New Straits Times
11-24-1997
HOW do you copyright your material on the Web? A recent conference of
media experts in London examined that and many other questions and came
up with some startling answers.
The traditional model of media, they said, is the one you as readers
(and I as a journalist) are well used to: journalists write, editors edit,
and publishers and owners oversee the whole thing.
But this model is being turned on its head by emerging technologies,
according to legal experts at the NetMedia conference.
One of the problems is that at the moment, national laws are being
applied to what is an international medium.
An example given was of Playboy magazine, which brought a lawsuit
against an Italian title with similar content called Playmen.
Because Playmen could be downloaded by American Internet users, it was
breaking an agreement by Playmen not to publish in the United States, said
Playboy's lawyers.
Not so, retorted the Italian side. By downloading content from our
servers, it is akin to the American user getting on a plane, flying to
Italy, reading the magazine, then returning to America.
In short, journalists (and content providers of any kind - that means
you if you have a Web site) face new opportunities as the Internet grows
more popular. However, there are also new dangers.
Barrister Clive Gringras told the conference that some existing laws
covered aspects of Internet publication very well, but others need tightening.
The nature of the Net will fundamentally change the future of journalism,
he said.
"There will be journalists with a following or an angle who will be
able to put up their own Web sites, publishing their own articles. They
will not go through a publisher or an editor, unless they choose to employ
an editor. They will become tiny, discreet publishers themselves."
Advances in using money over the Internet will drive this new
information revolution.
New technology that provides users with the power to make "micro-
payments" using digital cash or credit cards will make it easy to download
articles from the Net very cheaply.
"New organisations are on the Web now because they know this
technology is on the way. Instead of charging 75 pence for a whole newspaper,
they can charge seven pence, or a fraction of that for just one or two
articles," said Gringas.
The financial rewards to popular content providers could be large.
Many micro-payments from hundreds of thousands of readers for each article
would generate a good level of income.
But the Internet also makes piracy of content easy, and protecting
copyright will be another vitally important issue facing journalists whose
work is published on-line.
The law as it stands is sufficient to prosecute plagiarists, but it is
catching them in the first place that is difficult, delegates were told.
Again, technology is providing some of the answers. Software is being
developed at the moment that will "watermark" or "tattoo" either a picture
or even a piece of text so that it cannot be copied electronically without
the author, or publisher, being aware.
This will make it easier to catch those who breach copyright. However,
Gringas said there remains confusion over legal issues such as libel.
The Internet publishing model means journalists can enjoy the
advantages of direct control of their own copyright, and direct payment
from readers - but they will face the disadvantage of possible direct liability
worldwide.
In other words, writers exploiting this aspect of the medium could
find themselves making trips abroad to defend libel actions brought against
them by readers of Web sites all over the world, even though the original
document was hosted on a computer in the United Kingdom, he said.
One of the other speakers, Nick Lockett, is the Webmaster of the
Netlaw site (http://www.netlaw.co.uk) which is well worth looking at to
check out the latest news about law and the Net. There's also a very amusing
collection of lawyer jokes there.
Here are some interesting Web sites that popped up in a Window near me
recently: * The Millennium's Eve Party Register (http://www.jepa.co.uk/shopping/party.html).
When you have managed to sort out your company's problems with the millennium
computer bug, you might get round to thinking about what you will actually
do on New Year's Eve, 1999.
One clever person has set up this site for people worldwide to
publicise their parties, large or small. Check them out and decide which
one you'll go to. Then, um, party like it is 1999.
* Archiweb (http://www.archiweb.com). Claiming more than 750 links to
architecture sites worldwide, this should be an ideal starting point for
anyone wanting to surf for stuff about buildings.
Watch out for possible URL changes in the near future, as a
replacement site is under construction. From here you will be able to find
your way to a page dealing just about every sub topic of architecture there
is.
* Unit 19 (http://doric.bart.ucl.ac.uk/web/unit19/Unit19exibit.html).
An interesting collection of images, landscapes and ideas.
This is classic abstract stuff. None of these images seem to relate
anything sensible, but many of them do look pretty. The concepts here are
more to do with cyber-architecture, or the shape of cyberspace. Whatever
that means.
Plenty of excellent Windows wallpaper material here, anyway.
WORLDSOURCES ONLINE, INC., A JOINT VENTURE OF FDCH, INC. AND WORLD TIMES,
INC. NO PORTION OF MATERIALS CONTAINED HEREIN MAY BE USED IN ANY MEDIA
WITHOUT ATTRIBUTION TO WORLDSOURCES ONLINE, INC.
COPYRIGHT 1997 BY WORLDSOURCES ONLINE, INC.
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