Tsutomu Mizuno
Software Development Center, Hitachi, Ltd.
549-6 Shinano-cho, Totsuka, Yokohama 244, Japan
Phone: +81-45-824-2311, Fax: +81-45-826-8347
E-Mail: mizun_ts@soft.hitachi.co.jp
The most important issue to be addressed in digital libraries is who pays for material to be converted into an electronic form if the copyright for that material has expired. If the material is not to be distributed via a network, the potential for large-scale distribution from the digital library is greatly reduced and the importance of the copyright issue is lessened.
Normally, to distribute material through a network where the copyright for that material belongs to someone else, the permission of the copyright holder is required. In other words, the operators of digital libraries must obtain permission from the copyright holder for the material to be placed on a network. Now, for what types of digital library systems are copyright holders likely to give their permission? Here, we will consider the conditions relating to network distribution with which copyright holders are likely to agree. Then we will discuss the requirements of users, the private information service industry, and the library operators.
If we adopt the same analogy for digital libraries, we could use the following method. First, we set a limit for the frequency of simultaneous accesses to material stored in the digital library. The copyright holder would be reimbursed with a fee from the digital library that corresponds to this value. In this connection, the Xerox Corporation has already made a proposal where various rights would be set down in relationship to the material [3].
Now, when limits are set as described above, secondary use of the material must be made difficult. That is, we must ensure that material lent from a digital library is always used in its original form and that no part of the material can be extracted to make other material. It follows that this limitation also prevents electronic referencing of material. However, this is unavoidable since the boundary between appropriate referencing and secondary use without permission cannot be determined solely by electronic means.
On the other hand, in the future there will much material that exists only on networks. If a digital library could function as an impartial institution that can prove authorship of original material, this would provide an important impetus to copyright holders to entrust their material to digital libraries.
Likewise, if investment in new equipment is required to enable a user to use a digital library, then this raises problems for public libraries. Use of digital libraries should be made possible merely by the addition of simple software based on the most popular infrastructure possible
So what restrictions should apply to digital libraries? By their nature, libraries excel in the collection and classification of material. The problem lies in the unrestricted release of all this collected material to users. In particular, if digital libraries widely distribute specialized material that has been a major source of income for the information service industry, digital libraries will severely restrict business in the information service industry.
Therefore, the material distributed from digital libraries must be of a type that does not compete with the material flowing from private industry. Or, if it does compete, then it must be of an adequately smaller volume than that distributed from private industry.
If current book lending and return systems can be successfully digitized by solving these problems, people wanting to borrow popular material will need to wait until the material is returned. When this occurs, those with sufficient disposable income will purchase the material at electronic book stores; and others will wait until the material is returned and then borrow it. Each of these issues will now be discussed.
If the decoding method is supplied in the form of software, the decoding method will also be able to be copied. In other words, the enciphered material and the decoding method can be copied, and this can be passed on together with the cipher key to another person. This means that the material can be redistributed in a usable format. (See Figure 3.1.)
Figure 3.1 Ease of Redistribution of Enciphered Material
Of course, employing special hardware to decode material could be considered. However, if it is then said that all digital library users require special hardware, the expense of this for users or library operators would multiply. This is hardly the best solution. Rather, it is more desirable to enable use of a digital library by adding software to the user terminal, if possible.
Note here that software alone will not completely prevent the redistribution of material. Users that redistribute material must be made to suffer a penalty.
The advantages that users of that type can gain by redistributing material need to be considered.
Figure 3.2 Potential for Detecting Dealer Name from Pirated Versions
However, this cannot be considered a perfect method either because people could purchase material under a false name. And some would find methods of removing the information giving details of the person assigned rights to the material, from the material.
Some users will not be aware that this action of passing on information may breach the rights of others. Some users may even mistakenly believe that they are advertising the material. There are many people who believe that none of the information on the Internet is subject to copyright. This is probably because the material exists where it can be easily copied.
We cannot ignore the damage copyright holders incur through such actions. In particular, material on a network can be redistributed instantaneously to a third party. If one individual redistributes the material to a few others, before one knows it, thousands of copies have been made. Although the results are the same as when material is redistributed without permission for profit by ill- intentioned people, the big difference is that these people are not ill-intentioned.
