" notices per the DMCA
 Usually interpret ‘Fair Usage’ narrowly, case of Wendy Seltzer and
the National Football League
 As long as sites like YouTube and MySpace comply with take down
notices they are not in violation
 Entertainment companies challenged the applicability of safe-harbor
provisions, arguing that sites such as YouTube generate revenues
from advertising due to the unauthorized content that they provide.
 Take down notices may violate fair use, some have been issued against
small portions of video being used for educational purposes
Copying and Sharing (cont.)
New Business Models and Constructive Solutions:
 Success of Apple’s iTunes showed that companies can sell digital
entertainment successfully, from the point of view of the customers and the
rights holders.
 People who share illegal music like music, i.e are potential customers.
 Some entertainment companies and Web content sharing sites negotiate
contracts for the website company to pay a share of its ad revenues to the
entertainment companies.
 Organizations set up to collect and distribute royalty fees (e.g. the Copyright
Clearance Center), users don't have to search out individual copyright holders
 Sites such as iTunes and the new Napster provide legal means for obtaining
inexpensive music and generate revenue for the industry and artists
 Revenue sharing allows content-sharing sites to allow the posting of content
and share their ad revenues with content owners in compensation
Copying and Sharing (cont.)

New Business Models and Constructive Solutions

(cont.):
 The industry imbeds advertising in files that it then
posts to the P2P sites, the advertiser gets its
message out and the industry gets its fees
 Fan fiction is generally not seen as a threat, the
writers are also the customers for the original
works
Copying and Sharing (cont.)

Ethical Arguments About Copying:

 Unlike physical property, copying or distributing a song,
video, or computer program does not decrease the use or
enjoyment by another person
 Copying can decrease the economic value of creative work
produced for sale
 The fair use guidelines are useful ethical guidelines
 There are many arguments for and against unauthorized
copying
 For: trying out a song before buying it increases sales.
 Profit motive is not always a significant factor in
determining where to protect freedom of speech.
Copying and Sharing (cont.)

International Piracy:
 Some countries do not recognize or protect intellectual
property
 Counterfeiting of brand name products is common
 Countries that have high piracy rates often do not have
a significant software industry
 Many countries that have a high amount of piracy are
exporting the pirated copies to countries with strict
copyright laws
 Economic sanctions often penalize legitimate
businesses, not those they seek to target
Discussion questions

A. Which of the following activities do you think should

be a fair use? Give reasons using copyright law and/or
court cases. (If you think the ethically right decision
differs from the result that follows from applying the fair
use guidelines, explain how and why.)
(a) Making a copy of a friend’s spreadsheet software
to try out for two weeks, then either deleting it or
buying your own copy.
(b) Making a copy of a computer game, and playing it
for two weeks, then deleting it.
Discussion questions

B. Suppose the movie industry asks a court to order a

website to remove links to other sites that review movies
and provide unauthorized (complete) copies of the
movies for downloading. Give arguments for each side.
What do you think the decision should be? Why?
 Discussion questions

C. Suppose a religious organization asks a court to order a

website to remove links to other sites that have copies of
the organization’s copyrighted religious documents. Give
arguments for each side. What do you think the decision
should be? Why?
 Discussion questions

D. If your decisions are the same for both cases,

explain what similarity or principle led you to that
conclusion. If your decisions differ for the two cases,
explain the distinction between the cases.
 Discussion questions

E. Companies selling music or movies (for example) can

include digital rights management tools that cause files
to self-destruct after a specified amount of time. Give
some advantages and disadvantages of this practice. Do
you think it is ethical for entertainment businesses to sell
content with such a limitation? Why or why not?
 Discussion questions

F. Companies selling music or movies (for example) can

include digital rights management tools that cause files to
self-destruct after a specified amount of time. Give some
advantages and disadvantages of this practice. Do you think it
is ethical for entertainment businesses to sell content with
such a limitation? Why or why not?
 Discussion questions

G. Under laws in Germany that protect the privacy of

criminals who have served their sentence, a murderer took
legal action to force Wikipedia to remove its article about his
case. Discuss the conflict between privacy and freedom of
speech raised by this case.
 Discussion questions

H. Your uncle owns a sandwich shop. He asks you to write an

inventory program for him. You are glad to help him and do
not charge for the program. The program works pretty well,
and you discover later that your uncle has given copies to
several friends who also operate small food shops. Do you
believe your uncle should have asked your permission to give
away your program? Do you believe the other merchants
should pay you for the copies?
 Discussion questions

I. Service Consultants, a software support company, provides

software maintenance service to customers of a software
vendor. Service Consultants copied the vendor’s program,
not to resell the software but to provide service for clients.
The vendor sued, and the service company argued that the
copying was a fair use. Give arguments for each side. Which
side do you think should win? Why?
 Discussion questions

J. A website hosts written works posted by authors. Some

people post copyrighted work by other authors without
permission. When an author asks the site to remove such
material, the site complies and adds the work to its filter
database to prevent reposting without permission. An author
sues the site claiming the site infringes her copyright by
storing her work. Argue the author’s case. Argue the site’s
defense. Evaluate the arguments and decide the case.