Digital Age Complexity of Copyright Issues in Libraries Iranna Shettar Officer, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. Mumbai Mailto:
[email protected] Abstract: The paper briefly touches about the digital technologies and copyright-related issues. The issues and concerns of librarians in the face of the intellectual property laws in digital media are highlighted. Characteristics of copyright implications with digital technologies and its adverse impact on knowledge society and library services are discussed in detail. Also discusses reasons to failure of copyright in digital age as well as in libraries. It gives a brief idea to manage the complexity of digital copyright issues.
Keywords: Copyright, Digital Media, Internet, Site Licensing, Software, DRM, Library, Written Copyright Policy, Electronic Material
1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last few decades, libraries have undergone a transformation as we have incorporated computers into the structure of the modern library. This revitalization has allowed libraries to accomplish many things that were never thought possible before. Now that computers have become a staple in libraries everywhere, there was a dramatic quantum jump in the digital information resources made available through networks, particularly over the Internet and the WWW. Publishers of scholarly, academic and
reference works from almost all fields of human knowledge started bringing them in digital form. According to InternetWorldStats.com 1,459 million users are connected to the Internet.
There are number of issues and concerns associated with the usage of digital information. It is easy to create digital or digitized copies of material including text, image, audio and video; and this digital information can be distributed across the world through e-mail, electronic bulletin boards, websites and networks. The increasing use of primary and secondary mass storage media made it possible to download, store, display and print. Further, the downloaded documents can be modified or forwarded to others without the knowledge of its rightful owner. In comparison to printed information, electronic information is not so permanent; it is open to modifications, additions, deletions, revisions and manipulations without leaving any resemblance and difficult for detection. Unlike the case of printed materials, close monitoring and restriction of usage of electronic documents is difficult. Digital environment makes the issues related to copyright law a difficult task. This is the only element in knowledge society which has not changed with advent of new technologies.
As fundamental copyright is not changed, many people believe copyright law is “Technology Neutral”, they believe software, WebPages, Networks and Multimedia materials should be considered as Intellectual properties, just as books, music’s and other pre-electronic forms of expression. They should adequately be addressed and protected under current copyright law.
But others feel that the current law is inadequate and too limited to address the copyright issues created with these new forms of expressions and recordation that breaks new ground and creates its own copyright issues.
2. COPYRIGHT ISSUES IN DIGITAL MEDIA
2.1 Software Fastest growing industry, the computer software industry has created its own set of copyright issues as most of the software programs can be easily copied and recreated perfectly. Also the possibility of loading software program onto more than one computer, which is not only infringing but also breaches license agreement that limits this special programme to be used in only one computer.
However, as tempting as this practice may be, it constitutes a major act of copyright infringement and software piracy. According to Business Software Alliance (BSA) 35% of the world's software is pirated, where in India its 69%.
2.2 Scanners A scanner technology reproduces a photograph or pictures perfectly, without decreasing quality of the image. More importantly where copyright is concerned, reproduced image can be stored and can be used over and over or even modified.
By reproducing, distributing, or modifying copyrighted images without permission from user is a infringing the fundamental right of Copyright Owner.
2.3 Multimedia and CD-ROMs The possibility of CD-ROMs seems endless as you can include images, music clips, sounds, Audiovisuals, animations, computer programs and text. But these new possibilities with multimedia publishing and CD-ROM technology demand improvise copyright laws.
Now, if library want to expose its users to inspiring words of famous Quit India speech by Mahatma Gandhi, library is no longer limited to presenting the speech only in written form. By producing the work electronically, with CD-ROM version, readers can hear the words spoken, also watch Mahatma Gandhi delivering the speech, and also add accompanying music, narration and other images to make the effect of the message more dramatic.
There is no limit to creativity! Unfortunately there is a limit- that is Copyright law. Each technological breakthrough adds a new copyright factor for multimedia developers to consider. To present Mahatma’s speech in multimedia format, need to request the rights to use more than just the words and speech but also the rights for photo, text accompanying the photo, rights for the audio, video, music and any additional image you added.
