Working with ICT
Legal & ethical issues
B. P. Chauhan
Librarian, Thapar Institute of
Engineering & Technology,
Patiala
bpchauhan2000@yahoo.com
Learning outcomes
By the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
 Address ethical, legal and other issues involved
in using the Internet
 Have understanding of intellectual property
rights in digital environment
 Explore possible solutions to address these
issues
Scope
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What are the ethical, legal and other issues involved in
use of ICT?
Possible solutions to the ethical, legal and social issues
Recap of copyright provisions
Technology and Copyright
Situations where copyright issue become important in
Institutional activities
Myths and facts about copyright in digital environment
Netiquettes
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Ethics governing Internet - acceptable behavior on
the Net, mostly related to use of e-mail and relay
chat
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For Example:
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Be brief, keep paragraphs short
Try to use mixed upper and lowercase
Use CAPITALS & special characters for emphasis only
Do not SPAM or send junk e-mail
Refrain from flaming (sending hate messages)
Follow acceptable standards of politeness as used in all kinds
of communication
Be wary of virus hoaxes, urban legends and chain letters
Intellectual Property Rights
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Plagiarism – using somebody else’s work and claiming it as your
own
Copyright Law – protection of the author’s original work
Fair Use – reproduction of materials for educational and research
purpose
Software piracy – theft and illegal reproduction of software
File swapping – exchange of digital materials like audio and video
over the Net without the owner’s permission
Civil liberties
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– issues regarding the rights of an individual
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Freedom of speech – ability to express oneself on the
Internet
Personal privacy and records confidentiality– handling of
personal information, e-mail and other electronic
correspondence
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in the USA the FBI uses a software named “Carnivore” to spy
on e-mail passing through ISPs
collection of user’s data i.e. personal information and browsing
habits by some software (spyware), and using it directly or
selling it for a profit
Censorship – regulation or control of content
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for example: use of blocking or filtering software
Cybercrimes (Computer facilitated
crimes)
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Hacking / Cracking – breaking-in to computer systems with
or without malicious intent
Dissemination of Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horses, and other
similar destructive software
Denial of service and other attacks
Internet Fraud – false advertisement and malpractices of
individuals and companies
Spamming – sending unsolicited e-mail
Flaming – sending of hate messages
Pornography – proliferation of obscene and indecent
materials
Digital Divide
Social and economic issues
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Provisions for the handicapped and marginalized
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Accessibility issues with regards to the physically
handicapped
The widening “digital divide” between the information rich
and information poor
Multilingualism
Charging for information – fee based information
resources and services
Digital Divide
Social and economic issues
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Technological limitations
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Slow download due to small bandwidth and increasing
number of users
Lack of standards with regards to software and interface
design
Other limitations
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Not all the information you may need is available on the
Internet
Information on the Internet is not permanent; it may be
revised, edited, deleted, moved to a new directory, or
filename changed
Commercialization and high cost of information services
Possible solutions
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Creation of Internet Acceptable Use Policy in the
workplace, for staff and students
User and staff education regarding Intellectual Property
Rights and Copyrights issues
Respect of personal privacy and confidentiality of
personal information
Express consent for use of personal information
Vigilance and continuous education in the productive and
responsible use of the Internet
Possible solutions
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Implementation of a system of safeguards against
deliberate or accidental damage to the system or data
Creation of programs and services that address the
needs of the handicapped and marginalized
Upgrade and maintenance of infrastructure, hardware
and software
Utilization of other information resources aside from the
Internet
Digital Copyright
Some issues in IPR in
e-learning environment
Digital Copyright
Some issues of IPR in
digital environment
Some issues in IPR digital
environment
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Recap of copyright
IPR and E-learning
Teacher
Students
Libraries
Peer to peer sharing of files
E-publishing and open Access
Open Source and Open Access
Licensing
Nature of Copyright
Exclusive right given by law for a certain term of years to
an author, composer, designer, etc to print, publish, and
sell copies of his original work.
Applies to literary, dramatic, musical work, computer
program, artistic work, irrespective of the mediapaper, cinematographic films including sound track and
video films, records, CDs, tapes, DVDs, VCDs …
Given to a person or organization responsible for
creation/intellectual input, skill to a work.
Nature of copyright
Multiple nature of rights: bundle of different rights in the same work
 To reproduce and store in any material form and medium
 To issue copies to the public
 To perform in public or communicate to the public
 To make film or recording in respect of the work
 Translation, adaptation and to do the above in respect of
translation and adaptation.
 To sell or give on hire, or offer for sale or hire any copy of the
computer program, regardless of whether such copy has been
sold or given on hire on earlier occasions.
Nature of copyright
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Ideas do not copyright (expressions have)
Author must have bestowed upon the work sufficient
judgment, skill and labour
Original work
No formal registration required
Universal (not territorial)
Immoral and illegal works are covered
Live events are not covered (performers right,
bootlegging)
Acts of infringement
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Doing without license or permission Acts that the
owner has exclusive rights (reproduction,
communication, performance in public, adaptation
and translation)
Permits for profit any place to be used for
communication
Makes for sale or hire or sells for hire
Distributes
Exhibits
imports
Copying
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Casual connection: objective similarity
Indirect copying: 2-D to 3-D, adaptation
Substantial copying: How much is reasonable? The
legislation does not specify a percentage that is
acceptable in all circumstances.
