Richard P Jones

Technology and the cultural appropriation of music

Technology, particularly recording technology, has for more than a century threatened the copyrights of composers, publishers and performers. Users armed with this technology have been given the means to record, copy and distribute the works of others. The response of rights holders has been to advocate the reiteration and expansion of their copyrights. The increased copyright regimes while going someway to protect the rights of composers, publishers and performers has also swept material from the public domain, so making it unavailable to other artists and follow-on creators. This process is referred to by Lessig as the locking down and appropriation of culture, a process that some argue will lead to a lack of diversity and choice. The folk song The Legend of Tom Dula (Dooley) is one of the best known examples of this appropriation. This song had been freely available to generations of folk singers until it was captured in a recording. The recording was transcribed and copyright was claimed, the song was no longer in the public domain. Whereas technology provides the reason to expand copyright, information technology and particularly the internet has spurned a number of initiatives that may lead to the freeing of content. The open source movement has been very successful in freeing and generating content; this movement has itself led to other related initiatives. One of these, the Creative Commons, provides a broad based solution which through a series of alternative licensing contracts allows rights holders to lessen their control on their content making it more available for others to use. This paper considers the interplay of music, technology and intellectual property. It considers how developments in information technology can now be used to offset the expansion of copyright. After reviewing some of these developments, particularly the Creative Commons, and considering evidence now analysed from a European wide survey of musicians and publishers completed in 2008, the paper concludes that these fixes, rooted in intellectual property, unfortunately offer little by way of solution. However technological solutions not so closely tied to intellectual property may offer more appropriate and workable solutions.

E-Commerce and the Law: A Review of India’s Information Technology Act, 2000

Electronic commerce—conducting business through network technology—will significantly impact the global economy and play a vital part in future economic development. Europe and the United States are currently seen as the main beneficiaries of such growth, but countries such as India and China with their huge pools of technologically skilled manpower have exceptional opportunities. A number of developing countries have pursued policies to formulate a consistent legal and regulatory framework to support electronic transactions across state, national and international borders. The development of the appropriate legal framework has required substantial re-thinking of traditional legal approaches. Many legal rules assume the existence of paper records, documents, signatures, physical cash, cheques, face to face meetings, and so on. As more transactions are carried out by electronic means, it becomes important that evidence of these activities be available to demonstrate the ensuing legal rights and obligations. Indias Information Technology Act 2000 provides a legal framework so that transactions are not denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely because they are in electronic form. In this paper, we will outline the economic impact of e-commerce on the developing countries and review the main provisions of the Information and Technology Act 2000 in the context of contractual, jurisdictional, security, and regula tory issues. The Act will be contrasted with similar provisions in Europe, the United States and South East Asia.

The inclusion of a business management module within the master of pharmacy degree: a route to asset enrichment?

Background Over the past decade the profession of pharmacy has steadily evolved. The New Pharmacy Contract exposed pharmacists to a fundamental change in traditional pharmacy business models. Objective This study will consider whether community pharmacists, pharmacy undergraduates and academic staff within the United Kingdom believe it would be beneficial to incorporate a business management module within the Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) undergraduate degree along with potential mechanisms of delivery. Methods Further to ethical approval, the questionnaire was distributed to UK registered pharmacists (n=600), MPharm undergraduates (n=441) and academic staff at Liverpool John Moores University (n=44). The questions were formatted as multiple choice questions, Likert scales or the open answer type. On questionnaire completion and return, data were analysed using simple frequencies, cross tabulations and non-parametric techniques in the SPSS (v18). Results The majority of pharmacists (84.9%) confirmed that business skills affect their everyday responsibilities to a considerable extent. A high proportion of undergraduate students (92.8%) believed that business management skills will impact on their future role. In total, 64.3% of this cohort declared that if a module were introduced they would study it. The majority of staff (79%) agreed that business skills are gaining increased importance within the field of pharmacy. Conclusions Data suggest that business skills are of relevance to the practice of pharmacy. Appropriate staff to deliver the taught material would include business owners / lecturers and teaching practitioners covering topics including management, leadership, interpersonal skills and regulation. We suggest the inclusion of a business module with the MPharm degree would be of great value in preparing individuals for practice within a modern day healthcare setting.

Indian Information and Technology Act 2000: review of the Regulatory Powers under the Act

Abstract In India, the Information Technology Act, received the Presidential Assent in June 2000. The Act is based on the Model Law on E-Commerce adopted by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). The essence of the Act is captured in the long title: ‘An act to provide for the legal recognition of transactions carried out by … alternatives to paper-based methods of communication and storage of information …’. In a previous article the authors reviewed the ‘heavy handed’ approach taken by the Indian government to the regulation of Certificating Authorities,1 this article continues this theme and evaluates the provisions of the Act in and around a range of jurisdiction, crime and privacy issues. Unlike similar legislation in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand, which primarily focuses on the regulation of e-commerce, the Information Technology Act 2000 introduces and enacts for the first time in India a range of e-commerce and Internet related criminal offences, these provisions provide a range of executive powers that the authors consider will significantly impair the rights of privacy and free speech of both citizens of India and of other countries.

