1. Introduction: the Author vs Information Society IPNM 2007 Kaido Kikkas This document uses the GNU Free Documentation License (v1.2 or newer).

2. In the news ● Postimees, 31.01.07 ● Estonians living in Brussels use illegal SAT- TV to watch Estonian TV Channels ● Illegal? They bought the equipment in Tallinn ● The reasons are not technical, but purely economic

3. Disclaimer ● The lecturer is extremely skeptical on traditional IP - and attempts to explain why ● BUT ● Other people will come to speak, too ● Traditional proprietary approaches will be covered as well ● Required is the ability to think and argument, NOT agreeing with the lecturer in everything

4. Distant stuff? ● USA, EU patent wars... far enough? ● We do have – all the nice things coming down from Brussels – local lobbyists for multinationals – our own branch of BSA and Microsoft – enough smarta**** in various positions to create amazing amounts of suspicious things

5. Some reading ● Brian Martin, Information Liberation ● Books by Yochai Benkler and Larry Lessig ● Wynants & Cornelis, Crossroads ● Links are in the lexture text!

6. Sometimes, somewhere... ●...something went terribly wrong ● Yet the original idea of IP was positive in the context of the time; the Queen Anne Statute was a remarkable legal document ● Ct. Leonardo: Do not teach anything and you alone will excel ● The Gutenberg case

7. The Gods must be crazy ● See José Luis Malaquias, A New Economic System for the Information Era ● Gift of the Gods => Pandora's Box ● The scarcity meme in our brains ● An example: water (Arabs vs Vikings) ● Non-rival goods ● Internet => information as a vital resource

8. Things are different ● Quite a common picture – people from sciences and humanities scoff at each other ● Different mindsets ● LAW is also different, especially from hi-tech – tech: scientific method, experiment, observation – law: consensus, interpretation, conflict mngmt ● Law is reactive => eternal catch-up ● A root of the bigger problem

9. Time factor ● Patriot Act – 5 weeks after the 9/11 in NYC ● A major point of criticism: no one makes a good law in five weeks only! ● For comparison: read major IT portals for the same 5 weeks. A LOT is happening ● Berne Convention: last amended 1979 ● Old Man Paragraph vs the Internet Kid

10. Ethical dimension ● Is it OK to use IP for – obtaining unreasonable privileges – criminal passiveness (Thalidomide case) – blocking the whole field of technology for extended periods ● radio vs telephone (Bell) ● fluorescent vs incandescent lamps (General Electric) ● The AM vs FM case

11. Mindquake ● Concept by Robert Theobald ● “Everything you know is wrong” (Weird Al) ● A moment in history where remarkable parts of valid knowledge lose their meaning ● Ex: the transition economies ● Something similar is happening now

12. the Causbys ● Described by Larry Lessig ● Once upon a time, two brothers had a chicken farm... ● Interesting interpretation of land ownership ● “Common sense revolts at the idea!” ● Case-based legal system => the whole previous understanding went down the drain

13. Those who speak... ●...do not know. And the other way round. ● Overextension as a major problem ● Main reason – lack of dual competencies BOTH in law AND in technology ● It is safer (for the official) to protect wider ● The outcome is seen at http://webshop.ffii.org

14. My name is Eben! ● No, not Banderas this time. Moglen. Eben Moglen. A hacker turned into lawyer ● “Anarchism Triumphant” 1999 ● The fox and the hedgehog ● The IPdroid and the EconoDwarf

15. The case of Sir Timothy ● A good example for many points ● What if...? ● “When I invented the Web, I didn't have to ask anyone's permission. Now, hundreds of millions of people are using it freely. I am worried that that is going end in the USA” (2006)

16. The digital dilemma ● Getting a book from library – law, social norms, economy and technology! ● Physical vs e-book ● What if they buy only ONE? ● Repelling Satan with Beelzebub ● Double-edged sword for traditionalists

17. It changes ● Digital media => copying ● Networks => distribution ● Web => publishing

18. Even more problems ● Customisation – how can I do something that the lawyers did not predict? ● Territorial aspect – The Pirate Bay – Linux in America and in Europe

19. Conclusions ● Lots of complicated issues ● Traditional IP is in clear crisis ● The question is – what to use instead?? ● We'll see later...