Chapter 7.8 - Impacts of CS Who Owns the Bits
Time Estimate: 135 minutes
7.8.1. Introduction and Goals
Learning Objectives: I will learn to
define copyright and explain what different levels of copyright mean
explain the role of the government as it relates to copyrighted materials, specifically the Digital Millenium Copyright Act
consider my role as a consumer of digial media in regards to downloads, sharing, and otherwise interacting with copyrighted material
consider my role as an app developer in regards to fair use of copyrighted material
Language Objectives: I will be able to
explain how the use of computing can raise legal and ethical concerns
use target vocabulary, such as Creative Commons, fair use, DRM, and peer-to-peer while describing issuses pertaining to copyright, with the support of concept definitions from this lesson
7.8.2. Learning Activities
Chapter 6: Copyright Rebalanced — An Evolution of Rights to Access the Bits
This lesson focuses on the question of use and ownership of digital media, including copyrighted media. It describes how file sharing algorithms should work and discusses some of the sensational cases in the battle between large media companies and users who use file sharing sites to share music and other media. Computing can play a role in social and political issues, which often raise legal and ethical concerns, especially if it is used to harm people.
Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator or an organization. Ease of access and distribution of digitized information raises intellectual property concerns regarding ownership, value, and use. Measures should be taken to safeguard intellectual property, for example by citing work that is used but not your own. The use of material created by someone else without permission and presented as one’s own is plagiarism and may have legal consequences. Here are examples of legal ways to use materials created by someone else.
Creative Commons: a public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. This is used when the content creator wants to give others the right to share, use, and build upon the work they have created.
Open source software: programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified
Open access materials : online research output free of any and all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions
Before reading the chapter below, complete the Anticipation Guide and discuss with your classmates.
Here are some of the topics covered in the reading.
Copyright
Peer-to-peer architecture/network
Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
Open Access and Creative Commons
Fair use
Activity 1: Read Chapter 6
Read Chapter 6 of the updated Blown to Bits. As you read the chapter, complete the Concept Bank worksheet. Review the illustration and video (up to 1:45) below to better understand how Napster works.
Activity 2: Open Access Impacts on Science & Innovation
Watch the video below, an interview on paywalls and open access with NIH (National Institutes of Health) Director Francis Collins and inventor Jack Andraka. (Jack Andraka was mentioned in the chapter reading as having used the academic articles Aaron Swartz released in his reseach. Read more here.) After watching the video, discuss the following questions with your classmates.
Why was it important for Jack Andraka to have access to research articles? In what ways did he use the articles?
How does the NIH policy align with Open Access and Creative Commons licenses?
This is the executive order mentioned in the video. What are the benefits it cites to having open access to government data?
7.8.3. Summary
In this lesson, you learned how to:
Learning Objective IOC-1.F: Explain how the use of computing can raise legal and ethical concerns.
Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator or an organization.
Ease of access and distribution of digitized information raises intellectual property concerns regarding ownership, value, and use.
Measures should be taken to safeguard intellectual property.
The use of material created by someone else without permission and presented as one’s own is plagiarism and may have legal consequences.
Some examples of legal ways to use materials created by someone else include: - Creative Commons—a public copyright license that enables the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted work. This is used when the content creator wants to give others the right to share, use, and build upon the work they have created. - open source—programs that are made freely available and may be redistributed and modified - open access—online research output free of any and all restrictions on access and free of many restrictions on use, such as copyright or license restrictions
The use of material created by someone other than you should always be cited.
Creative commons, open source, and open access have enabled broad access to digital information.
As with any technology or medium, using computing to harm individuals or groups of people raises legal and ethical concerns.
Computing can play a role in social and political issues, which in turn often raise legal and ethical concerns.
Material created on a computer is the intellectual property of the creator or an organization.
7.8.4. Still Curious?
This music video on copyright and fair use has a catchy tune and lots of good information!
Open access can include Creative Commons licenses, but can also have fewer restrictions on them. Read more about Open Access on Wikipedia and about the different types of Creative Commons licenses.
Want to learn more about Napster? AOL created a documentary called Downloaded about how it started, evolved with the court case, and eventually folded. You can watch the first 15 minutes on YouTube.
