Society uses intellectual property protection to maximize progress. The paradox of maximal progress in information-based products is important. Lack of copyright regulation and ownership protection of information would create a situation where no one would want to produce a medium or its content, because they would either not receive revenue or would receive inadequate revenue. On the other hand, too much regulation would chill development, because it would lead to the monopoly of specific products, and the inability to build on previous ideas … Authorship information does not need to get lost, despite inlining or even repeated cutting and pasting. If web technology standards includes digital signatures in documents, the result can be higher creativity because each author gets credit (or revenue) for his work. Such decisions by web technologists may potentially affect the need for intellectual property protection laws.
Predictor: Norderhaug, Terje
Prediction, in context:In a paper presented at the third annual WWW Conference in 1995, Terje Norderhaug and Juliet M. Oberding of Media Design inProgress presented research titled, ÒDesigning a Web of Intellectual Property,Ó in which they assert that web technology undermines the protection of intellectual property. They write: ÒAccording to the U.S. constitution, the stated purpose of copyright is to promote the progress of science and the useful arts. The layman, thus, often mistakes the means from the actual end. Society uses intellectual property protection to maximize progress. The paradox of maximal progress in information-based products is important. Lack of copyright regulation and ownership protection of information would create a situation where no one would want to produce a medium or its content, because they would either not receive revenue or would receive inadequate revenue. On the other hand, too much regulation would chill development, because it would lead to the monopoly of specific products, and the inability to build on previous ideas … It will come as no surprise that new media technology such as the World Wide Web may have large impact on the future sense of authorship. The web has a potential for blurring authorship, by making it easier to intertextualize and compile information and ideas from multiple sources into a new product. The application of digital author signatures in web documents can easily affect McLuhan’s and Fiore’s prediction. Authorship information does not need to get lost, despite inlining or even repeated cutting and pasting. If web technology standards includes digital signatures in documents, the result can be higher creativity because each author gets credit (or revenue) for his work. Such decisions by web technologists may potentially affect the need for intellectual property protection laws … The challenge for web technology designers is to create such an innovation, and it is not obvious that they should support the traditional notion of authorship. Lack of better ways to secure the interests of information owners slows progress. Web technology designers must explore ways to secure revenue on the web which do not hinder creativity and reuse of existing ideas.Ó
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Copyright/Intellectual Property/Plagiarism
Name of publication: WWW Conference '95
Title, headline, chapter name: Designing a Web of Intellectual Property
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.igd.fhg.de/archive/1995_www95/proceedings/papers/95/webip.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne