| Home > Law > Copyright and iPods, the alleged illegality of hyperlinks, data & identity protection are hot legal issues of the 21st century. Sydney Mallesons partner, Philip Argy, explains the latest thinking |
| Copyright and iPods, the alleged illegality of hyperlinks, data & identity protection are hot legal issues of the 21st century. Sydney Mallesons partner, Philip Argy, explains the latest thinking | | Date Created: Jul 27, 2005, 08:16 AM |
 Do lawyers and judges know the difference between a Megabyte and a mozzie bite? The law is undoubtedly slow to catch up with the fast changing world of technology. In this interview, senior partner at Mallesons, Philip Argy, discusses the issue of "fair use" as it applies to time or mode shifting on a device such as an Apple iPod. In Australia, an enquiry is underway into whether "fair use" should be extended. In the meantime, Argy evaluates the likelihood of a piracy nabbing for iPod users in different scenarios and explores the delay in the iTunes store's arrival in Australia.
Fearmongers are also alleging that the Web was recently made illegal by the Australian Federal Court. Argy clarifies the Court's remarks, explaining the circumstances in which incitement or authorisation to infringe copyright will cause woe. Argy explores how the law of authorisation applies to areas such as peer to peer networks and comments on how equivalent bodies to the Motion Picture Association of America now target individual pirates for prosecution.
With phishing attacks becoming more sophisticated, consumer awareness still lags behind the tactics of the perpetrators leaving the public challenged to discern things like authentic Paypal emails when fakes even display a bogus security padlock. Argy explains how such ruses impact on consumer confidence in electronic commerce and pressure tests, by comparison, the alleged security level of a four digit PIN used with an ATM. (He also notes the low financial exposure in Australia given our EFT code).
Digital information interception, from USB memory plugs to Wi-Fi hotspots, also comes under the microscope. Argy decries the lack of basic self-protective measures by many broadband users and describes educational initiatives underway to fix the problem. Argy argues ISPs should be required to provide an information sheet about the risks of online life (analogous to that which accompanies medicines) covering things like firewalls and viruses. He also speculates on the affect digital certificates and a public key registry will have in reducing phishing attacks, spam and identity theft - unless people register a $2 company in Bermuda to defy the system. He speculates on the degree to which civil liberties will be affected by such issues and talks about whether such tactics might play a role in averting terrorism.
Argy also puts a spotlight on the importance of keeping long-term company records in an accessible digital form, warning that a crackdown is coming on companies that don't. He explains why the digital copy of a signed document often won't pass muster for legal purposes and looks at how documents that were caught by the Y2K kerfuffle can be challenged in litigation.
Quicktime for Mac users here
Flash Video for Windows PC users here
Sony Playstation Portable version can be right-click downloaded here
3GP for video-capable cellphones can be right-click downloaded from here.
Microsoft Windows Media can be right click downloaded from here.
Note for OSX Safari users: Browsers such as Internet Explorer and FireFox work fine for a right click download for the PSP and 3GP files above. But if you are using Safari, do not right click, but instead, press the option key as you click on the filename and, after downloading, change the filename to end in .3gp or .mp4 respectively.
Note for PSP users: after downloading the special .mp4 PSP version above, change the video's file name to the Sony PSP naming convention that is compatible with other file names you may already have on your PSP to avoid conflicts and ensure that the video shows up in the PSP video directory. |
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