Computer‐managed teaching and learning in law

The availability of cheap computers and the developments in networks and communication technology mean that technology can be used to manage learners. Computer Managed Communication developed primarily out of the need to reach distance learning students can also be used for in-house students. The basic research on CMC is abstracted and its use on an LL.B program is discussed, with problem issues highlighted and future developments explained.

‘Back to the future’? Technologies without boundaries

Welcome to the annual issue of the International Review of Law, Computers & Technology devoted to presenting the best papers from the annual BILETA conference. The 2013 conference (the 28th) took place at the Liverpool Law School, University of Liverpool, UK. The conference took as its theme ‘Our digital futures: technologies without boundaries’ and was organised by Joseph Savirimuthu. The conference’s themes and aims were provocatively interdisciplinary, encouraging relevant discourse from several disciplines. In his keynote speech, Professor Andrew Murray of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and author of the OUP textbook on Information Technology Law: the Law and Society faced head on the question of whether cyberlaw is, or indeed should be, interdisciplinary. Firmly concluding it should not be, he admonished the assembly of cyberlaw practitioners and scholars, suggesting they should stop apologising for engaging in other disciplines and instead start engaging jurisprudentially. As Murray pointed out, with many uncomfortable illustrations, cyberlawyers are conspicuously absent from key policymaking forums whilst mainstream lawyers are not. But are we sidelined because we are interdisciplinary? Are we not are sidelined because we are preoccupied with navel gazing on who and what cyberlaw and cyberlawyers are, rather than focusing on how law can most effectively and efficiently regulate cyberspace. As was asked in last year’s editorial for the 27th BILETA conference, what form should legal regulation take, and do too many laws stifle creativity? Is there a better alternative to legal regulation in our technological societies? These are the questions that should be our central focus. The present generation of cyberlawyers and academics must exhibit confidence in their discipline and prove themselves worthy of driving forward from the formidable foundations laid by Peter Siepel (1975), Jon Bing (1977) and Colin Tapper (1978) to begin to open up solutions. This edition will not offer definite conclusions on these issues, rather we hope that it will aid the reader in the analysis of whether solutions to the technological challenges posed here are effective and whether they would be enhanced or diminished by a multidisciplinary perspective. This special issue of the International Review of Law, Computers & Technology contains a collection of cross-disciplinary papers presented in a variety of streams including ‘Internet cultures & governance’, ‘Technologies, innovation & justice’, and ‘Professional identity’. As with all BILETA conferences, the organisers were keen to promote new academics and to give them a forum to test their work, and in this spirit this issue contains, in addition to papers by established academics, papers by new academics and a current developments contribution from a PhD student. The opening paper focuses on a question that has vexed cyberscholars for decades, whether software is a good or a service. The conclusion has two key implications – the first falls into the category of contract and consumer protection law, the second is the

‘Too many laws, too few examples’: Law, Regulation and Technology

The Leicester Polytechnic School of Law Yearbook of Law Computers and Technology (now the International Review of Law, Computers & Technology) was first published in 1984. A cursory glance at its contents shows that of the seven refereed articles published, only one was on substantive information technology law; the six other articles were on topics ranging from information retrieval systems to the use of technology in the court room. This focus on the technology in law rather than on the law of technology was also reflected in BILETA (the then British and Irish Law and Technology Association) which was formed very soon after in 1986. The Association’s founding institutions were the then North East London Polytechnic (now University of East London), University of Warwick and Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University). At its inception the association had four constituent parts, of which only one was for the embryonic subject of information technology law. The Association’s main focus was on technology in law and legal education, that being retrieval systems, computers in legal education and expert legal systems. BILETA and the International Review shared common founders and through them a common philosophy to carry the message of the importance of the academic discipline of law and technology in whatever form it takes. It was obvious that for the furtherance of both organisations that the International Review should therefore publish at least some part of the proceedings from BILETA conferences. Scroll forward almost thirty years, the International Review in its present incarnation is publishing its 27 volume and in March 2012 BILETA held its 27 Annual Conference at Northumbria University Law School, organised by Paul Maharg and Abhilash Nair.. The International Review is again devoting a special edition to the publication of proceedings from that 27 conference, but how things have changed. Another cursory glance this time at the conference proceedings and indeed at the contents of this edition shows how the pendulum has swung in the discipline away from technology to law. Over 75% of the papers were on matters of substantive law arising from the development and use of technology. In short, what is the appropriate type, level or scope of legal regulation required. The remaining 25% of papers were on technology within legal education. The theme of the 2012 conference was ‘Too many laws, too few examples’, a quotation borrowed from the French revolutionary, Louis Antoine Léon de Saint-Just. The papers presented at the conference explored a wide range of issues within this theme. Do too many laws stifle creativity? Or do we have the wrong laws? Is there a better alternative to legal regulation in our technological societies? Is our world a better place because we have too many laws that regulate our use of technology? How best can technology be regulated for educational and ethical purposes in learning justice? These and many more complex questions and issues were discussed and debated at what proved to be a highly successful and lively conference. This double issue contains a collection of papers presented in a variety of streams including intellectual property, regulation, defamation, and data protection and privacy. Selected papers presented in the legal education stream are being published in the European Journal of Law and Technology, by Paul Maharg and Sefton Bloxham.