1 For a detailed discussion of these and other applications of technology that may be used to provide protection for copyrighted works, see Symposium, Technological Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment, cosponsored by the Coalition for Networked Information, Harvard University, Interactive Multimedia Association, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (April 2-3, 1993); see also M. D. Goldberg & J. M. Feder, Copyright and Technology: The Analog, the Digital, and the Analogy, Symposium, WIPO Worldwide Symposium on the Impact of Digital Technology on Copyright and Neighboring Rights, 37 (March 31 - April 2, 1993).

2 Archie is a service which provides directories of repositories of gopher servers; Veronica provides indices of documents which contain key words.

3 The most common elements of such systems involve authentication of the user desiring access to the server. Typically, the server will require entry of a user name and a password. More elaborate mechanisms, however, have been developed. For example, some servers do not grant access once a user is verified, but rather, they terminate the connection and reestablish it from the server to the registered user's site. Such call-back systems tend to govern fully controlled server environments (e.g., where access will only be granted to known and verified users). Other systems are being implemented that use more elaborate authentication systems. For example, a number of companies are developing hardware key systems that require the user, after establishing a preliminary connection, to verify that connection by inserting a hardware device similar to a credit card into the user's computer system. That device then sends an indecipherable code to verify the identity of the user.

Protection of works by means of access control mechanisms assumes that the system in question is in a physically secure environment and is not vulnerable to external means to circumvent access control. Several instances have been reported where the security of a supposedly secure server system was compromised, for example, through passive monitoring during the exchange of unencrypted passwords. As a consequence, many are currently pursuing efforts to improve security at the access control level.

4 See discussion of stenography infra pp. 188-89.

5 For example, the software may deny access to a work if the electronic file containing the work has been altered or information stored in the file does not match data supplied by a user necessary to open and use the file. See discussion of digital signatures infra pp. 187-88.

6 Rendering or viewing software may integrate encryption and file manipulation into a single software package. In other words, the rendering software, after getting a password, will decode the file and permit the user to manipulate the work (e.g., view it or listen to it), but only with the provided rendering software.

7 An algorithm is a set of logical rules or mathematical specification of a process which may be implemented in a computer.

8 The signature is generated using the binary digits of the work plus the value of the private key as inputs to the computation defined by the algorithm. Thus, the digital signature for an information object is a unique sequence of digits for that work. Specifically, a signature is not the same for different works using the same private key.

9 Anyone who has access to an information object, in addition to having access to the work, also has access to the digital signature for the object. Consequently, the digital signature for the object may be recomputed and used to independently confirm the integrity of the object by comparing it to the digital signature appended to the object.

10 See 17 U.S.C. § 1002 (Supp. V 1993).

11 See H.R. REP. NO. 102-873(I), 102d Cong., 2d Sess., reprinted in 1992 U.S.C.C.A.N. 3578, 3579-80, 3583 n15.

12 A "header" is a section of a digital work where information, data, codes and permitted uses may be embedded. Such information may actually be embedded anywhere in the work, but for ease of reference, this Report refers to such information as embedded in a header. Terms such as "label" and "wrapper" are also used to refer to what this Report refers to as a "header."

13 See discussion of electronic contracting supra pp. 53-59.

14 See R.E. Kahn, Deposit, Registration and Recordation in an Electronic Copyright Management System, Proceedings of Technical Strategies for Protecting Intellectual Property in the Networked Multimedia Environment, Interactive Multimedia Assoc. (Jan. 1994). The registration and recordation system will be operated by the Library of Congress and will enable electronic filing of documents, automated registration and recordation of transfers of ownership and other copyright-related documents. The digital library system will be composed of a set of distributed repositories for copyrighted works, and will support search and retrieval based upon an electronic bibliographic record. The rights management system will be a distributed system which will permit use of selected copyrighted materials on the Internet, and will have some on-line rights-granting services. Electronic mail will be used to license nonexclusive rights, with or without recordation of the transactions.

15 The IITF Committee on Applications and Technology is addressing electronic commerce issues, including the electronic transfer of funds through the NII.

16 There is an ongoing review of policies governing the export of computer and networking technologies that incorporate effective encryption technology, and there has been some relaxation of prior controls. For example, technologies used to identify and authenticate users and files are generally not restricted. This, however, does not address the concerns as articulated by U.S. manufacturers.

17 ODTC maintains the U.S. Munitions List -- a list of specific technologies subject to their review for export licensing purposes. See 22 U.S.C. § 2778 (1988).

18 BXA maintains the Commerce Control List (CCL), which governs export control of all items (commodities, software, and technical data) subject to BXA export controls. See 15 C.F.R. § 799.1(a) (1994).

19 See 15 C.F.R. § 799.1(g) (1994).

20 Many examples of this evolutionary pattern exist. Examples of de facto and formally recognized standards that derived from a single company include the Hayes-compatible modem command set, developed by the Hayes Company to control its modem products; the Ethernet local area network standard developed by Xerox to link minicomputers at the Palo Alto Research Center which eventually led to the development of the IEEE 802.3 standard; and the PCL and Postscript printer control/page description languages, developed by Hewlett-Packard and Adobe, respectively.

Examples of standards that evolved from a collaboration of companies include: the Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus standard, introduced by a consortium of nine companies including AST Research, Compaq, Epson, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Olivetti, Tandy, Wyse, and Zenith; the Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) interface standard for the connection of synthesizers, instruments, and computers, developed by the major synthesizer manufacturers; and the Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) standard for PC Cards, PC Card-based peripherals, and the slot designed to accept them developed by the PCMCIA group of manufacturers and vendors.

21 For example, essentially every modern personal computer operating system available today supports a number of de facto or recognized industry standards such as Ethernet, PCL/Postscript, and TCP/IP.

22 The IITF Committee on Applications and Technology has responsibility for addressing the issue of standards.

23 Recently, the FCC adopted technical standards that define a patented system as the AM radio stereophonic transmitting standard in the United States. See 58 Fed. Reg. 66,300 (daily ed. Dec. 20, 1993). The FCC conditioned the selection of the patented system as the standard on the agreement of the patent owner to license its patents to other parties "under fair and reasonable terms." Id. at 66,301.

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