Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bloom-beacon!apple!well!sac From: sac@well.UUCP (Steve Cisler) Newsgroups: comp.society.futures Subject: Re: Digital Information Rights Message-ID: <7768@well.UUCP> Date: 27 Nov 88 17:28:51 GMT References: <7776@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> <8811270029.AA05114@pinocchio.UUCP> Reply-To: sac@well.UUCP (Steve Cisler) Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA Lines: 36 One problem with copyright is that technological changes are coming at a faster pace than legal changes. Even if there were a court system devoted to these issues, I don't think you could streamline the process. As Barry said, there are a lot of people with strong opinions about these matters. Without (or even with) legal rules most of them will go their own way. I tend to think that there will continue to be a relative disregard for intellectual property laws (unless there is a powerful deterrent such as peer pressure or legal pressure to comply). Let's talk about a few of the problems. I have one specific case that does not bode well. I have to talk in generalities because I don't have permission to give out the details: A electronic publishing firm placed a set of CD-ROMs in a number of academic libraries. They contained the images of pages from dozens of business journals. There was a text disc with the indexes pointing to the correct article image and a laser printer for the student to print out the article. The print publishers did not want the ascii on disc because it would be too easy to manipulate. They insisted on the images of the pages, ads and all, be on the discs (about 24 of them). Each time the journal was accessed, it logged it in a file for the vendor. Though this was a beta test and the students and faculty liked it, the librarians all said they would not buy the service. Why? partly because it did not take into account 'Fair use" of printed materials. I think this experiment was very significant as was the impasse between the publishers and the librarians. My point is that 'progress' in electronic publishing will be slow. How can information continue to flow as fast at the technology allows but still give a fair return to the creators/owners. Steve Cisler Connect: Libraries & Telecommunications Box 992 Cupertino, CA 95014