... And the Rest

Comments on Section 104, August, 2000

The Copyright Office asked for comments on Section 104 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. I chose to do a short study of current DRMS (digital rights management systems) and how those affect readers' rights to first sale. If you aren't familiar with first sale, it is a part of the copyright law that says that once you have purchased a copyrighted item (a book, a video, a music CD) you can dispose of it as you wish, with "dispose" meaning sell, give away or lend. Unfortunately, this is rarely possible with digital materials and the rights of readers are clearly diminishing under these new communications formats.

Information Granfalloons, September, 1999

This is a short, purely whimsical piece that arose out of a recent reading of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle.

Privacy: a talk given at SHARE, San Francisco, February, 1999

Looking for your Right to Privacy? Think that computers are spying on you? This annotated slide presentation talks about privacy law, computers and how the decisions that we make that can affect whether technology invades or protects privacy. In a nutshell MAKE PRIVACY THE DEFAULT.

Digital Signatures: Identity in Cyberspace (December, 1997)

This article, written for the AALL Spectrum gives a non-technical introduction to digital signatures: what they are, why we need them, and why we don't have them yet.

Will the Net Replace Television?(November, 1997)

The UN held something called the "World Television Forum" and I was asked to write a short piece for web site on the topic of the Internet vs. Television. I was astonished to find myself listed on the same page as Rupert Murdoch and Barry Diller. Clearly, the UN promotes a diversity of viewpoints.

A Librarian's Letter to Silicon Valley (July, 1997)

When I heard that Bill Gates was giving millions of dollars of Microsoft software to U.S. libraries it was clear to me that folks in the computer field have no idea what libraries need from them. I wrote this letter, which was resoundingly rejected by local newspapers. Since then, I've been seriously toying with the idea that we really do need a collaboration between libraries and the computer industry to create tools for public access. Anybody got a few million bucks to help me get this started?

Privacy or Paranoia? (Sun Server, v. 11, n. 2, February, 1997)

This article of mine on electronic monitoring appeared on the front page of Sun Server magazine in February, 1997. It's to the credit of editor Larry Storer that he would address this problem so prominently in a technical publication.

New Models in Information Ownership (Berkeley, August 29, 1997)

This talk was given at an institute sponsored by the University of California on Information Futures: Thriving in the Electronic Age. In it, I cover copyright and the licensing of digital materials. Licenses must respect the complex of relationships within the library environment such as lending agreements, shared acquisition and ILL. In a perfect world, the information ecology in which we operate would be the same for all library materials regardless of format. In this imperfect world, we have to pay extra attention to issues of public access when we sign contracts for digital resources.

Libraries on the Information Highway: The Problems and the Promise (InfoPeople, August and September, 1996)

The State of California is funding library access to the Internet through the InfoPeople project. Each library gets a computer, modem, and an Internet account. But the best thing about this project is that libraries are given training - not just in how to set up their computer and surf the Net, but in all of the aspects of managing and maintaining Internet access for the public. As part of that training, I spoke to some librarians about the issues of censorship, privacy and copyright.

Copyright in the Digital Age (San Francisco, August 7, 1996)

This is a copy of a talk I did with Howard Besser that we subtitled: Threats to Public Access In the Digital Age. I focused on the proposed changes to the copyright law and the underlying assumption of many copyright holders that the digital age should give them the right to control not only copying but all use of their products. It's a very frightening possibility.

Electronic Information - Some Implications for Libraries (Benicia, CA, June, 1995)

Libraries are wondering how electronic information will change their role and the work they do. Some of the suggestions here might be surprising.

Libraries and Censorship (Asilomar, April, 1995)

Libraries are a strong anti-censorship force in our society. This talk explains that libraries are our archive of the "commons of knowledge" that is vital to civilization. Censorship is not only a threat to our present freedoms, it places great limitations on our future.

Libraries and Access (CFP '95)

I gave this talk at Computers, Freedom and Privacy in March of 1995 on the topic of Libraries and Access. Unfortunately, our panel was at 9:00 a.m. on the second morning of the conference. I was surprised at how many die-hards did show up, but for all of those who partied hard the night before, here's some of what you missed.

Universal Access (Stanford, January, 1995)

In January of 1995, I gave the keynote speech at the annual meeting of Student Pugwash. Since then, "Adult Pugwash" has been honored with a nobel peace prize for one of its founders. This is a marvelous group of young people concerned with the social responsibility of science. Once again, I spoke about access, though this time the emphasis was on "what information do we use anyway?"

Universal Access: Some Global Issues (San Francisco, September, 1994)

We often forget that the Internet is a global telecommunications system, especially when we talk about issues of access. The World Affairs Council in San Francisco asked a few of us in the area to come in and talk about this issue. Here's what I had to say.

Go To: The Latest // The Best // The Full List // Some Things I've Been Up To

Back to Karen Coyle's Home Page