The American Bar Association is looking closely at copyright
issues related to wireless Internet use. Trouble is, they don?t
seem to know anything about 802.11x networking or the Internet.
Author Cory Doctorow, writing on his weblog,
boingboing.com, notes that the report by the ABA?s
Committee on New Information Technology may be ?one of the most
clueless documents? he?s ever read. The committee, he says, seems
to view wireless Internet networks as simply a tool for copyright
infringement, ?with a grudging admission that offices find them
useful sometimes.?
The group recommends that wireless networks be retooled to
accomodate Digital Rights Managment (DRM) schemes, which protect
content providers from copyright infringement by restricting how
customers may use the materials they?ve purchased, a suggestion
that Doctorow says ?is like saying ?to protect the environment, we
should get recyclable toner cartridges for our manual
typewriters.??
In other words, he concludes, the ABA simply wants to redesign
wireless networks and the Internet to prevent copyright
infringement, ?even though you?d think that a bunch of lawyers
would have some idea of how impractical that is.?
?Craig Cox
Go there>>
Bar
Association Wants ?Pirate? Wi Fi Regulated
Related Links:
- ABA
Committe on New Information Technologies Report (MS-Word
document)
