Transcript Are you an IP criminal? - Colorado Mesa University

Are you an IP criminal?
“Free Software, Free Society” and “Free Culture”
Karl Castleton
Adjunct Faculty and Researcher at
Pacific Northwest National
Laboratories
IMHO
• All the statements in this presentation are
my personal interpretations of these two
works. If you feel something stated is
incorrect or misleading please feel free to
counter my opinion.
• Questions and comments are of course
welcome during the presentation.
“Free Culture” and “Free Software,
Free Society”
• Free Software, Free Society: Selected essays
of Richard M. Stallman
– Programmer
– Started the GNU Not Unix (GNU) project
– One of the first to see and do something about
freedom in software
• Free Culture
– by Lawrence Lessig
– Attorney
– Argued before supreme court issues of public domain
Which of these acts are illegal?
• Download music you did not pay for
• Playing a “cracked” version of a game, cracking
a game, describing how to crack a game in an
educational setting
• Writing a search engine that allows you to find
files on another system (only files that are made
available by other users) similar to searching for
items on the H: drive or F:\public_html
– Who committed a crime, A The poster, B The
downloader, C the programmer of the software?
Which of these acts are illegal?
• Making a photocopy of a family portrait
• Making a best of audio cassette of your favorite songs
from vinyl
• Making a best of music CD of old audio cassette
• What about ripping music from a CD and then making a
best of CD
• Making a backup of a vinyl to audio, audio to CD, CD to
CD
• Forwarding an email
• Describing weaknesses in an encryption algorithm or the
mathematics behind it
• Summarizing or reviewing another persons work without
their permission
• Copying a page from a book or magazine
The punitive cost of copyright
infringement
• $150,000 per incidence
– By the way a doctor cutting off the wrong limb is about
$250,000 (couple songs or the leg you choose)
• Ignorance is not a defense
• RIAA tends to ask “how much do you have?”
when they believe you are in violation
• Short answer. There is an instance where all the
above examples are illegal
– Subtle issues make up the difference
– almost all are tied to getting permission of someone
(possibly unknown)
You have all probably violated
copyright.
• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and Sonny
Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) removed
some rights you used to have
– Backups
– Sampling for fair use
– Breaking encryption or discussing breaking encryption is against
the DMCA
• Why such differences
– Pirates, thieves, and malcontents
• Don’t do anything creative unless you have a lawyer
clear the rights
– Forbes has a recent article implying photographs of Apollo 11
crew are owned by Bill Gates (via Corbis).
First: Free Software, Free Society
• A collection of essays (that have been modified
through time) written by Richard Stallman
– Should be read by any computer scientist so they
understand what the software society was in the early
days of computers
– Almost everyone my age or younger have not
experienced this except in the seemingly “dark”
corners of software
• Shareware and freeware BBS
– Realize that world today is not as it was.
• No Non-Disclosure Agreements
First: Free Software, Free Society
• Stallman is a zealous supporter of free
software.
– Not free as in “free beer”, “free as in freedom”
– Able to choose applications and developers
from anywhere
– Patches could come from the most reliable
source
– Does not imply there is no business model
• just different than insuring you are the only one
who can make copies (copyright)
First: Free Software, Free Society
• Before copyright had real teeth (more
about this later) Stallman help to create a
license which takes the power of copyright
and reverses its intent.
– anyone can freely copy and reuse as long as
improvements are equally unfettered
– once free always free or you violate copyright
– some refer to this as copyleft
– simply brilliant
– add teeth to copyright and copyleft gets
stronger
Second: Free Culture
• A single work that describes historical
meaning of “property” and extends it to
“intellectual property” and recent copyright
law changes
– For example “property” rights used to extend
from the center of the planet to the edge of
the universe.
– Now rights are limited to really the surface of
the planet.
Second: Free Culture
• A change was needed when the U.S. wanted to
fly planes over farm land
– the definition of property did not fit the needs of the
big guy the meaning of property was changed
– big pockets won over individual rights
• Armstrong invented FM for RCA but RCA owned
rights to AM frequencies
– RCA buried and fought Armstrong and delayed his
FM patent taking force
– His widow finally won the case
– RCA would not trample creative work of others would
they?
