The Legal Possibilities for Software Preservation Miniseries builds on the Software Preservation Webinar Series that ran from April 23 - May 30, 2018. This miniseries explores the legal challenges associated with preservation, sharing and reuse of software. Guests discuss their current advocacy work and next steps for legal strategy around software preservation.
The Miniseries and the Software Preservation Webinar Series are both jointly hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition and the Software Preservation Network.
Episode 7: Licensing and Other Legal Approaches
Facilitators: Jess Whyte (University of Toronto), Paula Jabloner (Computer History Museum), Jessica Meyerson (Educopia Institute)
Guests:
- Andrew Charlesworth (University of Bristol)
- Brandon Butler (University of Virginia)
- Burkhard Schafer (University of Edinburgh)
Discussion Questions:
- Describe the relevant legal considerations when discussing software preservation and reuse in a research context.
- Describe your work in this area – who you are working with and your methods for understanding the current state of the field.
- What can digital preservation practitioners do in order to ensure that software dependency concerns are heard and taken in toconsideration by law/policy makers?
Watch the Recording
(Runtime 53 mins)
Supplementary Resources
Websites & Blogs
United States Legal Context:
- Albert, Kendra. (2016). The Angry Birds in the Coal Mine . RIT MAGIC Invited Speaker Series, March 3rd, 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB0hPZUMc1o&feature=youtu.be
- Intellectual Property Rights Issues for Software Emulation: An Interview with Euan Cochrane, Zach Vowell, and Jessica Meyerson, by Morgan McKeehan, The Signal, January 22, 2016
- The United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) 1201 Rulemaking (exemption to break technological protection measures in the service of software preservation)
- Copyright.gov/1201 – the U.S. Copyright Office homepage for the 1201 process for 2018
- Software Preservation Network/Library Copyright Alliance Petition, Comments, and Reply Comments (see Class 9) in support of an exemption for software preservation
- Software Preservation Network 1201 Additional Comments in support of Society of American Archivists “all lawful uses” proposal.
- Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Software Preservation: Association for Research Libraries project landing page
- The Copyright Permissions Culture in Software Preservation and Its Implications for the Cultural Record—Best Practices Phase 1 Report
- How Is an App Like a Player Piano? And Does That Help the Fair Use Case for Software Preservation?—Brandon Butler, The Taper blog
- What’s Eating Software—Brandon Butler, The Taper blog
- Digital Preservation and Copyright, by Peter Hirtle
Canadian Legal Context
- Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (INDU) Statutory Review of the Copyright Act: http://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/INDU/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=9897131,
- Link to submitted brief requesting an exception for circumventing technical protection measures (currently being translated to French): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PHQrINvwSeEao_rOEVmWjdCxsBid4UVxlIk5eI5jn7w/edit?usp=sharing
Articles & Reports
United Kingdom Legal Context
- Charlesworth, Andrew. (2012) Intellectual Property Rights for Digital Preservation: DPC Technology Watch Report 12-02 2012, https://www.dpconline.org/docs/technology-watch-reports/796-dpctw12-02/file
- Kemper, Jakko; Kolkman, Daan. (2018) Transparent to whom? No algorithmic accountability without a critical audience, Information, Communication & Society, DOI: 10.1080/1369118X.2018.1477967
- Rowland, D., Kohl, U. & Charlesworth, A. (2016) Information Technology Law. 1 Aug 2016 5th ed. Abingdon: Routledge.
- Schafer, Burkhard; Edwards, Lilian. (2017). ‘“I spy, with my little sensor”: Fair data handling practices for robots between privacy, copyright and security’, Connection science, Vol 29, pp 200-209
- Schafer, Burkhard; Komuves, David; Zatarain, Jesus Niebla. Diver, Laurence. (2015). ‘A fourth law of robotics?: Copyright and the law and ethics of machine co-production’, Artificial Intelligence and Law, Vol 23, pp 217-240
- Schafer, Burkhard. (2015). ‘D-waste: Data disposal as challenge for waste management in the Internet of Things’, International Review for Information Ethics, Vol 22, pp 100-106
United States Legal Context
- Whitt, Richard S. (2017). ‘Through a Glass, Darkly’ — Technical, Policy, and Financial Actions to Avert the Coming Digital Dark Ages. Santa Clara Computer and High Technology Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 2, 2016. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2742388
Ongoing Discussion
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