2.4 The Internet and other Networks The Digital technology enables data from the sources to be copied without defect and can be manipulated, edited easily without leaving any trace. These technical possibilities create problems for copyright law in developing suitable techniques for catching up with the infringements.
The most common myth about the internet is whatever information available on internet is free; all the available materials can be copied freely. But which is a not true, material such as graphics, images, text, audio/ video materials, scripts should be used only after copyright holder’s permission. Permission to use such materials entitles you to use the information in your work, but you are not entitled to claim copyright to particular piece of information. All other copyrightable materials like graphics, fonts, and designs are copyrighted materials, any alteration, to these do not entitle you status of original work or does not claim copyright for these materials. Hot linking, frame linking or spider harvesting also treated as copyright infringement.
Other than Internet, there are many regional, national and international networks like NICNET, ERNET, DELNET, BONET etc and many institutional and organizational intranets and extranets. Major objective of these networks is “Resource sharing”. Resource sharing in digital form, which is copyrighted, is a violation of copyright of owner, millions of people connected though these networks most of them think this is non-commercial practice and it is fair-use. But without prior permission from copyright holder, full or part of content distribution to these networks is copyright violation. In such
cases network sponsors and system administrators are held responsible for copyright infringement.
2.5 E-mail Electronic mail or e-mail is the greatest threat to the Copyright Act. According to Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) 75% of Internet users expect more people to know their e-mail address and more than 50% users prefer to communicate using e-mail rather than a telephone.
E-mail is fast and private way to transfer information between parties. Users must login to the online service to retrieve the mail. If recipients of e-mail messages want to take print or forward these private mails, they are in danger of committing copyright infringement. Forward feature allows users to send somebody’s mail to one or many or to post on mailing lists or “Usenet” groups.
According to existing copyright act, e-mail messages fall into the category of literary works, copyright remains with author of message. The sender owns copyright on content and recipient owns the physical space the message takes up on his or her hard disk. The recipient does not have the right to copy, publish, or otherwise distribute the contents without permission.
2.6 Site Licensing
Nowadays most of the educational institutions and business organizations often employ “Site Licensing”. A site license allows the institute to purchase the rights to unlimited use of the product within the organization/ institutions.
A single master copy or single access to a product purchased, downloaded or used on two or more computers lead to the copyright breach and which is very easily traceable through network server. Information retrieved or downloaded from single access databases cannot be shared, and sharing the login details to these sites also copyright infringement.
3. Why Copyright Act fails in Digital Age Rapid changes in digital technology pose new challenges for copyright law and the exploitation of copyright content. Six primary reasons have been identified to explain this situation
3.1 Easy to replicate: the technology used to create and view/use a digital work can be used to make multiple ‘perfect’ copies of that work. 3.2 Ease of transmission and multiple uses; networked computers potentially facilitate the widespread piracy of works. The ongoing development and implementation of broad bandwidth fixed and mobile networks to deliver content-rich ‘multimedia’ works facilitates this further. 3.3 Elasticity of works in digital form: users can easily modify, enhance or adapt works in digital form.
3.4 Equivalence of works in digital form: all works look alike once in code this means it is easy to combine digital works into new products such as ‘multimedia’. This is also an aspect of convergence- the merger of media, technology and networks in areas such as the Internet, digital broadcasting, cable services and so on. 3.5 Components of works in digital form: a whole library can be stored on a few CD’s and DVD’s; this feature also assists in the creation of new works or assemblages of printed and graphic materials. 3.6 New search and link capabilities- Internet sites can be easily linked and with more advanced search engines easily searched.