Second: Free Culture
• Leaders in the old technology have an
incentive to keep new technologies down
• Deepest pockets usually win
• Leaders tend to use certain verbs to label
the other side
– piracy, theft, law breaking, malicious act
– historically one pirate is another privateer
– Why is Hollywood on the west coast?
– Was Rosa Parks a law breaker.
Second: Free Culture
• Before anyone begins to think illegal music
downloads is civil disobedience remember
– Rosa Parks was a elderly black woman on a
bus
– Downloading thousands of songs you did not
pay for is not moral high ground
– Also Rosa Parks did break the law and was
prepared for the consequences
• A sign of belief the law needed to be changed not
to entertain herself or brag to others
Some Quotes from riaa.org
• “The principle that work one creates belongs to the creator and
should be controlled by the creator is as timeless as it is global.
Likewise, for centuries, new inventions, from the printing press to the
Internet, have threatened that principle. For centuries, advocates
have resolutely defended it. The RIAA is just such an advocate
today.”
• “The Recording Industry Association of America is the trade group
that represents the companies and people making creative works in
the recording industry. The RIAA works to protect intellectual
property rights worldwide and the First Amendment rights of artists.”
• This inspires some questions
– Does RCA or the artist own the work?
– Is describing flaws in encryption algorithms freedom of speech?
An act of civil disobedience?
Forbes March 1, 2004
“Image: Who owns the
right to put a famous
photo on a web site?
Chances are it’s a
famous rich guy name
Bill Gates” by Bruce
Upbin, implied that thi
image was owned by
Gates and a company
needed $18,000 for
this and other photos
and still negotiate the
publicity rights from
the crew. The NASA
site says this is free
but you need to still
negotiate publicity righ
Second: Free Culture
• Your rights have changed and now you have to
higher a lawyer to do almost any creative
process
– What is in the public domain (i.e. it can be used to
inspire new works) and what do you need to get
permission for?
• Used to be marked with copyright and the date
• Lasted for a few years (around 25 years) and material was in
the public domain now (95)
• Derivative works permitted
• Parody permitted
• Fair use included items like making backups, and sampling
Second: Free Culture
• Lessig argued before the supreme court that law
named for Sonny Bono that extended copyright
again was unconstitutional because (pg 228)
– Section 8; Clause 8: To promote the Progress of
Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited
Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to
their respective Writings and Discoveries;
– Every time copyright is about to expire (for Mickey
Mouse) congress has extended it
– Trying to insure Robert Frost poems go into public
domain
Second: Free Culture
• Lessig lost his argument as Jack Valenti (former
head of the MPAA sat in the family and friends
section of the court room)
• Remember some of the Disney classics (derived
from public domain)
– Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Bambi, Song of the
South, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Robin Hood,
Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, Sleeping
Beauty, 101 Dalmations, The Sword in the Stone, The
Jungle Book and the latest Treasure Planet (a
derivative of Treasure Island produced in 2003.
• Why is Hollywood on the west coast?
What is the target
• Not the music pirates, or the hackers
• The target is the public domain
– You cannot sell the public domain (except to charge the for
transmission or duplication) but you cannot claim anything for
the authorship
• For example how much is a copy of H.G. Wells “War of
the Worlds”? The text is in the public domain. So why is
there a copy on the shelf at Borders? Why is it so much
cheaper than a recent publication of Stephen King?
• You simply cannot charge too much for works that are
publicly available.
• It would be far more profitable if all works were owned by
someone.
• You could even have a business clearing rights for
people who wanted to create new material. Read the
Forbes Image article.
What you may be feeling
• This does not seem American.
– Remember the property example, permission needs
to be granted before you take any step
• I am afraid to do almost anything that using
something else.
• How can I be free of this worry?
• I feel like the RIAA, MPAA and the FBI may be
watching over me and I do not who to be more
afraid of.
• How can I be creative (use the material and
ideas around me to create new ideas)?
What you can do (anyone).
• First realize that these laws maybe (IMHO
are) unjust but they are the law
• But Richard Stallman’s cleverness is a key
• How can I take copyright law ($150,000
per violation) and insure my creative works
are free
• How can I insure the materials I use are
free and unfettered
What you can do (anyone).
• Creativecommons.org:
– Creative Commons is devoted to expanding the range
of creative work available for others to build upon and
share.