Owners of copyrighted works can file complaints with various types of sharing services such as YouTube to have material removed. These complaints are available at LumenDatabase.org, formerly known as ChillingEffects.org. Try a search similar to the one mentioned in the book ("download [movie or song name]"). Then, look through the search results page for a notice about results being removed from DMCA complaints. Google's search results link to each of the complaints in Lumen.
7.8.5. Self Check
Here is a table of the technical terms introduced in this lesson. Hover over the terms to review the definitions.
open access
Creative Commons
fair use
DMCA
peer-to-peer
copyright
decentralized network
centralized network
DRM
7.8.6. Reflection: For Your Portfolio
Answer the following portfolio reflection questions as directed by your instructor. Questions are also available in this Google Doc where you may use File > Make a Copy to make your own editable copy.
Keep these questions in mind as you read chapter 6.
In your own words, define the concept of copyright. Why should all Internet users be aware of copyrighted material?
What is the difference between digital and printed documents that makes it easier to violate copyright law with digital ones?
What is a peer-to-peer architecture? Provide an example of at least one well-known peer-to-peer network.
What is the DMCA and why is it significant to copyright, especially with regards to electronic works (documents, images, videos, etc.)?
What are Open Access and Creative Commons? How have they impacted the sharing of digital information?
The Blown to Bits book is released under a Creative Commons (CC) license, specifically the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license. What does this license allow people other than the authors to do? What is the relationship between the original Blown to Bits book and the newer, Blown to Bits (version 2.0) book? Did the authors of the newer version stay true to the CC license? How can you tell? (Optional) If your favorite book or movie was released with a CC license, how would you change it?
The chapter describes three peer-to-peer networks, each of which can be used to share copyrighted works illegally. Why did the courts find that Napster and Grokster were liable for the illegal activities of it's users, while BitTorrent is not?
What effect have streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify had on illegal downloading activities?
Why was it important for Jack Andraka to have access to research articles? In general, how has access to information helped to identify problems, develop solutions, and disseminate results?
What is your responsibility as an app developer in regards to the fair use of copyrighted works such as images and music? Give one example use of a copyrighted work in an app that follows fair use guidelines and one example that violates fair use guidelines.
In your opinion, are YouTube users violating copyright terms when they make lyric videos? Why or why not?
Portfolio Reflection Questions
Make a copy of this document in your Portfolio Assignments folder and answer these questions in the spaces below. Once complete, turn in this assignment according to the steps given by your teacher.
7.8 Impacts of CS: Who Owns the Bits? Curriculum Page
Keep these questions in mind as you read chapter 6. For each question, write a short answer and post your answers on a page called Blown to Bits, Chapter 6 on your portfolio. Don't worry if you think you don't know the right answer. Just give it your best shot.
1. In your own words, define the concept of copyright. Why should all Internet users be aware of copyrighted material?
2. What is the difference between digital and printed documents that makes it easier to violate copyright law with digital ones?
3. What is a peer-to-peer architecture? Provide an example of at least one well-known peer-to-peer network.
4. What is the DMCA and why is it significant to copyright, especially with regards to electronic works (documents, images, videos, etc.)?
5. What are Open Access and Creative Commons? How have they impacted the sharing of digital information?
6. The Blown to Bits book is released under a Creative Commons (CC) license, specifically the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 license. What does this license allow people other than the authors to do? What is the relationship between the original Blown to Bits book and the newer, Blown to Bits (version 2.0) book? Did the authors of the newer version stay true to the CC license? How can you tell? (Optional) If your favorite book or movie was released with a CC license, how would you change it?
7. The chapter describes three peer-to-peer networks, each of which can be used to share copyrighted works illegally. Why did the courts find that Napster and Grokster were liable for the illegal activities of it's users, while BitTorrent is not?
8. What effect have streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify had on illegal downloading activities?
9. Why was it important for Jack Andraka to have access to research articles? In general, how has access to information helped to identify problems, develop solutions, and disseminate results?
10. What is your responsibility as an app developer in regards to the fair use of copyrighted works such as images and music? Give one example use of a copyrighted work in an app that follows fair use guidelines and one example that violates fair use guidelines.
11. In your opinion, are YouTube users violating copyright terms when they make lyric videos? Why or why not?
Last updated