Firefox add-on lets surfers tweak sites, but is it safe?

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Copyright? I think you overstate its power here

Copyright should not be interpreted as a carte blanche guarantee of control over the presentation of the copyrighted content. Nor does copyright guarantee a "best effort" to display the content to the desire of the copyright holder.

For example, if I were to view the web page using Lynx (a text-only client without graphical capabilities), the web page will certainly not look like anything that the copyright holder intended if the web page makes extensive use of graphics, or of scripting (which is not necessarily supported). And while the copyright holder might say that viewing the page using "unsupported" browers will negatively affect the user experience, the copyright holder cannot sue the user for infringement just because the user happens to use Lynx instead of Explorer.

Copyright will protect the copyright holder if the user takes the HTML or the appearance of the rendered page and use it in his/her own public works without permission. The user can still generally use the work privately because (1) copyright controls public performance/distribution/reproduction but does not generally control private performance, and (2) even if Copyright does hold, any private use of the web page is likely to fall under Fair Use-- even if incidental copies are made. [It would be difficult for the copyright holder to argue that making private copies severely impacts the commercial value of the work, even if everyone did it, because the purpose of (most) web pages is to publically dissemilate content.]

Copyright does not guarantee that the web page will get to the user exactly as specified by the copyright holder. There could be network error, for example, or perhaps a firewall. The user may be running a proxy server or net filter that removes "objectionable" content. And even if the HTML arrived at the user's computer unaltered, copyright does not guarantee that it will be rendered as the copyright holder desires, or that the software client will not modify the code prior to display (for example, to remove pop-ups and scripts.) In many of these examples, the user himself deliberately chose to modify the appearance of the web page by using software.

Also remember that the purpose of Copyright is to promote the sciences and the arts... NOT to protect the revenues or profits of commercial web sites. Just because a new tool or invention negatively affects the revenue of commercial sites does not make that invention amathea.

Cheers!

Posted by: Root User   Posted on: 03/23/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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