– A licensing approach to revive the public domain
• Ibiblio.org
– The public’s library and digital archive
– Materials are cleared for use in your materials
– Materials that individuals want to be in the public
domain stored and organized
What you can do (anyone).
• WikiPedia.org
– Wikimedia is a non-profit organization that provides
computing and network resources to create and
distribute free content. Since we do not plan ever to
have advertisements, and since we will never charge
authors to write or readers to read our online content,
we rely on donations to keep us going.
– Try searching for “Ordinary Differential Equations”
and you will be pleased with the depth of the
information.
What you can do (anyone).
• Contribute to the Creative Commons,
Public Domain, or WikiPedia make the
information free, get paid to educate, get
paid to consult (or assist in its use)
– You care about attribution, not secrecy
• Don’t get paid for making copies of
something you have developed (other than
to fundraise or cover cost of materials)
– Secrecy is more important than dissemination
What you can do (anyone).
• FSF.org
– Free Software Foundation the main location
with legislative actions that are about to be
taken that you should let your representatives
know should be apposed
• For instance see about the INDUCE Act
• EFF.org
– Electronic Frontier Foundation the main legal
team for the FSF and anyone who believes
current copyright laws are injuring them
What can I do (computer science).
• Write truly free software
– Let others take the source, modify it, and use
it for their own purposes
– Don’t let it be made secret so you have to be
suspicious of your colleagues
– Read through the GNU General Public
License or GNU Lesser General Public
License
– You will be the first they call for any change
because you are the “best” for the job
What can I do (computer science)
• Be very reluctant to sign a Non-Disclosure
Agreement
– I have
– Stallman quit MIT over this issue
– It pollutes your thoughts with ideas that someone
thinks are very valuable
– I get royalties from software written at PNNL and by
all rights my software is popular (not like Microsoft)
put in its field. I can usually go to Taco Bell once with
the check
– It cost $200.00 to discuss the inner workings of that
software with someone.
• Even though concepts came from my head
What can I do (computer science)
• Realize the reason SCO is targeting Linux and
not GNU (see GrokLaw.net for all details)
– What most people call Linux is really GNU/Linux
• If you are ever around Stallman make sure to call it
GNU/Linux
– Most of the tools are GNU tools like GCC (written by
Stallman) and others
– The core system is the Linux kernel written by (Linus
Torvalds)
– GNU has had clear attribution requirements for
source code
– Linus did not have as clear of attribution
– SCO targeted Linux because it is work for them to
demonstrate that all of Linux if free
– One of SCO’s largest clients is Microsoft (buying
UNIX?)
What can I do (mathematician and
statistics)
• Don’t let your science be polluted by a gold rush
mentality about copyright
– What did Bill Gates invent? Why is he rich? What
classic Computer Science or Math problem did he
solve?
– Consider contributing your work to an open
environment
– Realize that many peer reviewed journals are not
available to the general public
• A high fee is paid for access to the article for colleges public
libraries do not have access
– A “Ramanujan” in middle America could occur
because of greed of publishers
What can I do (mathematician and
statistics)
• Plos.org
– Public Library of Science is starting a peer reviewed
journal for Biology and Medicine
– You could start something similar for mathematics (it
might already exist)
• Some institutions require that works performed
by students are required to be released publicly
– This would in turn force the work to remain in the
public and therefore the student would have the right
to that material always
• Other institutions lock the students results in a IP
vault to not loose their value
What can I do (everyone)
• Realize none of these steps above require you to wait for
anything or anyone.
– That is the genius of copyleft you can act now
• A longer term answer is to VOTE
– This is not a partisan issue
• Both sides of the isle take money from those that have it, and
they then vote to take the rights of the ones who do not
• Read with healthy skepticism about hackers, illegal
music downloads, and IP criminals of any sort
– It can simply be the leaders in today industry trying to maintain
position more than real criminals
Thanks
• Thanks to everyone that discussed this
topic with me. Chief amongst them are
– Dr. MacEvoy, Dr. Ektare, Dan Stadelman
• Post Script
– Believe in open processes. America was not
founded on secrecy of ideas, in fact the
authors of the constitution explicitly wanted to
insure progress, by not allowing that to
happen