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Legislation aims to extend copyright protection to cyberspace
May 11, 1996
Web posted at: 6:10 p.m. EDTWASHINGTON (CNN) -- The beauty of the Internet -- the ability to instantly share information with a worldwide audience -- is becoming the bane of media providers who are losing control of their information as fast as they can post it on the Web.
Their complaint: you can't photocopy a book and distribute it without breaking copyright laws; you can't print a photograph taken by a professional without permission; you can't tape a movie on your VCR and resell it. Why, then, should you be allowed to cut and paste text and photos from the Internet for commercial use?
"For Novell, it's a big problem. We estimate that it runs to the hundred of millions of dollars each year," says Daniel Burton of software developer Novell Inc.
Companies like Novell, concerned over rampant cyberpiracy, are backing legislative efforts to protect their on-line material.
Committee hearings
A Senate committee held hearings this week on the National Information Infrastructure Copyright Protection Act, a measure sponsored by Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, to strengthen copyright protection in cyberspace.
The bill seeks market-based solutions to the theft of text, graphics, movies and sound files. It would encourage Internet content providers to use encryption devices and clearly identify copyright material.
The bill would also outlaw software and services used to circumvent technology designed to protect original works. It would also make it illegal to tamper with or alter copyright identification information.
"What our bill would do is create an ... educational awareness that, 'Hey, there are certain things you cannot do on this digital superhighway that is becoming so easy to copy,'" said Hatch. (264K AIFF sound or 264K WAV sound)
Impact on education
Some groups are opposed to the legislation. The Digital Future Coalition, an organization representing several academic and civil liberties groups, has expressed concern that the bill would undermine the 'fair use doctrine' that allows organizations to freely use certain copyright material for educational purposes.
The legislation places a "nearly exclusive emphasis on the protection for copyrighted content, and doing so at the expense of promoting innovation, privacy, education and public information access," the DFC wrote in a letter to the congressional subcommittee looking at the House version of the Copyright Protection Act.
Schools and libraries fear the bill would make it harder for them to copy and study information from the Internet.
"That isn't theft. It isn't piracy. It's maximizing the benefits of this wonderful new technology," said Adam Eisgrau of the American Library Association. (187K AIFF sound or 187K WAV sound)
Profit motive
Computer users are also resisting having to pay for access to information they are accustomed to getting for free.
"If it has a price tag on it, I just avoid it," said one Internet user.
But others fear that without a price tag, artists, writers and information services will abandon the Internet for more lucrative publishing avenues.
"This legislation will send a message to the creative community that it's worthwhile to enter cyberspace and set up shop, and it's worthwhile to invest in research and development to find ways to protect their copyright," said Kenneth Kay, executive director of the Creative Incentive Coalition, according to CIC's web site.
Kay demonstrated for the Senate committee how easy is to copy digital information on the Internet. He showed members books published on the World Wide Web without permission and full-length music videos available for downloading at no cost.
Some question how a law would be enforced. With some 20 million users estimated to be connected to the Internet in the United States alone, it would take a virtual army of on-line police to nab "cyberthieves."
But media companies watching dwindling profits are fighting to get the law on their side. They'll worry about enforcement later.
CNN Correspondent Anthony Collings contributed to this report.
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