Although they are not ill-intentioned, their lack of care or understanding about copyright means that sometimes their actions may breach copyright. Therefore, immediate exposure when such a breach of copyright is discovered may be relatively meaningless for the ill-intentioned users described above. However, it may serve as a severe punishment for other users. It is most important to find a technology that will warn against and prevent breaches of copyright made by ill-intentioned users. Warning users that it is possible to detect which users have redistributed material from the material itself is probably a deterrent.
It would be more appropriate if material that had passed the expiration date were automatically deleted by the decoding method, or deleted after user confirmation. However, there would be some people who, not wanting to delete the material, would not delete it. Incentives to ensure that such unjust behavior does not occur are required.
An operating system must be devised for digital libraries where users benefit by the removal of enciphered material. The easiest method would be to have users report to the digital library when the decoding system has deleted the enciphered material. When users do not send in such a report, the next time they borrow material a warning including a deletion request would be issued, and users would be warned that their borrowing rights would cease if their present behavior continued.
Enciphered material would be able to be read using an appropriate reading system. Here, what is important is the prevention of redistribution of the enciphered material without the information that has been added to it. When enciphered material is read, it is also important that referral at any time to the information that specifies the user be enabled. (See Figure 4.1.)
Figure 4.1 Material Distribution Model
Let us consider here the protection of decoded material. The reading system and other file access systems enable decoded material to be accessed. The reading system must of course always access the material when reading it. The file access system does not always have to be operating while material is being read. That is, use of the file access system must be prevented along with secondary use through the reading system.
The decoding helper, decodes the cipher and stores the material in the specified directory. Then the material is displayed using the browser. At the same time, the information that specifies the user, the expiration date, and copyright information that was included in the material is displayed on the screen or is made available for reference at any time. When the material is displayed on a browser, the decoding helper also starts up an application that monitors the browser and the operation of any other applications. If this monitoring application notices any copy or edit operations being used in the browser, it would restrict these or display a warning. Where necessary it would also inhibit the operation of other applications. (See Figure 5.1.)
Figure 5.1 Setup in Trial System
Figure 5.2 shows a screen example in the system actually trialed. This diagram shows an example where a window displaying a warning and information relating to the material being displayed is shown when an attempt is made to use the Web browser for cut and paste operations.
Figure 5.2 Screen Example
In this paper, we have assumed that a digital library would be constructed from a WWW server and a Web browser on a PC platform. While the function of the popular Web browsers are useful, there is also the danger that incorrect use of these functions may result in breaches of the copyright of the material, a right that belongs to a third party. However, when the popular nature of these browsers, their expressive power, their functions, and the speed of their performance is considered, they must still be considered the most appropriate platform for distributing material over a network.
Future technology development must follow one of the two following directions. First, the technology may, as has been done in the past, attempt to protect valuable material from illegal distribution by ill-intentioned people. The more valuable the material, the more money can be spent in turning it into a product. For example, the development of technology for special hardware may progress to protect valuable and expensive material.
On the other hand, technology may be developed to protect users from the possibility of being sued because they have inadvertently breached the rights of another. Although it is easily forgotten, it can be expected that in the future there will be more and more people using the network, acquiring information with little knowledge about computers or the law. The risks of the current WWW specifications where such users can readily breach the rights of another person are all too great. Work is needed to minimize this risk for users by creating software that is easier to use.
The system can be introduced with no ill- feeling because we do not need to change the user interface and therefore users can continue to use popular Web browsers, and because we can display warnings only when attempts are made to enable secondary use of the material.
In the future, technology to protect copyright will be divided into two types. One type of technology will be developed to exclude ill- intentioned users who, knowingly, intentionally, enable secondary use of material. The other type of technology will be developed to protect users who enable illegal secondary use of material, either unwittingly or through lack of care, from being sued after the fact by the holders of rights or from harsh criticism from a third party who has no rights (a trend of late).
Technology for copying material has progressed to such an extent and copies can be so easily made that cases of people unwittingly breaching the rights of others by copying material are on the increase. Not only should greater use of the media be made to educate the public about intellectual property, but increasingly a better understanding of intellectual property rights should be facilitated by the product itself.
[2] P. Samuelson: "Legally Speaking: Copyright and Digital Libraries," Communication of the ACM, April 1995/Vol. 38, No. 4 (1995)
[3] Marti A. Hearst: "Research in Support of Digital Libraries at Xerox PARC," D-Lib Magazine, May 1996, http://www.dlib.org/dlib/may96/05hearst.html (1996)