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The courts would look to see whether all or a "substantial
part" of the work has been copied.
"substantial" can relate to quality just as much as quantity. A
small but key part of the work could be ruled by a court to
be a"substantial part
Exceptions to infringement
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Fair dealing: private use (incl. research, criticism or review), reporting
in newspapers, broadcasting
Reproduction for judicial proceedings, for members of legislature
Reading or recitation of extracts in public
Publication in a collection for the use of educational institutions in
certain circumstances
By teacher or students in the course of instructions subject to certain
conditions
Performance in the course of the educational activities for staff and
students
Performance in amateur club or religious institutions for non-paying
audience
Playing sound recording in a closed hall for residents of the building or
in a club not-for-profit
Exceptions to infringement
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Making up to three copies by public library if the book is not available
for sale in India
Reproduction of unpublished work kept in a library for private study or
research or publication. (author not known or beyond copyright)
Free reproduction of
Matter published in Official Gazette (expect legislation)
Legislation with commentary
Reports of committees/commissions laid down on the table of
legislature
Judgments of court, tribunal and other judicial authority
Translation of legislations if not published by the Govt
Exceptions to infringement-Computer
Programmes
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Making copies or adaptation by the lawful
possessor
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In order to utilise for the purpose it was supplied
Back up copies as a temporary protection against
loss
For operating, interoperrability
Observation, study and testing the functioning
For non-commercial personal use
Role of technology in Copyright
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Production and storage
Distribution
Infringement
Surveillance and detection
Technology in Production and
distribution
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Online creation
Sharing and networking
Storage media
Encryption, codification and security
Authentication
License: access, distribution and use
Loans
Technology in infringement and
detection
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Download
Data protection and corruption
Unauthorized use and distribution
Infringement is easy
Detection is easier than before
Allowing/facilitating others to infringe is also
infringement
Situation of use of IP in education
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Use of third party IP in–
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Class room teaching
Research
Theses and publishing
Putting the contents on the site and/or using
in other internet media (email, listserv etc.)
Libraries and learning resources
Free resources and copyright
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Internet, free sample, trial objects
Copyright exist
Implied or express license is required (GPL etc)
License restrictions
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Commercial use
Commercial distribution
Time/place
Further use
Electronic Theses and dissertation
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Ownership: student, sponsor, government,
institution
Free distribution and copying
Third party material: Liability
Instruments: license, assignment,
The Digital Library and copyright
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E-resources
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License and permissions
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Archiving the downloads
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Copying: purpose
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lending of a computer program for nonprofit purposes by a nonprofit library, if each
copy of a computer program which is lent by such library has affixed to the packaging
containing the program a warning of copyright
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Lending and distribution of digital object; e-objects, archiving, journals
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Internet Access
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Institutional repositories:
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Self-archival material
Peer review system
Self-managed system
Moderated system
Digital Copyright:
Myths and Facts
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Myth: The full text of the journal article was posted to
a discussion list. The person who posted it to the list
will have obtained copyright clearance.
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Fact: It is incredible how often you see people asking
if anyone has a copy of an article that they are
looking for, and a helpful person then responds by
posting the full text of the article to the discussion list
on which the enquirer has made the request. They
might not have even considered the copyright
implications of their actions.
Digital Copyright:
Myths and Facts
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MYTH: I am entitled to make a copy of the
work on my Website because I am not
charging people for the material.
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Fact: If you publish someone else's work to
your own Website without permission,
copyright is infringed regardless of whether or
not you charge people for the copied material.
Digital Copyright:
Myths and Facts
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MYTH: I have only created a link to the document
rather than making copies of it. There are no potential
legal problems with doing that.
Fact: If the link is to a pdf, for example, it could be
argued that each time the link is clicked, the entire work
is being "published". There are plenty of legal hazards
from hyper-linking, particularly if you are using frames
technology. You could be accused of "passing off“ other
people's material as your own.
Digital Copyrights
Myths and Truths
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MYTH There
is no copyright symbol on the
work, so it can't be protected by copyright.
Fact: Copyright protection is automatic.
There isn't a formal registration process that
an author has to go through to have the
rights to a work; nor do they need to put a (c)
on the work in order to claim copyright
protection
Digital Copyrights
Myths and Truths
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MYTH Anyone can copy material on the
Web using fair dealing for research as a
defence.
Fact: Fair dealing for research or private
study is restricted to fair dealing for a noncommercial purpose or private study.
Digital Copyrights
Myths and Truths
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MYTH : The information is accessible to anyone on the World
Wide Web. It is therefore in the public domain and internet users
have an implied licence to copy the material.
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Fact: Just because information is accessible on the Web, there
is no implied licence to copy it. Copyright material sent over the
Internet or stored on Web servers will generally be protected in
the same way as material in other media.
Digital Copyrights
Myths and Truths
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MYTH: My whole site was designed by a
professional Website designer. I paid them for the
work, and therefore they will have checked that it
is alright to use the clip art, pictures, and other
material.
Fact: Not necessarily. Not all Website designers
will check that the material used has been cleared
for copyright purposes
Instruments to avoid/protection IPR
infringement
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License
Disclaimers
Agreement/undertaking
Privacy Policy
Statutory v/s contractual
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License Terms and Terms of Law
Click on Agree
Is open access material protected?