The DMCA and ACTA vs. Academic and Professional Research: How Misuse of This Intellectual Property Legislation Chills Research, Disclosure, and Innovation

Presented at The Next HOPE (2010), July 18, 2010, 1 p.m. (60 minutes)

Fair use, reverse engineering, and public discussion of research encourage innovation and self-regulates industries. However, these principles which define our vibrant and creative marketplace are fading. If a professional cannot constructively critique another’s research online without being burdened with takedown notices until the critique is obscured or functionally removed for long periods of time, we do not have a society from which we can learn from others’ mistakes and improve our trade. Attendees will gain a greater appreciation about how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is increasingly being used in ways that chill free speech, disclosure of security vulnerabilities, and innovative research. Using hypothetical examples and discussing case law, this talk will outline procedures for counterclaiming and alternatives to removal of allegedly infringing materials, including discussing why data havens (some in anticipation of enactment of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) are becoming more popular.

Presenters:

  • Chris Mooney
    Chris Mooney is a software engineer who works in the high performance and high availability problem space. He has a B.S. in computer science and a minor in mathematics at the University of Southern Maine. He is the current executive director of Project DoD Inc., a 501(c)(3) charitable technology nonprofit with a focus on censorship resistant services. He has always been interested in computer security, and has focused a good deal of time on cryptology and computer security research. His web page is at: https://chris.dod.net/.
  • Tiffany Rad
    Tiffany Rad is the president of ELCnetworks, LLC., a technology, law, and business development firm with offices in Portland, Maine and Washington, D.C. Her consulting projects have included business and tech analysis for startups and security consulting for U.S. government agencies. She is also a part-time adjunct professor in the computer science department at the University of Southern Maine, teaching computer law and ethics and information security. Tiffany also researches car computers, is president of the reverse engineering and development company Q Labs, is the director/founder of Reverse Space, a hackerspace in northern Virginia, and is pro bono legal counsel for Project DoD, a nonprofit hosting company with censorship resistant services. Her website is http://www.tiffanyrad.com.

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