4. Why Copyright fails in libraries: The digital environment in which libraries operate has drastically changed the world copyright seeks to regulate. Essentially, copyright material has become much more vulnerable to unauthorized copying and new technologies have overcome the restrictions upon the dissemination of material that existed in the analogue environment, some of the reasons listed below: 1. Easy access to unlimited information 2. Information accessed remotely 3. Aggregates of information 4. Copying reasonable proportions 5. Conscious decision to ignore 6. Punitive penalties
7. Greater effort into upholding 8. Legislation conflicts with library goals 9. Circumventing the legislation
5. Manage the Complexity of Digital Copyright Issues: Not long ago, the main focus of a library’s copyright concern was at the photocopying machine. Now, the library may be responsible for Organization/ Library Web site, negotiating license agreements, and digitizing for archival or other purposes, print documents. With this in mind, the library’s copyright issues should take high priority, as well as the continual monitoring of Libraries copyright management procedures.
5.1 Create a copyright team: Depending on the size of your institute, create a “copyright team.” This team should include people from various sections of library and some other departments of institute mainly include persons who deal with copyright issues, create copyright-protected materials i.e. mainly Authors, Editors and publishers of in-house publications and distribute or use such materials. Since copyright issues often involve practical solutions to most frequent situations, it’s better to consult with a lawyer in-house or consultant periodically and keep those answers available when that situation re-arises.
5.2 Examine and update current procedures: Copyright team should examine library’s current procedures, if any, for dealing with copyright issues. Reviewing the copyright procedures should include things like how to
protect newly created materials, clearing copyright permissions, negotiating permissions and licenses to use a work, and dealing with permission requests that come to library.
5.3 Protect in-house materials: Many librarians and institutes create copyright-protected materials ranging from publications to presentations. Copyright team must examine the procedures you take to protect your in-house copyright-protected materials. Also, consider a standard copyright notice and statement to place on new materials. If the material is in electronic form, may consider modern Digital Rights Management (DRM) Technologies like watermarking or encryption software to protect it. Also implement procedure to monitor the use of the copyright-protected works, and an internal system for reporting possible unauthorized uses of your organization’s works.
5.4 Clear copyright permissions: Prepare a standard form and procedure for requesting permission to use the copyright protected materials and should be the part of Institutes Copyright Policy so everyone should follow the same procedure. Keep proper records of permission received along with terms and conditions to use the copyrighted material.
5.5 Negotiate permissions and licenses: Negotiating permissions and license agreements is important job of new age librarian. There should be one authorized person who negotiates license agreements and requests permission to use copyright-protected materials. Ensure the authorized person signs the
licenses and they should be filed as easily accessible to all library staff. Library staff should educate the end users about how to use & restrictions to use these licensed information materials.
5.6 Appoint a copyright officer: Appoint a copyright officer, who is basically a Library & Information science professional added to same should be certified to handle IPR issues involved in library, who is responsible for: (a) prepare/ implement copyright policy, (b) prepare and publish Institutional Copyright Information webpage, (c) conduct training programs (d) answer questions about the copyright law, (e) maintain copyright records of permissions, agreements, and licenses, (f) place appropriate copyright warning notices on or near copying equipment, and (g) other related duties, as needed.
5.7 Develop a written copyright policy: It is best way to have written copyright policy, with approval from institutional head or library committee, which covers standard copyright clearance procedures and practices. To have SPOC (Single Point of Contact) in your library is also best practice when somebody requesting to use copyrighted material.
6. CONCLUSION: Law cannot keep pace with technology. All the efforts need to be made to amend copyright laws to cover technological impact on the associated legal issues and to include
latest provision for the protection of copyright and also make safeguard for the interest of the users.
Most of the times users are not familiar with copyright laws and the kinds of activities leads to copyright breaching. So users can be made aware through various literacy programs about what are copyrights and what are copy wrongs; the rights of the users and rights of the owner to avoid any legal conflict between these two and it is responsibility of modern days Library & Information Professional. Users also need to educate how to handle electronic information and what extent is a fair use by having written copyright policy, Today Librarians need to put effort to manage the complexity of digital copyright issues.
So the modern day librarianship is tension between providing digitized services and respecting rights of Copyright owner.
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