This dissertation explores the social worlds of pirated software discs and free/open source software in Vietnam to describe the practices of copying, evangelizing, and translation. This dissertation also reveals the cultural logics of similarity and continuity that sustain these social worlds. Taken together, this dissertation argues that the…

Colleges have deployed various tactics over the years to deter illegal file sharing, usually of commercial music and movies, by their students. This month, the U.S. Department of Education will begin crafting regulations that specify strategies, a prospect that is making some campus officials wonder if plans they have already invested in will pass…

U.S. Supreme Court justices struggled in a lively debate with how to balance the competing interests of the entertainment industry and developers of file-sharing technology. Some justices sharply questioned whether it was fair to hold inventors of a distribution technology liable for copyright infringement, while others suggested that it was wrong…

This paper is intended to help institutions of higher education critically evaluate the principal technological tools and policies being used to enforce copyright on campus networks. It first explores where the goals of copyright holders and universities overlap and where they conflict. It then discusses the pros and cons of the major solutions…

The first half of the proceedings consists of three papers presented during the program session of a Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee (NAC) meeting. The first, a background paper by Robert L. Oakley, identifies some of the problems that modern information technology has created for the intellectual property system in the United…

The 1980 Amendments (P.L. 95-517) to the updated Copyright Law of 1976 contain two major provisions pertaining to computers. First, only one copy of the master copy of a piece of software may be legally duplicated--the backup copy made by the owner for archival purposes. Second, the only other legal copy of the master copy owned by the user is…

Discussion of hypertext and hypermedia focuses on its use in the production of interactive and distributed documents. Topics include the World Wide Web; HTML (Hypertext Markup Language); client interfaces; gateways to other computer network protocols; and future considerations, including cultural and linguistic problems, software, legal and…

Discussion of distributed multimedia visualization focuses on projects being developed through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Educational Computing Initiatives and the AthenaMuse Software Consortium. Highlights include authoring environments; multimedia network services; distance education; multilingual materials;…

Discussion of current applications of and future possibilities for electronic text, or e-text, focuses on activities in the area of higher education. Topics covered are input technology, including optical scanners and keyboarding; standardization; copyright issues; access to e-text through networks; user interface; hypertext; software; shareware;…

The development of digital content raises new issues as rapid technological developments challenge existing business models and government policies. This OECD study identifies and discusses six groups of business and public policy issues and illustrates these with existing and potential OECD Digital Content Strategies and Policies: (1) Innovation…